[
{"source_document": "", "creation_year": 1811, "culture": " English\n", "content": "Produced by Irma Spehar, Moti Ben-Ari and the Online\nfile was produced from images generously made available\nby The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)\n[Illustration: _London, Published by I. Murray, 1819_\nSWISS COTTAGE.]\n    FIRST IMPRESSIONS\n    A TOUR UPON THE CONTINENT\n    IN THE SUMMER OF 1818,\n    THROUGH PARTS OF\n    FRANCE, ITALY, SWITZERLAND,\n    THE BORDERS OF GERMANY,\n    AND A PART OF\n    _FRENCH FLANDERS_.\n    BY MARIANNE BAILLIE.\n    LONDON:\n    JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE-STREET.\n    LONDON:\n    PRINTED BY THOMAS DAVISON, WHITEFRIARS.\n    ONE OF THE MOST VALUED FRIENDS OF HER EARLIEST YEARS,\n    THE RIGHT HON. JOHN TREVOR,\n    THE AUTHOR\n    INSCRIBES THE\n    FOLLOWING LITTLE WORK,\n    WITH EVERY SENTIMENT OF AFFECTIONATE RESPECT\n    AND ESTEEM.\nDIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER.\n    Swiss Cottage              to face the title.\nPREFACE\nIn perusing the following pages, it will I hope be believed, that they\nwere not originally written with any view to publication: circumstances\nhave since occurred, which induce me to alter my first intention, and to\nsubmit them to a more enlarged circle, than that of a few intimate\nfriends, to whose eye alone I had once thought of presenting them.\nIn committing my First Impressions to so fearful an ordeal as the\nopinion of the Public, I feel oppressed by a sense of their various\nimperfections, and by the conviction of their trifling value as a work\nof the sort; yet I still flatter myself they will be received with\nforbearance. I had much amusement in attempting this little sketch, and\nI most sincerely entreat that it may be considered as what it is, a\nsketch only. My friends will not, and readers in general must not, look\nfor fine writing from the pen of such a novice as myself; nor ought they\nto expect me (labouring under the twofold disadvantage of sex and\ninexperience) to narrate with the accuracy and precision of a regular\ntourist, the history (natural, moral, political, literary and\ncommercial) of all the places we visited: still less, that (in\ncompliment to the lovers of the gastronomic art) I should undertake to\ngive the bill of fare of every _table d'h\u00f4te_ or _traiteur_ that we met\nwith in our progress.\nAmong the many fears which assail me, there is one that recurs to my\nmind with more pertinacity than the rest: that I may be taxed with\nhaving bestowed too warm and glowing a colouring upon some objects of\nnatural beauty and sublimity. Formerly, indeed, I believe I was in\ndanger of leaning towards romance in describing scenes which had\nparticularly impressed my imagination or interested my feelings, and of\nattempting to imitate, with too rash and unadvised a pencil, the fervour\nof a Mrs. Radcliffe, although to catch the peculiar charm and spirit of\nher style I felt to be (for me) impossible. But notwithstanding that I\nstill remember with complacence the time when the vivid imagination of\nvery early youth procured me the enjoyment of a thousand bright and\nlovely illusions, and cast a sort of fairy splendour over existence\nwhich was certainly more bewitching than many realities that I have\nsince met with, I at present feel (as better becomes me) more inclined\nto worship at the sober shrine of reason and judgment. This, it will be\neasily conceived, was likely to render my Tour a more faithful picture,\nthan if it had been undertaken some years ago, and I can safely affirm,\nthat I commenced it with a determination to observe all things without\nprejudice of any sort, not even that of nationality; for prejudice is\nstill the same irrational and unworthy feeling, in every shape and under\nevery name. I was much hurried at the time of writing this Journal; but\na greater degree of subsequent leisure has enabled me to add some few\nnotes which may, I hope, amuse and interest my readers. In these I\nacknowledge with gratitude the occasional assistance of a partial\nfriend.\nFIRST IMPRESSIONS.\nOn Monday, August 9th, we embarked from the Ship inn at Dover, for\nCalais, on board the Princess Augusta packet. The passage was dreadful,\nthe usual miseries attended us, and at the time I am now writing this,\nviz. August 13th, we are still suffering from the effects of our voyage.\nI will not make my readers ill by recalling the disgusting scenes which\nwe there encountered, suffice it to say, that the bare remembrance of\nthem is sufficient to overwhelm my still sick fancy, and to render the\nvery name of the sea appalling to my ears. Upon landing at Calais,\nhowever, we contrived to raise our heavy eyes, with a lively feeling of\ncuriosity and interest, to the motley crowd assembled on the beach to\nview us come on shore. I was pleased with what we are taught to call\nthe habitual politeness of even the lowest order of French people,\nevinced in the alacrity with which twenty hands were held out to support\nme in descending from the packet, and in the commiseration which I\nplainly discovered in many a sun-burnt countenance for my evident\nindisposition. The hotel (Quillacq's) is excellent, and the attendants\nremarkably civil and active. The style of furniture is superior to that\nof the best English hotels; and for a dinner and dessert of the most\nsuperior quality, we did not pay more than we should have done at an\nordinary inn in our own country for very common fare. The dress of the\nlower classes here is rather pretty; the circumstance of the women\nwearing caps, neatly plaited, and tolerably clean, together with the\nbody and petticoat of different colours, gives them a picturesque air:\nthe long gold ear-rings, also (universally worn at this place,\nconsisting of two drops, one suspended at the end of the other),\ncontribute greatly to their graceful effect. The men do not differ much\nin their appearance from those of the same rank in England, but I think\nthe animation universally displayed in the countenances of the fairer\nsex particularly striking, and certainly preferable to that want of\nexpression so often to be found among my countrywomen.\nWhen we first started from Calais for Paris, with post-horses, I could\nnot help a little national feeling of complacency upon observing the\nslovenly, shabby appearance of their harness and accoutrements, compared\nwith those of England. From London to Dover, we had bowled away with\nease and rapidity; the carriage seemed to cut through the air with a\nswift and even motion. Now we crawled and jumbled along, as it pleased\nthe fancy of the horses and driver, upon the latter of which no\nremonstrance of ours would have had any effect. The costume of the\npost-boy (who drives three horses abreast, a fat, full-sized beast in\nthe middle, his own rather smaller, and the off horse always a ragged\nflap-eared pony, looking as if he had just been caught up from a common)\nis whimsical enough; it is universally the royal livery: a shabby,\ndirty, short-waisted blue jacket, turned up with crimson, and laced\nsometimes with silver; boots resembling those of our heavy cavalry, and\na thick clubbed pigtail, swinging like a pendulum from beneath a rusty\njapan hat. It was not till we had reached the distance of Abbeville that\nwe met with the celebrated genuine _grosses bottes_, whose enormous size\nput me in mind of my nursery days, when I used to listen to the\nwonderous tale of the giant-killer and his seven-leagued boots. The lash\nof the post-boy's whip is thick and knotted, and they have a curious\nmethod of cracking it upon passing other carriages, to give notice of\ntheir approach: this saves their lungs, and has not an unpleasant\neffect, the cracking sound being of a peculiar nature, double, as if it\nsaid \"crac-crac\" at each stroke. It is not every post-boy, however, who\nmanages this little implement in the true style. They all carry the\nbadge of their profession upon the left arm (like our watermen), being a\nsilver or metal plate with the arms of France upon it. From Calais to\nHaut-buisson the country is extremely flat, barren and uninteresting,\nlike the ugliest parts of Wiltshire and Sussex; and the straight line in\nwhich all the French roads are cut is tiresome and monotonous to a great\ndegree. The case is not mended even when you advance as far as Marquise,\nand I began to yawn in melancholy anticipation of a similar prospect for\nnearly a hundred and eighty miles, which yet remained to be passed ere\nwe reached Paris; but upon coming near Beaupres, we were agreeably\ndisappointed, finding the surface of the country more undulated, and\npatches of woodlands thinly strewn here and there--it is amazing how\ngreatly the eye is relieved by this change. The hamlets between\nHaut-buisson and Boulogne much resemble those in the west of England; we\nwere perpetually fancying ourselves in a Somersetshire village as we\npassed through them. On the road-side it is very common to see large\ncrucifixes, raised to a considerable height, with the figure of our\nSaviour the size of life. We remarked one in particular, painted black,\nand the image flesh-colour, with the drapery about the middle gilt;\nanother was inclosed in a small railed space (like a village pound),\nsurrounded by four or five clumsy stone images, which I rather imagine\nwere meant to represent the holy women who assembled round the cross\nduring our Saviour's last moments. As we approached Boulogne, we met\nseveral old peasants: they all wore cocked hats, and a suit of decent,\n_sad-coloured_ clothes, not unlike the dress of our villagers on a\nSunday.\nThe entrance to Boulogne is very picturesque: the fortifications are\ncrumbling a little beneath the touch of time, and the walls are partly\novergrown by trees and lichens; but a very little exertion would render\nit formidable enough, I imagine, to besiegers. We dined here at an inn,\nwhere they thought they could not do us a greater favour than by sending\nup a meal in what they believed to be the English style of cookery;\nconsequently it was neither one thing nor the other, and extremely\ndisagreeable: amongst various delicacies, we had melted salt butter\nswimming in oil, and quite rancid, brought to table in a tea-cup, and a\nlarge dish of tough spongy lumps of veal, which they called veal\ncutlets. As I sat at the window, which opened upon the principal street,\nI had an opportunity of remarking a specimen of true French flattery,\nbut I was not quite so pervious to its benign influence as Sterne\ndescribes his ladies to have been in the Sentimental Journey. A little\nragged urchin of about ten years old rather annoyed me, by jumping up\nand grinning repeatedly in my face: \"Allez, allez, que faites vous l\u00e0?\"\nsaid I. \"C'est que je veux dire bon jour \u00e0 Madame!\"--\"Eh, bien donc,\nvous l'avez dit \u00e0 present--allez!\"--\"Ah! mais que Madame est jolie! Mon\nDieu! elle est _very prit_. Elle me donnera un sous, n'est ce pas?\"\nIt was at Poix that we accidentally met a woman of Normandy upon the\nroad. She was well looking, and the costume both singular and becoming:\nthe snow white cap with a deep plaited border, and a crown half a yard\nin height, fastened on the forehead by a gold pin, the long drop\near-rings and gold cross in a heavy worked setting, suspended round the\nthroat by a narrow black riband, white handkerchief crossed over the\nbosom, and a body and petticoat of opposite colours, with full white\nshift sleeves coming over the elbows, formed a remarkably pretty dress.\nI ought to have mentioned before now, that on the road between Marquise\nand Beaupres we were amused by observing an unfinished tower, erected by\nBonaparte some years since, designed to commemorate his intended victory\nover the English, by invasion--a true _chateau en Espagne_. Wishing to\nrefresh ourselves by leaving the carriage while the horses were changed,\nI entered a sort of rustic public-house, where I observed with much\ninterest the interior of a French cottage kitchen and its inhabitants. A\ngroup of peasants sat round a wood fire, apparently waiting for their\ndinner, which, as a brisk lively _paysanne_ took it off the embers to\npour into a dish, looked and smelt most temptingly; it consisted of a\nmess of bread, herbs, and vegetables, stewed in broth: there was a\nmember of this little circle who seemed to watch the progress of the\ncooking with peculiar delight; I mean a large, powerful, yet playful\ndog, whose exact breed we did not discover, but we were informed he was\nEnglish--doubtless he recognized his countrymen! The plates and dishes,\nutensils, &c. were ranged upon shelves from the top to the bottom of the\nlittle kitchen, and equally distributed on all sides, instead of being\nconfined to the vicinity of the dresser, as is generally the case in\nEngland; they were chiefly of a coarse white clay, painted in a gaudy\nand sprawling pattern of red flowers: the old woman of the house\napologized for their not being quite so bright as they ought to have\nbeen, but said the flies dirtied them sadly; however, every thing looked\nclean and comfortable. The costume of the men is not becoming; they all\nwear white coarse cotton night-caps, and smock-frocks dyed with indigo;\ntheir features and countenances much resemble those of a similar rank in\nEngland. It appears to me that the old peasants alone wear the cocked\nhat in this part of France: perhaps it is a remnant of the national\ndress in the time of the _ancien regime_. The young children, from one\nto five or six years of age, are (generally speaking) very pretty, and\nsome of them have the drollest little faces I ever saw, dark eyes and\nmarked eyebrows and lashes, full of smiles and roguery; their hair is\nalways allowed to hang at full length upon their shoulders, never being\nshorn and cropt. Having dined at Boulogne, we proceeded on our journey\nas far as Samer, intending to sleep the first night at Montreuil; but a\ndirect stop was put to any such project, by the circumstance of a total\nabsence of post-horses; they were all too much fatigued to carry us\nfarther, or were employed in the service of other travellers. Evening\nwas now closing rapidly in, and we were really glad to comply with the\nurgent solicitations of a rural _fille de chambre_, who ran out of the\nlittle inn at that place (Samer), and assured us we should meet with\nvery comfortable accommodations and be treated with every attention at\nthe T\u00eate de Boeuf, to which she belonged: \"Ma foi, messieurs,\" said\nthe postilion, \"vous trouverez que cette demoiselle est bien\nengageante.\" When we entered the house (through the kitchen, which much\nresembled that of a large cottage), we found a neat little parlour, the\nwater ready boiling in the tea-kettle, excellent tea, bread, butter, and\ncream. The _demoiselle_ or _fille de la maison_ (being the daughter of\nthe hostess), and her assistant (the before-mentioned _fille de\nchambre_, in her country costume), flew about, seeming to anticipate all\nour wishes and wants; every thing was ready in an instant, and all was\ndone, not by the wand of an enchanter, but by the magical influence of\ngood humour and activity, void of pertness, and free from bustle or\nawkwardness of any sort. _La jeune demoiselle_ was a pretty, modest,\nwell-behaved girl, of sixteen or seventeen, and the maid a merry,\ngood-looking, sprightly lass, some few years older. She appeared to\nenjoy a joke to her heart, and returned a neat answer to our laughing\nquestions more than once, and this without being at all immodest or\nimpertinent. Mr. B. asked her if she was married: \"Pas encore,\nMonsieur,\" (said she, looking comically _na\u00efve_), \"mais j'esp\u00e8re\ntoujours!\" In short, her manner was something quite peculiar to the\nFrench in that class of society. An English maid servant who had kept\nup this sort of badinage would most probably have been a girl of light\ncharacter; but servants in France are indulged in a playful familiarity\nof speech and manner which is amusing to witness, and seldom (if ever)\nprevents them from treating you with every essential respect and\nattention. When we started the next morning, the demoiselle earnestly\nentreated us to breakfast at the Hotel de l'Europe, at Montreuil, which\nwas kept by her sister, a young woman only two years older than herself,\nwho was just married; and both she and her little maid added many a\nremembrance upon their parts to _la chere soeur_. Whether this was\ngenuine sisterly affection, or the policy of two innkeepers playing into\neach other's hands, I really cannot take upon me to determine.\nThe country between Samer and Montreuil becomes far more agreeable than\nhitherto; one here sees hills and vales, and waving woods: we passed the\nforest of Tingri, but did not remark any large trees; they were chiefly\nof beech, with a great profusion of low underwood. We met many waggons\nand carts upon the road which are all very different from those used in\nEngland, being much narrower, and lighter for the horses: they are\nusually open at the ends, and the sides resemble two long ladders. The\nwheat harvest in this part of the country was remarkably fine; oats were\nplentifully planted, but the crops were thin; the hay, clover, &c. were\nscarce also, and of inferior quality, owing to the long drought. We\nobserved the women reaping quite as much as the men, and their\ncomplexions, poor creatures! were absolutely baked black by the sun. The\nroad now led us though the heart of the forest of Aregnes: it is of\nlarge extent, but we observed the same want of fine timber as in that of\nTingri; the reason of this is, that the trees are always cut down before\nthey attain their full growth, for the purpose of fuel, as wood fires\nare universal in France. We admired, however, several \"dingles green,\"\nand \"tangled wood walks wild,\" which looked very cool and inviting, but\nI remembered with pride the \"giant oaks and twilight glades beneath\" of\nour own New Forest, and this coppice made but a trifling appearance in\nthe comparison. Emerging once more from hence upon the open country, we\nbeheld in the distance a troop of English dragoons (probably from\nBoulogne) exercising their horses. What a singular spectacle in the\nmidst of a people who so lately ruled the world, but who now are\ntrampled beneath the feet of the stranger! The sight of the English,\nthus proudly paramount, must necessarily be revolting and galling to\nthem in the highest degree: we should feel quite as bitterly, were it\nour own fate--more so, perhaps. Let us therefore be just, and make\nallowance for their natural disgust, while we condemn the vanity and mad\nambition which has thus reduced them.\nThe approach to Montreuil is pretty; the character of the landscape\nchanges, in a sudden and agreeable manner: in place of an uninclosed\ntract of land, resembling a vast ocean of waving corn, you now see\nverdant meadows and green pastures, refreshing the tired eye, and\nwearing the livery of early spring; this effect is produced by the\nfields lying low, and by the practice of irrigation, which is an\nadmirable substitute for rain.\nMontreuil is a fortified town; we passed over drawbridges upon entering\nand leaving it: the houses are all very ancient, and the whole\nappearance is picturesque. Here we had a mental struggle between\nsentiment and good nature, for we wished to breakfast at the same inn\nwhere Sterne met with La Fleur, and yet were unwilling to disappoint the\nhopes of our little demoiselle at Samer, who had recommended her\nsister's hotel. Good nature carried the day, and we drove to l'Hotel de\nl'Europe, where we met with most comfortable accommodation, and were\npleased by the young hostess's resemblance to her pretty sister, and by\nher civil, lively manner of receiving us. She sat during our breakfast\nin a neighbouring apartment, by the kitchen (like the mistress of the\nmansion in times of yore), working at her needle, surrounded by her\nhand-maidens, who were occupied in the same employment. They all seemed\nto be fond of her, and the light laugh of genuine hilarity rang from one\nto the other as they chatted at their ease. The room in which we\nbreakfasted had (in common with most of the French apartments, which are\nnot paved with brick), a handsome oak floor, waxed and dry rubbed till\nit was nearly as highly polished as a dining-table; the walls were\nwainscoted in part, and partly hung with a very amusing paper, having\ngroups of really superior figures stamped upon it, in the manner of\nblack and white chalk drawings upon a blue ground; one space, which had\nbeen intended for a looking-glass, was filled up in this style, with a\nscene from the loves of Cupid and Psyche, executed in a classical\nmanner. You would never see such a thing in any English country inn, and\nI consider the French in these sort of decorations to possess far better\ntaste than ourselves. As we passed through the cornfields on our way\nfrom Montreuil to Nampont, we were saluted by the _ramasseurs_\n(gleaners), with a bouquet or two, formed of wheat, platted in a neat\nand ingenious way, which they threw into the carriage, begging a sous in\nreturn, which we bestowed with much good will! Some children also began\nto sing and dance on the pathway by the road side, and I was surprised\nby observing that the tune was that of a quadrille, and that the steps\nwere correct. I plainly recognized the _en avant_ and the _rigadon_. Did\nthis nation come into the world under the influence of a dancing star? I\nshould say yes.\nWhen the horses were changed at Nampont we disturbed the postillion at\nhis dinner, who made his appearance devouring an indescribable\nsomething, which we afterwards discovered to be an _omelette aux\nherbes_: he deposited this occasionally on the saddle, while adjusting\nhis harness.\nThe ricks of corn and hay here are constructed rather in a slovenly\nmanner: the French farmers seem to have no idea of the neat method of\nthe English, in this respect.\nThe road now led us by the celebrated Forest of Crecy, and the image of\nour gallant Black Prince rose vividly before my mind's eye. At Bernay we\nentered another peasant's cottage, where we (for the first time since\nour landing in this country) beheld real and positive beauty. Two\nlovely girls with clear brown skins (through which glowed a pure and\nanimated carnation), long, dark blue eyes, black fringed lashes, and\noval faces, came out with their mother, (a hale, well-looking country\nwoman), and a younger sister of six years old, whose infantine charms\nwere full as great in their way. I asked if the latter was the _cadette_\nof the family? Upon which the rural dame, with infinite good humour and\nreadiness, corrected what she termed my mistaken appellation, by\ninforming me that it was only the second child which they called the\n_cadet_ or _cadette_[1]: the youngest was _le dernier_, or _la\nderniere_. We had much pleasure in remarking this beautiful trio, and\nthe mother seemed not a little gratified at our evident admiration of\nher progeny.\nThe face of the country here again changed for the worse, relapsing into\nthe same flat and monotonous appearance as at first, and it continued\nthus until within a mile of Abbeville, which is a very fine old town,\nwith a cathedral dedicated to Saint Villefrond. The architecture is very\nstriking, and the interior replete with the usual ornaments of\nsuperstition and idolatry: it was built by the English. My companions\nvisited it, while I was resting quietly at the hotel, and saw several\nprecious relics of saints departed. They found three very young devotees\nthere, before a _Salvator Mundi_, who were much too merry to be very\nreligious! I however met with quite an affecting spectacle when I went\nin my turn. Two poor _paysannes_, in the usual picturesque costume, were\nprostrate before the image of a dead Christ supported by the Virgin.\nThey were praying with an expression of much earnest and sorrowful\ndevotion: one of them had a sick child in her arms, for whom she\nappeared to invoke the divine compassion: poor little thing, the\nimpression of approaching death was stamped upon its pale face, as it\nlay motionless, hardly seeming to breathe. The group struck my\nimagination so forcibly, that I afterwards attempted to sketch it from\nmemory. Surely this religion, with all its faults, is very consolatory;\nand the faith and piety of these poor women must be confessed to be\nrespectable and praiseworthy, however mingled with the alloy of\nsuperstition and ignorance: Calvin himself might have thought as I did,\nhad he seen them.\nIt was market-day at Abbeville the morning after our arrival, and we\nwere much amused with the various costumes and faces assembled there. We\ndid not, however, see one pretty woman during the whole of our stay,\nwhich was two nights and a day. We went one evening to the theatre, and\nobserved the same dearth of beauty among the audience, which chiefly\nconsisted of _petites bourgeoises_, and officers of the national guards.\nThis theatre is a very inferior one, and full of bad smells. We were\nassured by our hostess that the company (from Amiens) was very good, and\nthat the piece they were to act (_Les Templiers_) was thought highly of.\nWe all found it extremely difficult to follow the actors, owing to their\nunnatural declamatory tones, and the mouthing manner of pronouncing\ntheir words: this I believe, however, is universally the case, even\nwith the first tragedians at Paris, _Talma_ not excepted. How brightly\ndo nature's favourite children, _O'Neil_ and _Kean_, shine in\ncomparison!\nThe inn at Abbeville, in which we took up our quarters (l'hotel de\nl'Europe), is most excellent: it is very large and roomy, and must once\nhave been a handsome chateau. There is a delightful garden, which\nbelonged formerly to a convent adjacent: the high walls covered with a\nprofusion of delicious fruit. The trees in other parts of the garden\nalso were bending beneath the weight of the apples and pears, plums, &c.\nMyrtles and rododendrons (the latter very large and fine) were placed\nhere and there in tubs; and the fig-tree and vine overshadowed our\nbed-room windows, which looked upon this agreeable scene: the grapes\nwere nearly ripe. The furniture of our bed-rooms was in a very superior\nstyle, though I have seen the same sort of things even in the most\nshabby looking little inns throughout France. Marble must be very\ncommon, and of a reasonable price, for we met with it every where, in\nchimney-pieces, slabs, tables, the tops of drawers, &c. The little\nwashing stand, in our room at Abbeville, was of fine carved mahogany, in\nthe form of an antique altar or tripod; and the bason and ewer, of an\nequally pure and classic form, were of fine French porcelain.\nAs I have a great passion for seeing the manners of all ranks of people,\nI went down into a little room next the kitchen, to chat with the\nhostess, while she was shelling some _haricots blancs_ for dinner. I\nfound this lady very communicative and civil; and I won her heart I\nbelieve, by taking some notice of her daughter, about six years old (her\nfarewell performance in the maternal line), a pretty, gentle, timid\nlittle creature, who was busily occupied in putting her doll to bed in a\ncradle. Several peasants came into the inn-yard as I sat on a bench\nthere: I observed that all the women wore large crosses, of clumsy\nworkmanship, chiefly of white crystal, or glass, and coloured ear-rings,\nbut not so long as those at Calais. We went into a little jeweller's\nshop, and bought a couple of the silver rings, with curious ornaments,\nwhich the peasants usually wear; their sentimental devices were very\namusing.\nLeaving Abbeville, we saw the common people employed in making ropes by\nthe road-side, and remarked several large fields of hemp, and one or two\nof flax: the hemp, when cut, is piled up in sheaves, like corn. The\ncountry here is verdant, and rather woody: it lies low, and the river\nSomme winds through it, whose course may be plainly traced to a great\ndistance by the willows which grow upon its banks, reminding me of parts\nof Berkshire. I ought not to omit mentioning the profusion of\napple-trees which grow by the road-side, almost all the way to Paris:\nthe trees were absolutely sinking beneath the weight of the fruit, and\none or two of them had quite given way, and lay prostrate, training\ntheir rosy burthen in the dust. I am almost ashamed to say that my\nappetite was so much stronger than my honesty, that I could not be\nsatisfied without tasting them; when I discovered that these fair apples\nwere like those mentioned in the Scriptures, bright and tempting to the\neye, but bitter as ashes within! In short, they were not eatable, but\nentirely of the cider kind, which, as every body knows, are good for\nnothing in a natural state. There are quantities, however, of eating\napples besides, in every cottage garden; and the favourite food of the\npeasant children appears to be coarse, brown, heavy bread, with these\nroasted and spread upon it, instead of butter. We saw large piles of\nroasted apples in the market at Abbeville for this purpose.\nThe country near Airaines again becomes tiresome, from its barren\nsameness. Passing a little public house, we observed the following\nsomewhat selfish inscription over the door: \"Messieurs! nous sommes\nquatres hussards, et nous disons, que pour conservir nos amis, il ne\nfaut pas faire de credit.\" The weather was invariably delightful: a\nbright sun, with a refreshing cool breeze, and an elasticity and\nlightness in the air, gave animation and cheerfulness to us all. The sky\nwas generally of a cloudless azure, and the nights almost as light and\nas free from damps as the days: I never beheld the moon in greater\nmajesty. Airaines is an uninteresting little town, not worth mentioning.\nOur postillion here was a most ruffian-like, cut-throat looking\ncreature, all over dirt, and having a true jacobinical air. He cast\nseveral glances full of sullenness and malignity at my companions; so\nmuch so, that I felt very thankful we were in the cheerful haunts of\nmen, and not in the solitary Alps, or the black forests of Germany, with\nsuch a conductor.\nWe dined at Granvilliers, where we were waited upon by a little girl of\nthirteen, fair and lively enough, with an English bloom. She spoke our\nlanguage remarkably well, although she had only been six months _en\npension_ at Amiens, in order to acquire it! Her instructress was a\nFrench woman, which is singular, for she seemed to have given her little\npupil a perfect knowledge of our idiom, and an excellent accent.\nFrom Granvilliers to Marseille, the country rapidly improves in beauty.\nJust beyond the latter place we remarked a very fine old chateau,\nembosomed in extensive woods: it must formerly have belonged to some of\nthe rich noblesse, and perhaps does so still. Near Marseille, vineyards\nappeared for the first time. We now approached the town of Beauvais,\nwhich had a very pretty effect, surrounded by woods, with the cathedral\nstanding proudly conspicuous over all. It just now occurs to me to\nmention (though not immediately _\u00e0-propos_ to Beauvais), that the\nhouses, in most of the French towns and villages we have yet seen, are\nnumbered, and in a singular method; for the several streets are not\nallowed their numbers, separately reckoned, but they go on counting from\nthe first house in the place to the last, so that it sometimes happens\nyou might be directed to call upon a friend at number 1000, or 2000, and\nso on. In Paris they have another peculiarity, for the even numbers,\nsuch as 2, 4, 6, 8, &c. are all on one side of the street, and the odd\nones, 7, 9, 11, &c. on the other.\nBeauvais is a filthy town; the streets narrow and dark, and the houses\nvery ordinary. The diversity of intolerable smells here nearly overset\nme, and made me wish almost to lose the power of my olfactory nerves.\nThe inn was miserable, dirty, inconvenient, badly attended, and noisy.\nThe only good things we met with were beds; indeed we have been\nfortunate in that respect every where, and the linen throughout France\nis excellent and plentiful.\nWe had (with some difficulty) prevailed upon the awkward _Maritornes_ of\na _fille de chambre_ to set a tea-board before us in the little\nchair-lumbered closet dignified by the name of a _salle a manger_, and\ninto which three or four doors were perpetually opened _sans ceremonie_,\nwhen our Swiss travelling valet, Christian, came in to tell us of the\nhard fate of an English family who were just arrived, and whose fatigue\nobliged them to sleep here; but as the sitting-rooms were all occupied,\nthey were under the necessity of taking their tea in the kitchen, which\ndid not, alas! boast the cheerful and clean appearance of the cottage\nkitchens I have formerly described. Common politeness, therefore, laid\nus under the necessity of sending an invitation to these unfortunates,\nto share our sitting-room, and join us at our tea. Accordingly, in came\ntwo ladies; one a fat, comely, masculine dame, of a certain age; the\nother lean, tall, plain, and some few years younger. In a few minutes\nthey were joined by a large, gruff, sour-looking old gentleman (the\nhusband of the elder lady), who, without attempting any salutation or\napology to us, began to express his dissatisfaction at finding tea going\nforward, 'when you know (said he) I never drink any.' He then settled\nhimself at a small table, and ordered a _p\u00e2t\u00e9_ for his supper. The style\nof the ladies may easily be guessed by the sort of language in which\nthey described every thing they had seen. The younger, mentioning a\ntempestuous passage which they had encountered, from Dover to Boulogne,\ntold us that the air smelt quite _sulphurus_, and the lightning _tizzed_\nin the water very frightfully. The old gentleman grumbled himself by\ndegrees into conversation, and we soon discovered that he was a genuine\nSquire Sullen, and that his companions were fully aware of it. These\npoor people seemed to dislike almost all they had met with in France;\npersons, places, travelling, &c. They beheld every thing _en noir_, and\nappeared to make mountains of mole-hills. Peace be with them! and a\nspeedy release from each other's society.\nWe went (although the day was sinking into twilight) to view the\nmagnificent cathedral, which for beauty of architecture I have seldom\nseen equalled. It is not finished. The different chapels of the saints,\nand the high altar, were very striking, seen through the solemn gloom of\nthe fine old stained glass windows. Lights were burning before the\nshrine of one single saint, the patron of the town; they twinkled dimly\nthrough the Gothic pillars and tracery, and had a highly picturesque and\nsingular effect[2]. Many peasants were kneeling round the altar at this\nshrine, and the old woman (our guide) informed us they were praying for\nrain, now the harvest was got safely in: we asked her if she thought the\nsaint would grant their prayers, and she replied she had no doubt but\nthat he would. Prostrate on the steps of the altars, in the different\nsmall chapels of this cathedral, half lost in shadow, were several other\ndevotees, who had come there for the purpose of confessing themselves\nprevious to the great and solemn festival of the _assomption de la\nSainte Vierge_, which was to take place on the morrow. Altogether the\nspectacle was interesting and imposing, nor could I find any disposition\nin my heart to ridicule a religion which seemed to be carried on with so\nmuch sacred solemnity, and in so awe inspiring a temple. Certainly the\nabsence of pews in the body of a place of public worship is a great\nadvantage, both in a religious and a picturesque point of view. There is\nsomething soothing and elevating to the imagination in the idea of so\ngrand a building being open equally, and at all times, to the noble and\nthe peasant, who, it might easily happen, may be seen side by side\nkneeling on the same steps of the magnificent altar, wrapt in devout\nadoration of that Being, in whose sight all men are equal. In my\nopinion (and I have ever since I can remember thought the same) a Gothic\ncathedral is the most appropriate style of building for a place\ndedicated to the worship of the Almighty, nor can I look upon the\nmagnificent style in which the Roman catholics adorn their altars, and\narray their officiating priests, without some feelings of approbation\nand reverence.\nWe were right glad to quit Beauvais early the next morning; and, as we\nadvanced towards Beaumont, were delighted with the beauty of its\nenvirons. The river Seine has a fine appearance here, although vastly\ninferior to our Thames; and we remarked a great number of chateaus\nrising among the woods, on every side: many of them, with their parks\nand domains, were really superb. Some peasants here attempted to impose\nupon us as foreigners, in a very disgusting manner, asking a franc for a\ncouple of greengages, and three sous a-piece for pears, which they\noffered at the windows of our carriage. Our servant was very indignant\nat their impudence, and sent them off in a hurry, saying, \"Dey ought to\nbe shamed of demselves.\" Upon entering Beaumont, we met the population\nof the place returning from mass, in their _costumes des f\u00eates_. Nothing\ncan well be more sweetly pretty, and delicately neat, than the dress of\nthe women! snowy caps, with deep lace or thin _linon_ borders plaited,\nwhite cotton gowns and stockings, gay coloured cotton handkerchiefs\ncrossed smartly over the bosom so as to display the shape to advantage,\na large gold cross suspended from the neck by a black narrow riband, or\ngold chain, with ear-rings, and pin for the forehead of the same\nmaterial. Some few wore a crimson apron and bib, over the white gown,\nand others crimson gowns, with aprons of a bright antique sort of\nblue--a mixture of colours which is for ever to be remarked in the\npaintings of the old masters, and which has a singularly becoming effect\nupon the skin. A little worked muslin _fischu_, with a vandyke\nbordering, is sometimes added, as a finish to the dress, worn over all.\nWe now came to St. Denis, and at length beheld Paris! We did not pass\nthe heights of Montmartre, &c. without emotion, when we recollected the\nmemorable contest which so lately took place there between the veteran\nBlucher and the French! The country in the immediate vicinity of Paris\nis flat and ugly; but we thought not of nature upon entering this\ncelebrated work and wonder of art. Covered with dust, and followed by\nthe eyes of the multitude, who easily discovered our English\nphysiognomies, we drove up to several hotels, at every one of which we\nwere refused admittance for want of room to accommodate us, there being\nat this moment no less than thirty thousand English at Paris. At last,\nwe were comfortably housed at the _hotel Rivoli_ (near the _jardins des\nTuileries_), one of the best in the city, where we found abundant\ncivility and attention, and every convenience.\nWhy should I attempt to describe Paris? It has already and so often been\ndone by abler pens than mine, that the very school girl in a country\ntown in England is perfectly acquainted with all its lions; I shall only\nsay, that we spent so short a time there, and I was so afraid of\nexhausting my stock of strength, which was fully wanted for the journey\nto Geneva, &c. that I did not even attempt to see every thing that might\nhave been seen.\nThe extreme height of the houses, and narrowness of the streets,\ntogether with the inconceivable variety of horrible smells in all parts\nof the town, and the want of pavements for pedestrians, made an\nextremely unpleasant impression upon me. The gaiety and fancy displayed\nin the signs over the shops (every one of which has an emblematic device\npeculiar to itself) were very striking, however, as well as their\nmarkets, where Pomona seemed to have lavished the choicest treasures of\nher horn: indeed I never beheld such a profusion of exquisite fruits and\nvegetables, the cheapness of which astonished us natives of a more\nniggard clime not a little. The quantities of cooling and refreshing\nbeverages, sold in every corner of the streets, were also quite a novel\nthing to us, as well as the circumstance of all the world sitting on\nhired chairs out of doors, sipping lemonade, or eating ices.\nI did not remark, I must confess, that appearance of excessive animation\nand enjoyment, which I had been led to expect among the Parisians; on\nthe contrary, I saw full as many grave faces as in _notre triste pays_,\nas they call it. The Palais Royal I thought a very amusing place; and\nthe fountain in the midst is most beautiful and refreshing, throwing up\na stream of water, which in its descent resembles a weeping willow. The\nfountain of the Lions, also, is still superior, and I think them among\nthe most agreeable objects in Paris. The Boulevards are an airy,\ncheerful situation, and the moving scene constantly going on there put\nme in mind of a perpetual fair.\nThe gentlemen went to the Opera Fran\u00e7oise, where the splendour of the\nballet, and the superiority of the dancing, struck them with\nastonishment and admiration. They visited Tivoli (which did not appear\nto them to be so good a thing of the sort as our Vauxhall); and I went\none evening to the _Beaujon_, and _les Montaignes Russes_, in _les\nChamps Elys\u00e9es_. Both the latter, however, were shut; that is, no\nsliding in the cars was going on, for there had been so many fatal\naccidents lately, that the rage for this amusement was over. I did not\nlike _les Champs Elys\u00e9es_ so well as our Kensington Gardens; the want of\nturf was unpardonable in our English eyes. _La place de Louis XV._,\nopposite the Tuileries, where the unfortunate Louis XVI. was executed,\nis very superb in itself, as well as interesting from its melancholy\nlegends. I was rather disappointed in _les jardins des Tuileries_,\nadmiring the fine orange-trees in tubs there more than the gardens\nthemselves. We saw the remains of that horrible monument of cruelty,\ninjustice, and despotism, the Bastile; and drove past the entrance to\nthe celebrated _Jardin des plantes_, which we did not enter, as I had\nalready seen a very fine botanical collection at Kew, and a much\nsuperior set of wild beasts at Exeter Change.\nTo the Louvre, however, even in its present state of diminished\nsplendour, no words of mine can do justice; its superb gallery far\nexceeded even my expectations, which had been highly excited by all I\nhad ever heard upon the subject: to see the paintings properly, one\nought to go there every day for a week. We had only time particularly to\ndistinguish several landscapes of Claude Lorraine, beautiful beyond all\nidea, and the set of historical pictures illustrative of the life of\n_Henri quatre_, by Rubens: I was much struck with the fine countenance\nand person of the gallant monarch. A Saint Sebastian also, by Guido,\nrivetted my delighted attention. A friend of ours has painted an\nexquisite miniature copy of it, with which I remember being greatly\nstruck in England, but it was not until I had seen the original that I\nwas fully aware of its extraordinary merit. The gallery itself is a most\nmagnificent thing; it really is quite a long fatiguing walk from one end\nof it to the other; and the crowds of people of all ranks who are\nconstantly to be met with there render it altogether one of the most\ncurious and interesting spectacles in Europe.\nI was much amused with the shops, particularly the confectioners; the\ningenious and endless devices into which they form their delicious bon\nbons and dried fruits are really surprising, and we purchased specimens\nof their different fancies, to astonish our English friends upon our\nreturn home. The _vendeurs des tisannes_ (cooling beverages, something\nlike _eau de groseilles_, or lemonade), going about with their stock in\ntrade strapped to their backs like walking tea-urns, were curious\nfigures. The vessel which holds the _tisanne_ is not unlike a long\nviolin case in shape, with a spout to it; it finishes at the top like a\nChinese pagoda, and is sometimes covered with little jingling bells, and\nhung round with pretty silver mugs. The dress of the _petites\nbourgeoises_ is quite distinct from that of every other rank of person;\nit is rather smart and neat than otherwise, but not at all picturesque.\nI do not remember to have heard a single note of agreeable music while I\nwas in Paris, except that which regaled our ears in an opposite hotel\n(belonging to Count S.) the second evening of our arrival. This nobleman\n(of an Irish family, but now a naturalized Frenchman) gave a grand\ndinner (in a temporary banqueting-room, built out upon the leads of the\nhouse _\u00e0 la troisieme \u00e9tage_) to the English; and, during the\nentertainment, his band of musicians played several pieces, amongst\nothers the celebrated national air, still dear to the French, of _Vive\nHenri quatre_; they then attempted God save the King, but made a\ndreadful business of it, which I attribute less to professional\nignorance than to the impossibility of their being able to feel it, or\nto enter into the spirit of it _con amore_! The ballad singers (at least\nall of them that we had an opportunity of hearing) have harsh wiry\nvoices and nasal tones; the latter circumstance, however, is almost\ninseparable from their language. I could not but be diverted with the\n_espi\u00e8glerie_ of the _fille de chambre_ who attended me at the hotel de\nRivoli: she was ugly, but shrewd, and very active and civil. I asked her\nif Count S. was a young man; upon which she hopped round the room in the\nmost ridiculous manner possible, imitating the action of a decrepit old\nperson. _Jeune!_ (said she) _oh mon Dieu, que non! c'est un vieux\nMonsieur_ _qui va toujours comme cela!_ I inquired if she knew why he\ngave this f\u00eate. Oh, _je n'en sais rien, mais, le pauvre homme, il n'a\nque tres peu de temps encore \u00e0 restre dans ce monde ci, et je crois\nqu'il aime \u00e0 faire parler de lui, avant de partir pour l'autre._\nAs to the personal charms of the women here, they appeared to me to be\nvery mediocre; we remarked three or four pretty faces, but not one that\nhad any claim to superior beauty. The people were all civil to us,\nexcept one woman, who kept a little shop for _bijouterie_ in _le Palais\nRoyal_: nothing could be more pert and sulky than her language and\nmanner; she looked as if she hated us and our nation altogether. We\nheard reports from other English people residing here, that it was very\ncommon for the lower orders of French to treat us with marked incivility\nand dislike; indeed that they should do so, under the present\ncircumstances, ought not to be wondered at. The bronze statue of _Henri\nquatre_ was erecting during our stay; we passed by the spot (close to\nthe _Pont Neuf_), and beheld a mob assembled around it, with _gens\nd'armes_ on duty: we did not see the statue itself, it being at that\nmoment covered with a purple mantle, studded with golden _fleurs de\nlis_. The various political parties speak differently of this affair:\nsome say the brass of the statue will soon be converted into mortars,\nand others, that it is built upon a rock, and will stand for ever! The\nbridges appeared to us all vastly inferior to ours in London; that of\nWaterloo, in the Strand, makes them shrink into utter insignificance in\ncomparison! but the palaces and public buildings are, on the contrary,\ninfinitely finer than our own. Nothing can be more magnificent, or in a\nmore noble taste! I was very much amused by the novelty (totally unknown\nto ladies in England) of dining at a _restaurateur's_. Curiosity induced\nme to accompany Mr. Baillie, and our friend, to _V\u00e9ry's_, and the next\nday to _Beauvilliers'_, two of the most distinguished in the profession\nin Paris; and the excellence of the cookery almost awakened (or rather I\nshould say created) in me a spirit of _gourmandise_. There were a few\nother ladies present, which was a sort of sanction for me. A Russian or\nPrussian officer (by his appearance) sat at one of the little tables\nnext to us, at _Beauvilliers'_, and very nearly made me sick by the\nsight of his long, thick, greasy moustaches, and his disgusting habit of\nspitting every instant upon the floor. I observed that the French people\neat their vegetables (always dressed with white sauce) after the meat,\n&c. and as a sort of dessert or _bonne bouche_ even after they have\nfinished their sweet dishes: to us this seems an odd custom. We took our\ncoffee and liqueurs at a _Caf\u00e9_ near the Tuileries, and then, while the\ngentlemen went to the opera, I returned to the hotel, to go on with my\njournal.\nOne morning we devoted to an expedition to the interesting cemetery of\n_P\u00e8re de la Chaise_, the celebrated confessor of Louis quatorze. The\nhouse in which he resided stands in the midst, and is preserved as a\nsacred ruin. Nothing can be more striking, and affecting to the\nimagination, than this place of burial; it is of considerable extent,\nwith a well managed relief of shade and inequality of ground. The tombs\nand graves are kept in the highest order and repair, and almost all of\nthem are planted with shrubs and fragrant flowers, mingled with the\nmournful cypress and yew: the acacia tree also is planted here in great\nabundance, and the wild vine trails its broad leaves and graceful\nclusters over many of the monuments. We remarked several beautiful\ntombs; amongst others, a light Gothic temple, which contains the\nmouldering remains of Abelard and Eloise, brought from the former place\nof their interment to the present appropriate and lovely situation:\ntheir statues lie side by side carved in stone, in their religious\nhabits, their heads resting on cushions, and his feet upon a dog. All\nthis did him too much honour; as he was the most selfish tyrannical\nlover in the world, and quite unworthy, in my opinion, of the attachment\nof the unfortunate Eloise. Several of the inscriptions on humbler tombs\nwere affecting from their brevity and simplicity; upon that of a man in\nthe prime of life we read the following short sentence: _A la memoire de\nmon meilleur ami_--_c'\u00e9toit mon frere_! On another, _Ci_ _git P----\nN----: son epouse perd en lui le plus tendre de ses amis, et ses enfans\nun modele de vertu_. And upon one raised by its parents to the memory of\na child, _ci git notre fils cheri_; a little crown of artificial orange\nblossoms, half blown, was in a glass-case at his head. We observed many\ngarlands of fresh and sweet flowers, hung upon the graves; every thing\nmarked the existence of tender remembrance and regret: it appears to me\nas if in this place, alone, the dead were never forgotten. I ought,\nhowever, to make honourable mention of a similar custom in Wales. A\nwoman was kneeling upon one of the tombs (which was overgrown by\nfragrant shrubs), weeping bitterly, and I felt a great inclination to\nbear her company: the last roses of summer were still lingering here,\nand she was gathering one as we passed. There is a remarkably fine view\nof Paris from the mount on which the house of _P\u00e8re de la Chaise_\nstands. I said it was preserved as a sacred ruin, but I, as a\nprotestant, could not look with much veneration upon it, as the\nresidence of the instigator of the revocation of the edict of Nantes;\nthat foul stain upon the character, and disgrace to the understanding of\n_le grand Louis_, which will ever be remembered with indignation by\nevery candid and liberal Christian. But Protestantism has likewise its\nbigots, almost as remorseless, and equally blind! witness some\nsentiments discovered in the discourses of furious Calvin, and John\nKnox; witness the actions of Cromwell, and his fanatical roundheads;\nwitness (alas! in our own days), the uncharitable and horribly\npresumptuous principles and tenets of the Methodists and Saints! But\nthis is another digression: I return to the view of Paris. It is, as I\nsaid before, extremely fine; you have a bird's eye prospect of the whole\ncity, with the proud towers of Notre Dame eminently conspicuous, and the\ngilded dome of _l'h\u00f4pital des Invalides_, glittering in the sun. A word\n(only one word) relative to the French custom of gilding so much and so\ngaudily; it quite spoils the dignified effect of some of their noblest\nworks of architecture, and puts one in mind of a child who prefers the\nshowy ostentation of gold leaf upon his gingerbread to the more\nwholesome taste of its own plain and unornamented excellence. I have met\nwith English people, however, who are vastly delighted with this false\nstyle of decoration.\nBefore I take leave of Paris, I ought in justice to acknowledge that I\nhave not had an opportunity of enjoying its chief and proudest\nattraction; I mean its best society. Our time did not allow of any\nintercourse of this nature, and I regretted it much, because I have\nalways heard (and from those most capable of judging rightly) that the\ntone of conversation in the upper circles here is remarkably attractive\nand delightful; and that lovers of good taste, high breeding, social\nenjoyment, and literary pursuits, would find themselves in Paris _en\npays de connoissance_. Deprived of this gratification, we felt (at least\nMr. B. and myself) no sort of reluctance or regret when the day of our\ndeparture arrived: for our friend Mr. W. I will not so confidently\nanswer; he had been in Paris twice before, had met with many agreeable\npeople there, and consequently felt more at home among them.\nAs for me in particular, I can only say that Paris made no great\nimpression upon my fancy, and none at all upon my feelings; (always\nexcepting the _Louvre_, the _cimetiere_ of _P\u00e8re de la Chaise_, and one\nor two other interesting spectacles): and that I was, as I before\nobserved, so overpowered by its inconceivably filthy effluvia, and the\nwretched inconvenience of its streets (both for walking and going in a\ncarriage), that I rather felt an exhilaration of spirits than otherwise\nwhen we finally bade it adieu.\nOn the morning of our departure it rained a good deal, and our\npostillion had taken care to fence himself against the weather; for he\nhad disguised himself in a long shaggy dress of goats' skins, bearing a\nvery accurate resemblance to the prints of Robinson Crusoe. We observed\nthis done by others, more than once. The horses had little bells\nfastened to their harness; which practice is very common, we were told,\nboth in France and Italy. All the roads in the former, and most of them\nin the latter country, are good; wide, smooth, and generally paved in\nthe middle, which has a noisy effect, but it renders the draught for\nhorses much easier than the road, in wet weather, or when they work in\nvery heavy carriages. Avenues are general; they improve the face of the\ncountry when seen at a distance, but are monotonous and tiresome in\nthemselves. I used formerly to admire roads leading though avenues, but\nit is possible to have too much of this. Between Villejuif and\nFromenteau we observed a pillar on the left with the following\nchivalrous inscription; _Dieu, le Roi, les Dames!_ I was going to\nrejoice in this apparent proof of the gallant spirit of the nation, but\nI recollected the celebrated words of Burke, in his letter upon the\nFrench revolution, and sighed as I involuntarily repeated, \"The age of\nchivalry is no more.\"\nJust beyond Fromenteau, the country is really fine: woods, villages,\nchateaus were in abundance, and the river Seine appeared to much\nadvantage; we remarked two stone fountains, one on each side of the\nroad, with the _fleurs de lis_ engraved upon them, built by Louis XV.\nThe French mile-stones here have quite a classical air, resembling\nbroken columns; they are not properly mile-stones, but serve to mark the\nhalf leagues.\nAt Essone, where we changed horses, the postillion came out in a white\nnight-cap (or rather a cap which once had boasted that title of purity),\nloose blue trowsers reaching scantily below the knee, and sans shoes or\nstockings of any sort: upon seeing that his services were wanted, he\nthrew on an old japan hat, jumped into his jack boots, and clawing up\nthe reins, drove off with an air of as much importance and self\nsatisfaction as the smartest-clad post-boy on the Epsom road during the\nrace week.\nIn the stubble fields near Fontainbleau, we observed great quantities of\npartridges. The shepherds here sleep in little moveable houses or huts,\nupon wheels, somewhat inferior to a good English dog-kennel. At Chailly,\nwe saw the Virgin Mary looking out of a round hole in the wall, and not\nat all more dignified in her appearance than the well-known hero of\nCoventry. We now exchanged our driver for a spirited old gentleman, who\nfrolicked along beneath the burthen of threescore or more, seeming to\nbid defiance to the whole collection of pains and HH's (vide Kemble's\nclassical pronunciation). Perhaps, reader, I do not make my meaning\nperfectly clear; but that does not signify, the first authors write in\nthis way; and besides, I know what I mean myself, which is not always\nthe case even with them. We remarked in the course of our journey a\ngreat number of similar merry Nestors, and found, almost invariably,\nthat they drove us faster, better, and in a superior style altogether to\ntheir younger competitors. I suppose they have a sort of pride in thus\ndisplaying their activity, which a middle-aged man does not feel.\nWe entered the superb forest of Fontainbleau just as the day began to\ndecline; the sombre gloom and peculiar smell of the leaves were very\nagreeable. I have ever loved forest scenery, and would prefer a constant\nresidence in its vicinity to that of mountain, lake, or plain: the trees\nhere were chiefly beech, mixed with silver poplars, birch, and a few\noaks. How was it possible to thread these mazes without thinking of\n_Henri quatre_, and his famous hunting adventure in the miller's hut? I\nalmost expected to see the stately shade of the noble monarch start from\neach shadowy dell. Methought the sullen, yet faithful Sully, emerged\nfrom the dark glades on the opposite side, seeking in vain for the\nbenighted sovereign; and venting his affectionate inquietudes in the\nlanguage of apparent severity and ill humour. I thought--but it does not\nmatter what more I thought, in which opinion I dare say my reader will\nfully agree with me. We arrived at our inn (_la Gal\u00e8re_), and well did\nit deserve that name, for never poor slave chained to the bench and oar\nsuffered more severely from the merciless lash of his task-master than I\ndid from the tormenting tyranny of the bugs, which swarmed in this\ndetestable place. There was no sitting-room immediately ready for our\nreception, so we sat down in the old, lofty, smoke-stained kitchen, and\namused ourselves with observing the progress of our supper, in company\nwith a very sociable little dog, (who took a great fancy to me,) and\n_Monsieur le Chef_, an appropriate name, invariably given to the cook\nin most parts of the Continent.\nWhen we retired to rest for the night, no words can express the disgust\nwhich assailed us: finding it impossible to remain in bed, I was obliged\nto lie in the middle of the room, upon six hard, worm-eaten, wooden\nchairs, whose ruthless angles ran into my wearied frame, and rendered\nevery bone sore before morning; but even this did not save me, for the\nvermin ascended by the legs of the chairs, and really almost eat me up,\nas the rats did Southey's Bishop Hatto[3]. My imagination for several\ndays after this adventure was so deeply saturated with their nauseous\nidea, that every object brought them in some way or other before me.\nUpon quitting Fontainbleau, we first observed the _sabots_ (or wooden\nshoes) worn by the peasantry; they are of enormous size, and must, I\nshould think, be very heavy and inconvenient to the wearer. A piece of\nsheep-skin, with the woolly side inwards, is often slipt between the\nsabot and the foot, to prevent the former from excoriating the instep.\nAt Moret, a dirty little town, we saw a whole row of women washing linen\nin the river; they were in a kneeling position, and beat the clothes\nwith a wooden mallet; they ought all to be provided with husbands from\namong the linen drapers, as they are such admirable helps to the trade.\nWe met several donkeys here, carrying rushes, piled up like moving\nhouses, so high, that only the heads and hoofs of the animals were\nvisible. Vast tracts of land, covered with vineyards, extended on every\nside, and the eternal straight road, where one could see for three or\nfour miles the track one was to follow, began to be excessively tedious\nand wearing to the spirits: how different from the winding, undulating,\ngraceful roads in England!\nCountry near Pont sur Yonne open, bald, and monotonous. The French\nvineyards when seen closely have a formal effect, being planted in stiff\nrows, like scarlet runners in a kitchen garden, but they much enrich\nthe landscape at a distance. The river Yonne is a pretty little stream,\nbut the nymphs on its banks are not at all picturesque in their costume,\nwhich is by no means particularly marked, being dirty and unbecoming,\nand very much (I am ashamed to say) in the style of our common\ncountrywomen about Brentford, Hammersmith, &c.\nSens is an ancient town: it has a handsome cathedral and gateway. The\nbread made here (as well as in most parts of France, except partially in\nParis) is mixed with leaven instead of yeast, and is sour and\ndisagreeable in consequence. We remarked many gardens richly cultivated,\nfull of choice vegetables and fruit, by the side of the highroad,\nwithout the smallest inclosure; a proof, I should imagine, of the\nhonesty of the country people. There are several English families\nresident here, as the environs are very pretty, and the town itself an\nagreeable one. We stopped to take our breakfast at _la Poste_, and\nbought excellent grapes for four-pence a pound English money. The late\nDauphin, father of the present king, is buried in the cathedral of this\nplace, and the duke and duchess d'Angouleme, &c. come once a year to\npray for his soul's repose.\nPursuing our route, we met many Burgundy waggons, loaded with wine; the\nhorses were ornamented with enormous collars of sheep-skin, dyed of a\nbright blue colour: the _tout ensemble_ had a picturesque appearance,\nand the waggons were the first we had seen in France which had four\nwheels, the weight being usually balanced between a pair. A sudden storm\nof rain now coming on, had a beautiful effect; the retreating sunbeams\nplayed in catching lights (to use the expression of an artist) upon the\nabrupt points of the distant hills, and partially illuminated their soft\nand verdant tapestry of vines. We particularly enjoyed it after the long\nseason of heat and drought. Here are whole groves of walnut-trees,\nbeneath which we met a group of five women belonging to the vineyards;\nthey were every one handsome, with ruddy, wholesome, yet sun-burnt\ncomplexions, lively smiles, and long bright dark eyes and shadowy\nlashes.\nEntered Villeneuve sur Yonne; saw loads of charcoal on the river, going\nto replenish the kitchens of many a _Parisian Heliogabalus_! this is\nalso an ancient town, with two curious old gateways, but it appeared\nvery dull. I admired some fine hedges of acacia, and four pretty, sleek,\ngrey donkeys, who were drawing the plough. The road is winding here,\nlike those of our own country, for which we were solely indebted to the\nturns of the river, whose course it accompanied.\nJoigny. A handsome stone bridge seems its most remarkable ornament: the\nriver is broad and fine, flowing through steep banks fringed with wood.\nWe dined and slept at _les Cinq Mineurs_, and this in the same room. A\nmost obliging, intelligent, young woman waited upon us, whose name was\n_Veronique_. After dinner we walked on the promenade by the side of the\nriver, and saw the barracks, &c. My friends met with a little adventure\nin their rambles, while I was resting myself at the inn. Seeing a pretty\nlittle boy and his sister at play near the chateau, (belonging to the\nancient counts of Joigny,) they entered into conversation with them,\nupon which they were joined by the father of the children, a French\ncountry gentleman, who resided in a small house opposite the chateau: he\ninsisted upon their coming in with him, and as the dinner was ready,\nmuch wished to tempt them to partake the meal: this they declined, and\ntheir new acquaintance proceeded to shew them his collection of\npictures, _de tr\u00e8s bons morceaux_, as he called them, but which did not\nrank quite so high in the estimation of his visitors. He unintentionally\ndisplayed, however, a much more pleasing possession; I mean that of an\namiable and grateful disposition, for he said in the course of\nconversation, that he was always on the watch for an opportunity of\nshewing hospitality and attention to the English, as some little return\nfor the kindness he had experienced from their nation, during a visit he\nhad formerly made to his brother in Dorsetshire; this brother was one of\nthe monks of the order of _La Trappe_, a small number of whom had been\ncollected together, and who lived, in their former habits of monastic\ngloom and austerity, at Lulworth castle in that county, under the\nprotection of an English catholic (Mr. Weld), during the French\nrevolution. He related some interesting anecdotes of this severe\nestablishment; in particular, that of an Austrian general of high rank,\nwho after enrolling himself a member of the community, and living some\nyears in the practice of incredible hardships and privations, at length\npermitted his tongue to reveal his name and family, about ten minutes\nprevious to his dissolution; faithful to the vow which is common to them\nall, of not speaking until the moment of death. I was not aware that\nsuch an institution existed in England, till this French gentleman\nrelated the circumstance, and it strengthened the sensations of mixed\nhorror and pity, which I have ever felt for the victims of fanaticism,\nin every shape and in every degree. How incredible does it appear, (in\nthe judgment of reasonable beings) that mortals should imagine the\nbenevolent Author of Nature can possibly take pleasure in a mode of\nworship which restricts his creatures from the enjoyment of those\ncomforts and innocent pleasures with which life abounds, and for which\nhe has so peculiarly adapted their faculties! Shall all created beings\nexpress their sense of existence in bursts of involuntary cheerfulness\nand hilarity of spirit, and man alone offer up his adorations with a\nbrow of gloom, and a heart withered by slavish sensations of fear and\nalarm? but enough upon so sacred a subject.\nOn returning to their inn, the gentlemen met several teams of oxen,\ndecorated with pretty high bonnets (_\u00e0 la cauchoise_) made of straw: the\nnatives here seem to take great pride and pleasure in the accoutrements\nof their cattle. An English family arrived at the _Cinq Mineurs_ at the\nsame time with ourselves; they were well known in London as people of\nsome consequence and property. Their sensations on passing through\nFrance were widely different from ours, as they described themselves to\nhave been thoroughly disgusted with every body and every thing they saw;\nhad met with nothing but cheating and imposition among the people; and\nhad not been able to observe any pretty country, or interesting objects\n_en route_--yet they had gone over exactly the same ground that we had\ndone. As they sometimes travelled all night, I conclude they slept the\nwhole or greater part of the time; but there are more ways than one of\ngoing through the world with the eyes shut.\nIn the neighbourhood of Joigny, (on the other side of the town,) there\nis a great quantity of hemp grown; and all the trees are stripped up to\nthe tops, like those in many parts of Berkshire, where the graceful is\nfrequently sacrificed to the useful: they had a very ugly effect.\nApproaching Auxerre, the cathedral looks handsome; there are three\nchurches besides. The first view of Burgundy is not prepossessing;\nnothing but tame-looking hills, with casual patches of vines; the river,\nhowever, is a pretty object, and continues to bestow a little life upon\nthe landscape. The same absence of costume continues. At Auxerre, we\nbreakfasted at _l'hotel du Leopard_; the vines were trained over the\nhouse with some degree of taste, and took off from the air of forlorn\ndiscomfort which the foreign inns so frequently exhibit. I was rather\nsurprised at being ushered into the same room with a fine\nhaughty-looking peacock, a pea-hen, and their young brood; they did not\nseem at all disconcerted at my entrance, but continued stalking gravely\nabout, as if doing the honors of the apartment. The _salle \u00e0 manger_ was\nin a better _go\u00fbt_ (although not half so comfortable) than most of our\nEnglish parlours; the walls were papered with graceful figures from\nstories of the pagan mythology and bold, spirited landscapes in the back\nground, coloured in imitation of old bistre drawings; the crazy sopha\nand arm chair were covered with rich tapestry, of prodigiously fine\ncolours, yet somewhat the worse for wear. This was our first Burgundy\nbreakfast, and it evinced the luxuriance of the country, for it\nconsisted (as a thing of course) of black and white grapes, melons,\npeaches, greengages, and pears, to which were added fresh eggs by the\ndozen, good _caf\u00e8 au lait_, and creaming butter just from the churn,\nwith the crucifix stamped upon it. At all French _d\u00e9jeun\u00e9s_ they ask if\nyou do not choose fruit, and at dinner it is invariably brought to table\nin the last course, with a slice of cheese as part of the dessert. Mr.\nBaillie was not well, and starved like Tantalus in the midst of plenty,\nwhich was very unlucky.\nBonaparte on his return from Elba occupied this apartment; and the\npostillion who drove us was one of those who rendered the same service\nto him: we had also a pair of the same horses which aided in conveying\nhim on towards Paris. He passed two days here, waiting for his small\narmy of five thousand men to come up with him, as his speed greatly\noutran theirs. He had six horses to his travelling carriage, and gave\neach postillion ten francs a piece; \"_Ma foi!_\" (said ours in relating\nthe circumstance) \"_nous avons bien galopp\u00e9! quand on nous paye si bien,\nles chevaux ne se fatiguent jamais!_\" There was some honesty as well as\nwit in this avowal.\nQuitting Auxerre, we passed a large stone cistern, with a cross on the\ntop; several loaded donkeys were drinking here, and some women washing\nclothes; it was altogether a picturesque group, and singular to an\nEnglish eye. Vineyards, vineyards, vineyards! _toujours perdrix!_ I was\nquite tired of them at last. The country, however, now became much more\nhilly, and we used the drag-chain, for the first time, between Saint\nBris and Vermanton; these hills were richly covered with vines, and\nwoods began to appear, in the form of thick dwarfish oak.\nVermanton. This place is famed for wood and wine. We saw the _paysannes_\nhere in deep gipsy straw hats, the first we had beheld in France among\nthis class of people; for even in Paris, the _petites bourgeoises_, as\nwell as the countrywomen, all walk about in caps, or the French\nhandkerchief tied carelessly round the head. The country from hence\nagain changed much for the worse, barren hills extended for several\nmiles, now and then covered with partial spots of vegetation.\nClose to the town of Avalon, we remarked a range of hills, one of which\nis of great height, called Montmartre. We here bid adieu for some time\nto vineyards. Large extensive woods surround Avalon, from which the\ngreater part of the fuel burnt in Paris is taken. Flocks of sheep were\ncontinually passing, numbers of black ones, and some goats always among\nthem. There seemed to be few pigs any where, and all of them were\nfrightfully lean: \"as fat as a pig\" is a term of reproach for which I\nhave ever entertained a particular aversion, but I am now convinced that\nthese beasts are much more disgusting when deprived of their natural\n_embonpoint_. I fancy the French people make too good a use themselves\nof what we should call _the refuse of the kitchen_, to have any to spare\nfor the necessities of these their fourfooted brethren. We now came into\nthe neighbourhood of widely extended cornfields--fields I ought not to\ncall them, for there are no inclosures. We saw an old woman at a cottage\ndoor, with a distaff in her hand; the first I had ever seen except in a\npicture. She was a withered, grim-looking crone, but not quite sublime\nenough for one of Gray's \"fatal sisters.\" Scene the next, a pretty,\ngreen, tranquil glen, (where cattle were making the most of the\nunusually rich pasturage,) bounded by a steep bank, and copse wood; not\nunlike some spots in Surrey.\nWe drove on, through a shady wood, to Rouvray, passing on the road\ncrowds of waggons drawn by oxen, loaded with empty wine casks,\npreparatory to the vintage, which was expected to be very fine this\nseason: the waggoners almost all wore cocked hats, and we remarked that\nthe oxen were yoked by the head. We met a _diligence_ drawn by four\nmules, and observed many beautiful trees of mountain ash, with their\nbright clusters of scarlet berries, by the side of the highway.\nStopping for a few moments at la Roche en Berney, we joined a group of\nthe most respectable _bourgeoisie_, (men and women,) sitting with the\nhostess on a bench at her door. They all rose up to salute us, and the\nmen stood _sans chapeau_ as we passed, with an agreeable expression of\ncivil good will upon every countenance. Some of the ladies had little\nFrench dogs under their arms. The country near this place is covered\nwith wood, yet has notwithstanding a monotonous character; these woods\nhowever are worthy of remark, from their extent and duration, continuing\non all sides without interruption for many miles.\nWe now arrived at Saulieu, where we supped and slept at _la Poste_. It\nwas quite in the cottage style, which we all rather liked than not: we\nhad a cheerful little wood fire at night (as the weather felt chilly),\nand sat round it talking of the adventures of the day, until the hour of\nrepose. This town stands upon the highest ground in France; the snow was\nnever entirely off the neighbouring woods during the whole of the last\nwinter: vineyards will not flourish in so bleak a situation, and other\nfruits are very scarce. The hostess was a most loyal personage, for upon\nmy observing a bust of _Henri quatre_ over the chimney, and saying he\nwas truly the father of his people, she exclaimed, _Oui, Madame! mais \u00e0\npresent nous avons aussi des rois qui font le bonheur de leurs sujets_.\nThe costume here still continues undecided, and devoid of taste. Two\nvery pretty, modest, rustic lasses waited upon us, named Marie and\nLodine. Lodine was a brunette, with an arch, dimpled, comical little\nface, (round as an apple, and equally glowing,) teeth white as snow, and\nregular as a set of pearls; but I rather preferred the opposite style of\nMarie, who was slighter in her person, graver, and whose long dark eyes\nand penciled brows alone gave lustre and expression to an oval face, and\na pale yet clear and fine grained skin: these eyes, however, were not so\noften illuminated by bright flashes of innocent gaiety as those of\nLodine, but they made amends by the length and beauty of their soft\nblack lashes. Lodine's admiration was prodigiously excited by my English\near-rings, and rings, &c. She took them up one by one to examine, and\nexclaimed frequently that she had never seen such beautiful things in\nher life. Poor little rustic! I hope no unprincipled traveller will ever\ntake advantage of thy simplicity and love of finery, and persuade thee\nto exchange for toys of a similar description the precious jewels of\ninnocence and good fame. Mr. W. went into the market the next morning,\nbefore either Mr. Baillie or myself were up, and remarked that almost\nevery woman there was well looking; he also saw some really beautiful\ngirls among them. There are two neat churches here. The swarms of\nbeggars which assailed us at every town, in this part of the country,\nwere positively quite annoying; their bold and sturdy importunity made\nme recollect, with regret, the sensitive delicacy of Sterne's poor\n\"Monk,\" and wish that they were as easily repulsed! Had this been the\ncase, I dare say we should have given them every _sous_ in our\npossession; but, as it was, I never felt less difficulty in steeling my\nears and my heart.\nThe face of nature seemed like a map, the road was upon such elevated\nground. But leaving Saulieu, our route was agreeably varied by a\ncontinual alternation of hill and dale; the foreground rocky, enlivened\nwith purple heath and furze. We frequently made the remark, that we had\nnot yet seen a single cottage which could be called pretty since we\nlanded at Calais; and the lovely and picturesque hamlets of the Isle of\nWight, the neighbourhood of the New Forest, and of parts of Surrey,\nreturned upon my imagination in all their force. There are woods of\ndwarf oak near this place, beyond which we caught, for the first time\nduring our tour, the view of a mountain in the horizon. We changed\nhorses at Pierre Ecrite, where we met with a postillion who was a living\nimage of Don Quixote. I, who am such an enthusiastic admirer of the\nlatter, could willingly have given a double fee for the pleasure I took\nin contemplating his faithful resemblance; the loose shamoy leather\ndoublet, brown beaver Spanish-looking flapped hat; long, black, greasy\nhair, hanging in strings about his scraggy neck and doleful visage; the\nwild, eager, prominent, dark eyes, &c.--all was complete! The French\ndrivers differ in many particulars from ours; in one respect alone there\nis a wide line of demarcation. The former talk a good deal (_en route_)\nto their horses, while the latter confine themselves to the mute\neloquence of the whip and spur.\nThe country now assumes a totally new character. The hills rise into\nthe dignity of mountains, and are entirely barren, save in the immediate\nvicinity of a little valley or two which smiles between them, when their\nrough granite sides are clothed with partial underwood; these valleys\nhave a verdant and cultivated effect, from being well wooded, and also\nfrom the unusual practice of inclosing the fields with hedges. Indeed\nthe whole scene for three or four miles before you come to Autun is\nbold, rich, and beautiful. We were told that the people here and in the\nSouth of France were (generally speaking) extremely well-disposed\ntowards the Bourbon government, disliking the remembrance of Bonaparte.\nAutun, an ugly town, yet most romantically situated at the foot of three\nmountains covered with superb woods. Here are some fine gateways of\nCorinthian architecture, baths, and a cathedral. We went to look at the\nlatter, and saw several women there telling their beads, who cast an eye\nof curiosity upon us in the midst of their devotions, while their\nfingers and lips continued to move with great rapidity. I peeped into\nseveral vacant confessionals, which resembled little sentry-boxes,\npartitioned into two apartments, in one of which there is a seat for the\npriest, and in the other a grated aperture through which the penitent\nbreathes his communications.\nThe tomb of the president Jennin and his wife is shewn here. It was, I\nbelieve, concealed during the fury of the revolution, in common with\nmany similar and sacred curiosities. He was one of _Henri quatre's_\nministers, and a man much esteemed by that sovereign. He cannot have a\nhigher professional eulogium. The costume both of the president and his\ndame is quaint in the extreme, and the length of her waist is quite\nridiculous. Our inn (_la poste_) was comfortable and reasonable. For\nfive francs a-head, they sent us up for dinner (I will for once say what\nwe had for dinner) some capital soup _au ris_, a magnificent jack, a\nduck stewed with pickles, a fowl, white and delicate as those of\nDorking, a ragout of sweetbreads in brown sauce, a large dish of\ncraw-fish, potatoes drest _\u00e0 la ma\u00eetre d'hotel_, Guyere cheese, and four\nbaskets of fruit. The latter evinced the coldness of the climate here,\nfor the peaches were diminutive, crude, and colourless, the grapes\nrather sour, and the cherries hard, tough, and not bigger than black\ncurrants.\nLeaving Autun, we passed over a very steep granite mountain of that\nname, covered in the most luxuriant profusion with trees of every sort,\nbut chiefly oak: the road wound round the sides till it reached nearly\nthe summit of this mountain in graceful sweeps. It rained during our\nascent, and the groups of women emerging at intervals from the woody\nrecesses in the steeps above us, with their gay coloured cotton\nhandkerchiefs held over their white caps, to shelter them from the\nscudding shower, looked highly picturesque. The male costume here\nbecomes marked; it consists of a very large black hat, (with a low crown\nand an enormous breadth of brim,) round which is sometimes worn a string\nof red and white beads; a dark blue linen jacket and trowsers, coloured\nwaistcoat, white shirt, with a square deep collar thrown open at the\nthroat, and _sabots_. We could plainly hear the babbling of the brook\nwhich runs among these sylvan retreats. My husband gathered me some\nblackberries in the woods, and I longed to accompany him in his rambles,\ninstead of remaining in the carriage. Altogether it was the most\nromantic scene I had ever beheld, and my exclamations of admiration\nreaching the ears of the postillion, (who was easing his horses by\nwalking by their side) he came up to the window, to ask me if I had ever\nseen such a beautiful thing in my own country? I assured him I had not,\nand he graciously added that he would shew me a very grand plain also in\na few minutes. Our Swiss attendant, however, (Christian) did not seem to\napprove of all these commendations, and could not refrain from throwing\nout a hint, that we should see much finer things in _his_ country. This\nmountain is covered with wild strawberries in the season. Bonaparte\nintended to have made a wider road through it, had not the Fates thought\nproper to cut short his plans when he least expected it. The view of the\npromised plain was fertile as that of Canaan; the glimpses of it caught\noccasionally through the openings of the rocks were charming. I liked\nthe national pride of the postillion; applied thus to the beauties of\nnature, it had almost a character of refinement: he was a good-humoured,\nmerry-looking, ugly fellow, who seemed as if he had never known a care\nin his life; but (the truth must be told) he was a great admirer of\nBonaparte, and said he should live and die in the hope of his return. He\nhad laid by his green jacket and badge in his box, thinking it not\nimpossible that he might want to wear it again one day; at all events he\ntrusted to see the young son upon the throne, and spoke of him with much\naffectionate emotion. Bonaparte had been driven by this man (upon his\nflight from Elba,) and this puts me in mind, that I omitted to mention\nthe circumstance of my having slept in the same bed which he then\noccupied at Autun; I think he must have left his troubled spirit behind\nhim, for my dreams were perturbed and melancholy in the greatest degree!\nThere are plenty of wolves and wild boars in this neighbourhood; five\nof the latter were killed the week before. I expected to have met with\ngipsies, but neither here, nor in any other part of the continent, had\nwe yet encountered one of the race.\nAt St. Emilan, (a small village) we stopt to breakfast: it was a merry,\ncheerful meal. We sat round the blazing faggots in the cottage kitchen\nof la Poste, and boiled our eggs in a vessel which I believe was an old\niron shaving pot; the milk (for our coffee) was served up in a large\nearthen tureen, with a pewter ladle; and the cups were of a dirty yellow\ncracked ware, that I am sure my cook would not suffer to be exhibited in\nher scullery. The bread was sour, and so was the fruit, but I never\nremember to have enjoyed a breakfast more thoroughly; so true is it,\nthat hunger is the best sauce. The host (seeing that we were English)\nasked if we would not choose our _pain_ to be _grill\u00e9_? and was\nproceeding to broil it accordingly, instead of toasting it, if we had\nnot preferred the loaf in its natural state. We were somewhat surprised\nat seeing a print over the chimney of Dr. Nicholas Saunderson,\nProfessor of Astronomy at Cambridge. An obscure village kitchen in the\nheart of France was the last place where one would have expected to have\nfound such a thing. The hostess had bought it many years since at a sale\nof the property of the celebrated Buffon.\nSeeing some cows ploughing in the fields here, which was what we had\nnever before witnessed, our servant Christian gave us an account of the\nmanner of conducting that operation in Switzerland; \"de only difference\nis (said he) dat dere de _cows_ be all _oxes_.\" The costume of the\n_paysannes_ is very picturesque; a straw hat, of the gipsy form, and\nlarge as an umbrella, rather short petticoat, gay coloured handkerchief,\ndeep bordered white cap, and _sabots_. The landscape was rather pretty\nfor some distance beyond St. Emilan.\nWe now began to meet with vineyards again, as we descended from these\nbleak and elevated regions. A brook wound through the lowlands, fringed\nwith willows, by means of which we could as usual trace its course for\nmiles. I forgot to mention the _cajoleries_ made use of by a set of\nlittle beggar children, the preceding day. The white beaver hats worn by\nmy husband and Mr. W. struck their fancy not a little, and they ran\nafter the carriage with incredible perseverance, calling out, _Vivent\nles chapeaux blancs! Vivent les jolis messieurs! vive la jolie dame!\nvive le joli carrosse! vive le roi, et vive le bon Dieu!_ We were\nengaged in lamenting the drawback of a _go\u00eetre_ (or swelling in the\nthroat) to the beauty of a very pretty woman, whom we had just seen,\nwhen in going down a steep hill we met with an accident, which might\nhave been serious. The harness (made of old ropes) suddenly broke, one\nof the horses fell down, the postillion was thrown off, and the other\nhorses continuing to trot on without stopping, we felt the carriage go\nover some soft substance, which we concluded to be the person of their\nunfortunate driver. Both the gentlemen involuntarily exclaimed \"he is\nkilled!\" when we were relieved by seeing him running by the side of the\nanimals, very little the worse for his fall. The poor horse was the\ngreatest sufferer, as the wheels went twice over his neck! however, even\nhe was not much hurt, and was able to rise and go on with his work in a\nfew seconds. The great creature in the middle was an old, scrambling,\nwilful beast, who liked his own way, and I believe he would never have\nstopt, had not his bridle been seized by a man in the road. I was very\nmuch alarmed for the moment, and so I rather suspect was our trusty\nvalet, who presented himself at the door to inquire if \"Madame was\nfrighted,\" with a face as white as his own neckcloth. This _contretems_\nwould not have occurred had we not changed our horses and postillion a\nfew moments before it happened, with those belonging to another carriage\nwhich we met on the way. The country continued rather pretty, and was\nalso inclosed; were it not for the vineyards, it would be like many\nparts of England. We saw a little insignificant chateau or two, and that\nreminds me of the very dull effect of all the houses in France when seen\nfrom a distance--they have universally the air of being shut up, owing\nto the _jalousies_ being painted white instead of green.\nChalons sur Saone; rather a pretty town: there is a stone fountain here,\nwith a statue of Neptune, well executed. We stopt at the hotel du Parc,\na reasonable and tolerably well appointed inn, though by no means\ndeserving of the pompous commendation bestowed upon it in the printed\nTourist's Guide, where it is mentioned as being the best in France. Mr.\nW. suffered some annoyance from bugs, which I must ever consider as\ngreat drawbacks to comfort. We were attended at dinner by the first\n_male_ waiter we had seen since leaving Paris, from which Chalons is\nabout two hundred miles distant. The people in the town stared at and\nfollowed us about in rather a troublesome manner; I believe they were\nattracted by the white hats, and my travelling cap, so different from\nany of their own costumes.\nPeople talk a great deal about the warmth of the South of France, but\nall I can say is, that as soon as we approached it, we ordered fires,\nwhile we had left our countrymen in frigid England fainting with heat! I\nmay as well indulge myself in a few more desultory remarks while I am\nabout it, particularly as our narrative just now is rather bare of\nincident. The first is, the great inferiority of the French cutlery to\nours: all their knives are extremely coarse and bad; and with regard to\nthe forks and spoons (both of which, to do them justice, are almost\nalways of silver), they do not seem ever to have come in contact with a\nbit of whiting or a leather rubber since they were made! Plate-powder of\ncourse is an unknown invention here. How would our butlers at home (so\nscrupulously nice in the arrangement of their sideboard) have stared,\ncould they have beheld these shabby appurtenances of a foreign dinner\ntable! They are not less behind-hand also with respect to the locks of\ntheir doors, all of which are wretchedly finished, even in their best\nhouses. Their carriages are generally ugly, shabby, badly built, and\ninelegant; and they have some domestic customs (existing even in the\nmidst of the utmost splendor and refinement,) which are absolutely\nrevolting to the imagination of an English person, and to which no\nperson who knows what real cleanliness and comfort means, could ever be\nreconciled; but the French are, beyond all doubt, an innately filthy\nrace,--with them _l'apparence_ is all in all.\nLeaving Chalons sur Saone, we observed large fields planted with Turkey\nwheat, called here _Turquie_; they mix it with other flour in their\nbread. There is nothing but barren stubble for a length of way, and we\nshould have found the prospect excessively wearying and tiresome, had\nnot a bold hill or two in the distance afforded a slight degree of\nrelief. We saw a man sowing among the stubble, which they plough up\nafter the seed is sown, thereby saving the labour of the harrow; the\npractice is not general, however.\nAbout three miles from Tournus, we ascended a very steep hill, covered\nwith underwood and vines, and were refreshed by the sight of a little\npasture land. From the summit a surprisingly fine country burst upon\nus--the river Saone leading its tranquil waters through a rich plain,\nthe town of Tournus with its bridge and spires, and the chain of Alpine\nmountains bounding the distant horizon, were altogether charming; the\nlatter appeared like a continued ridge of gray clouds, Mont Blanc\ntowering far above them all. We formed some idea of the magnitude of\nthis hoary giant from the circumstance of our being able thus to see him\nat the distance of a hundred and fifty miles! He looked, however, like a\nthin white vapour, rising amid the lovely blue of the summer sky.\nAt Tournus, where we stopt to breakfast, the _ma\u00eetresse de la maison_\nwas a very pretty woman, but I cannot praise her taste in china ware;\nthe cups she set before us were of a most disgusting shape and material,\nand of enormous proportions; they resembled our coarse red flower-pots\nglazed, and it was with difficulty that I could prevail upon myself to\ntaste the tea or coffee (I forget which) that they contained. The women\nin this neighbourhood wear a singular head-dress, a black beaver hat, of\nthe size and form of a small soup plate, placed flat upon the crown of\nthe head, with three long knots of broad black riband, hanging down, one\nbehind, and one on each side the face. They have a little white cap,\ncalled _la coquette_, under this, with a coarse open lace border,\nstanding stiff off the temples, something like that of Mary, Queen of\nScots. This place is celebrated for its pretty women, and we remarked\nmany ourselves. I took a hasty sketch of one as we changed horses. There\nis a great quantity of hemp grown here. The weather now began to be\nintensely hot; and we did not wonder at this, as we were in the same\nlatitude as that of Verona and Venice. The former chill, which I\nmentioned upon first approaching the south of France, was quite an\naccidental circumstance, partly induced by our being at that time upon\nextremely high ground, whereas the temperature of the valleys is very\ndifferent.\nWe saw the peasants making ropes by the side of the road; one man\ncarried a distaff in his hand, much bigger than a large stable broom. I\nbought of a _villageoise_ at Macon one of the little hats and caps\nbefore mentioned. She attempted to impose upon me as to the price; but I\ndo not consider this at all as a national trait. I am afraid an English\ncountrywoman would have been equally anxious to make the best bargain\nshe could, fairly or otherwise! The cap was really very becoming, even\nto my British features. I saw in one of the cottages a loaf of their\nbread: it was extremely coarse, and as flat, round, and large as a\ntable. There is a grand chain of mountains on the right, called the\n_Charolais_. We again observed cows ploughing in the fields: they had\nall a curious head-dress, a sort of veil or network, to preserve them\nfrom the flies, like the military bridles of our dragoon horses. Most of\nthe cattle hereabouts (and we had seen quantities) were of a cream\ncolour. The country is luxuriant, full of chateaux, fertile, and\ncultivated, more so than any we had yet observed, and it is allowed to\nbe the finest part of France. Mr. W. examined the nature of the soil,\nand found it fat and rich in the highest degree. I must once more\nrepeat my admiration of the frequent and great beauty of the young\nchildren in this country, more particularly in these parts. I saw\nseveral with cheeks like the sunny side of a peach; little, round, plump\nfaces, and delicately chiselled features, with a profusion of luxuriant\nhair hanging in natural ringlets upon their shoulders: the mere babies\nalso are very interesting. The parents throughout France are remarkable\nfor love of offspring[4].\nAbout three or four miles from Macon you enter the department of the\nMaconnais, and afterwards that of the Jura (so called from the mountains\nof the same name), but formerly known by that of the Lyonnais. We saw at\nSt. George de Rognains a most beautiful woman, a _villageoise_; her\nproportions were fine, and rather full; her face very much in the style\nof our well-known English belles, Lady O. and Mrs. L.; but she was not\nso large as either of them. She wore the usual costume of her native\nplace, which was more peculiarly marked in the cap. It is extremely\nbecoming, and pretty in itself. I know not how to describe it exactly;\nbut it is flat upon the crown, with a good deal of coarse transparent\nlace, like wings, full every where but on the brow, across which it is\nlaid low and plain, in the style of some antique pictures I remember to\nhave seen. This superb woman's fine features set it off amazingly. She\nalso wore a flowered cotton gown (of gay colours upon a dark ground), a\ncrimson apron and bib, with a white handkerchief. What a charming\nportrait would Sir Thomas Lawrence have made of her, and how she would\nastonish the amateurs of beauty in England, were she suddenly to appear\namong them! I am thus particular in describing costume, to please the\nreaders of my own sex. We met here some _religieuses_ walking in the\nroad, belonging to a convent in the distance. Their habit was not very\nremarkable, except that they wore black veils, with high peaks on the\nfront of the head, and long rosaries by their sides.\nVillefranche; a populous old town. It was market day; yet not one\ninstance of intoxication did we see, neither here nor in any other part\nof France through which we had passed. Certainly drunkenness is not the\nvice of the nation, although they have a due admiration for strong beer,\nwhich is sold under the name of _bonne bierre de Mars_. There is a fine\nchurch here, of Gothic architecture.\nWe did not reach Lyons until late at night; and, as I was very much\nfatigued, and longed to get into the hotel, I thought the length of the\nenvirons and suburbs endless. However, we arrived at last, and after a\nrefreshing sleep, were awakened the next morning by the firing of cannon\nclose under our windows. It was the f\u00eate of St. Louis, which is always\ncelebrated with particular pomp and splendour. It was also the great\njubilee of the Lyonese _peruquiers_, who went in procession to high\nmass, and from thence to an entertainment prepared for them. The\n_jouteurs_ (or plungers in water) likewise made a very magnificent\nappearance. They walked two and two round the town, and after a famous\ndinner (laid out for them in a lower apartment of our hotel) proceeded\nto exhibit a sort of aquatic tournament, in boats, upon the river. This\nis a very ancient festival, and is mentioned (if I recollect right) by\nRousseau. The dress of the combatants (among whom were several young\nboys of eight and five years old) was very handsome and fanciful,\nentirely composed of white linen, ornamented with knots of dark-blue\nriband. They had white kid leather shoes, tied with the same colours,\ncaps richly ornamented with gold, and finished with gold tassels. In\ntheir hands they carried blue and gold oars, and long poles, and upon\ntheir breasts a wooden sort of shield or breastplate, divided into\nsquare compartments, and strapped firmly on like armour, or that\npeculiar ornament, the ephod, worn by the ancient Jewish high priests.\nAgainst this they pushed with the poles as hard as possible,\nendeavouring to jostle and overturn their opponents; the vanquished,\nfalling into the water, save themselves by swimming, while the victors\ncarry off a prize. We went down stairs to see these heroes at dinner,\nand one of them civilly invited us into the room, to observe every\nparticular at our ease.\nThe military were all drawn out this morning, and I thought there never\nwould be an end of their firing, trumpeting, &c.; the whole town\nresounded with noise, bustle, and gay confusion. We distinguished the\nSwiss guards, who wore a red uniform, like the English troops; a fine\nregiment of chasseurs, green, faced with red; a troop of lancers, on\nbeautiful spirited black horses, uniform green and orange; the national\nguards, dark blue and red, with cocked hats; and, lastly, the foot\nguards, in white: the officers of the latter really looked like London\nfootmen; nothing could be more ugly and ungentlemanly than their\ncostume. All these were reviewed in _la Grande Place_, built by\nBonaparte, who laid the first stone. The houses there are very handsome,\nand some of them rise to the height of seven stories. A steep hill,\ncovered with vines, and crowned by buildings like castles, forms the\nbackground of this fine _place_, at the bottom of which rolls the grand\nand magnificent Rhone. Our inn (_l'hotel de Provence_) stood here. It\nis a very comfortable, excellent, well-ordered establishment: the\napartments assigned for our particular use put me in mind of the old\nstate-rooms in our shabby palace of St. James. The furniture was of\ncrimson and white satin damask, and the beds of rich crimson damask;\nLyons, as all the world knows, being famous for its rich silks. The\nancient arm-chairs were studded with gilt nails, and the brick-floors\ncarefully rubbed and polished till they resembled marble. That of the\n_salle \u00e0 manger_ was of curiously inlaid oak. The attendants were all\nmen: one of them made my bed, and was perpetually frisking in and out\n(in his department of housemaid), rather to my annoyance and surprise.\nThe first night of our arrival, I was shut up (as I thought) in my own\nroom, unpacking my _sac de nuit_, when, upon turning suddenly round, I\nsaw the great rough figure of our postillion, who had entered without\nknocking, and was standing much at his ease, expecting to be paid. The\n_gar\u00e7on_ who waited at dinner was a fine specimen of the honest,\ncheerful French peasant lad, his countenance and manner the perfection\nof good humour and simplicity.\nThe promenade of the town (a walk of shady trees in the midst of _la\nGrande Place_) being filled with gay groups in every possible variety of\ncostume, offered a most amusing spectacle to a stranger's eye. We sat\nthere some time upon the hired chairs, which are in as great request as\nat Paris. Here we found booths, kept by venders of tisanne, lemonade,\n&c. who were, some of them, niched in little covered tubs, like\nDiogenes. We were much stared at; but not with any rudeness or\nincivility. We even imagined that we saw a more favourable expression of\ncountenance in the people of Lyons (while gazing upon the English) than\nin those of Paris. In the latter we certainly did now and then discover\nthe signs of unequivocal hatred and dislike; and although they never\ngave vent (in our hearing at least) to their ill-will in words, there\nwas a mute eloquence of eye, which it is difficult to mistake.\nBut to return to the promenade, &c. my petticoat of moravian work seemed\nto catch the admiring observation of all the females who passed; and\nindeed I ought, in justice to our British needlewomen, to remark, that\ntheir performance is rarely equalled, and assuredly never surpassed, by\ntheir continental rivals, however highly French work may be praised and\nsought after by our capricious leaders of _ton_.\nThe confluence of the rivers Rhone and Saone here is reckoned to be one\nof the finest things of the kind in Europe. We went to see it, but were\nrather disappointed in its effect; for the late uncommonly dry season\nhad greatly diminished the pride of both these celebrated streams. It\ntakes place at a spot about half a mile distant from the town, and we\ndrove thither in a ridiculous hired vehicle, called a _carriole_, very\nlike a long four-posted bedstead, on wheels, with coarse linen curtains\nfor summer weather, and black shabby leather ones for winter. A seat,\nresembling a mattrass, was slung on the inside, upon which the people\nsit back to back, like those in an Irish jaunting car. The driver is\nupon a seat in front, and manages two horses, which are generally\nornamented with frontlets, and knots of gay riband and bells. Our\ncoachman was quite a coxcomb, sporting smart nankeen trowsers, gaiters,\nand yellow shoes of washed leather.\nThe women at Lyons struck us as remarkably ugly, and we actually were\nunable to discover a single pretty face among them. We met a country\ndame, stumping into town to partake in the gaieties of the f\u00eate, dressed\nin a bright yellow gown, tucked up at the pocket-holes, so as to display\na full rose-coloured petticoat beneath, white stockings, black slippers,\na deep gipsy hat of Leghorn straw, and a white handkerchief with the\nusual flowered border.\nNothing can be handsomer than this town: it much resembles Bath,\nparticularly in its environs, which are built upon hanging hills, and\nembosomed in woods and vineyards. The convent of St. Michael, rising\namong them, is very ugly, however, reminding one of a large Birmingham\nmanufactory. Here dwell _les Soeurs de la Charit\u00e9_, and we were\ninformed that they really are of great use, and do much good in their\ngeneration, which cannot, alas! be said of the regular nuns, poor\nvictims!\nAt night we went to the _comedie_. The theatre was dirty, and somewhat\nshabby; all the light thrown exclusively upon the stage, as usual in\nforeign theatres. The actors were really extremely good, and the\naudience seemed a loyal one upon the whole, which was discoverable by\ntheir seizing and duly applauding the several claptraps which occurred\nin the piece they were exhibiting. It was _La partie de Chasse de Henri\nquatre_--the first scene a beautiful part of the forest of Fontainbleau.\nThe story, though familiar to every body, seemed to interest all hearts,\nours among the rest. I confess that, for my own part, I was surprised by\nfeeling the tears coursing each other down my face, when I least\nexpected it; and yet I was a stranger and a foreigner! How must the\nFrench, then, feel in the recollection of this and all the other\nthousand acts of benevolence and magnanimity of their glorious monarch,\nwhose now beatified spirit seems to shed a guardian glory around the\nheads of his descendants! We returned home immediately after the\nrepresentation of this piece, not staying the farce; and after taking\ncoffee, once more sallied forth to view the beautiful illuminations\nwhich were displayed in honour of the day. The night was clear, warm,\nand balmy, and the whole population of the city (a hundred and nine\nthousand persons) seemed to be walking about, enjoying themselves\ncompletely. The effect of the lights reflected upon the distant\nvine-clad hills was singularly beautiful. I admired the costume of many\nof the children here; they wore large shepherdess-sort of Leghorn hats\nwith very low crowns, wreathed with pretty roses, which harmonized with\ntheir little innocent round faces remarkably well. The soldiers,\n_paysannes_, and some of the _bourgeoises_, were dancing quadrilles\nunder the trees of the promenade, which was lighted much in the manner\nof Vauxhall. There was a busy hum of voices in the air, swelling upon\nthe breeze, mixed with notes of animating music, and occasional bursts\nof mirth and laughter, which, I believe, might have been heard for\nmiles. In short, the scene was a perfect carnival. On reaching our inn,\nwe saw the officers of the foot guards (who had been dining together in\nthe same apartment occupied by the _jouteurs_ in the morning) dancing\nwaltzes to the loud music of their own band, in which the brazen tones\nof the trumpet were painfully pre-eminent. For want of female partners,\nthey had, some of them, taken off their coats, and dressed themselves up\nin mob caps, shawls, and petticoats made of the dinner napkins. In this\nstrange costume they tore about the room, swinging each other in a\nmanner that disgusted while it made us smile. The master of the house,\nwho seemed to think all this very fine, wanted to know if _Madame_ would\nnot join in the merry dance? (meaning me); but Mr. B. quietly declined\nthe obliging proposal, saying, \"I was not quite strong enough for such\nan attempt just now.\" Upon which _Monsieur_ came behind me, and,\nsupporting me under both the elbows, almost carried me up the stairs to\nthe door of our apartment; so obsequious are the French to all women.\nThere is a proverb relative to our sex, which observes, that _Paris est\nle paradis des femmes, le purgatoire des maris, et l'enfer des chevaux_.\nI, as an English wife, however, can imagine no place to be a paradise\nfor me, which is at the same time a punishment to my husband; neither\ncould I taste perfect felicity, if it was purchased at the expense of my\nbrute fellow-creatures. But I do not mean tediously to moralize upon a\nlittle _jeu d'esprit_, which has some wit and truth in it, after all.\nDetermined to make the most of our short time, we went the next day to\nsee the cathedral, which is of Moorish architecture. Within we found a\nsingular mixture of orders; the Corinthian, composite, Gothic, Saxon,\nand a sort of nondescript, which (as we were none of us particularly\nlearned on the subject) we concluded to be the regular Moorish. The\nwhole body of this fine building appeared glowing with the rose and\npurple tints of sunset, and the gold ornaments upon the high altar\nactually flamed resplendent in this lovely light, as if they had been\nformed of solid fire! The effect was produced by the stained glass of\nthe windows, of every possible variety of colour, magnificent beyond\nall idea, and far different from any which we had ever seen before;\nindeed, in attempting to describe their peculiarity, I feel that I have\ndone foolishly, as it is impossible to give my readers any adequate\nnotion of their extraordinary splendour and beauty. We did not so much\nadmire another curiosity exhibited here, which is a clock, from a niche\nin the front of which, when it strikes the hours, a figure of the Virgin\nsuddenly protrudes, and makes a gracious inclination of the body; while\nin another recess above there is a very paltry and shocking\nrepresentative of the Father, who also leans forward in the act of\ngiving his benediction. The attempt thus to embody the inconceivable\nglories of person belonging to the unseen God is both absurd and\nimpious; yet surely not so much so, as the wish and endeavour of some\nfanatics to shroud the ineffable mercy and benevolence of the same being\nbeneath a dark, chilling, and repulsively gloomy veil of severity,\nwrath, and implacability. In both cases, the true features of the\nDivinity are shamefully and ridiculously misrepresented. We also saw two\nfine white marble statues of St. Stephen and St. John, both spoilt by\ncrowns of trumpery artificial flowers and tinsel, which gave them the\nair of our \"Jacks in the green\" on May-day.\nWe returned to our hotel, when, after an excellent dinner, we tasted for\nthe first time fresh almonds, brought up in their outside rinds; they\nresemble small withered peaches in a green state, and I believe,\nspeaking scientifically, that they are in fact a species of that fruit,\nand are classed accordingly; we found them very good, resembling\nfilberts in flavour, and they are eaten with salt, in the same manner.\nThe next morning we bade adieu to Lyons; on the road from thence, at a\nplace called St. Laurent des Mures, we saw the women as well as the men\nthreshing corn, and this in the open air--a strong proof of fine\nclimate: we afterwards remarked the practice universally. There are many\nwalnut trees about here, but the country was flat and dull for some\nmiles. We now however passed over a heath, (where, as Shakespeare\nexpresses it, \"the air smelt wooingly,\") enriched by wood, and banks of\nwaving fern, bounded by some near mountains; there was a picturesque\nview of a castle, upon the summit of a hill, embosomed in trees. These\nobjects were a great relief to the eye, after the eternal stubble fields\nnear Lyons. Here we observed ploughing performed by mules, which I\napproved of much, when compared with the use of cows for these sort of\nlabours; the latter, poor things, are of such inestimable value in other\nrespects, that surely it is very unfair to require their services as\nbeasts of burthen. The roofs of the buildings in this neighbourhood now\nfirst began to assume an Italian character, and to harmonize with the\nideas I had formed of the vicinity of the Alps, which were visible in\nthe distance; but the latter did not improve the landscape so much as my\nhitherto untravelled eyes had expected, for they were so far off, that\nthey resembled clouds, for which I should certainly have mistaken them,\nhad I not been told what they really were. We here encountered a\npeasant, who was thin enough to have passed for the Death in Burgher's\n\"Leonora:\" his face was a mere skull, with a sallow skin strained over\nit; his black eager eyes deep sunk in their immense sockets. I was quite\nafraid of dreaming of him.\nFor several days past, we had taken leave of the peculiar costume of the\npostillions, which is not much retained on this side of Paris. Cattle\nnow were seen of all colours; the country became more undulating and\nwoody, and the vineyards wore a very different and much more graceful\nappearance, being trained far higher, not formally planted, (as I have\nbefore described) but frequently twined around standard apple and other\ntrees, from which they hung in light and careless festoons, forming\naltogether a singular effect of blended foliage. They are universally\ntrained in this manner in Italy; the French pretend that the produce is\nthereby rendered less plentiful, and that what is gained in beauty is\nlost in value: I cannot pronounce upon the truth of the assertion. The\nwalnut-tree grew here in increased profusion, mixed frequently with the\nmulberry, forming an agreeable shade to the road.\nWe breakfasted at Bourgoin, where they gave us good provisions, but\ncharged in a most extravagant way. There is a great deal of marshy land,\nand the inhabitants look unhealthy: some of them have _go\u00eetres_ (or\nglandular swellings) in consequence of extreme relaxation from the\nmoisture of the air. Two filthy girls waited upon us at breakfast: they\nwore no caps, and their hair was in a most disgusting condition. We\nafterwards remarked numbers of women, equally devoid of coifs and\ncleanliness. _Apropos_ to the former, I certainly greatly incline to\nprefer them to the more classical and simple fashion of wearing the head\nwholly uncovered: there is something very feminine and pretty in a\nwhite, neat, well-plaited cap, set off by a bright coloured riband and\nsmart knot; and I really think the French _paysannes_ knew what they\nwere about, when they so universally adopted that costume.\nThe country shortly changed to a scene of wonderful richness and beauty,\nresembling the finest parts of Devonshire; but the view of an immense\ncrucifix rising picturesquely amid the woods gave it a foreign character\nat once. Nothing can exceed the loveliness of this part of France; it is\nindeed exquisite, and doubly pleasing from its rarity. The unusual heat\nof the late summer (felt as sensibly as in England) had dried up most of\nthe smaller rivers and brooks hereabouts, and the dust was actually\nflying in their sandy channels. We were now in Dauphiny.\nA few miles before we entered Beauvoisin (which divides Dauphiny from\nSavoy), a very grand amphitheatre of the Savoy mountains rose suddenly\nupon us. The sight was peculiarly striking to me, as I had never yet\nseen the effect of this sort of scenery. We frequently observed\nbuildings here of the _pis\u00e8_ or mud, very neatly finished; indeed we\nwere surprised to perceive how much they had contrived to make of so\nbase and common a material. We met some countrywomen riding astride,\nwhich had a very odd appearance--_odd_ is a vague term, and rather an\nunclassical one: I am perfectly aware of its defects but I cannot at\nthis moment think of any other which would so well express my meaning;\nyet confound me not, kind reader, with that mass of ignorant and\nconceited persons, who always call every thing _odd_ which they\nthemselves either cannot understand, or to which they happen to be\nunaccustomed. Such, for instance, whom I have heard designating Byron's\ngrand poetical conceptions as _odd fancies_, or the exquisite sketches\nof Westall's imaginative pencil as _odd things_, or calling the truly\nenlightened and liberal theological sentiments of Paley, Watson,\nFellows, &c. _odd opinions_. But I have rambled strangely from the\npoint; the little countrywomen and their nags completely ran away with\nme! In spite of the _oddity_ of their position, I am ready candidly to\nallow that there is a great deal of safety in it.\nBeauvoisin is in the near vicinity of prodigiously fine scenery. We\npassed through groves of the grandest chestnut trees, loaded with a\nprofusion of fruit, and the whole face of nature afforded such a superb\nunion of the beautiful and sublime, that we thought all we had\npreviously seen in France paltry in the comparison. The silkworm is much\ncultivated here, and we saw many of the peasants employed in spinning\nboth silk and flax with distaffs and wheels; multitudes of women and\ngirls were seated at their doors, as we passed through Beauvoisin, all\nbusied in this occupation: they seemed to be chatting together very\nhappily, their tongues going as fast as their fingers. I thought of\nShakespeare's \"spinners and knitters in the sun\" telling \"their tales.\"\nWe dined at the horrid little hole of an inn at this place, dirty, dark,\nand full of the usual bad odours so prevalent in continental\nhabitations. The meal was served, as might be expected, in a slovenly\nmanner, and we were glad to proceed on our journey as soon as it was\ndespatched; previously submitting our luggage, &c. to the inspection of\nthe custom-house officers, having now entered the Sardinian territories.\nWe had not advanced far, ere the country opened, if possible, into an\nincreased blaze of beauty. Close to us were well-wooded mountains; on\nthe left, vineyards trained in the graceful Italian fashion I have\nlately mentioned; far below us, on the right, was a limpid river,\nsweetly winding though a valley, and on all sides villas (beautiful in\nthemselves and most romantically situated) lent an additional grace and\ncharm to the scene. The road was a perfect bower of walnut trees; and\nthe attractions of some of the peasant children, whom we now and then\nmet, with their large black eyes, and peculiar style of beauty, told us\nthat we were fast approaching the confines of Italy.\nWe now ascended a steep winding road, which leads to the summit of a\nmountain called _La Montagne de l'Eschelles_. I find it more than ever\nimpossible to give any just and proportionate idea of the enchanting\nprospects which every moment rose upon our delighted eyes! to conceive\nthem properly, they must be _seen_. We distinguished paths amid the\nwoody sides of the opposite heights, which looked as lovely as if they\nled to Paradise; and I longed to spring from the confinement of the\ncarriage, and to explore their wild and exquisitely romantic\nterminations, although the shades of evening, fast closing upon us,\nmight have rendered such an attempt most perilous. The low parapet wall,\nerected within the last eight years by that mighty enchanter Napoleon,\n(who seemed, while his \"star was lord of the ascendant,\" to do all he\nwished with _un coup de baguette_), preserved us from the danger of\nfalling down the precipice which yawned by the side of our road; and\nalso completely obviated the sort of nervous sensation which travellers\nare so apt to feel while gazing upon the awful depths which surround\nthem! Upon turning a sharp angle, the rocks, in vast and stupendous\nmasses, rose perpendicularly above our heads, amidst which we were\namazed to perceive several cottages \"perched like the eagle's nest, on\nhigh.\" Rousseau has ably painted this incomparable scene, in his\n_Nouvelle Heloise_, and I was gratified in thus convincing myself of the\naccuracy and truth of his pencil. As we passed near these lonely\nhabitations, the breath of the cows belonging to the rustic inmates,\nmingled sweetly with the scent of the leaves and aromatic herbs, and\nadded new fragrance to the soft and refreshing winds of evening. This\nwild ravine was succeeded by the milder beauties of a green and mossy\nbank, rising above smiling meadows; the contrast was striking. These are\nsights indeed, which might arouse the dullest of mortals, and which make\nthe hearts of those gifted with sensibility and imagination swell high\nwithin them!\nEchelles, a small town, standing in a valley, completely hemmed in with\nmajestic mountains. We drank our tea and slept here at _La Poste_, and I\nsat out, as long as it was prudent, in an open wooden gallery, (which\nran round the outside of the house, and commanded a view of the superb\nscene), talking with the hostess, a cheerful, well-looking young woman,\nwho was overwhelmed by the number of her progeny. The youngest of the\nchildren, a little girl of three years old, came up to me and laid her\nhead upon my knees, with the happy ease of innocent confidence,\nchattering bad French with all her might; the mother also introduced two\nof her sons to us (boys of five and seven), who ran in to bid her good\nnight before they went to bed, and to hug and kiss her. The youngest (a\nfine sturdy rogue) told me that he always said his prayers, and that\nafter _le bon Dieu_, he loved \"Maman.\" This woman, in the midst of her\nrustic simplicity, had had the true good sense of presenting the Deity\nto the infant imaginations of her children, under the attractive image\nof an indulgent parent, thus fulfilling the sacred command of \"Give me\nthine heart.\" A convent of the Chartreuse still exists in the\nneighbourhood; I believe it is the famous convent of _La Grande\nChartreuse_, a most interesting spot, but inaccessible to women. I made\ninquiries about some of the natural productions of these mountains, and\nlearnt that so many superior simples and aromatic plants (_note_ A) grew\nthere, as to induce the apothecaries and chemists who lived within\nreach, to come in search of them very frequently.\nWe left Echelles early the next morning (our common hour of rising being\nfive o'clock), and proceeded through a solitary road, winding at the\nfeet of some desolate-looking mountains. Passing by several deep\nquarries of limestone, we soon arrived at the tremendous ascent, known\nunder the very appropriate name of _Les Eschelles de Savoy_. Here we\nstopped at a lone hovel, to add a couple of oxen to our usual three\nhorses; but these animals being at work at the plough, we were obliged\nto be satisfied with the assistance of another horse. A girl accordingly\nbrought him out, helped to arrange the traces, &c, and ran by his side\nhalf way up the mountain, till we had attained the most arduous pass,\nand then returned with him to her cottage. She wore her hair gathered in\na knot at the back of the head, in the true Italian style. As we toiled\nalong, we observed a _paysanne_, with a load upon her head (most\nprobably on her early way to some village market), stop to pay her\nmorning devotions at a shrine of the Virgin, rudely carved in wood, and\nplaced in a niche by the road-side. How shall I describe the wonderful\nmanner in which we climbed these frightful eschelles? We seemed to be\ndrawn up by our straining, labouring horses almost in a perpendicular\ndirection, and at a foot's pace. On our left was a yawning chasm of\nimmense magnitude, among a gloomy pile of frowning rocks, which might\nwell be the abode of some ancient giant or geni; while further on, these\nsame rocks, extending their mighty barriers on every side, seemed to\nhang tremulously over head, threatening to crush the hapless traveller,\nshould sudden wind or storm arise to shake them from their\nprecarious-looking base. The blue heaven above us was nearly shut from\nour sight by their dark and shadowy projections. Our guides (three or\nfour in number, and resembling, in their wild, strange attire and\nfeatures, a group of _Salvator Rosa_'s banditti) pointed out to us the\nancient road, passable, even in its best days, by mules alone. It was a\nnarrow ledge, with no defence whatever from the precipice on one side,\nwinding in serpentine mazes through deep grottos, or chasms, in the\nbowels of the mountain. We saw a prodigious monument of Bonaparte's\ndaring genius in a tunnel, which had been cut through the heart of these\nsolid rocks, and beneath which a fine road was to have been made; but\nhis career of power having been so suddenly and awfully checked, the\nwork remains unfinished. After shuddering amid the sublimity of these\nscenes for some time, their rugged character gradually softened upon us,\nand the tender green of the fern, mingling richly with the tangled\nunderwood, began to make its welcome appearance. Far above our heads,\nalso, dark forests of lofty pine were occasionally visible, although the\nlower crags of overhanging rock generally hid them from our view. At\nlength the prospect expanded into verdant pastures (where cows and goats\nwere peacefully browsing), shaded by beech, elm, chestnut, and apple\ntrees, and skirted by softly-swelling banks, covered with a rich and\nmossy vegetation. The blue smoke wreath, frequently rising above the\ntufted foliage, marked the vicinity of hamlets, and the little orchards\nand inclosed patches of well-cultivated garden ground (seen here and\nthere), and the groups of women spinning at their cottage doors, gave\nthe whole an indescribable air of pastoral comfort and beauty. In the\nmidst of this serene enjoyment, my nerves were suddenly discomposed, by\nthe fall of our postillion from his horse, who had stumbled, and now\ntook the opportunity (during his short interval of emancipation) of\nlooking in at the side window of the carriage; the last place certainly\nin which I either wished or expected to have seen him. However, no harm\nensued, and we again proceeded quietly on our way. We could not but\nremark the extraordinary luxuriance of the hedges here, rich in nut\ntrees, brilliant scarlet berries, convolvulus, blue bells, and other\nwild plants. The master of the post-house in the midst of these\nmountains seemed a great admirer of the magnificent genius of Napoleon,\nand said (speaking of the tunnel we had lately passed), _que cet homme\nla avoit brav\u00e8 la nature_: he added, \"that if he had reigned only two\nyears longer, he would have completed this grand undertaking; but now\nall was at an end; for the king of Sardinia was not the sort of person\nto carry on the daring plans of his great predecessor.\" The manner in\nwhich this man described Bonaparte to have first conceived and\ndetermined upon the work in question was strongly characteristic of the\ndecision peculiar to the latter. He was passing through the ancient\nhorrible road, with his engineer, stopped, and pointing to the\nmountains, said, \"Is it not possible to cut a tunnel through the\nentrails of yonder rock, and to form a more safe and commodious route\nbeneath it?\"--\"It is _possible_, certainly, sire,\" replied the\nscientific companion. \"Then let it be done, and immediately,\" rejoined\nthe emperor.\nI was romantic enough to mourn over the fate of the mountain stream\nhere, which (in common with many others we had seen) was so weakened by\nlong drought, that it had scarcely force sufficient to pour its scanty\nwaters over their rugged channel, and seemed to vent its complaint in\nweak murmurs, as it flowed feebly along. The grand cascade, which feeds\nits urn so nobly during winter, had now lost all strength and\nmagnificence of character. We felt the air very sharp, even in this\nsultry season; and in the bleak months of the year I can easily conceive\nthat the severity of the cold must be intolerable. The grapes in such\nregions are always small and sour; they were not half ripe at the\npresent time, and, indeed, never arrive at any perfection.\nWe breakfasted at _La Poste_ at Chamberry, a picturesque town, and\ncapital of Savoy, situated in the bosom of the fine scenery I have just\ndescribed. The tops of its surrounding mountains (which form part of the\nendless chain of Alps) are hoary with eternal snows: they had a very\nstriking effect. It was at Chamberry that that strange, inconsistent,\nwonderful creature, Rousseau, lived for some time with Madame de\nVarennes: his house is still shewn. The charm which, while he lived, he\ncontrived to throw around the vices and frailties of his character, and\nthe productions of his bewitching pen, is now broken, the spell is\ndissolved; but there are, nevertheless, immortal excellencies in many\nparts of his writings which must make their due and deep impression upon\nthe hearts and imaginations of every successive reader, till time itself\nshall be no more.\nTo return to Chamberry. There is no peculiarity of costume here, except\nthat the _paysannes_ all wear gold hearts and crosses; the poorer\nclasses of silver, lead, or mixed metal. We changed horses at\nMontmeillant, and saw the fine river Isere, formed by the melting of the\nsnows. The same sort of grand scenery continued. There were several\ncharming _campagnes_ (or gentlemen's houses) amid the mountains, half\nconcealed by luxuriant woods. We longed to be invited (and able to\naccept such invitation) to spend a fortnight at one or other of them, in\ntranquillity and ease, in the society of agreeable, sensible people, who\nwould sometimes allow us leisure to indulge in the luxury of solitude,\nand our own thoughts; for, without this latter privilege, one might just\nas well be in a fashionable drawing-room, in all the sophistication of\nParis or London. It is among these scenes that Marmontel has chosen to\nplace his heroine in the graceful little tale of the \"Shepherdess of the\nAlps.\" But, alas! the poorer inhabitants of these fairy regions! how\nunworthy of such lovely Arcadian retreats! Almost all we met were\nsqualid, filthy, listless, and indolent: a blighted, blasted, wretched\nrace, hardly deserving the name of human. Most of them were (in addition\nto their universal hideousness) afflicted with the disgusting disease of\n_go\u00eetres_, to say nothing of total idiotcy, which is equally common\namongst them. Leaving Marmontel's lovely fanciful creations in the\nclouds, from whence they came, these, these we found to be the \"dull\nrealities of life;\" and such realities!--my imagination actually\nsickened at their idea. I will not hazard farther detail, lest I should\nequally shock the feelings of my readers.\nThe mountains, as we approached Aiguebelle, became yet more lofty and\nstupendous than any we had before seen; but they continued to wear the\nsame features of luxuriant beauty, even in the midst of the sublimity of\na grander scale of proportion. From their airy summits we could now and\nthen descry the fall of a narrow perpendicular streamlet, sparkling in\nthe sun like a line of melted silver. We reached Aiguebelle at four\no'clock, dined, and slept. The entrance to the inn was like that of a\ncow-house, or large old rustic stable, and the accommodations within\nwere uncomfortable enough: not worse, however, than many which we\nafterwards encountered in various places on the continent. An evening\nwalk, which we took here after tea, at the foot of the Alps, I shall\nnever forget; romantic, beautiful, and wild beyond even the dreams of a\npoetical imagination. Passing through enormous masses of rock,\nconsisting of argillaceous slate, called _schist_, in the foreground (at\nthe entrance of a shadowy glade), we gradually ascended a winding path,\nby which we traced an opening through the richly-wooded recesses of one\nof the nearer mountains. Thick shady bowers of walnut trees (the largest\nour eyes had ever beheld) formed an agreeable sort of twilight, shedding\na flickering gloom around, that well accorded with the pensive tone of\nour minds, as we stole silently along, wrapt in unfeigned and warm\nadmiration of Nature and her wonderful creations, while a rippling\nspring, murmuring softly amid the mossy grass, assisted the dreamy sort\nof reverie that hung like a spell upon us! A fair green meadow lay\nsmiling at our feet; where notwithstanding the burning heat of the\nseason, the cattle were feeding on as rich a pasturage, as that which\nskirts the Thames at Richmond. Far above (towering over our heads) were\nthe snowy peaks of the highest Alps, half veiled in clouds of floating\nmist. I sat down upon a mossy stone, my companions stretched on the turf\nbeside me; the silent, deep, and soothing tranquillity was broken only\nby the chirp of the cricket, the distant bark of a cottage cur, or the\nwhirring flight of the bats who now were beginning their evening\npastimes; one of them, in his airy wheel, almost brushed Mr. W.'s face\nwith his wings, as he flew fearlessly past. As the night advanced, we\nwere struck by the beautiful effect of the blazing weeds, which were\nburning on some of the surrounding heights. At length we unwillingly\nbade adieu to the enchanting spot, and returned to our inn.\nWe left Aiguebelle the next morning, rising at four o'clock, and\nproceeded to St. Jean de Maurienne, through a narrow valley, inclosed\nby a chain of the same mountains, which rose to the height of about two\nor three thousand metres. A river, formed of melted snows, ran\nconstantly by our side, now brawling and foaming over the rugged stones,\nnow stealing silently along, in an almost imperceptible current, and\noften seeming wholly exhausted, forming merely a narrow runnel in the\nmiddle of its vast, sandy, rocky channel. Cottages were frequently\ndotted about here, some of them perched at such an incredible height,\nand apparently so inaccessible to human foot, that we could hardly\nconceive them to be the habitations of our fellow creatures! How the\ninmates continue to procure the necessaries of life from the adjacent\nhamlets in the valleys below, I cannot imagine, unless they are drawn up\nand down by ropes, in the manner which is so awfully described, in his\n\"scene on the sands,\" by that bold painter from nature, the author of\n\"the Antiquary.\" The singular and beautiful appearance of the opposite\nrocks told us the moment when the sun had risen to a certain height, but\nthe first burst of glory from that divine orb, it was not our lot to\nwitness, as the east was hid from our sight by the overwhelming\nmountains that surrounded us. I confess I was disappointed at this\ncircumstance, as the idea of beholding a perfect sun-rise had been the\nchief inducement to me to quit my warm bed at such a preposterously\nearly hour, and to undergo with cheerfulness the disagreeable ceremony\nof hurrying on my clothes by candlelight! However, I was in some measure\nconsoled by the lovely effect of the partial gleams, which played\noccasionally upon the distant objects; finely contrasting with the\ngloomy shadows of the dark ravines, and lighting up the spots of verdure\nupon which they brightly fell, they seemed almost kindling into a blaze\nof unearthly splendour. We passed here a small but romantic fall of\nwater; and soon afterwards encountered (in one of those narrow passes so\nfrequent among the Alps), and upon the brow of an abrupt descent, a\nwaggon, drawn by restive mules. These animals flew about the road in\nevery possible direction, rearing till they stood on end, kicking and\nplunging in the most astonishing manner. The driver emulated their fury,\nand I know not which of the parties was in the right, they were all in\nsuch a passion together; we expected every instant to see their heels\ndash against the glass of our windows, but our postillion managed with\nso much skill and discretion, that we soon found ourselves safely _hors\nde l'embarras_. We were somewhat surprised at his admirable coolness and\ndexterity, as he was no experienced old stager, but on the contrary a\nmere boy. Solomon, however, justly observes that wisdom does not\nexclusively reside with white heads, as some veteran worthies have\nfondly flattered themselves, and this will account for the _sagesse_ of\nour little driver, which might otherwise have been discredited, perhaps,\nby those, who constantly associate the ideas of youth and imprudence. I\nbelieve that the same author goes so far as to assert, that \"wisdom\ngiveth hoary hairs.\" I am not quite certain as to the accuracy of my\nquotation, or I should at once feel sure that I had discovered the\nreason why so many of our beaux and belles evince such a horror of\nmental attainments. Talking of beaux and belles, we were now quite among\ntheir antipodes; for never did I behold such a set of dirty, slovenly,\nsqualid, frightful creatures, as were perpetually crossing our path!--I\ncan only say, that (like Sancho Panza and his goblins) having once seen\ntwo or three of them, I shut my eyes for the rest of the journey,\nalthough I could not stop my ears against the horrid guttural idiotical\ncroak (resembling that of a choked raven) which they constantly\nmaintained, as they ran begging by the side of the carriage. Mr. B.\nhoping to get rid of them, often threw out money from the windows, but\nthis only attracted a larger flock, and we soon found our sole refuge\nwas in pulling up the blinds the moment they appeared in sight.\nWe breakfasted at St. Jean de Maurienne, situated at the base of the\nhigher Alps: it was dirty, as all the inns in Savoy are; and they gave\nus sour bread and butter, and muddled coffee, rather a mortification to\ntravellers, who (however romantic and enthusiastic) could not help\nfeeling that they should have better relished better fare, after having\ngone three and twenty miles before breakfast! We met an Italian lady\nhere, just come from Turin; who assured us, upon our expressing our\nadmiration of Savoy, that we should think the scenery of Italy far more\nbeautiful: I could not at the moment believe in the possibility of her\nassertion, and felt a presentiment that after having seen and compared\nsome of the most striking features in these countries, I should not\ncoincide with her in opinion; Italy (from all I had heard on the\nsubject) possessing a different character of beauty; but difference does\nnot constitute superiority: I should as soon think of comparing an apple\nand an orange--both are good in their way. If any body takes offence at\nthe lowliness of my simile, I beg leave to refer him or her to that\ndelightful writer (at all times, and upon such various subjects),\nMarmontel, who avails himself of the very same, and applies it in the\nstill prouder instance of human intellect.\nThe river Arque rushes impetuously through this part of Savoy; we passed\nby a _voiture_ overturned upon its stony banks, the wheels in the air,\nand front nearly touching the brink of the foaming torrent. The accident\ndid not seem to be a very recent one, as no people were assembled about\nor near it. The Savoyards (those who are happily free from _go\u00eetres_,\n&c.) are seldom brought up to any other trade than stone masonry;\nwandering about, following this _metier_ in an itinerant manner. Many of\nthe rustics appear well acquainted with the scientific terms of\nmineralogy and chemistry. We conversed with a common cottager in\nparticular, who discoursed most intelligently upon the different\nsubstances of which these mountains are composed. We suffered a good\ndeal of inconvenience from the dust, which flew here in such\noverwhelming eddies, that it completely filled the carriage, and more\nthan once impeded my respiration most painfully. I could feel it\ngritting between my teeth, and irritating the windpipe; and when we\nattempted to close the windows against it, the heat thereby increased\nbecame equally insupportable; the sun in these regions being so fierce\nthat it absolutely burnt us when we drew up the blinds: still, the\npeculiar sensation of _weight_ in the atmosphere, from which we\nexperience so much oppression in England, seemed to be unknown in this\nclimate; there was an elasticity in the air, superior to any of which we\nfoggy islanders can boast, and the sky was perfectly Italian, of a deep\nblue cloudless ether.\nAt St. Michel, a neat village (comparatively speaking), the peasantry\nbecome more human; the _go\u00eetre_ begins to disappear, and the countenance\nto assume a more intellectual expression. Again the sublime effect of\nthe river Arque attracted our attention. It is a regular mountain\ntorrent, flashing and raving over tremendous rocks, with a rapidity and\nfury difficult to describe. If it was thus mighty during the present\nparching season, what must it not be in winter! The imagination shudders\nat the idea of its desolating force. I could scarcely trace the affinity\nof this element with the tame, slow, glassy, silent waters to which I\nhad been accustomed in my own country. It was like the sublime insanity\nof a superb human genius, when compared with the almost vegetable\nexistence of a mere common plodding mortal.\nThe little narrow alpine bridges, occasionally thrown across this\nterrific stream, were highly romantic and beautiful. At this particular\nspot, dark forests of pine began to succeed to the more pleasing verdure\nof the tufted beech. They extended to the remotest pinnacles of the\nmountains, from whose brown sides, lower down, a number of sparkling\nsprings were seen to gush dancing and flashing in the sun. Great\nquantities of barberry trees, and of the plant coltsfoot, were growing\nwild here.\nCrossing a majestic mountain beyond Modena, we were shewn the Devil's\nBridge (_note_ B.), three hundred feet above the river. We ourselves\nlooked proudly down upon it, from our eagle height, where we enjoyed the\nbenefit of a noble and easy road, made (as usual) by order of Bonaparte;\nfor which all travellers ought to feel deeply indebted to him. Not that\nI attribute his works of this sort to benevolence rather than ambitious\npolicy: but whatever the cause, we _voyageurs_ have great reason to\nbless the effect! The postillion seriously assured us, as we gazed upon\nthe above-mentioned bridge, that it was originally built by the arch\nfiend, although he added, that \"this had happened a great while ago.\"\nMr. W. attempted to laugh him out of so ridiculous a belief; but he\nadhered to his point with immoveable gravity. I had always heard that\nthe natives of mountainous countries were peculiarly liable to the\nimpressions of superstition, and in this instance I had an opportunity\nof proving personally the truth of the remark. We regretted that time\ndid not allow of our making a few more experimental researches into\nthese matters: it might have been very interesting to have collected a\nset of legends from the mouths of the simple inhabitants; and I should\nhave had considerable amusement in tracing their similarity to those of\nthe Scotch Highlanders, the German, Swedish, and other fond believers\nin romance. The king of Sardinia was at that time building fortresses\nupon this mountain, and two thousand men were employed in the work.\nWe met some Italian officers at Modena; they were fine men, and had a\nfar more distinguished and gentlemanly _tournure_ than, the French. It\nis astonishing how vulgar and gross in appearance and manner all the\nlatter were, whom we had yet had an opportunity of remarking. I had ever\nthought the subalterns and captains in some of our marching and militia\nregiments bad enough, but they were certainly much superior to the\nFrench officers. This reminds me, that in our apartment at the inn at\nAiguebelle, we saw scrawled upon the walls a fierce _tirade_ (written by\nsome Frenchman) against that interesting work, \"Eustace's Italy.\" We, of\ncourse, were not much surprised at the wrath therein expressed; and I\nmyself think that Eustace bears evident marks of being under the\ndominion of prejudice, in speaking of the French as a nation.\nCrossing another mountain, not far from Lans le Bourg, we were made\ndoubly sensible of the prodigious altitude of our road, by comparing\nthe different proportions of the objects around: for instance, a\nwater-mill at work in the valley below us appeared like a baby-house,\nand the stream which fell from the wheel not much more important than\nwhat might have issued from a large garden watering-pot. The rocks here\nwere all wild, gloomy, and barren.\nArriving at Lans le Bourg, where we slept, we found the inn (_Le Grand\nHotel des Voyageurs_) clean and comfortable, which was a delightful\nchange to us, after the dirt and misery of those we had lately seen. It\nstood a short distance beyond the little town, on the brink of a roaring\ntorrent. The host and his wife appeared flattered at our observation of\ntheir neat establishment, &c., and told us that it was not the first\ntime their house had been complimented as being very like those in\nEngland. The next morning we pursued our route through the same\nmagnificent scenes, and here we first saw a giant glacier, clad in his\nspotless mantle of everlasting purity. At his feet (to give the reader\nsome idea of his stupendous height and magnitude) lay a town; the\nsteeple of its church did not appear taller than the extinguisher of a\ncandle, which it also resembled in shape. Amid these solitary wilds the\ngreatest variety of plants, flowers, &c. are to be found, and violets in\nprofusion during the spring. We ate some strawberries, gathered here by\nthe peasant children, for a large basket of which our host at Lans le\nBourg paid a sum in value rather less than three English halfpence. The\npostillion and Christian gathered me large bunches of very fine wild\nraspberries, as they walked up the steep ascent. We were now upon Mont\nCenis (_note_ C.), of celebrated fame. My husband collected for me a few\nspecimens of the lovely flowers which bloomed there, and which I have\nsince put by as relics. One plant in particular (wholly unknown to any\nof us) I must mention. It is a poisonous but exquisitely graceful shrub,\nwith spiral leaves, jagged at the edges, and clusters of brilliant\nscarlet berries, growing in the form of miniature bunches of grapes.\nThe postillion called it _la tourse_; but we did not feel quite sure of\nthe accuracy of his botanical knowledge. Near the summit of this\nmountain we were shewn the spot where adventurous travellers sometimes\ndescend to the town of Lans le Bourg upon a sledge, in the short space\nof seven minutes; whereas it takes two hours and a half to ascend in a\ncarriage, or on a mule. The precipice looked horrible beyond\ndescription; yet the English frequently adopt this mode of conveyance\nduring the winter: it is called _la ramasse_, and the amusement of\nsliding in cars at the _Beaujon_ and _Les Montagnes Russes_, in Paris,\nwas taken from this. As we continued to climb, the effect of the sheep\nfeeding amid the rocky ledges, upon the grassy patches of land far below\nus, was curious enough. They appeared diminished to the size of those\nlittle round, white, fat inhabitants of a nutshell, which sometimes run\nraces upon a china plate, or a polished mahogany table, after dinner. I\nbelieve their names are not mentioned in the Newmarket Calender; but my\nreaders will know what I mean. We here beheld a fatigued pedestrian,\ndrawn up the steep path with much comparative ease to himself, by\nclinging to the long tail of a strong mule, upon which another traveller\nwas riding.\nThe road over Mont Cenis is most superb: there are small houses at set\ndistances, where dwell a regularly organized body of men, called\n_cantonniers_, whose business it is to keep the highway in repair, and\nto shelter and assist all _voyageurs_ who may stand in need of their\nservices. This was first ordered and arranged by Bonaparte. Upon\nreaching level ground, near the utmost summit, we were agreeably\nsurprised by the sight of a small lake, of the most heavenly blue (the\nreal ultramarine colour well known to artists), situated in the midst of\na little plain of verdant turf: it was quite a scene of peace and\nrepose, all view of the surrounding precipices being shut out. From this\nquiet haven we descended with rapidity and ease, at the rate of seven or\neight miles an hour, with only two horses; while in going up on the\nother side of the mountain, we found four unequal to drag us along at\nmore than a foot's pace.\nWe passed by the Hospice, originally built by Charlemagne, and\nre-established by Bonaparte, who really put us in mind of the Marquis of\nCarrabas, in the fairy tale of \"Puss in Boots;\" for if we saw any road\nbetter than another, any house particularly well calculated for the\nrelief of travellers, any set of guides whose attendance was unusually\nconvenient and well ordered, or any striking improvement, in short, of\nwhatever nature, and were induced to inquire, \"by whom all had been\ndone?\" the answer was invariably, \"Napoleon! Napoleon! Napoleon!\" At\nthis Hospice there is a set of monks, who bear a high reputation for\nbenevolence and attention to travellers. A very lofty and majestic\nwaterfall shortly afterwards greeted our eyes, grandly beautiful, though\nbearing no character of terror. It was the \"roar of waters,\" not the\n\"hell of waters,\" so admirably described by Lord Byron, in the fourth\ncanto of his Childe Harold. The road here perpetually returned upon\nitself, in zigzag windings, resembling the principle of a corkscrew\nstaircase, and was, in the midst of grandeur and sublimity, both easy\nand safe.\nThe Alps, on the Piedmontese side of Mont Cenis, and to whose firm bases\nwe were now fast descending, were infinitely more stupendous, more\noverwhelming in their proportions, and displayed stronger features of\nactual sublimity, perhaps, than those we had seen in Savoy; but we all\nthought them less rich in sylvan beauty, and far less enchantingly\nromantic in their general character. Our wonder was not, as formerly,\nmingled with delight; on the contrary, a shuddering sensation of horror\ntook possession of our minds, as we involuntarily turned our eyes upon\nthe various dark gulfs, and tremendous abysses, which yawned on every\nside. It was impossible not to feel, at every turn, that there were but\na few inches between us and destruction. At length we reached the foot\nof the celebrated Rocca Melone, or Roche Melon, which is allowed to be\nthe highest of the chain, and is nine thousand feet from the base to\nthe summit. We could now perceive a visible alteration in the costumes\nof the peasantry; the men came forth in coloured silk or cotton caps,\nwith a long net bag hanging down behind, ending in a tassel: the women,\nin flat straw hats, lined with pink sarsenet, and jackets laced in\nfront; exactly resembling those Italian groups of figures which I had\nformerly seen in the drawings of Mr. W----m L----k. I recognised them\ninstantly as my old acquaintance, and felt myself in some measure _en\npays de connoissance_. Our postillion had the true features of the\nVenetian Punchinello, and I almost expected to hear him squeak.\nWe dined at Susa (inn _la Posta_), and found it cleanly and comfortable;\nthe people excessively attentive and civil: in short, we looked upon it\nas a most auspicious entrance into Italy. From Susa to San Giorgio our\ndriver was a regular Italian wag, and I suspected he had got a little\ntoo much of the juice of the grape in his head, by the way in which he\ntore along the road, to the amazement of every quiet passenger. At last\nwe called to him, to inquire the reason of his violent proceedings. \"I\nthought I was doing just what you liked best,\" was his answer; and it\nwas with difficulty we could persuade him that we were not among the\nnumber of those English travellers who take delight in risking their own\nnecks, and the lives of their horses, merely for the sake of\n\"astonishing the natives!\" This was the first and only instance of\nintoxication which we had witnessed upon the continent.\nThe dress of the women near San Giorgio is picturesque; a short blue\npetticoat, with several narrow, coloured tucks at the bottom, a high\nlaced cap (something in the style of the French _cauchoises_), and\nbright necklaces, formed of boxwood beads, turned in an oval shape, and\nhighly gilt, so as to resemble massy gold. The men all wore cocked hats.\nThe verdure of the fields and trees here (the latter chiefly beech,\nolive, and lime) was delightful, owing partly to the late rains, which\nthe people told us had fallen to the great refreshment of the\nlong-parched earth; the whole air was embalmed with the fragrance of\nthe limes: we had a strong sun, but at the same time, so reviving a\nbreeze, so soft, pure, and elastic, that I never remember to have\nenjoyed any thing more, nor ever felt a greater degree of physical\nanimation. This sweetly-breathing wind might (by poets) have been\nsupposed the same which blew through the groves of Elysium. We now\npassed by a fine ruin of a castle, built upon a rocky eminence, and\noverhanging a brawling river. The peasantry in general were well\nlooking, but we still observed several _go\u00eetres_ among them. Nothing\nstruck us at this time with higher astonishment than the convent of\nBenedictines, an enormous, massive, dark pile of building, reared upon\nthe topmost height of one of the grandest mountains here, and frowning\nover the valley below. I in particular remember this with the strongest\nimpression of wonder and admiration; it perfectly seized upon my\nimagination, and involuntarily brought Mrs. Radcliffe's, and other tales\nof romance, to the recollection of us all.\nAt St. Antonine, (I sometimes avail myself of the French names of these\nplaces, as both French and Italian are equally used in this country), we\nfirst saw two _paysannes_ with their hair twisted up _\u00e0 l'antique_, and\nin long transparent veils of black gauze, which admirably suited their\nhandsome dark eyes and eyebrows; this costume is sometimes worn over the\nhigh cap, but it then loses half its graceful effect. It struck me that\nif women in general were aware of the peculiar advantage and charm of a\nlong floating veil, which thus shades, without concealing, the features,\nthere would be but one style of head-dress in the world. In addition to\nthese bewitching veils, the country girls at this place (St. Antonine)\ngenerally carry fans; we met several with them, made of bright pink\npaper, covered with gold spangles, and it appeared to us rather an\nincongruous implement in the hands of a village belle. Mass was\nperforming as we passed, at a church of true Grecian architecture; upon\nthe outside steps of which the people were kneeling with every symptom\nof devotion. In going through a low valley beyond this town, narrow and\nextremely confined by the tall hedge-rows, where the circulation of air\nis in consequence impeded, we felt the heat almost intolerable; and the\natmosphere exactly of that heavy nature from which we have often\nsuffered during the summers of our own country. I must tell the truth\n(as it is fit all respectable _travellers_ should do), and therefore am\ncompelled to confess, that in passing over the continent, I was\nperpetually and forcibly struck with the defects of our English climate\nwhen compared with others. Condemn me not, ye red-hot John Bulls!\nremember that when the noble animal you resemble makes his fiercest\nattacks, he always shuts his eyes, in common with every prejudiced\nperson.\nAt Rivoli, they were celebrating the f\u00eate of St. Bartholomew; many\npretty women and fine spirited-looking men were among the groups of gay\nfigures assembled there. The caps of the former were very remarkable,\nbeing composed of lace in the form of a high Roman casque or helmet; and\nworn over another of pink silk. The church was ornamented with flowers\nand green wreaths; guns were firing, and a military procession going by\nas we passed: some of the girls wore pea-green jackets and red\npetticoats, some blue petticoats and white shift sleeves, and all had a\nbouquet of natural flowers in their bosoms.\nFrom Rivoli, we emerged into the fertile and widely extended plains of\nPiedmont; the distant hills, richly tufted with woods, were studded\nthick with white villas (or _vignes_ as they are called here), and we\nnow entirely lost sight of those hideous _go\u00eetres_, which had hitherto\nevery now and then made their appearance, even in the midst of a\ngenerally handsome peasantry.\nThe approach to Turin was highly beautiful, through a long avenue of the\nfinest trees; the town itself embosomed among gently rising hills, and\nadorned by the river Po, glassy and smooth as a mirror, and so\ntransparent, that the banks and sky were reflected upon its breast,\nunbroken by a single wave or ripple. The buildings are very high, many\nof them extremely handsome, with white or coloured striped awnings to\nevery window, as a shelter from the noon-day sun. Our hotel (_Albergo\ndel Universo_) stood in the middle of _La Place du Chateau_, immediately\nfronting the royal palace. The streets are clean, which indeed they\nought to be, since through almost all of them a stream of the purest\ncrystal water is perpetually flowing, contributing not a little, I\nshould think, to the health and comfort of the inhabitants. We found\napartments allotted to us in the _Albergo_ of great height and size,\nwith cove ceilings, and _en suite_; furnished with a curious mixture of\npoverty and magnificence, and ornamented by some exquisite and well\nchosen prints, from the designs of Poussin and other old masters; rather\nin better style, it must be allowed, than those of most English inns,\nwhere you find \"Going out to hunt,\" \"In at the death,\" \"Matrimony and\ncourtship,\" and such things, hanging over every chimney piece. But we\nfound one annoyance here that almost disgusted me with Italy, in spite\nof her miracles of nature and art, and brought back the remembrance of\nEnglish neatness and purity in a very forcible manner: I allude to the\ncircumstance of the vermin, which infest even some of their most\nexpensive establishments, and quite destroy the sensation of comfort.\nThere are other sins also in their household arrangements, which this\nnation share in common with the French: suffice it to say, that both one\nand the other are certainly the dirtiest race of beings I ever\nencountered. I did not much like the smell of garlic, on entering our\nhotel, where the host, waiters, and assistants, all puffed their _vile\nrocambole breath_[5] in our face, as they bustled about, preparing for\nour accommodation. Neither could I relish their method of cookery, and,\nafter the first trial, begged to have our future dinners drest _\u00e0 la\nFran\u00e7aise_. I know not what my friend Mr. T. would say to this, who I\nhave heard vaunt his Piedmontese garlic truffles as one of the greatest\ndelicacies of the table. To do the people of this hotel justice, I\nought, however, to acknowledge that they seemed most anxious to please,\nand appeared delighted when they succeeded. Nor did they attempt to\nimpose upon us in their charges, although they formed exceptions, in\nthis instance, to some other Italian innkeepers, by whom we were\nconsiderably annoyed and disgusted; the system of cheating and\nover-rating on their parts, and of shameless begging from the lower\nclasses, being in general carried to an astonishing excess; I must say,\nthat we found the French far preferable in these respects. The royal\nresidence here is a very magnificent and classical building, and _La\nplace de St. Charles_ is also very fine. The shops are universally built\nbeneath the refreshing shade of piazzas, which is a very necessary\ncircumstance, for the heat of the sun at noon would otherwise overpower\ntheir inhabitants. No business seems to be done at that time, at the\npublic-offices, banking-houses, &c. Indeed the Italians say, _il n'y a\nque les chiens et les Anglois qui sortent \u00e0 ces heures_. We proceeded to\nview the principal _lions_ the next day, and, amongst others, the\ncathedral, which is a regular Grecian temple. The king's seat in a\ngallery above the high altar, very splendidly adorned, but we agreed in\nthinking that this style of architecture (although beautiful in itself),\nwas far less appropriate to a place of religious worship than the\ngothic. In this opinion (which I remember to have expressed before, in\nthe beginning of my tour), I am not sure however, that we are not a\nlittle tinged with the ideas of gloomy solemnity (as connected with\nreligion) peculiar to most of the northern nations; and I own (at all\nevents) that I am guilty of an inconsistency in taste, because I have\never been a warm admirer of the bright, soft, and smiling type under\nwhich a different mythology has represented death. The poetical\nbutterfly, bursting from its chrysalis, and soaring on triumphant wings\nto heaven, strikes me as infinitely more rational than the horrible (and\nlow) taste which we have shown in selecting the skeleton as the most\nproper symbol of the same great and glorious mystery! a sort of _rawhead\nand bloodybone_ plan, unworthy of so enlightened a people as ourselves,\nand which seems to answer no one purpose of religion or morality, if\nimpartially considered; but on the contrary to be well calculated to\npoison the innocent minds of youth with aggravated and unnecessary\nterrors, and to divert their attention from the nobler truths of\nimmortality!\nIn the evening we drove upon the Corso in a _caleche_, the same sort of\nvehicle which we used while at Paris. The Corso is a pretty, cool, shady\npromenade, by the side of the river Po. The upper classes of Turin take\nthe cool air of the evening here, every day, in their different\ncarriages; we observed no pedestrians above the rank of the\n_bourgeoisie_. We met the king of Sardinia on horseback, not forming (as\nis usual for sovereigns in England) the centre of a galaxy of stars and\nribands, but riding first, by himself, followed by an escort of five\ngentlemen, among whom was his brother. He looked very earnestly into our\ncarriage, and returned our salutation by taking off his hat in a\ngraceful and courteous manner. He is a little thin man, apparently about\nfifty-five, with a countenance expressive of good nature. The queen\nnext rolled by, attended by all her suite, in an old-fashioned heavy\ncoach and six, her coachman (big, fat, and important, sunk in his ample\nbox) and her footmen in gay scarlet liveries, gaudily laced. The\nequipage altogether put me strongly in mind of that raised by the fairy\nfor her god-daughter Cinderella, where the coach was originally a\npumpkin, the coachman a fat hen, and the lackeys lizards! We saw shortly\nafterwards, during this brilliant promenade, the prince and princess of\nCarignano (who are adored by all ranks, and are continually active in\nevery benevolent duty), and the Spanish, Dutch, and other ambassadors.\nThe king shows himself to the populace in this manner every evening. We\nattended the Opera at night; the price of one of the best private boxes\ndid not exceed twelve shillings, and the tickets of admission (being a\nseparate concern) were about fifteen-pence. In London one thinks a box\ncheap at five guineas! The prince and princess de Carignano were\npresent: the theatre is called by their name, but it is not the\nprincipal one at Turin; there being another upon a larger scale, which\nwas shut up during our _sejour_ at that place: it is never used but\nduring the carnival, or on some great occasion, in compliment to some\nforeign prince. The Carignano theatre is, notwithstanding, a handsome,\nspacious edifice, about the size of Drury Lane, and the scenery and\nmachinery carried on in far better style than with us in the Haymarket.\nThe drop curtain in particular caught my attention; it is an exquisite\npainting, representing the Judgment of Paris, his figure beautiful and\ngraceful in the highest degree, and the drapery remarkably fine. The\nOpera (_Il Rivale di se stesso_, by Veigi) was well got up, but we were\nnot much struck with the music, from the whole of which we could only\nselect one or two _morceaux_ to admire: there was a clever _buffo_\n(_Signor Nicola Taci_), and a very agreeable _prima donna_, whose style\nof singing and flexibility of voice sometimes reminded us of Catalani;\nher name was _Emilia Bonini_. The ballet was extremely superior to ours\nin numbers, and in minute attention to the accuracy of costume; but\nthere were no French dancers among them, and it is well known how\ninferior in the comparison are all others. The _grotesques_, however, (a\nspecies of dancers peculiar to Italy) were wonderful for activity and\nstrength: they consisted of four men and two women, who really appeared\nto think the air their proper element rather than the earth; they flew\nabout in every possible strange attitude, but were totally devoid of\ngrace, to which, indeed, I believe they do not pretend. I found that I\nhad by some means formed a very erroneous idea of the usual conduct of\nan Italian audience. I had expected to find a sort of breathless\nsilence, and a refinement of applause, wholly different from the\ncharacter of an English set of listeners; but on the contrary, they\nclapped as loudly as any John Bulls in the world, and even hissed one of\nthe singers, who did not happen to please. I have subsequently mentioned\nthis circumstance to those who are better acquainted with the customs of\nItaly, and learn that I have been quite mistaken all my life in this\nrespect. The house (as well as those in France) was dark as Erebus\nwhich I cannot approve, for it evidently does not answer the purpose of\nincreasing the brilliancy and the illusion of the stage.\nThe next morning we drove to Moncallier, about six miles from Turin, to\ncall upon Madame N----, (an old acquaintance of our friend Mr. T.'s,)\nfor whom we had letters. The coachman was an insufferable gossip, and we\ndreaded to ask him a question, sure that it would bring down upon us at\nleast a dozen long answers. We did not go to the English minister's;\nthat gentleman (Mr. Hill) being then absent for a fortnight at Genoa. We\ntherefore had not the pleasure of presenting him with those letters of\nintroduction to himself and other families at Turin, with which we were\nfurnished by the kindness of Mr. T. who was also formerly minister here,\nand of whom the people still speak in those terms of enthusiastic\ngratitude, which his benevolence richly deserves. It was highly pleasing\nto me to listen to these details, nor were they imparted to us by one\nperson alone; his reputation appeared to be in the hearts and upon the\nlips of every one who remembered him at all! But to return to our visit\nto Madame N----: the vast expanse of fertile, fresh, and woody country\nseen from the heights of Moncallier, with the Po winding in graceful\nsweeps through the richest banks, is wonderfully like the prospect\nboasted by Richmond Hill. I was national enough to admire it the more\nupon this account, although I confess its superiority in the sublime\nback ground of the distant Alps and glaciers. When arrived at the\ntermination of the carriage road here, we were informed of the necessity\nof alighting, and of walking a short distance to the garden gate that\nbelonged to Madame N.'s _vigne_. This short distance proved to be\nupwards of half a league (a mile and half), leading through a stony lane\nof hot sand, (in which our weary feet sunk deep at every step), upon a\nvery long and steep ascent. The hour of noon (which I have already\nmentioned to be intolerable in this country) rapidly approached, and the\nscorching influence of the sun caused the drops to start from our\nforeheads, and our hearts to sink within us, as we proceeded on our way;\nto make the matter worse, I had attired myself that morning (little\ndreaming of such a walk) in a smart Parisian costume, with a triple\nflounce at the bottom of the petticoat, which by the time I had reached\nthe end of this lane, formed a very pretty receptacle of dust and sand,\nscattering its contents most liberally upon my already blistered feet\nand ancles; a pair of thin, small slippers, also, (which I unfortunately\nwore) cut my insteps with their tight binding, and admitted at each step\nthe sharp points of flint with which our path abounded! The guide (a\nbareheaded Piedmontese boy) did not understand above one word in ten of\nwhat was said to him, either in French or Italian, speaking a wretched\nand indistinct _patois_ himself, which was equally unintelligible to us.\nHe was a lively, arch little fellow, however, and made some amends for\nhaving seduced us into attempting the walk, by his encouraging signs\nthat we should soon arrive at its termination. Indeed it would have been\nuseless to have gone back, as we had already advanced so far upon our\nway; and there was no possibility of reaching the house but on foot. I\nreproached him several times for replying only \"_No_, _Signora_,\" when I\nasked if such and such gates belonged to the _vigne_ we were seeking;\nand could not help smiling at his desiring me to take courage, for that\nin a few minutes he should leave off saying \"_No_, _Signora_,\" and be\nable to please me better by \"_Eccola_, _Signora_:\" at length we reached\nthe goal, and upon ringing, were ushered by two servant girls in their\n_paysanne_ costumes, amid the barking of wondering dogs, into a romantic\ngarden, where flowers, fruit, vegetables, and grapes, all flourished\ntogether without any attempt at regularity, forming a singular and most\nagreeable melange. This _vigne_ commanded an exquisite and extensive\nprospect of the plains of Piedmont, and the distant mountains. A grave,\nrespectable _femme de chambre_ now made her appearance, and speaking in\nEnglish, conducted us into the house, where in a few minutes Madame N.\nherself received us with a degree of frank politeness, and a warm and\nunaffected hospitality of manner, which was extremely pleasant to meet\nwith, and quite a novelty to those who like ourselves had been\naccustomed to the reserve (I may say ultra-reserve) of many\nEnglishwomen. Both mistress and maid (the latter personage\nabove-mentioned having lived with Madame N. ever since she was a girl)\nhad a foreign accent and idiom, in speaking our language, although they\nwere really of English birth, and had passed their youth in the county\nof Suffolk or Norfolk, I forget which. We were much struck with the\ndifference of this little country house from those to which we had been\nused in England, it bore so completely the Italian character; all the\nrooms were in _demi jour_, having the _jalousies_ closed, to shield them\nfrom the sun at this sultry time of the day: marble in profusion\nrendered their appearance doubly cool, brick floors and light green\nstucco walls, still preserving the air of a cottage residence, in which\nan English eye is surprised at meeting the former costly material. A few\nbeautiful frescos, and water-coloured drawings of mountain scenery,\nevidently from the hand of a master, a gaily painted ceiling, and a\nguitar thrown carelessly upon a pianoforte, told us we were in the land\nof the arts. Passing into the small dining-room, opening upon the\ngarden, through a porch thickly shaded with vines, we saw the table\nready laid for dinner, to which we were cordially intreated to remain:\nit was entirely covered with large vine leaves, spread upon the white\ncloth, and amid which we perceived wooden spoons and forks, in a true\nArcadian style. Nothing could have a cooler or more refreshing effect\nthan this verdant board prepared for\n    \"----all those rural messes,\n    Which the neat-handed Phyllis dresses.\"\nWe were not, however, at liberty to accept Madame N.'s invitation to\nshare her simple meal, having left our friend waiting dinner for us at\nTurin. She told us of a late visit she had been making to the mountains:\ntheir party consisted of a few intimate friends, who, joining in a sort\nof gipseying scheme, hired lodgings for three weeks, at the humble\ncottage of one of the poor inhabitants of these remote and solitary\nregions. They carried their own cooking utensils, some provisions, and a\ncomplete set of common earthen-ware dishes, plates, wooden spoons,\nknives and forks, &c. These they presented to their host at parting,\nwhose gratitude and delight at the splendid gift, she said, were\nunbounded. He repeatedly exclaimed, \"too much! this is too much! what\nbeautiful things! they are far too good for me!\" Their value in toto was\nabout five English shillings; but this unsophisticated child of nature,\nused to every sort of privation, knowing but few wants, and totally\nignorant of the customs and habits of the rest of the world, really\nimagined that it was a princely donation. The manners of the people in\nthese wild mountains are primitive beyond all conception, and their\nmorals so pure, their affections so warm, and their language so artless\nand unrestrained, that they seemed as if just fresh from the hand of the\nCreator in the beginning of the world! Altogether they had made such a\nstrong and touching impression on Madame N.'s mind (who is herself the\npurest and most romantic child of nature), that she said she should\nregret their society, and remember their singular virtues and innocence\nas long as she lived. The advocates for the doctrine of original\ndepravity, and who deny that man is rendered vicious chiefly by\ncircumstances, might have been somewhat staggered in this \"plain tale,\"\nso truly calculated to \"put them down.\"\nSpeaking of the Italian character, and more particularly of their\nexcellence in the fine arts, she confirmed the truth of what so many\naccurate and enlightened observers have remarked, namely, \"that the\ngenius of an Italian is so peculiarly indigenous to his native soil, so\nintimately and vitally dependant upon the favouring and animating breath\nof his own ardent clime, as to faint, droop, and often wholly to wither,\nin the chilling atmosphere of foreign lands!\" Like the giant son of the\nearth, who wrestled with Hercules, his power, his very existence, is\ndrawn wholly from thence. Madame de Sta\u00ebl, in her Corinne (that work,\nwhose kindling eloquence, depth of feeling, inimitable powers of\nlanguage, and historical truth, as a portrait of Italy, is so\nuniversally admired by the best judges of excellence, and so clamoured\nagainst by the tasteless and ignorant cavillers of the day), has\nforcibly illustrated this truth; as has also Canova, in his own person.\nMadame N. related an answer which the latter made to Bonaparte (who had\nsense and elevation enough to appreciate this modern Praxiteles as he\ndeserved), upon being reproached for indolence, and want of professional\nexertion while at Paris: \"Emperor!--Canova cannot be Canova but in his\nnative Italy; she is the source of his inspiration; his powers are\npalsied in the separation!\"\nWe walked in the garden of this pretty _vigne_, after having partaken of\nthe refreshment of fruit and wine and water within, and were surprised\nat the bruised and battered appearance of the grapes; they had been all\nnearly destroyed a short time before, by a violent storm of hail; the\ncongealed drops of this destructive element being larger than a small\nbird's egg, or a gooseberry! What a scourge to the poorer classes,\nwhose only wealth frequently consists in their vineyards! (_note_ D).\nWe now took leave of our friendly, though new, acquaintance; who, not\nsatisfied with having pressed us to pass a few days with her here, also\noffered us the use of her winter residence in Turin, if we had staid\nlonger, assuring us we should find it more comfortable than a hotel.\nBefore I quit her, however, I should mention the curious difference\nwhich she pointed out to us, in the necessary expenses of an Italian and\nan English domestic establishment: the comforts, and even luxuries, of\nthe former clime being obtained at so much more reasonable a price than\nthose of the latter, as to seem almost incredible. She told me, that for\nfive or six hundred a year a person might keep two houses (one in Turin,\nand one in the country), a carriage, a box at the Opera, an appropriate\ntable, and be able to receive friends under his roof with perfect ease.\nFurther up, among the more retired mountains, and relinquishing the\naccommodation of a carriage, you might live most comfortably (although,\nof course, upon a very small scale of establishment) for fifty pounds\nper annum. She added, that in her own case, an income which gave her the\nreputation of a \"rich widow\" in Turin, would not purchase her a decent\nroof, and bread and cheese, in London. I have no means of ascertaining\nthat this statement is correct, or exaggerated; I merely relate the\ncircumstance. We found our friend, Mr. W., in expectation of our return,\nat the hotel:\n    \"We entered,\n    And dinner was served as we came;\"[6]\nfor which we had a better appetite than could have been imagined, after\nall our fatigues. The heat of the weather would not admit of our going\nout till the evening had considerably advanced, when we again drove\nabout the town. The waiter (who, by the way, was one of the best looking\nof his kind we had seen, being particularly remarkable for the elegant\nexpression of his countenance (if I may apply that word to one in his\nrank of life), as well as the regularity of his truly Grecian features),\ntold us, that the late summer had been the most sultry that the people\nof Turin were able to remember; and that he himself had found the heat\nso unusually oppressive, that he had hardly been able to taste food\nduring the time of its continuance. Having occasion to write letters\nthis evening, we sent for materials, and by the appearance of the golden\nsand which was brought to us, thought the river Pactolus ran through the\ntown instead of the Po. Ice is used in profusion here, in the\npreparation of almost every beverage; and there are large meadows\noverflowing with the clearest streams of water, kept solely for this\npurpose. We went into a bookseller's shop during our stay, where we were\nagreeably surprised by seeing a translation of Rob Roy upon the table,\nwhich we were assured was much relished in Italy, and was extremely\npopular. A proof (if any were wanting) of the intrinsic excellence of\nthe work, even considered without reference to its merits as a mere\nnational picture. We observed also a sermon, which had been preached\nupon the death of our lamented Princess Charlotte; the style, as I\nslightly turned over the leaves, appeared highly pathetic, and the\nexpressions of pity and regret very forcible and natural. It was\naltogether a tender and soothing gratification to our feelings as\nnatives of England.\nPriestcraft struck us to be the staple trade of the place; the swarms of\ndismal, sly-looking, vulgar figures, in their black formal costume, were\nbeyond all belief, and the idea of a flight of ravens came into my head\nevery time I saw them. Passing by the market, we were astonished at the\nquantities of peaches exposed for sale. They are as common in Italy as\npotatoes with us. Some small ones of an inferior sort were then selling\nat the price of four or five English halfpence for three pounds weight\nof fruit. We went the next day, in the cool of the evening, to drive, as\nusual, about the environs, and intended to have called upon the Marquise\nd'A----(_n\u00e9e d'A._), for whom we had letters of introduction; but were\nprevented by a violent and sudden storm of rain, thunder, and lightning.\nThe effect of its coming on was wonderfully grand and beautiful; a\npainter would have been in ecstasies; and we were highly interested in\nthe sight. Looking back upon Turin, we beheld the town, and the\nconspicuous convent of Capucins, their white walls starting luminously\nforth from a background of lowering clouds of a purple hue, indicative\nof the gathering tempest, which in a few moments darkened into the most\nawful gloom that can be imagined. We put up the hood and leather apron\nof the carriage, and drove rapidly homewards, while the clouds burst\nover our heads, and the rain descended in absolute sheets of water. We\ncould not help being delighted with the refreshing change. If\nPythagoras's doctrine is true, I am convinced I must formerly have been\na duck; for never creature of that nature enjoyed the sort of thing more\nthan myself. The lightning continued for nearly an hour, accompanied by\ntremendous bursts of thunder, louder than the loudest artillery, the\nwind howling at the same moment as if in the depth of winter, which,\njoined to the constant rushing sound of the rain falling from the\nprojecting roofs and broad water-spouts of the surrounding buildings,\nformed the most sublime concert of wild sounds that I ever heard. We\nwere told that storms are almost always thus violent in the near\nneighbourhood of the Alps.\nBefore I quit the subject of Turin, there are a few more observations,\nwhich, however desultory, I will not withhold, although they sometimes\nmay relate to things which we did not ourselves see, owing to the\nextreme heat of the weather, and the shortness of our stay. Among these\nis the church of the Superga, which I advise every traveller to visit,\nknowing how amply his trouble would be repaid by the very noble view\nthat it affords, and the peculiar interest and magnificence of the\nstructure itself. In a clear day the spire of the cathedral of Milan may\nbe discerned from thence, at the distance of eighty miles. To inspect\nthe convent, in all its details, it is necessary for ladies to procure\npreviously an order from the archbishop of Turin.\n[Illustration: _London, Published by I, Murray, 1819._\nVIEW of TURIN.]\nThe Colline de Turin, in addition to its natural beauties, presents two\nother objects worthy of being seen: the Vigne de la Reine (a very\nelegant little summer retreat), and the picturesque and romantic\nconvent, which is the burying-place of the knights of the supreme order\nof the Annunciade, in the neighbourhood of which are found considerable\nmasses of that fibrous schist, called asbestos.\nBonaparte, it must be allowed, has made considerable amends for the\nmischief which his army occasioned at Turin, by the handsome bridge he\ncaused to be built in place of a miserable wooden one, and by weeding\nthe country of its too numerous monastic institutions, a few of which\nonly have been restored by the present government. As the seeds of\nrevolutionary principles are apt to retain their vital heat, even when\napparently crushed beneath the foot of power, one cannot be surprised\nthat a good deal of unpopularity attends the present sovereign among\ncertain classes. But his truly paternal government is nevertheless\ncherished with affection by many, as the following fact clearly proves,\nwhich I learned from the most indisputable authority. There existed an\n_imp\u00f4t_, highly profitable to the revenue, but which the king believed\nto be vexatious and unpopular. He was accordingly taking measures to\nrepeal it, when, unexpectedly, he received addresses from different\nparts of the country, expressive of their conviction that this resource\nto the revenue was necessary; and such was their confidence in the\ncertainty of his majesty's relinquishment of it, the moment the\nsituation of the finances would allow him to do so without\ninconvenience, that they were content willingly to submit to it until\nthat period arrived.\nWe regretted not being able to visit Genoa, the magnificence of which\ncity, and its beautiful bay (the latter hardly inferior to that of\nNaples), is much talked of. With respect to this portion of his\nSardinian majesty's new subjects, we were told that a considerable time\nwill be necessary to reconcile them to the loss of their independence.\nWe should have been glad to have availed ourselves (as I said before) of\nour letters of introduction to Mr. Hill, had he been at Turin, as we had\nheard much of the affable and amiable manners of the Piedmontese\nnobility. I have, indeed, always understood that they were remarkable\nfor quickness and penetration. These latter qualities distinguish their\ndiplomacy at the several courts of Europe. From the abominable _patois_\nwhich they speak, I should think both gentlemen and ladies must be\nsingularly clever and engaging, to rise superior to such a disadvantage:\nit seems to be a corruption of French and Italian, and to spoil both.\nThey say, however, that it is very expressive: all ranks are much\nattached to it, and (strange to relate) it is spoken at court, French\nbeing only adopted when foreigners are present.\nIn this threshold of Italy, one expects to find a considerable progress\nin the arts, nor were we disappointed. Painting, sculpture, orf\u00e9vrerie,\nmusic, &c. have attained to a very fair and reasonable height, and some\nof their manufactures are particularly good; especially where silk (the\ngreat riches of the country) is employed. Their damasks for hangings are\nbeautiful, both for patterns and colour. They are the common furniture\nof all their best apartments, and exceedingly cheap; one third perhaps\nof what they could be manufactured for in England, whither their raw\nsilk is sent every year to an immense amount, and under a no less\nimmense duty; a certain proportion of it is requisite to mix up with our\nBengal silks. The light gauzes manufactured at Chamberry are a very\nelegant and favourite article of dress.\nSeveral of the English nobility have been educated at the university of\nTurin, which used to be the most considerable in Italy; the system of\neducation having been carried on in a most liberal and gentlemanly\nstyle. There is a remarkable and interesting little protestant colony,\nwhich also deserves mention,--the Vaudois, who, surviving the cruel\npersecutions of the dark ages of the church, have for many centuries\n(certainly before the twelfth) preserved their existence in the midst of\nthis catholic country, and within thirty miles of its capital. They are\na very quiet, moral, and industrious people. They owe their ease and\nsafety to the protection of some of the protestant powers, and\nespecially that of Great Britain, whose minister is particularly\ninstructed to attend to their interests, and to their enjoyment of the\ntoleration that is allowed them; they are, like our catholics, deprived\nof many privileges; but lately his present majesty has consented to\nallow a salary to their priests. Cromwell supported these people with\npeculiar energy.\nWe left Turin the next morning. The fresh and balmy spirit of the air\nwas delightful, and we had a glorious view of the glaciers which hem in\nthis fair city, the new-risen sun shining brightly upon their snowy and\nfantastic summits: the host went by, in early procession; all the people\nas it passed dropped on their knees, in the dirt of the street, and\ndevoutly made the sign of the cross. We met two friars, whose\npicturesque and really dignified appearance formed a great contrast to\nthe demure, fanatical, formal-looking priests, whom we had hitherto seen\nin all quarters of the town. These friars were complete models for a\npainter; their bare feet in sandals, rosary and gold cross by their\nside, superb grey polls and beards; the latter \"streaming like meteors\nto the troubled air.\" We now paid toll at the first turnpike we had\nseen during the last seven hundred miles. I believe I have before\nmentioned that it was Bonaparte who abolished this troublesome system,\nand who really seems to have favoured the interests of travellers in\nevery respect. The cottages in this neighbourhood were pretty, and many\nof the little porches and doors were overgrown with the broad verdant\nleaves of the pumpkin, whose orange-coloured blossoms had a remarkably\ngay and rich effect.\nAt Settimo we saw a beautiful girl, with the true Grecian line of\nfeature, long oval cheek, dark pale skin (fine and smooth as marble or\nivory), curled red lips, with long cut black eyes and straight eyebrows;\nher profile was not unlike that of Mrs. E., so celebrated in her day for\nregularity of outline.\nBetween Settimo and Chivasco we passed over a curious bridge, formed of\nplanks, thrown across four boats, which were fixed immoveably in the\nriver, by strong cords fastened to posts. The shape of these boats, and\nalso of many we observed upon the Po, resembled that of an Indian\ncanoe. The turnpike was a little thatched hut, erected upon the middle\nof this bridge. Refusing to comply with the importunities of an old\nItalian beggar woman here, she poured forth a volume of various\nmaledictions upon us; being not at all inferior in this sort of\neloquence to the amazons of our St. Giles's or Billingsgate.\nThe money (gold coins, I mean) of Italy are of very pure metal, without\nalloy; you may (as a proof of it) bend them into any shape with the\nfingers.\nAn accident happened to us near Rondizzone, which was rather alarming,\nbut happily passed over without any serious consequences. The bridle of\nthe centre horse breaking, we were violently run away with by the\nhot-headed animals; nor could the postillion stop them by any effort.\nThis was rendered more distressing by the circumstance of our going down\na steep hill at the moment. We called out repeatedly, and waved our\nhands for assistance to one or two peasants who were passing, making\nsigns for them to catch the bridle, if possible; but they seemed to turn\na deaf ear to our entreaties, never offering to make the smallest\nattempt to relieve us. By the time we reached the bottom of the hill,\nhowever, which was fortunately a long one, the creatures felt tired, and\nstopped of themselves.\nAt Cigliano we took a _dejeun\u00e9_ at _L'Albergo Reale_, and while it was\npreparing, stood in the open gallery on the outside of the house,\ngathering from a vine, which overshadowed it, the most delicious\nFrontigniac grapes that I ever remember to have tasted: indeed their\nflavour was exquisite, but the people did not appear to think them of\nany particular value, leaving them freely to the attacks of every\ntraveller. Here we first drank the _vino d'Asti_, a light wine of the\ncountry, which we thought extremely pleasant, tasting like the best\nsweet cyder. I formerly thought that the flies of this country would\nprobably be much of the same sort as those in England; but they turned\nout far more impertinently troublesome, inflicting their tiny torments\nwithout mercy, being equally obnoxious to man and beast; a true\nimpudent, blood-sucking race! This reminds me, that under the head of\n_vermin_, I ought to have recorded a disagreeable surprise felt by Mr.\nB. at the Opera at Turin: feeling something tickle his forehead, he put\nup his hand, and caught hold of a monstrous black spider, at least four\ninches in circumference. The people at the hotel, to whom we related the\ncircumstance, said it was rather an uncommon thing, but which sometimes\noccurred. The country, since we turned our backs upon Turin, was\nmonotonous, and only relieved by the chain of Alps in the distance.\nAt San Germano we observed a very graceful costume among the peasant\ngirls, and women of all ages; those who were advanced to extreme old age\nstill continuing it without any variation. I allude to the wearing\nsilver pins or bodkins in the hair behind, the long tresses of which are\ntied together with a narrow black riband, and divided into two braids.\nThese are then coiled into a round shape at the back of the head, and\nfastened to the roots of the hair by these ornamental pins, which are\nabout a finger in length, and have large heads, like beads. Their points\nform the radii of a circle, and are plainly discovered amid the shadowy\nlocks which they thus support. The landscape here was flat and\nuninteresting; but we remarked a great deal of pasture land. The trees\nchiefly consisted of stunted willows, planted in straight lines. There\nwere no villas, or even hamlets, to be seen, and the _tout ensemble_ was\nalmost as tame and as ugly as that of the Netherlands. The first dulcet\nnotes of true Italian music, we heard at Vercelli: a baker's wife, who\nlived next door to the _Albergo della Posta_ (where we stopped to change\nhorses), sat working and singing in her shop. It was the most elegant,\nyet simple, air imaginable, and her voice possessed the soft mellifluous\ntones of a faint but mellow flute. She had a peculiar ease and\nflexibility also in the execution of several charming and brilliant\nlittle graces, which delighted me. I thought it was extremely improbable\nthat this woman could have had the advantage of a master in the art; and\nyet her style was finished in the most perfect sense of the word; being\nsimple, yet refined; pathetic, yet chastely ornamented. She was plain in\nface and person; but her lips half open looked almost pretty, as she\nemitted these sweet sounds, without discomposing a muscle. An effect was\nthus produced, without effort or instruction, which is frequently denied\nin our country to the pupils of the most celebrated teachers, although\nevery exertion has been cheerfully and indefatigably made, both by\nmaster and scholar. But there is no convincing some people that there\nare things which are not to be taught. Had I a daughter, I would never\nallow her the assistance of a music master until I perceived, by\nunequivocal tokens, that nature had qualified her to do credit to his\ninstructions; and hence waste of time, patience, temper, and money,\nwould be avoided. My baker's wife I shall never forget; and if her\nexample would have opened the eyes of half the world in England (who\nreally seem to be music-mad in the present age), I wish that she had had\nan opportunity of exhibiting her gift, and of mortifying the silly\nambition, while she soothed the ears of them all. How have I smiled to\nsee people toiling to acquire the knowledge of composition and thorough\nbase, when I have been certain that they have not possessed a spark of\nnative genius to enable them to make any use of these rules after all.\nPrometheus formed an image, but it was only fire from heaven that could\nmake that image man!\nThe costume of the women at Vercelli became still more picturesque than\nthose of San Germano, as the bodkins which the former wore were much\nhandsomer, some being of silver filligree, and others of silver gilt,\nthe heads worked and embossed with great taste and richness. We saw\nlarge fields of rice here; this grain has a singular appearance,\nsomething between the barley and oat: when viewed closely, it has about\ntwelve ears upon each stalk. The hedges by the road side were of a\nspecies of acacia, forming a very graceful foliage, but not growing to\nany height or size. I got out of the carriage to examine the manner in\nwhich the women inserted the pretty ornaments I have just described\ninto their hair. I found them (like the French _paysannes_) extremely\ncourteous and frank in their manners, and they seemed flattered by the\nattention their costume had excited. An old man stood by, holding the\nhands of his two little grand-children; he observed (in the usual\n_patois_) that they were beautiful rogues, and he was right, for I have\nseldom seen sweeter children; very dark, with the bright yet soft black\neye peculiar to Italians, and which both Sir W. Jones and Lord Byron,\ncatching the poetical idea of the eastern writers, have so happily\ndefined, (or rather painted) by a comparison with that of the roe or\ngazelle. One of these darlings had wavy curls of the darkest auburn\nhair. What a pity that such lovely cherubim faces and silken locks\nshould not have been kept free from dirt and----worse than dirt! but it\nis always the case here, the poorer classes are invariably filthy.\nThe same tiresome and tame style of country continued until we reached\nNovara; where we dined and slept at _l'Albergo d'Italia_. The latter was\na horrible-looking place; my heart sank within me, as we drove into the\ncourt, for if I was so bitten by the bugs, &c. at the superb albergo of\nTurin, I naturally conceived I should have been quite devoured here!\nThis was a striking proof, however, of the truth of that moral axiom,\nwhich tells us, \"it is not good to judge of things at first sight,\" and\nalso that it is absurd to consider them on the dark side, since at this\nsame inn we found every comfort: the dinner was served in a cleanly\nmanner (the knives, forks, and spoons were really washed), and we\nenjoyed a night of calm repose, undisturbed by vermin of any sort. The\ngentlemen went in the evening to an Italian comedy, at the theatre here,\nwhich was a neat building, entirely fitted up with private boxes and a\nparterre, the scenery and costumes far above mediocrity, and the\norchestra very tolerable; but the length of the Italian dialogues, and\nthe unnatural bombast of the actor's delivery, soon fatigued their\nattention and exhausted their patience, and they were glad to return\nhome to indulge unrestrained an overwhelming propensity to sleep. The\nwomen at Novara were much better looking than any we had yet seen in\nthis country; the custom of gently parting the hair upon the forehead,\n_\u00e0 la Madonna_, finishing with a soft ringlet behind each ear, and the\nlonger tresses confined in an antique knot, gave an air of infinite\ngrace to the head and throat, and appeared to us to be in far better\ntaste than that of the French, which strains up the long hair to the\ncrown of the head, rendering the forehead quite bald, save at the\ntemples, where a lank straggling greasy curl always is left hanging down\nupon the cheek, which has a formal and unbecoming effect. Apropos to\npersonal charm, I was assured before our departure from England (by an\namateur artist of high genius and feeling, and who had lived for years\nin different parts of Italy), that we should find there a small number\nof what are generally called \"pretty women,\" in comparison with what we\nhad been used to see in our own country; but that when real Italian\nbeauty was occasionally encountered, it was of that decided and\nexquisite nature, as to be infinitely superior to any which England's\ndaughters can boast. Even my slight experience has perfectly convinced\nme of the truth of the remark. I am national enough to be sorry for it,\nbut it cannot be helped; we must submit to this mortification of our\nvanity, and if we do it with a good grace, may probably find that\nquality _plus belle encore que la beaut\u00e9_ of power to captivate, where\nregularity of feature has failed. The first stage of our journey the\nnext day did not afford us any relief from the insipidity of country of\nwhich we had complained since leaving Turin. We saw here (as in most\nparts of the continent) large tracts planted with corn, here called\n_melliga_, and remarked a good deal of meadow land; but we did not once\ntaste cream either in Italy or France (except at Samer, and afterwards\nat Quillacq's hotel at Calais, when we were treated with a few spoonfuls\nin our tea of a rich sort of milk which boasted that name), nor was\nParis itself exempt from the want of it. This wearying sameness in the\nlandscape was at length agreeably broken by the prospect of a vast\ncommon, where the purple heath-flower, with which it was entirely\ncovered, wet with dew, gleamed like an amethyst in the morning sun. Yet\neven here, I missed the gay variety of the bright golden broom, which\ninvariably is found upon our commons at home--Home! the term always\nmakes my heart throb with pleasure and pride; I know not why, but at\nthat moment its idea rose in vivid strength before me, softened and\nbeautified by the colours with which memory never fails to adorn a\nbeloved object in absence. I felt (and my companions warmly participated\nin my sentiments) that our dear little island had charms of a different\nnature, but in no way inferior, to those even of this favoured land, so\ncelebrated, so enthusiastically vaunted, by the poet and the painter. I\nfelt (and what Englishwoman ought not to feel?) that I could truly\nexclaim in apostrophizing my native country,\n    \"Where'er I go, whatever realms I see,\n    My heart, untravell'd, fondly turns to thee.\"\nAnd yet, reader, we were no _bigots_ in the cause, for we could discern\nforeign excellence and deeply feel it, and we could perceive where\nEngland's faults lay, could acknowledge those faults, and wish that they\nwere rectified; and this, I am sorry to say, is not always the case with\nour countrymen, many of whom have listened to all commendations of other\nnations, as if they were so many insults offered to our own. It seems\nwonderful that such feelings should in these enlightened days exist\namong persons who are not actually fools, nor of that class of society\nin which a want of education necessarily induces ignorance and\nprejudice; yet so it is, unfortunately, as it has more than once been my\nlot to witness.\nWe now passed the river Tessin, by means of a bridge of boats. It was\nmuch impaired in beauty and force, by the heat of the late season, but\nwe could easily imagine that in general its portion of both must be\nextreme. Bonaparte had begun to build a fine and permanent bridge across\nit, but fate intervened, and it is left unfinished, like his own\neventful history.\nAt Buffalore, the _douaniers_ were tiresome enough, according to\n_custom_ (pardon the pun), but we conducted ourselves towards them with\ngreat patience and civility, which (together with a little _silver_\neloquence) soon touched their stony hearts. Indeed it would have been\nuseless to have done otherwise, as I never yet heard of any body being\nable to soften rocks with vinegar, except Hannibal; and I consider even\nthat instance to be apocryphal.\nWe arrived at the grand city of Milan early, and proceeded immediately\nto visit the cathedral, that mighty _duomo_, of which Italy is so justly\nproud. We were absolutely silent with admiration and wonder, upon first\nseeing this stupendous work of art, and I really despair of doing it\njustice in description; like many other things, it must be seen to be\nfully comprehended and appreciated. St. Peter's at Rome is generally\naccounted the superior miracle of genius; but I believe there are many\nimaginations which have been more forcibly impressed with the effect of\nthis. In the first place, the _material_ claims pre-eminence, being\nentirely of white marble, brought from the Lago Maggiore. It is of\ngothic architecture, and was begun in the year 1386: the plan of the\nchoir and the two grand organs were given by the celebrated Pellegrini,\nand the fa\u00e7ade, which had remained for so many years unfinished, was\ncompleted by Bonaparte, from the simple and superior designs of the\narchitect Amati. Various statues and bas reliefs, with other costly\nornaments in spotless marble, ornament the outside; and the interior has\nno less than five naves, supported by one hundred and sixty superb\ncolumns of the same magnificent material. Immediately beneath the dome\nor cupola (which is by Brunellesco) is a subterranean chapel, where\nsleeps the embalmed body of Saint Carlo Borromeo, (the Howard of his\nage, and an ancient archbishop of Milan), enshrined in a coffin of the\npurest rock crystal, inclosed in a tomb of solid silver, splendidly\nembossed, and of enormous size and value. The pillars which support this\nchapel are alternately of silver and of the most exquisite coloured\nmarble, highly polished. The wax tapers, which were lighted by the\nguides, to enable us to thread the dark mazes of this magnificent\ndungeon (for I can call it by no other name, debarred as it is from the\nsweet air and light of heaven), cast a stream of gloomy radiance upon\nour somewhat lengthened visages, and dimly illuminated the buried\ntreasures of the tomb. Never, surely, since the days of Aladdin, has\nthere existed so imposing a scene of sepulchral wealth and grandeur!\nHaving expressed a wish to see the saint (who I ought to mention has now\nbeen dead for nearly three hundred years), the priest (first putting on\na sort of cloak of old point lace, and crossing himself with an air of\nprofound respect and reverence), assisted by the guide, began to set\nsome mechanical process at work; by means of which, as though by a\nstroke of magic, the silver tomb appeared to sink into the earth, the\nlid flew up as if to the roof of the chapel, and the body inclosed in\nits transparent coffin was suddenly exhibited to our wondering gaze. It\nwas habited in a long robe of cloth of gold, fresh as if just from the\nloom; on the head was a mitre of solid gold (presented by one of the\nformer kings of Spain), and by the lifeless side, as if just released\nfrom the powerless hands which were crossed upon its breast, lay a\ncrosier, of massy chased gold, studded with jewels of extraordinary\nrichness and beauty; the price of which was scarcely to be reckoned, and\nwhose magnitude and lustre were wonderful! They sparkled brightly in the\nrays of the taper, as if in mockery of the ghastly spectacle of\nmortality which they were meant to honour and adorn. Nothing certainly\ncould well be imagined more alarmingly hideous than St. Carlo Borromeo;\nand why the humiliating exhibition of his corporeal remains should thus\nbe produced to the eyes of the careless multitude, when the qualities of\nhis noble and benignant soul should alone be remembered and dwelt upon,\nI cannot possibly conjecture. What a strange perversion of taste, and\nwhat a ludicrous method of evincing gratitude and admiration! A very\nbrief account of the virtues of this good archbishop may not be\nunwelcome to my readers. He was the head of the noble family of\nBorromeo, and equally distinguished for his extraordinary benevolence\ntowards mankind, and his elevated sentiments of piety towards God. Not\nsatisfied with possessing the respect and homage of his fellow\ncreatures, he placed his happiness in soothing their griefs, relieving\ntheir wants, and in gaining their warmest affections: he rather wished\nto be considered as a father than a superior, and the superb head of the\nclergy was merged in the benevolent friend of the people. His whole\nfortune was devoted to their service, and during a year of famine he had\nso completely exhausted his annual income in feeding others, that he\nliterally was left totally destitute either of food or ready money, one\nevening when he returned to his episcopal residence, fatigued and\nexhausted with the charitable labours of the day. This benign\nenthusiasm, kindled in early life, never relaxed to the hour of his\ndissolution, and he was after death canonized as a saint by the\nuniversal consent of all ranks of persons, as might reasonably be\nexpected; and with far more justice than many of his calendared\nbrethren. I am afraid, nevertheless, that he does not quite come up to\nthe ideas of moral and religious perfection, entertained by a Faquir of\nIndia, or a strict Calvinist of our country; for he certainly never\nstuck any nails into his own sides, or planted the thorns of terror in\nthe agonised bosom of all, whose notions of duty happened not exactly to\nagree with those he himself entertained. He persecuted, he despised, he\ndenounced no one; and he considered all mankind, whether protestant or\ncatholic, as equally entitled to his good will and benevolence!--To\nreturn to the narrative of our individual proceedings, we retired from\nthe cathedral, with our imaginations rather disagreeably impressed by\nthe splendid yet disgusting spectacle we had there witnessed; and\ninstead of remaining at home all the evening, to brood over the idea of\ncoffins and crossbones, and to \"dream of the night-mare, and wake in a\nfright[7],\" we were wicked enough to shake off our melancholy, by going\nto the theatre of the Marionetti (or puppets), for which Milan is\nfamous. The scenery and figures (the latter of which were nearly four\nfeet in height) quite surprised us by their correct imitation of nature.\nI assure the reader, that I have often seen actors of flesh and blood\nfar less animated, and much more wooden. We could now and then discern\nthe strings by which they were worked, and we found it easy to follow\nthe Italian dialogue, as the judicious speaker (concealed behind the\ncurtain), did not indulge in the rant or mouthing of high tragedy, but\ngave every speech a natural degree of emphasis, and possessed in\naddition, an articulation singularly clear and distinct. The orchestra\nwas capital, the selection of music extremely agreeable, and I never\nheard a _tout ensemble_ better attended to, even at the Opera.\nMilan is a large city, and has the convenience of excellent pavements\nboth for foot passengers and those in carriages. There are four\n_trottoirs_ in each street, two of them in the middle of the road, which\nis a great advantage to all the draught horses of the place, as it\nconsiderably lessens and facilitates their exertions: I should not\nwonder if this improvement had been suggested by the guardian spirit of\nthe amiable Borromeo, since we are told that \"a righteous man is\nmerciful unto his beast.\" The _bourgeoises_ of Milan generally wear\nblack or white transparent veils, thrown carelessly over the hair, and\ncarry fans in the hand. Some have thin muslin mob caps with flat crowns\nunder the veil, but the use of a bonnet is quite unknown. Both the\npeasantry and _bourgeoisie_ are generally well-looking, and we saw two\nor three lovely women: one in particular, a true Madonna of Coreggio,\nwho if seen in a London circle, would, I am sure, have created an\nimmense sensation; we had no opportunity of judging whether she was\nfully aware or not of her own extraordinary beauty, but taking the thing\nin the most rational point of view, I should think it impossible that\nshe should be ignorant of the personal advantages so liberally bestowed\nupon her. Nothing has ever appeared to me more sickening than the pretty\ninnocence some women (who have been highly favoured by nature) think it\namiable to affect. That it is genuine, no one will believe who is truly\nacquainted with human nature and the customs of society; nor will any\nfemale, who is not weak in intellect, or of very defective judgment,\ncondescend to adopt so paltry an artifice. A woman of _sense_ must know\nwhen she is handsome, and she will also know how to enjoy this species\nof superiority without abusing it. There is nothing, however, more\ncommon than the mistaking ignorance for virtue, amongst persons of a\ncertain calibre of intellect, who yet at the same time pique themselves\nupon a reputation for solidity.\nThe fruit sold in the markets here is in the most luxuriant profusion\nthat can be imagined. We saw grapes piled up in large wicker baskets,\nlike those used for holding linen; peaches in tubs and wheelbarrows, and\ninnumerable quantities of ripe figs. We had the pleasure of hearing\nseveral ballad-singers of a very superior stamp to those of London or\nParis. This is giving them small praise; but I mean to say, that they\nwere really excellent, differing widely from some to whom we had\nlistened at Turin (who said they came from Rome), and whose harshness of\nvoice was unpleasant, although their style, and the music they selected,\nwas very good. But these people gratified us extremely: they sang a\nbuffo duet (accompanied by a violoncello, violin, and guitar), with full\nas much spirit and correctness as either Signors N. or A. And we\nafterwards heard a man (who came under our windows with his guitar)\nexecute one of Rossini's refined and difficult serious _arias_ in an\nequally finished manner.\nThe next day we took a _caleche_, and drove to see many lions, amongst\nothers the _arena_ (i. e. amphitheatre), and the triumphal arch, begun,\nbut not finished, by Napoleon. It was at Milan that this wonderful man\nwas crowned king of Italy, in 1805; and the arch in question was\nintended to be at once a monument of his fame, and a gate to the grand\nroad of the Simplon, which commences here. When finished, it must have\nproved the admiration of posterity; even now it is very striking to the\nimagination, and not the less so (in my opinion) for being left thus\nawfully incomplete. The groups of figures, prepared as ornamental\nfriezes, lie piled together in a shed or outhouse hard by, scarcely\nsecured from the injuries of weather. Nothing can be more chastely\nclassical than their designs, and the figure of Napoleon, for ever\nprominent among them, in the costume of the ancient Roman conquerors, is\na very correct personal likeness. A statue of him also is shewn here\n(with some little affectation of mystery), as large, or larger, than the\nlife, and is equally marked as an accurate resemblance.\nThe amphitheatre (lately built by Coenonica) is highly magnificent,\nand of immense proportions, chiefly appropriated to the celebration of\nthe _naumachia_, or naval tournament. We found the city full of English;\nour attorney-general and Lord K., &c. were in the same hotel with\nourselves (_Albergo Reale_); and I should in justice mention, that the\nmaster of this inn is one of the most attentive, civil, and obliging\npersons in the world: I hope all our countrymen will patronise him. In\nthe evening we drove upon the promenade, which is a very fine one, and\nsituated in the best part of the city. We were much struck by the width\nof the streets adjacent, and by the beauty and dignity of the buildings.\nHere we met a crowd of equipages, of every denomination and description;\nyet how mean did they all appear, in comparison with those which throng\nHyde Park! I am certain that any English chariot and horses (however\nplain and unpretending) would have been gazed at, and followed here as a\nmiracle of elegance and beauty. At night we took a box at the Opera (_La\nScala_), which is universally allowed to be the largest and most superb\nin Europe. It was built by Pierre Marini, in 1778, and did indeed amaze\nus at the first _coup d'oeil_, as a stupendous miracle of art: but we\nfound the same want of brilliancy and cheerfulness as in all other\nforeign theatres, and the performance (to say nothing of the performers)\nwas execrable. Many of the boxes were shut up; but, by the lights which\ntwinkled through the green latticed blinds, we perceived that persons\nwere in them; and once, upon this sullen screen being casually opened\nfor a few moments, we saw them playing at cards, and eating ices,\nwithout the slightest idea of attending to what was passing upon the\nstage. The latter refreshment is quite indispensable in this hot\nclimate, and it was brought to us in the course of the evening:\n_Camporese_ was the _prima donna_ here; but we did not see her, as she\nwas unwell during the time of our stay at Milan. A Signora _Gioja_\nappeared in her stead, who made us all triste enough by her tame and\nstupid performance. The ballet was _ennuyant \u00e0 la mort_: its strength\nlay in its numbers, and the manner of grouping them; for as to the\ndancing it was----in short, there was no such thing which properly\nmerited that name. The theatre is far too large for the purposes of\nhearing (much less of enjoying) music; and there was such a stunning\necho, that the noise of the enormous band of musicians in the orchestra\nwas almost rendered insupportable to a delicate and refined ear. They\nplayed also (to my indignant astonishment) so loud as to drown the\nvoices of the singers, instead of keeping the instruments under, and\nsubservient to them; which I had imagined was a rule so firmly\nestablished, as to render all deviation impossible in a country which\nboasts itself to be the _veritable_ land of harmony. In short, we\ninfinitely preferred the opera at Turin, and were completely\ndisappointed with _La Scala_. Indeed, I consider our own Opera in the\nHaymarket (however fastidiously abused by _soi-disant connoisseurs_, and\nalthough it appears like a nutshell in point of size, when compared with\nthis overgrown rival), to be indisputably superior in every real\nadvantage. The whole of Italy (as I afterwards learned from some good\njudges at Geneva) is at present lamentably deficient in talent, both\nvocal and instrumental; and whatever it affords of any celebrity is sure\nto come over to England, where a richer harvest is to be reaped than can\nbe found in any other country. I mean not, however, ignorantly to deny\nthe superior excellence of the Italian school of music--superior (as all\nreal judges must allow) to ours or any other. It is the original parent\nof excellence, the nursing mother of true genius. Whatever has charmed\nus in the art has sprung from the principles it inculcates; and when,\neven in the national melodies of Ireland and Scotland, I have heard a\nfinished singer enchant and touch the feelings of their enthusiastic\nsons, I have been perfectly aware that what they have blindly insisted\nupon as being preferable to the Italian school, has in reality been\nformed upon its rules; and when I hear a contrary doctrine asserted, I\nlook upon it as nonsense, unworthy even the trouble of contradiction. I\nonly mean to say, that the present singers, performers, and composers of\nItaly are anxious to transplant themselves to the fostering protection\nof British taste and munificence.\nWe left Milan at an early hour the next morning, and found the country\nbeyond, both flat and ugly for some distance. We saw great quantities of\nwhite mulberry trees (for the benefit of the silk-worms) in every\ndirection, and many poplars (being now in Lombardy). The leaf of the\nlatter we observed to be much larger than those in England: perhaps the\ntree degenerates in some measure in our climate. The maple also springs\nin abundance, and I suppose there must be a proportionate number of\nnightingales in consequence, if the old saying is true, that these birds\nlove the maple better than any other tree. The postillion wore the usual\nAustrian costume, common to his profession: it bore some resemblance to\nthat of an old English jester, being a yellow jacket with black worsted\nlace, and a red waistcoat.\nAt Rho we passed by a church, called _Notre Dame des Miracles_; where\nsigns and wonders are believed to be displayed even in these\nphilosophical days. All the peasants and _bourgeoises_ wore beautiful\ncoral necklaces, brought from the Mediterranean, of the true light pink\ncolour, which is so expensive in England. The infants here were cramped\nup in swaddling-clothes, and had no caps upon their heads; while the\nwant of hair, peculiar to their tender age, gave them the air of little\nunfledged birds. But now the period approached when we were to\nencounter a more serious and hair-breadth scape than any which had\noccurred during our tour. Passing through the town of Gallarate, near\nthe foot of the Alps, we were stopped by a gentleman in an open\ntravelling carriage, whose rueful visage, scared air, and animated\ngesticulations, awakened our most lively curiosity and attention. He was\na merchant of Neufchatel, and perceiving that we were proceeding upon\nthe same route which he had just passed, desired us most earnestly to\nstop at Gallarate, and furnish ourselves with a couple of _gens\nd'armes_, unless we wished to encounter the same fate from which he had\njust escaped. He then went on to relate a most terrific account of his\nhaving been robbed (he might have added, frightened) by three\nhorrible-looking banditti, masked, and armed with carabines, pistols,\nand stilettos! They had forced his postillion to dismount, and throwing\nhim under the carriage, with his head beneath the wheel (to prevent his\noffering any interruption to their plunder), proceeded to attack him;\nand, finally, spared his life, only by his consenting to part with\nevery thing valuable in his possession. They not only took his watch and\nall his money, but a chain of his wife's hair, which they discovered\naround his neck; but their ill humour was great, and vehemently\nexpressed, upon finding this poor man's property a less considerable\nbooty than they had expected. All this had passed within a quarter of an\nhour from the time at which we met him at Gallarate. Of course, we felt\nourselves much indebted for the warning; and as my courage had\ncompletely sunk under the recital, and I found it (like that of Bob\nAcres, in the Rivals) \"oozing out at my fingers' ends,\" at every word\nthis gentleman spoke, my husband took compassion upon me, and\naccordingly despatched messengers to summon the attendance of a couple\nof well-mounted and completely armed Austrian soldiers, with long\nmoustaches, and fierce martial-looking countenances. These men\nafterwards rode with us (one on each side the carriage) until we had\ncompletely passed the borders, and had entered the king of Sardinia's\ndominions; where we were assured of finding perfect safety. No event of\nthe kind had occurred for the last twelve months; but we were astonished\nand indignant at the supine apathy of the police, who did not appear to\nhave the smallest intention of sending any soldiers after the robbers,\nor of making exertions to secure them. These Austrian states have a bad\nreputation, as we were told by our host at Lans le Bourg, and were\nwarned by him of the possibility of a similar adventure. Mr. W., who was\nso good as to undertake to order the guards for me at Gallarate, found\nthat not a single person he encountered in the town understood French,\nand he was obliged to be conducted to the schoolmaster (the only man\ncapable of conversing in the language), before he could make our wishes\ncomprehended and attended to. My husband remained in the carriage to\nscold me into better spirits; for, I confess, I never remember to have\nbeen more frightened in my life.\nThe country beyond this place began to improve in picturesque beauty;\nthe Alps (to which we had approached very close), and woody hills in\nthe distance, forming very imposing features in the landscape. Here we\nwere met by several English carriages, protected, as we were, by the\nattendance of _gens d'armes_; which proved that fear had not been\nconfined to my bosom alone, and that other people felt the same\nnecessity of precaution: a black servant upon the box, grimly leaning\nupon a monstrous sabre, formed an additional guard. We now entered an\nirregular forest, where the postillion (who was the same person that had\ndriven Monsieur Bovet) shewed us the spot where the ruffians had issued\nforth. It was a fine place for a romantic adventure of this sort; and\nnever did I feel so thankful as when I cast my eyes upon the spirited\nhorsemen, who continued to keep close by the side of our vehicle, giving\nme now and then looks of mirthful encouragement: indeed they seemed to\nconsider the business as a party of pleasure, and we heard them laughing\nmore than once as they rode along.\nAt Sesto a mob gathered round the carriage, as it stopped at the\npost-house; and I am not sure that they did not at first mistake us for\nstate prisoners. Our postillion was now truly a great man! the centre of\nan open-mouthed, staring circle, wild with curiosity, to whom he held\nforth at length upon the danger he had undergone. Here we crossed a\nferry over the river Tessin, which divides the dominions of Austria from\nthose of Sardinia. The richness and grace of the wooded banks, which\nfringed this fine stream, delighted us; and the face of the whole\ncountry gradually smiled and brightened, till it at last expanded into\nthe most glorious burst of exquisite loveliness that the imagination can\nconceive: for now we first beheld the _Lago Maggiore_, embosomed in\nromantic hills, with the superb Alps rising beyond them, and its shores\nstudded with innumerable hamlets, villas, and cottages. The declining\nsun shed a warm colouring of inexpressible beauty upon the calm surface\nof this celebrated lake, whose waters, smooth and glassy, pure and\ntranquil, seemed indeed, in the words of Byron, to be a fit\n    \"Mirror and a bath\n    \"For Beauty's youngest daughters.\"\nIt was impossible not to kindle into enthusiasm as we gazed upon a scene\nof such Armida-like fascination. Why should I attempt a description of\nthe Borromean Isles, the Isola Madre, Isola Bella, and other fairy-green\ngems, which adorned the bosom of this queen of waters? They have been\nalready so celebrated by the pencil and the lyre, that my efforts would\nbe those of presumption. I find it quite too much even to relate the\neffect they produced upon our minds; for no words can adequately express\nour feelings of admiration and surprise!\nWe were now once more in Piedmont, and the road led us through the town\nof Arona, built upon the shores of the lake, which is full forty miles\nin length. We saw a picturesque figure of a peasant girl kneeling upon\nthe banks, and laving (like a young naiad) her long tresses in the\nstream. There is a fine grey ruin of a castle upon the left, as you\nenter Arona, and a chain of bold cliffs covered with vineyards, with\nseveral cottages, peeping out from amid bowers of fragrance, near their\ncraggy summits. A refreshing breeze tempered the still ardent heat of\nday: it seemed to rise upon us, in a gale of balmy softness, from the\nwater, whose placid waves are sometimes, however, ruffled into sudden\nanger, by storms of wind from the surrounding Alps; and many unfortunate\naccidents to boatmen, &c. arise in consequence. It would be difficult to\nimagine any thing in nature more luxuriantly beautiful than the hanging\ngardens belonging to the little villas in this neighbourhood; where\nstandard peach-trees, olives, filberts, grapes, figs, Turkey wheat,\norange blossoms, carnations, and all the tribe of vegetables, are\nmingled together in rich confusion, and the vines trained upon low\ntrellises slope down to the water's edge; while, among the grass at the\nfeet of the taller trees, the pumpkin trails her golden globes and\nflowers. We remarked several pretty faces, in a style neither wholly\nItalian nor French, but which formed an agreeable and happy mixture of\nboth. The ever odious _go\u00eetre_, nevertheless, sometimes obtruded its\nhorrid deformity among them; and it was an equal mortification to our\ndreams of perfection to observe, that even in the little towns, built in\nthe very heart of all this sweetness and purity, the most disgusting\nsmells (indicative of innately filthy habits) perpetually issued forth,\npoisoning every street, and mingling their pollutions with the fragrant\nbreath of the mountain gale. But now the fanciful crags on the opposite\nside of the lake began to assume a purplish blue tint, deeply influenced\nby, and half lost in, the shadow of lowering clouds, which (fast\ngathering round their summits in dark and misty volumes) foreboded an\napproaching storm. Bright and catching lights, however, still lingered\nupon the bright sails of distant boats, and upon the no less white walls\nof the little villages; which were built so close upon the shore as to\nseem as if they sprung from the bosom of the waves.\nWe arrived at Feriola (inn _La Posta_), a small town, washed by the same\ntransparent waters, and sheltered by granite mountains (covered with a\nmossy vegetation mixed with vineyards), which rose abruptly and\nimmediately above the walls of the house: here we passed the night; the\nstorm was just beginning, as we drove up to this welcome refuge: flashes\nof red and forked lightning shot fiercely down from the Alpine heights,\nand were quenched in the dark lake below; while peals of hollow thunder\nreverberating from the adjacent caverns, increased the awful effect of\nthe whole. Torrents of rain soon followed, and lasted without\nintermission for many hours. We slept well, our beds being free from\nvermin, although of the humblest sort, without curtain or canopy, and\ncovered with quilts which were very like stable rugs. They had been\noccupied before us, by dukes and duchesses; who, although not used to\nmore comforts than those which surround me in my own happy home, had\ncertainly reason to expect more stateliness of accommodation; necessity,\nhowever, has no law, and I dare say they were as glad as I was to avail\nthemselves of clean sheets, and a substantial roof over head, after the\nfatigues of travelling. The whole of this little inn was built of\ngranite, from the neighbouring quarries. We rose the next morning at\nfour, and as I drest by the yet imperfect light, which streamed into the\nroom through the lowly casement, I was interested in observing the\ndifferent appearances of nature, in the midst of such wild scenery, and\nat so early an hour.\nThe dewy mists were slowly rising from the valley, which smiled in all\nthe fresh loveliness of morning, as they gradually rolled off, and\nsettled round the brows of the higher mountains like a shadowy veil. The\ngrass smelt strongly of thyme and balm, after the late rain, and seemed\nto be eagerly relished by a flock of sheep, which two shepherdess\nfigures were leading up the winding path. This fair prospect did not\nlast long; a heavy rain re-commenced; and as we proceeded upon our\njourney we could hardly see our route amid the mountains, from the dense\nand heavy fog which obscured every object. All nature truly appeared to\nbe weeping; this is no merely poetical term, but the truth: there are\nsome things which cannot be adequately described in the common\nexpressions of prose, and this is one of them.\nWe passed Monte Rosa, which is fifteen thousand feet in height: a\nbeautiful little church hung upon its shelving side, built in a style\nthat gave it much the air of the Sybil's temple. In all parts of the\ncountry through which we had gone, we observed numerous shrines of the\nVirgin; but instead of a simple and appropriate statue, which good taste\nmight reasonably have hoped to find within, they were constantly\ndisgraced by a paltry gaudy painting, in distemper. The outside walls of\nhouses, also, were generally daubed in the same ridiculous manner, and\nafforded us perpetual cause of exclamation against the _melange_ of real\nand false taste, which Italy thus exhibits. We were sorry to have missed\nseeing (near Arona, in our preceding day's journey) the celebrated\ncolossal statue of St. Carlo Borromeo in bronze; which, rearing its\nproud height far above the surrounding woods, forms a very grand and\nnoble spectacle: a man (in speaking of its proportions to Mr. B.) told\nhim that the head alone held three persons, and that he himself had\nstood within the cavity of the nose! I believe it is seventy feet from\nthe ground.\nWe passed over a bridge on the river Toscia, a graceful serpentine\nstream, whose waters were of a milky hue, owing to the heavy rains. Here\nwe met a peasant, wearing a singular sort of cloak, made of long dry\nsilky rushes, admirably adapted to resist and throw off the wet; he\nlooked at a distance like a moving thatched hut, his hat forming the\nchimney, and we afterwards saw several women and children in the same\ncostume. The common people also use a rude kind of umbrella of divers\ngaudy colours, the frame and spokes being made of clumsy wood.\nAt Domo d'Ossola we stopped to take refreshment at _la Posta_, a most\ncomfortable and cleanly inn; every thing was sent up neatly, and really\ntempted the fastidious traveller to \"eat without fear:\" a degree of\nheroism which I confess I could not always command, not feeling sure\nthat I might not be poisoned by some of the dishes; although it would\nhave been by dirt, not arsenic. This is almost the last town in the\nSardinian dominions, for as soon as you have crossed the Simplon, you\nenter Switzerland. This arduous task we now commenced, taking four\nhorses instead of the usual three. We ascended in a zigzag direction,\nwhich seems to be the plan upon which all roads cut through very high\nmountains are formed; the present much resembled those by which we had\ndescended Mont Cenis. Here we had the leisure and opportunity of\ncontemplating nature in her grandest forms! The wild fig-tree sprung\nfrom the sides of the most profound ravines, overhanging gulfs from\nwhich the affrighted eye recoiled; and at the base of the most\nstupendous mountains lay valleys of inimitable verdure and luxuriance.\nAn Alpine foot bridge, like a slight dark line, crossed a rapid river\nhere, and was dimly discovered at intervals, amid the snowy foam of the\nwaves; there were also frequent waterfalls, pouring their sounding\nfloods from immense heights above us. At this spot, Mr. B. tied a\nhandkerchief over my eyes, for three or four minutes: I thought I heard\nthe noise of water in my ears, louder and more hollow than usual; when\nhe suddenly removed the handkerchief, and I beheld myself in the first\nof those astonishing galleries of the Simplon, of which so much has\njustly been said by all travellers. They were half cut, half blasted by\ngunpowder, through the solid rock, and have the appearance of long\ngrottos, with rude windows, or rather chasms in the sides, to admit\nlight, and through which we discovered, with a shuddering sensation of\nadmiring wonder, the awful precipices and steeps around. It was\ndelightful to contemplate them while thus in a situation of perfect\nsecurity; a species of feeling analogous to that which I have sometimes\nexperienced, when comfortably housed beneath the domestic roof, during\nthe raving of a wintry storm! How different was the aspect of the\nancient road; the view of which, as it dangerously wound along the\nopposite mountains, nearly blocked up by fallen masses of rock,\novergrown with tangled shrubs and weeds, and undefended by even the\nslightest wall from the yawning abysses, which frowned horribly beneath,\nreally made my heart quake with terror! There are rude crosses by the\nway side, erected here, at long intervals; sad monuments of the tragical\nend of former unfortunate travellers. Nothing can be more terrific than\nthe showers of stony fragments from the overhanging rocks, which\nfrequently fall here during stormy weather; at particular seasons it is\ncertain destruction to attempt to pass. We observed the lower and more\nlevel ground to be strewn so thickly with these formidable masses, that\nit brought to my mind the ancient story of Jupiter's wars with the\ngiants; the place indeed truly resembled the state of a field of battle\nafter one of those mighty engagements.\n[Illustration: _London, Published by I, Murray, 1819._\nSCENE on the SIMPLON.]\nThe parish church of Trasqueras is an object of high astonishment; we\npassed it, not without adding our individual tribute of wonder. It is\nbuilt upon the topmost verge of a barren mountain, at a frightful\nheight. Apparently no human power could have conveyed thither the\nmaterials for its erection; we could only reconcile the existence of the\nfact, by supposing that there must have been a quarry upon the spot.\nThe priest who does duty there, and the congregation whose zeal leads\nthem to scale the dreadful precipice to attend public worship, are in\nsome danger, I should think, of being canonized for martyrs! But to\nspeak more seriously, there is something infinitely impressive in the\nidea of a little band of humble and obscure mortals thus meeting\ntogether to worship the Creator in such a spot of wild and solitary\nsublimity. These scenes most certainly tend to elevate the imagination,\nand to fill the heart, with strong feelings of devotional adoration and\nawful respect. It is not _only_ \"those who go down to the great waters,\"\nwho see \"the wonders of the Lord!\" We remarked a cottage here, in the\nstyle of the most romantic hermitage, close to a raving flood, in the\nfrightful strait of Yselle. The living rock formed its roof, and the\nsides were of flat uncemented stones; a rude door of pine wood shut in\nits inhabitants, for inhabited it certainly must have been, as a little\npile of faggots for winter firing evidently evinced. Gold dust is\nsometimes found in the beds of the surrounding torrents. There is no\nend to the varieties of the Simplon: we sometimes crossed from one\nmountain to another; then dived into the dark entrails of the rocks; now\nwound along narrow valleys at their feet, and at last rose (by a gentle\nascent) to the proud summit of the loftiest glaciers, far above the\nrolling clouds. In some places our eye rested with delight upon the rich\ngreen of the chestnut and beech, in others all vegetation seemed wholly\nto cease. The rhododendron (_note_ P.) flourishes here in perfection; it\ngrows where few other shrubs or plants are able to exist, braves the\nseverity of the keenest blasts of winter, and affords firing to those\ncottagers who cannot easily procure other wood. Its blossoms are of a\nlovely pink, and from this circumstance it is called the \"rose of the\nAlps.\" These regions are subject to perpetual avalanches; the top of\nevery stone post that marked the boundary of our road, at about three\nyards distance one from the other, was in many places knocked off, by\nthe continual falling of masses from the rocks above, and now and then,\nthe whole of the posts had given way, as well as large fir-trees, which\ncommonly grow out of the shelving sides of the precipices. Just at the\nentrance of one of the grand galleries, we crossed over a stone bridge,\nhanging in mid air above a tremendous gulf; the river Doveria boiling\nfar below, fed by a cataract from the heights, near the source of which\nwe passed: so near, indeed, that its foaming spray seemed almost to dash\nagainst the glass of our carriage windows. Bonaparte had established\nhere (as well as upon Mont Cenis), a sort of _tavernettes_, or houses of\nrelief for wayworn or distressed travellers. A few military now\noccasionally inhabit them, and the appropriate word _refuge_ is\nfrequently inscribed over the doors. (_Note_ Q.) A piece of writing\npaper inserted in the cleft of a stick, by the road-side, here attracted\nour attention. We examined it, and found written thereon, _Viva\nNapoleone_! Our postillions appeared delighted, and exclaimed in a\nhalf-checked voice, _bravo_, _bravo_! Candidly speaking, one must be\nindeed fastidious not to be forcibly struck with the various noble\nworks of that wonderful man. At all events we could not be surprised at\nhis still existing popularity in the north of Italy, a part of the world\nwhere he has really done great good, and far less harm than any where\nelse; and in so short a space of time also--so young a man--from so\nobscure an origin! It will not do to indulge in reflections upon what\nmight have been, or I could not refrain, I am afraid, from wishing that\n(for the sake of the arts and sciences) he had known how to set bounds\nto his ambition. This passage of the Simplon alone is sufficient to\nimmortalize his name, and as long as the mountains themselves exist, so\nmust the memory of Bonaparte. It is quite the eighth wonder of the\nworld. If he _is_ a fiend, he is not less than\n    \"Arch-angel ruined!\"\nBut I have done, lest those readers who have never crossed the Simplon,\nor gazed upon the other numerous monuments of his grand genius, should\nimagine that I am still (in the words of Pitt, as applied to Sheridan's\nspeech upon Warren Hastings), \"Under the influence of the wand of the\nEnchanter!\"\nNow I am on the subject of this stupendous passage of the Simplon, I am\nfortunate enough to present my readers with an engraving made by a\nfriend, of a curious medal, struck in France, representing an immense\ncolossal figure, which some modern Dinocrates had suggested to Bonaparte\nto have cut from the mountain of the Simplon, as a sort of Genius of the\nAlps. This was to have been of such enormous size, that all passengers\nshould have passed between its legs and arms in zigzag directions: I do\nnot know whether any attention was ever given to the proposal, but that\nthe idea was not a new one, every schoolboy may learn, by looking into\nLempri\u00e8re's Dictionary, where he will find that a still more\nhyperbolical project was suggested to Alexander the Great, by one\nDinocrates, an architect, who wished to cut Mount Athos into a gigantic\nfigure of the monarch, that should hold a city in one hand, and a vast\nbason of water in the other. Alexander's reply was a fine piece of\nirony; \"that he thought the idea magnificent, but he did not imagine the\nneighbouring country sufficiently fertile to feed the inhabitants of the\nsaid city.\"\n[Illustration: _H Bankes del printed by B. Redman Lithog._]\nWe observed quantities of timber felled, and lying scattered about the\ndark forests; they consisted of a species of larch fir, I believe,\nstraight, taper, and of a yellowish red.\nAt length we reached the village of the Simplon, where we dined and\nslept. It is only three or four and thirty miles from Domo d'Ossola, yet\nwe were seven hours or more in accomplishing the distance, and had never\nstopped by the way for more than ten minutes. It was a continual ascent,\nbut very gradual, and our inn here (_l'Etoile_) was four thousand five\nhundred feet above the level of the sea. We found other travellers\nbefore us assembled in the only sitting-room.--Lord F----, his tutor,\nand another young gentleman: they appeared all to be sensible, well-bred\npeople, and we rejoiced that accident had not thrown us among less\nagreeable companions. The next morning, we left our auberge, after\nbreakfast, with which we thought it prudent to fortify ourselves, on\naccount of the severity of the cold. All the rooms were obliged to be\nheated by stoves, as it was (to all outward appearance and feeling) the\ndepth of winter, in its most rigid form; the day before, we had been\nalmost fainting with heat in the valleys, yet when we rose this morning,\nthe mountains around us were entirely covered with snow, which had\nfallen during the night, accompanied by a rushing blast of wind and a\nheavy rain. We were now truly in the \"land of the mountain and the\nflood,\" in the regions of mist and storm. I shuddered at the sight,\nhaving been rendered miserable from want of sleep by the vermin, whose\nunremitting attacks completely broke my rest, and made me less able to\nencounter with proper _fortitude_ the fatigues of our still arduous\njourney. I learned upon this tour to feel a great horror at the\nexpression of _soyez tranquille_, which deceitful words were constantly\nused by every _fille de chambre_, when I inquired if there were any of\nthese disagreeable inhabitants in the beds, and I remarked that the more\nvehemently this _soyez tranquille_ was uttered, the more certain was I\nof being bit into a fever. We got into the carriage here in a gust of\nkeen wind, so strong and impetuous that I could not stand without\nsupport. The women in these parts wear a black platter hat (sometimes\nornamented with gold ribands), and the men a russet-brown suit of\nclothes with a scarlet waistcoat. A mixture of German and bad French is\nspoken amongst them. We passed by (during the continuation of our\njourney) the enormous glacier of ---- I know not exactly the proper name;\nbut it sounded like _Roschbahtn_ in the guttural pronunciation of the\npostillion. Higher up, there was a gallery cut through the masses of\nfrozen snow, but it is only used as a foot-way for passengers during the\nwinter. We shortly afterwards saw the Hospice of the Simplon, built in a\ncomparatively sheltered spot; yet by its outward appearance (resembling\na sordid gloomy prison), I should think nothing but the last necessity\nwould induce travellers to seek for refreshment within its walls. Mass\nhad been performed there that morning, and we met several peasants\nreturning from it: all persons journeying this way are entertained here\ngratis, but those whose circumstances can afford it are expected to make\nsome little present to the monks. We observed some dogs about the\nentrance, which we concluded were those kept for the purpose of finding\nbenighted travellers. The colour of the rocks in those places which were\nnot covered with snow was singular, being of a light _aqua marine_,\noccasioned by the lichens which grew upon them. Large eagles, formidable\nfrom their strength and boldness, are frequently seen amidst these\ndreary wastes. I was soon quite wearied by the bleak spectacle of such\nwide desolation, my eyes ached with the dazzling brightness of the\nsnows, and I began sincerely to wish the passage over. The ascent and\ndescent altogether is forty-two miles; coming down from a height of\nseven thousand feet, we could not see three yards before us, being\ncompletely enveloped in a thick dense fog. It seemed like plunging into\na fearful gulf of vapours! Such a mist I never could have _imagined_.\nThe road now led us though tall forests of pine, darkly magnificent,\nwhich grew upon the shelving sides of the precipitous descent. Upon the\njutting crags, we occasionally beheld the fearless goat, bounding about,\nenjoying the sense of liberty, and snuffing the keen air of his native\nmountains; a child or two, also, sometimes appeared in almost equally\ndangerous situations, at the door of a wooden hut, called a _chalet_,\nbuilt of timber (of a reddish tint), and much in the form of an ark. A\nlittle thinly scattered underwood of birch, &c. with coltsfoot twining\nround the roots, now began to evince our approach to more hospitable\nregions, and the sensation of piercing cold in some measure abated. The\nsun made several felicitous attempts to struggle through the heavy and\nobscuring clouds; and a prospect (of which we caught a transient glimpse\nbetween two enormous rocks) seemed to open like an enchanted vision of\nineffable brightness and beauty. During this interval of a moment, we\nbeheld a narrow but fertile valley, a river, with hills of vivid green\nrising beyond, bounded in the distant horizon by mountains of glowing\npurple, and smiled upon by a summer sky of the clearest blue. Suddenly\nit was brilliantly illuminated by a partial gleam of sun, and thus\ndiscovered, (sparkling through a thin veil of still lingering mist) it\nseemed to break upon us like a lovely dream. I could have fancied it\nVoltaire's Eldorado, or the gay, unreal show of fairy land, seen by\nThomas the Rhymer, in Scott's Minstrelsy of the Border. Indeed sober\nlanguage has no words or terms to describe its singular effect. Apropos\nto sobriety of language: Although there is nothing so wearing as\nhyperbolical and exaggerated expressions, applied on common or\ninsignificant occasions, and although I consider them in that case to be\nthe resource of a weak capacity, which is incapable of judicious\nrestraint and discrimination, it is equally insupportable to hear the\nreal wonders and charms of nature or art spoken of with tame and\ntasteless apathy. Those persons who have soul enough to feel and\nappreciate them must either vent their just enthusiasm, in terms which\nto common minds sound romantic and poetical, or else resolve to be\nwholly silent. We reached the end of the Simplon, and changed our tired\nhorses at Brieg. We were now in Switzerland.\nNothing can be more suddenly and accurately marked than the difference\nof feature, as well as costume, between the Italian and Swiss peasants,\n(I more particularly allude to the women), and it would be impossible\nfor any person of the least observation to mistake one for the other.\nThe latter are frequently hale, clean, and fresh-looking, with cheerful\nopen countenances; but adieu to grace, to expression, to beauty! We left\nall these perfections on the other side of the Alps. The children, too,\nstruck us (in general) as plain and uninteresting. We were not greatly\nimpressed by the entrance to the _Pays du Valais_, having already passed\nthrough scenery of the same nature so much superior in Savoy and Italy;\nbut it is certainly romantic and pretty in some parts. How naturally one\nfalls into judging by comparison! Had it been possible to have\nimmediately entered the Valais upon leaving the monotonous plains of\nFrance, we should have thought the former highly sublime and beautiful.\nThe barberry and elder flourish here in every hedge; also great\nquantities of the wild clematis. The rocky banks are fringed with birch,\nhazle, heath, and juniper, and between them is the deep rolling turgid\nRhone, skirted with tall reeds and willows.\nThe climate still continued to be chilly and disagreeable. Although it\nwas only the 8th of September, the weather rather resembled that during\nthe last days of November, or commencement of the next dreary month; and\nin the midst of this picturesque and romantic scenery, I found my\nimagination dwelling with great pertinacity and satisfaction upon the\ncharms of a blazing fire and a comfortable inn. I did my utmost to shake\noff such vulgar and unsentimental ideas, but they would recur again and\nagain.\nWe here passed a fall of the Rhone, but were rather disappointed in its\nforce and magnitude. Our road lay through wild fir woods for a\nconsiderable length of way, the snowy tops of the glaciers peeping above\nthem, forming quite a scene for the pencil of Salvator Rosa. We\njourneyed on, almost in total silence, the little bells at the horses'\nheads alone disturbing the breathless stillness of these solitary\nglades, emerging from which, we now crossed a bridge upon the Rhone,\nwhich here assumes a character of strength and grandeur, flowing with\nrapidity, and emulating in its width an arm of the sea.\nNight and her shadows drew near, and we began to wish for the comforts\nof the friendly auberge; but, owing to continual delays of horses,\npostillions, &c, we did not reach the town of Sierre until eight\no'clock, where we intended to have slept; but found upon our arrival\nthat no beds were to be had, and the place itself wore so forlorn,\ndismal, and dirty an appearance, that we hardly regretted the\ncircumstance, and submitted with a good grace to the inevitable\nnecessity of pursuing our route even at that late hour. But ere this\ncould be accomplished we were obliged to wait (in the carriage) till\nnine, for horses to carry us on; for there was at that time an immense\nrun upon the road. In this melancholy interval our lamps were lit, and\nthe moon arose; the latter (faintly glimmering amid dark rolling clouds)\nfeebly illuminated a road which led us by the side of a terrible\nprecipice, where part of the guardian wall was broken down. The pass was\naccounted perilous on that account; but there was no possible remedy. I\nhad overheard my husband and Mr. W. talking of it at Sierre, and trying\nwhether it was not practicable to avoid it by securing any sort of\naccommodation at the wretched auberge: this, however, being totally out\nof the question, they did not acquaint me with the terrors of the road\nby which we were in consequence obliged to pass ere we could attain\nshelter for the night at the next habitable place: I felt their\nkindness, and did not undeceive them as to my perfect information upon\nthe subject until we had safely reached the end of our day's journey;\nbut I was truly thankful and relieved when that happy goal appeared, in\nthe shape of the town of Sion, capital of the Valais. Lord F. and party\n(having gone on first) had politely undertaken to order dinner for us at\nthe _Lion d'Or_, and to that house we accordingly drove up, half dead\nwith fatigue. Here another mortification awaited us; for so many English\nhad previously arrived, and filled the rooms, beds, &c, that\naccommodation for us was impossible. We, therefore, went to an inferior\ninn (called _Le Croix Blanc_), where we knocked the people up, and in\nspite of their being forced from their beds to receive us, we found the\nutmost celerity, civility, and comfort in every respect. The beds were\nexcellent (their linen furniture fresh washed, and looking inviting to\nenter), the floors (oh! prodigy of cleanliness) were neatly swept, and\nour refreshments cooked in a wonderfully short space of time, served\nwith cheerful readiness, and in a clean manner.\nThe next morning we opened our eyes upon a beautifully picturesque\nlandscape. A great delay, however, again took place with regard to\nhorses, as an English family had arrived during the night, and taken\naway eight. They intended to have slept at _Le Croix Blanc_, as we had\ndone, but were fastidiously disgusted by the look of the inn. Unhappy\nnovices! they little knew what a paradise of comfort it afforded, when\ncompared with those which they would afterwards necessarily encounter,\nand for the shelter of which they would soon learn to be thankful! The\nwaiter here was remarkably attentive, and appeared a truly simple,\ngood-tempered, artless creature. Mr. B. was so much satisfied with his\nbehaviour, that he increased the usual fee; for which small gratuity the\npoor fellow thanked us again and again. We found our bills particularly\nreasonable, and the host a most amusing and obliging person: he was one\nof the richest _bourgeois_ in Sion, and quite a character. We asked him,\namongst other questions, \"what was the chief manufacture of the place?\"\nand he replied, with a ridiculous shrug of the shoulders, \"_Des\nEnfans_.\" This man possessed a _vigne_ upon the mountains, and brought\nus a present of a fine basket of grapes from thence, much lamenting that\nwe would not remain with him another day, as \"he would then have put his\nown particular horses into a little vehicle of the country, kept for his\nuse and that of his family, and would have had the pleasure of driving\nus to see his vineyards, and also two hermitages, in the neighbourhood,\nwhich were very curious.\"\nMr. B. was taken extremely unwell this morning, and had a terrible\nattack of faint sickness, owing, as we then imagined, to having fasted\nso many hours the day before; but we soon found that it was, in fact,\nthe beginning of a sort of ague and fever. (_Note_ E.)\nThe country was lovely during our first two or three stages. We met the\ntravelling equipage of a Russian princess (Potemkin), and her people\nstopped to inquire of ours about accommodations at Sion. Christian had\nthe honour of a personal conference with her highness, who was\nextremely gracious and affable. Indeed this man never lost any\nopportunity of gossip, let it be with whom it might; and I believe he\nloved chattering on all occasions better than any thing in existence. He\nwas an honest creature; but so idle, that he required constant looking\nafter: we found him, however, so useful, particularly where the\ndifferent _patois_ is spoken, that we have safely recommended him to our\nfriend, Lord G.\nThe roads in this part of Switzerland were most execrable, and I thought\nthe carriage would have been overturned every moment: the postillions\nuniversally adopted a very disagreeable and awkward manner of driving\ntheir horses; not three abreast (which is safe and rational), but\nharnessing one before the other pair, with long reins, in the unicorn\nstyle; the same postillion thus acting the part of a coachman also: the\nold rope traces were perpetually breaking; and the fore horse scrambling\nall over the road, often running into a hedge to crop what best pleased\nhis appetite, or to drink at a fountain by the wayside. The driver\nseemed to have very little command over his lawless motions, and\naltogether, I confess that I was by no means delighted with this mode of\ntravelling, although no coward in general. However, I recollected that\nit was customary here, and soon was able to reason myself into not\ncaring for what I had no possible means of altering or preventing: in\nthis instance, happily emulating the example of the late venerable Mrs.\nH. who used to say, \"that it was of little use to have powers of\nunderstanding, and the faculty of reason, if you could not avail\nyourself of them, when occasion required; and that by a long and\nresolute habit of self-control, it was undoubtedly possible to bring the\nfeelings nearly as much under command as the limbs.\" I have frequently\nproved the truth of her remark.\nAt Riddez (a little village) we saw a christening procession pass by.\nThe godfather (a young man) walked first, with a cockade of ribands, and\na large bouquet of natural flowers in his hat, carrying the infant in\nhis arms, covered with a long transparent mantle of coarse white lace.\nHe was followed by the godmother, and the _sage femme_, neither of the\nparents being present. The manners of the inhabitants here were\nremarkably gentle; every peasant we met bowed, and often wished us the\n\"good day\" as we passed. Many horrible _go\u00eetres_, however, and idiots\nare to be found among them. The villages and hamlets we had as yet seen\nwere even frightful: there was no such thing as a pretty cottage; and\nthe costumes of the people were gross and tasteless in the greatest\ndegree.\nMr. B.'s illness increased to a height of aguish shudderings and total\nexhaustion, which prevented our attempting to proceed farther than\nMartigny, where we put up at an inn called _Le Cigne_, which, on its\noutside, was not of a much more promising appearance than the Hospice of\nthe Simplon, which I formerly deprecated. However, we had learned by\nthis time not to judge of an auberge from its exterior, and upon\nentering this, found shelter, comfort, civility, and wholesome plain\nfood. We procured the only good strong-bodied Burgundy we had seen\nduring the whole of our tour, which was particularly fortunate, as it\nacted as a great relief to our invalid. The hostess was the widow of the\npoor inn-keeper, who was carried away in the terrible and memorable\nflood of last June (mentioned with much affecting detail in the English\nnewspapers), where a lake at nine leagues distance burst, and, flowing\ninto the river Drance, the latter broke its usual boundaries, and\ndestroyed more than half the village of Martigny, with many of the\nunfortunate inhabitants. Poor woman! she was in mourning, as well as her\nchildren, who waited upon us, two modest, simple, young creatures. I\nnever saw any thing like their kind-hearted attention, in avoiding the\nleast noise which might have been likely to disturb an invalid, while\nthey were preparing things for dinner in the same room. Nothing could be\nimagined more desolate and wretched than the present appearance of\nMartigny; and, at the moment when the flood happened, the ruin was so\ninstantaneous and complete as to resemble an earthquake. This house was\nten feet deep in water. The host might have been saved: he had already\navoided the first horrible rush; but venturing into danger once more, in\nthe hope of saving his cattle, he was borne down by the impetuous\ntorrent, and perished miserably! For a long time he was plainly\ndiscovered with his head far above the stream, yet unable to stem its\nresistless tide: his body was afterwards found, in an erect position,\nsupported against a tree, not in the least mangled or disfigured. It was\nsupposed his respiration had been stopped by the weight and force of the\ncurrent, which could hardly be called water, so thickly was it mingled\nwith mud. The cook (who happened to be in the wine-cellar) was saved by\nhis perfect knowledge of swimming, and presence of mind. The flood\ncompletely filled the cellar, staircase, and hall, in a moment, and he\npaddled and swam up the steps of the former, till he reached the\nsurface, and thus almost miraculously escaped.\nThe next day we quitted Martigny about nine o'clock, our spirits\ndepressed by this wretched scene of desolation. The whole country\nappeared wildly melancholy, under the additional gloom of a very wet\ndark morning. The prieur of this village, who belonged also to some\nconvent on Mont St. Bernard (_note_ F.) had written a petition for the\nrelief of his poor parishioners, which was pasted up in the sitting-room\nof the inn we had occupied. We did not, of course, shut our hearts\nagainst the appeal, and carrying our little subscription to the house of\nthe prieur, found it a most humble primitive dwelling: it was built upon\na hill behind the church, and at the time of the flood had been a foot\ndeep in water, notwithstanding its elevated situation. The old man\ndescribed the horrors of the scene, and said he should never forget the\nmoment when he first heard the mighty roar of the waters, louder than a\nmountain cataract. I am proud to add, that our dear countrymen have been\nalmost the only travellers who have had the humanity to bestow a\nfarthing upon the necessities of the surviving sufferers. I should be\nnarrow-minded indeed not to regret the want of generous feeling which\nthose of other nations have thus evinced, or to rejoice (as some people\nwould, I fear, do) at the foil they have afforded to the merit of the\nEnglish; but surely it is impossible, as a British subject, not to\ndelight in this additional proof of the liberality and compassion of our\ncompatriots!\nWe now passed a celebrated waterfall (_note_ G.), which descends from a\nvast height, between granite mountains, covered with rich green moss. It\nwas highly majestic, yet not bearing the character of terror; therefore\n(according to Burke) we must not designate it by the term _sublime_, but\nrather class it under the head of _the beautiful_. Its feathery foam of\nspotless white, dashing over the craggy obstacles in its descent,\nafforded a lovely contrast to the dark background of the adjacent rocks.\nThere are great numbers of chestnut, walnut, and apple trees in this\nneighbourhood. We met an English family in a coach and four here. We\nstopped to change horses with them, and as they were going to Sesto,\nand from thence to Milan, we thought it but kind to warn them that they\nought to take _gens d'armes_, on account of the banditti. The abigail\n(elevated upon the seat behind) seemed prodigiously discomposed at this\nintelligence; and I should not wonder if she had given warning at the\nnext stage, to avoid the horror of proceeding with the family. Her\nlittle round grey eyes almost started from their red sockets, and her\nnose assumed a purplish hue, which was beautifully heightened by the\ncadaverous tint of her cheeks. Her master and mistress also appeared not\na little startled, but expressed themselves vastly obliged to us for our\ninformation; and we parted with much courtesy on both sides. A hearty\nfit of laughter, at the expense of Mrs. Abigail, seized us all at the\nmoment of their departure; but I am sure I had no business to triumph;\nfor never was there a more complete coward than I shewed myself to be,\nwhen in my turn I first received a similar warning from our Neufchatel\nfriend at Gallarate.\nWe saw, shortly afterwards, an old peasant tending a few sheep, in a\ncurious sort of costume: it consisted of a whole suit of clothes of a\ndingy yellowish brown; his hat, as well as his face and hands (parched\nby summer's sun and winter's wind), being of the same tan-coloured hue.\nIndeed the costumes in this part of Switzerland appeared to us\nuniversally unbecoming, as well as singular.\nWe now entered St. Maurice. Upon the rocks encircling the town was a\nsmall hut, inhabited by a hermit; built in such a craggy bleak\nsituation, that we were led to suppose he had chosen it as a place of\npainful penance. If he is an old man, I think he must have found it\nnearly impossible to descend, even for the means of subsistence: it\nwould be a hard task for a young and active hunter of the chamois; so I\nrather imagine he lives, like a genuine ascetic, upon berries, wild\nfruits, and roots, and quenches his thirst at the crystal spring. Part\nof the town of St. Maurice is actually built in the wild rocks that rise\nabruptly behind it, their rough rude sides forming the back wall, and\nnow and then even the roof, of some of the humbler dwelling-houses. The\ninhabitants were plain and uninteresting in their persons, and we did\nnot observe any taste or fancy displayed in their costumes. Here we\nchanged horses, and passed the Rhone again, by means of a bridge, of so\nancient a date, that it is said to have been built by Julius C\u00e6sar. The\nriver is very magnificent. Our road led us through a charming bower of\nlong-continued walnut and beech trees, the opposite banks of the stream\nbeing covered with rich vegetation, forming an agreeable relief to the\nimagination, after the desolate and melancholy scenes of the preceding\nstages. The meadows were enamelled with the autumnal crocus, of a\ndelicate lilac colour, and had a remarkably gay and brilliant\nappearance. We remarked a number of beehives in the cottage gardens; but\nthey were not of such a picturesque form and material as those in\nEngland, being made of wood, in the shape of small square boxes. The\nwhole face of the country was really beautiful, the rocks being fringed\nwith luxuriant copse wood, rich in every varied tint of the declining\nyear, while the pasture-lands were verdant and fresh, as if in early\nspring. Wild boars, wolves, and bears, are common in the Valais; very\npleasant personages to meet during a late evening ramble. Here we dimly\ndescried the _Chateau de Chillon_, on the borders of the lake of Geneva;\nbut it was at too great a distance for us to judge of it accurately. I\nregretted this, as I did not then know that we should afterwards have\nhad an opportunity of viewing it to greater advantage. The waters of\nthis wonderfully fine lake were of the most brilliant pale blue,\nmajestic mountains rising beyond it, clothed even to their summits with\nunderwood, and mossy velvet turf. It is vastly more expansive than Lago\nMaggiore, but still we thought the enchanting Italian lake much more\nbeautiful.\nThe roads now began to improve greatly, and after all the jolting we had\nundergone for the last two days, it was particularly acceptable to find\nthem returning into a state of smoothness and regularity. We dined this\nday early, at St. Gingoulph, (sometimes spelt St. Gingo), on the borders\nof the lake: our vulgar expression of St. Jingo is a corruption of the\nname of this Saint. The inn was delightfully clean and comfortable, the\npeople most attentive, civil and active, and we procured an excellent\ndinner at a very few minutes notice; a circumstance peculiarly agreeable\nto travellers who were quite exhausted with hunger, like ourselves.\nWe slept at Thonon, the capital of the Chablais, and found comfortable\naccommodation. The woman who waited upon us was a native of Berne, as\nwell as our servant Christian, and they went on puffing off their\ncanton, _\u00e0 l'envi l'un de l'autre_.\nI ought to have mentioned that before we arrived at Thonon, we passed by\nthe rocks of Meillerie, so well known through the medium of Rousseau's\nsentimental descriptions. The same style of country continued, by the\nside of the lake, for many miles, and the roads were very good. We were\nnow once more in the King of Sardinia's dominions, having entered upon\nthem at St. Gingoulph, and we did not quit them until we reached\nDouvaine, not far from Geneva. As we proceeded, the country opened more,\nand the lake became restrained between much narrower boundaries: the\npractice of enclosing fields with hedges, in the same manner as those in\nEngland, was general here. At length Geneva, rising grandly from the\nblue waters of her noble lake, and fenced on every side by her superb\nmountains (Mont Blanc dimly gleaming through a veil of clouds upon the\nleft), burst upon us;--the _coup d'oeil_ was most electrifying. The\nmorning was clear and bright, the air had a cheerful freshness which\nlent spirit and animation to us all, and our first entrance to this city\nwas marked by a crowd of agreeable and enlivening sensations. We found,\nhowever, that it would be impossible for Monsieur De Jean to receive us\nat his well known and comfortable hotel at Secherons (about a mile out\nof town); and even at Geneva itself we had the mortification of being\nturned away from every inn except one, owing to the swarms of our\ncountrymen who had previously monopolized all accommodation. At this one\n(_hotel des Balances_) we at length gained admittance; it was opposite\nthe Rhone, a circumstance which to me made it the most desirable of all\npossible situations, for I never was satiated with looking at and\nadmiring the extraordinary beauty which this glorious river possessed.\nWe had not before beheld any thing to equal its force, rapidity, depth,\nand exquisite transparency; but above all other perfections, its colour\n(in this particular part of Switzerland) appeared to us the most\nremarkable. I can compare it to nothing but the hue of liquid sapphires;\nhaving all the brilliancy, purity, and vivid blue lustre, of those\nlovely gems. I never passed it without feeling the strongest wish to\ndrink and at the same time to bathe in its tempting waters, and from the\nbridge we clearly discerned the bottom, at a depth of at least twenty\nfeet. We sent our servant in the evening, to deliver some letters of\nintroduction to several families here; among others to Dr. and Mrs.\nM.--to the former of whom our thanks are particularly due, for his kind\nattention in prescribing for my husband, who had here a relapse of his\ncomplaint. We went the day afterwards to Ferney (the celebrated\nresidence of Voltaire), and also to Sir F. d'I.'s beautiful country\nhouse in the same neighbourhood. We were highly interested by all we saw\nat Ferney. Voltaire's sitting-room, and bed-chamber, have been\nscrupulously preserved in the same state in which they were left at the\ntime of his death: there was a bust of him in the former, and in the\nlatter a smaller one, upon a mausoleum (which was erected to his memory,\nby his niece), bearing this inscription: _son esprit est partout_, _et\nson coeur est ici_. The latter was literally the case for a\nconsiderable time, his heart having been embalmed and placed in a leaden\nbox, within the mausoleum; but it has since been removed to the Pantheon\nat Paris. We observed several prints framed and glazed, hanging upon\nthe walls of his bed-room; portraits of those celebrated characters he\nparticularly esteemed, either for their talents or from motives of\npersonal regard. Among them we remarked those of Milton (notwithstanding\nVoltaire's unjust critiques upon the Paradise Lost), Newton, Washington,\nFranklin, Marmontel, Corneille, Racine, Helvetius, and Delille. The last\npersonage (remarkable as a poet, and as the translator of Virgil), had a\nline underneath his portrait (written in what many people have believed\nto be the hand of Voltaire himself), which was singular enough, as it\nmight be taken in a double sense, either as a compliment or a satire.\nUpon being made acquainted with its meaning in English, I saw the truth\nof the supposition in a moment. The words were these,\n    \"Nulli flebilior quam tibi Virgili.\"\nWe saw Delille's tomb in the burying-ground of _Pere de la Chaise_, at\nParis: a garland of flowers, evidently fresh gathered, had been hung by\nsome admirer of his works over the door of his sepulchre. In this same\napartment at Ferney were also portraits of Voltaire, Frederic of\nPrussia, the Empress Catharine of Russia (presented by herself), and\nsome others. His own picture made a great impression upon us, not from\nany individual merit as a work of art, but as it so exactly expressed,\nin the countenance and air, the brilliant and lively genius, the arch\nsatire, and acute penetration, of this celebrated wit. All the furniture\nof both rooms was dropping to pieces with age and decay. The garden was\nlaid out in the ancient French mode, so abhorred by the purer taste of\nRousseau at that time, and since, by every true judge of the grace and\nsimplicity of nature. On one side was a grove of trees, and on the other\na close embowered alley of hornbeam, cut into the shape of formal high\nwalls, with gothic windows or openings in them, from whence the prospect\nof a rich vineyard in the foreground, a lovely smiling valley beyond,\nand the magnificent glaciers, with Mont Blanc, in the distance, formed\na most sublime and yet an enchanting spectacle. I should think it almost\nimpossible to live in the midst of all these charms and wonders of\ncreation, without lifting an admiring eye and grateful heart to\n\"Nature's God.\" That Voltaire was an atheist is thought now to be a\ncalumny entirely void of foundation, although he was so miserably\nmistaken, so fatally deceived, in regard to the glorious truths of\nrevealed religion. Living in an age when the pure doctrines and\nbenignant spirit of Christianity were so atrociously misconstrued and\nmisrepresented, when bigotry stalked abroad in all the horrors of her\ndeformity, and ignorance blindly followed in the bloody traces of her\nfootsteps, it is less to be wondered at than regretted, that Voltaire's\nvigorous understanding should have disdained their disgraceful shackles;\nand that in his just ridicule and detestation of the conduct of some\nfollowers of Christianity, he should have been unfortunately induced to\nmistake and vilify Christianity itself: notwithstanding some impious\nexpressions concerning it, at which I shudder in the recollection, he\nhas in many parts of his works evidently looked with a more favourable\neye upon the protestant doctrines of England. Certain it is, that he\nbuilt at his own expense the church at Ferney. Not that I mean to\nassert, that church-building, any more than church-going, is always an\ninfallible proof of religious feeling; I only mention the fact. The\nchurch bears the following inscription:\n    \"Deo erexit Voltaire!\"\nThere is a pretty copse or bosquet, at the end of his garden, in which\nthe present proprietor has erected two paltry monuments, to the memory\nof Voltaire and his cotemporary Rousseau. I cannot wonder at the dislike\nwhich subsisted between them, since the latter was such a warm admirer,\nand the former so declared an enemy, of overstrained sentiment and\nsickly sensibility. However, they neither of them did justice to the\nreal merits of each other; and proved individually how strong is the\nforce of prejudice, in blinding the judgment even of the cleverest men.\nThe village of Ferney was by far the prettiest we had seen since we left\nour own country; the houses all had an air of neatness and comfort dear\nto an English eye, and nothing could be more gay and cheerful than their\nlittle gardens and orchards; in the former, flowers and vegetables\nflourished promiscuously, and in great luxuriance, and the latter were\nglowing with a profusion of rosy apples. We observed a species of this\nfruit among them, which we did not remember ever to have seen in any\nother country; it was quite white, and full of a sweet and spirited\njuice.\nFrom hence, we drove to call upon Sir F. d'I., who is a native of\nSwitzerland, _conseiller d'etat_ at Geneva, and well known in England as\nthe intelligent author of several political works. We were much charmed\nby the graceful politeness and hospitable frankness with which both\nhimself and Madame d'I. received us. We had been provided with letters\nof introduction to them, by friends in England, and Sir F. was\npersonally acquainted with Mr. W. He shewed us the grounds of his truly\nbeautiful little villa, which, from being laid out under his own eye, in\nthe English taste, bore a peculiar character of grace and cultivated\nrefinement. I must say that our method of adorning shrubberies, lawns,\ngardens, &c. appeared in a very superior point of view, when compared\nwith that of other countries. The prospect from the drawing-room\nwindows, of the blue waters of the majestic lake, with Mont Blanc,\nsurrounded by his attendant chain of humbler mountains, was grand beyond\nall idea! in short, this abode was far more like Paradise than any\ndwelling upon earth. Sir F. was in momentary expectation of the arrival\nof the Duke of Gloucester, (then visiting Geneva, &c.) and who was\ndesirous of viewing this enchanting epitome of perfection, before he\nleft the neighbourhood.\nWe returned to our inn, and my companions, leaving me under the guard\nof our Swiss, immediately set off upon a three days' journey to\nChamouni, Mont Blanc, the Mer de Glace, &c. I found it neither prudent\nnor reasonable to attempt joining them in this expedition, as the cold\nand fatigue inseparable from it would have been too much for my\nstrength. I expected to have been quite solitary until their return, but\nwas agreeably disappointed; my new friends (whose polite attention to\nall who bear the name of English is well known), being kind enough to\nengage my whole time in such a manner as completely to banish _ennui_.\nSir F., who passed many years of his life in our country, respected for\nhis integrity and abilities, and rewarded by the esteem of Majesty, has\nreturned to his native land (now restored to its independence), in the\nbosom of which he enjoys the high consideration of its most\ndistinguished members, among whom he is noted for liberality of\nsentiment and a singular proportion of domestic felicity. We were told\nthat the people of and near Geneva are remarkable for honesty, and we\nfound no reason to doubt the accuracy of this information. We heard also\nthat the servants, as well as country people, were faithful and\nharmless, and that such an offence as housebreaking, or breach of trust\nin pilfering personal property, was unknown: that every family in these\nenvirons went to bed without closing a shutter, and might safely leave\ncabinets and drawers unlocked, during any absence from home. There were\ntwelve or more physicians in Geneva, eight out of the number having\nstudied and taken their degrees at Edinburgh; they are all accounted\nclever in their profession. The apothecaries here are not allowed to\npractise as amongst us; they are entirely restricted to the preparation\nof medicines, have a thorough knowledge of the properties of drugs\n(which here are of the purest and finest quality always), are good\nchemists and botanists, and in other respects well educated men. This is\na high advantage to invalids. While I was in the _boutique_ of a little\njeweller, the Princess Bariatinski came in, with one of her female\nattendants. She appeared a graceful unaffected young woman, was drest\nwith extreme simplicity, and addressed herself to the persons who waited\nupon her with great affability, and a benevolent wish of sparing them\nall unnecessary trouble. She is the second wife of the prince. In the\ncourse of the day I drove about the environs in a caleche, and returned\nthe visits of several ladies, for whom we had letters from their friends\nin England. Madame C. was fortunately at home, and I was much pleased by\nher polite reception, and also by the sweet countenance and madonna\nfeatures of her grandaughter, Madame P. Their house is upon the brow of\na hill, commanding the most extensive and lovely prospect; but what\nplace is not lovely in this part of the world? I never could have\nimagined so delicious a _sejour_ as the neighbourhood of Geneva affords,\nhad I not seen and enjoyed it myself. In the grounds of Mons. de C. a\nsingular natural phenomenon, takes place; I mean the confluence of the\nRhone and the Arve. They meet here, yet without mingling their currents;\nthe clear blue pure waters of the former being scrupulously distinct\nfrom the thick turbid stream of the latter. Destiny has compelled them\nto run the same course, but the laws of sympathy (more powerful still)\nseem for ever to prevent them from assimilating. How frequently is this\nthe case with mankind! no ties of affinity can cause two dispositions to\nunite and flow on together in a tranquil or felicitous course, where\nnature has placed a marked opposition of sentiment and character. Those\nmoralists who endeavour, from motives of mistaken principle, violently\nto force this native bent, do but ensure themselves the mortifying fate\nof Sisyphus.\nI returned to dinner at _l'hotel des Balances_, intending to accept\nMadame C.'s polite invitation to take tea with her, at eight o'clock;\nbut first I accompanied Sir F. and Madame d'I. in a _promenade_ round\nthe environs, in a little open carriage called a _char_: I found this a\nvery social although somewhat rough conveyance, and it was so near the\nground as to allow females to alight from or ascend it without\nassistance, and with perfect safety. Our drive was charming: they\npointed out many glorious prospects to my observation, and I accompanied\nthem to the _campagne_ (or country house) of Monsieur A., who possesses\none of the most elegant places in that neighbourhood. Monsieur A. is an\nuncle of Madame d'I.'s. We met him at the entrance of his grounds,\ndriving in a low phaeton. It was a novelty to a curious contemplative\nEnglish traveller, like myself, to observe the manners here of\nnear relations towards each other. Monsieur A. took off his hat,\nand remained uncovered the whole of the time during his conversation\nwith his niece; and, upon taking leave, the expressions of \"_Adieu, mon\noncle!_\"--\"_Adieu, ma chere ni\u00e8ce!_\" with another mutual bow, conveyed\nan idea of mixed cordiality and ceremony, which was far from unpleasing.\nI have often thought that family intercourse among us in England is too\nfrequently carried on in a very mistaken and (as it relates to eventual\nconsequences) a very fatal manner. How many people think that it is\nneedless to maintain a constant habit of good-breeding and politeness in\ntheir conduct towards immediate relations, and that the nearness of\nconnexion gives them the liberty of wounding their self-love, and of\nventing unpleasant truths in the most coarse and unfeeling manner; and\nall this under the pretence of sincere and unrestrained friendship! How\nentirely do such persons forget that admirable Christian precept, \"Be ye\ncourteous one to another!\"\nWe found Madame and Mademoiselle A. at home: the former is somewhat\nadvanced in years; she has frequently been in England, and both of them\nspeak our language fluently. The conversation this evening, however, was\nwholly carried on in French, which was an advantage to me, as it gave me\nan additional opportunity of conquering a ridiculous degree of awkward\nshyness in speaking the latter, which is a complete bar to improvement,\nand yet is often dignified amongst very good sort of people in our\ncountry by the name of _amiable_ _modesty_. These ladies were highly\nwell-bred and agreeable; they knew several of my friends, the L. family\nin particular: Madame A. perfectly recollected the late Mr. L. many\nyears since, at the time he was living at Geneva, and spoke of his\nvirtues, his distinguished and noble manners, his various talents, and\ntaste for the fine arts, in a way that brought tears of pleased\nremembrance into my eyes: indeed no one, who had (like myself) the\nhonour and happiness of being intimate with this excellent and lamented\nman, can ever, I should think, forget him, and I shall always feel it as\na source of great and flattering gratification, that I once was a\nfavourite, and I may say, an _el\u00e8ve_, of so venerable and superior a\ncharacter.\nMademoiselle A. shewed me some exquisitely fine casts from the antique,\nand copies of paintings (the originals of which are now in the Louvre at\nParis), which formed the chief decorations of a charming saloon here,\nfloored with walnut in so elaborate and elegant a manner, that it almost\nrivalled a tessellated pavement. The house and grounds altogether are\ndelightful, and the latter reminded me of an English park. We enjoyed a\npromenade under some noble trees in front of the former, and then\nreturned to take our tea, when we entered upon a very animated and (to\nme) a most interesting conversation upon Voltaire. Madame A. observed,\nthat it was always a treat to her to hear the original remarks of\npersons who (judging for themselves) perused his works for the first\ntime. I was sorry when the moment for taking leave arrived, and could\nhave passed the whole of the evening here with much satisfaction. Sir F.\nand Madame d'I. had the goodness to deposit me safely at the hotel of\nMadame C., and made me promise to spend the next day with them at their\nlovely _campagne_. I found a very agreeable and intellectual society\nassembled at Madame C.'s. Among them were Monsieur and Madame de\nSaussure. He is a relation of the celebrated philosopher, who was one of\nthe first persons who ascended to the top of Mont Blanc, many years\nsince, and whose observations taken there have been published. Madame\nP. (who is very young, and almost a bride) sang like an angel: her\nhusband also possesses no inconsiderable vocal talent, and they gave us\nseveral duets of Blangini's, which happened to be my own peculiar\nfavourites. Le Baron de M. an intelligent gentlemanly man (a native of\nthe Pays du Valais, I believe), and who has travelled a great deal in\nItaly, seemed perfectly to feel and appreciate the superior merits of\nthe Italian school of harmony, which surprised me at first, as I had\ntaken him for a Frenchman, and knew how rarely pure taste of that sort\nwas to be expected from his nation. He had the politeness to conduct me\nhome at night, and left me at the door of my apartments, with many\nprofound bows, _en preux chevalier!_\nThe next morning, _presque a mon r\u00e9veil_, I received a long visit from\nMadame P. and I afterwards drove to Sir F.'s, where I dined, and passed\na very happy day. I met there the children of Count S. (minister for\nRussia at the approaching congress at Aix la Chapelle), and their\n_gouvernante_. These two little countesses (for so they were always\ncalled), of eight and ten years of age, and their brother, a very fine\nboy of five or six, ran about amid the flowers and shrubs, much at their\nease, and seemed to look upon Sir F. as a father. Indeed, he had, in a\nmanner, the charge of them at this time. In the evening I accompanied my\nkind hosts to the house of another very pleasant family, which was also\nbuilt in a spot that commanded a superb and romantic view, where we met\na very large party, among which were several English. Some of the\ncompany were in full dress, having called to take tea, in their way to a\ngrand ball, which was given that night by our countrymen to the\ninhabitants of Geneva, and the latter were to return the compliment in a\nsimilar manner in the space of a few days. I was invited by several of\nthe Genevese families, to attend this ball; but declined doing so, for\nvarious reasons. This was not the only amusement at that time\nanticipated; they were preparing to attend a very pretty, and I may say,\nchivalrous sort of _f\u00eate_ (an _alfresco_ breakfast), upon the borders of\nthe lake, given to the ladies by a party of gentlemen, who were called\n_les chevaliers du lac_. The day which the gallant entertainers had long\ndestined for this gay banquet was unfortunately early overcast by\nlowering and envious clouds, which, before the company had been\nassembled half an hour, broke over their heads in torrents of rain. We\nhad thus an opportunity of observing, that England was not the only\ncountry where the caprices of climate render _f\u00eates champ\u00eatres_ rather\nhazardous. The costume of the rest of the ladies was very simple, being\nexactly that of the French, when not _bien par\u00e9_, and much resembling\nwhat we wear as a morning dress, all having their gowns made high in the\nneck, with long sleeves, and many of them wearing large bonnets. The\nprofusion of rich needlework in petticoats, ruffs, &c. was, however,\nvery remarkable.\nThe tone of general conversation here was easy, animated, lively, and\nfull of benevolently polite attention to the feelings of each other. In\nshort, it was conversation; of which we do not always understand the\nright meaning, or enter into the true spirit, in the circles of England,\nwhatever is the reason. We had a discussion upon the drama, and the\npresent state of the Italian opera, both with us and upon the continent.\nThose who had been in England praised Miss O'Neill very rapturously, but\nKean did not appear to have struck them so forcibly as I thought his\nmerits deserved. I was asked (as the conversation turned upon the marked\ntaste for classical and studied tragic acting upon the French stage),\nwhether I thought Miss O'Neill or Mrs. Siddons (in her day) would have\nbeen most applauded and understood by a Parisian audience? I had no\nhesitation in replying that I thought the latter would have been more to\ntheir taste, as her style was rather the perfection of art than the wild\nand spontaneous effect of nature. They all agreed in this opinion, and\nseemed to prefer Miss O'Neill to her dignified and splendid rival: those\nwho consider acting as a science, however, will not coincide with them.\nAt about eight o'clock we adjourned to another apartment, where tea was\nserved: the table was very long, and covered with a cloth, round which\nthe company seated themselves as if at dinner. The lady of the house\nmade tea herself, and the servants waited behind her chair, to hand it\nabout; her situation was no sinecure: There was a profusion of cakes,\nbrioches, and fine fruit. This is always the custom at Geneva, where, as\npeople dine at three o'clock, they of course are ready to make a sort of\nsupper at tea-time. I never beheld any thing so resplendently beautiful\nas the moon during my drive home: I saw it rise like a globe of fire\nfrom behind the mountains, and throw a long track of glittering\nbrightness upon the calm bosom of the lake. The effect was lovely, and\nthe sky appeared to me to be of a far deeper and more decided blue\ncolour than with us. I ought not to omit the mention of a very singular\nand striking phenomenon (if I may so call it), which I had likewise this\nday witnessed at Sir F.'s: I mean the influence of the setting sun upon\nthe glaciers. They first, as the orb declined, assumed a yellow tint,\nthen gradually warmed into pink, and kindled at length into a glow of\nrich crimson, of indescribable beauty. Mont Blanc's three fantastic\npeaks received it last of all, and immediately afterwards the whole\nsnowy chain of mountains rapidly faded into their original hue of\nspotless (or, as my friend Mr. T. fancifully calls it, _ghostly_) white.\nUpon my return to the hotel, I had the unexpected pleasure of finding\nMr. Baillie and Mr. W. safely arrived from their expedition to Chamouni.\nThe following is the former's account to me of the incidents of their\njourney.\n\"As we could only allow ourselves two entire days in which to perform\nour journey to Chamouni, it was quite necessary that we should make the\nmost of our time; the distance (if I recollect right) being from fifteen\nto eighteen leagues from Geneva. We started from thence at about five\no'clock in the afternoon, on the 13th of September, and slept that night\nat Bonneville, a small town about fifteen miles on our route. There was\nnothing particularly worthy of remark thus far, except the\nmagnificently beautiful tints of the setting sun upon the Mole and\nadjacent mountains, which we enjoyed in great perfection. The next\nmorning we proceeded through the small town of Kluse to St. Martin,\nwhere we breakfasted, and hired mules for the remainder of our journey,\nthe road being impassable for any carriages except those of the country,\ncalled _char-a-bancs_, which are the most uncomfortable conveyances that\ncan be imagined, being built without springs.\n\"We passed this day two very beautiful waterfalls; but as you have\nalready seen the P. V. (which is superior to both), I need not trouble\nyou with an account of them. The aubergiste at St. Martin was\nphilosopher enough to have a cabinet of the natural curiosities of the\ncountry, upon which he set no small value; his prices for the minerals,\n&c. being absurdly high. The prospect became far more interesting as we\nadvanced towards the base of that hoary mountain, whose summit we had\ndistinctly seen at a hundred and fifty miles distance, some few weeks\nsince. We observed and admired a singular piece of water, in whose\ntransparent bosom Mont Blanc was clearly reflected. This was the Lac de\nChede, and though very small, is interesting, from its retired and\nsolitary situation. It is infested by serpents, but I could not learn\nthat they were venomous.\n\"The valley of Servoz, into which we afterwards entered, and which joins\nthe vale of Chamouni, is romantic beyond any thing I have ever beheld.\nThe road (cut out of the mountain's side) is in many places rough, and\nsomewhat dangerous, a very abrupt precipice being on one hand, and the\nriver Arve rolling below, whose waters are of great depth. I confess\nthat I was a little disappointed with the first view of these glaciers\n(_note_ H.), perhaps, as the imagination has no bounds, from having\npreviously formed too magnificent an idea of them. They are situated in\nthe valley, at the foot of the mountain, and are formed by the frozen\nsnow, or rather snow-water. Their shape is irregularly pyramidical, and\ntheir colour a very light blue.\n\"The Mer de Glace, which is the object most worthy of notice in this\nvalley, is a glacier of giant size, the pyramids of ice being in some\nplaces of prodigious altitude, and the chasms proportionably deep. From\nthis place the Arve takes its source. It is quite impossible for me to\ngive you an adequate idea of this stupendous sea of ice, so called from\nits constant, although imperceptible, movement towards the valley, the\nentrance of which, it is generally expected, it will in time effectually\nblock up. We witnessed one or two avalanches, which our guide told us\nwere inconsiderable; their noise, however, made the valley roar.\n\"Our trusty mules deserve mention. We really thought we could not too\nmuch admire them; although we had been prepared to find them sure-footed\nand steady, we had no conception that they could possibly have led us\nwith such perfect safety through such rugged and dangerous passes; the\nmore particularly as we had no reason to reckon upon their complaisance,\nhaving urged them to a pace to which they were quite unaccustomed, from\nour desire of visiting the Mer de Glace the first day.\n\"The inn at Chamouni was clean and comfortable, and upon a far superior\nscale of accommodation than could have been supposed in so forlorn a\nsituation. The Duke of G. arrived during the evening, and consequently\nmust have travelled through Servoz when it was dark, thereby losing all\nthe beauties of that wonderful scene. We set off the next morning very\nearly, upon our return. It was a severe frost, the ground quite white\nwith the hoary particles, and the weather feeling colder than I ever\nremember to have experienced, although the season was but little\nadvanced; so much so, that my companion had to walk at a great pace for\na considerable distance, to preserve any degree of animal warmth. About\nthe middle of our route we observed a monument, in the shape of a large\nmile-stone, which had been erected during the consulship of Bonaparte,\nto the memory of a young German philosopher, who was unfortunately lost,\nfrom the ignorance of his guide, while traversing these mountains. He\nfell into the crevice of a glacier, and was not discovered until some\ntime afterwards, when it appeared his nails were worn off, and his\nfingers stripped to the bone, in his agonizing and desperate attempts to\nrelease himself from his horrible grave. The stone was erected (as it is\nstated in an inscription) first, as a warning to travellers in their\nchoice of guides; secondly, to commemorate the loss of the unhappy\nyouth; and, thirdly, to inform the world that France encourages science,\neven in her enemies.\n\"We found a variety of all the rarest Alpine plants and vegetables in\nthis valley, and were assured that it contained also mines of gold,\nsilver, and lead, (_note_ I.) which the poverty of the state at present\nprevents being worked. We met at the little inn two Polish gentlemen,\nwho had been making a pedestrian tour through Switzerland; one of them\nhad a few days before ascended the highest mountain (next to Mont Blanc)\nin the neighbourhood: he was the friend and companion of an enterprising\nnobleman of the same nation, who some weeks since had gone up Mont\nBlanc, by a different route to that pursued by Monsieur de Saussure, who\nhas written voluminously on the subject. The Pole had endured great\ndifficulty and fatigue, and had been three days in completing his\njourney, having slept two nights upon the mountain: he was attended by\nabout twenty guides, all of whom were tied together, as a precaution\nagainst any one of them falling into the chasms which are so frequently\nmet with in the ascent. The summit was found to be considerably changed\nsince it had last been visited. This stupendous mountain is 15000 feet\nabove the level of the sea, and rises about 9000 from the valley of\nChamouni. It is hardly necessary to tell you, that its brow is eternally\ncrowned with frozen snow.\n\"Travellers who are in delicate health, or otherwise not strong, are by\nno means advised to undertake the journey from St. Martin to Chamouni on\nmules; especially if they are pressed for time, as that method of\nconveyance is both fatiguing and dilatory. They will find the guides of\nthe inn particularly intelligent and conversible, possessing a knowledge\nof the mineral and vegetable kingdoms that is quite extraordinary in\nmen of their situation and rank in life. They are employed during the\nwinter months in chamois hunting, and other dangerous and hardy\nexercises, and are frequently detained (as they told me themselves) by\nthe snow, for weeks together, in the cheerless shelter of the most\nwretched _chalets_.\"\nThe next day we devoted to the purchase of some of the curiosities for\nwhich this place is celebrated (_note_ J.), and to taking leave of our\nfriends, who had shewn us so much attention: we also visited the street\nin which Rousseau was born, and which is called after his name, the Rue\nde Jean Jacques Rousseau. We took leave of Sir F. and Madame d'I. with a\ndegree of regret that was only softened by the hope of seeing them in\nEngland ere many ages should elapse. I believe I have not yet mentioned\ntheir children; a fine boy and a very promising little girl, both\nextremely young, and in whose welfare and happiness the parents seemed\nto be completely wrapped up. Yet Sir F. did not appear to have spoiled\nthem by injudicious indulgence; on the contrary, he expressed his\nconviction of the necessity and importance of _early_ moral restraint,\nand I had one accidental opportunity of witnessing that his practice\nperfectly harmonized with his theory: this desirable union does not\nalways take place, even among parents who pride themselves upon a\nsuperior system of education.\nOn September 17th, we bade adieu to this delightful neighbourhood, and\nproceeded upon our route to Lausanne. We continued for a great length of\nway to wind along the borders of the lake, which sparkled like a diamond\nin the morning sun, and whose extensive surface was slightly rippled by\na fresh and animating breeze from the mountains. With respect to the\nextraordinary exhilaration of mountain air, which first struck me in\ncrossing Mont Cenis, and has been confirmed by subsequent experience, I\nhad heard and read a thousand times of its effect; but a truth, when\npersonally proved for the first time, always seems like a discovery,\nrather than a sober confirmation of the words of other people. This\npure atmosphere appears to me the finest remedy possible for every sort\nof nervous indisposition. It would even lighten (I should think) the\nheavy pressure of real affliction, acting as a perfect cordial to the\nspirits, as well as a tonic to the body--but Rousseau has expressed this\nopinion so admirably in the first volume of his _Nouvelle Heloise_, that\nwhile I recal his magical description, any other seems powerless and\ninadequate. (_Note_ K).\nWe now passed though the village of Coppet. Necker's house is still\nshewn here, to which he retired upon being denounced by the French\ngovernment as an enemy to his country, and where the adversity of this\ngreat and amiable character was soothed by the presence of his equally\ncelebrated daughter, Madame de Stael. I feel an involuntary sensation of\n_attendrissement_, whenever I think of the singular degree of affection\nthat subsisted between this venerable parent and his daughter, and which\nbreathes so touchingly in every line of her _Memoires de la Vie priv\u00e9e\nde Monsieur Necker_, lately published in our own country. An affection\nso highly wrought, as to bear rather the character of passion, and which\nhas therefore been objected to, by many people, as overstrained and\nunnatural. But let it be remembered that the great virtues, the\nattractive gentleness, the grand and expansive mind, and superior\ntalents of Necker, were (in her eyes) unique, and might therefore well\nhave the effect of creating a more than ordinary portion of admiration,\nrespect, and love: nor, in judging of Madame de Stael, should it ever be\nforgotten, that her extraordinary depth of feeling, and her native\nenthusiasm of disposition, rendered it impossible for her to experience\nsensations of any sort, in a mediocre degree, or even in that rationally\nmoderated force, which can alone secure the possession of real\nhappiness. This peculiarity of feeling, which unfortunately induced some\nerrors in her conduct, has been admirably commented upon, by the\nEdinburgh Review, in its critique upon her works in general. It\nexplains and apologizes, I think, for those wildly warm expressions in\nwhich she has indulged, when speaking of Necker's character, and which\nmight perhaps sound strange, if uttered by a less energetic personage,\nor if applied to those sort of parents who are usually met with in\ncommon life. The woman who has been allowed by the general voice of her\ncotemporary judges to be \"the greatest writer of a female, that any age,\nor any country, has produced;\" (nay even by one distinguished genius[8]\nhas been called \"the most powerful author, whether man or woman, of her\nday;\") has surely a high claim upon the forbearance of all who have been\ncharmed by her transcendent talents. At the same time, let me not be\nmistaken, as to my own particular sentiments upon the subject; for I\nhave no hesitation in avowing, that as a general principle, I extremely\ndisapprove of the admission of what is termed passion into the filial\naffections, and _vice versa_. I believe it to answer no wise or\nrational end, but to be, on the contrary, in nine cases out of ten, a\nfruitful source of disquietude and disappointment.\nI fear my earnestness in the cause of a writer whose abilities I so\ngreatly admire, has led me into a dissertation which may prove tedious\nto some of my readers.--_Revenons \u00e0 nos moutons_. The country, the whole\nof the way to Lausanne, is one continued scene of beauty; and the\npastoral air of the verdant meadows, the rich cultivation of the hills\n(sprinkled with the prettiest little hamlets), the appearance of comfort\nand neatness in the cottages (each with a garden and orchard), and the\ngrandeur of the lake and mountains beyond, altogether formed a scene of\npeace, loveliness and delight, that is far more easily imagined than\ndescribed. Were it possible for me to forget the charms of my dear\nnative land, it is here that I could happily live, and tranquilly die.\nNot that it possesses the Armida-like fascination of the shores of the\nLago Maggiore in Italy, or the high romance of parts of Savoy: the\nimagination here is less excited, but the heart is more interested. I\nturned from one to the other, with the kind of sensation which the mind\nexperiences, when comparing a brilliantly beautiful and accomplished, a\nhighly enchanting and charming acquaintance, with a tender, cheerful,\nand amiable friend.\nWe stopped to take breakfast at Rolle, a neat little town, where at the\nhumble inn (_la Couronne_) we hailed with great satisfaction the\ncomforts of cleanliness and domestic order, so totally unknown to the\nnatives of the other countries through which we had passed.\nMorges; a remarkably pretty town. In this neighbourhood there were many\nvineyards, which yielded the fruit of which the wine called _vin de\ncote_ is made. The lake became much narrower here, and the mountains\nupon the opposite side seemed to rise abruptly from the water. Their\ndark purple hue contrasted finely with the light aqua-marine tint of\nthe latter, and the fresh verdure of the banks, where the peasants were\nmowing their second crop of hay. The beauty of some of the cottages also\nstruck us with admiration, but we observed as yet no particular costume.\nWe arrived at Lausanne to dinner. The entrance was cheerful and pretty,\nand the town itself is clean and gay, built upon the side of a very\nsteep hill; the grand street forming as precipitous an ascent as that of\nLansdown in Bath. We found all the inns full, therefore took lodgings at\na charming house upon a hill overhanging the lake, (the view of the\nChateau de Chillon and mountains, in the distance) and to which there\nwas a garden and terrace, ornamented with green-house plants and\nflowers. We could hardly have desired _une plus jolie campagne_ even for\nour own permanent residence and property. The restaurateur (who was an\nappendage to this establishment, and lived in part of the house) was a\ncivil bustling personage, who extremely loved to hear himself talk: he\ntold us that these lodgings ought to stand high in reputation, for they\nhad been occupied successively by _les plus grands seigneurs_, who had\nall expressed themselves greatly pleased with their accommodations; a\nfair hint this, how _we_ were expected to behave. We found, however,\nupon parting, that the hostess had overcharged us for these wonderful\naccommodations in a very preposterous manner, and she was so conscious\nof it, that she consented without much difficulty to take off part of\nher bill, and to allow us to pay for her apartments in French money,\ninstead of the Swiss, which makes a very material difference. We\nbreakfasted the next morning upon honeycomb from the mountains; I\nbelieve I have mentioned this before. It is a very common article for\nbreakfast in Switzerland, and always brings an agreeable association of\nideas to my mind. I ought perhaps to have made earlier mention of the\ngreat opportunity afforded to the traveller of leisurely surveying and\nenjoying the beauties of scenery, from the circumstance of his not being\nable to travel _post_ through Switzerland: the system of _voituring_\nis, however, rather tedious, and very expensive.\nThe environs of Lausanne are almost equally attractive with those of\nGeneva, but the latter were impressed upon my memory in such bright and\nbewitching colours, that I could never think any other part of\nSwitzerland quite so delightful.\nWe quitted Lausanne, Sept. 19, for Berne. Our road still led us through\nbeauties innumerable. On the right was the lake, once more expanded into\na breadth like the ocean, bounded, as usual, by mountains. On the left\nwere vineyards, gardens, and hamlets. The grape ripens later here than\nin France, but is equally luxuriant and delicious in flavour. We\nfrequently passed so near the glowing clusters of this tempting fruit,\nthat we might easily have gathered as many as we chose from the windows\nof the carriage. There was a wonderfully fine growth of walnut trees\nalso, stretching their long branches for many yards over the water. They\nare in such quantities that oil is made from the nut, for purposes of\nthe commonest use.\nWe again saw part of the romantic rocks of Meillerie, so celebrated by\nRousseau. We had been reading his _Nouvelle Heloise_ for the last few\ndays (as we were passing through the same scenes which are so\nbeautifully depicted there), and felt as if these rocks were our old\nacquaintance. I always feel, in reading his works, ready to exclaim,\n    \"I love thee, and hate thee!\"\nA literary friend (in a long conversation which we had upon the subject\nof this author) thought better of his Julie (as a single woman) than I\ndid, or ever can; but we perfectly agreed in admiration of her conduct\nas a wife and mother, mistress of a family, &c. The lessons of morality\n(which she there exhibits) are beyond every thing beautiful and\nimpressive; but I never can forgive the disingenuousness of her conduct\nin consenting to marry Monsieur de Wolmar, without having previously\ntold him her past story. All the reasonings, the arguments, the chain\nof entangling circumstances, which Rousseau has contrived to justify her\nfor not doing so, I think false, perverted, and totally unsatisfactory.\nThe costume of the peasants in this neighbourhood is not at all\nremarkable, except for their straw hats, which are universally of the\ngipsy shape, with a very high crown, ending in a point like a Chinese\npagoda, or the top of a parasol. We took a _dejeun\u00e9_ at Vevay, and went\nin a boat upon the lake, to view the Chateau de Chillon somewhat nearer\nthan we had hitherto been able to do. The beauty of Lord Byron's\naffecting Tale of its Prisoner returned strongly upon my imagination. I\ncertainly prefer his picture of Captivity to that of Sterne in the\nSentimental Journey. It appears to me to be equally touching, and far\nmore sublime. One or two of the minor incidents may probably have been\nfounded upon the legends of the Bastile; but Byron's powerful genius\nstamps every line with the character of originality.\nA few miles beyond Vevay the country assumed all the refined and\ncultivated beauties of an English park. Here (near a miniature lake)\nsoftly swelling hills of velvet turf, ornamented with the rich and\nfeathery foliage of the beech, rose gently upon the admiring eye. There\nvast plantations of aspiring firs expanded their screen of darker green.\nClose to the road were meadows enamelled with the lilac crocus, and\nvarious wild flowers, fringed by hedges, where the white convolvulus and\nscarlet hawthorn berry mingled gaily with the thick hazel and other\nnative shrubs. A few ledges of rock now and then started from amid these\nmild beauties, as if to evince that we were still in the vicinity of\nwilder scenery. This change in the landscape was novel and delightful to\nus all. We had not seen any thing exactly in its style since leaving\nEngland, and I almost felt annoyed when a turning in the road displayed\nthe snowy peaks of the eternal glaciers towering, as usual, in the\ndistance. Forgive this honest confession, ye exclusive lovers of the\nsublime, and recollect, that the eye as well as the mind becomes\nfatigued by being kept too long upon the stretch.\nStopping at a little post-house, between Vevay and Moudon, we were\nsurprised to see a large coarse loaf of bread brought out (instead of\nhay) for the refreshment of the horses. They eat it in slices, and\nappeared to relish this sophisticated food not a little. One of the\nanimals, however, would not take the crust in his mouth, tossing it away\nin the most ridiculously disdainful manner, when he had carefully\ndevoured all the crumb, and it was not until he had received two or\nthree good cuffs on the ears from his driver that he condescended to\nswallow it.\nWe met several prettyish women in the course of this day's journey; but\nthe style of their beauty did not please us so much as that of France\nand Italy. It was mild without being soft, and fresh without being\nbrilliant: they were, in short, neither _jolie ni belle_; neither had\nthey _la grace plus belle encore que la beaut\u00e9_; but formed a class\napart, which I cannot exactly define, but which certainly I did not\nlike.\nDined and slept at Moudon (inn, _au Cerf_), where we experienced the\ncomforts of warmth, cleanliness, and good beds; no bad things after a\nlong and cold journey. We were waited upon by a lively natural young\ncreature, of the name of Josephine, who, together with several other\ngirls, was staying at this inn, to learn the French language from the\noccasional guests. They were all of them German Swiss. We astonished\nthem very much, by exhibiting a couple of musical snuff-boxes, which we\nhad bought when at Geneva. The girls had never seen any thing of the\nkind, and were never tired of listening to them. We left Moudon the next\nmorning at six o'clock: the country still continued to charm us with a\npleasing succession of woods, mossy banks, and rich valleys, watered by\nlittle serpentine silver brooks, softly flowing through green meadows.\nWe were still in the _Pays du Vaud_. Our servant Christian's national\nenthusiasm burst forth at every step. Our friend, who frequently took a\nshare of his seat behind the carriage, amused us extremely with an\naccount of his transports. \"Ah! there are de cows with bells round their\nnecks! How I love those bells! There be de neat cottages, all of wood:\ndey builds very pretty ones always in my country.\" At Lausanne (where he\nhad been at school) it was nothing but \"shaking hands,\" and \"greetings\nin the market-place.\"--\"There is a friend of mine! I know dat man! There\nlives such a one, a very honest person!\" In short, the poor fellow was\nin a state of continual ecstasy, and carried it so far as to think the\nvery stones in the road were more than commonly valuable and beautiful;\nfor, knowing Mr. W. to have made a small collection of spars and\nfossils, &c. he drew his attention frequently, upon entering\nSwitzerland, to the pebbles by the wayside, calling out every now and\nthen, \"There be a pretty stone now, Mr. V.! Very pretty stones all in my\ncountry!\" A lady at Geneva, in describing the peculiar attachment of the\nSwiss to their native land, told me that her brother, upon being exiled\nto England for pecuniary reasons, actually died of the true _maladie du\npays_, pining gradually away in hopeless longings after the dear scenes\namid which his youth had been passed. We now entered the grandest and\nmost luxuriant beech woods I ever beheld. I never had seen such\nmagnificent trees, except in some parts of Norbury park, in Surrey;\nindeed the whole view strongly reminded me of that exquisite spot, and\nbrought a thousand agreeable recollections and associations to my mind.\nWherefore is it that the imagination feels a charm and a repose so\ndelightful amid scenes of this nature? My own peculiar feeling is now\nconfirmed by long experience, and I can consequently assert, with\nrenewed confidence, that wood, assisted by a judicious inequality of\nground, forms by far the most satisfactory and soothing feature in a\nlandscape. A visit to mountains, glaciers, lakes, waterfalls, and\nimpetuous floods, gives great and animating sensations, but a constant\nresidence among them I should never desire; though I have no doubt but\nthat a Highlander or a Swiss mountaineer would extremely despise me for\nthe homeliness of my taste.\nPayerne, a small town. The women here amazed us by their superb\n_chevelures_. We saw three in particular, who wore their hair (of a dark\nyet golden brown colour) twisted round the head, in a large braid,\nbeneath an enormous flat straw hat. If these braids had been\ndishevelled, I am certain the hair would have swept the ground, and the\nthickness of its growth was even yet more remarkable than its length. We\nwere afterwards informed of a circumstance which explained this apparent\nphenomenon, as I shall presently take occasion to mention. There was a\nlarge stone fountain here (with a statue of some warrior, armed from\nhead to heel), which appeared to form the only ornament of the place.\nAt Avenche we observed a very singular costume among the _paysannes_; in\naddition to the full shift sleeve and becoming _chemisette_, confined\nbeneath the bosom by a coloured boddice, they wore a head-dress of\nblack gauze, lace, or thin horse-hair, transparent as a cobweb,\nstiffened with fine wire, and standing out widely from the temples, in\nthe most extraordinary manner, resembling some representations I have\nseen of the _cobra capella_, or hooded serpent, the wings of a\nPatagonian butterfly, or the sort of bat-winged cap, which Fuseli, in\nthe extravagance of his wild imagination, has given to his pictures of\nQueen Mab. The coarse, tame, insipid style of feature which accompanied\nthis attire, however, by no means suited its peculiar character. I\nlooked in vain for the pale, delicate, oval visage, small red lip, and\nlarge gazelle sort of dark eye, with which it would have harmonized so\nexquisitely. This is the usual Bernoise costume.\nThe country here became much more open, and was enlivened by the\nglittering waters of the lake of Morat (_note_ L). In almost every house\nwe passed, we remarked great quantities of green tobacco leaves,\nsuspended from the projecting roofs, drying in the sun. On the borders\nof the lake of Morat was formerly a chapel, filled with the bones of\nthe Bourguinons, who were killed in battle, in the year 1476, when\nCharles the Bold was defeated. It is now destroyed, but the bones are\nstill left \"bleaching in the wind.\" We got out of the carriage, and\ndiscovered among them some very large thigh bones, &c. The size of the\nwarriors to whom they belonged must have been wondrous. A small rise,\nupon which we stood, was entirely formed of the bodies of the slain. The\nfragrant wild thyme and nodding hare-bell grew thickly upon the fatal\nspot; and I observed a tuft of the latter wreathing its azure flowers\n(as if in mockery) around the fragment of a mouldering skull!\nThere are several beautiful little _maisons de campagne_ near this\nplace, with their surrounding vineyards, gardens, orchards, and\nfountains. They were a good deal in the style of what we are used to\ncall cottages _orn\u00e9es_, so few of which we had hitherto seen upon the\ncontinent, notwithstanding the adoption of a foreign title. There were\nalso many lovely dwellings belonging to the peasantry, built of\ntan-coloured wood (_note_ M.), with stairs and galleries on the outside,\nand neatly thatched or tiled. The frontispiece to this little volume,\nwhich has been kindly presented to me by an elegant amateur artist, is a\nmost correct representation of a Swiss cottage.\nWe were now in the canton of Berne: passing through another wood of\nbeech, scarcely less beautiful than the former, the tremulous light,\nflitting capriciously across the leaf-strewn paths, and the soft\nchirping of the birds above our heads, again gave us exquisite pleasure.\nI say we; for my sensations were fully participated by my companions.\nWe now crossed the river Sarine, by means of a large wooden bridge,\ncovered overhead like a penthouse, and entered the village of Guminen,\nsunk between bold and rocky hills, fringed with rich trees and\nunderwood. The females in this part of Switzerland all appeared to\npossess a qualification which Shakespeare has pronounced (and with\ntruth) to be \"a marvellous excellent thing in woman.\" I allude to the\nsoft musical tone of their voices in speaking: it was really remarkable,\nand we thought it almost made amends for the want of beauty. We dined at\nGuminen, in a cleanly little inn (_l'Ours_), where, on looking out at\nthe window, we were struck by the sight of a Lucerne _paysanne_ in full\ncostume. She wore the usual tresses of braided hair hanging down at\nlength behind, and the black gauze cap; but her boddice was remarkably\ncurious, being of black velvet, richly embossed with lilac and black\nbeads (the latter coming from Venice, and extremely small), in the\nmanner of embroidery; indeed such quantities had been expended, that her\nbust looked as if in armour. This boddice was likewise ornamented with\nsilver filigree buttons, and long silver chains, ending in large tassels\nof the same material, gilt. She had also a black velvet collar, studded\nwith Venetian beads and coloured foil, and a worked linen _chemisette_\nand full shift sleeves, white as snow. This dress must have been very\nexpensive for a woman in her rank of life; and upon inquiry we found\nthat she was, in fact, the wife of a rich miller. We were not annoyed\nhere, as in Italy and France, by the clamours of beggars; they very\nrarely made their appearance, and even when they did, were always modest\nand diffident. It gave us pleasure to pass through so large a tract of\ncountry without being able to discover any trace of abject poverty among\nthe peasantry: they all wore an air of ease and content, and we found\nupon inquiry that they were in general enjoying the most comfortable and\nindependent circumstances.\nFrom a hill near Berne we first caught the distant harmony of a number\nof mellow-toned bells, which pastoral sounds, our Swiss informed us,\nwere produced by the cattle (round whose necks the bells were\nsuspended), and who were at that moment descending in large herds from\nthe mountains, for the evening milking. At the same time we were struck\nby a glorious view of the Alps (_note_ N.), their frozen peaks rosy from\nthe reflection of departing light: one of the highest of them is\ncalled, from hence, Monte Rosa. I have never listened to church bells\n(when their clang has been mellowed by distance) without a feeling of\nmelancholy; but these seemed to breathe of innocent joy, and to tell a\ntale of peace, happiness, comfort, and domestic delight. This, I know,\nmust have proceeded in both cases from early associations, and in the\nlatter from the influence of ideas connected with poetry. What an\never-springing source of exquisite enjoyment is that divine gift! A\nsusceptibility of its powers is like a sixth sense, for which it becomes\nall who possess it to be truly grateful to the benevolent Donor.\nWe now entered Berne. This is a fine large town, with a remarkably\nhandsome entrance. We obtained most excellent rooms, replete with every\nessential comfort, and furnished with taste, at our inn (_au Faucon_),\nwhich was spacious enough to be taken for some ancient castle, when the\nfeudal lords lodged a hundred or two of retainers, besides guests,\nbeneath their ample roof. It was built in the form of an oblong square,\nwith three galleries, one above another (each of which had interminable\npassages connected with it, all leading to different suites of\napartments), looking down upon an open court or area in the midst. In\nthis court a little army of washerwomen were assembled (belonging, I\nbelieve, to the establishment), carrying on the process of purification\nwith great activity (in tubs almost large enough for brewing vats), and\nwith hot water, which is an unusual thing upon the continent. Apropos to\ncleanliness, we all made the same observation in passing through\nSwitzerland, namely, that the inhabitants (more especially in the\nprotestant cantons) seemed to understand the comfort inseparable from\nthis virtue, and that they certainly practised it in a far higher degree\nthan any people we had seen since leaving England. We have frequently\nmet with better accommodations (because cleanliness has been\nscrupulously attended to) in the inferior inns of Switzerland than in\nthe most superb hotels of Paris, Turin, Milan, &c. I am sorry to be\nobliged, however, to except those of Geneva, which are allowed by the\ninhabitants themselves to be all very dirty.\nWe walked about Berne the next morning, and gave audience to Christian's\nvenerable father and to his sister, who came over from their farm in the\nneighbourhood to fetch him to spend a day with them. They had not met\nfor some years; neither father nor daughter spoke a word of any language\nbut German _patois_; the latter was drest in the complete _Bernoise_\ncostume, even to the little bouquet of natural flowers in the bosom. I\nforget what great author it is who says that \"a man who has left his\nnative place for years is generally anxious to make some figure in it,\nupon his return,\"--this was truly exemplified in our servant, who, the\nmorning after our arrival, burst upon his town's folk, in all the glory\nof the most dandy English dress, appearing far more smart than his\nmaster, and forming a curious contrast to the rustic figures of his\nhumble yet picturesque-looking relations. We proceeded, after dinner,\nto view the bears, and stags, which have from time immemorial been kept\nin the deep fosse, which surrounds the town. There are tall fir-trees\nplanted in this moat, for the bears to climb, and plenty of green cool\nturf for the refreshment of the stags. The animals are separated from\neach other, of course. The origin of this custom is singular. In ancient\ntimes, a rich seigneur of the country, and his sons, determined to found\na town, which should transmit their memories to posterity, and should be\ncalled after the name of the first animal that they might happen to kill\nin a grand hunting-match, which they assembled for the purpose. This\nanimal turned out to be a bear; accordingly the town was called Berne,\nand the stone image of the creature was erected at the gates--a custom\nwhich is continued to the present moment. When the founders died, they\nleft a sum of money to be laid out for the sole benefit of this bear,\nwhich in process of time so greatly accumulated, as to form quite a\nlittle fortune; so that all the successive bears have been persons of\nproperty, and accustomed to the enjoyment of those _agr\u00e8mens_, which an\neasy income can alone secure. Bonaparte pounced upon the senior bruin\n(called Monsieur Martin), and carried off both himself and his money to\nParis, where he now lives in high reputation, and equal splendor, at the\nbottom of a deep pit, in _le Jardin des Plantes_. The people of Berne\nhave since obtained some other bears, which are the same that we now\nsaw, and a proper sum for their support is awarded by the government,\nwhich also is increasing by occasional legacies from individuals.\nWe passed the evening in company with an Englishman (an old friend of my\nhusband's), who had spent many years upon the continent, and who had\nmade it one of his chief objects to visit and inspect the different\nprisons there. We were glad (as far as nationality was concerned) to\nhear that those of England are (comparatively speaking) carried on upon\na system of benevolence superior to most others. This gentleman told\nus, that the prisons of Turin at this day, were a disgrace to humanity,\nbeing the most horrible dungeons that the imagination can picture. We\nsaw several groups of the convicts at Berne, who wore an iron collar,\nand were chained by the leg, to a small light cart, which (like beasts\nof burden) they drew daily round the town, to collect and carry away the\ndirt of the streets. The prisoners of both sexes are also employed in\nsweeping the crossways, pavements, &c. and are drest in a peculiar\nuniform, their labour being proportioned to the degree of their guilt.\nAll the culprits in the country, who are not condemned to death, are\nsent to Berne, and are employed in these and similar offices.\nThe cathedral did not appear to us worth visiting; our eyes had been\nsatiated with buildings in this style, and after having seen the glories\nof the Duomo at Milan, we found all other cathedrals poor and\nuninteresting. Most of the shops here are built under stone arches,\nwhich renders them somewhat gloomy, but adds to their convenience in\nrainy weather. There are numerous stone fountains in all parts of the\ntown, many of which have a martial figure on the top; we saw one,\nhowever, with a statue of Moses upon it, no inappropriate patron, as he\ncould make the solid rock gush out with water. Over one of the principal\ngateways, we remarked a colossal image of Goliah, grim and gaunt enough\nto frighten all the naughty boys in the place.\nHappening to mention the circumstance of the extraordinary growth of\nhair, among the women about Payerne, we were informed that it was almost\nall false. The _paysannes_ have an ancient and invariable custom of\nmixing great quantities of borrowed tresses with their own, in order to\nform that singular braid round the head, which had so forcibly attracted\nour notice. I should imagine the toilette of these rural belles must be\nan operation of some skill, for the false is so very well mingled with\nthe real hair, that it might defy the sharp eye of the most prying old\nspinster to detect the method in which it is done.\nWe saw several girls at Berne working upon cushions (something in the\nmanner of lace-makers), under the piazzas; they were embroidering the\ncollars and stomachers of the Bernoise _paysannes_, in small Venetian\nbeads (called in England seed beads) of all colours, gold tinsel, foil,\n&c. upon a ground of black velvet. Their performance was really very\nneat and tasteful. The prince Leopold of Coburg was here, at the same\ntime with ourselves, looking very melancholy, and almost continually\nalone: he was on a visit to his sister, the grand duchess Constantine,\nwho resides in the neighbourhood. She is separated from her husband, who\nis brother to the emperor of Russia. They were married, I believe (in\npursuance of one of those horrible schemes of state policy, where every\nbetter feeling of the heart is cruelly sacrificed and overborne), at the\nage of fourteen, and the subsequent catastrophe is not to be wondered\nat. Of the society at Berne we could not judge, as our stay did not\nexceed three days and a half, but our English friend (lately mentioned,\nand who had been a great deal amongst the best families there)\nmentioned it to be particularly agreeable. During the winter, there are\nconcerts and balls, private parties, and a company of actors. The\nhospital is a fine establishment, with a garden full of choice flowers\nand shrubs, green-house plants, and a fountain, being sustained upon the\nmost liberal plan; any poor person, passing through the town, may find\nfood and lodging at the hospital for twenty-four hours, and is sent away\nat the expiration of that time with a donation of one franc (value, in\nEnglish money, tenpence). There is also an asylum for foundlings, where\nthe children are maintained till they attain the age of fifteen, and are\nthen put out to service. It being one of the market days, we saw many\ndifferent costumes (belonging to the various cantons) assembled. That of\nthe women of Guggisberg is frightfully ugly; a napkin is folded flat\nacross the forehead, and tied behind in a slouching manner; the dress is\nof black cotton, with a very long waist, and the petticoat does not\nreach to the knee; their legs are terribly thick, but luckily this\ncircumstance is reckoned amongst themselves as a beauty, and to increase\nit, they wear four or five pair of stockings at a time. Mr. B. observed\na Tyrolese peasant, with whose manly beauty and elegant costume he was\nmuch struck. I did not see him myself; they are generally fine figures,\nstrong and athletic, yet extremely graceful, the dress being always\nparticularly becoming and highly picturesque.\nThe women of Lucerne I have already described, in the specimen of the\nrich miller's wife that we saw at Guminen. Entering the shop of a famous\npicture-dealer here, he shewed us a collection of portraits, of the most\ncelebrated rural _belles_ of Switzerland, among which was that of the\nfair _bateliere_ of the lake Brientz. I hoped to have beheld another\n\"Ellen, Lady of the Lake,\" but was greatly disappointed, not being able\nto admire the character of her beauty, thinking it far too coarse; but\nthose persons who have really seen her assured us her picture by no\nmeans did her justice. We were also shewn a set of coloured prints from\nthe original drawings of a poor wretch of the name of Mind[9]; he died\nabout two years ago, and his works are very much valued in this country,\nnot only for their intrinsic merit, but as being the performance of a\n_cretin_, which means an idiot, afflicted with a _go\u00eetre_. We were told\nby the picture-dealer, who had known him well, that this Mind was one of\nthe most deformed and horrible objects of the sort, and was perfectly\nimbecile and stupid in every thing that did not immediately relate to\nhis art. He had (like some idiots who have fallen under my own personal\nobservation) a prodigiously retentive memory, from the impressions of\nwhich he alone was able to draw. If he met any group of men or animals\nin his daily rambles, he would instantly run home, lock himself up, and\nproduce shortly afterwards the most spirited and accurate drawing of the\nobjects which had thus fired his fancy. The high finish of his\ncolouring, also, was equally remarkable with the boldness of his\noutline; he more particularly excelled in drawing cats, and had\ncompleted a voluminous collection of these animals, in all their stages\nof existence and habits of life; from which circumstance he has obtained\nthe name of _le Raffaelle des Chats_. At a first view of his works, we\nwere inclined to doubt the truth of his having been so complete an idiot\nin all respects which were unconnected with his art; but as vague\narguments of conjecture and probability, cannot stand against the\npositive evidence of attested facts, of course we gave up our\nobjections, and felt that to persevere in them would be obstinacy,\nrather than penetration. The history of this man would, I think, form an\ninteresting subject of reflection to the philosopher and the physician,\nand I wish it were generally known and published. This evening we went\nto see the exhibition of Mr. Koenig, an excellent landscape painter;\nit consisted of a set of transparent views (beautiful beyond any thing\nof the sort that we had ever previously beheld), taken from the most\ncelebrated scenes in Switzerland; among them, we were most pleased with\nthe chapel of William Tell (_note_ O.) by moonlight, on the lake of\nZug, and with a cottage (also by moonlight) on the lakes of Bienne and\nThun. The wonderful degree of nature and truth which these paintings\ndisplayed, I shall hardly forget; indeed I cannot say too much in praise\nof them, and would advise every traveller who visits Berne to go and see\nthis enchanting little spectacle: I will venture to say his expectations\nwill be greatly exceeded.\nSeptember 24th.--I must in justice recommend all our friends passing\nthis way to take up their quarters _au Faucon_, as it is a most\nexcellent house, and the mistress a very attentive sensible person.\nI ought not to take leave of the place without also mentioning the\n_promenade_ upon the ramparts, and the glorious view of woods, hamlets,\nand glaciers to be seen from thence[10]. We were much amused in watching\nthe sports of the youth of the town there, who have a green inclosure,\nwhere various games and exercises (resembling the ancient gymnastic) are\ncarried on every evening, at a certain hour; they are admirably well\ncalculated to cherish habits of activity and agility, and to promote\nboth health and strength.\nAll the public offices here are served by persons who faithfully and\nzealously fulfil their functions, without emolument of any sort.\nMarriages through Switzerland are much encouraged by some of their\npolitical institutions; in this canton, for instance, a bachelor cannot\narrive at the honourable post of bailiff, or be admitted to the council,\nor become what they call a _seigneur_, which is an inferior office in\nthe government; but at the same time so fearful are these governments of\nany circumstance that might in process of time by the accumulation of\nfortunes infringe upon their liberties, that marriages between cousins\ngerman are forbidden by law.\nIn the best statistic account of the population of this country taken\nfrom the public registers, it is estimated inclusive of the allied\nprovinces at about two millions. The protestant cantons are found to be\nthe most populous, as they are the most active, industrious, and\ncommercial, but they are not always the richest.\nThe police is regulated with the most exemplary vigilance and good\norder; the canton is a protestant one.\nUpon quitting Berne, we found the country a lovely repetition of rich\nwaving woods (chiefly of beech and pine); the brilliant autumnal tints\nof the former trees glowing beneath the bright blue of a cheerful\nmorning sky, and the aromatic perfume of the latter, scenting the\nfreshness of the breeze. How weak and inadequate are words to express\ncertain feelings of delight! How easy is it to mention woods and plains,\nrocks and lakes, and to expatiate upon the charm of each, in appropriate\nterms; yet how far are we all the time from conveying to the minds of\nour hearers or readers the sensation of enjoyment which thrilled through\nour own bosoms while actually beholding the scenes we attempt to\ndescribe.\nWe passed through several villages which appeared to be the favourite\nhaunts of peace, health, and humble happiness. The parsonage-house in\none of them was a charming picture of comfort, neatness, and picturesque\ntaste; close to the cheerful little whitewashed church, it reared its\ngrey venerable roof. The walls were covered by the spreading branches of\na fruitful pear-tree, and the green latticed windows were shaded by a\nvine, which wreathed its graceful foliage, and hung in luxuriant\nclusters, likewise, over a small bower, or recess, adjoining the\nsitting-room, where I could imagine a simple primitive pastor and his\nhappy family assembled together, enjoying the social evening meal. La\nFontaine's lovely descriptions of such scenes and such beings, in his\n_Nouveau Tableau de Famille_, rushed upon my recollection, and I almost\nexpected to see his sweet Augusta (in the days of her prime) come forth\nfrom the rustic porch, leaning on the arm of her valuable husband, and\nsurrounded by their innocent and blooming race. When this same Augusta\nbecomes a grandmother, I think La Fontaine has painted her too selfishly\nforgetful of the happiness of her youthful days, and of the feelings\nnatural to girls at that age; it is not in character with the virtue and\nsentimental graces of her earlier years, and rather conduces to\nencourage in the bosom of the reader a sensation of indignant disgust at\nthe rigid, frigid, and unamiable propensities sometimes found among the\naged. This beautiful and affecting novel is so well known to all persons\nof good taste and discrimination, that my allusion to it will I hope be\nat once understood and forgiven. Beyond this neighbourhood, the country\nopened in the most striking manner, affording a fine and heart-cheering\nprospect of cultivated plains, fresh pastures, peaceful flocks and\nherds, walnut groves and thatched cottages; the latter looked at a\ndistance like large beehives, and the inhabitants seemed to evince a\nsimilarity to the bees in their habits of brisk and lively industry. I\ncan easily understand the pre-eminent attachment of the Swiss to their\nnative land; they must indeed be senseless were they less alive to the\ncharms of scenes like this.\n[Illustration: _London, Published by I, Murray, 1819._\nHERMITAGE of ST^E. FRENE.]\nWe took an early dinner at Soleure (_note_ R.), or Solothurne. We were\nnow in a catholic canton, and the difference of our accommodations at\nthe inn (_la Couronne_) from those we had experienced in the protestant\ngovernments was very apparent, for once more dirt, in various shapes,\nmade its unwelcome appearance. The houses were, some of them, painted\ngaudily on the whitewashed outsides, in the Italian manner, and the\ncathedral, of Grecian architecture, was full of paltry paintings. The\ncostume of the townspeople was both tasteless and dirty; a white linen\ncap, with a border of muslin, half a yard in depth, flapping about in\nthe most unbecoming way, increasing the general plainness of the women's\nfeatures. Their persons, also, were awkward and ill made, particularly\nabout the legs and feet. The place itself was full of bad smells, but\nsituated in a picturesque part of the country. As we proceeded, we found\nthe cottages decrease in beauty; nor did they exhibit the same degree of\n_aisance_ and comfort as those near Berne. The fields likewise partook\nof this spirit of decline, appearing less cultivated and productive. We\ncould not help attributing this to the people having their time so\nperpetually broken in upon by the necessity of going to mass, and by\nthe too frequent recurrence of _jours de f\u00eates_.\nWe passed a fine picturesque old castle upon the left, a few miles\nbeyond Soleure, and arriving at Balstadt (a dirty-looking village),\nwhere we slept, found a most uncomfortable, slovenly inn, and bad\nattendance; and to heighten our miseries, our friend became so much\nworse, that we were obliged to send for what medical assistance the\nwretched place afforded. Accordingly there arrived the \"village leech,\"\nwho had much the air of a farrier, or cow-doctor, and who applied\nvarious nostrums without success. His unfortunate patient made a\nvigorous effort to shake him off the next morning, and we went on,\nhoping to get as far as Basle. We started with two horses and three\nmules, having to ascend a steep mountain immediately upon quitting\nBalstadt (or rather Ballstall, in modern orthography). The surrounding\nscenery was of a very different nature from that of the preceding day:\nthe road (in some places nearly as perpendicular as any in the wild\nmountains of Savoy) led us through pale grey rocks, scooped\noccasionally into quarries, and fringed on one side by an infinite\nvariety of young trees of every sort, and on the other by extensive\nwoods of pine, whose shades formed a beautiful contrast to the brighter\nverdure of the velvet turf, from which they sprung. We observed (as\nusual) great numbers of wild barberry trees, and juniper bushes, while\nthe purple heath-bell, waving her fairy cups amid the moss and thyme,\nupon every bank, gave a smiling character to the foreground.\nFalkenstein Castle (a fantastic ruin, crowning the summit of a bold\njutting mass of rock far above our heads) had a very imposing effect.\nThe battled walls and narrow round towers were so much of the same\ncolour as the mountain from which they rose, as scarcely to be\ndistinguished from it at a distance. It reminded us strongly of some of\nMrs. Radcliffe's descriptions, and our fancy easily peopled it with a\nterrific baron, a fair suffering heroine, a captive lover, and every\nother requisite _et cetera_ of romance. As we were now in _German_\nSwitzerland, such visions were not inappropriate, and my readers will\npardon them accordingly. We saw another castle, also, further on,\nsituated upon an eminence in the midst of magnificent woods of beech,\nand looking down upon a pretty hamlet of white cottages, each with its\nneat little _verger_ and _potager_, some of them shaded by vines, and\nalmost all furnished with a range of beehives. The inhabitants were\ngathering the walnuts, apples, and plums, from their loaded trees, as we\npassed: a clear little wimpling stream ran through the village, and the\nspire of the church rose among rich tufted foliage in perspective. We\nbegan to suspect, from this appearance of comfort and neatness, that we\nwere once more in the neighbourhood of a protestant government, which we\nfound afterwards was really the case. The sweet stream I have just\nmentioned was so kind as to accompany us for a considerable way, pure,\nsparkling, and dashing its shallow waters over the yellow pebbles, with\na rippling murmur that was delightfully soothing to the ear. The\ncountry again resumed the woody, cultivated appearance, which is so\npleasing to behold, and gradually expanded into lovely meadows, which\nthe little brook kept forever fresh and verdant.\nWe stopped at Liestall, where we found a cleaner town, a better inn, and\na more prepossessing hostess than at Ballstall. The people manufacture\ngloves here: they were good, but very dear. It is not to be told how\ndisagreeably the German language grated upon our ears in passing through\nthese cantons; after the mellifluous harmony of the Italian, and even\nwhen compared with the French, it was doubly intolerable. Our own is\nharsh enough, in the opinion of foreigners; yet I can with difficulty\nimagine any thing so bad as German.\nWe arrived to dinner at Basle. This is a very large town (under a\nprotestant jurisdiction), clean and gay. Its chief attraction to us was\nthe river Rhine, which rolled its majestic waters beneath the windows of\nour auberge (_les Trois Rois_), which was spacious and convenient. We\nascended to our apartments by a curious spiral staircase, in an old\nround tower, that formed part of the building.\nThe Rhine is a noble river, but inferior in beauty of colour to the\nRhone at Geneva. Indeed the latter I cannot at this moment recollect\nwithout a feeling of pleasure and admiration impossible to describe.\nWe left Basle, Sept. 26. The road as far as Bourglibre, and even\nconsiderably beyond it, was flat and uninteresting; the cottages rather\ndirty than otherwise, and extremely ugly; the costume of the peasantry\nvery indistinctly marked, and by no means becoming, being a wretched\nimitation of the French. All this was accounted for, when we recollected\nthat we had now once more entered the territories of that nation,\nleaving modern Germany on our right, and turning our backs upon the\nsweet simplicity and unequalled charms of Switzerland. The postillion\nalso strongly evinced the national character, mounting his horse with a\ntrue _gasconade_ flourish, and cracking his whip in the old\nwell-remembered style.\nWe dined and slept at Colmar. The inn (_aux Six Montagnes Noirs_) was\ndirty, and the attendance very mediocre; but the beds were good, and\nfree from vermin. Our host was the most hideous man I ever saw: he was\nabsolutely strangling with fat; his bristly grizzled hair was strained\noff the forehead, and forced into a long thick queue, with so tight a\nhand, that the water in consequence was perpetually running from his\nlittle red eyes; his voice in speaking was most unpleasantly guttural,\nand rendered still more disagreeable by the absurd mixture of bad French\nand German, which he sputtered with great difficulty, in answering our\nnecessary questions. His daughter usually sat in the bar, playing a\nFrench love ditty upon an old guitar. Of her I can only say, that she\nwas the \"softened image\" of her \"honoured papa.\"\nThe _paysannes_ in the near neighbourhood of Colmar wear a pretty little\nflat, round-eared cap, at the back of the head, made either of very gay\ncoloured silk, or cotton, and sometimes of gold tissue with crimson\nspots; their neck handkerchiefs are likewise of the brightest dyes,\nthrown carelessly over the gown, and the ends confined before, by a\ngirdle. These women, generally speaking, are not at all handsome; the\nmen chiefly wear coats of coarse bright green cloth, without collars,\nenormously long waisted waistcoats (sometimes red, laced with gold, and\nlarge buttons), with cocked hats.\nThe country upon first leaving Colmar was mountainous, but not very\npleasing or interesting, in spite of the inequality of ground, the\npresence of verdure, the view of distant villages, and a very fine clear\nsky; all of which are notwithstanding the materials for forming a\nbeautiful landscape. This, to my mind, had an analogy with the persons\nof some women I had formerly seen; who possessed fine hair and teeth,\nclear bright eyes, a good complexion, were sufficiently young, and not\nill-made; yet with all these requisites to beauty, were plain, awkward,\nand totally wanting in agreeable effect. A strange caprice of nature,\nbut not less true than strange.\nThe face of things, however, rather improved, upon approaching\nSchelestat. The costume of the _paysannes_ brightened into a degree of\ntaste and neatness that we had not seen equalled since leaving St.\nDenis, near Paris. Some of their caps were wholly of white worked\nmuslin, with a thin clear border, and bound neatly round the head by a\nlight blue or rose-coloured riband: the gowns also sometimes varied,\nbeing not unfrequently made of white cotton, with gay crimson sprigs\nupon them. We continually saw castles and churches upon the surrounding\nheights, and a great number of vineyards; but the villages and small\ntowns were invariably dirty, and very ugly.\nSince we had left Basle, we had been travelling through Alsace (ancient\nGermany), in the department of the Haut Rhin. A few miles farther,\nbrought us into the vicinity of very fine fresh pasture lands, bordered\nby willows, and relieved by a magnificently rich back ground of high\nhills, clothed with young beech-trees, intermingled with oak. Here vast\nherds of cattle were feeding; close to the road, and forming a sort of\nborder to the meadows, were extensive fields of potatoes, turnips,\ncabbages, and broccoli, &c. without any guard or inclosure; this (as I\nformerly mentioned) spoke well for the honesty of the poor people, and\nat all events proved them to be enjoying a degree of ease and plenty, as\nfar as _vegetable_ riches were concerned. I remarked, in the hedges\nhere, the first honey-suckles I had seen since leaving England. The\ncostume of the young infants in this part of the world is very singular;\nthey all wear little foundling-shaped caps of black velvet, studded with\ngold spots, or of white, with silver embroidery upon them, which has a\nvery strange effect to an English eye; but among the French people there\nis such an infinite variety of fanciful attire, that nothing appears\nextraordinary or out of the common way.\nPassing through a small village, we saw several groups of the peasantry,\nmingled with the Austrian soldiery, all dressed in their gayest costume\n(it being Sunday evening), and we caught the musical tones of the slow\nGerman waltz, to which national melody some of them were dancing. There\nwas not the least appearance of riot or disorder; they were blamelessly\nrejoicing in the natural gaiety of their hearts, at the close of that\nday whose forenoon had been spent in the exercise of their religious\nduties;--that day which is devoted, in some parts of the world, to mere\npeaceful rest from labour, unattended with any demonstration of\nhilarity: in others, to a puritanical gloom, and rigid formality; but in\nthis, to cheerful, social intercourse, and the enjoyment of a harmless\nmode of exercise--I say harmless, because the waltz is not looked upon\nby the natives here in at all the same light as it sometimes is, in the\nhigher ranks of English society; and it is the only dance with which\nthey are acquainted. How weak and absurd, how really wicked is the\nintolerance which leads people to condemn or quarrel with their fellow\ncreatures, for the different points of view under which they regard this\nsame day! Although I cannot quote Sterne as a moralist in all cases, I\ncertainly do most sincerely coincide with him in his sentiments relative\nto religious feeling, as expressed in that chapter of his \"Sentimental\nJourney,\" called \"The Grace.\" At the same time I am perfectly aware that\na similar method of passing the Sunday evening, after the service of the\nday is fulfilled, would not be advisable (even were it possible to try\nthe experiment), in our own country. It does not agree with the\ncharacter and habits of the nation; and the lower orders of people, (in\nthe present state of existing circumstances), would assuredly debase it\nby every species of vice and immorality. They require a strongly marked\nline to be laid down, as a rule of right, from which all deviation would\nprobably be dangerous. Considering the subject in this light, I should\ntherefore be concerned to behold any great change attempted in the\nmanner of spending the Sunday evening, and would certainly not be the\nfirst person to put myself forward in the outward display of different\nopinions to the generality of individuals in the country, and under the\ngovernment to which I belong. We all owe an example, which may be\nsalutary to our inferiors and dependents.\nAt St. Marie aux Mines we were obliged to take five horses to the\ncarriage, as the road beyond that place was very mountainous. We had the\nmental refreshment of observing numbers of sweetly pretty women here,\nall dressed with native taste and neatness; the children also were\nengaging in their appearance, and the men generally good-looking. French\nis almost universally spoken among them.\nAscending les montagnes de St. Marie aux Mines, the scenery presented a\nbeautiful melange of wood and rock; the road likewise was excellent. We\nadmired the way in which the postillions managed their horses, walking,\nthe whole of the ascent, by their side, but obliging them to maintain an\nunrelaxing steady pace, and this by words alone: the poor animals were\nalmost as intelligent as their drivers, obeying them with the utmost\nreadiness and alacrity. I must here indulge myself in marvelling at that\nperversion of every generous and rational feeling, which leads man to\ntorture and abuse these generous, noble creatures. I have before\nmentioned, that the conduct of the French drivers to their horses is\nhighly praiseworthy. The sleek comely appearance of the post-horses\nthroughout France, as well as the state of their feet, evinces that they\nare well fed and kindly treated, and during our whole tour, we met with\nno instance of brutality among the postillions. These roads have been\ngreatly improved by the present king.\nWe arrived to a late supper at St. Diez, where we slept. We were not\ndisposed to quarrel with _la Poste_ for being a true country inn: the\nhost had not been spoiled by too many English travellers, those _Milords\nAnglais_, of whose proverbial riches every aubergiste imagines he has a\nright to take advantage, and who in consequence render humbler\n_voyageurs_ of other nations ready to execrate their very names. We were\ntaken for Germans, and found our bills reasonable and moderate in\nconsequence. The _maitresse de la maison_ was a kind-hearted, natural\nlittle _bourgeoise_, and very proud of her only child (a fine infant of\nnine or ten months), which she brought to shew us, in hopes of its\nbeing admired and praised. Mothers, in higher life than this poor woman,\nare deeply sensible to the charms of this species of flattery; and, even\nwhen they know it to be flattery, are hardly ever able to resist feeling\npleased and propitiated thereby. For myself, I plead guilty at once. The\namount of our charges at St. Diez it may perhaps be as well to mention:\nfor supper (which was a good one), beds, apartments, wine, fruit,\nlemonade, and breakfast the next morning, we three persons did not pay\nmore than twelve English shillings.\nWe started from hence at eight o'clock the following day, and found the\nroad for the first stage mountainous and woody. Most of the cottages\nwere ugly (as usual), and the inhabitants appeared dirty and lamentably\npoor. For the two or three following stages the country grew perceptibly\nflatter, and more open; the highway began to resume the old French line\nof undeviating straightness, and avenues of puny seedling trees were\nplanted by its side. Large (or rather vast) tracts of arable land, in\nall the baldness of a recent harvest, spread their tawny surface\naround, and the whole presented a picture of monotony that was far from\nagreeable.\nAll the people in this part of France seemed attached to the memory of\nBonaparte. The postmaster at Menilflin had a conversation with the\ngentlemen upon the subject. He said that \"the nation entertained a good\nopinion of the private virtues of Louis XVIII., and wished him well; but\nit was impossible not to remember what vast improvements of various\nsorts Bonaparte had introduced, what noble works he had achieved, and to\nwhat a pitch of military glory he had raised the country.\" He then\nasked, with some appearance of reproach, \"Why the English kept him so\nbarbarously immured in a dreadful prison?\" All attempt to soften this\nrepresentation of Napoleon's present circumstances seemed of no avail;\nour host only shook his head, and seemed to entertain a very strong\npersuasion of the needless cruelty of the British nation.\nBeyond Menilflin the scene again changed to a view of pasture lands,\nwith hills and woods in the distance; and upon approaching the latter we\nfound they were chiefly of oak. The potatoe was here generally\ncultivated, and in great quantities. Formerly the French despised this\nfine vegetable, but at present they are fully sensible of its\nimportance.\nJust beyond the large town of Luneville there were many vineyards, and a\nprofusion of walnut-trees. The vines were planted alternately with the\npotatoe, in patches, and the contrast of the two different shades of\ngreen was singular, and not unpleasing. Beggars at this time began to\nmake their reappearance, clamouring, in the old cant, at the windows of\nthe carriage.\nWe now passed through a landscape of wonderful richness and verdure, and\nenjoyed a succession of woods and vineyards for many miles. It was the\ntime of _les vendanges_. Every waggon we met was loaded with grapes, and\nevery peasant was reeling under the weight of a large wooden bucket (as\nlong as himself) filled with the same luxuriant and picturesque burden.\nGroups of young children followed, each, like a little Bacchus, holding\na ripe cluster in its hand, attended by several women carrying baskets\nof the fruit, and all of them singing, laughing, and warmly enjoying the\ncheerful scene.\nWe reached Nancy to dinner. This is a large, clean, and very handsome\ntown, and the streets are much broader than in most foreign ones. They\nresounded, as the evening advanced, with joyous songs in chorus, sung\n(often in parts with considerable accuracy) by the common people, in\nhonour of _les vendanges_; but their mirth soon became rather too loud\nfor refined ears, as they shouted (men and women together) at the utmost\npitch of their voices, a sort of recitative and chorus, dancing at the\nsame time _en ronde_, and frequently mingling shrill bursts of laughter\nand shrieks with this wild and extraordinary harmony. Every one of the\n_gar\u00e7ons_ of our inn ran out in the street to join the peasantry in the\nmaddening dance. Altogether it was a perfect bacchanalian festival,\nstrongly resembling those ancient rites in honour of the rosy god\nmentioned in the pagan mythology. We went in the evening to the theatre,\nto see Baptiste (from Paris), who is reckoned one of the best French\nactors in comedy, and who performed here for one night only. The piece\nwas a little comic pastoral, interspersed with music, but Baptiste's\n_role_ was far too trifling for us to form any just idea of his\ntalents--but how extraordinary it is that this nation, from time\nimmemorial to the present day, should have been so totally ignorant of\nthe true genius of vocal music. Rousseau's well-known opinion (in his\nletter from St. Preux to Julie, upon the difference of Italian and\nFrench taste in singing) came into my head more than once, and I most\nsincerely wished that the French would always confine themselves to what\nthey so particularly excel in, the dance: their songs make the same sort\nof impression upon my mind, when compared with the beautiful productions\nof the Italian school, that a Savoyard cretin would do, if placed by the\nside of an Apollo Belvidere.\nThe theatre at Nancy was large, and the decorations and machinery\ntolerably good. It was the only one that we had seen illuminated in the\nboxes as well as upon the stage, a lustre being suspended above the pit,\nwhich shed a very pleasant light over all the house.\nThe next day, Sept. 30, we pursued our route. There is a beautiful\nGrecian gateway at this end of the town, which is worthy of every\ntraveller's observation.\nThe road from hence was in a straight line with a tiresome avenue, as\nusual (_note_ S.), and led us through a fine wood of beech and other\ntrees (none of them of large growth); but it lost nearly all picturesque\neffect, from the vicinity of this artificial avenue, and the unbending\nline of the highway. The country for many miles is very open, bounded by\nhills, and bearing some resemblance to the county of Wiltshire.\nThoul, a pretty town, stands in the midst of wide plains, a small hill\ncovered with vines sheltering it on one side. It is decorated with long\nrows of formal stiff poplars, above which tower the spires of its large\ncathedral. The river Moselle runs near this place, an inconsiderable\ntame little stream, whose banks can boast no kind of beauty.\nThe town was adorned by several vineyards and kitchen-gardens, full of\nwell-cultivated vegetables and fruit; but the country beyond it was\nwide, flat, and insipid, for a considerable distance. At length we had\nthe agreeable variety of entering a remarkably pretty, wild looking wood\nof young beech-trees, where we observed an ancient, lone, white mansion,\ngreatly fallen to decay, yet evidently inhabited, and surrounded by\ngardens and walls for fruit, of large size and height: the latter also,\nas well as the house, much dilapidated. The wood, closing round on all\nsides, gave it an air of singularity and romance; nor could I restrain\nmy fancy (during a subsequent uninteresting drive) from tracing the plan\nof a little _novel_ sort of history, relative to the inhabitants of this\nsolitude. How delightfully would the late Charlotte Smith have done the\nsame thing! All her novels (putting on one side her passion for\ndemocracy, and her blind prejudices in favour of the Americans) interest\nmy feelings extremely. They have a tone of elegant pathos (far removed\nfrom the sickly whine of affected sensibility) peculiar to themselves,\nand with many palpable faults are altogether bewitching. I am not\nsingular in this taste, having, I believe, the honour of acquiescing in\nthe opinion of some of the best judges.\nWe were now close upon the borders of Champaigne. Immense woods extended\nin every direction, yet they were not sufficiently near, to vary the\nlandscape agreeably. As far as the eye could distinctly reach, nothing\nbut vast uninclosed stubble fields appeared in view.\nLigny, a large town (surrounded by vineyards), dull and dead-looking,\nand unenlivened by any attempt at costume among the inhabitants. There\nare large manufactories of cotton here.\nWe dined and slept at Bar le Duc, a cheerful, neat town: inn (_au\nCigne_), where we met with excellent accommodations. At dinner we were\nattended by a merry active _paysanne_: she brought us some of the wine\nto taste, of this year's vintage. It was then in its first state,\nprevious to fermentation, and much resembled sweet cyder fresh from the\npress. When properly clarified, and ripened by age, it would turn out,\nwe were told, to be a strong bodied red wine. This town, for the last\nfew years, had been successively occupied by soldiers of all nations,\nFrench, Prussians, Russians, Austrians, and Cossacks: the girl persisted\nin calling the latter _Turques_, and told us that during the time of\ntheir _s\u00e9jour_ here, all the young _paysannes_ of the neighbourhood had\nbeen carefully concealed (herself among the number), by their mothers:\nshe said that at that period she had not entered service, but was living\nat home with _maman_. We observed _maman_ to be the usual title of all\nmothers, even in the lowest class of people, and that it was used by the\ngrown up daughters (in speaking of them), contrary to our English\ncustom, where the term is a refinement, and not much adopted, except by\nthe little denisons of the nursery: the unlimited power of _mamans_ of\nall classes now appears to be very happily moderated and reduced; a\ngreat moral improvement which has taken place in France in consequence\nof the Revolution. The unprincipled system of parents arranging the\nmarriages of the children, independent of their own choice or consent,\nwhich existed during the _ancien r\u00e9gime_, being nearly abolished, and\nconsequent crime and misery connected with it, much diminished. I was\nhappy to learn, from one of the most enlightened and sensible persons at\nGeneva, that since that awful _bouleversement_, conjugal attachment and\nfidelity, together with a taste for domestic pleasures, had rapidly\nincreased, and this even in Paris itself. I was assured that the English\n(judging of the whole from their experience of a part) have formed an\nerroneous idea of the general immorality of French families,\nparticularly in fancying that their national and innate love of\namusement (springing from climate, constitution, and other causes),\ninterfered improperly with, or was preferred to the duties of husband\nand parent. This defence of the French nation (prompted by a benevolent\nlove of truth and candour) appeared particularly amiable, coming as it\ndid from persons, whose government, religious opinions, and habits of\nlife, were so very different.\nLeaving Bar le Duc, October 1st, we proceeded through several woods, and\nfound the face of the country more varied and agreeable than during the\njourney of yesterday: there was an appearance of cleanliness and comfort\nin this town, not often met with in France: the dress of the inhabitants\nand the neatness of the shops bore a nearer resemblance to an English\ncountry town than any we had yet seen. It is situated on the river\nOrnaine, and is as generally called Bar sur Ornaine as Bar le Duc. Being\non the high road to Strasburg, we met with many German travellers, and\nwere ourselves now, as well as formerly, frequently mistaken for natives\nof that country: the similarity of language, and perhaps of features and\ncomplexion, will naturally account for it.\nWe soon entered Champagne, and continually met bands of joyous peasants\ngathering the rich produce of the widely extended vineyards. This is the\nonly province throughout France where the grape of which this wine is\nmade will grow, and there must be, I should imagine, some great\npeculiarity of soil. The vintage, universally, was finer than had been\nknown for years. It is generally remarked, that neither in Paris, nor in\nany other place upon the continent, is wine to be met with of that very\nsuperior quality, which it is usual to find in England; no other nation\ncan afford so high a price.\nIn the vicinity of Vitri sur Marne, the country can scarcely be said to\nbe the country, if trees, green fields, hills, and dales, give a right\nto that appellation. Nothing but one vast boundless uninclosed surface\nof stubble was to be seen. It reminded me (in point of monotonous\neffect) of the plain in the _Palais de la Verit\u00e9_ (mentioned by Madame\nde Genlis), where a fairy condemns the fickle-minded Azelie to remain\nfor years, in order to cure her of a passion for variety. During this\nwearisome journey, I know not what we should have done without Moliere.\nFortunately we had him in the carriage, and I need not say what an\nenlivening _compagnon du voyage_ he was. Turning our eyes therefore from\nthe \"dull realities\" of the scene around, we were soon lost in an\nimaginary world, full of bright creations and amusing conceptions.\nWe dined and slept at Chalons sur Marne, where we met with tolerable\naccommodations, but were charged very extravagantly, at _la Cloche\nd'Or_. We left it at half past six the next morning, and found the road\nequally uninteresting: I could hardly have formed an accurate idea of\nthe bald sort of ugliness of a great portion of France, had I not thus\nwitnessed its effect. The usual absence of costume continued, and there\nwas nothing to break the dulness, or to give a ray of animation to the\nscene.\nWe now and then passed through villages, built formally in a long\nstreet, with the high road running between the houses; dirty, ugly,\ntasteless, and mean! no gardens, consequently neither fruit nor\nvegetables to be seen, and as there was no appearance of trees for such\nan immense number of miles, we were at a loss to conceive how the\nwretched inhabitants warmed themselves sufficiently, during the winter,\nexcept from the heaps of cinder dirt, at some of their doors, which\nproved that coals were burned there; not a very common circumstance in\nFrance. Troops of beggar children now ran after us, bold, audacious, and\nfilthy in the extreme; all our charitable feelings froze in a moment.\nThe farther we proceeded, the wider seemed to extend the vast and barren\ndesert that surrounded us; never can I forget the disgust and ennui\nwhich assailed us in consequence. We tried to awaken our powers of\nconversation, when wearied by long continued reading, but it was a vain\nattempt. Imagination seemed extinguished, and our minds experienced a\ndegree of stagnation impossible to describe. After passing through this\ncountry, I must be allowed to differ, for the rest of my life, from\nthose theoretical reasoners, who think it is even a point of morality\nto maintain, that the mental powers are not influenced by local\nimpressions. I am convinced Madame de Genlis took her idea of the\nredoubted plain in her _Palais de la Verit\u00e9_ before mentioned, from\nhaving travelled through _this_ part of her native country; for surely\nshe would never have discovered its parallel in any other: even in the\ndeserts of Arabia the traveller finds a species of sublimity, and\nundergoes perils, which at all events prevent his suffering from\n_ennui_.\nIn many of the villages (in all parts of France) we observed the sign of\n\"Saint Nicholas.\" He is a very popular saint among this nation, and must\nhave been a man of taste, as he stands forth the patron of all the young\nunmarried damsels, presiding over every _n\u00f4ce_, and _f\u00eate de village_.\nHe has chosen a most amusing _metier_ altogether, thereby proceeding\nupon a far more rational and sensible plan than some of his brethren,\nmany of whom have made it their business to frown upon the enjoyments of\nmankind, and who pretend that the only way to merit heaven in the next\nworld, is to make a purgatory of this. Fortunately their unhappy\nfollowers are but few, (comparatively speaking); for the great body of\nthe people, in all ages, seem to be of Sir Toby Belch's opinion, when\nShakespeare makes him indignantly exclaim to his formal censor Malvolio,\n\"what! dost think that because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more\ncakes and ale?\" These Roman catholic puritans, let it be remembered,\nhave the honour of being imitated very closely by many a worthy English\nheretic.\nIt was a great relief to us to enter Rheims, where we took a luncheon,\nand afterwards walked about the town, and saw the grand gothic\ncathedral. The _fa\u00e7ade_ of this building is most superbly beautiful; the\nfret work, carving, and imagery, are in some respects superior to those\nof the Duomo at Milan; although the edifice is of a less precious\nmaterial, much smaller, and in a different taste altogether. The\ninterior is grandly simple, the windows of the most magnificent old\nstained glass, in patterns of infinite variety, and of the most glowing\ncolours. But the outside of this cathedral is by far more imposing than\nany other part, and I was rather discomposed upon being obliged to\nacknowledge that our Westminster Abbey is extremely inferior in every\nway. Here the ancient monarchs of France used to be crowned (as books of\njuvenile information have duly informed us), and we could scarcely\nimagine a finer place for such sort of spectacles. The portal was built\nin the thirteenth century, and the other parts as far back as about the\nseventh or eighth.\nWe did not remark any thing particularly worth notice in the town (which\nis nevertheless very large), and the only thing which struck us forcibly\nwas the general ugliness of the _bourgeoises_, and also the _paysannes_\nof the environs. The country beyond was exactly in the same wearisome\ncharacter with what we had already passed, and the road for many miles\nextremely bad.\nOwing to repeated delays about horses, we did not arrive at Laon until\nnine o'clock in the evening, by which means we lost the view of the two\nlast stages before reaching that place, where the country is said to\nimprove in a very striking manner, swelling occasionally into lofty\nhills, enriched with wood.\nLaon is built upon an abrupt and rocky eminence, shaded by trees, and\ncommanding a very extensive bird's-eye prospect of the surrounding\ncountry. There was a high appearance of cultivation and fertility of\nsoil, while the immediate vicinity of vineyards, filled with cheerful\ngroups of people, was very enlivening; but no costume was to be observed\nexcept the almost universal cross worn round the necks of the women[11].\nOur inn (_\u00e0 la Hure_) was extremely well appointed; the host an\nattentive, civil old man, and we were waited upon with celerity and good\nhumour by two young _paysannes_, who appeared to think no exertion too\nmuch which could contribute in any way to the comfort of the guests. One\nof them (like most French servants) chatted in a natural intelligent\nmanner, was full of frolic and glee, ready to laugh at every thing,\ncarolling with the gaiety of a lark, in all parts of the house, and\nseeming with difficulty to restrain herself from dancing at the same\ntime: all this (as I once before mentioned) without the least degree of\nimmodesty. What a wide difference exists between the ideas of a French\nand English woman in this situation of life, on the score of what is\ncalled propriety; a vague term, and changeable as the chamelion in its\nnature, however some worthy folks may suppose it confined solely to one\nshape, and one definite meaning. The sense of female honour among the\ncountry girls of France, so far from being too lax, or but little\nregarded, seems, on the contrary, to be particularly correct, and I have\ntaken some pains in my inquiries upon this point. The loss of fair fame\nis rare, and always accompanied by the utmost disgrace and ignominy; so\nmuch so, that one young woman (whose heart was, I am sure, upon her\nlips) told me, \"that if such a circumstance occurred, the unfortunate\ngirl had much better be dead at once; for she never would be looked upon\nagain by her youthful companions.\" Let it, therefore, be remembered, to\nthe credit of the French, that innocence is perfectly compatible with a\nlively freedom of manner, and that virtue can be firmly maintained,\nalthough unshackled by the restraints of primness and formality. I am\nnow convinced that climate has a great deal more influence upon our\nfeelings and conduct than I was once inclined to think. The chilly fogs\nand heavy weight of atmosphere in England do certainly affect, in some\nmeasure, the mental faculties of her children, rendering their ideas of\nmorality needlessly gloomy and strict. I judge (in part) from my own\noccasional sensations. I never feel in so cheerful and happy a frame of\nmind, so willing to be candid, and to look upon persons and things in\nthe most favourable light, as during a fine clear sunshiny day. _Au\ncontraire_, there have been moments in the cold, humidity, and dark\ngloom of winter, when I have been shocked and ashamed at perceiving my\nsentiments involuntarily narrowing into prejudices, and my spirits\nsaddening in proportion. It has required a strong exertion of reason to\nget the better of such feelings, and even to divest myself of an idea of\ntheir being in some degree meritorious.\nI now hasten to continue the narrative of our route from Laon to\nCambray, which was a day's journey. The road for the first stage\npresented us with a welcome variety of landscape, hills, dales, copses,\nshady villages, and fertile fields. Never did we see such a profusion of\nfine apples as were growing here, on each side of the way. The peasants\nwere gathering them as we passed, and heaps of this rosy, tempting fruit\nwere piled up in hillocks beneath the trees from which they had just\nbeen taken. They were even strewed by thousands on the grass around, and\nwere perpetually rolling into the road under the wheels of our carriage.\nSuch a triumph of Pomona it is really difficult to imagine without\nhaving seen its animating effect! We stopt to purchase some, and found\nthem truly delicious; spirited, juicy, and possessing all the acid\nsweetness of champaigne. We remarked the soil in which these trees so\npeculiarly flourished: it consisted of a loose, light, sandy earth, with\na mixture of clay; but in those parts of England where they thrive best,\nI understand that the soil is of a redder earth, with not nearly so\nlarge a proportion of sand. For what are called common fruits and\nflowers I have ever entertained a preference, and for the latter I have\nalmost a passion. The richest collection of rare exotics do not make the\nsame agreeable and soothing impression upon my imagination as the\nunpretending garden which my mother formerly cultivated in Surrey, or\nthat of a dear and excellent friend, in which from childhood I have ever\ndelighted, and where the common flowers of each season, fruits,\nvegetables, herbs, and shrubs, flourish together, in defiance of the\nmore refined arrangements of modern days. I recollect the simple charms\nof her sitting-room windows (shadowed by the climbing honeysuckle and\nsweetbriar), and those of my mother's pretty doorway, half lost in a\nthick bower of clematis, with the liveliest feelings of pleasure, while\nI have totally forgotten a hundred prouder boudoirs, rich in the odours\nof tuberose, cape jessamine, night-blowing geraniums, and other splendid\nextravagancies.\nThe country for the last stage before we reached St. Quentin (a\nstrong-built large town) was very fast relapsing into the baldness of\nthat which had so lately annoyed us; but the peasantry were generally\nmuch better looking, cleaner, and altogether gayer in their appearance.\nThis place is in the direct road from Paris to Brussels. We arrived at\nCambray to supper, slept, and breakfasted there the next morning, when\nwe proceeded towards the coast. The inn was not very comfortable,\nalthough we had the best apartments in the house. It was a very striking\nand singular spectacle to behold, as we now did, English sentinels on\nduty at the drawbridges of this town, and an encampment of the same\ntroops just beneath its walls. How would John Bull have writhed and\nraged with shame and grief, if the scene had been exhibited _vice versa_\nin our own country? Can we then (with any pretence to candour and\njustice) affect to wonder at the deep-felt disgust and dislike of the\nFrench towards us?\nWe saw the fine regiments of our foot guards, and the 95th, or\nsharp-shooters, here. All the men looked clean, bright, and cheerful,\nand most of them were decorated with Waterloo medals. Our hearts\nsensibly warmed at sight of the well-remembered countenance of our\ncountrymen, and (without any degree of unjust partiality) we could not\nbut be forcibly struck with the superiority of appearance and deportment\ndisplayed by our English officers, when we compared them with all the\nFrench whom we had had an opportunity of observing. There is, I think\n(generally speaking), a greater suavity and benevolence in the manners\nof a Frenchman of birth and education; there is a higher degree of\npolish in his address; but in point of personal appearance I must\ndecidedly award the preference to our manly, graceful, dignified\ncountrymen. An English gentleman (in the true acceptation of the word)\nis the flower of the world. I do not mean to discuss at length, the\ndifferent moral virtues and mental perfections of either nation. I have\nneither time nor sufficient experience and information for such a task;\nbut of this I am convinced, \"that the head and heart of our countrymen\n(taking their fairest specimens) may sustain a comparison with those of\nany other race of men upon this habitable globe, and fail not to come\nforth with honour and credit from the investigation.\" Of the\n_bourgeoisie_ of each country I cannot pretend to judge; but with\nrespect to the unsophisticated peasantry, I feel by no means clear that\nthe superiority lies on our side. We were informed that a great many of\nthe English soldiers at Cambray, and elsewhere, had taken wives from\namong the _paysannes_, but that the _petites bourgeoises_ did not listen\nso favourably to their vows. Every where we had the gratification of\nhearing praises of the orderly, quiet, and moderate behaviour of the\nBritish regiments.\nThe country beyond this town, for a considerable distance, was\nuninteresting, and the lesser towns and villages were very ugly. What\nwas wanting in trees seemed to be made up in windmills, which spread\ntheir long arms abroad in every direction. Had Don Quixote been alive,\nand travelling this road, he would have found himself in the predicament\nof poor Arlechino, _dans l'embarras des richesses_.\nWe now passed through Douay, a clean, gay-looking, strong-built town. It\nwas more than usually alive, from the circumstance of a fair which was\ngoing on in the market-place. Among the different articles exposed for\nsale, I was struck by the cotton handkerchiefs worn by the _paysannes_.\nTheir richness and beauty of colour were very remarkable, the dyes being\nbrilliant beyond any that we possess, and the patterns very fanciful and\npretty. Here the women adopt the same picturesque double gold drops in\nthe ears, as those of Calais; wearing likewise richly-worked heavy\ncrosses upon the bosom, and long loose cloaks, made of coloured linen\nor black silk, frilled round, with a very deep hood. Two pretty little\ngirls, from twelve to thirteen years of age, had a highly graceful\neffect, as they passed through the crowd, in white gauze or muslin\nveils, extremely transparent, and reaching to the ground, thrown\ncarelessly over their heads. They appeared like young sylphs, flitting\nin all their purity among the gayer, yet grosser, figures which\nsurrounded them.\nWe arrived in very good time at Lille (frequently spelt Lisle), and\nentered through a most beautiful gateway of Tuscan architecture. This\ntown is extensive, well built, lively, and interesting: there are\nexcellent shops, with signs of the most fanciful and ingenious devices,\nlike those of Paris. This place is reckoned impregnable, and the citadel\nis of wonderful strength, being the masterpiece of Vauban, the\ncelebrated engineer. Our inn (_l'hotel de Bourbon_) was very comfortable\nin every respect, except that we were bitten by bugs. They, however, are\nso common in various parts of the continent that the traveller must\nmake up his mind to bear with them as things of course. We were amused\nby the humour of a _valet de place_ here, who was also hair-dresser and\nbarber: he was a true disciple of the renowned Vicar of Bray, having\nsquared his politics according to every change in the government, and\ncontrived to thrive equally under all. He assured us (as if he had been\nenumerating his virtues) that _Vive la libert\u00e9! vive Napoleon!_ or\n_vivent les Bourbons!_ was all the same thing to him; and he had\nconstantly held himself in readiness to call out for each, provided they\nleft heads enough for him to find hair to friz, and beards to mow. His\ncountenance made us laugh the moment he appeared, being the counterpart\nof Liston's, with that peculiar expression of _niaiserie_ which is so\nirresistibly ludicrous in him. It was no wonder that we were amazed by\nthe number of windmills in the environs of this town; for we learnt that\nthere were no less than two hundred used in making oil, &c.\nWe quitted Lille the next morning, and in changing horses at Bailleul we\ndiscovered that the cap and linchpin of the axletree had fallen off.\nThey were found about a quarter of a mile behind us; and it was very\nextraordinary that this accident did not occasion our overturn, as the\nwheel had really no support. The country now began to improve in point\nof trees and verdure, but still wore an air of formality. A disagreeable\n_patois_ is spoken here.\nThe approach to Cassel was very pretty; the trees gradually lost their\nprim regularity, and formed a rich wood, which entirely covered a high\nhill, called Mont Cassel. It is the only one in the Netherlands, and\ncommands a most extensive view: no less than twenty-two fortified towns\nmay be discerned from it. Most of the cottages in these environs are\nthatched, and resemble those in England, each having a little garden\n(inclosed by neat hedges) full of vegetables. From the summit of the\nabove-mentioned hill, we were much pleased by a prospect of great\nfertility, and some beauty. Seen from this distance, the artificial mode\nof planting the trees was not distinguished, and they had a very\nluxuriant woody effect altogether. Just at the entrance of Cassel is a\nchurchyard, in which we observed a tall crucifix, with a wooden image of\nour Saviour, larger than life, painted flesh colour, and having a stream\nof blood flowing from the side (made of a long strip of wire, standing\nfar out in a curve from the body), and which was caught in a cup by\nanother clumsy image (Dutch built) representing a cherubim. The latter\nwas suspended in the air, by some contrivance (not discoverable at that\ndistance), so as to appear flying. Nothing could well be more absurd, or\nin a worse taste!\nWe dined and slept at St. Omer, a large town. We found at the inn\n(_l'ancienne Poste_) very comfortable accommodations; but it was full of\nEnglish officers, who had a mess there, and in consequence we could not\nget a morsel to eat, or a creature to attend upon us, till these\n_messieurs_ were first served. They were assembled there in readiness\nfor a ball, which was to take place somewhere in the town, at night.\nSuffering under the sharpest pangs of hunger, we felt the warmth of our\nfeelings towards our compatriots rather decreasing; but we recovered\nour nationality after dinner. The next morning we went on to Calais. It\nwas rather a pretty drive the first two stages; the country woody, and\nthe villages much neater than usual. No costume, however, made its\nappearance (except the long ear-ring and cross), neither could we\nobserve any beauty.\nWe breakfasted this morning at the small post-house of Ardres. The old\ndame there told us that the behaviour of the British troops had been\nmost exemplary, and that they would be missed and regretted by some\namong the natives.\nWe were now in Picardy, which we understood was more infested with\nbeggars than most other provinces. Some half starved children ran after\nthe carriage, screaming the popular air of _Vive Henri Quatre_. We gave\nthem a sous or two, purely for the sake of that _p\u00e8re de son peuple_,\nwhose memory is yet green in their hearts. It is in comparing his\nspecies of greatness with that of Napoleon, that I am most forcibly\nimpressed with the inferiority of the latter. The union of talent and\nbenevolence in a sovereign (like that of judgment and imagination in an\nauthor) seems almost indispensable; and, at all events, there can be no\nperfection of character without it. How awfully requisite are both these\nqualities in the head of an absolute monarchy, and how devoutly to be\nwished for, even under the less extensively important influence which\n(like our own) is limited by the laws of the constitution. Those\npersons, who, from a timid sort of morality, would exalt mere goodness,\nin opposition to superior talent, seem to me to be thereby counteracting\nthe influence of the very principle upon which they profess to act.\nThose, on the other hand, who adopt the contrary mode of reasoning are\nyet worse, for they assert an opinion which is in direct defiance of\nhumanity, morality, and religion. Comparing Napoleon with some of his\ncrowned cotemporaries, I must confess that my admiration of him\nalarmingly increases; but place him by the side of _Henri quatre_, and\nhe sinks at once. Madame de Stael has beautifully and justly expressed\nmy own sentiments; I must indulge myself in quoting her eloquent\nlanguage. Speaking of another political tyrant, (Cardinal Richelieu) she\nremarks, \"On a beaucoup vant\u00e9 le talent de ce ministre, parce qu'il a\nmaintenu la grandeur politique de la France; et sous ce rapport, on ne\ns\u00e7auroit lui r\u00e9fuser des talens superieurs! Mais _Henri quatre_\natteignoit au m\u00eame but, en gouvernant par des principes de justice et de\nverit\u00e9! Le g\u00e9nie se manifeste non seulement dans le triomphe qu'on\nremporte, mais dans les moyens qu'on a pris pour l'obtenir.\"\nUpon approaching Calais, we felt our courage quail beneath the idea of\nthe passage to Dover, which was now so near at hand; but as it never\nanswers any rational purpose to dwell upon disagreeables which are\ninevitable, and as this transient purgatory was the only means of\nattaining the paradise of English comforts that awaited us on the other\nside of the water, we made up our minds, and prepared for our fate with\nbecoming resolution. We were very fortunate in arriving at Quilliac's\nearly in the day, as we had an opportunity of taking possession of a\nmost comfortable suite of apartments, which would not have fallen to our\nshare, half an hour later; for the concourse of equipages which soon\nfollowed ours into the inn-yard was quite astonishing. Quilliac's is a\nmagnificent hotel, and seems to be organized in a manner that does\ncredit to the head of the master. They make up from a hundred and fifty\nto a hundred and sixty beds, and the day of our arrival, they were\nserving up little separate dinners to a hundred and forty persons,\nexclusive of servants. Yet the attendance was by no means hurried, or\nour comforts of any sort diminished, upon that account: every waiter and\n_fille de chambre_ seemed to know their particular walk, nor could we\nobserve any awkward scrambling or jostling among them.\nDetermined not again to encounter the annoyance of a crowded packet, we\ndesired inquiries to be made for any family of respectability, who might\nwish to share a private one with us: fortune befriended us, for we soon\nbeheld some English friends drive into the court, who agreed to join\nforces, and accordingly we took the Antigone (Capitaine Margoll\u00e9),\nbetween us. She was accounted the best sailer in the harbour, and we\nfound the truth of her reputation confirmed the next morning, when at\nnine o'clock we all embarked. She brought us into Dover before several\nother packets, which had sailed from Calais three hours previous to\nourselves; but the winds were nevertheless against us, as we were\nbecalmed for seven hours, and the passage lasted altogether ten. I was\nthe only person on board who suffered much; but I speedily forgot all my\nwretchedness, when I found myself happily landed at Dover, and seated by\nan English fireside.\nWe left that place the next day (October 8th), and felt that however we\nmight justly admire foreign countries, our native land possessed a charm\nabove all others, for the hearts of its children. We were delighted by\nthe richness of the woods, and the smiling fertility of the landscape\nbetween Canterbury and Sittingbourne, and also by the peculiar air of\nneatness and cleanliness displayed in every cottage and house, both in\nthe towns and villages: their superiority in these respects to those of\nFrance was very apparent; but I could not help being struck by the\ndifferent costume, countenance and air of the lower classes of my\ncountrywomen, from what I had been used to behold for the last few weeks\namong the daughters of the continent. The former certainly did (since\nthe truth must be told) appear what is called dowdy and heavy, and the\ngeneral expression of face was somewhat sullen, in comparison. I also\ngreatly missed the brilliant dark eye, and the charming shadowy eyelash,\nwhich is generally to be met with abroad.\nWe were once more gratified by the pre-eminent swiftness, ease, and\ndexterity of our English mode of posting; the horses really seemed to\nfly, and their spruce effect, together with that of their drivers,\ncontrasted favourably with those we had left on the other side the\nchannel.\nPassing through Rochester, to Dartford, the river Thames presented a\nmost imposing spectacle, being covered with innumerable vessels in\nfull sail, bound for London. A foreigner must have been impressed with a\nsuperb idea of our commercial wealth and glory.\nAt length we reached home late in the evening, and, full of grateful\npleasure for all we had enjoyed during our absence from it, returned to\nthe worship of our Penates with all the fervour and sincerity of true\nhearted, though not wrong headed, Britons.\nFOOTNOTES:\n[1] I had reason, however, afterwards to doubt the accuracy of the rural\ndame's assertion.\n[2] The principal beauty of this cathedral is the choir, and it is also\nfamous for Gobelin tapestry.\n[3] Vide Southey's Miscellaneous Poems.\n[4] Vide Spurzheim's Craniology.\n[5] Vide Bath Guide, page 100.\n[6] Goldsmith.\n[7] Vide Bath Guide.\n[8] Lord Byron.\n[9] Some of the original productions of this person are in the\npossession of collectors in our own country.\n[10] The _promenade_ also, near the cathedral, is remarkable for the\nbeautiful prospect it discloses of the glaciers, particularly at sunset,\nwhen the rose-coloured tints upon their snowy summits are wonderfully\nfine.\n[11] This town is memorable for the sanguinary contests between Blucher\nand the French army, during which it was taken and retaken several\ntimes. The epicure will here find the best _grenouilles_ in France: we\ndid not chance to meet with this delicacy, nor with another, which,\nhowever common here, does not exactly accord with the taste of John\nBull, viz. snails.\nNOTES.\nNote (A.) page 109, line 18.\n_Aromatic plants._\nNear the summits of these mountains, and in the highest region of\nvegetation, is found the _gennipi_, a plant of the camomile genus, and\nwhich, next to the _sang du bouquetin_, or wild goat (which, as an\ninhabitant of these places, though now a very rare one, is worthy of\nmention), is the most powerful sudorific, and of high estimation in the\ntreatment of pleurisy.\nNote (B.) page 127, line 21.\n_The Devil's Bridge--Pont du Diable._\nWe cannot too much admire the boldness and skill with which this\nextraordinary work has been achieved in such a country, and one knows\nnot in what age. The marvellous histories believed concerning it by the\ncredulous peasantry are scarcely to be wondered at. Suffice it to say,\nthat its dimensions are a single arch of twenty-four feet in the span,\nfourteen wide, and seventy-two above the surface of the stream; but in\nthis circumstance alone (considered without reference to the wild\nsublimity of the surrounding scenery), there is nothing extraordinary to\nEnglish eyes, who may view the whole width of the Thames at London\nembraced by three arches of such stupendous dimensions.\nNote (C.) page 131, line 17.\n_Mont Cenis._\nUpon the plain of Mont Cenis are found large masses of the gypsum, or\nalabaster, from which the plaster of Paris is made. The more sheltered\nparts are bright with the flowers of the _rhododendron ferrugineum_,\nwhich I have in another part of my work described. Quantities of the\nbeautiful little blue butterfly, called the argus, are seen here, and\n(though not so common) that fine fly, named _l'Apollon des Alpes_.\nBesides the great wild goat (_le bouquetin_), there are in these\nmountains the chamois, with the marmottes, which require bold and active\nchasseurs to be got at: they are shot by single ball. The whistling sort\nof cry of the marmotte resembles that of some birds of prey. It is the\nsignal they give upon being alarmed. When fat, they are considered as\nrather delicate food. We saw one unfortunate little animal of this\nspecies in a tame state, belonging to a peasant boy, who had taught it\nto shoulder a stick like a firelock, and to twirl itself about in a\nmanner difficult to describe, that he called dancing. He sung at the\nsame time, to animate the poor creature's reluctant exertions, a little\n_patois_ song, in which the words _dansez a madama_ were frequently\nrepeated. The tune haunted me for some time afterwards, and was really\nnot inharmonious.\nNote (D.) page 159, line 2.\n_Consists in their vineyards._\nThere is something awfully striking in the sudden devastation\noccasioned by the summer storms, too frequent in these climates. In the\nsame garden where at noon you had been walking under the shade of\npergolas (i. e. latticed frames of wood, the roofs of which were fretted\nwith innumerable and rich clusters of grapes) surrounded by fig and\npeach trees full of fruit, you would often find in the evening the whole\nground strewed with broken branches, their fruit quite crushed, and\nhardly a leaf left upon them.\nNote (E.) page 231, line 19.\n_Ague and fever._\nWe were induced, by the opinion of several persons to whom we related\nthis indisposition, to believe that it was most probably brought on by\nthe sudden transition from the intense heat of the shores of the Lago\nMaggiore to the equally intolerable cold of the Simplon. Mr. B. was not\nprovided with that additional clothing which might have obviated the ill\neffects of the latter. The complaint, however, went off very quickly in\nthe subsequent health-inspiring air of Switzerland.\nNote (F.) page 237, line 8.\n_Mont St. Bernard._\nBefore Bonaparte formed his magnificent passage across the Simplon, one\nof the principal roads from Switzerland into Italy lay over this grand\nmountain. Our line of road did not permit us to visit it, which we much\nregretted. It was always highly interesting, from the histories, both\nancient and modern, which belong to it. By this route it is supposed\nthat Hannibal led his army over the Alps; not by softening the rocks\nwith vinegar, but by refreshing his fatigued troops by a mixture of it\nwith water. He is said also to have founded here a splendid temple,\ndedicated to Jupiter. It is certain that several remains of antiquity,\nmedals, inscriptions, sacrificial instruments, &c. have been found here,\nand are preserved in the museum at Turin. That the modern Hannibal, with\nor without vinegar, led his army over the St. Bernard, we too well know.\nOf the baths of Lo\u00ebsche, in the Upper Valais, we also heard much; but of\nthese, as well as the Grand St. Bernard, I can only speak from the\ndescription of others. Notwithstanding the difficult roads which lead to\nthe baths, they are much frequented, and are, we were told, justly\ncelebrated for their salutary effects. It must be truly curious to see\nwater too hot to bear the hand in, of the temperature of 43 degrees of\nReaumur (boiling water being 80), springing from the earth in the midst\nof this icy country; a phenomenon, however, with which those travellers\nwho have frequented still colder parts of the world are perfectly well\nacquainted. This water has the peculiar quality of restoring faded\nflowers to life and freshness, and of preserving them so for some time,\nwhen one would rather imagine that it would boil them. I do not here\nmean to offer a poetical allusion to female beauty, but merely to relate\na literal fact. The mode of bathing is too singular not to mention,\nalthough I cannot say much of its delicacy. There are four square open\ndivisions, in which twenty or thirty persons of both sexes (attired, as\nproperly as may be, in flannel dresses) bathe all together. They sit\nvery comfortably for half an hour, with a small desk before each, upon\nwhich they have their books, and little planks are seen floating on\nthe water, full of holes, in which fragrant flowers and branches of\nverdure are inserted.\nNote (G.) page 238, line 12.\n_A celebrated waterfall--Cascade of the Pisse Vache._\nThere are several of the same name in Switzerland; but this, I believe,\nis reckoned the most remarkable. In the neighbourhood of these\nmountains, one sees with pleasure the industry of man repaid by\nconsiderable fertility. The cottages are comfortable, and surrounded\nwith orchards of various fruit-trees. The natural and ungrafted cherry,\ncalled _m\u00e9rise_, is much cultivated in these parts. It is from this\nfruit that the famed _kirschenwasser_, or cherry-water, is made, and\nwhich is not only an agreeable cordial, but a valuable medicine among\nthe peasantry, subsisting, as they do, so much upon a crude and milky\ndiet, not easy of digestion. It was offered to Mr. B. during his\nillness, by a rustic host, with strong commendations.\nNote (H.) page 268, line 17.\n_Glaciers._\nThe height of these glaciers, at their utmost point, is 9268 feet above\nthe level of the sea. Voltaire might well say,\n    \"Ces monts sourcilleux,\n    Qui pressent les enfers, et qui fendent les cieux.\"\nBut there is another point of view in which the natural philosopher will\ncontemplate these stupendous mountains with admiration and gratitude: I\nmean as being the immense and inexhaustible reservoirs of those\nsprings and rivers which make so essential a part in the beautiful and\nbeneficial economy of nature. In these particular regions will be found\nthe sources of the Rhone, the Rhine, and the Tessin, with a multitude of\nother rivers; and some idea of the enormous quantity of water that they\nproduce may be formed from the known fact, that the magnificent lake of\nGeneva (measuring above twenty-six square leagues) is raised ten feet\nand a half, by the mere melting of the snows during the summer.\nStrawberries of the finest flavour may be gathered almost at the very\nedge of the ice, and the adjoining woods are full of wild flowers.\nNote (I.) page 271, line 14.\n_Mines of gold, silver, and lead._\nIt has been thought by some, that it is not so much from the poverty of\nthe state as from a moral policy that the exploration of these dangerous\nproductions has been purposely discouraged. This is the nobler reason of\nthe two. Haller (the favourite poet of the Swiss) in his poem on the\nAlps, exclaims, \"The shepherd of the Alps sees these treasures flow\nbeneath his feet--what an example to mankind! he lets them flow on.\" And\nhe feels a security in the rude simplicity of his country, that holds\nout nothing to tempt the invasion of avarice or ambition--\n    \"Tout son front h\u00e9riss\u00e9, n'offre aux desirs de l'homme\n    Rien qui puisse tenter l'avarice de Rome.\"\n    _Crebillon, dans Rhadamiste._\nNote (J.) page 273, line 11.\n_For which this place is celebrated._\nAmong other interesting objects to be seen here are the cabinets of\nnatural history of Monsieur de Saussure, so well known for his\nscientific and enterprising researches, and of Monsieur de Luc.\nPetrifactions of the _oursis_, or sea hedgehog, and of the _corni\nd'ammon_, are preserved in this collection, which were found in the Alps\nof Savoy, 7844 feet above the level of the sea.\nNote (K.) page 275, line 12.\n_Powerless and inadequate._\nIt will not, I am sure, be unacceptable to the reader if I here\ntranscribe part of the beautiful description to which I have alluded.\nSpeaking (in Letter 23) of the exhilarating but soothing effect of the\nmountain air, he says--\"Il semble qu'en s'elevant au-dess\u00fbs du sejour\ndes hommes, on y laisse tous les sentimens bas et terrestres; et qu'\u00e0\nmesure qu'on approche des regions ethere\u00e9s, l'ame contracte quelque\nchose de leur inalterable puret\u00e9: on y est grave sans melancholie,\npaisible sans indolence, content d'\u00eatre et de penser. Les plaisirs y\nsont moins ardens, les passions plus modere\u00e9s. Tous les desirs trop\nvifs, s'emoussent; ils perdent cette point aigue qui les rendent\ndouloureux; il ne laissent au fond du coeur qu'une emotion leg\u00e8re et\ndouce, et c'est ainsi qu'un heureux climat, fait servir \u00e0 la felicit\u00e9 de\nl'homme, les passions qui font ailleurs son tourment.\" Without being so\nunfortunate as to possess Rousseau's irritable temper and fiery\npassions, any person of sensibility must be forcibly struck by the\ntruth of these remarks, in passing through the same scenes.\nNote (L.) page 291, line 21.\n_Lake of Morat._\nThis lake in severe winters freezes sufficiently to bear the heaviest\nloads. There is a popular and vulgar idea in the country, that whoever\nfalls into this lake can no more be recovered; but another quality\nattached to it (of rather superior probability) is, that its fish are of\nso excellent a nature, as to sell, in time of Lent, at two _creutzers_ a\npound dearer than those of any other. One cannot see without surprise,\nand even a degree of indignant concern, that the ancient chapel,\ncontaining the bones of the Bourguignons, slain by the Swiss (then the\nallies of Louis XI.) in 1476, should be no longer in existence. These\nremains of mortality were, when we beheld them, thrown upon the ground,\ntotally unsheltered from the air, in a most careless and irreverent\nmanner. Formerly (I have heard) the inhabitants of Morat used to\ncelebrate the anniversary of this national triumph with feast and song.\nVoltaire, in his \"M\u00e9lange de Poesies,\" alludes to this triumph of\nliberty in some truly elevated lines.\nNote (M.) page 293, line 2.\n_Tan-coloured wood._\nThis is the cleft fir of which the cottages here are constructed. They\nhave galleries running round the outsides, protected by the projecting\nroofs. Sometimes thatch is used; but in the more mountainous parts of\nthe country they are tiled (if I may be allowed the expression) with\npieces of slit wood, which are kept firm by the weight of large stones\nlying upon them: the whole having a most picturesque appearance. The\nwide projection of these roofs not only secures their galleries from the\nsnows, but affords convenient shelter for their fire-wood and various\nother articles. A granary is sometimes built over the dwelling-rooms at\nthe top of these houses, which is rendered attainable by means of a sort\nof bridge (moveable, I rather think), upon which we ourselves witnessed\nthe singular spectacle of a cart and horses conveying a load of grain to\nthis exalted store-chamber. These wooden fabrics, although one would not\nsuppose so, are warmer than those of brick or stone; but then, in case\nof fire, its ravage is dreadful, from the quantity of turpentine\ncontained in the fir planks.\nNote (N.) page 295, line 24.\n_The Alps._\nThe Alps of Switzerland are certainly the highest points of Europe. But\nhowever elevated these mountains may be, and removed as they now are, a\nhundred leagues from the sea, there can be no doubt of their having once\nbeen covered by its waters. This is clearly demonstrated by the fossile\nmaritime remains which are found in some of their highest parts, as well\nas by those of shells, fishes, and animals, now only existing in other\nquarters of the globe. What astonishing changes the surface of our earth\nhas undergone in periods anterior to the Mosaic history, may be\ncontemplated from the circumstance of the petrified trunk of the\npalm-tree, and the bones of elephants, being found in Siberia.\nNote (O.) page 308, line 1.\n_William Tell._\nAlthough the limited time for our tour did not permit us to visit either\nthe Lac de Thoun, or the village of Kussnacht, both of them consecrated\nin the eyes of the Swiss, by the chapels built there in memory of\nGuillaume Tell, travellers must not leave Switzerland without some\nmention of this renowned patriot. It was at the latter place that the\ntyrant Ghessler fell by his hand. There is (we were told) a tolerably\npainted representation of the occurrence on the walls of the chapel, and\nunder it the following inscription in German verse, the French\ntranslation of which is this:\n\"Ici a et\u00e9 tu\u00e9 par Tell, l'orgueilleux Ghessler. Ici est le berceau de\nla noble libert\u00e9 des Suisses, 1307. Combien durer\u00e2 t'elle? Encore long\ntems, pourvu que nous ressemblions \u00e0 nos anc\u00eatres.\"\nNote (P.) page 215, line 13.\n_The rhododendron._\nThis is the _rhododendron ferrugineum_, which is not much cultivated in\nour gardens.\nNote (Q.) page 216, line 18.\n_Over the doors._\nWhat a stupendous conception must the reader form to himself of this\nrange of mountains, when I tell him, that the ascent and descent make\ntogether forty-two miles.\nNote (R.) page 312, line 25.\n_Soleure._\nNear Soleure is the hermitage of St. Fr\u00eane. No traveller, I am assured,\nshould miss seeing this beautiful and romantic spot. That we\nunfortunately did so was owing only to our not having been previously\naware of its existence.\nNote (S.) page 332, line 12.\n_Avenue as usual._\nI ought (in justice) to have recollected, when I exclaimed so much\nagainst them, that in forming these roads, convenience, not taste, was\nconsulted. No one can be more grateful to the powers of convenience than\nmyself; but it is difficult to reconcile a lover of the picturesque to\nso cruel a divorce between the _utile et dolce_.\nTHE END.\n    LONDON:\n    PRINTED BY THOMAS DAVISON, WHITEFRIARS.\n    Transcriber's Notes\nObvious punctuation errors repaired.\nNo attempt was made to correct the diacritics in French.\nSpace removed: \"green[ ]gages\" (p. 31), \"for[ ]ever\" (p. 317).\nHyphen added: \"above[-]mentioned\" (p. 128).\nHyphen removed: \"water[-]fall\" (p. 238), \"way[-]side\" (p. 288).\nAlternate spellings not changed: \"Champagne\" / \"Champaigne\", \"Anglais\" /\n\"Anglois\".\nP. 22: \"farewel\" changed to \"farewell\" (her farewell performance).\nP. 25: \"aad\" changed to \"and\" (sullenness and malignity).\nP. 61: \"broood\" changed to \"brood\" (their young brood).\nP. 105: \"Shakspeare's\" changed to \"Shakespeare's\" (Shakespeare's\n\"spinners and knitters in the sun\").\nP. 198: \"reblance\" changed to \"resemblance\" (it bore some resemblance).\nP. 273: \"Jaques\" changed to \"Jacques\" (Rue de Jean Jacques Rousseau).\nP. 275: \"recal\" changed to \"recall\" (while I recall his magical\ndescription).\nP. 322: duplicate \"in\" removed (all dressed in their gayest costume).", "source_dataset": "gutenberg", "source_dataset_detailed": "gutenberg -  First Impressions on a Tour upon the Continent\n"},
{"source_document": "", "creation_year": 1811, "culture": " English\n", "content": "Produced by Suzanne Shell, Bruce Thomas and the Online Distributed\nProofreading Team\nTHE CONFESSIONS OF NAT TURNER,\nTHE LEADER OF THE LATE INSURRECTIONS IN SOUTHAMPTON, VA.\nAs fully and voluntarily made to\nTHOMAS R. GRAY,\nIn the prison where he was confined, and acknowledged by him to be such\nwhen read before the Court of Southampton; with the certificate, under\nseal of the Court convened at Jerusalem, Nov. 5, 1831, for his trial.\nALSO, AN AUTHENTIC\nACCOUNT OF THE WHOLE INSURRECTION,\nWITH LISTS OF THE WHITES WHO WERE MURDERED,\nAND OF THE NEGROES BROUGHT BEFORE THE COURT OF SOUTHAMPTON, AND THERE\nSENTENCED, &c.\nBaltimore:\nPUBLISHED BY THOMAS R. GRAY.\n_Lucas & Denver, print._\nDISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, TO WIT:\n_Be it remembered_, That on this tenth day of November, Anno Domini,\neighteen hundred and thirty-one, Thomas R. Gray of the said District,\ndeposited in this office the title of a book, which is in the words as\nfollowing:\n\"The Confessions of Nat Turner, the leader of the late insurrection in\nSouthampton, Virginia, as fully and voluntarily made to Thomas R. Gray,\nin the prison where he was confined, and acknowledged by him to be such\nwhen read before the Court of Southampton; with the certificate, under\nseal, of the Court convened at Jerusalem, November 5, 1831, for his\ntrial. Also, an authentic account of the whole insurrection, with lists\nof the whites who were murdered, and of the negroes brought before the\nCourt of Southampton, and there sentenced, &c\" the right whereof he\nclaims as proprietor, in conformity with an Act of Congress, entitled\n\"An act to amend the several acts respecting Copy Rights.\"\n                                 Edmund J. Lee, Clerk of the District.\n                          In testimony that the above is a true copy,\n                            from the record of the District Court for\n               (Seal.)         the District of Columbia, I, Edmund J.\n                                Lee, the Clerk thereof, have hereunto\n                               set my hand and affixed the seal of my\nTO THE PUBLIC.\nThe late insurrection in Southampton has greatly excited the public\nmind, and led to a thousand idle, exaggerated and mischievous reports.\nIt is the first instance in our history of an open rebellion of the\nslaves, and attended with such atrocious circumstances of cruelty and\ndestruction, as could not fail to leave a deep impression, not only upon\nthe minds of the community where this fearful tragedy was wrought, but\nthroughout every portion of our country, in which this population is to\nbe found. Public curiosity has been on the stretch to understand the\norigin and progress of this dreadful conspiracy, and the motives which\ninfluences its diabolical actors. The insurgent slaves had all been\ndestroyed, or apprehended, tried and executed, (with the exception of\nthe leader,) without revealing any thing at all satisfactory, as to the\nmotives which governed them, or the means by which they expected to\naccomplish their object. Every thing connected with this sad affair was\nwrapt in mystery, until Nat Turner, the leader of this ferocious band,\nwhose name has resounded throughout our widely extended empire, was\ncaptured. This \"great Bandit\" was taken by a single individual, in a\ncave near the residence of his late owner, on Sunday, the thirtieth of\nOctober, without attempting to make the slightest resistance, and on the\nfollowing day safely lodged in the jail of the County. His captor was\nBenjamin Phipps, armed with a shot gun well charged. Nat's only weapon\nwas a small light sword which he immediately surrendered, and begged\nthat his life might be spared. Since his confinement, by permission of\nthe Jailor, I have had ready access to him, and finding that he was\nwilling to make a full and free confession of the origin, progress and\nconsummation of the insurrectory movements of the slaves of which he was\nthe contriver and head; I determined for the gratification of public\ncuriosity to commit his statements to writing, and publish them, with\nlittle or no variation, from his own words. That this is a faithful\nrecord of his confessions, the annexed certificate of the County Court\nof Southampton, will attest. They certainly bear one stamp of truth and\nsincerity. He makes no attempt (as all the other insurgents who were\nexamined did,) to exculpate himself, but frankly acknowledges his full\nparticipation in all the guilt of the transaction. He was not only the\ncontriver of the conspiracy, but gave the first blow towards its\nexecution.\nIt will thus appear, that whilst every thing upon the surface of society\nwore a calm and peaceful aspect; whilst not one note of preparation was\nheard to warn the devoted inhabitants of woe and death, a gloomy fanatic\nwas revolving in the recesses of his own dark, bewildered, and\noverwrought mind, schemes of indiscriminate massacre to the whites.\nSchemes too fearfully executed as far as his fiendish band proceeded in\ntheir desolating march. No cry for mercy penetrated their flinty bosoms.\nNo acts of remembered kindness made the least impression upon these\nremorseless murderers. Men, women and children, from hoary age to\nhelpless infancy were involved in the same cruel fate. Never did a band\nof savages do their work of death more unsparingly. Apprehension for\ntheir own personal safety seems to have been the only principle of\nrestraint in the whole course of their bloody proceedings. And it is not\nthe least remarkable feature in this horrid transaction, that a band\nactuated by such hellish purposes, should have resisted so feebly, when\nmet by the whites in arms. Desperation alone, one would think, might\nhave led to greater efforts. More than twenty of them attacked Dr.\nBlunt's house on Tuesday morning, a little before day-break, defended by\ntwo men and three boys. They fled precipitately at the first fire; and\ntheir future plans of mischief, were entirely disconcerted and broken\nup. Escaping thence, each individual sought his own safety either in\nconcealment, or by returning home, with the hope that his participation\nmight escape detection, and all were shot down in the course of a few\ndays, or captured and brought to trial and punishment. Nat has survived\nall his followers, and the gallows will speedily close his career. His\nown account of the conspiracy is submitted to the public, without\ncomment. It reads an awful, and it is hoped, a useful lesson, as to the\noperations of a mind like his, endeavoring to grapple with things beyond\nits reach. How it first became bewildered and confounded, and finally\ncorrupted and led to the conception and perpetration of the most\natrocious and heart-rending deeds. It is calculated also to demonstrate\nthe policy of our laws in restraint of this class of our population,\nand to induce all those entrusted with their execution, as well as our\ncitizens generally, to see that they are strictly and rigidly enforced.\nEach particular community should look to its own safety, whilst the\ngeneral guardians of the laws, keep a watchful eye over all. If Nat's\nstatements can be relied on, the insurrection in this county was\nentirely local, and his designs confided but to a few, and these in his\nimmediate vicinity. It was not instigated by motives of revenge or\nsudden anger, but the results of long deliberation, and a settled\npurpose of mind. The offspring of gloomy fanaticism, acting upon\nmaterials but too well prepared for such impressions. It will be long\nremembered in the annals of our country, and many a mother as she\npresses her infant darling to her bosom, will shudder at the\nrecollection of Nat Turner, and his band of ferocious miscreants.\nBelieving the following narrative, by removing doubts and conjectures\nfrom the public mind which otherwise must have remained, would give\ngeneral satisfaction, it is respectfully submitted to the public by\ntheir ob't serv't,\n_Jerusalem, Southampton, Va. Nov. 5, 1831._\nWe the undersigned, members of the Court convened at Jerusalem, on\nSaturday, the 5th day of Nov. 1831, for the trial of Nat, _alias_ Nat\nTurner, a negro slave, late the property of Putnam Moore, deceased, do\nhereby certify, that the confessions of Nat, to Thomas R. Gray, was read\nto him in our presence, and that Nat acknowledged the same to be full,\nfree, and voluntary; and that furthermore, when called upon by the\npresiding Magistrate of the Court, to state if he had any thing to say,\nwhy sentence of death should not be passed upon him, replied he had\nnothing further than he had communicated to Mr. Gray. Given under our\nhands and seals at Jerusalem, this 5th day of November, 1831.\n_State of Virginia, Southampton County, to wit_:\nI, James Rochelle, Clerk of the County Court of Southampton in the State\nof Virginia, do hereby certify, that Jeremiah Cobb, Thomas Pretlow,\nJames W. Parker, Carr Bowers, Samuel B. Hines, and Orris A. Browne,\nesqr's are acting Justices of the Peace, in and for the County\naforesaid, and were members of the Court which convened at Jerusalem, on\nSaturday the 5th day of November, 1831, for the trial of Nat _alias_ Nat\nTurner, a negro slave, late the property of Putnam Moore, deceased, who\nwas tried and convicted, as an insurgent in the late insurrection in the\ncounty of Southampton aforesaid, and that full faith and credit are due,\nand ought to be given to their acts as Justices of the peace aforesaid.\n                          In testimony whereof, I have hereunto set my\n                                 hand and caused the seal of the Court\n                   [Seal.]    aforesaid, to be affixed this 5th day of\nCONFESSION.\nAgreeable to his own appointment, on the evening he was committed to\nprison, with permission of the jailer, I visited NAT on Tuesday the 1st\nNovember, when, without being questioned at all, he commenced his\nnarrative in the following words:--\nSir,--You have asked me to give a history of the motives which induced\nme to undertake the late insurrection, as you call it--To do so I must\ngo back to the days of my infancy, and even before I was born. I was\nthirty-one years of age the 2d of October last, and born the property of\nBenj. Turner, of this county. In my childhood a circumstance occurred\nwhich made an indelible impression on my mind, and laid the ground work\nof that enthusiasm, which has terminated so fatally to many, both white\nand black, and for which I am about to atone at the gallows. It is here\nnecessary to relate this circumstance--trifling as it may seem, it was\nthe commencement of that belief which has grown with time, and even now,\nsir, in this dungeon, helpless and forsaken as I am, I cannot divest\nmyself of. Being at play with other children, when three or four years\nold, I was telling them something, which my mother overhearing, said it\nhad happened before I was born--I stuck to my story, however, and\nrelated somethings which went, in her opinion, to confirm it--others\nbeing called on were greatly astonished, knowing that these things had\nhappened, and caused them to say in my hearing, I surely would be a\nprophet, as the Lord had shewn me things that had happened before my\nbirth. And my father and mother strengthened me in this my first\nimpression, saying in my presence, I was intended for some great\npurpose, which they had always thought from certain marks on my head and\nbreast--[a parcel of excrescences which I believe are not at all\nuncommon, particularly among negroes, as I have seen several with the\nsame. In this case he has either cut them off or they have nearly\ndisappeared]--My grand mother, who was very religious, and to whom I was\nmuch attached--my master, who belonged to the church, and other\nreligious persons who visited the house, and whom I often saw at\nprayers, noticing the singularity of my manners, I suppose, and my\nuncommon intelligence for a child, remarked I had too much sense to be\nraised, and if I was, I would never be of any service to any one as a\nslave--To a mind like mine, restless, inquisitive and observant of every\nthing that was passing, it is easy to suppose that religion was the\nsubject to which it would be directed, and although this subject\nprincipally occupied my thoughts--there was nothing that I saw or heard\nof to which my attention was not directed--The manner in which I learned\nto read and write, not only had great influence on my own mind, as I\nacquired it with the most perfect ease, so much so, that I have no\nrecollection whatever of learning the alphabet--but to the astonishment\nof the family, one day, when a book was shewn me to keep me from crying,\nI began spelling the names of different objects--this was a source of\nwonder to all in the neighborhood, particularly the blacks--and this\nlearning was constantly improved at all opportunities--when I got large\nenough to go to work, while employed, I was reflecting on many things\nthat would present themselves to my imagination, and whenever an\nopportunity occurred of looking at a book, when the school children were\ngetting their lessons, I would find many things that the fertility of my\nown imagination had depicted to me before; all my time, not devoted to\nmy master's service, was spent either in prayer, or in making\nexperiments in casting different things in moulds made of earth, in\nattempting to make paper, gunpowder, and many other experiments, that\nalthough I could not perfect, yet convinced me of its practicability if\nI had the means.[Footnote: When questioned as to the manner of\nmanufacturing those different articles, he was found well informed on\nthe subject.] I was not addicted to stealing in my youth, nor have ever\nbeen--Yet such was the confidence of the negroes in the neighborhood,\neven at this early period of my life, in my superior judgment, that they\nwould often carry me with them when they were going on any roguery, to\nplan for them. Growing up among them, with this confidence in my\nsuperior judgment, and when this, in their opinions, was perfected by\nDivine inspiration, from the circumstances already alluded to in my\ninfancy, and which belief was ever afterwards zealously inculcated by\nthe austerity of my life and manners, which became the subject of remark\nby white and black.--Having soon discovered to be great, I must appear\nso, and therefore studiously avoided mixing in society, and wrapped\nmyself in mystery, devoting my time to fasting and prayer--By this time,\nhaving arrived to man's estate, and hearing the scriptures commented on\nat meetings, I was struck with that particular passage which says: \"Seek\nye the kingdom of Heaven and all things shall be added unto you.\" I\nreflected much on this passage, and prayed daily for light on this\nsubject--As I was praying one day at my plough, the spirit spoke to me,\nsaying, \"Seek ye the kingdom of Heaven and all things shall be added\nunto you.\" _Question_--what do you mean by the Spirit. _Ans._ The Spirit\nthat spoke to the prophets in former days--and I was greatly astonished,\nand for two years prayed continually, whenever my duty would permit--and\nthen again I had the same revelation, which fully confirmed me in the\nimpression that I was ordained for some great purpose in the hands of\nthe Almighty. Several years rolled round, in which many events occurred\nto strengthen me in this my belief. At this time I reverted in my mind\nto the remarks made of me in my childhood, and the things that had been\nshewn me--and as it had been said of me in my childhood by those by whom\nI had been taught to pray, both white and black, and in whom I had the\ngreatest confidence, that I had too much sense to be raised, and if I\nwas, I would never be of any use to any one as a slave. Now finding I\nhad arrived to man's estate, and was a slave, and these revelations\nbeing made known to me, I began to direct my attention to this great\nobject, to fulfil the purpose for which, by this time, I felt assured I\nwas intended. Knowing the influence I had obtained over the minds of my\nfellow servants, (not by the means of conjuring and such like\ntricks--for to them I always spoke of such things with contempt) but by\nthe communion of the Spirit whose revelations I often communicated to\nthem, and they believed and said my wisdom came from God. I now began to\nprepare them for my purpose, by telling them something was about to\nhappen that would terminate in fulfilling the great promise that had\nbeen made to me--About this time I was placed under an overseer, from\nwhom I ran away--and after remaining in the woods thirty days, I\nreturned, to the astonishment of the negroes on the plantation, who\nthought I had made my escape to some other part of the country, as my\nfather had done before. But the reason of my return was, that the Spirit\nappeared to me and said I had my wishes directed to the things of this\nworld, and not to the kingdom of Heaven, and that I should return to the\nservice of my earthly master--\"For he who knoweth his Master's will, and\ndoeth it not, shall be beaten with many stripes, and thus have I\nchastened you.\" And the negroes found fault, and murmurred against me,\nsaying that if they had my sense they would not serve any master in the\nworld. And about this time I had a vision--and I saw white spirits and\nblack spirits engaged in battle, and the sun was darkened--the thunder\nrolled in the Heavens, and blood flowed in streams--and I heard a voice\nsaying, \"Such is your luck, such you are called to see, and let it come\nrough or smooth, you must surely bare it.\" I now withdrew myself as much\nas my situation would permit, from the intercourse of my fellow\nservants, for the avowed purpose of serving the Spirit more fully--and\nit appeared to me, and reminded me of the things it had already shown\nme, and that it would then reveal to me the knowledge of the elements,\nthe revolution of the planets, the operation of tides, and changes of\nthe seasons. After this revelation in the year 1825, and the knowledge\nof the elements being made known to me, I sought more than ever to\nobtain true holiness before the great day of judgment should appear, and\nthen I began to receive the true knowledge of faith. And from the first\nsteps of righteousness until the last, was I made perfect; and the Holy\nGhost was with me, and said, \"Behold me as I stand in the Heavens\"--and\nI looked and saw the forms of men in different attitudes--and there were\nlights in the sky to which the children of darkness gave other names\nthan what they really were--for they were the lights of the Saviour's\nhands, stretched forth from east to west, even as they were extended on\nthe cross on Calvary for the redemption of sinners. And I wondered\ngreatly at these miracles, and prayed to be informed of a certainty of\nthe meaning thereof--and shortly afterwards, while laboring in the\nfield, I discovered drops of blood on the corn as though it were dew\nfrom heaven--and I communicated it to many, both white and black, in the\nneighborhood--and I then found on the leaves in the woods hieroglyphic\ncharacters, and numbers, with the forms of men in different attitudes,\nportrayed in blood, and representing the figures I had seen before in\nthe heavens. And now the Holy Ghost had revealed itself to me, and made\nplain the miracles it had shown me--For as the blood of Christ had been\nshed on this earth, and had ascended to heaven for the salvation of\nsinners, and was now returning to earth again in the form of dew--and as\nthe leaves on the trees bore the impression of the figures I had seen in\nthe heavens, it was plain to me that the Saviour was about to lay down\nthe yoke he had borne for the sins of men, and the great day of judgment\nwas at hand. About this time I told these things to a white man,\n(Etheldred T. Brantley) on whom it had a wonderful effect--and he ceased\nfrom his wickedness, and was attacked immediately with a cutaneous\neruption, and blood ozed from the pores of his skin, and after praying\nand fasting nine days, he was healed, and the Spirit appeared to me\nagain, and said, as the Saviour had been baptised so should we be\nalso--and when the white people would not let us be baptised by the\nchurch, we went down into the water together, in the sight of many who\nreviled us, and were baptised by the Spirit--After this I rejoiced\ngreatly, and gave thanks to God. And on the 12th of May, 1828, I heard a\nloud noise in the heavens, and the Spirit instantly appeared to me and\nsaid the Serpent was loosened, and Christ had laid down the yoke he had\nborne for the sins of men, and that I should take it on and fight\nagainst the Serpent, for the time was fast approaching when the first\nshould be last and the last should be first. _Ques._ Do you not find\nyourself mistaken now? _Ans._ Was not Christ crucified. And by signs in\nthe heavens that it would make known to me when I should commence the\ngreat work--and until the first sign appeared, I should conceal it from\nthe knowledge of men--And on the appearance of the sign, (the eclipse of\nthe sun last February) I should arise and prepare myself, and slay my\nenemies with their own weapons. And immediately on the sign appearing in\nthe heavens, the seal was removed from my lips, and I communicated the\ngreat work laid out for me to do, to four in whom I had the greatest\nconfidence, (Henry, Hark, Nelson, and Sam)--It was intended by us to\nhave begun the work of death on the 4th July last--Many were the plans\nformed and rejected by us, and it affected my mind to such a degree,\nthat I fell sick, and the time passed without our coming to any\ndetermination how to commence--Still forming new schemes and rejecting\nthem, when the sign appeared again, which determined me not to wait\nlonger.\nSince the commencement of 1830, I had been living with Mr. Joseph\nTravis, who was to me a kind master, and placed the greatest confidence\nin me; in fact, I had no cause to complain of his treatment to me. On\nSaturday evening, the 20th of August, it was agreed between Henry, Hark\nand myself, to prepare a dinner the next day for the men we expected,\nand then to concert a plan, as we had not yet determined on any. Hark,\non the following morning, brought a pig, and Henry brandy, and being\njoined by Sam, Nelson, Will and Jack, they prepared in the woods a\ndinner, where, about three o'clock, I joined them.\n_Q._ Why were you so backward in joining them.\n_A._ The same reason that had caused me not to mix with them for years\nbefore.\nI saluted them on coming up, and asked Will how came he there, he\nanswered, his life was worth no more than others, and his liberty as\ndear to him. I asked him if he thought to obtain it? He said he would,\nor loose his life. This was enough to put him in full confidence. Jack,\nI knew, was only a tool in the hands of Hark, it was quickly agreed we\nshould commence at home (Mr. J. Travis') on that night, and until we had\narmed and equipped ourselves, and gathered sufficient force, neither age\nnor sex was to be spared, (which was invariably adhered to.) We remained\nat the feast, until about two hours in the night, when we went to the\nhouse and found Austin; they all went to the cider press and drank,\nexcept myself. On returning to the house, Hark went to the door with an\naxe, for the purpose of breaking it open, as we knew we were strong\nenough to murder the family, if they were awaked by the noise; but\nreflecting that it might create an alarm in the neighborhood, we\ndetermined to enter the house secretly, and murder them whilst sleeping.\nHark got a ladder and set it against the chimney, on which I ascended,\nand hoisting a window, entered and came down stairs, unbarred the door,\nand removed the guns from their places. It was then observed that I must\nspill the first blood. On which, armed with a hatchet, and accompanied\nby Will, I entered my master's chamber, it being dark, I could not give\na death blow, the hatchet glanced from his head, he sprang from the bed\nand called his wife, it was his last word, Will laid him dead, with a\nblow of his axe, and Mrs. Travis shared the same fate, as she lay in\nbed. The murder of this family, five in number, was the work of a\nmoment, not one of them awoke; there was a little infant sleeping in a\ncradle, that was forgotten, until we had left the house and gone some\ndistance, when Henry and Will returned and killed it; we got here, four\nguns that would shoot, and several old muskets, with a pound or two of\npowder. We remained some time at the barn, where we paraded; I formed\nthem in a line as soldiers, and after carrying them through all the\nmanoeuvres I was master of, marched them off to Mr. Salathul Francis',\nabout six hundred yards distant. Sam and Will went to the door and\nknocked. Mr. Francis asked who was there, Sam replied it was him, and he\nhad a letter for him, on which he got up and came to the door; they\nimmediately seized him, and dragging him out a little from the door, he\nwas dispatched by repeated blows on the head; there was no other white\nperson in the family. We started from there for Mrs. Reese's,\nmaintaining the most perfect silence on our march, where finding the\ndoor unlocked, we entered, and murdered Mrs. Reese in her bed, while\nsleeping; her son awoke, but it was only to sleep the sleep of death, he\nhad only time to say who is that, and he was no more. From Mrs. Reese's\nwe went to Mrs. Turner's, a mile distant, which we reached about\nsunrise, on Monday morning. Henry, Austin, and Sam, went to the still,\nwhere, finding Mr. Peebles, Austin shot him, and the rest of us went to\nthe house; as we approached, the family discovered us, and shut the\ndoor. Vain hope! Will, with one stroke of his axe, opened it, and we\nentered and found Mrs. Turner and Mrs. Newsome in the middle of a room,\nalmost frightened to death. Will immediately killed Mrs. Turner, with\none blow of his axe. I took Mrs. Newsome by the hand, and with the\nsword I had when I was apprehended, I struck her several blows over the\nhead, but not being able to kill her, as the sword was dull. Will\nturning around and discovering it, despatched her also. A general\ndestruction of property and search for money and ammunition, always\nsucceeded the murders. By this time my company amounted to fifteen, and\nnine men mounted, who started for Mrs. Whitehead's, (the other six were\nto go through a by way to Mr. Bryant's, and rejoin us at Mrs.\nWhitehead's,) as we approached the house we discovered Mr. Richard\nWhitehead standing in the cotton patch, near the lane fence; we called\nhim over into the lane, and Will, the executioner, was near at hand,\nwith his fatal axe, to send him to an untimely grave. As we pushed on to\nthe house, I discovered some one run round the garden, and thinking it\nwas some of the white family, I pursued them, but finding it was a\nservant girl belonging to the house, I returned to commence the work of\ndeath, but they whom I left, had not been idle; all the family were\nalready murdered, but Mrs. Whitehead and her daughter Margaret. As I\ncame round to the door I saw Will pulling Mrs. Whitehead out of the\nhouse, and at the step he nearly severed her head from her body, with\nhis broad axe. Miss Margaret, when I discovered her, had concealed\nherself in the corner, formed by the projection of the cellar cap from\nthe house; on my approach she fled, but was soon overtaken, and after\nrepeated blows with a sword, I killed her by a blow on the head, with a\nfence rail. By this time, the six who had gone by Mr. Bryant's, rejoined\nus, and informed me they had done the work of death assigned them. We\nagain divided, part going to Mr. Richard Porter's, and from thence to\nNathaniel Francis', the others to Mr. Howell Harris', and Mr. T. Doyles.\nOn my reaching Mr. Porter's, he had escaped with his family. I\nunderstood there, that the alarm had already spread, and I immediately\nreturned to bring up those sent to Mr. Doyles, and Mr. Howell Harris';\nthe party I left going on to Mr. Francis', having told them I would join\nthem in that neighborhood. I met these sent to Mr. Doyles' and Mr.\nHarris' returning, having met Mr. Doyle on the road and killed him; and\nlearning from some who joined them, that Mr. Harris was from home, I\nimmediately pursued the course taken by the party gone on before; but\nknowing they would complete the work of death and pillage, at Mr.\nFrancis' before I could get there, I went to Mr. Peter Edwards',\nexpecting to find them there, but they had been here also. I then went\nto Mr. John T. Barrow's, they had been here and murdered him. I pursued\non their track to Capt. Newit Harris', where I found the greater part\nmounted, and ready to start; the men now amounting to about forty,\nshouted and hurraed as I rode up, some were in the yard, loading their\nguns, others drinking. They said Captain Harris and his family had\nescaped, the property in the house they destroyed, robbing him of money\nand other valuables. I ordered them to mount and march instantly, this\nwas about nine or ten o'clock, Monday morning. I proceeded to Mr. Levi\nWaller's, two or three miles distant. I took my station in the rear, and\nas it 'twas my object to carry terror and devastation wherever we went,\nI placed fifteen or twenty of the best armed and most to be relied on,\nin front, who generally approached the houses as fast as their horses\ncould run; this was for two purposes, to prevent their escape and strike\nterror to the inhabitants--on this account I never got to the houses,\nafter leaving Mrs. Whitehead's, until the murders were committed, except\nin one case. I sometimes got in sight in time to see the work of death\ncompleted, viewed the mangled bodies as they lay, in silent\nsatisfaction, and immediately started in quest of other victims--Having\nmurdered Mrs. Waller and ten children, we started for Mr. William\nWilliams'--having killed him and two little boys that were there; while\nengaged in this, Mrs. Williams fled and got some distance from the\nhouse, but she was pursued, overtaken, and compelled to get up behind\none of the company, who brought her back, and after showing her the\nmangled body of her lifeless husband, she was told to get down and lay\nby his side, where she was shot dead. I then started for Mr. Jacob\nWilliams, where the family were murdered--Here we found a young man\nnamed Drury, who had come on business with Mr. Williams--he was pursued,\novertaken and shot. Mrs. Vaughan was the next place we visited--and\nafter murdering the family here, I determined on starting for\nJerusalem--Our number amounted now to fifty or sixty, all mounted and\narmed with guns, axes, swords and clubs--On reaching Mr. James W.\nParkers' gate, immediately on the road leading to Jerusalem, and about\nthree miles distant, it was proposed to me to call there, but I\nobjected, as I knew he was gone to Jerusalem, and my object was to reach\nthere as soon as possible; but some of the men having relations at Mr.\nParker's it was agreed that they might call and get his people. I\nremained at the gate on the road, with seven or eight; the others going\nacross the field to the house, about half a mile off. After waiting some\ntime for them, I became impatient, and started to the house for them,\nand on our return we were met by a party of white men, who had pursued\nour bloodstained track, and who had fired on those at the gate, and\ndispersed them, which I new nothing of, not having been at that time\nrejoined by any of them--Immediately on discovering the whites, I\nordered my men to halt and form, as they appeared to be alarmed--The\nwhite men, eighteen in number, approached us in about one hundred yards,\nwhen one of them fired, (this was against the positive orders of Captain\nAlexander P. Peete, who commanded, and who had directed the men to\nreserve their fire until within thirty paces) And I discovered about\nhalf of them retreating, I then ordered my men to fire and rush on them;\nthe few remaining stood their ground until we approached within fifty\nyards, when they fired and retreated. We pursued and overtook some of\nthem who we thought we left dead; (they were not killed) after pursuing\nthem about two hundred yards, and rising a little hill, I discovered\nthey were met by another party, and had haulted, and were re-loading\ntheir guns, (this was a small party from Jerusalem who knew the negroes\nwere in the field, and had just tied their horses to await their return\nto the road, knowing that Mr. Parker and family were in Jerusalem, but\nknew nothing of the party that had gone in with Captain Peete; on\nhearing the firing they immediately rushed to the spot and arrived just\nin time to arrest the progress of these barbarous villians, and save the\nlives of their friends and fellow citizens.) Thinking that those who\nretreated first, and the party who fired on us at fifty or sixty yards\ndistant, had all only fallen back to meet others with amunition. As I\nsaw them re-loading their guns, and more coming up than I saw at first,\nand several of my bravest men being wounded, the others became panick\nstruck and squandered over the field; the white men pursued and fired\non us several times. Hark had his horse shot under him, and I caught\nanother for him as it was running by me; five or six of my men were\nwounded, but none left on the field; finding myself defeated here I\ninstantly determined to go through a private way, and cross the Nottoway\nriver at the Cypress Bridge, three miles below Jerusalem, and attack\nthat place in the rear, as I expected they would look for me on the\nother road, and I had a great desire to get there to procure arms and\namunition. After going a short distance in this private way, accompanied\nby about twenty men, I overtook two or three who told me the others were\ndispersed in every direction. After trying in vain to collect a\nsufficient force to proceed to Jerusalem, I determined to return, as I\nwas sure they would make back to their old neighborhood, where they\nwould rejoin me, make new recruits, and come down again. On my way back,\nI called at Mrs. Thomas's, Mrs. Spencer's, and several other places, the\nwhite families having fled, we found no more victims to gratify our\nthirst for blood, we stopped at Majr. Ridley's quarter for the night,\nand being joined by four of his men, with the recruits made since my\ndefeat, we mustered now about forty strong. After placing out sentinels,\nI laid down to sleep, but was quickly roused by a great racket; starting\nup, I found some mounted, and others in great confusion; one of the\nsentinels having given the alarm that we were about to be attacked, I\nordered some to ride round and reconnoitre, and on their return the\nothers being more alarmed, not knowing who they were, fled in different\nways, so that I was reduced to about twenty again; with this I\ndetermined to attempt to recruit, and proceed on to rally in the\nneighborhood, I had left. Dr. Blunt's was the nearest house, which we\nreached just before day; on riding up the yard, Hark fired a gun. We\nexpected Dr. Blunt and his family were at Maj. Ridley's, as I knew there\nwas a company of men there; the gun was fired to ascertain if any of the\nfamily were at home; we were immediately fired upon and retreated,\nleaving several of my men. I do not know what became of them, as I never\nsaw them afterwards. Pursuing our course back and coming in sight of\nCaptain Harris', where we had been the day before, we discovered a party\nof white men at the house, on which all deserted me but two, (Jacob and\nNat,) we concealed ourselves in the woods until near night, when I sent\nthem in search of Henry, Sam, Nelson, and Hark, and directed them to\nrally all they could, at the place we had had our dinner the Sunday\nbefore, where they would find me, and I accordingly returned there as\nsoon as it was dark and remained until Wednesday evening, when\ndiscovering white men riding around the place as though they were\nlooking for some one, and none of my men joining me, I concluded Jacob\nand Nat had been taken, and compelled to betray me. On this I gave up\nall hope for the present; and on Thursday night after having supplied\nmyself with provisions from Mr. Travis's, I scratched a hole under a\npile of fence rails in a field, where I concealed myself for six weeks,\nnever leaving my hiding place but for a few minutes in the dead of night\nto get water which was very near; thinking by this time I could venture\nout, I began to go about in the night and eaves drop the houses in the\nneighborhood; pursuing this course for about a fortnight and gathering\nlittle or no intelligence, afraid of speaking to any human being, and\nreturning every morning to my cave before the dawn of day. I know not\nhow long I might have led this life, if accident had not betrayed me, a\ndog in the neighborhood passing by my hiding place one night while I was\nout, was attracted by some meat I had in my cave, and crawled in and\nstole it, and was coming out just as I returned. A few nights after, two\nnegroes having started to go hunting with the same dog, and passed that\nway, the dog came again to the place, and having just gone out to walk\nabout, discovered me and barked, on which thinking myself discovered, I\nspoke to them to beg concealment. On making myself known they fled from\nme. Knowing then they would betray me, I immediately left my hiding\nplace, and was pursued almost incessantly until I was taken a fortnight\nafterwards by Mr. Benjamin Phipps, in a little hole I had dug out with\nmy sword, for the purpose of concealment, under the top of a fallen\ntree. On Mr. Phipps' discovering the place of my concealment, he cocked\nhis gun and aimed at me. I requested him not to shoot and I would give\nup, upon which he demanded my sword. I delivered it to him, and he\nbrought me to prison. During the time I was pursued, I had many hair\nbreadth escapes, which your time will not permit you to relate. I am\nhere loaded with chains, and willing to suffer the fate that awaits me.\nI here proceeded to make some inquiries of him, after assuring him of\nthe certain death that awaited him, and that concealment would only\nbring destruction on the innocent as well as guilty, of his own color,\nif he knew of any extensive or concerted plan. His answer was, I do not.\nWhen I questioned him as to the insurrection in North Carolina happening\nabout the same time, he denied any knowledge of it; and when I looked\nhim in the face as though I would search his inmost thoughts, he\nreplied, \"I see sir, you doubt my word; but can you not think the same\nideas, and strange appearances about this time in the heaven's might\nprompt others, as well as myself, to this undertaking.\" I now had much\nconversation with and asked him many questions, having forborne to do so\npreviously, except in the cases noted in parenthesis; but during his\nstatement, I had, unnoticed by him, taken notes as to some particular\ncircumstances, and having the advantage of his statement before me in\nwriting, on the evening of the third day that I had been with him, I\nbegan a cross examination, and found his statement corroborated by every\ncircumstance coming within my own knowledge or the confessions of others\nwhom had been either killed or executed, and whom he had not seen nor\nhad any knowledge since 22d of August last, he expressed himself fully\nsatisfied as to the impracticability of his attempt. It has been said he\nwas ignorant and cowardly, and that his object was to murder and rob for\nthe purpose of obtaining money to make his escape. It is notorious, that\nhe was never known to have a dollar in his life; to swear an oath, or\ndrink a drop of spirits. As to his ignorance, he certainly never had the\nadvantages of education, but he can read and write, (it was taught him\nby his parents,) and for natural intelligence and quickness of\napprehension, is surpassed by few men I have ever seen. As to his being\na coward, his reason as given for not resisting Mr. Phipps, shews the\ndecision of his character. When he saw Mr. Phipps present his gun, he\nsaid he knew it was impossible for him to escape as the woods were full\nof men; he therefore thought it was better to surrender, and trust to\nfortune for his escape. He is a complete fanatic, or plays his part most\nadmirably. On other subjects he possesses an uncommon share of\nintelligence, with a mind capable of attaining any thing; but warped and\nperverted by the influence of early impressions. He is below the\nordinary stature, though strong and active, having the true negro face,\nevery feature of which is strongly marked. I shall not attempt to\ndescribe the effect of his narrative, as told and commented on by\nhimself, in the condemned hole of the prison. The calm, deliberate\ncomposure with which he spoke of his late deeds and intentions, the\nexpression of his fiend-like face when excited by enthusiasm, still\nbearing the stains of the blood of helpless innocence about him; clothed\nwith rags and covered with chains; yet daring to raise his manacled\nhands to heaven, with a spirit soaring above the attributes of man; I\nlooked on him and my blood curdled in my veins.\nI will not shock the feelings of humanity, nor wound afresh the bosoms\nof the disconsolate sufferers in this unparalleled and inhuman massacre,\nby detailing the deeds of their fiend-like barbarity. There were two or\nthree who were in the power of these wretches, had they known it, and\nwho escaped in the most providential manner. There were two whom they\nthought they left dead on the field at Mr. Parker's, but who were only\nstunned by the blows of their guns, as they did not take time to re-load\nwhen they charged on them. The escape of a little girl who went to\nschool at Mr. Waller's, and where the children were collecting for that\npurpose, excited general sympathy. As their teacher had not arrived,\nthey were at play in the yard, and seeing the negroes approach, she ran\nup on a dirt chimney, (such as are common to log houses,) and remained\nthere unnoticed during the massacre of the eleven that were killed at\nthis place. She remained on her hiding place till just before the\narrival of a party, who were in pursuit of the murderers, when she came\ndown and fled to a swamp, where, a mere child as she was, with the\nhorrors of the late scene before her, she lay concealed until the next\nday, when seeing a party go up to the house, she came up, and on being\nasked how she escaped, replied with the utmost simplicity, \"The Lord\nhelped her.\" She was taken up behind a gentleman of the party, and\nreturned to the arms of her weeping mother. Miss Whitehead concealed\nherself between the bed and the mat that supported it, while they\nmurdered her sister in the same room, without discovering her. She was\nafterwards carried off, and concealed for protection by a slave of the\nfamily, who gave evidence against several of them on their trial. Mrs.\nNathaniel Francis, while concealed in a closet heard their blows, and\nthe shrieks of the victims of these ruthless savages; they then entered\nthe closet where she was concealed, and went out without discovering\nher. While in this hiding place, she heard two of her women in a quarrel\nabout the division of her clothes. Mr. John T. Baron, discovering them\napproaching his house, told his wife to make her escape, and scorning to\nfly, fell fighting on his own threshold. After firing his rifle, he\ndischarged his gun at them, and then broke it over the villain who first\napproached him, but he was overpowered, and slain. His bravery, however,\nsaved from the hands of these monsters, his lovely and amiable wife, who\nwill long lament a husband so deserving of her love. As directed by him,\nshe attempted to escape through the garden, when she was caught and held\nby one of her servant girls, but another coming to her rescue, she fled\nto the woods, and concealed herself. Few indeed, were those who escaped\ntheir work of death. But fortunate for society, the hand of retributive\njustice has overtaken them; and not one that was known to be concerned\nhas escaped.\n           The Commonwealth, }\n                  vs.        }       Charged with making insurrection,\n              Nat Turner.    }  and plotting to take away the lives of\nThe court composed of----, having met for the trial of Nat Turner, the\nprisoner was brought in and arraigned, and upon his arraignment pleaded\n_Not guilty_, saying to his counsel, that he did not feel so.\nOn the part of the Commonwealth, Levi Waller was introduced, who being\nsworn, deposed as follows: (_agreeably to Nat's own Confession_.) Col.\nTrezvant[Footnote: The committing Magistrate.] was then introduced, who\nbeing sworn, numerated Nat's Confession to him, as follows: (_his\nConfession as given to Mr. Gray_.) The prisoner introduced no evidence,\nand the case was submitted without argument to the court, who having\nfound him guilty, Jeremiah Cobb, Esq. Chairman, pronounced the sentence\nof the court, in the following words: \"Nat Turner! Stand up. Have you\nany thing to say why sentence of death should not be pronounced against\nyou?\"\n_Ans._ I have not. I have made a full confession to Mr. Gray, and I have\nnothing more to say.\nAttend then to the sentence of the Court. You have been arraigned and\ntried before this court, and convicted of one of the highest crimes in\nour criminal code. You have been convicted of plotting in cold blood,\nthe indiscriminate destruction of men, of helpless women, and of infant\nchildren. The evidence before us leaves not a shadow of doubt, but that\nyour hands were often imbrued in the blood of the innocent; and your own\nconfession tells us that they were stained with the blood of a master;\nin your own language, \"too indulgent.\" Could I stop here, your crime\nwould be sufficiently aggravated. But the original contriver of a plan,\ndeep and deadly, one that never can be effected, you managed so far to\nput it into execution, as to deprive us of many of our most valuable\ncitizens; and this was done when they were asleep, and defenceless;\nunder circumstances shocking to humanity. And while upon this part of\nthe subject, I cannot but call your attention to the poor misguided\nwretches who have gone before you. They are not few in number--they were\nyour bosom associates; and the blood of all cries aloud, and calls upon\nyou, as the author of their misfortune. Yes! You forced them unprepared,\nfrom Time to Eternity. Borne down by this load of guilt, your only\njustification is, that you were led away by fanaticism. If this be true,\nfrom my soul I pity you; and while you have my sympathies, I am,\nnevertheless called upon to pass the sentence of the court. The time\nbetween this and your execution, will necessarily be very short; and\nyour only hope must be in another world. The judgment of the court is,\nthat you be taken hence to the jail from whence you came, thence to the\nplace of execution, and on Friday next, between the hours of 10 A.M. and\n2 P.M. be hung by the neck until you are dead! dead! dead! and may the\nLord have mercy upon your soul.\n_A list of persons murdered in the Insurrection, on the 21st and 22d of\nAugust, 1831._\nJoseph Travers and wife and three children, Mrs. Elizabeth Turner,\nHartwell Prebles, Sarah Newsome, Mrs. P. Reese and son William, Trajan\nDoyle, Henry Bryant and wife and child, and wife's mother, Mrs.\nCatharine Whitehead, son Richard and four daughters and grand-child,\nSalathiel Francis, Nathaniel Francis' overseer and two children, John T.\nBarrow, George Vaughan, Mrs. Levi Waller and ten children, William\nWilliams, wife and two boys, Mrs. Caswell Worrell and child, Mrs.\nRebecca Vaughan, Ann Eliza Vaughan, and son Arthur, Mrs. John K.\nWilliams and child, Mrs. Jacob Williams and three children, and Edwin\nDrury--amounting to fifty-five.\n_A List of Negroes brought before the Court of Southampton, with their\nowners' names, and sentence._\nDaniel,                Richard Porter,         Convicted.\nTom,                   Caty Whitehead,         Discharged.\nJack and Andrew,       Caty Whitehead,         Con. and transported.\nJacob,                 Geo. H. Charlton,       Disch'd without trial.\nIsaac,                 Ditto,                  Convi. and transported.\nJack,                  Everett Bryant,         Discharged.\nNathan,                Benj. Blunt's estate,   Convicted.\nNathan, Tom, and\n  Davy, (boys,)        Nathaniel Francis,      Convicted and transported.\nDavy,                  Elizabeth Turner,       Convicted.\nHardy and Isham,       Benjamin Edwards,       Convicted and transp'd.\nSam,                   Nathaniel Francis,      Convicted.\nHark,                  Joseph Travis' estate.    Do.\nDavy,                  Levi Waller,            Convicted.\nNelson,                Jacob Williams,           Do.\nNat,                   Edm'd Turner's estate,    Do.\nDred,                  Nathaniel Francis,        Do.\nArnold, Artist, (free,)                        Discharged.\nFerry and Archer,      J.W. Parker,            Disch'd without trial.\nJim,                   William Vaughan,        Acquitted.\nBob,                   Temperance Parker,        Do.\nDavy,                  Joseph Parker,\nDaniel,                Solomon D. Parker,      Disch'd without trial.\nThomas Haithcock, (free,)                        Sent on for further trial.\nJoe,                   John C. Turner,         Convicted.\nMatt,                  Thomas Ridley,          Acquitted.\nExum Artes, (free,)                            Sent on for further trial.\nJoe,                   Richard P. Briggs,      Disch'd without trial.\nBury Newsome, (free,)                          Sent on for further trial.\nStephen                James Bell,             Acquitted.\nJim and Isaac,         Samuel Champion,        Convicted and trans'd.\nPreston,               Hannah Williamson,      Acquitted.\nFrank,                 Solomon D. Parker,      Convi'd and transp'd.\nJack and Shadrach,     Nathaniel Simmons,      Acquitted.\nNelson,                Benj. Blunt's estate,     Do.\nSam,                   Peter Edwards,          Convicted.\nArcher,                Arthur G. Reese,        Acquitted.\nIsham Turner, (free,)                          Sent on for further trial.\nNat Turner,            Putnam Moore, dec'd,    Convicted.\nEnd of Project Gutenberg's The Confessions Of Nat Turner, by Nat Turner", "source_dataset": "gutenberg", "source_dataset_detailed": "gutenberg -  The Confessions of Nat Turner\n"},
{"created_timestamp": "01-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5587", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Richard Rush, 4 January 1811\nFrom: Rush, Richard\nTo: Adams, John\nSir.\nPhiladelphia Jany. 4th. 1811.\nEncouraged by the very flattering permission you have given me, I am venturing to say to you in the form of a letter, (a liberty which I hope you will pardon,) that I have read the \u201creview of the works of Fisher Ames.\u201d And I must be allowed to say, that I have read it with the pleasure naturally belonging to the perusal of so able a performance. Although I carefully treasure up every thing that comes from the same pen, yet it had been my misfortune to miss this piece; which however I ought not now to regret, as it has turned out a double gratification to me to have obtained it through your condesending kindness, in transmitting it to my father on my account. Its genius and its spirit are well supported by its sound sense, its eloquence, and its erudition. It holds up to deserved reprobation doctrines, which, to my mind, at least; are alike weak and vicious; whilst those which it inculcates are founded upon the enlarged views of a patriot and statesman. The just censure, mixed with the poignant satire, which it inflicts upon a set of opinions, so hostile to every thing American, is combined with a masterly defence of the principles of our government and the character of our country. The Style is raised to the highest tone of elegance and vigour, uniting fancy and taste to a train of reasoning energetick and unanswerable. I have read it three times over, and could wish that it had a place in every house in the United States, and that its principles pervaded every American bosom. Although indeed a short work, from the rich mind of the author, yet I think that as well its matter as, its manner conspire to class it among the Standard productions of our country and our language. As a composition it cannot be read without pleasure, and it has done, and will do, good.\nI cannot let go this opportunity without adding that, as one of the circle of my fathers fire-side, it is allowed to me to Share in seeing the letters which your valued correspondence occasionally brings to him. Brought up in sentiments of hereditary veneration for the source whence they come, to me they are rich repasts of instruction and delight. But I must say, that I prize the last more than any, since it is under the shield of it, that I have claimed the honour to address you in this way.\nPermit me, sir, to offer my most respectful wishes for the continuance of your health, and that your illustrious life may long be spared to your country and your friends\nRichard Rush.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5588", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 10 January 1811\nFrom: Rush, Benjamin\nTo: Adams, John\nMy venerable & dear friend\nPhiladelphia Jany 10th. 1811\nI thank you for you son\u2019s pamphlet. Much as I loath political discussions of all kinds, I was induced by your request, and my great respect for the genius of its author, to read it. with I thank you for the pleasure I derived from it. It is a masterly performance overflowing with argument & eloquence. He places Mr Ames where he ought to have been placed stood in the meredian of his political glory. He seems to have died if not of\u2014certainly with the same kind of monarchical mania which raged with the same so much violence in the year 1776 as to carry off many of our cities Citizens to Nova Scotia, Canada, and other parts of the British empire. My son has given you his opinion of your sons pamphlet from Under his own hand. He continues to speak of it in the higest terms.\nI was much struck with your strictures upon Banks. They have long governed all our state legislatures. A few weeks will determin whether the general government has stability strength en\u2019o to resist the power of One of them. Is there any difference in point of Criminality, between bribing public bodies and individuals? The funding system was carried by bribing both.\u2014The Assumption of the state debts, seduced the former, and many of the latter were seduced by Certificates previously purchased by the individuals members of Congresses at 2/6 in the pound. Among these Mr Boudinot and Mr Ames were so conspicuous that  your friend characterized their speeches in defence of the funding System in one of our news papers in the following lines.\n\u201cPay the poor Soldier!\u2014he is he\u2019s a sott,\nCries our grave ruler, Boudinot.\nNo pity from us now he claims,\nIn artful accents, echoes Ames.\nA Soldier\u2019s pay, are rags & fame,\nA wooden leg, a deathless name.\nTo Specs, both in, and out of Cong,\nThe three, and six per Cents belong.\u201d\nHow many other members of Congress were seduced by Certificates put into their hands for the purpose of obtaining their Votes I know not, but the following fact makes it probable that this was the case. I attended the late General P: Muhlenberg in his last illness. During my visits to him he told me that while the issue of the funding System was in Suspense, a gentleman came to him & offered him two hundred thousand dollars at 10% in the pound upon a Credit of one year without interest for his single note, without an endorser. Mr: M: instantly rejected the Offer. The Certificates in the course of that year rose to, and sold for 25% in the pound.\u2014With the knowledge of this & many similar instances of Corruption in the soon After the Organization of our government, I became so disgusted, that I have ever since Considered it as a  prostituted. The present legislature of the United States may be innocent, but they are the Offspring of Vice. They are sons of  \u2014\u2014\u2014 I will not name their mother.\nYou say an Attention to the dead languages has revived in Europe. This is true, & Napoleon is at the head of the Juneto confederated to restore and establish them. It is One among many Other of his Acts that are calculated, & perhaps intended to bring back the darkness, and ignorance of the 14th: and 15th: centuries. Cardinal Richlieu created and diffused a long love for music dancing, and other amusements among the people of France, on purpose to divert them from prying into the machinations and oppressions of the government of Louis the XIV. The Study of the latin and greek languages will serve the same purpose to Napoleon and George the third.\u2014\nAdieu! Ever yours\u2014yours\nBenjn: Rush\nPS: You say you read novels with pleasure: The late Dr Gregory informed me when a student in Edinr: that the celebrated Mr McLaurin the cotemporary and friend of Sir Isaac Newton was constantly appealed to for the Character of all the novels that were published in his day in Great Britain.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5589", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Richard Rush, 15 January 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Rush, Richard\nDear Sir\nQuincy January 15. 1811\nIn the middle of a Letter to Petersbourg this Morning Mrs Adams came in and invited me to take a ride, in the beautiful Sleighing We have at this moment, to last perhaps two days like two Such Opportunities as We have had before this Winter and then be melted away; We took the Post office in our Course, and there I found your beautiful Letter of the 4th of this month, on my return I continued my Letter to my Son, and extracted your Elogium upon his Pamphlet, without mentioning your Name, and concluded with Advising him, if he Should ever write or read Lectures upon Oratory again, never more to doubt of the Talents of Americans at Panegyrick. This Work as you observe \u201cis raised\u201d, in its Style \u201cto the highest\u201d Tone of Elegance, and So are Several others of his prosaick Compositions. In his Lectures he found his advantage in it: for never were Lectures attended with more Unanimity or heard with more perfect Attention or applauded with more Admiration and Enthusiasm. He once indulged in this Style, I thought, beyond what was judicious; I mean in his Report to The Senate of the U.S. concerning John Smith the Preacher and Senator and Friend of Coll Burr. State Papers should be in a more Simple Strain. I have ever thought that Mr Burkes Articles of Impeachment against Warren Hastings were much too eloquent and oratorical.\nMr Adams\u2019s Speeches in the Senate of this Commonwealth and in the Senate of The United States as well as at the Bar, have always been in a Strain of cool Reasoning without any affectation of ornament or Effort at any uncommon Elegance, Simplicity Perspicuity and Precision are the predominant Characteristicks of his Style in Conversation as well as in all his extemporaneous Discourses in Public. His public orations have been raised, a little and from his ardent Love of Poetry I have often wondered that more of it has not appeared in his Speeches. His head is full of the Poets. I never knew a Man more universally read and Studied in the English Poets. There is Scarcely one in the Language that he has not attentively read. He is too much of a Poet himself, for a Statesman. It has cost him Some Pains to restrain his Propensity to the Muses: and yet he has Spent too much time in their Company. Oberon of Wieland has been translated by him from the German into English, and I have compared many Parts of it with Sotheby\u2019s, and Although Sotheby is unquestionably one of the best English Versifyers I am at a loss to determine which Translation is the best. His Translation of Some Parts of Juvenal are fully equal and in Some Books Superiour to Giffords. I hope you will not think him too much of a Schollar for a Statesman.\nYou, and all the World will Suspect me, as I Suspect myself of parental Partiality. But though I have endeavourd to divest myself of every bias and every Prejudice, I cannot see otherwise.\nCicero in this Case wanted not a Cicero to do Justice to his Eloquence: for the Style of your Letter is fully equal to that of the Subject of it.\nMy Letters to your Father are fit to be seen only by him and his FireSide as friendly as him.\nThey are the momentary and Spontaneous Effusions of good humour and ill humour and idle humour just as it happens. I dare Say I should be very much ashamed of them if I should ever read them.\nI wish you every Blessing and Shall be much obliged to you for your Correspondence. I wish there may be as long a Friendship between you and my Son as there has been between the Fathers; and that you may be able to bring Pensilvania and Massachusetts nearer together in Sentiment and affection that they have been for twenty years past. They were not always at variance. Present my respectful Compliments to your Parents and your Lady and believe me your / Sincere Friend\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5592", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Rush, 18 January 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\nDear Sir\nQuincy January 18. 1811\nAs I am never weary of Writing to you, because I write always without thinking, I am not sorry to be obliged to begin another Letter and another Sheet.\nJ. Q. A in a Letter to his Brother T. B. A. dated St. Petersburg 27. October 1810 has these Words, vizt\n\u201cI wish you to procure and Send to me a specimen of every one of the Coins of the United States Mint of the United States, of Gold\u2014Silver\u2014and Copper.\u2014Viz an Eagle, Half Eage\u2014Quarter Eagle.\u2014Dollar, half dollar, quarter dollar, Ten Cent and five Cent piece\u2014Cent and half Cent, as new as you can procure, or at least perfect in Execution and undefaced, I want them for a Collection.\u2014Perhaps by the Friendship of Dr Rush you can procure them new from The Mint. And to Save the trouble of forwarding them to you, perhaps he will be kind enough to send them to me, by Some Spring Vessel from Philadelphia.\u2014You will transmit to him the amount of their Value, and charge it in account to me.\u201d\nNow, my good Friend, will you be so good as to let me know whether you will undertake this kind Office. Whether you send them from Philadelphia directly to Petersburg, which will probably be the best Way, or whether you send them to me or my son here at Quincy I will be answerable that the Money shall be remitted to you immediately by myself or by Thomas Boylston Adams.\nSince I have been Obliged to begin a new sheet for this Little Piece of Business, I may Say a few Words in Answer to your last Concerning the Resurrection of Letters. You allow that \u201can Attention to the dead Languages has revived in Europe\u201d but Alledge that \u201cNapoleon is at the head of the Junto confederated to restore them\u201d\nI will not deny him the Glory that is due to him. It is true that no Man, Prince or Subject, has distinguished himself more by the Patronage of Science, Litterature and the fine Arts than Napoleon. This and Toleration, are the brightest Jewells in his Crown. I cannot however do So much honour to him as to ascribe this Second Resurrection of Learning to him, it is rather due to the American Revolution, That great Event turned the Thoughts and Studies of Men of Learning to the ancient Greeks their Language their Antiquities their Forms of Government. Anacharsis Gillies, Mitford, La Harp, and a thousand other Works in France England Holland, Germany and Italy were produced by the American Revolution before Bonaparte made any Figure.\nThe Darkness and Ignorance of the fourteenth and fifteenth Centuries were dispelled, and a new Glory Spread over Mankind by the discovery of the Classics and the Corpus Juris at Constantinoble and Amalphi: how then can you imagine that the Same Darkness and Ignorance can be brought back by the very Studies which Scattered them: ie. by a new Resurrects of the Same Learning.\nWe need not fear that Latin and Greek will ever be too much Studied. Not one in ten thousand of those who Study them in Schools and Colledges ever make any great Proficiency in them. In general Scollars are enabled to understand their own Languages the better for the Smattering they Acquire in the Classicks, and to examine a Passage occasionally in Latin &c\nBut you must be weary by this time of common Place thoughts of your Friend\nJohn Adams,", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5593", "content": "Title: To John Adams from George Erving, 19 January 1811\nFrom: Erving, George\nTo: Adams, John\nSir\nNew York Jany 19. 1811\nI have this moment of my arrival here had the honor to receive your letter of the 16th instt, inclosing two for our minister at Petersbg, to the care & transmission of which I shall pay every possible attention.\u2014\nIt gives me very peculiar satisfaction to be useful to you in this small particular, & I sincerely desire greater occasions of manifesting my very high respect for you, as well as for Mr J. Q. Adams.\u2014\nI shall proceed the day after to-morrow for Boston, where I shall be happy to receive your further commands; & if the time allowed by our government for my stay in that quarter will admit of it, I propose paying my respects in person to you & Mrs Adams:\u2014In the mean time Sir beg you to make my best compliments and thanks for her kind wishes, acceptable to Mrs Adams, & to receive assurances of the very sincere respect with which I have the honor to be / Your most obedient hble St\nGeorge W Erving", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5595", "content": "Title: To John Adams from David Sewall, 24 January 1811\nFrom: Sewall, David\nTo: Adams, John\nDear Sir\nYork (District of Maine) Jany. 24th. 1811.\nI have a desire of knowing, (in case it will not be too troublesome for you to make the Communication) the Occurrences that took place, in a Court of Admiralty, held at Boston, toward the latter part of Govr. Barnard\u2019s Admina. for a supposed Murder on the high Seas.\u2014It was I belive the last trial of the kind in Massa. prior to the american revolution.\u2014Govr. Jno. Wentworth & some Gent of N. Hampr. were members of the Court.\u2014The Person Accused, was Acqutted of the charge, it was said, because a major part of the Court (suppose 7. in Number) could not agree to Convict him\u2014I have had an Idea, that  you were of Council for the Prisoner Whose Name I do not recollect.\u2014Who exhibited the charge? for I presume, there was no G. Jury.\u2014Was the Commisn. a Special one for that particular purpose?\u2014Was the Evidence reduced to Writing, or made ore tenus only prior to the Argument made by the council.\u2014\nTwo at least of our Classmates Viz. W. Wheeler & C. Cushing have died since I have had the pleasure of any Communication from You\u2014And Docr. Hemmengway appears near the close of life, with a Cancer\u2014\nI am with great esteem & respect / Your / Huml Servant\nDavid Sewall", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5596", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 25 January 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\n\t\t\t\t\tQuincy, January 25th, 1811.\n\t\t\t\tThe Hague, Sept. 6, 1782\u2014Wrote to Mr. Secretary Livingston, \u201cIn your letter of the 5th of March, you ask, whether this power has entered into any treaty with France since the war, and whether any such thing is in contemplation?They have made no treaty, but a convention concerning recaptures, which you must have seen in the papers. The East India Company have concerted operations with France in the East Indies, and the prince by the resolution of the states, has concerted operations in these European seas for this campaign, and the city of Amsterdam has lately proposed in the states of\nHolland, to renew the concert for next year, and to revive an old treaty of commerce with France. In my letter of the 18th of August, I have sent you a copy of the instructions to their ministers for peace, not to make peace, truce or armistice, but with the simultaneous concurrence of all the belligerent powers, among whom the United States of America arc certainly one, in the sense and meaning of their high mightinesses.You observe sir, that \u201cFrance is interested with us in procuring a public acknowledgment of our independence.\u201d\u2014You desire me to write freely, and my own disposition inclines me to do so.This is a delicate subject and requires to be cautiously handled. Political jealousy is very different from a suspicious temper. We should contemplate the vices naturally allied to the greatest virtues. We should consider the fevers that lie near an high state of health.We should consider the maxim that is laid down by all the political writers in the world, and the fact that is found in all histories. viz.\u2014\u201cThat in cases of alliance between unequal powers, almost all the advantages ever did, and ever will accrue to the greatest.\u201d We should observe, in the Abbe Raynal\u2019s History of this revolution, that there is a party in France, who blames the ministry for putting themselves into the chains (\u201cFers\u201d) of congress; and for not keeping us dependent enough upon them. Is it not natural for them to wish to keep us so dependent upon them, that we might be obliged to accept such terms of peace, as she should think would do for us? If\u2019 the house of Bourbon should be suspected hereafter by any neutral power, to grow too fast in wealth and force, and be disposed to form a league against it, would it not be natural for that house to wish that we may be kept from any connections with such powers, and wholly connected with itself, so as to be obliged to engage with it in all its wars?It is impossible for me to prove that the delay of Spain to acknowledge our independence, has been concerted between the French and Spanish ministry; but I candidly ask any man who has attended to the circumstances of this war, whether he has not seen cause to suspect it? For my own part, I have no doubt of it; and I do not know that we can justly censure it.I have ten thousand reasons which convince me, that one minister at least has not wished that we should form connections with Holland, even so soon as we did, or with any other power, although he had\nno right and therefore would not appear openly to oppose it. When I took leave of that minister (De Vergennes) to return to America, in the spring of the year 1779, he desired me expressly to advise congress \u201cto attend to the affairs of the war, and leave the polities of Europe to them\u201d\u2014\u201cet laisser la politique a nous.\u201d In 1778 or 1779, when Mr. Arthur Lee and I proposed to Dr. Franklin to go to Holland, or to consent that one of us should go, the doctor would not consent, but wrote to that minister, (De Vergennes) upon it, and received an answer, which he shewed me, advising against it. And when I received my letter of credence here, (i. e. to the states general) the French ambassador here, who follows the instructions communicated by that minister, took all possible pains to persuade me against communicating it. And Dr. Franklin, without reserve, in word and writing, has constantly declared that congress were wrong in sending a minister to Berlin, Vienna, Tuscany, Spain, Holland and St. Petersburgh; and doctor Franklin is as good an index of that minister\u2019s sentiments as I know.Now I avow myself of a totally opposite system; and think it our indispensable duty, as it is our undoubted right, to send ministers to other courts, (besides France) and endeavor to extend our acquaintance, commerce, and political connections with all the world; and I have pursued this system, which I believed to be also the wish of congress and the sense of America, with patience and perseverance against all dangers, reproaches, misrepresentations and oppositions, until I thank God, he has enabled me to plant the standard of the United States at the Hague, where it will wave forever.\nI am now satisfied and dread nothing. The connection with Holland is a sure stay. Connected with Holland and the house of Bourbon we have nothing to fear.I have entered into these details, in answer to your inquiries, and the only use of them I would wish to make, is this. To insist upon seeing with our own eyes, using our own judgments, and acting an independent part. And it is of the last importance we should do it now, thus early. Otherwise, we should find it very difficult to do it, hereafter. I hope I have given you my sentiments, as you desired, with freedom; and that freedom I hope will give no offence either in America or France, for certainly none is intended.In your favor of the 22d of May, you direct me to draw upon Dr. Franklin for my salary, and to send my accounts to you.\nMy accounts sir, arc very short, and shall be sent as soon as the perplexity of the treaty is over. As to drawing on Dr. Franklin, I suppose this was upon supposition that we had no money here. There is now nearly a million and a half of florins, so that I beg I may be permitted to receive my salary here.I have transmitted to Mr. Dana, your dispatches as desired in your\u2019s of the 29th May, reserving an extract for publication in the gazettes, which the French ambassador is of opinion, as well as others, will have a great effect in Europe. Your letter is extremely well written, and M. Dumas has well translated it, so that it will appear to advantage.Your letter of the 30th of May, affords me the pleasure of knowing that you have received some letters from me this year, and I am glad you inclined to lay that of the 21st of February before congress. By this time I hope that all objections to the memorial are removed. But in order to judge of the full effect of that memorial, three volumes of the Politique Hollandais, several volumes of De Post Van Neder Rhin, all the Dutch gazettes for a whole year, and the petitions of all the cities, should be read; for there is not one of them but what clearly shews the propriety of presenting that memorial, whose influence and effect, though not sudden, has been amazingly extensive. Indeed the French ambassador has often signified to me lately and more than once in express words, \u201cMonsieur votre Fermit\u00e9 a fait un tr\u00e8s bon effet ici.\u201dThe cipher was not put up in this duplicate, and I suppose the original is gone on to Mr. Dana in a letter I transmitted him from you some time ago; so that I should be obliged to you for another of the same sort.Rodney\u2019s victory came as you hoped it would, too late to obstruct me. I was well settled at the Hague and publicly received by the states and the prince, before we received that melancholy news. Had it arrived sometime sooner, it might have disarranged all our systems, and this nation possibly might now have been separately at peace; which shews the importance of watching time and tide which there is in the affairs of men.You require, sir, to be furnished with the most minute detail of every step that Britain may take towards a negotiation for a general or partial peace.All the details towards a partial peace are already public in the newspapers, and have all been ineffectual. The states general, as appears by their\ninstructions to their ministers, are firm against it.Since the conversations between me and Diggs first, and Mr. Laurens and me afterwards, there has never been any message, directly or indirectly, by word or by writing, from the British ministry to me. It was my decided advice and earnest request by both these messengers, that all those messages might be sent to Paris to Dr. Franklin and the Comte de Vergennes, and this has been done. Dr. Franklin wrote me that he should keep me informed of every thing that passed, by expresses; but I have had no advice from him since the second of June. Your dispatches have all gone the same way, and I have never had a hint of any of them. I hope that Dr. Franklin and Mr. Jay have had positive instructions, to consent to no truce or armistice; and to enter into no conferences with any British minister who is not authorized to treat with the United States of America.Some weeks ago, I agreed with the Duke de la Vauguion to draw up a project of a memorial to their high mightinesses, proposing a triple or quadruple alliance, according to my instructions to that purpose. The duke in his private capacity, has often declared to me that he is of opinion, it would be advisable to make this proposal as soon as the treaty of commerce shall be signed; but could not give me any ministerial advice, without consulting the Comte de Vergennes. We agreed that he should transmit the project to the comte. Two days ago the duke called upon me and informed me that he had received the comtes answer, which was, that he did not think this the time, because it would tend to throw obscurity upon the instructions lately given by the states general to Mr. Brantzen, not to make any treaty or armistice, but simultaneously with all the belligerent powers.By the 10th article of the treaty of alliance, the invitation or admission is to be made by concert. From my instructions I supposed and suppose still, that the concert was made at Philadelphia between congress and the chevalier de la Luzerne, by the order of the king his master. And my instructions being positive and unconditional to make the proposition, I shall be somewhat embarrassed. On the one hand, I would preserve not only a real harmony, but the appearance of it also, between all steps of mine and the counsels of the French ministers. On the other I would obey my instructions, especially when they are so fully agreeable to me, at all events. The proposition would have a\ngood effect in England, in Holland, in France, in America, and in all the neutral countries, as I think, and it could do no harm that I can foresee.\u2014Nay further, I am persuaded that the French ministry themselves, were they to give me their private opinions as the duke de la Vauguion does, would be glad if I should make the proposition against their advice.\nIt is possible however, that they may secretly choose, (notwithstanding the offer made at Philadelphia, not to be bound in an alliance with America and Holland. They may think they shall have more influence with their hands unbound, even to a system that they approve and mean to pursue.It is among all these doublings and windings of European politics that American ministers have to decide and act. The result is clear in my mind, that although it is proper to be upon good terms, communicative and confidential with the French ministers; yet we ought to have opinions, principles and systems of our own; and that our ministers should not be bound to follow their advice, but when it is consonant to our own; and that congress should finally support their own ministers against all secret insinuations.\u2014They must see that a minister of theirs, who is determined to be, as he is bound in honor to be, free and independent, is not, as yet, in a very delectable or a very enviable situation in Europe.There is but one alternative: either congress should recall all their ministers from Europe, and leave all negotiations to the French ministry, (laisser le politique \u00e0 nous) or they must support their ministers against all insinuations. If congress will see with their own eyes, I can assure them without fear of being contradicted, that neither the colour, figure or magnitude of objects, will always appear to them exactly as they do to their allies. To send ministers to Europe, who are supposed by the people of America to see for themselves, while in effect they see or pretend to see nothing but what appears through the glass of a French minister, is to betray the just expectations of the people.A remark or two on the foregoing letter will not be misapplied.1. The order to draw on Dr. Franklin for my salary was one of the most extraordinary strokes of all the correspondence. What could be the design of it? For any good purpose it was superfluous; for I had long possessed a resolution of congress authorizing me to draw upon Dr. Franklin for my salary & commanding him to honor my draughts. If I had borrowed money and had it in my own hands, why should I trouble Dr. Franklin or myself with bills upon him? After congress had entrusted me to borrow ten millions of dollars\u2014nay, after they had entrusted me with the destiny of the nation in the commission for peace, was my integrity now suspected to such a degree that I was not to be trusted to receive my own daily bread out of my own money?I was at no loss to unriddle this mystery. I did not impute this affront to Mr. Livingston; but to a Frenchified Franklinian faction; and had no doubt then, and have no doubt now in 1811, that the design was too get all the money I had borrowed or should borrow, into the power of Vergennes and Franklin, and their bankers and understrappers.I held the instruction in ineffable contempt and paid no kind of regard to it, very well knowing that they dared not call me to account for disobedience to this tyrannical mandate.2. My anxiety to secure the future independence of America and her neutrality in all future wars, if possible, appears in this letter. The future destiny of our country, her future rights, duties and policy were frequent topics of conversation between Dr. Franklin and me when we lived together at Passy and Paris. My opinion was that our true policy would always be to maintain an impartial neutrality in all future European wars, as long as possible. Franklin\u2019s favorite doctrine was, that \u201cwe ought to unite with France at least in two future wars against England; the first to pay the debt of gratitude we owed her for assisting us in our revolution; and the second to shew ourselves as generous to her, as she had been to us.\u201dIt was easy for any man of the least reflection to foresee, that we should be solicited by France and England, with every artifice of subtlety, and by every motive of hope and fear, terror and flattery, to engage in their wars. I thought we ought to cultivate peace, and the study and labor of my life for more than thirty years has been invariably directed to this object and to place our relations with France and England upon a footing of impartial neutrality. By the treaty of 1800, with France, I flattered myself it was attained. But the British government seem to have presumptuously inferred from it, that their influence in America is irresistable and that they may do as they please. France has been sufficiently impertinent & unjust. Both together have brought us in danger of a necessary war. If injuries and provocations were exactly equal from both nations, it would be safer for us to preserve the peace with France than with England. BUT THE INSULTS, INJURIES CLAIMS AND PRETENSIONS OF GREAT BRITAIN HAVE BEEN HITHERTO MUCH MORE DANGEROUS THAN THOSE OF FRANCE.3. Mr. Livingston\u2019s repeated and peremptory calls upon me \u201cfor the most minute details\u201d perhaps led me into the habit and error in all my subsequent correspondence with congress, of descending to particulars too minute and circumstantial.\n\t\t\t\t\tJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5597", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Richard Rush, 27 January 1811\nFrom: Rush, Richard\nTo: Adams, John\nPhiladelphia January 27th. 1811.\nI was more gratified sir, than I can express at the letter which you did me the honor to write to me. The very evening before it came to hand I had finished reading, in course, the last of the lectures upon rhetoric and oratory, which for several weeks had occasionally yielded me great delight during the intervals of a busy profession. The just and often original reflections which they contain; their stores of well-arranged learning; above all, the high moral tone upon which they are set make them, I think, the best present which has yet been given to American literature. The youth of Massachusetts, as well as those of Pennsylvania, will, I hope, study them as models of scholarship and taste; while the incidental praise which they bestow upon our own institutions will serve as well to engender patriotism, as the classical spirit which marks them throughout cannot fail to awaken, wherever they are studied, a relish for letters. I cannot sir, adopt the sentiment that the author is too much of a poet for a statesman. The poets are the finest writers. They are the best philosophers too, for theirs is the phylosophy of nature and the mind. Their very art is eloquence. If they are not practical statesmen they at least know how, by their precepts, to form them. I believe it is Johnson who says, that the Iliad is the first production of the human mind, and we may ask where is the prose composition that has lived so long, or in all ages ranked so high. But sir, to prove that the two characters are compatible I will not longer forbear to seize the most apposite illustration by taking the instance before me, where my only hesitation is whether to place the scholar before the statesman, or the statesman before the scholar.\nBurke\u2019s articles of impeachment are, as you observe, too oratorical for the subject. Such style in state papers, is what physicians term error loci. Perhaps the same remark may be hazarded as to his orations, which may be regarded rather as splendid compositions, than as speeches suited to avail much in their application to the immediate objects and business of a nation. They are, indeed, monuments of genius and skill  solid as well as glittering; but perhaps too universal in their matter, too abstracted from the trains of common thought, too ornate, too ethical, and often too wise to have worked much, at the hour of delivery, upon a house of commons. The bold, downright, palpable, mind of Chatham wielded that body better.\nIf any thing could draw together more closely the cords of our union it ought to be the sentiments expressed under this head in the Review of Mr Ames\u2019s works. But greatly do I fear that Mr Quincy, and others of that stamp, have not a full veneration for such sentiments. To you sir, your country would look for admonitions upon this subject should it, unhappily, too soon have to need them; and permit me to add that the power which flows from wisdom never ceases to have its force.\nYour kind letters to my father are considered, and treated, as the treasures of friendship.\nI can still remember with pleasure the days when, as a boy, I was sometimes honoured with Mrs Adams\u2019s notice. On this footing I will close my page by asking permission to make my most respectful compliments to her, and to yourself I renew the offerings of my utmost respect.\nRichard Rush.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5598", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Henry Guest, 28 January 1811\nFrom: Guest, Henry\nTo: Adams, John\nHonoured Sir,\nBrunswick East Jersy January 28th 1811\nYour letter of the 6th. inst. came to hand in 4 days of the post mark; Bad as the roads are at present, & I believe they never were worse. If you knew the pleasure it gives me to see, John Adams, with Free on your letters, I apprehend that you would not be so long in answering mine to you, though, perhaps of little weight; & you would sooner & oftener revive the Low spirits of an old man, who for many years thought it was one of the greatest honours he ever received, when a letter came to him from your hands. Indeed, I began to think that you had got the start of me to the world of souls. Though much younger, I call 6 years much in the last stage of life: it is little in youth. May you live as long as this world is agreeable to your wishes!\nThe first part of your letter, which is all that I can now, in my weak state, answer, is The war instrument, of which you appear to desire a knowledge, that will strike 30 deadly strokes in a minute & remain charged. One part is made of a piece of tough iron, an inch square, wrought to 8 inches square, 18 inches long, weighs 3 pounds, & a half, It is fastened with a swivel, to a cap 10 inches long, It is rivitted to a staff that is elastic, on such tough wood as is your Guest, about 5 feet long & goes with great force, & is sure to break the bones of man or horse, wherever it hits. I call it a war-flail. The coat of mail (that secures the breast & bowels, & is proof against the keenest sword & bayonet), is made of half-tanned sole leather; a layer of bark on both sides, throws a horn in the middle, nearly as hard as is the horn of an ox, and I think it will glance a ball in some directions. The outside is of shining black varnish, and by the direction of Mr. De Onis is written in white capital lettres \u201cLa Libertad \u00f2 La Muerte.\u201d\nThe war flails I had kept by me many years & never suffered them to be seen, not even by my nearest relations. After my notice of such an instrument to the (then) secretary of war, as the gentleman, now in the customs at Boston took no notice of it, I left it dormant, for any purpose that might turn up in time.\u2014We frequently had accounts from Spain, that the Peasantry would rise in mass, to clear their Country from the most rascally army, that was laying it waste, but had no arms.\u2014Some time after as Mr. De Onis, as ambassador from Spain, arrived here, I acquainted him that I possessed the above matters, but, that I was an old man, with disorders about me, & could not wait on him, to explain the above matters; he called on me, when he seemed much pleased & remarked that there should be 10,000 in the hands of the Peasants as soon as possible.\u2014About a dozen of each parts is gone in different ships some time back as samples to Spain. Whether they will be approved of or not, by the military men, has not come to my knowledge. Possibly I shall not have the approbation, if it succeeds & is the means of checking, & clearing Spain of, their deadly foe. There are many such wretched characters among us this day\u2014 The principle, that I went on to offer it to Mr. De Onis, was, that the French Tyrant was laying all the Countries, within his power, at his feet & sacrificing the human species to his ambition. It was time, for every honest man, in the world to try to check his career: and if I could by any means be serviceable in the hands of Providence, it was my duty, to come forward with all my remaining ers, old as I am; & when we meet in the  of spirits, which will be soon, You, I trust, will join me, in the song to the Great, I am, for by that time I make no doubt, the greatest Tyrant that ever appeared, Will be annihilated.\nI take the freedom to enclose a small printed paper which be pleased to have covered under your seal & sent to the Revnd. John Murray\u2014\nYours, with great, respect.\nHenry Guest.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5599", "content": "Title: From John Adams to David Sewall, 29 January 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Sewall, David\nQuincy, 29 January,  1811.\nI have received your favor of the 24th, and it revived or restored many of the sensations of my youth.\nThe last Trial before a special court of Vice-Admiralty in Boston, before the revolution, was of Ansell Nickerson for piracy and murder on the high seas.\nThe case was very singular and unaccountable. Nickerson took a passage on board a small vessel and sailed from Boston for Cape Cod, with three or four other men. The next day, or next but one, the vessel was found with Nickerson alone on board. All the other men had vanished. No blood or other marks of violence appeared. A sum of money of no great amount had been shipped on board by one of the other men, which was not found. It was suspected that Nickerson had murdered all the other men, for the sake of the money, but no money was found upon him, or hidden in the ship. Nickerson\u2019s character was unimpeachable and irreproachable in all his former life. His account was that a pirate came on board and pressed the men; but that he had leaped over the stern to avoid them, and hung there out of sight by some thing, the technical term for which, in naval architecture, I have forgotten, till the pirates departed.\nNickerson was libelled in the Special Court of Vice-Admiralty by Jonathan Sewall, Advocate-General, who was aided by Sam. Fitch, if I remember rightly.\nThere was no grand jury nor petit jury. I was of counsel for Nickerson, but was not engaged till the trial came on, when he requested the Court to appoint me. I did not move for any jury in this case. Josiah Quincy, the father of our foremost orator in Congress, was with me.\nAn act of parliament had provided for the erection of these special courts. They were to consist of fifteen judges, to be chosen out of the governors, Lieutenant-Governors, and Counsellors of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island, the Judge of Admiralty, and the Commander-in-chief of the king\u2019s ships on this station. Admiral Montague sat upon this trial with Bernard, Wentworth, Hutchinson, Auchmuty, and others, counsellors from New Hampshire and Rhode Island, &c.\nThe man was acquitted; but I never knew upon what principle, nor by what majority of votes. The judges in that court did not, in any case that I was concerned in, give their opinions publicly and individually from the bench. They adjourned, consulted together in private, and authorized the president to pronounce the judgment of the court, which was done by Bernard, without informing what was the majority.\nI suppose the want of direct evidence afforded room for a doubt in the minds of a majority.\nNickerson lived many years, and behaved well, and is living yet, for what I know.\nIn a former trial, that of Michael Corbet, and three other sailors, for piracy, and murder of Lieutenant Panton, of the Rose frigate, I demanded juries, grand and petit, and drew a plea in writing for each of the four, demanding juries as a right. I almost killed myself by writing, night and day, four of those pleas of enormous length, in which a number of acts of parliament were recited at large. These pleas, when they were read, appeared to make a great impression on the court, and even Hutchinson seemed to favor the idea of juries. But before any gentleman had time to speak, he moved an adjournment. The audience believed we should have juries, and Jonathan Sewall said he did not doubt it. But the court met in retirement, and the next morning the judgment of the court was pronounced, without informing us who, or whether any, dissented. Commodore Hood sat upon this trial, and behaved remarkably well. I do not remember that the evidence was reduced to writing by any authority, besides the minutes taken by the counsel and some of the judges.\nOur classmate Farrar, of New Ipswich, must be remembered with Wheeler and Cushing. He made me a kind visit a few months before his death.\nWentworth, Gardner, Sewall, Dalton, Whittemore, Adams, and Hemmenway, are all that remain; and these seven are a greater number, in proportion, than any other class has preserved. The melancholy news you give me of Dr. Hemmenway afflicts me very much. My affection for him, which began when we first entered College, has continued and increased till it is become veneration. The other six cannot long expect to survive Dr. Hemmenway. I rejoice to see in your handwriting a proof of the firmness of your health, and wish you as many days as you can make useful or agreeable, being your affectionate classmate and sincere friend.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5600", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Richard Rush, 3 February 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Rush, Richard\nQuincy February 3d. 1811\nI have read, my dear Sir, with great pleasure your elegant Eulogium, in your favour of the 27th of January on the Lectures and Character of our Minister in Russia. The Reviewers in our Boston Anthology and in the Portfolio of Philadelphia, wanting your Partiality in favour of the Man and his political Principles, have been more avaricious of their Praise, and more liberal in minute Criticisms. Not a few indeed of their Observations are just and are acknowledged by him to be so: but I think they have been very stingy in their applauses of the beauties of the Work, and very niggardly in their allowances for a Work produced in So Short a time, and amidst avocations of Business publick and private which necessarily occupied more than half his Time;\nIt is not likely they will ever be printed in England or sent over by any Friend to be reviewed in London or Edinbourg. They may be Sent by an Enemy, and if they should be, I expect Sneers and Sacasms and coarse Jokes in Abundance: though I would answer for it with my Life that neither their Blair nor their Ward are worth so much.\nIt is remarkable that Nothing of his has been published, with out producing Snarling abuse. His Travels in Silesia, were treated by the Scotts, with much Levity and with all their natural, characteristick, fastidious Antipathy to every Thing out of Scotland and especially to every Thing American.\nThose Travels have been translated into German and into French; and reviewed and abused in both those Languages, as much nearly as they have been in English and Scottish. There is a disposition in all Europe, to vilify every Thing American, which originates at bottom from a Jealousy and Envy of this happy growing Country.\nHaving all my Lifetime been delighted with Poetry, tho\u2019 no Poet, I cannot but esteem you the more, for your congenial Feelings and Taste. But in what Sense is Johnsons, offhand dictum of the Iliad, true.? It is like Humes, that The oration of Demosthenes for the Crown, is the most perfect of all human Compositions. Are the Works of Homer, taken all together, before the Works of Aristotle or Cicero, or Sir Isaac Newton or even Mr Lock? Are they before The Art of Navigation in all its Branches? Are they before Euclids Elements? We Should recollect too that the Works of Homer as We have them are not the Production of one Mind. Lycurgus made one Collection of the Scattered Rhapsodies of Homer; Solon made another; and Pysistratus, who though a Tyrant, was a Leo a Louis or a Napoleon for the Encouragement of Litterature, made a third, and a more solem Compilation of Homer. He assembled all the most learned Men in Greece, who had before them the Collections of Solon Lycurgus and all others, and they arranged them in their own Way and probably left out what they pleased and added what they chose corrected and amended According to the Taste the Manners and Religion of the Times. It was to become the Sacred Book, the standard of Religion for the Greeks. The Illiad therefore is not the Effort of one Mind, like Miltons Paradise Lost. And should you or I dare to Say that the Iliad even as we have it is a more perfect production of Mind that Milton?\nI agree however that Homer is a Magazine of Arts, Science and Letters and a Nursery of Heroes and Statesmen, as well as of Philosophers and Moralists\nYour observation on Burke and Chatham, are made with great Judgment and nice Discrimination. Burke never carried a Point, and Chatham, though vastly inferiour in Knowledge and rather a rational Minister than a wise one, Seldom failed, and even when he failed he always made a vast Impression.\nOur Union is, or ought to be held a Sacred Thing. Upon this Principle I rejoiced in the Purchase of Louisiana, and thought it one of the wisest, though the boldest Measure of his Mr Jeffersons Administration. The Union could not have been preserved without it. The Tramontanes would have joined the English or The Spaniards or Set up an Independence, without it, for the Navigation of the Missisippi, as was as essential to their Welfare, as the Fisheries and Navigation in general to New England. In the Union I comprehended the Southern and Western States as much as the Northern and Eastern, and middle or intermediate States. It was and is the Duty of the President and Congress to cherrish equally the Interests of all. I confess however, that I had doubts whether the constitution had made Provisions sufficiently explicit to embrace the object and approved of my Sons Proposition to refer it to the States, who would then I doubt not have Sanctioned it:\nMr Quincy is very confident that the Convention had no Idea of Admitting into the Union any Countries without the Limits of the then thirteen States. I am not. That they had not a glimpse of Foresight of the Purchase of Louisiana or a moments contemplation of erecting new States beyond The Missisippi, I fully believe. But that they had no Eye to the Floridas, or to Canada and Nova Scotia, I am not so clear. Mr Quincy is too young to have a distinct Recollection of the State of Things in 1787. Our affairs with England were deeply embroiled; neither Party had fullfilled the Treaty of Peace. The English held a Chain of Forts and Garrisons all along our Frontier clearly within our Territory. The Negroes were not returned nor paid for. The old British Debts were not paid, and possitive Laws existed in almost all the States against their Recovery. A War with England was apprehended on both Sides. It was therefore Scarcely possible that the Convention should not have thought of Canada and Nova Scotia. But if they really meant to give Power to receive such States they ought to have been more explicit, and to have inserted more detailed Limitations and Restrictions.\nMr. Quincy is one of the fairest Characters, and most respectable Men in this Commonwealth. His Connections, his Fortune his Education and his Talents, may compare with the proudest Son of North America, without suffering very much. He speaks the Sense of his Constituents and is a faithful Representative. But his Constituents are the Town of Boston, once the very Nursery of Patriotism, but now I think deceived into too great a Partiality for England and too great a Fear of France.\nIn the Ardour of his Vis Rhetorica, I think he ventured beyond the Line of Prudence, in Some of his Expressions; but the Freedom of Debate is as Sacred as The Union: and though I think Mr Poindexters answer to him a very able one, he did neither Justice to his Cause nor to Mr Quincy by his uncourtly and unparliamentary Personalities against Mr Quincy and his Constituents. I have scarcely room to subscribe the Name of your Friend\nJohn AdamsMrs. A. desires me to Say that She recollects you and your Brothers and Sisters with great Pleasure and with the Sentiments of uninterrupted Friendship for Six or Seven and thirty years, for the whole Family, to whom in all the Branches she wishes every Blessing", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5602", "content": "Title: To John Adams from William Cunningham, 8 February 1811\nFrom: Cunningham, William\nTo: Adams, John\nDear Sir.\nFitchburg, Feb. 8. 1811.\nIn the last Letter with which you favoured me, you expressed a hope \u201cthat you should soon find me more calm.\u201d I am unconscious of having ever written a word to you, in the way of censure, which was tinctured with malevolence; or which rose to any higher asperity than a sensibility to Truth, and a solicitude for my Country would excuse. And I am sure that what I am now about to say is untouched with the hateful temper you have insinuated against me; a temper too often, indeed, found in minds of the noblest structure; but a temper which, in its utmost extent, obliterates from the heart every impression of refinement, and hardens it against the entreaties of Candour, of Truth and of Justice.\nI have complained, and I think with reason, that when on your own request, I examind some of your late publications, it soon appeared that you was uneasy with my acting in the independency of Philoxenus and of Lysias. I can say this without meaning to compare you to Dionysius. Cambyses asked his friend Prexasses, the same question which you proposed to me. Prexasses answered with frankness, and what was the consequence? It is generally the wisest to say \u201cApollo himself could not have shot more dexterously\u201d\u2014but when said for safety how bitter the hatred which is concealed!\nThe whole world accord, in their sober moments, with that Governour of an Arabian City, who refused to hear the complaint of a boatman until he could make it cooly, and who then said to the boatman, \u201cI refused to hear you before because you were intoxicated with anger, the most dangerous of all intoxications.\u201d I repeat, that I am not sensible of having been hurried away with anger passion in my correspondence with you, but yet I must acknowledge, that anger strangely inspires the conceit of the Blacksmith in Bedlam, who fancied himself shut out from the world for being the only sober man in it. I trust that my understanding has not been so perverted.\nFrom the tenour of my last letters to you, I think it probable, that your apprehensions respecting the disposition I might make of our Correspondence and Conversations, have been alarmed. I assure you that no eye but mine has seen a line nor a word of your Letters addressed to me, since my reception of them; nor has any ear heard a recitation of their contents to any farther extent than might be collected from a hasty reading, by myself, of some parts of two of my letters to you in January, last year. One of those Letters I read to Mr. Shaw; and some parts of the same letter, and as much of another, I read, confidentially, to two persons of high reputation, and no more. Besides this, I communicated to a single character, under the same reserve, one accusation, of deep atrocity, against Gen. Hamilton, which led to a cautious enquiry, the result of which is of more importance to you, in various views, than any thing, of which I have any knowledge, that ever took place in the course of your life. The enquiry was closed some months since. It is altogether on the suggestions of my own mind that I give you this information\u2014the motives to it are not lightly imprinted with a sincere concern for your best interests:\n. . . \u201cIn the modesty of fearful duty,\nYou may read as much as from the ratling tongue.\u201d\nLet this be received as it will, of one thing I am positive (and it is the sole point I need concern myself about,) that this intimation will stand an impenetrable shield forever against any blame from yourself or Family. I have discovered the long ears, and reeds shall spring from the places where I whisper it to declare it with their rustling.\nIn my letter of Aug. 18. 1809. I engaged, that if Hamilton had been so thoroughly vitiated with lewdness as you had represented, I would give him a gabardine from a certain wardrobe. This engagement I am not disposed to retract. History displays no truth clearer, than that the heaviest judgments have been provoked by debaucheries. It is astonishing how much of the warfare and distresses of the world have been occasioned by the corrupt congress of the sexes, and by attempts at seduction. I will notice a few instances as they rise in my mind, without regarding chronological exactness: If we go back to the time of the Babylonians, we have Herodotus and Strabo for authority, that women were obliged by law to prostitute themselves to appease Venus. The denunciations of Heaven against Babylon, were for her whoredoms\u2014What city suffered a more awful destruction?\nIt was an unchaste connexion between Alboine and Rosamond, and it involved Italy in a furious war of ten years.\nThe connexion of Fredegonde, daughter of a peasant, with Chilperic is, perhaps, as strongly marked with iniquity as any case of unlawful amours, and the consequences agree in character with the flagitiousness of the lovers.Dagobert &c.\nDagobert, a descendant of Fredegonda, ascended the throne of France under very auspicious appearances, but corrupted with the vices of his grandmother, a war of signal ferocity ensued, which he did not long survive. His sons and successors, Sijebert II. and Clovis II. were equally contemptible. Thierry III. son of this Clovis, fell a prisoner into the hands of Pepin Heristel, the elected Duke, or Governour of Australia, and though Pepin was worthy of his dignity, there was not in France a true display of power and greatness, until the Supreme authority fell into the hands of Charles Martel.\nHenry IV. of Castile, passed his time among minions and mistresses. The example of the monarch was contagious. His minister, Bertrand de la Ceuva, lived in an adulterous correspondence with the Queen; civil wars were fomented; Joanna, suspected of being a daughter of the Queen by Bertrand, the King was compelled to exclude from the succession, and to appoint his sister Isabella; this arrangement he afterwards reversed, when Isabella and Joanna became the names under which the vilest works of popular inflammation were perpetrated.If the sin of the sexual excesses of rulers, is visited upon a people, it would agree with Justice that the visitation should be mitigated by what remained of virtue in the offenders. Charlemagne may be cited as a case in which it was so attemperated. He was himself inconstant, but there were great and glorious traits in his character. His acquisitions were so extensive and so well secured, that it appeared as if his successours had an exhaustless stock of grandeur provided for them. It did not prove so. The Empress of Louis had her count of Barcelona, and Charles, who was probably the fruit of their unauthorized commerce, created the disaffection among the legitimate children of Louis, which brought on the battle of Fontenai, in which an hundred thousand fell. The Empire of Charlemagne first split into the branches of Italy, France, and Germany; and the Carlovingian race became extinct in a little more than two centuries.\nThe same mixture of favour and dislike, may be discovered in the history of Louis XIV. a great prince, but he had his Madame de Pompadore, and the virtue of many more was yielded to his pleasure.\nA massacre of all the French in the Island of Sicily was occasioned by the rudeness of Drochet, a Frenchman, towards a bride as she was passing.\nThe kingdom of Benin, in Africa, was desolated with a war waged to avenge the violence of Beelsyder, a Dutch factor, towards a beautiful female of high rank.\nBoleslaus II. after Kiev fell into his hands, reposed there with his army, immersed in vereal venereal pleasures, and every species of voluptuousness. The Polish women, in retaliation of the wrongs done them, admitted their slaves to the privileges of husbands. This roused the soldiers of Boleslaus, who accused him of being the cause of their dishonour, and the rage which was enkindled flooded Poland with the blood of her own people. The king was expelled, and ended his days in a scullery.\nChristian, of Denmark, had his Columbula. The cohabitation sharpened violence, whose acts were closed with his deposition, & confinement in a dungeon.\nHenry II. of France, on his accession, took the dutchess of Valentinois for his mistress. The Sovereign was sunk in the sensualist, and fiery zealot. Wars against Faith followed, in which he proved himself the tool of Maurice in relation to Germany; and the instrument of the Pope and the Guises with respect to his own kingdom, deluging it with the sword of persecution. The Bourbons and the Guises rent the realm with their feuds. The troubles in the State continued, with short intervals of melioration, (heightened, indeed, in the reign of Henry III. a prince of still more infamous lustfulness,) till the appearance of Henry IV. who displayed great qualities, but who was a gross debauchee, and fell by the hands of an Assassin. His conduct relaxed the respect of his people for the holy rite of matrimony, and many thousands of the first characters fell in private combats, on no other subject of difference than a mistress, or a punk!\nDermod, king of Leinster, allured to his embraces the wife of O\u2019Rourke, king of Breffry, and eloped with her. The whole Island was enflamed, and a war was obstinately maintained against an English party under Pembroke, who undertook to reinstate Dermod on his throne.\nThe union of king John with Isabella, on the day of the death of the Count of Angouloume, if not effected by the violence of lawless love, was yet brought about unlawfully. Under this king, England experienced calamities, little if any lighter, than those which sprang from the rivalry of the Houses of York and Lancaster.\nWhen a tax-gatherer of Richard II. seized the Blacksmith\u2019s daughter, his views were of a different kind from exhibiting evidence of a taxable age. His outrage ripened the insurrection under Tyler and Straw.\nThe prospect of subjugating France to the British Crown, which was opened by Henry V. and appeared ready to be realized by the Duke of Bedford, Regent of France in the minority of Henry VI. was darkened immediately on the unwarrantable connexion of the Duke of Gloucester, Regent of England, with Jaqueline, consort of the Duke of Brabant; and that connexion contributed materially to its total obscuration, the merits of the Maid of Orleans not denied.\nEdward IV. when the victory of Taunton, had released his military genius from active employment, gave a loose to his amorous passions, and allied himself to Elizabeth Gray after he had been actually engaged to a daughter sister of the French King. It was for this, the Kingdom was so violently convulsed, that Edward was driven into Holland. He did, indeed, recover his crown, but by means which struck the impression of his misconduct too deeply on the fortunes of his country to be eradicated by his valorous deeds.\nIt was oweing to a rival passion between Richelieu, and the Duke of Buckingham for the Queen of France, that the war was prolonged between Charles I. and Louis XIII. What effect had that war in bringing on the decapitation of Charles, and the Protectorate of Cromwell, and the attendant miseries of a convulsed state?\nCharles II. was a most libidinous prince, and though no extraordinary calamities of war mark his reign (the Nation had been thoroughly scourged with war during the interregnum.) yet the Plague, which raged in his reign, nearly depopulated London, and the Fire of 1666, nearly consumed it. The nation was degraded by the profligacy of the King\u2019s council; by his own notorious venality; and the corruption of the Parliament. His reign lowered with the storm which burst on his successor.\nThe princess Ann, of Mecklinburg, Regent of the Russian Empire, was criminally familiar with the Polish Count Linav. Their intercourse so alienated the affections of the Russians from the Regent, and her infant son Iwan, destined to fill the throne, that Elizabeth successfully aspired to the crown. Elizabeth became as impure as her neice; and the events of her reign are notched to some conformity to her demerits. Her court of secret chancery was a hot-house of callamity, strewed every day with seeds, and bearing every day a crop. But the beastly concupisence of Catherine II. exceeded either of the other examples. The wars in which she proudly engaged, were they not more pompous than prosperous? The Plague of 1771, took off 150.000 of her subjects; and when she made peace with the Porte in 1791. she found that the war had wasted 200.000 of her subjects, and had drawn from her treasury two hundred millions of rubels. What was the equivelant? Of what consequence will her conquests on the Turkish frontier, and the partition of Poland, eventually prove? Time will answer. Her talents qualified her for the Cabinet, but as her licentiousness was unbounded, it is not inconsistent with the drift of these reflections to suppose, that the consequences of it are have been long and silently accumulating, for a more remarkable irruption. The succession of her natural son Paul, may be considered as a continuance of her own corruption on the throne, because it was done by her own express order. The conduct of that prince was well calculated to accellerate the destruction of the state. His son Alexander succeeded, and it remains to be seen whether he is not flouning in the way of the Leviathan to be swallowed up; or in allusion to the Mountain whether the Gallic fire it embosoms fuel collected in his Country will not burst but in an overwhelming torrent of destruction.\nOf the Great Elector, Frederick William, it is expressly remarked, that he was unheated with the desire of forbidden love. Whose administration was more glorious? I do not recollect that Frederick William II. was laciviously inclined; he augmented the advantages for the display of the extraordinary capacity of Frederick the Great, of irreproachable purity. Frederick William III. was a gross debauchee, and the wealth, fame and power of his Country dissolved in his hands faster than they were formed by the hands of his predecessors. Prussia, under him, has, indeed, been once devoured, and was vomited from the Grampus\u2019 belly only because he had not grown to a size to digest her. She will probably be swallowed again, never more to be voided.\nStruensee bled on the scaffold for the enjoyment he had of Caroline Matilda. Is it less than probable, that the fermentation in Denmark occasioned by the misconduct of the Queen and her paramour, facilitated the affair which has made Copenhagen so noticeable in the present war?\nThese are some of the instances of the miseries and afflictions brought on a people by fleshly lusts. If incorrectly stated, I have relied too confidently on the faithfulness of my memory. They will be properly closed with the simple mention of the one which is the subject of a grand Epic of Homer\u2014Of the two which disgraced Tarquin and Appius\u2014immortalized Brutus and Virginius\u2014and which produced two Revolutions in celebrated Rome. The imbrutal practices of the Emperours finished the ruin of the Roman State: The fate of Carthage was sealed at Capua:\n\u201cVengeful memorials of Almighty ire\nAgainst the sons of lewdness exercis\u2019d.\u201d\nThese speculations are, I believe, novel. It would be amusing to pursue them farther, and shew, in various directions, the roots and ramifications of national misfortunes as they have appeared spread and expanded in nations polluted with uncontroulled salacity. If these thoughts are liable to objection, I yet persuade myself, that there is enough in them to claim serious considerations; and enough to slacken the confidence of a people in any man, however exalted, who breaks the bars of virtue to feed his appetites.\nDugald Stewart speaks of Robertson\u2019s Charles V. as describing a meridian on the map of time. Pursuing this idea, would the political astronomer direct the telescope to the sky of civil science, he would perceive at its farthest reach, and in all the intermediate spaces to the objects which strike the naked eye, lights elicited from human wickedness and hung in the wide expanse for the illumination of our path. If to these discoveries he would combine an accurate knowledge of the existing state & progress of corruption in any nation, he could foretel the day, hour and duration of its eclipse. This comparison, I may close with a happy thought of your own: Those heavenly bodies, whose existence and movements we are as yet only permitted faintly to perceive, do not appear to be governed by laws more uniform and or certain than those which regulate the moral and political world. The hectick symptoms, the waste of vitals, and final fall of Nations, originate, increase and ripen with their moral diseases.\nOne of the ten maxims of the Minister Ching-Tsong, and by which the Emperour prosperously regulated his conduct, was, \u201cto hold Debauchery in horror.\u201d An excellent maxim, and surely not less deserving a Christian\u2019s than a Mahometan\u2019s regard. Sully adopted it when he said, \u201cthat if he had a principle to establish it should be this, that good morals and good laws are reciprocally formed by each other.\u201d Montesquieu thought in the same way when he declared, \u201cthat bad examples produce worse consequences than crimes, and more States have been ruined by infringements of the laws morals, than by violations of the laws.\u201d Civilians of not less celebrity, and Esayists of deep thought, have expressed the same sentiment: the maxim needs more to be followed than fortified.\nBut notwithstanding the signal displeasure which has been at any time manifested against unhallowed love, it is yet true, that the fruits of such love have, in many instances, far surpassed,the in animal strength and mental energy, the productions of the chaste embrace. If this is mysterious, it is not more so than many other things in the Divine economy. Is it more so than the story of the birth and sufferings of the Virgin\u2019s Son? The elegant author of the \u201cpursuits of Literature,\u201d has founded a new argument in favour of Christianity on Paul\u2019s cloak. Butler, with more power,and if withas much less ingenuity, might have founded another point of Analogy on the subject under consideration. Had it occurred to him, that according to the Constitution and Course of Nature, a man, for the most important purposes to his fellows, may be begotten out of the ordinary legalized mode, the case would have been made out to his hand. This idea sprouted as I was writing, and I have gathered it. I will let it go with one observation;\u2014the point of analogy I have supposed is absolutely stronger than many points in Butler\u2019s book. Blinded, perhaps, by his earnestness, it appears not to have been perceived by that sensible author, that many of his arguments make precisely as much for Mahomet, or for any other Impostor, as for Christ.\nHeros comes, according to some, from the Greek \u03ad\u03c1\u03c9\u03c2, both words importing by this etymology, that Heroes have a portion above other men, of the divine fire; or that \u201cthey are the most illustrious product of Love.\u201d and they are themselves, as Hierocles remarks, the most sensibly alive to the tender passion\u2014the coat of Nessus cannot keep it out of them. Armstrong founds the following on the legends of Jupiter, and Rhea Silvia, or Mars:\u2014\n. . . . . \u201cFrom the stolen embrace\nUntir\u2019d with worn acquaintance, keenly urg\u2019d\nElate with generous rapture, likliest springs\nThe noblest breed, most animated, best;\nWhat Heroes hence have issued! What fam\u2019d Chiefs,\nAnd demi-gods of old! The stealth of love\nGave Greece her Hercules, and mighty Rome\nFirst rose beneath a random son of Mars.\u201d\nHow many polished shafts of the Muses have been winged with the same idea?\nMan his like begets, yet from languid Love ne\u2019er sprang\nThe Foetus with a curly pate, the athletic sign.\nThe ethereal spirit is lodg\u2019d alike in frames of strength\nAnd symmetry, and those slender and misshapen,\nA proof that Mind and Body, how near soe\u2019er\nAssociated, are not akin. When might and\nGenius couple in full extacy, then comes the\nProdigy, his caput coated with the coarse and crinkled\nAuburn or the dark red of more decisive indication,\nHimself the Serpents master in his cradle, his piercing eye\nAnd quick perception, pronouncing the parentage of Wisdom.\nLocks of fine and flaggy azure shew less of muscle, but\nThe window of the soul may, with as much intelligence,\nBe illum\u2019d. Rare the union, in perfection full,\nOf a sound Mind in a Body sound.\u201d\nHence it was that Lycurgus, to improve the breed of men in Sparta, inflamed desire by creating difficulties to its indulgence even between man and wife. No man ever understood this business better than Lycurgus. It was his policy to have chastity respected, and yet to provoke the passions to the utmost bearing. It was a difficult undertaking, but the rigour of the laws, and the severity of public manners, maintained a salutary co-operation for a considerable time. When the laws and manners unbent their power, it was then, observes Aristotle, that Sparta declined.\nFrom such a view of the potency of illicit love, the deduction is just, that\n\u201cTrue Love to Reason never does aspire;\nDull Reason damps the Lover\u2019s noble fire,\u201d\nfrom Wilkes\u2019 Essay on Women; a parody of Popes\u2019 on Man, but the not less deserving of consideration because it was burnt by the hands of the hangman. The fourth book contains an offering at the shrine of female virtue, at once so just and happy as to entitle it to the laurels of the Mount.\nA Shaw may descant on the text, \u201cBastard slips shall not thrive,\u201d but in truth it must be said, that Experience has discoursed otherwise.\nThe brothers of Alexander objected to his succession because he descended from the repudiated Olympias. The remark of Philip was worthy of the greatness which raised him to a throne: \u201cBe patient, and your merits shall shew that the crown is your just inheritance.\u201d\nCyrus, who overthrew &c\nCyrus, who overthrew the Babylonish Empire, was the son probably, of Cambyses, King of Persia, by Mandane, daughter of the King of Media. The Persian Empire was extended by the conquests of Cyrus beyond the bounds of any other Empire which, until his day, had existed in the world. And, according to Xenophon, he was a finished pattern for Princes, and for the imitation of mankind. An act of his generosity is and its effect, are worthy of particular notice\u2014His prisoner, the enchanting Princess Panthea, he restored to her husband, who was so much affected with the protection her virtue found in him, that he joined the standard of Cyrus.\nArtaxares, who restored the Persian Empire, after its subjection for 475 years to the Parthians, was of mean descent, and spurious birth.\nHelgo killed himself for the incestuous commerce which produced Rolfo; but who, of the kings of Denmark, equalled Rolfo?\nHenry de Transtamara, son of Alphonso by Leonora de Guzman, makes a figure in the history of Spain, and shines in contrast with Don Pedro, Alphonso\u2019s only son by his Queen.\nConstantine the Great, was natural son of Char Constantius by Helena, a victualler\u2019s daughter. He was appointed by his Father to succeed in the Empire to the exclusion of his children by the Empress Theodora. Constantine\u2019s are religious honours\u2014Believers continue to credit the marvellous accounts of this prince, and they regard his conversion and conduct as ranking next in importance to the world, to the mission of Christ, and the Acts of the Apostles.\nDyoclesian was of the meanest origin\u2014the son, as some assert, of a slave; but he had a kingly character; and there can be no doubt but that he would have restored the Roman Empire to the highest glory it enjoyed under Augustus, had it not have sunk below the possibility of restauration before his accession.\nArnolf, natural son of Carloman, understood the intricacies of State much better than either of the legitimante descendants of Charles V. The same may be said of Manfred, a natural son of Frederick of Germany. To me it appears probable, that Popery would have been swept from the earth, had the affairs of the Italian and German States been in the hands of these persons rather than in the hands of their connexions of uncorrupted blood.\nWilliam of Normandy, was a bastard by a Butcher\u2019s daughter. He carried on the butchery all his days; he certainly deserves to be quoted among examples of extraordinary men, the issue of illicit love.\nDon Juan, natural son of Charles V. inherited a larger portion of the genius of his Father, than fell to Philip. The naval victory of Lepanto, obtained by John, was the most splendid event in the reign of his brother. A sense of the important services of John led Pius V. to exclaim, \u201cThere was a man sent from God, and his name was John.\u201d I would not quote an expression from this, nor from scarcely any other Pope, as any proof of piety, virtue, or intelligence; but proceed from whom it will, the observation supposes the superintendency of Providence, that a man preeminently useful in a great cause, is purposely given for its promotion.\nCan it be doubted, that the disasters which ensued on the succession of Philip IV. would have been repaired; and the greater misfortunes which followed the succession of Charles II. would have been prevented, had the Government been committed to Don Juan, natural son of Philip by the actress Calderona, instead of being confided to Charles?\nIn a former letter, I mentioned John of Portugal, but that instance deserves to have some thing more said upon it. The discovery of America grew out of the immense talents of his son Don Henry, whose knowledge of the astronomical science of the Arabs, whose concern in the invention of the Astrolabe, and whose understanding of the magnetic needle, were employed to the immediate advantage of his country, and led directly to the cultivation of the genius of genius of Columbus. As much as Columbus was depending on Henry, so much, the it is probable, was Henry depending on having a Monarch for a Father.\nOn the Death of the English Charles II. to which, on the score of sound policy, should the crown have descended, Monmouth the natural son of Charles, or the bigotted James? It is a question, I think of as easy solution, as whether Wallace or his contemner, should have commanded at Falkirk.\nOf that groupe of martial geniuses which flourished in the age of Louis XIV. was there one of brighter bay than the Duke of Berwick? Fortune was more propitious to others, but Justice must be impartial.\nMareschal Saxe was a natural son of that Augustus of Poland, of whose gallantry a remarkable anecdote is related. Saxe was recommended to Louis XV. as the only person capable of recalling to the Empire the prosperous days of Louis XIV. The Duke himself, though one of the most illustrious men of his time, offerred to serve in a subordinate grade to the greater Saxe.\nInstances might be much extended. Sforza, Dunois, and a host of others, will occur to you. Tamerlane was base born. It is wholly irreconcileable with the notion of a governing providence, to suppose that a man of such extraordinary fortune as Tamerlane overturning Empires, and establishing a new dynasty of immense extent, was not particularly endeared for his great transactions. This admitted, objections are silenced. I will only add, that a French divine, I think Malanethon, discoursing on the character of David, the man after God\u2019s own heart, gives in extenuation of his particular frailty, the very oeconomy of Providence I am illustrating, and refers to Solomon in justification of the economy.\nBut birth out of the question, every extraordinary talents will command respect\u2014They rise as we recede, till exalted to immortality; whilst midocrity, with whatever advantages of patronage it may have, and through the fluctuations in the public estimation it may pass, finds ere long its level, at which remaining for a period, it is doomed gradually to decline until it sinks in oblivion.\nFrederick I. of Brandenburg, acted on this view of talents, when he bequeathed only a crucible to his eldest son because his mind was abstracted from Government, and devoted to alchymy. And the Duke of Savoy deserved more commendation when he declined the Imperial throne, at the time Selim was preparing for the invasion of Germany, because \u201cTimes of danger require an Emperour able to secure safety.\nArmstrong remarks of Love, that its\n\u201cHeavenly warmth\nInspires whate\u2019er is noble, generous, and humane,\nOr elegant; whate\u2019er adorns the mind,\nGraces or sweetens life\u201d\nBesides the proofs which a man can discover in those around him, or feel in himself, of this truth, there is some evidence of it derived from the character of those naturally deficient, and of those deprived of virility. Honorious, son of Theodosa, and Emperour of the Western division of the Roman Empire, was a remarkable instance of the depravity associated with animal inability. His Empress, Maria, died a virgin, though she had been ten years his wife, such is the story; and he divorced Thermantia in the same condition. He was a prince of miserable weakness, and with other wantonness, was excited to the sacrifice of Stilicho, the Father of his neglected wives, and the sole glory of his reign. Such men as Honorious, are of less value than the interstices between the teeth of a mill-saw, for these lengthen out the plate though they do none of the cutting.\nEunuchs have been actuated by as much ambition as men unrob\u2019d of virility. One of this description founded the kingdom of Pergamus. It has been generally true of these persons, that in malignity they have been tygers, whom no kindness could soften, no blood could satisfy. If the kitten countenances at an Opera, and of the attendants in a bed-chamber, betray no ferocity, remember, the kitten itself displays not the fierceness of its nature until instigated to seek its prey.\nOf soul-ennobling Love, Alexander gave an instance when,\n\u201cIn the May of youth, and bloom of lusty hood,\u201d he denied the importunity of his passions, inflamed with the charms of his captives, the wife and daughter of Darius. Publius Scipio gave another when, in the frolic of the blood, he restored the captive of whom he was enamoured to the prince to whom she was betrothed. Generosity and humanity are naturally and inseparably allied to true heroism, and love is the first in the fraternity of these virtues, as appears by the these examples. But fierce fits of passion have been felt without a single generous emotion in the heart. Of this phrenzied feeling, described by the line of Virgil,\n\u201cDegere more farae.\u201d\nand which has incited to deeds of the blackest stain, Gyges is an example who inflamed with the beauties of Candeaulus\u2019 Queen, did not scruple to assassinate the king, though his friend, that he might enjoy his consort and his crown together. For criminals of this stamp, nature cannot plead, and Justice passes a sentence unmixed with mercy.\nHamilton may have had the animal accomplishments of Priapus, but whether made \u201cfor a stool or a God,\u201d is the point to be determined. Enough has been given me respecting him tomake assay me in the tenours, to the Ladies, of the Mumbo Jumbo of Mandingo. And if all be true, a number of our citizens, hitherto considered as the most meritorious, will be set inextricably in the marshes of Minturnum. Let such marshes be their stocks forever, if such is their desert\u2014let sepulchres be searched for the skeletons of their copartners in crime to be stuck in with them . . . But\u2014it is unnecessary to depict the course of Justice on the reverse of this proposition.\u2014I leave it\u2014If you perceive that I stand between Iisaphernes and the Athenians you will not look upon me as Alcibiades\u2014I am above the meanness of Battus.\nYou will take into consideration, that your Letters and verbal communications have all been given with permission to disclose them after your decease, and in the expectation, on your part, of that they will then be revealed. This appears very clearly in several of your Letters. Your Executors will be left as much in the mastery of this subject as I shall, should I survive you, or of those into hands my papers may fall after my departure. As the business stands, then, a blow must be struckunavoidably be struck which shall resound to the last period of our history, and wounds must be given which shall remain forever incurable\u2014The egg is placed under the unfailing incubation of time.\nThe conduct of Napoleone in revoking his Decrees, appears like the enigma proposed by Solomon at his marriage, which, if we solve to his liking, he will give us clothing, but if not he will take away our garments. Or, we shall be fined for giving the true solution, and can only escape forfeiture by such explanations as will please the Emperour! So he treats us.\nMr. Smith can address a Letter of some tone to Jurreau, but we have not all forgotten, that Requesens, in apparent displeasure, broke down the statues of Alva, with no other view than to facilitate the operation of Alva\u2019s plans.\nPa-pu, is written on every political schedule, but for all that our politicians are the veriest cheats alive. In moments of public delirium, it is in vain that the sober sense of any citizen is exercised to remove the malady. We should build around us walls while negociation is pending, and when done they will support us in the decision we may make. It is a Navy alone on which we can with confidence inscribe \u03a4\u039f\u03a5 \u03a4\u03a9 \u039d\u0399\u039a\u0391. Our opposition to France amounts to no more than the rolling of a tub, and we are as impatient of entering into a war with England as if we had the promise of a prophet that the sins of the first army against her should be forgiven. The measures pursued by the Government to bring on a war with that power, keep a sub-terras track, like the Gaudina, and it is only by their breaking out here and there, that we know their course. Courage exercised in defence of our rights would prove, between the two belligerents, the rod of Mercury. But if we remain in apathy until England falls; or should we hasten her destruction by giving to our vengeance the direction of injustice, we shall be drawn into the belly of France as a serpent sucks in a frog. It is poison which is administered to us in the adulations of France, and should she even arrest our hand when raising it to our lips, and tell us of our danger, it would be only to increase a confidence in the innocency of more fatal preparations. We need the songs of Alcaeus to rouse us to valour; the moving and melting strains of Eurepedes; the Decades of Livy to mark out the sources of corruption; and the hand of Vulcan to spread an invisible net, and yet a net of iron, over the secret lurking place of Guilt to entangle and expose it.\nMrs. C. is in no better health than when you saw her. She unites in affectionate respects to Mrs. Adams and your Family.\nWith veneration and esteem, / I am, Dear Sir, / Your Friend & Servt.\nWm. Cunningham, Jun.\n    See the derivation variously stated in Tookes Pantheon.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5603", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Fran\u00e7ois Adriaan Van der Kemp, 9 February 1811\nFrom: Van der Kemp, Fran\u00e7ois Adriaan\nTo: Adams, John\nM\u00ff Dear and respected Sir!\nOlden barneveld 9 Febr. 1810\u2014 1811\nIt is certainl\u00ff a long while, that you received not a line from me, and this nothwithstanding I was So highly gratifiede, and as it were buoy\u2019d by your kind favour of 30 Nov. last\u2014But\u2014how could I do else, as I wrote not even to m\u00ff Son\u2014labouring Since the three last months under an increasing debility, which Seemed to threaten the total destruction of the machine. As long however it was only a high probalility as long I had not ascertained its full certainty, at which I was not appalled, I deemed it a duty\u2014presuming\u2014that over stretched mental exertions and an unusual anxiety of mind\u2014and want of bodily exertions were its proximate cause\u2014restlessness at night\u2014continued head-ache\u2014and total loss of appetite its effects\u2014to try Some exertions of removing the causes\u2014if m\u00ff conjectures were founded. Having at lenght Succeeded in this point\u2014I under took the Course of Bark and Steel\u2014with a more generous diet\u2014abstinence from Stud\u00ff\u2014and applying to exercise\u2014with which I continued Since three weeks\u2014and am nearly the Same old fellow firm and strong\u2014and within a week\u2014I shall leave the Bark\u2014and return to my Books\u2014and correspondence\u2014I doubt not, or m\u00ff apolog\u00ff Shall be accepted\u2014Tho I could not answer\u2014your Letter howewer was a restorative\u2014and I did Suppose you enjoy\u2019d perfect health\u2014and made happ\u00ff all around you\u2014I Saw you at the funeral of President Hillard, I did See you at Kirkland\u2019s installation. As long Adams breathes\u2014at his friends or countr\u00ff\u2019s call he will be alert\u2014all-wa\u00ffs on the wing\u2014\nTho my weaning was an arduous task\u2014I wanted now and then a Small draught\u2014I took Manilius astronomicon\u2014this would not do\u2014then Ph\u00e6drus\u2014this had a better Success and made the Spirits flow thro another channel. I made however one discover\u00ff in Manilius\u2014You recollect we admired with others the Eripuit coelo fulmen Sceptrumque Tyrannis. I have a proof from Manilius that J. Luzac could not be the author\u2014and now I dare Sa\u00ff\u2014neither the classical and unassuming van Santen.\nEripuitque Jovi fulmen viresque tonandi\nLib. i vs. 104\u2014\nThis looks more like plagiat\u2014than an innocent imitation\u2014Encouraged by Ph\u00e6drus I turned my Self to Rousseau\u2014and perused his Nouv. Heloise\u2014after 20 years\u2014with fresh pleasure\u2014then I read Walter Scott\u2014his Lady of the Lake 3 times\u2014without interuption. Do no laugh at me\u2014as they belong to the course of Physic\u2014by which I have recovered the tone\u2014which Seemed gone for ever. I have now only lost three months\u2014tho not be entirel\u00ff idle But I go astra\u00ff\u2014with your Letter before me\u2014that might be Stamped\u2014with Sinning in the confidence of obtaining indulgence\u2014\nI could have wished for a place in your pew\u2014at Whitney\u2019s Sermon\u2014If I was at Quinc\u00ff\u2014or if I now could explain me Self full\u00ff\u2014It would\u2014I am confident, appear, that we do not disagree in the great outlines\u2014we ma\u00ff do So in filling up Some Striking features in the resemblance of both Portraits\u2014viewed by us\u2014from different parts. Your General lucid observations I full\u00ff adopt\u2014Brittain is yet a more Powerful nation\u2014can not conquer France\u2014grasps at ever\u00ff objects\u2014she can reach\u2014and ma\u00ff nevertheless Sit upon a tottering throne\u2014be ripe for destruction. The all conquering Corse\u2014is Safe at home\u2014compelled to arms by necessity\u2014moral and Physical, and can not rests\u2014till Gr. B\u2014is ruined by him\u2014or herself\u2014and\u2014if we had followed the System of preparing to defend ourselves, and assert our rights against Both\u2014We were Safe\u2014we might def\u00ff both\u2014would be cajoled by both\u2014and Suppl\u00ff the whole world with what they wanted.\nWho is that Ivernois? is he the author of Effets du Blocus continental Sur le commerce, les finances le credit et la prosperite des Isles Brittanniques? If he is the Same Genevois who wrote Le Tableau des Revolutions de Geneve\u2014I Should much long, to peruse it. I never Saw a more Striking picture of the truth of your Doctrine of the necessity of Balances in government\u2014than in that treatise\u2014I wished\u2014ever\u00ff American could and would read it.\nThus far I had written last week, when I felt my Self compelled to Stop\u2014I had presumed too much\u2014This temporising had been beneficial I now believe, I have nearly recovered my Strenght\u2014yesterda\u00ff I ventured to pla\u00ff a game of chess\u2014My appetite is restored and ere long I Shall return to my old companions\u2014Since monda\u00ff I bid farewel to the bark\u2014health and contentment Sit again\u2014at our board\u2014and I enjo\u00ff this happ\u00ff Society.\nI doubt not, m\u00ff Dear and high respected frend\u2014or I Should adopt your opinion with regard to the Lectures on Rhetoric\u2014I Shall Study them\u2014when ever I can meet with an opportunity of procuring them\u2014Have you Seen John Wood\u2019s new theor\u00ff of the diurnal rotation of the earth? if So\u2014what is your opinion about it.\nI had an idea of devoting this winter\u2014to try a Sketch\u2014of \u201cthe moral and Physical causes of the Revolutionary Spirit in the latter part of the 18th centur\u00ff\u2014and its presumtive final issue on both Continents\u201d but I lost now the winter months\u2014and perhaps the task might be too arduous for m\u00ff Strenght\u2014after all\u2014could I accomplish it\u2014then it would remain in Embryo. It Seems however to me an undertaking worth\u00ff a first rank man\u2014If Your Son would undertake it\u2014He would not repent of the Labour bestowed upon it\u2014It is a vast field\u2014from which unfading laurels might be gathered. I admire Wellington and Massena\u2014it Seem\u2014they respect one another\u2014what I am apprehensive of is\u2014that at lenght M. Shall obtain Such reinforcements, that\u2014as at Jamappe; he may Sacrifice 15 a 20000 brave fellows\u2014and drive W to Search for a refuge\u2014for his remaining forces on his fleet\u2014If that apprehensions is founded\u2014I would rather risk and court the possibility of the same catastrophe\u2014in Storming Massena\u2019s retrenched camp\u2014trusting on my faithful Soldiers and hoping\u2014that once Voltaire taught no lie\nLe Francais qu\u2019on attaque est a demi vaincu\u2014\nI think, I must make an excursion of a few days\u2014to See m\u00ff few good friends and enjoy their compan\u00ff\u2014\nIf my ardent prayers avail\u2014health contentment and the choice of Providences blessing Shall continue the portion of you and Your famil\u00ff\u2014till you reach the end of your Course and let then your final parting be Soothed by the mutual prospect\u2014of Seing ere long one another once more in a State of uninterrupted bliss.\nRecommend me to the remembrance of your Noble Lad\u00ff\u2014I firmly am persuaded\u2014you cannot forget / your old and obliged frend\nFr. Adr. vanderkemp", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5604", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Rush, 13 February 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\nDear Sir\nQuincy February 13. 1811\nIn your Favour of the 4th., according to my Judgment you have given up the whole Controversy. You have no Objection, you say to teaching the youth in our Schools to read the dead Languages. By reading them, no doubt you, meant that they should so read them as to understand them. and they can be read to be understood, in no Way so well as by Writing and Speaking them. I therefore regret very much the discontinuance, in the Universities of Europe and America, of the Practice and Fashion of talking in Latin. I regret too the Exchange of French for Latin as the Language of Courts, Camps, Travellers, Merchants, Science and Letters. If Franklins division of the Labour of acquiring a Language into ten Parts be correct, I think the five for reading, the two for speaking and the three for Writing should all be employed, and the whole Ten will be little enough to acquire a Language as it should be mastered. The late wonderful increase of Knowledge in all useful Arts and Sciences, will facilitate the Acquisition of Languages as much as other Things. The profound Investigations of the Principles of all Languages, and Universal grammar, and the great variety of excellent Translations into English, French, Italian, German &c will make the Progress more easy and delightful than ever it has been.\nI most cordially congratulate you, and my Friend Mr. Rush, on his unsolicited and unexpected appointment to the very respectable and very important office of Attorney General of the State of Pensilvania. Gentlemen of his Talents accomplishment, Wisdom and Moderation, I fear are very rare: but among those who might be found, it appears to me that neither the People, nor their Government have been very fortunate in their Elections or Selections. Parties have too much Influence and are too monopolizing and exclusive in their dispositions.\nI rejoice in the appearance on the Stage of another Benjamin Rush. May he live as long as his Grandfather has lived or shall live and serve his species and his Country as meritoriously.\nThe Rage for Banks is a Fever a Mania. I wish you would invent a Tranquillizer to tame it. Every Bank in America is an enormous Tax upon the People for the Profit of Individuals. All the Salaries of all the officers of all our government State and National, do not cost the People So much Money as these Banks. But I despair of ever Seeing Common Sense prevail in Money Matters in America. No People ever had so much Experience of the Injustice, Impolicy and Inhumanity of Paper Money: but Experience and Demonstration is lost upon Us. Our Banks are the Madness of the Many for the Profit of a Few. If the Termination of the National Bank is to be a Precedent for the demolition of all the rest I should rejoice in its End: but if it is to be a Signal for augmenting the Number of State Banks it will cure no distemper, prevent no Evil. Our Banks are all founded on a fundamental Principle of Iniquity.\nIt requires, however, great Prudence, Moderation and Delicacy to extricate us from these Briars without Scratching the Skin and lacerating the Flesh.\nI will write to my Neighbour Mr Quincy in Congress and ask the favour of him to take The Coins with him to Boston when he returns: Unless you should receive a different advice from me or my Son Thomas before Mr Quincy arrives at Philadelphia. Mr Quincy is my Neighbour and Friend, though We are not precisely in the same system of Politicks, at present.\nI wish to be informed of the amount of the Coins, that We may remit it to you. I am my Dear Sir, as / ever Yours\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5606", "content": "Title: To John Adams from David Sewall, 14 February 1811\nFrom: Sewall, David\nTo: Adams, John\nDear Sir\nYork 14th. February 1811\nI have been much gratified by your Communication of Jany 29th. ult.\u2014 When I requested the Information, I did not, I think, mention the occurrence, which gave rise in my mind to the Application, I will therefore mention it.\u2014 Two person stand Indicted in the District Court of Maine, for piratically runing away with a Vessell & cargo\u2014 One (the Master) as Principal: the other (the Mate) as Accessory before the fact, by being present Advising aiding & assisting therein.\u2014 The Accessory only is yet apprehended; And upon his arraiment in Decemr. last prayed the Opinion of the Court, Whether He ought by law to answer to the Charge until the Principal (Who had not been Apprehended) should be tried: And was heard thereon by his Councell\u2014 I determined, from the Authoritys of Hawking, Hale, Foster & Malloy, that his Objection was substantial, and He ought not (unless by his free concent) to compelled to answer until the Person charged as Principal, in the Offence had answered: And continued the Cause, to the end the Principal might be apprehended.\u2014In the Consideration of the Case mention was made of all trials for Piracy or felony on the high Seas, that had Occurred in Massa. since my recollection of Which this of Nicholson was the last, prior to the American Revolution\u2014one at Cambridge, under the Ordinance of Congress, before the  S. J. Court and one, under the Act of Congress of 1790. in the district Court of Maine none of Which had afforded any precident, respecting the Question. But it must remaine, as to the distinction of Principal & Accessory\u2014as it was by the Civil Law. That the Mode of trial; by Grand & Petit Jurors, had not done away, or altered this distinction. And that the Act of Congress by which alone the Courts of the U. S. under their present Organization, had Authority to try & punish the Offence, seemed to hold up the distinction of Principal and Accessory.\u2014I do not at present see, how the Admiralty Courts, before the Revolution, could call in, a Jury to determine the Fact of Piracy, or felony on the high Seas.\u2014 And Courts of that kind in the Brittish Plantations, I suppoze are in the like predicament at the present time.\u2014In your mentioning our surviving Classmates Baily is omitted I do not Recollect, to have heard of his Death\u2014 He removed during the revolutionary War, to some part of Nova Scotia and While Docr Parker of Boston was liveing, he had frequent commun. from him\u2014I am really glad to find your recollection so perfect\u2014Docr. Hemmengway, has once and again mentioned to me, that We three Were born in the same Month\u2014Octr. 1735. I have had thro\u2019 divine goodness, a large portion of Health, But my faculties I really find decaying I now and then amuse myself with calculating an Eclipse, (this I suppose will make you Smile) the Solar one of Sepr. 17th. of the Current Year I have found the general Element of\u2014 But for want of some Instruments to Projet it, for our Lat & Long. I have not ascertained it\u2019s particular appearan\nBut I will not be further tedious, in detaining your attention from matters of more consequence / Your assd. friend & / Hume Sert. David Sewall", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5607", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Fran\u00e7ois Adriaan Van der Kemp, 20 February 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Van der Kemp, Fran\u00e7ois Adriaan\nLord! Sir,\nQuincy Feb. 20. 1811\nYou have planned more Work in your favour of the 9th than could be executed by any Body in twenty years: by me, not in 50 or 100.\nBut Sobrius esto! Oh my Soul! I must not Speak of your Indisposition lightly. Your Bark and Exercise and friendly Visits and Games of Chess are better for you, than Study or Writings. If your lovely Daughter reads to you The Lady of the Lake, I approve of that Medicine. \u201cLaugh at you\u201d! Why I can make you laugh at me with much more reason. Within three Months past, I have bon\u00e2 fide read not only The Lady of The Lake twice, but The Lay of the last Minstrel, and Marmion, and besides these The Scottish Chiefs in three Volumes, and what is more laughable than all, The Oberon of Wieland in two Translations one by John Quincy Adams in Manuscript and the other by Sotheby, in Print. I ascribe much of my good health and Spirits to these Medicaments of Such high Powers. Why! Macclaurin the Astronomer, the Friend of Newton was the Standard Judge of all The Novels and Romances of his Time.\nUpon such a Subject it is almost impossible to be grave, but I will endeavour to be So.\nThe Manners, Laws, Customs of these Feudal Times may be collected from these Romances, better than from all the grave  Historians, profound Philosophers, and crabbed Jurists that have ever written about them. That devoted Attachment to their Lairds, their Thanes or their Barons which So remarkably distinguished the Clans in Scotland, above all the Subjects Vassals or slaves of the Nobility through out Europe, I never understood or could conceive, till I read These Romances. Rhoreric Dhu, and his History, explains the whole. Clanship was Such a System of Discipline, founded in a Mixture of Superstition and Despotism, as equalled any of the Military Discipline of Greece or Rome. The Minstrels the Second Seers, the bloody Crosses, the Fiery Crosses united with the Certainty of Death and Conflagration in Case of Disobedience or failure in prompt instantaneous Obedience gave the Thane a reign of Terror over all his followers even greater than the modern French Conscriptions. It was like the Institution of Tomans in the North of Asia in the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth Centuries, when certain districts were obliged at a minutes Warning to march, to the Army of the Emperor Ten Thousand Men. Was not a Ballance wanting, both in Asia and in Scotland and in all Europe? Without a Ballance all is Despotism, throughout all Ages and all Nations either of one Military Conqueror, or of ten, twenty or a hundred petty Tirants, under the Names of Emirs or Visirs or Dukes Earls or Barons each of whom in his Circle is more arbitrary and oppressive and cruel than a Single Despot over one Nation can be. And if We do not preserve and Strengthen our Ballance We Shall Soon have a Feudal System of Bankers and Landjobbers.\nI thank you for the Line\nEripuit Jovi Fulmen, Viresque Tonandi. But who is the Franklin in Manilius? Who was daring and Strong enough?\nSir Francis D\u2019 Ivernois, Mr Pitts Knight who has been twenty years writing for the British Ministry, and who has prophecied the Bankuptcy of France as often and as erroneously as Wicked Will Whiston foretold the Millenium is the Genevan whom I knew in England and Holland, to whom I gave a Set of my Defences, and who wrote The Tableau and the Effets du Blocus.\nI have not Seen John Woods new Theory of the diurnal Revolutions of the Earth.\nThe Moral\u2014and Physical Causes of the Revolutionary Spirit in the latter Part of the 18th Century, and the probable Issue on both Continents are a vast Subject indeed. The Changes in Philosophy and Religion; The Enciclopedist, The \u0152conomists, The Atheists the Deists, the Extension of Commerce the decline of Ecclesiastical Power, the decay of Feudal Power Montesquieu Voltaire, Frederic, D\u2019Alembert, Turgot, Diderot Rainall, Otis Hancock Dickinson Lees Franklin &c &c La Harpe promised a History of the Philosophy of the 18th Century: but he left only a very imperfect Sketch. How will these Revolutions affect South America, China India Asia and Affrica? The subject is too great for my Comprehension or Imagination. My Son will never have Time nor means to attempt it.\nWith best Wishes for your Health, Long Life / Family Friends &c\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5608", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Joseph Wheaton, 22 February 1811\nFrom: Wheaton, Joseph\nTo: Adams, John\nExcellent Sir\u2014\nWashington Feby 22d. 1811\u2014\nI cannot\u2014I will not attempt to discribe to you the Satisfaction\u2014the gratification my feelings have experienced this day\u2014\nYesterday the President nominated to Senate His excellency John Quincy Adams now Minister Plenipotentiary at the Court of St Petersburg\u2014to be associate Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States this Second appointment passed the Senate, aproved by that Body Unanimously\u2014Sir this circumstance is the More grateful as it must put those wretchs who heretofore have So vilely made you the target of their Malicious Shafts\u2014they tho long put to Silence, twas not enough untill we See the virtues of the Father returning and visiting the Son, and we See also Some hope that the Modest Silence of the real american rising through that Pestiferous breath of foreign mist and brought to act in its proper sphere less clouded by an atmosphere of which we have had So much\u2014\nSir Gideon Granger had obtained recommendations, for this appointment untill the letters weight and number of his letters I might almost Say made the Cabinet desks Screak with their weight the P. he has Shewn the firmness to pass him by in silence to the 3d nomination\u2014this unprincipled man has caused me much grief and injury well known to the President\u2014who always treats me with the politest attentions, and his whole conduct is well known\u2014I trust G-G will not Stay long in the post office\u2014in a few days I hope to be able to write you Something to my advantage I indulge myself in expressions arising from the effect of feelings adressed to a parent\u2014I know your fatherly Sensations towards your Country and to those who Served it in times when Mens Hearts & Souls were tryed\u2014and you know Some thing of the zeal & perseverance and Sacrifice I have made on the alter of our liberty\u2014but Sir you know but little of the treatment which I have recd. from the vile who have adventured from foreign countrys to this, and whose perpetual yells are raised to be heard by those in office whose easy virtue and listening ear is ready to profit by every surly breath\u2014\nThe President last this night at the Ball in celebrating the Birth day of our ever to be adored Washington is Spoken to by Several Gentlemen on this appointment, and in Speaking of it has expressed himself of you Sir in terms of Sincere friendship\u2014of this\u2014which my ear did not receive was obtained of P. Hamilton S. Navy he is an invaluable Patriot\u2014and Spoke of you to me in the highest terms\u2014\nI have the honor to be Sir / yours most faithfully & affectionately\nJoseph Wheaton", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5610", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Waterhouse, 27 February 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Waterhouse, Benjamin\nDear Sir\nQuincy February 27th. 1811\nAs I read the Essays of The elegant Botanist as when they appeared in the Monthly Anthology, with much pleasure, I am very glad to learn from your kind Letter of the 25th that they are to appear together in a Volume. If our dear Countrymen had loved one another as well as Some of them do England and Scotland and if our Mecenas\u2019s encouraged American Litterature as much as they do Scottish; this Volume would have appeared long ago, and an hundred others that lie Sleeping in Scattered and obscure Repositories.\nAdditions to them no doubt may be made, and the more the better: Corrections as far as I remember are very little Wanted.\nThe Compliment offered to me will be considered as an honor, not much deserved; for Fate has ordained that I should never have had it in my Power to do much good in any of the Capacities you mention. Yet it will be more flattering to me, than the long Dedications of dryden by which he, poor Genius! hoped to get bread; or the lying Dedications and Panegyricks of Dr Young by which he hoped to Purchase a Bishopric. Neither Bread nor Promotion as you very well know are to be expected from Compliments to your Friend\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5612", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 28 February 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\n\t\t\t\t\tQuincy, Febuary 28th, 1811.\n\t\t\t\tThe Hague, September 12, 1782\u2014wrote to Mr. Livingston: \u201cYour letters express a desire that I should endeavor to form an acquaintance with the representatives of crowned heads, and you seem to be of opinion that much may be learned from their conversation. It is very true, that hints may be dropped, sometimes, which deserve to be attended to, and I shall not fail to avail myself of every opportunity of learning any thing from them, that may occur.But one might recollect with great propriety, upon this occasion, a saying of the Chancellor D\u2019Oxenstiern to his son.The Hague, September 16, 1782\u2014wrote to Secretary Livingston: \u201cI have the honor to transmit a copy of Mr. Oswald\u2019s commission, which is probably the same with that of Sir Guy Carleton.George R. Our will and pleasure is, and we do hereby authorise and command you, forthwith to prepare a bill for our signature, to pass our great seal of Great Britain, in the words, or to the effect following, viz.George the third, exc. To our trusty and well beloved Richard Oswald, of our city of London, Esq. Greeting:Whereas by virtue of an act passed in the last session of parliament, entitled an act to enable his majesty to conclude a peace or truce with certain colonies in North America, therein mentioned, it is recited, \u201cthat it is essential to the interest, welfare and prosperity of Great Britain, and the colonies or plantations of New-Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New-York, Pennsylvania, the three lower counties on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, in North America, that peace, intercourse, trade and commerce should be restored between them; Therefore, and for a full manifestation of our earnest wish and desire, and that of our parliament to put an end to the calamities of war, it is enacted, that it should and might be lawful for us to treat, consult of, agree and conclude, with any commissioner or commissioners, named or to be named by the said colonies or plantations, or with any body or bodies corporate or politic, or any assembly or assemblies, or description of men, or any person or persons whatsoever, a peace or a truce, with the said colonies or plantations, or any of them, or any part or parts thereof, any law, act or acts of parliament, matter or thing to the contrary, in any wise notwithstanding.Now know ye, that we, reposing a special trust in your wisdom, loyalty, diligence and circumspection, in the management of the affairs to be hereby committed to your charge, have nominated and appointed, constituted and assigned, and by these presents do nominate and appoint, and constitute and assign you the said Richard Oswald, to be our commissioner in that behalf; to use and exercise all and every the powers and authorities hereby entrusted and committed to you the said Richard Oswald, and to do, perform and execute all other matters and things hereby enjoined and committed to your care, during our will and pleasure: And  we do hereby authorise, empower and require you the said Richard Oswald, to treat, consult of, and conclude with any commissioner or commissioners, named or to be named,  by the said colonies, or plantation or plantations, and any body or bodies corporate or politic, or any assembly or assemblies or description of men, or any person or persons, whatsoever, a peace or a truce with the said colonies or plantations or any of them, or any part or parts thereof, any law, act or acts of parliament, matter or thing to the contrary, in any wise notwithstanding. And  it is our further will and pleasure, that every regulation, provision, matter or thing, which shall have been agreed upon, between you, the said Richard Oswald, and such commissioner or commissioners, body or bodies corporate or politic, assembly or assemblies, description of men, person  or persons as aforesaid, with whom you shall have judged meet and sufficient to enter into such agreement, shall be fully and distinctly set forth in writing, and authenticated by your hand and seal, on one side, and by such seals or other signature on the other, as the occasion may require, and as may be suitable to the character and authority of the commissioner or commissioners, &c as aforesaid, so agreeing;  and such instrument so authenticated, shall be by you transmitted to us, through one of our principal secretaries of state.\nAnd it is our further will and pleasure, that you, the said Richard Oswald, shall promise and engage for us, and in our royal name and word, that every regulation, provision, matter or thing, which may be agreed to and concluded by you our said commissioner, shall be ratified and confirmed by us in the fullest manner and extent, and that we will not suffer them to be violated or counteracted, either in whole or in part, by any person whatsoever, And we do hereby require and command all our officers, civil and military, and all other our loving subjects whatsoever, to be aiding and assisting unto you the said Richard Oswald, in the execution of this our commission, and of the powers and authorities herein contained; Provided always, and we do hereby declare and ordain, that the several offices, powers and authorities hereby granted, shall cease, determine and become utterly null and void on the first day of July, which shall be in the year of our Lord, 1783, although we shall not otherwise in the meantime, have revoked and determined the same.\nIn witness, &c. And for so doing this shall be your warrant.Given at our court of St. James\u2019, the 25th day of July 1782, in the twenty second year of our reign. By his majesty\u2019s command,Tho. Townsend.To our Attorney or Solicitor General.\u201dWith great respect, I have the honor to be, sir, &c.\n\t\t\t\t\tJohn Adams.\n\t\t\t\t\tSecretary Livingston.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5613", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 4 March 1811\nFrom: Rush, Benjamin\nTo: Adams, John\nDear Sir\nPhiladelphia March 4th: 1811\nHerewith through the politeness of Mr Quincy you will receive the  Coins for your son. I regret that some of them are not recently coined. None such have been issued lately from the mint. Your Son Thomas\u2019s friend Mr Erving has paid me for them.\nPermit me to Congratulate you upon your Son John\u2019s honourable Appointment to a Seat upon the bench of the United States. It gives great Satisfaction in Our city.\nAccept of a Copy of my introductory letters which I have committed to the care of Mr Quincy.\nHealth, and respect! from / Dear Sir ever yours\nBenja: Rush", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5614", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 7 March 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\n\t\t\t\t\tQuincy, March 7, 1811.\n\t\t\t\tThe Hague, September 17, 1782\u2014Wrote to secretary Livingston\u2014\u201cYou will naturally inquire, whether the neutral powers will continue their neutrality? or whether the neutral confederacy will be broken? \nNo certain answer can be given to those questions. We must content ourselves with probabilities, which are indeed strong for the continuance of the neutrality.\u2014Who indeed should break it? The emperor was thought to be the most unlikely potentate to accede to it. But he has acceded and has taken several steps which prove that he will not break it, at least by leaning towards England. Sweden is the steady friend of France. Prussia, whose affections and inclinations are certainly towards France and Holland, and alienated from England, would certainly at this age of the monarch\u2019s life, be too cautious a politician to wage war for England against the houses of Bourbon and Austria, Holland and America.\nThere remain only Russia and Denmark. What can Russia do? This is a maritime war. She cannot assist the English, with land forces. An hundred thousand men would do no good to England on land. Her boasted fleet, added to that of England would only weaken it; for several reasons; among the rest, because England must maintain it with money, if not with officers and men\u2014for cash is wanting in Russia. Denmark remains; but what can she do? Her islands in the West Indies are at mercy as well as her trade; and she would not have force enough to defend her own, much less to assist England, if she should declare war.A doctrine prevails, that an acknowledgment of American independence, is an hostility against England, and consequently a breach of the neutrality. Our friends have sometimes favored this idea. The duke de la Vauguion has often expressed this sentiment to me; and if I am not mistaken, the marquis de Verac, has said the same to Mr. Dana. If this opinion is not clear, it is very impolitic to favor it. The court of France in their public memorials have denied it; and it would be difficult to prove it, either by the law or practice of nations, sending or receiving ambassadors, entering into peaceful commercial treaties, or at least negociating at Philadelphia the rights of neutral nations is not taking arms against Great Britain.But if an acknowledgment of our independence is an hostility, a denial of it is so too\u2014and if the maritime confederation forbids the one, it forbids both. None of the neutral nations can take the part of Great Britain, therefore, without breaking to\npieces that great system, which has cost so much negociation, and embraces so great a part of mankind.\nThe neutral powers set so high a value upon it, and indeed make so great a profit by it, that I think none of them will take the part of Great Britain.The connections of the duke Louis of Brunswick in Denmark and Russia, have set some little machines in motion, partly to favor him, and partly to hold out an appearance of something fermenting for the benefit of Great Britain, but these will never succeed so far as to draw any nation into the war, or to induce this republic to make a separate peace.\nIt is to this source, however, that I attribute certain observations that are circulated in pamphlets and in conversation, \u201cthat there is at present an incoherence in the general system of Europe\u2014That the emperor has disarranged the whole system of the equilibrium of Europe, so that if ever the northern powers should think of stopping, by a confederation, the preponderance of the southern powers, Holland will be unable on account of the demolition of the barriers to acceed to that confederation.\u201dMr. Magis, who has been eight and twenty-years at the Hague as envoy from the bishop of Liege, and who converses more with all the foreign ministers here than any other individual, has said to me not long since, \u201cSir, the wheel rolls on too long and too rapidly one way: it must roll back again somewhat, to come to its proper centre.\u201d \u201cThe power of the house of Bourbon rises, and that of Great Britain sinks too fast; and I believe the emperor, although he seems perfectly still at present, will come out at length and take the greatest part of any power in the final adjustment of affairs.\u201dThe comte de Mirabel, the Sardinian minister, said to me upon another occasion, \u201cyour country, sir, will be obliged, in the vicissitudes of things, to wheel round and take part of England and such allies as she may obtain, in order to form a proper balance in the world.\u201dMy answer to both was\u2014these sentiments betray a jealousy of a too sudden growth of the power of the house of Bourbon. But if this were a fact, which it does not appear to be as yet, whose fault is it? and whose fault will it be if it should hereafter become a fact? Why do the neutral powers stand still and see it? or imagine they see it? when it is so easy to put a stop to it? They have only to acknowledge American independence; and then neither the house of Bourbon nor England will have any colourable pretence for continuing the war, from which alone the jealousy can arise.The prince de Gallitzin said not long since, that \u201cthe conduct of this republic in refusing a seperate peace, &c. he feared would throw all Europe into a war, there were so many pretensions against England.\u201dI quote these sayings of foreign ministers, because you express a desire to hear them; and because they shew all the colour of argument in favor of England, that any body has advanced. All these ministers allow that American independence is decided\u2014even the ministers from Portugal, within a few days said it to me, expressly. It is therefore very unreasonable in them to grumble at what happens merely in consequence of their neutrality.It is the miserable policy of the prince of Orange\u2019s counsellors, as I suppose, which has set a few springs in motion here. Mt. Markow, one of the ministers of Russia, and Mr. de St. Saphorin, the minister from Denmark, are the most openly and busily in favor of England.\u2014But if, instead of endeavoring to excite jealousies and foment prejudices against the house of Bourbon, or compassion towards England, they would endeavour to convince her of the necessity of acknowledging American independence: or to persuade the neutral powers to decide the point by setting the example; they would really serve England, and the general cause of mankind. As it goes at present, their negociations serve no other cause whatever that I can conceive; unless it be that of the duke of Brunswick, and in the end it will appear that even the duke is not served by them.\n\t\t\t\t\tJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5615", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 8 March 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\n\t\t\t\t\tQuincy, March 8th, 1811.\n\t\t\t\tThe Hague, September 17, 1782\u2014Wrote again to Mr. Secretary Livingston, \u201cThis morning I was in conference with Mr. secretary Fagel in order to make the last corrections in the language of the treaty, which is to be executed in English and Dutch, as that with the crown of France was in English and French. We have now I hope agreed upon every word, if not every point. Nothing now remains but to make five fair copies of it for signature, which however is no little labor. The secretary thinks he shall accomplish them in the course of this week and part of the next, so that they may be signed by the latter end, or perhaps by the middle of next week. The secretary, who has always been complaisant, was more so than ever to-day. He congratulated me\nupon the prospect of a speedy conclusion of this matter; hoped it would be highly beneficial to both nations, and that our posterity might have cause to rejoice in it, even more than we have. The secretary says the usage is for two deputies to sign the treaty on the part of Holland, and one on the part of each other province; so that there will be eight signers in behalf of the republic.It is now nearly five months since I was publicly received and proposed a project of a treaty. All this time, it has taken the several provinces and cities to examine, make their remarks and fresh propositions, and bring the business to a conclusion. It would not have been so long if the court had been delighted with it. But, in a case where unanimity was requisite, and the court not pleased, it was necessary to proceed with all the softness, caution, and prudence possible, that no ill humors might be stirred. Yet in a case in which the nation\u2019s heart is so engaged; in which its commerce and love of money is so interested; what wretched policy is it in this court to shew even a luke-warmness, much more an aversion? Yet such is the policy, and such it will be. The prince of Orange is to all appearance as incurable as George the third, his cousin.I was afterwards an hour with the French ambassador, at his house. He told me his last letter from the comte de Vergennes, says he has yet seen no appearance of sincerity on the part of the British ministry in the negotiations for peace. Of this, congress will be easily convinced, by the copies of the commissions of Mr. Fitzherbert and Mr. Oswald, which I have transmitted.\nThe subject of our conversation was the means of getting out the Dutch fleet, which is now in the Texel; although the British fleet, under Millbank is returned to Portsmouth and probably sailed with lord Howe for Gibraltar. I asked the duk,e where is the combined fleet? His last accounts were that they were at Cape Ortugal, endeavouring to get round Cape Finisterre to Cadiz. He speaks of it as doubtful whether they will give battle to lord Howe: because the Spanish vessels with an equal number of guns, are of a smaller calibre than the English\u2014but hopes that the blow will be struck before Howe arrives. The means of getting the fleet out of the Texel to intercept a fleet of English ships from the Baltic, came next under consideration. But the wind is not fair. It might have gone out, but they had not intelligence.\nI asked who it was that governed naval matters? he answered, \u201cth prince.\u201d But surely the prince must have some assistance, some confidential minister, officer, clerk, secretary or servant If he were a Solomon he could not manage the navy and the whole system of intelligence and orders concerning it, without aid. the duke said \u201cit is the college of the admiralty and sometimes M. Bisdom, who is a good man, and sometimes Mr. Vanderhope, who may be a good man, he has sense and art, but is suspected.\u201d Very well; Mr. Bisdom and Mr. Vanderhope ought to be held responsible; the eyes of the public ought to be turned towards them, and they ought to satisfy the public. The duke replied, \u201cthe prince is afraid of the consequence. He knows that the sensations of the people are very lively at present, and nobody knows what may be the consequence of their getting an opinion that there has been negligence or any thing worse, which may have prevented them from striking a blow.\u201d I asked if they had any plan for obtaining intelligence, the soul of war, from England? The duke answered, \u201cthe grand pensioner told him he paid very dear for intelligence.\u201dHowever, I cannot learn, and do not believe that they have any rational plan for obtaining intelligence necessary from every quarter as they ought. They should have intelligence from every seaport in France, England, Scotland, Germany, and all round the Baltic\u2014and they should have light frigates and small vessels out. But when war is unwillingly made, every thing is not done.The next subject was the proposition of Amsterdam for renewing the concert of operations for the next campaign.Congress may hear of some further plans for a separate peace between Holland and England, but they will not succeed. The republic will stand firm; though it will not be so active as we could wish, and the concert of operations will be renewed.\n\t\t\t\t\tJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5616", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 9 March 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\n\t\t\t\t\tQuincy, March 9th, 1811.\n\t\t\t\tThe Hague, September 23, 1782\u2014wrote to Mr. Secretary Livingston: \u201cAs this is a moment of great expectation; news of the greatest importance from the East Indies, the West Indies and North America, from Gibraltar, from Lord Howe\u2019s fleet, and the combined fleets being hourly looked for, I take this opportunity to return to the Spanish Minister Comte Llano, a visit which I owed him.\nThe Comte told me, that he trembled for the news we should have from Gibraltar. I asked him if he thought there would be a battle at sea? He answered yes; he believed the combined fleet would meet Lord Howe and give him battle. I said that in this case, it would probably be but a running fight; his lordship\u2019s object was to protect his convoy and get into the port; and he would not stop to fight more than should be unavoidable.Don Llano said however, that he believed the fate of Gibraltar would be decided before Howe could arrive; either the place taken or the assault given over. By his advices the attack was to begin the fourth or fifth of September. Howe sailed the twelfth, and would be probably twenty days at least on his way, which would leave a space of twenty-seven or twenty-eight days for the attack, which would decide it one way or another.I did not think it proper to tell the Comte my own apprehensions, and I wish I may be mistaken; but I have no expectation in my own mind, that the combined fleet will meet Lord Howe; that there will be any naval engagement; or that Gibraltar will surrender. They will make a horrid noise with their artillery against the place; but this noise will not terrify Elliot\u2014Gibraltar will remain to the English another year, Lord Howe return to England, and all Europe will laugh. The English however, if they were wise would say, what is sport to you, is death to us, who are ruined by these expences.What has not, the earnest zeal of Spain to recover that impenetrable rock, cost the house of Bourbon, this war? And what is the importance of it? A mere point of honor. A trophy of insolence to England and a humiliation to Spain. It is of no utility, unless as an asylum for privateers in time of war. For it is not to be supposed, that the powers of Europe, now that the freedom of commerce is so much esteemed, will permit either England or Spain to make use of this fortress and asylum as an instrument to exclude any nation from the navigation of the Mediterranean.From the Hotel D\u2019Espagne, I went to that of France; and the Duke de la Vauguion informed me, that he had a letter from the Comte de Vergennes, acquainting him, that he had received, in an indirect manner, a set of preliminaries, as from the British ministry, which they were said to be ready to sign; that he had sent Mr. De Rayneval to London, to know with certainty, whether those preliminaries came from proper authority or not.Thus we see, that two ministers from England and another from Holland, are at Paris, to make peace; the Comte D\u2019Aranda is said to have powers to treat on the part of Spain; Mr. Franklin and Mr. Jay are present, on the part of the United States, and Mr. Gerard de Rayneval is in London. Yet, with all this, the British ministry have never yet given any proof of their sincerity, nor any authority to any one to treat with the United States. I believe the British ministry, even my Lord Shelburne, would give such powers, if they dared. But they dare not . They are afraid of the king, of the old ministry, and a great party in the nation; irritated every moment by the refugees, who spare no pains, and hesitate at no impostures, to revive offensive hostilities in America. If Gibraltar should be relieved, and their fleets should arrive from the West Indies and the Baltic, and they should not have very bad news from the East Indies; the nation will recover from its fright, occasioned by the loss of Cornwallis, Minorca and St Kitts; and the ministry will not dare to acknowledge American independence. In this case, Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke will lay the foundation of opposition; and the state of the finances will give them great weight. But the ministry will find means to provide for another campaign.To return to the Duke de la Vauguion, who informed me further that he had received instructions to propose to the Prince of Orange, a new plan of concert of operations: namely, that the Dutch fleet, or at least a detachment of it, should now in the absence of Lord Howe, sail from the Texel to Brest, and join the French ships there, in a cruise to intercept the British West India fleet. The Prince does not appear pleased with this plan. He has not yet accepted it. The grand pensionary appears to approve it, and support it with warmth. There is now a fine opportunity for the Dutch fleet to strike a blow, either alone upon the Baltic fleet, or in conjunction with the French, or even alone, upon the West India fleet. But the main spring of the machine is broken, or unbent. There is neither capacity nor good will among those who direct the navy.At dinner, in the course of the day, with Mr. Gyselaer, Mr. Vischer, and a number of their co\u2013patriots at the Hotel de Dort, they lamented this incurable misfortune. Some of them told me, that the sums of money granted and expended upon their marine, ought to have produced them one hundred and twenty vessels of war, of all sizes; whereas they have not one quarter of the number. They have no more than twelve ships of the line in the Texel, reckoning in the number, two fifties. And they have not more than six or seven, in all the docks of Amsterdam, Zealand, the Maes, and Friesland, which can be ready next year.\u201dThe Hague, 5th October, 1782\u2014wrote to Mr. Secretary Livingston: \u201cOn the third day of this month, about ten o\u2019clock, a solemn deputation in three coaches, preceded by twelve messengers of state, went in procession to the house in the wood, to enter into conference with the statholder, concerning the past administration of the marine; in consequence of a resolution of the states of Holland and West Friesland, upon the proposition of the city of Leyden. Military honors were paid by the guards to the deputation from the sovereign as it passed. It consisted of Mr. Cornelis de Gyselaer, Gysbert Van Staveren, and Carel Wouter Vischer, pensionaries of Dort, Leyden and Amsterdam; Jacob Van Tuyler Van Nyevelt and Meynard Merens, secretaries of Rotterdam and Hoorn and Pieter Van Bleiswick, grand pensionary of Holland.They communicated their message in writing, and received a written answer, which is satisfactory.This is an important political manoeuvre, and will do much towards restoring the states to their constitutional dignity and authority. But whether it will stimulate the admiral general to greater exertions, time alone will discover. The states seem to be rolling the stone of Sissiphus.\u201d\n\t\t\t\t\tJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5619", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 12 March 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\n\t\t\t\t\tQuincy, March 12th, 1811.\n\t\t\t\tThe Hague, October 8th; 1782\u2014Wrote to Secretary Livingston\u2014\u201cAt 12 o\u2019clock to-day I proceeded, according to appointment, to the state house, where I was received with the usual formalities at the head of the stairs, by Mr. Santheuvel, a deputy from the province of Holland and Mr. Van Linden, the first noble of Zealand, and a deputy from that province, and by them conducted into the chamber of business, (chambre de Besogne) an apartment adjoining to the truce chamber (chambre de treve) where were executed the treaty of commerce and the convention concerning recaptures, after an exchange of full powers.The treaty and convention are both enclosed, or at least an authentic copy of each. If the copy should arrive before the original, which I shall reserve to be sent by the safest opportunity I can find, it will be a sufficient foundation for the ratification of congress.I hope the treaty will be satisfactory to congress. It has taken much time to obtain the remarks and consent of all the members of this complicated sovereignty.\nVery little of this time has been taken up by me, as congress will see by the resolution of their high mightinesses, containing the power to the deputies to conclude and sign the treaty. For although all communications to me were in Dutch, a language in which I was not sufficiently skilled to depend upon my own knowledge, Mr. Dumas was ever at hand, and very ready to interpret to me, every thing in French, by which means I was always able to give my answers without loss of time.The papers in which the whole progress of this negotiation is contained in Dutch, French, and English, make a large bundle, and after all, they contain nothing worth transmitting to congress. To copy them would be an immense labour to no purpose. To send the originals at once would expose them to loss.\nSeveral propositions were made to me, to which I could not agree; and several were made on my part which could not be admitted by the states. The final result, contained in the treaty, is as near the spirit of my instructions as I could obtain, and I think it is nothing materially variant from them.The lords the deputies proposed to me to make the convention a part of the treaty. My answer was, that I thought the convention, which is nearly conformable to that lately made with France, would be advantageous on both sides; but as I had no special instructions concerning it, and as congress might have objections that I could not foresee, it would be more agreeable to have the convention separate from the treaty; so that congress, if they found any difficulty, might ratify the latter without the former. This was accordingly agreed to.It seemed at first to be insisted on, that we should be confined to the Dutch ports, in Europe; but my friend Mr. Van Berckell and the merchants of Amsterdam came in aid of me, in convincing all, that it was their interest to treat us upon the footing Gentis Amicissima, in all parts of the world.\nFriesland proposed that a right should be stipulated for the subjects of this republic to purchase lands in any of our States\u2014but such reasons were urged as convinced them that this was too extensive an object for me to conceed. 1st. It was not even stipulated even for France. 2d. If it should be now introduced into this treaty, all other nations would expect the same; and although at present it might not be impolitic to admit of this, yet nobody could think it wise to bind ourselves to it forever. 3d. What rendered all other considerations unnecessary, was, that congress had not authority to do this, it being a matter of the interior policy of the seperate states. This point was given up.A more extensive liberty of engaging seamen in this country was a favorite object, but it could not be obtained.The refraction, as they call it, upon tobacco, in the weigh-houses, is a thing that enters so deeply into their commercial policy, that I could not obtain any thing more particular or more explicit than what is found in the treaty.Upon the whole I think the treaty is conformable to the principles of perfect reciprocity; contains nothing that can possibly be hurtful to America, or offensive to our allies, or to any other nation, except Great Britain, to whom it is indeed, without a speedy peace, a mortal blow.The rights of France and Spain are sufficiently secured by the twenty-second; although it is not in the very words of the project transmitted to me by congress. It is the same in substance and effect. The Duke de la Vauguion was very well contented with it: and the states were so jealous of unforeseen consequences from the words of the article as sent me by congress, and as first proposed by me, that I saw it would delay the conclusion without end. After several conferences and many proposals, we finally agreed upon the article as it stands, to the satisfaction of all parties.The clause reserving to the Dutch their rights in the East and West Indies, is unnecessary, and I was averse to it, as implying a jealousy of us; but as it implies also a compliment to our power and importance, was much insisted on, and amounted to no more than we should have been bound to do, without it, I withdrew my objection.The proviso, of conforming to the laws of the country, respecting the external show of public worship, I wished to have excluded; because I am an enemy to every appearance of restraint, in a matter so delicate and so sacred as the liberty of conscience; but the laws here do not permit Roman Catholics to have steeples to their churches; and these laws could not be altered.I shall be impatient to receive the ratification of congress, which I hope may be transmitted within the time limited.The Hague, October 12, 1782\u2014wrote to Mr. Secretary Livingston\u2014\u201cYesterday afternoon, Mr. Van der Burg Van Spieringshoek, the agent of their high mightinesses, brought me the enclosed resolution relative to a vessel of Mr. Dubbledemuts. I promised to enclose it to congress. I would have it translated here, but I have not time. I presume congress has or will have an interpreter for the low Dutch.\nIt is much to be desired that congress would take some measures to inquire into this affair.The cause of my being so pressed for time, is, that I am preparing to set off for Paris, and have not only all my dispatches to make up, to send with the treaty: but have obligations to sign respecting the loan, that so essential a business may not stand still in my absence.Mr. Jay writes me that Mr. Oswald has received a commission to treat of peace, with the commissioners of the United States of America. I shall set off for Paris next week.\u201dThe foregoing letter is the last that I wrote to my government from Holland, till my return to the Hague, on the 23d day of July, 1783.The customs of the world made it necessary that I should make formal visits to take leave before my departure for Paris, of the president at least of their high mightinesses, of the prince and princess of Orange, of the grand pensionary of Holland, of the Secretary Fagel, and of so many other characters, as consumed much time.It was necessary that a great number of obligations should be signed for the loan of money.The dispatches necessary for congress were voluminous. It was necessary to make arrangements to set my household in order. Every moment of my time, assisted by two secretaries, Mr. Thaxter and Mr. Charles Storer, was employed, and the rainy season had made the roads almost impracticable.\u2014With our utmost exertions, we could not arrive at Paris till the 26th of October.\n\t\t\t\t\tJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5620", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Munroe & French, 23 March 1811\nFrom: Munroe & French\nTo: Adams, John\nDear Sir,\nBoston, March 23 1811.\nWe have taken the liberty to enclose to you a Quebec paper. Whatever may have been the Motive of the writer, against whose paragraph we have put a mark, its perusal cannot excite other than a pleasant emotion. It may serve to bring to your recollection, Sir, circumstances in your life, that cannot be thought of with but pleasure, because however distorted by your enemies, they still tell to your honor & advantage.\nWe are Sir / your ob\u2019dnt Servants\nMunroe & French We shall renew the publication of the Correspondence, as soon as we have got through with our press of Electioneering matter.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5621", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Fran\u00e7ois Adriaan Van der Kemp, 28 March 1811\nFrom: Van der Kemp, Fran\u00e7ois Adriaan\nTo: Adams, John\nDear Sir!\nOldenbarneveld 28 March. 1811\nUnexpectedl\u00ff I was favoured with your obliging Letter of the 20th Febr\u2014tho\u2019 I did receive it only the 21 of March\u2014having been through carelessness of our Postmaster first Send to the black River-countr\u00ff. The unfavorable weather domesticating me again\u2014and old habits too rapidl\u00ff adopted again\u2014occasion, that I am Since a few days not quite So well however\u2014I Seriously intend to prevent a relapse\u2014and\u2014Shall\u2014if nothing else will do\u2014take an excursion of a few days, now I Shall indulge myself\u2014once more\u2014and enjo\u00ff a kind conversation with the man, who honours me with his Frendship. Was I in your neighbourhood\u2014you would relieve my pains\u2014if oppressed by them\u2014you would feed me with the dainties of your Librar\u00ff, and more Sensual Some\u2014if wanted\u2014would not be Spared by your Lad\u00ff to reinvigorate an old and faithful Client. I long to See Scot\u2019s minstrels\u00ff!\u2014I read his Lay &c and Marmion\u2014but neither in my humble opinion is equal to the Lad\u00ff\u2014I finished its perusal for the fourth time\u2014and, I Scruple not to Say\u2014decies repetita placebit But\u2014is it not an impropriety\u2014Cant. iv. St. that Norman instructs Malice Who ought to be Supposed\u2014at least as well informed\u2014Is it not improper\u2014when he Says\u2014of an Augur\u00ff\nThe Taighairm called, by which a far\nOur Sires fore Saw the events of war: Would a young yankee describe a certain custom to an old one, and tell him\u2014it is called Bundling\u2014b\u00ff and then described its object.\u2014Suppose\u2014to crucif\u00ff the flesh?\nI could wish\u2014tho by no means envying John Quincy\u2019s merits\u2014that his Father was the Translator\u2014He might have condescended\u2014to give me a peep of it. Wieland has beauties of the first class\u2014but it is often durned in a vast deal of rubbish\u2014neither was he in want of judgment\u2014but his imagination was not all ways under his controul\u2014His Palm-leaves his Sophia\u2019s voyage\u2014and Agathon\u2014possess considerable merit\u2014his Oberon I know onl\u00ff b\u00ff Extracts.\nTho no man can be more averse than I am\u2014from Subscribing articles of faith\u2014either in church or State\u2014I do not hesitate to adopt your reflections\u2014with regard to the Romances\u2014ballads\u2014and their use If I am not mistaken howewer\u2014besides that mixture of Despotism and Superstition\u2014as the basis of the clan Ship in the Highlands\u2014a third no less powerful Spur was added to both: that of Selv-love ever\u00ff clans-man\u2014considered himself\u2014identified\u2014with all\u2014what happened to his Lord and Chief\u2014either good or bad\u2014He had the Same origine\u2014and the Same name\u2014\nMy\u2014clansman\u2019s blood demands revenge and Brian\u2019s motive was a claim of ancient Alpine\u2019s lineage\u2014\nI am more and more convinced\u2014that \u201ceripuit cuelo fulmen\u201d\u2014is a down-right plagiarism\u2014your Quetion\u2014who is the Franklin in Manilius? removes even doubt. Manilius gives a description of the progress of human mind\u2014how it went on graduall\u00ff\u2014from earth to heaven\u2014till it explained meteors &c.\nI Submit the whole passage to your decision.Nec prius imposuit rebus finemque manumque\nQuam coelum ascendit ratio, cepitque profundis\nNaturam rerum causis, viditque quod usquam est:\nNubila cur quanto quaterentur pulsa fragore;\nHiberna \u00e6stiva nix grandine mollior esset,\nArderent terr\u00e6, solidusque tremisceret orbis,\nCur imbres ruerent, ventos qu\u00e6 causa moveret,\nPervidit; Solvitque animis miracula rerum:\nEripuitque Jovi fulmen viresque tonandi\nEt Sonitum ventis: concessit nubibus ignem.\nHow arduous a talk you may deem to develop the Moral and Physical Causes of the Revolutionary Spirit\u2014in the Latter part of the 18th C. and its final probable issue\u2014I Shall try to draw\u2014the Outlines\u2014and collect materials\u2014if not for me\u2014then for another\u2014You will not touch it\u2014and decline\u2014to impose the burthen on Shoulders\u2014who could bear it. I am not So over Scrupulous, and even dare\u2014to disbelieve your assertion\u2014If Quincy Adams \u201cwill never have Time nor means, to attempt it\u201d\u2014then he looses Some of that high regard due\u2014Him:\u2014wh\u00ff would he be unwilling\u2014when he can?\u2014Should an Adams be unwilling\u2014to bestow a favour upon his Country\u2014and deserve well of Posterty? that can not be. I know;\u2014a vast comprehensive mind\u2014a profound and acute judgment\u2014an ardent imagination with an adequate memor\u00ff is required for my plan. The Statesman\u2014the Historian the Philosopher must be united in the Same Individual\u2014and He must have as unquestioned claim to these titles\u2014as you possess to m\u00ff affectionate respect\u2014as you ma\u00ff bring\u2014forward\u2014upon the gratitude of your Countr\u00ff\u2014tho it bestrewed your path with thorns\u2014but\u2014if your Son dares not to Step boldly forward\u2014tell me the man\u2014able and willing. As a Justice\u2014He ma\u00ff find leisure\u2014and I flatter myself\u2014that lively feelings Shall not prevent His acceptance\u2014when He can be of infinite Service to his countr\u00ff. The gauls are before the capitol, and Should Camillus decline to Save his country\u2014because he was banished?\nPermit me to finish\u2014a monitor advises it\u2014I remain / Your obliged frend!\nFr. Adr. vanderkemp", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5622", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Waterhouse, 29 March 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Waterhouse, Benjamin\nDear Sir\nQuincy March 29. 1811\nYour Favour of the 25th is received. I feel much at my Ease under the Lash: as much as Epictetus when he told his Master torturing his Leg \u201cYou will break it,\u201d and as much more So as I have not fear of having the Leg broken.\nAs to your \u201cconcern of Mind\u201d I advise you to be very deliberate, and weigh all Things as they will affect yourself, your Family your Friends Your Country and Mankind; and then determine as the \u201cSpirit\u201d Shall dictate.\nThe Query whether \u201cMr Adams will answer\u201d? \u201cor treat it with Silent Contempt\u201d? I will not at present Answer. I will say to you in Confidence, I can when I will harrow up their Souls, by a very Simple Tale of Truth.\nIf J. Q. A. were here, instead of making \u201cThe Feathers fly\u201d as you Say, I hope he would not foul his Fingers in such dirt.\nWhen a Man who has been thought honest, tho passionate and fiery, begins to be crazy, I have often observed, that one of the first decisive Symptoms of Insanity, is Knavery. How has your Experience been? have you ever remarked the Same Thing? I could name Several Instances.\nWhether Hamilton was a Man \u201cwiser and more righteous than myself\u201d I shall indeavour to furnish Posterity with the Information necessary to favor an impartial and enlightened Judgment, in my own Time and in my own Way, but I will not be unnecessarily diverted from my Course.\nMy pious and virtuous, Sensible and learned, orthodox and rigid, odd, droll and excentric, Reverend Spiritual Guide Parson Anthony Wibirt, who was a great Admirer of Mr George Whitfield as well as Sandiman and Dr Hopkins often told me a Story. He once observed to Mr Whitfield. \u201cHow you are vilified and slandered in the Newspapers, and in Pamphlets! I wonder how you can bear it. Does it not affect your Sensibility and make you very unhappy\u201d? Oh No, Said Whitfield, if they knew how much pleasure they give me, they would not do it.\nI am rejoiced to learn from you, your determination to remove to Boston: because I Sincerely believe it will be for your Interest and that of your Family, and I will add a benefit to the Town and Country.\nI remain your Friend\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5623", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Rush, 2 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\nMy dear Friend\nQuincy April 2. 1811\nI thank you for the Trouble you have kindly taken in procuring the Samples of Coins for my Son J. Q. A; which Mr Quincy was so good as to deliver with his own hand: and am glad to learn from your Letter that Mr Erving in behalf of my Son T. B. A, has paid you the Amount of them.\nI thank you for your Letter of the 4th of March and your Congratulations on the Appointment of my Son to a Seat on the Bench; a Situation more agreable to me,  as it places him out Politicks as well as Negotiation, than any other to which he could be appointed. But Sub Rosa I have doubts whether he will like it so well; because I apprehend he will feel as his Father felt on his Return from Europe. I would not have accepted the Office of a Judge, for this reason and no other, that I apprehended myself after an inattention to the Science and practice of Law for fourteen years, not Sufficiently familiar with its Principles, Precepts and Forms to qualify me for a Station so momentous to the dearest Interest of my Fellow Citizens.\nAbove all I thank you for The Volume of your Lectures; to me a very precious Present. Your Writings are always as entertaining as The Lady of The Lake and much more instructive. They are a vast Magazine of Ideas novel and original calculated to excite and assist every enquiring Mind in the pursuit of Branches of Knowledge the most useful to Mankind and most essential to their Happiness.\nThe Legislature of Massachusetts in their last Session, created a Corporation for the purpose of establishing a Public Hospital and were pleased without my Knowledge to appoint me, a most Useless and unworthy Member of it. I know of but Service I can possibly render to this honourable Institution and that is by presenting them with your learned and experienced Lecture up this humane and noble Subject. And this will be a very minute Service, because I have no doubt my Excellent and honourable Colleagues will be possessed of the Book. long before We meet, I hope your Bookseller will transmit a Number of these Volumes to Boston for Sale.\nI am not prone to Flattery; and if I were, you would neither love me the better nor esteem me the more for indulging the disposition. It is no more than Justice to Say that your Reputation as a Physician is justly higher and more extensive than that of any one who has ever lived in America: and as a Lecturer you certainly Stand unrivalled. If my Son could be thought the second Sublimi feriam Sidera Vertice.\nI want to write a Line to your Attorney General who is worthy of his Father, Health and Long Life, not So much for your Enjoyment as for the general good of Mankind and for no Individual Out of your own Family more than\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5624", "content": "Title: From John Adams to John Pope, 4 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Pope, John\nDear Sir\nQuincy April 4th 1811\nI thank you for the very acceptable Present of a Speech in favour of the renewal, of the charter of the Bank. I have read it with pleasure as a fine speciman of Argument and Eloquence. I know not whether it is not the best Apology for the Constitutionality of the measure that has appeared. I cannot however but wish that the Constitution had been more explicit, in this, as in several other Articles.\nMy own opinion has invariably been, that there ought to be but one Bank in the United States, and that a National Bank, with a Branch in each State, the whole limited to a very moderate Sum, Say Ten Millions of Dollars. This ought to have been a fundamental Article in the Constitution.\nPlease to present my best compliments and affectionate Respects to Mrs Pope, and believe me with great Esteem, your Friend, and humble Servant\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5625", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Fran\u00e7ois Adriaan Van der Kemp, 4 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Van der Kemp, Fran\u00e7ois Adriaan\nDear Sir\nQuincy April 4. 1811\nI have your favour of March 12 before me. The Choice you exult in, may not be considered as a favour, by the Chosen and by his Father and Mother So much as it is by you. The President, though by no means unfriendly to the chosen or his Friends was, with great Reluctance in duced to this Appointment. The appointment of Lincoln I did not disapprove,  because I have known him for forty years, and believe him qualified. The Nomination of Wolcott was advised as I am told by Granger, Barlow and Abraham Bishop. I know nothing of the Man.\nYou have read of Cerberus, infinitely more than I have: and of a Sop given him to prevent his barking. Do you believe that Some of that Senate voted for him on any other Principle than to get rid of him?\nYou Speak of Political Sins in the P.\u2014Pray what are those Sins? \u201cIn Adam\u2019s Fall We Sinned all,\u201d but I really know of no more Sins committed by Madison than by Washington Adams or Jefferson.\nThe Government of The United States from 1789 to 1811 has been but a Company of Engine Men. Their constant Employment has been to Spout cold Water upon their own Habitation, built, if not of Hay and Stubble, with Wooden Timbers, boards, Clapboards and Shingles, to prevent its being Scortched by the Flames from Europe.\nEurope is desolated: Millions have perished in Arms glorious or inglorious: Every Nation has been Scourged by War. The U.S. of America have been at peace these Eight and twenty years. In Foreign Relations Washington Adams Jefferson and Madison have pursued the Same System, Neutrality: but I certainly know that Washington and Adams, and believe the Same of Jefferson and Madison, in case of equal Injury from France and England, and in case of an absolute Necessity of War with one or the other, would have preferred a War with Great Britain rather than France.\nVivamus, Scribamus, bibamus at quie Amamus Rumansque Vulgi die deioris / Omnes unius estimamus Assis.\nI am as ever your\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5626", "content": "Title: To the Boston Patriot, 6 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: \nQuincy, April 6, 1811.\nON Saturday, the twenty-sixth of October, 1782 I arrived in the night, at the Hotel de Valois, Rue de Richelieu in Paris, after a journey of ten days from the Hague, from whence Mr. John Thaxter and Mr. Charles Storer departed with me, on the Thursday se\u2019night preceding. I have several times performed this journey of about three hundred and twenty-five miles in three days. But rains of unusual violence and duration had ruined the roads in such a manner, that though the utmost diligence was employed, and no expence in horses or any thing else was spared to hasten our progress, we could not arrive one moment sooner. We were dragged by the strength of six horses so often through the mire, that our carriage, though a very strong one was broken, and we obliged to wait until it could be repaired.\nThe first thing essential to be done in Paris, is always to send for a taylor, peruke-maker and shoe-maker; for this nation has established such a domination over the fashion, that neither cloaths, wigs, nor shoes, made in any other country, will be tolerated in Paris or Versailles. This is one of the modes in which France taxes all Europe, and will tax America. It is a great branch of the policy of the court to preserve and increase this national influence over the ton; because it occasions an immense commerce between France and all the other parts of Europe. Paris furnishes the materials and the air, the manner and the grace, both to men and women every where else.\nMy first inquiry was for Americans, and I was informed that Mr. Jay was at the Hotel D\u2019 Orleans, Rue des petits Augustins. Mr. Ridley, in the Rue de Claori, No. 60. I had received from Mr. Ridley in Paris, a few days before my departure from the Hague, a letter which contained a paragraph to me mysterious and unintelligible. It was in these words, or to this effect. \u201cMr. Jay is here, in good health and spirits: I wish he was supported.\u201d I had been somewhat intimately acquainted with Mr. Ridley in France in 1778 and 1779, and had conceived an esteem for him; but, believing that Mr. Jay was in the most entire good understanding with Dr. Franklin, I could not conjecture the meaning of Mr. Ridley\u2019s wish, that \u201cMr. Jay was supported.\u201d I determined to see Mr. Ridley and know what he meant to insinuate. On the 27th of October I went in search of him and found him. He informed me that Mr. Franklin was getting better, that the gout had left him weak; but that he began to sit at table.\nThat Mr. Jay insisted on having an exchange of full powers, before he would enter on treaty or conference; that he refused to treat with D\u2019Aranda, the Spanish ambassador, until he should have a copy of his full powers; that he refused to treat with Mr. Oswald, until he had a commission to treat with the commissioners of the United States of America; that Dr. Franklin was afraid to insist upon this; was afraid we should be obliged to treat without this interchange of full powers; that he differed entirely from Mr. Jay; refused to sign a letter or memorial to the Comte de Vergennes upon this subject which Mr. Jay had drawn up; that the Comte de Vergennes wanted Mr. Jay to treat with D\u2019Aranda, without an exchange of full powers.\nIt may be easily conceived that my joy was equal to my surprise to find from Mr. Ridley that Mr. Jay had adopted in its full extent the principle that I had asserted in my correspondence with the Comte de Vergennes, more than a year before, that Mr. Dana had asserted in his correspondence with the Marquis de Verac at St. Petersburg, and that both of us were determined to adhere to; and especially to find that Mr. Jay without knowing that he should be supported by me, had the virtue and fortitude to resist the importunities of Dr. Franklin, and the Comte de Vergennes, as well as the Comte de Miranda.\nMr. Ridley proceeded to say that the French ministry were in a quarrel; that De Fleury had attacked De Castries upon the expences of the marine; that De Vergennes was supposed to be in the confidence of De Fleury; that there was a talk of a change in the ministry, and that the Duke de Choiseul would come in, &c.\nMr. Ridley went on\u2014Dr. Franklin wrote to Mr. Jay at Madrid, at the time when he wrote his pretended request to congress to resign, and when he supposed that I should succeed him at the court of Versailles, and obtained of Mr. Jay that his grandson, Mr. William Temple Franklin should be secretary of legation to the commission for peace; that Mr. Jay did not know but he was well qualified for the place, &c.\nThis information of Mr. Ridley may not be fully understood without some explanation. When congress revoked my old commissions for peace, and issued the new commission to five of us, instead of appointing us a secretary of legation, they gave us power to appoint one with a compensation of a thousand pounds sterling a year. Such an appointment ought not to have been made without a consultation of all five of the ministers, or at least of as many as should be assembled at the conferences. But Dr. Franklin, without consulting me, or giving me the least notice, took this artful manner of obtaining under hand, Mr. Jay\u2019s promise in favor of a youth whom he knew not. I own I thought myself ill-used in this thing both by Dr. Franklin and Mr. Jay; but, determined to make no difficulties about any thing unessential, I made no complaint of it and said nothing against it. I shall now, however, take the liberty to explain myself somewhat particularly.\nIt was my intention, when the choice of a secretary should come under the consideration of the commissioners, to attend to the nominations that might be made by Mr. Laurens, Mr. Jefferson, Dr. Franklin or Mr. Jay, and weigh impartially all their qualifications, characters and pretensions, and give my vote without fear or affection. I thought to mention three, Mr. Jennings, Dr. Bancroft, and Mr. Thaxter. I own, I did not foresee or suspect that Dr. Franklin would nominate his grandson.\nMy private opinion was, that Mr. Thaxter had the best title to the place; but as I was very sensible that calumnies without number would have been spread against me for selfishness, vanity, and partiality to my own family, I should have barely named him. Mr. Jennings would have been my next choice; a man of ample knowledge in the law of nations, in all the affairs of England, France and America, of soft and amiable manners, and a warm attachment to America, his native country. Dr. Bancroft\u2019s knowledge and talents were not inferior; but they lay rather in physics, than law and politics.\nI have said I thought Mr. Thaxter had the best pretensions, though he claimed none. He never hinted to me or I to him an idea of his being appointed. But who was Mr. Thaxter? He had been educated at his fathers expence in the University of Cambridge, and afterwards studied three years as a clerk in a barrister\u2019s office, and been regularly admitted to the practice of the law. He had served sometime in the office of the secretary of congress, Mr. Charles Tompson, and had frequently been chosen to assist Mr. Laurens when he was president of congress, as a private secretary, in his most confidential business. He had embarked with me, as my private secretary, under my first commission for peace, in November, 1779. He had exposed his life in a ship that was every moment in danger of sinking to the bottom for twenty days together, in our passage to Ferrol; he had undergone all the hardships, dangers and terrors of a journey through Spain in the dead of winter, and from thence to Paris, and thence to Holland, where he had suffered with me, and laboured with a fidelity, patience and diligence, that never was exceeded; and then accompanied me again to Paris. And I will add, since our illustrious female historian has set me the example, in point of birth he was upon a footing with the proudest son of North America; for if there ever was in North America piety or virtue, knowledge or learning, taste, property, fame or power, John Thaxter was descended from some of the best of it, in the Shephard\u2019s Norton\u2019s, Quincy\u2019s, and Thaxters.\nSuch was the man, to whom was preferred, for this very confidential trust, William Temple Franklin.\nOn this same day, (27th of October,) I went to the hotel D\u2019Orleans, rue des petits Augustins, to see my colleague in the commission for peace, Mr. Jay, but he and his lady were gone out\u2014Mr. Ridley dined with me, and after dinner we went to view the apartments in the grand hotel du roi, place de carousels, where I took lodgings, and then to Mr. Jay\u2019s, and then to Mrs. Izzards, but none of them were at home. Mr. Ridley returned and drank tea and spent the evening with me. Mr. Jeremiah Allen, our fellow-passenger in the leaky sensible and our fellow-traveller through Spain came in and spent the evening. He had been since home to Boston and returned.\nMr. Ridley was still full of Mr. Jay\u2019s firmness and independence. He said that Mr. Jay had taken upon himself to act without asking advice or even communicating with the comte de Vergennes, and this even in opposition to an instruction. (This instruction which had been alluded to in a letter I received at the Hague a few days before I left it, had never yet been communicated to me. It seemed to have been designedly concealed from me.) Mr. Ridley went on \u201cthe commission to William Temple Franklin was urged to be filled up as soon as the commission came to Mr. Oswald, to treat with the ministers of the United States, and it was filled up and signed by Franklin and Jay. William had lately been very frequently with Mr. Jay at his house, and very desirous of persuading Dr. Franklin to live in the same house with Mr. Jay. I could not help remarking, that between two as subtle spirits as any in this world, the one malicious, the other I believe honest, I shall have a delicate, a nice, a critical part to act.\u2014Franklin\u2019s cunning will be to divide us. To this end he will provoke, he will insinuate, he will intrigue, he will manoeuvre. My curiosity will at least be employed, in observing his invention and his artifice. Mr. Ridley proceeded, \u201cMr. Jay declares roundly, that he will never set his hand to a bad peace. Congress may appoint another minister\u2014but he will make a good peace or none.\u201d To this resolution my heart and voice pronounced a devout amen.\nI shall not pretend to give any thing like a complete history of the negociation for peace.\u2014It is not probably in my power. It is to be expected and it is by me earnestly wished, that every thing which Dr. Franklin has left relative to this transaction may be published. And it is still more desirable that Mr. Jay should transmit to posterity all that he knows. And if a friendship disinterested and sincere on both sides, can entitle me to take such a liberty, I do earnestly request Mr. Jay to publish as soon as possible to the present generation, every circumstance within his knowledge. If I am not entirely deceived, it was one of the most important political events, that ever happened on this globe, and has had, and will have, the most important consequences. France I hope will publish all her records and all her anecdotes, and as soon as possible, that no Sir John Dalrimple\u2019s items may appear a century after all are dead who can contradict them. There is no security for innocence or virtue, if a fraudulent ditto in the secret account of a minister sent to his court to cover his own peculations, are to be exhibited after centuries are passed, to blast the characters of patriots and martyrs. Spain, I hope, will publish all that they know or can discover. And Holland, where there are persons still living, and undoubtedly many collections of private letters and memoirs, I very respectfully invite to publish every thing that can throw light upon this subject. I shall conclude with a modest request to the American tories and refugees, to the ministers, secretaries, agents and confidential clerks, to those who are in possession of all the public records, and to those who are in possession of private letters, journals, diaries or anecdotes in Great-Britain or Ireland, or in one word, in the British empire, to publish every thing that can elucidate this event or the characters of any concerned in it. Further, if any thing can be found in the dispatches, private letters or journals, of the neutral powers or their ambassadors in negociating the armed neutrality, I hope it will be all published. Let posterity have all the means of judging and let them judge.\nAfter the revolutions of eight and twenty years it would not be safe to trust much to memory except in points and circumstances, which were forcibly impressed and very distinctly recollected. Some such things will be related, but little will be inserted besides the very imperfect and hasty minutes which were made from day to day in my journal, late at night, after a surfeit of feasting, fatigue and ceremony, with \u201ca head full of schemes and an heart full of anxiety.\u201d\nJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5627", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Richard Rush, 8 April 1811\nFrom: Rush, Richard\nTo: Adams, John\nPhiladelphia April 8th. 1811.\nA day or two before I had the pleasure to receive your last valued favor of the 3rd of February, the governor of this state was pleased to honor me with the commission of Attorney general. It so happened that, at that moment our criminal courts here were upon the eve of sitting, which suddenly threw upon me a good deal of publick business. This is the chief cause to which I owe the loss, until now, of the gratification which I must ever feel in being allowed to address a letter to you. This new situation has opened to me, a field of interesting and arduous duty, which I meet at present with unfeigned distrust. I am afraid Sir, that, with some honorable exceptions, neither the lawyers, the scholars, or the statesmen of our country, study as long or as profoundly as they should. How prodigious, in most instances, was the industry of the antients? and in Europe, their men of literary and professional eminence are generally formed by intense and long-protracted labor in early life. Here the academick course is commonly as nothing, and then starting in whatever we are to be at twenty one, and sometimes sooner, the opportunities of further advancement in studious researches are too frequently cut short. The men among us whom we proudly compare to the best examples of antient or modern greatness must, I think, be rare instances of resolute diligence and resolute genius. I tremble at the magnitude of the trust committed to my hands, when I recollect how much I have to learn, and how unfriendly to all plans of study are the instrusions of daily and hourly business. As some alleviation, may I be permitted to ask, whether the profession of the law is not a more liberal one, in our country, than in England. It has struck me in looking into the reporters of the different states that our discussions go more upon principles and not so uniformly upon precedent are as they are want to in England. There a law\u2013argument is seldom more than an arrangement, in chronological order, of the cases determined upon the same point. Here I have thought the lawyer ventures more into general reasoning and talks of the nature and ends of jurisprudence. This may possibly arise from his mixed and dissultory education, being a politician as well as a lawyer and, not unfrequently perhaps, having had a share in making the very law of which he seeks to direct the application. Or may it be that he is less read in the cases?\nTo you Sir, who once trod the vantage ground of this profession until higher and more useful aims called you from it, its dignity, its importance and its brightest ways are known. To you then may one, who has just stepped upon its threshold look up and ask what are some of the great rules that should, in one of these rising republicks, direct the studies, the employments, the obligations, that open to him.\u2014\nI partook, largely, of the universal and high satisfaction from which flowed from the late appointment to the bench of the Supreme Court of the United States. May it be the means of restoring him soon to your society, and to the service of his country at home.\nWith ardent wishes for the continuance of your health, I beg leave to tender to you the homage of my most devoted and respectful attachment.\nRichard Rush", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5628", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Fran\u00e7ois Adriaan Van der Kemp, 9 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Van der Kemp, Fran\u00e7ois Adriaan\nDear Sir\nQuincy April 9, 1811\nI am much obliged by your favour of 28th March. Is it a proof that Manilius has not been read by any of the learned Men in Europe for thirty Odd years, when We See that the discovery of the Prophecy, or prophetic History of the Progress of human Reason, was reserved for 1811 and the retired Philosopher of Olden barneveldt?\nHow many Questions and Reflections are excited by the Lines you Send me? Was Electricity known in the Reign of Tiberius? Was it Suspected that Electrical Fire Sometimes arises out of the Earth and ascends to the Skies? The rise of vapours and the descent of Showers is not yet very Satisfactoryly explained and Winds in Storms and Hurricanes are Still noisy enough. The Causes of Winds are Still unknown. Earth quakes and Volcanos are Still misteries, and no Man can tell why Snow is softer than hail. We may indeed guess why Winter is colder than Summer.\nWas it Jussiue or Haller, or Duhamel or Reaumur, or what other Philosopher, who first remarked the Resemblance between the Phenomina of Thunder and Lightening, and the Sparks and crashes of Electricity? Franklin was not certainly the first who conceived the Idea or entertained the Suspicion.\nIf, rapt into future times, Manilius Saw Franklin in prophetic vision: it does not appear that Hume and Voltaire Tom Paine or Joel Barlow were foreseen by any Seer So ancient. Lucretius to be sure was a great Philosopher in the modern sense of the Word. But has any of  foretold the Decapitation of all Kings? the annilation of all Nobles and the Unfrocking of all Priests?\nI rejoice that you are drawing the outlines of the moral and physical Causes of the Revolutionary Spirit in the latter Part of the 18th Century. So far from Saying that I will not touch it; if you will give me a hint of your principal Topicks I may assist you a little in my poor Way and narrow Circle. Let me try my Luck at guessing.\n1. The Discovery of America\u20142. The Increase and Extension of Commerce. 3. The Increase of Money and the quantity of the prescious Metals. 4. The Discovery of the new Passage to China and the East Indies and the Extension of Navigation round the Globe. 5 The Progress of the Reformation. 6. The Resurection of Letters. 7 Voltaire and the Host of Philosophers before, during and after his Time. 8. The Encyclopedists 9. The \u0152conomists. 10. Masonry 11. Illuminati. Will you exclude any of these? And what others will you admit?\nIf you could visit us at Quincy and spend a few Weeks with us, We Should esteem it a great favour and you would make Us very happy. Some of my Books would amuse you, the Scenes of Nature around Us would delight you. The Comforts of Life Should be yours. We are little concerned with the Luxuries.\nHow far are you from Lebanon where my Daughter lives. Is there a Road between you?\nI am as usual\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5629", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Samuel Miller, 12 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Miller, Samuel\nSir\nQuincy April 12. 1811\nSome Gentlemen in this Town have lately caused to be printed a Sermon of Mr Hancock the Father of the late President of Congress and Governor of Massachusetts; which although I heard it delivered from the Pulpit and was familiar with it afterwards in print in my Childhood; I had not seen for I know not how great a Number of Years.\nKnowing your taste for Antiquities and believing that it contains Information concerning your own Blood, I hope I am not committing an Indiscretion in transmitting a Copy of it to you. Not for any uncommon Merit in the Composition though considering the time it is not in that respect by any means to be despised.\nIn the Notes to Pages 23. and 26 you will find something of the History of Samuel Bass who was a Deacon or a Ruling Elder of this Church for fifty four years, and of his numerous Posterity. This Samuel Bass married a Daughter of John Alden one of The Adventurers in the first ship who landed in 1620 on that Rock in Plymouth which is now esteemed by many more than a Lump of Diamond of the same Weight would be. The Lady who bore the Name of Hannah Bass, whom you found among the Memorials of your Ancestors I presume was a Daughter of Samuel Bass and Miss Alden, or possibly a Grand Daughter. If you have no Objection I should be obliged to you for the year in which that Lady married your Ancestor.\nI am, Sir with great Esteem, your humble / Servant\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5630", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Samuel Miller, 13 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Miller, Samuel\nSir\nQuincy April 13. 1811\nI Sent yesterday to the Post Office one of Mr Hancocks Century Sermons under cover to you and I thought the foregoing Letter written for the Purpos was wrapped in it. By Some inadvertence, of myself or another, it was omitted: and I am not Sorry for it as it now gives me an opportunity to add Somewhat relative to your Ancestor. John Alden, a Magistrate of Plymouth Colony, was one of the first Company which Settled New England. He arrived in 1620 and his Life was prolonged till September 12 1687 when he died aged about Eighty Nine Years. He was an Assistant in the Administration of every Governor for Sixty Seven Years. He was therefore a young Man, not more than twenty one or twenty too when he arrived in America. He Settled in Duxbury a Town near Plymouth, on a Farm which is at this day the best in that Town, and has been always in Possession of one of his Descendents. All who bear the Name are his Descendents. Two of his Grand Children were alive in 1774. Col. Alden who was killed at Cherry Valley was his great Grandson. Samuel Alden the Father of this Col Alden lived till the Revolution. In Neals History of New England, Primo Annals and our modern Massachusetts Biographical Dictionaries you will find these Particulars and more.\nA Daughter of this John Alden was married to Samuel Bass of Braintree, now Quincy and you I presume are among the most prescious Fruits of that Marriage. That you may live as long and be as useful in Proportion as either of your Ancestors Alden or Bass is the Wish of your humble / Servant\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5632", "content": "Title: To John Adams from William Cunningham, 18 April 1811\nFrom: Cunningham, William\nTo: Adams, John\nSir.\nFitchburg, April 18th. 1811.\nSo much time has elapsed since the date of my letter in February, that I have dismissed all expectations of an answer.\nOf the destruction of Babylon, and the birth of Cyrus, considering how much the evidence of a system of Religion is depending on that event and on that character, I may have spoken more at random than a due regard to prevailing sentiments will allow. The whoredoms of Babylon are rather to be understood figuratively than literally. Her pride, cruelty and impiety, are distinctly named among the abominations which provoked the Most-High. But I trust I have not exposed myself to excommunication by taking her whoredoms in a literal sense, since besides the practices alledged against her by the earliest historians, the city was founded by a wanton woman, of impure origin, and mainly for the purposes of multiplying and enriching the opportunities of her enjoyment of a guilty intimacy with men.\nAs to the illegitimacy of Cyrus, I pretend not to any positive evidence; but is it not susceptible of more proof than the time of his own marriage? Cyrus was so illustrious in the eyes of Mr. Rollin, that he has sufferred nothing to his disadvantage to appear in his history without tempering it with his own kindness; but historians, more uninfluenced by an admiration, favour the supposition of a spurious birth.\nIf other instances were cited in my last letter with too decisive an air, it must be confessed, that I contracted the catalogue of those who have effaced the blemishes of their birth with the brilliancy of their political or military character. It should have been observed of William the Conqueror, that he stood an impassable barrier against the ecclesiastical tyranny of Hildebrand (Gregory VII.) who aspired to the subjugation of the world to a more awful species of oppression than even that of the sword.\nAnd might I not have gone into the other sciences and shewn that the first in eminence were not the fairest in their birth? Who, in Astronomy, will claim equality with Gallileo? Who, in Poetry with Homer? It may possibly be objected, that we are not sufficiently so accurately informed of the birth of the Prince of the Poets, as to authorise a reflection upon it\u2014but have not those who have noticed his life, and are most entitled to credit, classed him among the come-by-chances? His genius may have been brightened by observing the shining bubbles thrown up in the wash-tub, by the labours of his indigent and industrious mother. I will cite no more instances. The expedient of Amasis a King of Egypt, to overcome objections to his birth, was well adapted to make merit respectable for its own value\u2014the statue of the Divinity made out of the cistern in which he washed his feet, was as devoutly worshipped as if the gold of which it was composed, had never been moulded into anything but a God. There have been thousands eminent, and many even first in station, whose shoes were enough to teach them humility, and rebuke, in their posterity, a ridiculous exultation of noble birth.\nTo the silence with which you treat my last letter, I have nothing to object. You will, without disobliging me, treat this in the same manner. There is a contemptuous and a suspicious silence\u2014I have no enmity to excite me to a description of yours. It is not an unfriendly suggestion, that you will do well to remember, that by refusing to assign to Gen. Hamilton the reasons for assertions and insinuations injurious to him, you provoked a public expression of his sentiments concerning your public character and conduct. And it is not unknown to you, that suspicious have been publickly uttered, that since his death, you have been diligently employed in collecting stock and tools to cut the \u201cjoints and squares.\u201d which you once said Iniquity never can perform In other words\u2014to display, in your own acts, the finished joinery of a great and pure character; and to exhibit, in the doings of Hamilton, the botchery of a weak and base one. This is was an undertaking which ought to have been well considered, for you have said yourself, that Iniquity never can cut those \u201cjoints and squares\u201d\u2014 And is it not a task as far transcending its power, to disjoin the labours of a master\u2019s hand?\nShould you now refuse to recal the calumny you have spread of Hamilton in secret; or to supply the evidence of your heinous charges, will you not oblige his friends to strip from your hands, before you slip out of life, the poisoned chalice whose contents you have infused into the minds of many around you, to work, like canine madness in the veins, after its propagator has perished?\nThe story of Popiel, his wife and children, being devoured by rats issuing from the dead bodies of his uncles whom he had poisoned, is related as a fact in the Polish history, but if no more than a fable, it has a sound moral, well worthy the consideration of those who murderously fall foul of the reputation of another; and who entertain the opinion, especially with respect to themselves, that \u201chonesty always turns out right,\u201d as you said in your letter to Mr. Dana. Applying to Hamilton the next member of the same paragraph\u2014namely \u201cAn honest man has nothing to do for his justification, but to wait for the testimonies of his enemies,\u201d I leave to your consideration, whether you have not given the world an evidence of this truth in your conduct towards that character?\nWhy did you publickly attack his morals? There is no sort of connection between the failing you have taken so much delight in expressing, and his excellence as a public character. Do you claim, for this attack, the credit of magnanimity? Pope, whom you have admired, and who deserves to be set as high in humanity as in authorship, remarked, in the Preface to his works, that \u201cwhen he could not attack a rival\u2019s works, he encouraged no reports against his morals.\u201d He built a monument\u2014but are you not burying the dead?\nWhy did you attack the personal figure of Hamilton? Was the rivalry for feet and inches? Had you forgotten Pepin (father of Charlemagne) the monarch of four feet four; and the achievement he performed in the presence of his court to abash the overgrown courtiers who looked disdainfully on the inferiority of his stature? You must have swelled beyond the thought of yourself and of your sons, when you aim\u2019d the stroke at the stature of Hamilton. I think that neither of you rise to five feet seven\u2014Genl. Hamilton was not below five feet eight, and to every feature nature had \u201cset the seal to give the world assurance of a Man.\u201d It is true, that the poize would be nearer to him than to yourself on the sted-yard, but what are pounds weight in the ethereal balance?\nMay not what you said to Mr. Secretary Livingston, Feb. 21. 18 1782, concerning the despatches which you received at the Hague so opportunely for allaying the ferment occasioned by Sir Joseph Yorke against the Burgomaster and Pensionary of Amsterdam, and their adherents, be truly said of your Letters to me, \u201cthat it seems as if the hand of Providence had sent them on purpose to dissipate the vapours\u201d in which you would involve Washington, Jay, Hamilton, Pickering, Ames, Gore, Otis and a thousand others? It does appear to me, that if Providence ever did take an interest in the question of any man\u2019s reputation, it is discoverable in these Letters, particularly in relation to Gen. Hamilton. While you were carrying on a Correspondence with the Editors of a public paper, to cleanse yourself from his imputations, you carried on a correspondence with me which has confirmed them all. You may ascribe it to \u201cThe ways of Heaven,\u201d or to a luckless chance, but the fact, extraordinary as it is, is unquestionable. No man living, out of your own family, has been admitted to so near an intimacy with your heart as you indulged to me for the purpose of furnishing me with materials for the renovation of sound principles in the minds of my countrymen, and for resussitating your reputation after your decease. I allude to your communications in the years 1803\u20134\u2013and 9. I do not mean to say, that like Despreaux and Racine, I was appointed by you, as they by Louis XIV. to be your historiographer, but your autograph will shew, that you contemplated me as a guardian of your fame\u2014a trust which I had prepared myself zealously and faithfully to fulfil perform.\nI have thus accounted for the unreservedness with which you have revealed yourself to me on the various principles and characters imbibed and extolled by your countrymen; and distinguishing those principles you which had wrought such wonderful effects in the  twelve years they guided the National Government, and which you had chosen to have associated with your name by generations to come. How fortunate for these principles! How auspicious to the fame of their advocates! How damning to the adverse side!\nBut since you are no longer what you was\u2014since you are reviling your co-actors in the scenes in which alone your glory was displayed\u2014since you depend on your own pen for the display of yourself, and since you have thrown off your aversion to encountering the violence of public animadversion, is not my relation to you wholly reversed? And am I not bound to make such a disposition of what you have committed to me, as that sense of duty to the public shall direct which it was one great object of your earliest Letters to inflame and enforce? I am able to fortify the affirmative side of this question to great extent from your own works: In your Letter to the Baron Van der Capellen, of the 14th. of January 1782, you thus express yourself:\u2014\u201cThe private ambition of an individual is every where capable of obstructing for a time, the wise plans and the most generous efforts of disinterested men; yet I have generally observed, that well-disposed men have redoubled their ardour and exertions upon finding themselves embarrassed by such motives of individuals.\u201d Here you give encouragement to oppose you if you are throwing the obstructions of ambition, or any other embarrassment, in the way of the wise plans and generous efforts of good men. Deny this, and you make yourself your own opponent. You would now block with chevauxdefrise the old channel you navigated, and laboured thirty or forty years to deepen, and have adventured on the wild waves of a current which you have pronounced it as fatal to embark upon as the whirpool of in Norway. On such a perilous sea it behoves you to \u201cshew master\u2013ship in floating.\u201d I presume you have adopted the motto, Incertum quo fata ferant. From what \u201cmotives,\u201d you have changed your course, is so unfavourably explained in the above extract, that there can be no complaining against Justice should you be overwhelmed.\nLook at your Defence of the Constitutions of the United States\u2014 Look at your Communications to Congress, and Answers to Addresses\u2014Look at your Letters to me in the years 1803\u20134, and say which are the \u201csentiments under your own hand,\u201d we must regard as \u201cwise plans and generous efforts,\u201d those, which at the periods referred to, you inculcated, or those which you are now propping? Of the alternatives in the answer you may make your election. You \u201ccannot buckle your distemper\u2019d cause with the belt of rule.\u201d\n\u201cHonest and generous spirits will disdain to deceive the people.\u201d I need not tell you where this compliment to integrity is recorded; but what sort of spirit is he who, because he is not Cicero will attach himself to Cataline? What he, who because he is not Augustus till to the hour of \u201cgive me your applause,\u201d will forfeit his title to commendation by repairing to the standard of Anthony? What he, whose heart is like the fountain of the Scamandar, pouring out from one side a stream smoking as it rolls, and from the other, a stream stiffened with cold, and rattling with the loose pieces of congealed water? This you will understand as referring to your treatment of the Federalists, the heads of whom you pursue with virulence, while you look with coldness on the great body, and call them \u201cNothing\u201d\nNot wishing to fatigue you with quotations from your own works, I shall leave to your memory to supply the omission of much applicable matter.\n\u201cSome eminent spirit, assisted by two three or four families connected with him, gains an ascendency, and excites an enthusiasm, and then the spirit and letter, too, of the Constitution is made to give way to him.\u201d Def. Cons. Vol. III. p. 246. Have you not in your Letters to me characterized Mr. Jefferson as such a leading spirit? Have you not also mentioned Mr. Madison as his confederate a brother of the same principle? Have you not particularized many more of the seducing spirits who were defrauding the public credulity? Have you not said that the spirit, and letter too of the Constitution, have fell before them? Have you not laid to the charge of Genet, that he was the principal of the mob which beset Gen. Washington in his house at Philadelphia. And have you not since, in the public papers, passed high encomims on Messrs. Jefferson, and Madison; and even set this Genet, this man whom you exultingly told me in Philadelphia, that your son John had laid upon his back, and whom you yourself then loaded with all that obloquy which you can throw out so roundly when roused\u2014even this Genet, sent here to war upon the American Government under Washington, and whom you branded as the vilest incendiary that ever lived, and whose exposure by your son was so pleasing to you, that you told me in your Letter of Oct. 15. 1808, that \u201cnot all Washington\u2019s ministers, Hamilton and Pickering included, could have written the Papers which were so fatal to Genet,\u201d as those written by him,\u2014even this Genet, and perhaps the more earnestly for his revolutionary adroitness, you have attempted to set before the American People as a Patriot! Here are your words as contained in your Letter to the Printers which appeared Sep. 16. 1809. You speak first of the father, and say:\u2014\u201cHe spoke the English language with great propriety and facility; was a man of letters and an excellent writer, a zealous advocate for America, and very friendly to all Americans.\u201d To crown the climax of his desert, and in this way to eulogize the Son, you add\u2014\u201cHe was the father of Mr. Genet, the Minister of the French Republic to the United States, who has been so much celebrated in this Country, has married into one of our  most illustrious families, and still resides here.\u201d Gracious Heaven! that a man of seventy five, who has been caressed by his country, and enjoyed its highest honours, could use his Reason as a thing to sport with, as a musician a pipe with stops; and for the same purpose, that the musician varies his tones\u2014to please the ear of a fickle multitude. Or\n\u201cTo face the garment of rebellion\nWith some fine colour that may please the eye\nOf fickle changlings, and poor discontents,\nWhich gape, and rub the elbow, at the news\nOf hurly-burly innovation.\u201d\nYou observed in a Letter of Feb. 11. 1809, that \u201cwe have had a Shays\u2019 disturbance\u2014a Gallatin\u2019s disturbance\u2014a Fries\u2019 disturbance.\u201d And are you not yourself employed on \u201cThemes of insurrection\u2019s arguing.\u201d\nIn an Answer to the Address of the Officers of the first Brigade, of the Third Division, of the Militia of Massachusetts.\u201d You thus describe \u201cThe Dangers of American Liberty.\u201d \u201cAvarice, Ambition, Revenge and Gallantry, would break the strongest cords of our Constitution as a whale goes through a net.\u201d Revenge is one of these strong-handed foes\u2014are you not instigated by it in the part you are now acting? We thank you for the caution against suffering this Leviathan (to suit the net) to have his dangerous sports\u2014and for another caution given in your own description of this infernal passion enemy. \u201cOf all kinds of spirits that we read of out of hell, this is the last that an enlightened friend of Liberty would inculcate\u2014Examples enough of it, however, may be found in all revolutions.\u201d Ambition, is another of the deadly fiends\u2014Are there no reasons for suspecting, that it is your intention to plant your Family in the corruption of the present times, to flourish as the Monarchical Head of this Country? I can display a great number more than I shall embody here. Your Examination of Nedham\u2019s Right Constitution of a Commonwealth, was a very elaborate work; and if written with any views to any your own popularity with the American people before the organization of their Government (of which there is much to favour the presumption), there was nothing then in such a consideration to make you unfaithful to Truth and Reason. In that work, at the 239th. page. vol. III. as in several other places, you expressed your fears very freely of an impure exercise eventually, of the elective franchise, and remarked, that \u201cif corruption breaks in, a remedy must be provided, and what that remedy must be, is well enough known,\u201d you say, \u201cto every man who thinks.\u201d You have distinctly, and much at large, described the remedy in the 269th. page, and in various other places in the same volume\u2014A king, and an hereditary Senate. It was on the evidence of these passages, and your encomiums on the British Constitution, that you stood accused for years by the Democrats, of being a Monarchist. In fact, the passages, so far as they concerned the character the writer, were faulty or faultless, according to his intention. Corruption is not to be presumed, and the Federalists supposed you entitled to regard for the unwelcome warnings you gave, rather than to be suspected of intending to profit by a declension in the people which you appeared to deprecate. Your present conduct rescinds the favourable judgment they had formed; and your condemnation by them has endeared you to your former calumniators; not because you have retracted a single word of the obnoxious passages on which they rested the charge of aiming at Regal power, but because, in connexion with your condemnation by the Federalists, you have idolized the idols of your new friends, and in this only remaining way, opened the prospect, and perhaps facilitated the fruition to your Family, of that very effect of the people\u2019s delusion which you had been cursed by them for having foretold! That we have reached that corruption which manifests the impotency of our system of Government, and which is about, as you would say, to purify itself by its own fermentation, have you not affirmed? Has not your partiality for your eldest son been superabundantly displayed? To bring him into view at the last presidential election, did you not send to the Printers of the Patriot, the testimonials in his favour of Gen. Washington? have you not expressed extreme solicitude respecting the consequences to his fame of every step he takes, and of every vibration in the public mind? Have you not spoken of his mission to Russia as a banishment? And do I not know, that notwithstanding some expressions of satisfaction with a private station, that you will be reconciled to nothing for him short of supremacy in the Government?\nTo quote every thing from your works relating to the point under reflection, would be too much. \u201cThe American Governours, vested as they are with a temporary authority by the people\u2019s election will remain sensible of their condition. If they do not become too sensible of it, and discover that flattery, bribery, and partiality, are better calculated to procure renovations of their authority, than honesty, liberty and equality, happy indeed shall we be.\u201d Def. Cons. p. 307. Will you now believe, that when you penned the above prediction of aberration, you were writing your present history?\nFarther you describe Manlius as a good character, and offer in excuse for the corruption with which he was charged, that he was inflamed with the successful rivalry of Camillus\u2014you then add\u2014\u201cIt was discontinuance of power, then, that corrupted him, if he was corrupted; and this generally happens; disappointed candidates for popular elections are as often corrupted by their fall from power, as hereditary aristocrats by their continuance in it.\u201d That you was a disappointed candidate is pretty well attested by the expressions applied to the negotiations with France:\u2014\u201cThis conduct should not have brought upon me disgrace\u201d\u2014and:\u2014\u201cWhy did the Federalists try to render me unpopular for this? They ought to have known that there was not another man in the union that they could carry.\u201d\nYou offer in excuse for Manlius the infirmities of humanity. You have said to me of yourself, in answer to an entreaty to act with more elevation of character, that you \u201cconfess human nature\u201d are you not fortifying your maxims with your own practises?\nThere is much more which you have rendered useful as a key applied to yourself. \u201cThe people by their elections will continue the Government generally in the same families from generation to generation. Descent from certain families will eternally have such an influence over the affections and imaginations of the people, as no arts, or institutions of policy will controul. Time will come when these circumstances will have more influence over great numbers of minds than any considerations of virtue and talents, and whatever influences numbers is of great moment in popular governments, and in all elections.\u201d These are your own words (Def. Cons. vol. III. p. 377.) and do they not unlock the secret of your attempts to ingratiate yourself with the people? You know, besides for you have said it, that \u201cHypocrisy, simulation, finesse are not more practised in the courts of kings princes, than they are in popular elections, nor more encouraged by kings than people.\u201d And you know that \u201cthe eternal fault of the people, is too much gratitude towards those who study their humours, flatter their passions and become their favourites. That they never know any bounds in their praises, honours or rewards, to those who possess their confidence; and have excited their enthusiasm.\u201d Def. Cons. vol. III. p. 375, 436). You know, that \u201cwhen men arise who to real services add the arts of political empericism, conform to the errors of the people, comply with their prejudices, gain their hearts, and excite their enthusiasm, that then their gratitude is a contagion, it is a whirlwind\u201d\u2014Def.\nYou have described Mr. Jefferson as such a dangerous politicical emperic. You have said, in effect, that the feelings of his followers have arisen to this a contagious and destructive excess. But, have you not made yourself a competitor, on the race\u2013ground of public favour, to take a start for the sweepstakes? Must the world look at last into your life for the verification of the lessons you had taught them? Must it forever be the fate of most of those who figure in the world, that their portraits darken as we advance in the delineation? Such degeneracy, to use your own expressions, \u201cis really unaccountable, but by that party spirit which destroys the understanding as well as the heart.\u201d\nLet it not be objected to all this, that when, in 1803, I proposed to you to bring your pretensions for the Chief Magistracy of the Country before the American people, you returned me, in substance, the answer of Dioclesian to the friends who importuned him to resume the reins of Empire, \u201cthat if they knew his present happiness, they would rather imitate than disturb it.\u201d You was then a Federalist\u2014your son was a Federalist, and your hopes, as such, were extinguished, and could only be reanimated by a total revolution in the public mind. Was you not, accordingly, excessively earnest, importunate indeed, to have the administration of Mr. Jefferson arraigned and overthrown? Did you not accuse the Federalists of a culpable indifference to public character and transactions? Since that time, your Son has become a Democrat, and you have followed him; and have you not, since your assumption of this new character, betrayed the uneasiness of Maximian after the voluntary abdication he made with Dioclesian. Reflect whether there is not danger that this restlessness will involve you in the consequences which befel him? Your aversion to an appearance in 1803, and your present activity before the public, are explained by the same turn of intention. These are proofs of Ambition of some cogency.\nI can say something, too of Avarice, another of the unconfineable foes of our Constitution. What but Avarice operated on your mind to advise your Son to decline, and what else induced him to decline being a Candidate for Governour in 1809? You assigned as one reason for your advice, that the office \u201cis a carbuncle shining in the dark.\u201d A strange description for a Republican to make of the highest office in the State! Another reason was, that \u201cthe compensation is not a living for a common gentleman.\u201d Pray what did you mean by the Avarice which can break the strongest cords of our Constitution? Very probably\u2014\u201cThe Dangers of American Liberty,\u201d\u2014applied to Revenge, Ambition and Avarice will not prove \u201ca misnomer.\u201d\nYou have the read the In the standing code of corrupt Ambition, you have read the command.\n\u2026Be great,\nWith Praise or Infamy, leave that to fate;\nGet place and Wealth if possible with grace,\nIf not, by any means, get Wealth and Place.\u201d\nIt is an Expositor as well as a Rule.\n\u201cThere are conjunctures when it is the duty of every good citizen to hazard and sacrifice all to his country,\u201d this you said yourself; and having, moreover, your concession that such a conjuncture is created here, the precept shall be to you, the apology for my practice.\n\u201cYes, while I live, no rich or noble\u2026\nShall walk the world in credit to his grave;\nTo Virtue only, and her friends a friend, \nThe world beside may murmur or commend.\u201d\nThese lines are a continuation of a passage contained in one of your Letters, under the shelter of which you placed yourself; but as you did not use marks of quotation, and had changed some of the words, and the arrangement, I treated them as your own.\nHow is the conjuncture, which commands the sacrifice of every thing to our Country, constituted? By enmity to England, and a love of France\u2014by\n\u201cThe very extacy of Love,\nWhose violent property foredoes itself,\nAnd leads the will to desperate undertaking,\nAs oft as any passion under heaven.\u201d\nBut the enmity and the love, are both fomented and fed in the bosom of a majority of the people, and having grown to a head their propagators the inflamers of them dare not attempt to disperse, they determine to leave them to a suppuration. Have they forgotten the declaration of Buonaparte himself, to his Brother of England, that \u201cThe fate, of all civilized nations is attached to the termination of a war which involves the whole world?\u201d But our Plan, and our Places! Here is the pinch.\nIf any calculations of are made of a favourable issue of the affections so unnaturally indulged applied, it can only consist of hopes, that when, with our assistance, Buonaparte, shall set his feet on England, and become the giant who shall wrest the scepter from this Mavila, that our grudge towards England will be satisfied; that our attachment to France will lose its sustenance; and that we shall no longer be alienated from ourselves. These, I am told, are in fact, the calculations of the cabinet. Miserable apology for the past! Delusive dependence for the future! Are these the calculations which are to excuse the Embargo, which was to work as many wonders as the magic of Odin, and which contained about as much for the deification of its author? Are these to excuse submissions to France gross enough to make our fathers restless in their graves? Who would dare to enter the sepulchre of Washington, and write our doings on the bones of his arms? But instead of being displeased with the officious of Buonaparte, and his outrage on all decency, in making, in our name, Declarations of War, &c. we have regarded those declarations as if we knew, and were delighted with knowing, that they were intended to be little boxes of fire which should explode and consume us as soon as opened. Pierced through and through with Declarations & Decrees, we have drawn them out, as the natives of the Marianne Islands, drew out of their flesh when dying, the arrows shot at them by Magellan, and which they extracted in an ardent admiration to see them not in thoughts of retaliation. We are scourged, but we give thanks, for being remembered.\nOur breasts are sucked with too much violence by the Hercules of whom we ought to be jealous, but to whom we are too fatally reconciled; and our milk is spilt, not to form a galaxy, but to extinguish the last gleam of light on this western circuit of the political canopy.\nWe are, I may almost say literally turned upon our own flesh to keep ourselves alive, and yet our spirits are kept up as with the Hirax \u201cWe are bought with the treasure from our own coffers.\u201d What we have drawn up at any time out of the gulph before us, has been put upon our hooks by our own desire, that we might have the appearance of success, or clandestinely to cheat us.\nOur union at last, which is supposed, is an ostentation which will be found deceptive as of less account than the Elephants of Semiramis, composed of hides and straw. Suppose a Prince of the House of Napoleone seated on the throne of the House of Hanover, would be the passions be here extinct which Napoleone employs to divide us? Would the jealousy cease, that the Federalists are anti-republican, and that \u201cThis nation has more to apprehend from them than from any other source?\u201d You have asserted this. Other \u201cof our most illustrious families,\u201d maintain their pretensions to patriotism by its reiteration. Could the ingenuity of Napoleone himself invent an accusation of more power to relieve him from the mortification of reigning over no more than half the world?\nOur Democratic guides resemble the Umoses of Madagascar, and preserve a reputation in the same way as those magicians. They keep themselves up on by abusing the credulity of the people. Priestscraft has become the craft of Politicians. \u201cThe waters of the Deluge are confined in this cleft!\u201d Is this a greater imposition, than that a quill alone can restrain the Ambition of Napoleone, protect our Ships on the ocean, our honour from insult, and command the restitution of property sold or sequestered? Fatal deception! Our Pater Patratus has entreated long enough, he must shew the bloody spear.\nThe ivory sceptre has, indeed, been rashly lifted, but it was because it was raised too late. Can it administer any thing to our hopes, that a people were once saved from servitude because a rash conqueror threw his sword and belt too hastily into the scale? Buonaparte, to the courage of Brennen, has united the subtilty of Philip. Where, besides, have we a Camillus?\nLet a people who mean to be free, be careful how they flinch from the defence of freedom. Above all, let a Senate who mean to stand acquitted of their Country\u2019s disgrace, take care that they do not defer her defence until they shall expose themselves to death for expressing an hope of freedom.\nSuch as I have described, is the emergency we are in; and it is so discouraging, that there is more inducement for the patriot to wish himself blind and deaf that he may neither see our nakedness, nor hear of our disgraces, than to mount the rostrum and propose his matured counsel.\nSuch is the state of things which must demands the disclosure of the royal manuscripts I hold. They concern the state, and are more interesting than the discoveries of Vendicius. There is no analogy between their disclosure, and the surrender proposed by Perhenna of the Papers of Sertorius.\nBut why need I use argument to justify myself to you, when I have your example? Did you not, on the 8th. of May last, give the world a Letter which had been addressed to you as confidential by Mr. King? Why did you so? To open the eyes of the People to the plots of the \u201cBull and his Calves!\u201d Why then, omit the disclosure for twelve years? Was you a conspirator with Mr. King all that while? Why interrupt a regular order in your communication for the Patriot, to lug Mr. King before the public on the eighth of May? Was it to hold up a Traitor, or to carry on treason? A Governour was chosen\u2014a Senate was neutralized\u2014a House was to be elected. This is the answer. Buonparte is at ease about the conquest of this Country, for he knows how many faithful Ceneas\u2019 are at work for him. He may quit his Pella, pass the straits of Thermopalae, and enter the plains of Ch\u00e6ron\u00e6a when he pleases.\nMr. King\u2019s Letter contained not a word which the strictest prudery could censure as impure in patriotism or politicks, but it was, nevertheless, necessarily confidential. By dishonouring the trust, you have debarred yourself from the right of complaining, should even unexceptionable Letters of your own be brought before the public in the worst distortions of  party violence. What, then, can you object to the publication of Letters you addressed to me, and which carry contain plenary evidence of their own corruption? This appears partly in the condition that I should keep them inviolate until the grave should add some strength to their contents, and by be your sancutary against the scourging hand of Justice. This construction of the condition is rendered \u201cAs clear as founts in July,\u201d by your persisting in my regard to it, when I requested you, in January 1810, to release me, which was after you had broken down all the reasons you had given for its exaction.\nWhat, then, can you object to the production of Letters, to give their own unperverted \u201cVouch as strong as shore of rock,\u201d in favour of a cause to which you was once zealously devoted? Not for the purpose of building up a system you had repudiated, and by a shameful perversion of their meaning.\nWhat can you object to the publication of Letters, for the purpose of drawing you from your labyrinth, and for having it determined by fair experiment, whether you can bear yourself, on your own-made wings above those you have attempted to deplume?\nThough near the tomb, its refuge may be too distant. Your may be glad to find a pigeon\u2019s nest, or a spider\u2019s web to cover your retreat.\n\u201cGall coins slanders like a mint.\u201d But\n\u201cTyger-footed rage, when it shall find\nThe harm of unscann\u2019d swiftness, will too late,\nTie leaden pounds to its heels.\u201d \nGo on. We are irreconcileably apart on principles. I shall take care to maintain mine by modes as unexceptionable as those you have used; and if you will not confess that those I profess, are not in good, what other option remains, than to confess that your life has been bad; or, that you are \u201ccapable of being alienated from a system to which you have been attached, because it is upheld by men whom you hate?\u201d\nThat our Southern States should be infected with Jacobinism, is generally thought more easy of explanation than its existence in th here. But nature is every where the same. Vessuvius blazes in the South; the North has its Hecla; and hot springs issue from among frozen mountains, as well as under the tropicks\u2014And all the volcanoes of faction resemble the Strombolo in this, they burn without ceasing.\nThirty men carried into execution the plan of Government devised by Lycurgus. That, or a not much greater number \u201cof our most illustrious families\u201d dispersed over our Country, and spreading like the Ensada tree, will be have proved enough to destroy our Constitution, & to carry into effect the system of administration planned by the Monticellonian. He is our Silentiarius, and it might be better on the score of economy, to invest him with a right to dictate, than to pay for so much dribbling in debate as  trickles in our halls of legislation. This reflection on our spouters is not one-sided. The Ulema, I mean the small fry of the order, make on either side, a most despicable figure. What connection is there between assault and battery, and wounds on our national honor? What between actions in assumsit and those wholly assumed? What between Quare Clausum Freget, and trespasses on our commerce and the violation of Treaties? \u201cThe tribe of vulgar politicians, are the lowest of our species. There is no trade so vile and mechanical as Government in their hands.\u201d\nThe plan of administration pursued by Mr. Jefferson, had the help of France primarily in view. What will happen in the farther pursuit of this plan, and before we arrive at its ultimate consequence, is an enquiry of much circuit and uncertainty\u2014We must actually go the round before we can answer. The war of sentiment, fiercely waged, produces that of the sword, which, \u201cin its progress methodises its own course.\u201d Hence the hopes of the aspiring.\nOnce more \u201cof our illustrious families.\u201d Less than seven years ago, you, told me of Mr. Jefferson, \u201cthat you shuddered at the calamities which he was preparing for his country from a mean thirst of popularity, an inordinate ambition and a want of sincerity.\u201d Since then you have declared your predictions verified; and since making this declaration, you have become his Eulogist! What is there that Ambition, a thirst of Popularity, and Insincerity, will not perform? You compared Mr. Jefferson, with others, to Lovelace, and the people to Clarissa\u2014and said\u2014\u201cThe artful villain will pursue the lovely girl to her ruin and her death.\u201d This is the painting of your own pencil. Whose likeness can you trace in it?\nI mentioned in my last, that the intimations therein contained should be a shield against the censure of yourself and family. These intimations related principally to two characters. You shall now know my meaning explicitly. First of Mr. Pickering.\nIn your Letter to me of Nov. 7th. 1808, you remark, that the Letters of this gentleman to the Legislature of this Commonwealth \u201cshew the character of the man bitter and malignant; ignorant and jesuitical.\u201d In the same Letter, you accuse him of \u201cIntrigues with Senators which led the Senate into violations of the Constitution.\u201d You call him \u201ca man in a mask, sometimes of silk, sometimes of iron, and sometimes of brass.\u201d By which you intended to describe him as a Proteus. In your Letter of Nov. 15. of the same year, you charge him with exceeding any other man you ever knew in \u201ca contempt of Washington.\u201d \u201cYet now,\u201d you go on and say, \u201che appears to the world a devout adorer of him.\u201d In the same Letter, and in the one of Feb. 22d. 1809, you say of him, \u201cNo man was a more animated advocate for the French, even to the highest strain of Jacobinism and king\u2013killing; yet now he is as ardent in th his attachment to the English.\u201d In your Letter of March 4. you mention, that \u201cthe British practice of searching our ships of war, as well as our merchantmen for seamen, was one great point on which he was pleased to differ in opinion from you;\u201d and that \u201cwhen you wanted to instruct Mr. King to urge the most nervous remonstrances against these outrages, you could get nothing but muttering, that the English had a right to their own seamen &c. &c. &c.\u201d This is a direct charge of an obstinate disregard of official duty; and an implied one, of a willingness to sacrifice our rights to his \u201cBritish attachments.\u201d\nHow much contempt has at any time been expressed of Washington, you have had better opportunities of knowing then I have. You know how much detraction was vented by Duane, Giles, and other hairbrained partizans of France. Did Gen. Pickering outdo these disparagers in contempt of Washington? Did he more than call him \u201cthe source of our misfortunes?\u201d Did he more than call him \u201ca conspirator against public liberty?\u201d Did he more than rejoice at his death? Did he more than say, that the day of his death \u201cought to be a day of Jubilee in the United States?\u201d If he did, let him be damned forever. Let no ray of mercy ever reach him.\nThe excesses of the most violent in favour of France you have described, much at large, in your Letter of Oct. 15. 1808. Toasting the Revolutionary madcaps of France\u2014exciting an insurrection in Philadelphia to curse and menace Washington. Demanding War against England, and an Alliance with France. \nMr. Pickering You alledge against Mr. Pickering, that he rose to the highest point of this ardency for France\u2014To the highest pitch of this inveteracy against England. Such conduct, in a private citizen, might have found some apology in a thoughtless enthusiasm for Liberty; but would have been inexcuseable in a Member of the Government.\nBut what have you taught me, by your condemnation of Gen. Pickering, to think of yourself? Have I not your explicit declaration, that instead of wielding the pen to vindicate your pretension to a merit above Mr. Jay in the negociations of 1783, you have taken it in hand to keep alive a Gallic mania in this Country, in opposition to the leading Federalists with whom, at the period above referred to, you acted in concert\u2014and you are now inflaming the people with this madness in co\u2013operation with the very leading Jacobins to whom, at that period, you were in opposition! Surely this is a wandering which is bereft of the palliation of a virtuous but mistaken zeal. I know not of a more refined piece of Machiavelianism in all history, than for a man, on the borders of the grave, who might be supposed to be employed in making up his last accounts to pretend to be offended with a reflection upon him contained in a dozen lines of a column of a perishable news\u2013paper, and to disguise with the appearance of his defence, a plan to defeat the operation of a system he had indefatigably laboured to put together and erect. Look at your very words: \u201cI should have gone to my grave without writing a word, if the very system of Hamilton, a war with France had not been revived and apparently adopted by a majority of New. England.\u201d You said besides, in the same Letter, that the whole body of the Federalists had been disciplined by the British faction and the old tories  to a system you thought fundamentally wrong, and you \u201cdetermined to oppose it\u201d All this was given under the seal of secrecy, and even with a greater precaution against its ever appearing. I believe you spoke on a near acquaintance with their qualities, when you said that Revenge and Ambition could break the strongest cords of our Constitution. \nYou have noticed, that in the third number of the series of papers he is now publishing, Mr. Pickering licenses the rejection of his representations, if a single instance of duplicity can be supported against him.\nYou agreed with Nedham, that \u201cmost of the broils tumults, and cool civil dissentions in free states, have been occasioned by the ambitious, treacherous, and indiscreet practises, of  persons admitted into power, who have not been firm in their hearts to the interests of Liberty.\u201d On this apophthegm you found the interesting enquiry\u2014\u201cHow shall the people know whose heart will stand the trial, when so many people have been disappointed before them?\u201d This Pickering difficulty has led Mr. Pickering, very properly, at the outset, to challenge his political adversaries to fix upon him a charge of double-dealing. They will do it if they can. What conduct, of this description, can be more odious, than to feel the most perfect contempt for a character, and to affect for the same character, the most profound admiration? What conduct, of this description, more dangerous, than to stand a Syren on this shore of our dangers, and to sign the next on the opposite side of safety? Now, Sir, as a man of truth, integrity, honour, virtue, patriotism, and I will add, courage, can you repose in peace with the commitment to me of charges and insinuations so injurious to Genl. Pickering, under a challenge publickly made by him to avow and support them? Make this avowal, or retract them altogether. Either measure will wrest from me every reason for disregarding the condition on which they were entrusted to me\u2014the condition, that you should remain undisturbed through this last hour of the bed time of you life, and that, of consequence, they should not be divulged, until you had gone into your last slumbers. A condition you have yourself given a warrant to violate, by bursting from your tranquillity, from your Oeta, in armour, to restore the Heraclidae.\nAgainst Gen. Hamilton you have vented more, and fouler obloquy\u2014You \u201cdelve him to the root.\u201d You have said he was a bastard son of Scotch pedlar of the name of Stephens, by his maid servant. That Stephens being too poor to raise him, gave him to a Merchant in St. Croix\u2014That the name, Hamilton, was given to the child because of its frequency among the Scotch, of which nation, as above related, was the father\u2014that the merchant to whom he was confided, coming entering his counting-room one day, observed his new apprentice to confusedly to huddle a paper into his pocket\u2014that the merchant insisted on having his curiosity gratified, and he found the paper to contain a poetic description of the storm experienced by the youth on his passage from Nevis, which was so well conceived, that his master determined to change his destination, and accordingly sent him to Edinburgh for an Education. So, according to you, originated General Alexander Hamilton.\nWe have fact, or fable, for saying, that helpless and forsaken children have been fed by bees and pigeons\u2014that beasts have given them suck. These stories may be oblations of gratitude for the care which Providence has taken of remarkable persons. In the story of young Hamilton, as you have given it, this care is as conspicuously, and more rationally displayed, in the character of his patron. How unlike the avarice and contracted views of the Counting\u2013House was a the resolution of this patron, to spread in full expansion, a Genius which he conceived to have been given for a more important purpose than keeping the guage and weight of hogsheads! How truly noble, generous, patriotic! In such a friend, Hamilton was more fortunate than thousands in a Father. Under such a gaurdian, Genius puts forth like asparagus from the warm manured bed. Pity on Genius, when it shoots where it can find no culture, and sends up a spindling stalk like asparagus from neglected ground. Much of its indeed, meets with no better treatment\u2014much of it is intentionally depressed by those who are incapable of from an incapacity in those to distinguish and appreciate its indications in those on whose fostering hand it depends, in its earliest sprouting, to help it forth to midsummer luxuriance. Avarice\u2014Affection Authority too little softened by affection\u2014and Contempt of every thing shining but the face of Guineas, may assert cramp dependent Genius, even more fatally than  imperception. Sacred is the trust of guiding early Genius! The friend of Hamilton, (supposing the case as you have described) acquitted himself nobly of the charge.\nHow rare the instance of a finished Man! The few of this character who have appeared, stand, in the world, like the Oases in the sandy waste, imparting water and verdure to the fainting traveller. They may not be Geniuses who are extolled as such by the vulgar\u2014the leaf carried in the whirlwind, attracts more eyes than the mountain, whose beauties and varieties can only be ascertained by a critical survey, and then overpower the examiner, with their force and immeasurable extent:\u2014They may not have in them a spark of the Divinity, who are or crowded by the populace into the Pantheon. Is there, in fact another subject on which the world at large speak so wildly as on Genius? Who possesses it? The boys in the streets can make a pert decision. And men of repute, will distend their cheeks with the wind of their own vanity, and though ignorant of mental dissection as of animal anatomy, will graduate the merits of any character who, in any part of the world, is called Great. It ceases then to confound us, that emptiness is so easily kept up by the breath of common fame\u2014While real Greatness, marching in its circuit by the force of its own power, and oftentimes oppressive with the emissions of its necessary light and heat, is pointed at with Envy, and excites detraction: But\n\u201cSuch envy\u2019d wit, like Sol eclips\u2019d, makes known,\nThe opposing body\u2019s grossness, not its own;\nWhen first that sun too pow\u2019rful beams displays,\nIt draws up vapours which obscure its rays;\nBut ev\u2019n those clouds at last adorn its way,\nReflect new glories, and augment the day.\u201d\nThe first offence you lay to the charge of Hamilton, after he entered the family of Gen. Washington, was the inculcation in the Army of the worst species of Infidelity. You told me that Gen. Knox visited you a little before the affair of Hoboken, and then informed you, that Hamilton rejected religion, and disbelieved a future state. You had acquainted me before by Letter, that it was a maxim with him to think meanly of any man\u2019s understanding who professed respect for the Bible.\nIn a Country where, generally, Christianity and Politicks are linked together by Oath, it could hardly be expected of an Ambitious man, that his theological speculations should be at such variance with his schemes: It is a remark of your own that \u201ca statesman in a christian Country, who makes an ostentation of irreligion, is a fool.\u201d How far does this maxim go in explaining the professions of Christianity made by politicians? It was to efface the reproaches of being guilty of a sacrilegious profanation of the statues of Mercury, for which he had been banished, that Alcibiades, after his return, caused the Eleusinian mysteries to be attended with the most solemn pomp. You have assigned a reason very similar, for the professions made by Gen. Hamilton in his last hour.\nYou next lay to his charge, that he threatened and overawed Washington. You said, \u201cthat the Pamphlets of Hamilton hung over the head of Washington like the sword of Diomedes.\u201d You mentioned an abundance to shew that he trembled under them. Did you give this anecdote to exalt Hamilton to an Apollo? It must, then, have been given to reduce Gen. Washington to a Phly Phlegyas. Did Gen. Pickering exceed all other men in a contempt of Washington? If Washington was under this vassalage to Hamilton, (which you have attempted much to evince) he would deserve the character which Timotheus applied to Charles, that, \u201cinstead of being a General, he was fitter to carry the General\u2019s baggage.\u201d Hamilton, you would have me believe, was Washington\u2019s authoritative Mec\u00e6nas, and that he imperiously dictated the acts of the \u201cage of Washington.\u201d as much as the counsel of Mecaenas controuled the transactions of the Augustan age. A charge of this submissiveness to Washington appeared in your paper, the Patriot, of the 12th. of May last September, which carries internal evidence of proceeding from your pen: \u201cThe first President of the United States was in petticoats during a great portion of his ostensible administration. How contemptibly some men have spoken of Washington! And Pickering was the worst in this wickedness. Within what period it was that Hamilton begat those numbers which you say, meet one in the streets of New-York, and Philadelphia, wearing in their faces the armorials of the Hamilton Family, you have not named. No matter when\u2014make out the fact, that he ranged those at large in those cities, lustful and shameless as the animal to which you have compared him, and the world will accord with you, that he was admirably adopted to pass his life in devotions to Astarte in her temple at Aphae, though they might not coincide in the opinion you have passed on his capacity for conducting the affairs of state.\nAs to Mrs. Reynolds, he was not her Vertumnus; but with the wantonness of the Wife of Bath, she followed him, and climed to him on her husband\u2019s back. Mrs. Reynolds was an alluring callet. There is all the difference between the guilt of his connexion with her, and his own seduction of virtue, that there can be between being ensnared, and spreading the net for prey. He has, besides, atoned for this misconduct by its confession and repentance. I should not have touched the case had you not brought it against him with great opprobrium. Millot, who was a divine, and a most moral historian, remarks of the amorous affections of Louis the illustrious Henry IV. that they should be forgotten, as the too common weakness of an heroick mind. But if you cannot be tuned to charity by a Divine, read a stanza of you favourite Poet, whose heart was as refined as his numbers:\n\u201cWhy, Virtue, dost thou blame desire\nWhich Nature has imprest?\nWhy, Nature, dost thou soonest fire\nThe mild and generous breast?\u201d\nThe Debauchery of all the Sisters of his Wife, with which you charged him Hamilton, was a crime inexpiable as the incestuous commerce of Commodius with his own Sisters.\nThe designs with which you charged him on the chastity of Mrs. Lear, and a Daughter of Judge Chew, had not the apology of a sudden inflammation of passion, if that apology were admissible, but the aggravation, as you have stated, of bold and repeated attempts.\nBut the assault on Mrs. Jay was attended, according to your representation, with circumstances which disclose a native pollution, too gross to keep Charity in temperance; too enormous to have any plea to mitigated the severity of Justice. Proof of this assault with will consign him to eternal infamy. Proof Prove this, and his fame is a mark at which you may \u201cpoint your thunder, and exhaust your rage.\u201d Prove it not, and the \u201cchosen curses\u2014the secret thunders\u201d of Heaven shall overtake you.\nYou represented, that he contrived to get into Mrs. Jay\u2019s bedchamber. On meeting her, he seized and caressed her, and entreated her compliance with his desires\u2014That she indignantly broke away from him, and fled, with a complaint of the insult offerred her, to her husband\u2014That Mr. Jay considered Hamilton as of importance in a political view, and suppressed his resentment, but exhorted his wife to beware of an exposure to him for the future. Such are the particulars. Reading in my countenance the inquisitiveness they raised, you proceed to inform me, that Mrs. Jay herself, related these facts to Mrs. Adams.\nOne would think that Mrs. Jay would rather preferred to have her tongue cut out, than to have mentioned such an affair to an own sister; and for the same reason, she would have refrained from giving any devises intimations of it in devises of needle work. Were these things communicated to Mrs. Adams because Mrs. Jay thought that her husband had basely borne with the insult offerred her? That he was less inflamed than Calletimus? Such is the inference, and appearing to be aware of the difficulty, you gave the explanation above. Does not this explanation, if just, fix an indelible stain on Mr. Jay? What importance was there in Genl. Hamilton\u2019s connexion with a system of politicks, to reconcile Mr. Jay to indignities which are every-where, and by every-body, regarded as insuffurable? Flagitious as was the affront, could not Mr. Jay have resented it in a manner becoming a man of honour and spirit, without materially weakening the influence of Hamilton on political subjects? The insult required from Mr. Jay (considering his years) none other than a poignant yet dignified written expression to Hamilton himself, of his forfeiture of esteem; and an inhibition of intercourse. Conjecture might work in the world as it would; the subject of Mr. Jay\u2019s alienation was not a subject for air. Or was I to understand by the importance of Hamilton in Mr. Jay\u2019s estimation, that he depended upon him to maintain his assertion, that \u201cthe principal merit of the negociation with Great Britain, is the right of Mr. Jay?\u201d Whatever inference you would have had me  make, you know too well the character of Mr. Jay, to cherish towards him a suspicion of so much meanness injustice. It is the most intolerable supposition\u2014the meanness which could can contend for an undeserved meed, is insensible, on any subject, to the discipline of honour.\nOr was I to understand, that Mrs. Jay herself proud of a paramour, was incited by vanity to disclose a guilty connexion with Hamilton, as Tim\u00e6a, wife of Agis, boasted her guilty acquaintance with Alcibiades? This supposition you woud be even more unwilling to avow\u2014And Shall a statement remain which will bear this unjust presumption?\nMr. Jay would have forfeited the confidence of his wife by any forbearance of her just defence. To him, in attachment and fidelity, she is an Arria\u2014of such accomplished manners, and so of such majestic virtue, that her very aspect, tho would appal the most profligate seducer. Shall Envy, then, and Malice, ever find aught on earth, on which to accuse her of being a Messalina, willing to have taken Hamilton for a Silius?\nIf he acted so atrociously towards her, as you have declared he did; in the last extremity to which the cause he espoused may can be exposed, his relique would not appease an enemy, taken upon the shoulders of the most holy man on earth. If so guilty, the most eloquent preacher of Federalism in times to come, will discourse unregarded with the  skull of this champion in his hand.\nYou said that he died in possession of sixty thousand dollars which he could only have obtained by peculation. The circumstances of Solon always refuted the calumny of his amassing wealth by public plunder; and was not the condition of Hamilton equally defensive of him? Did he not die poor as Aristides who had been treasurer of Greece, but left not enough to pay the charges of his obsequies? Has not his Minerva been weighed, and been found to contain  more ounces of gold than were given to him? In what light is his Integrity set by a comparison of circumstances with the present Secretary of the Treasury, who came shirtless into the country, but who did not long remain shirtless. He Who excited a rebellion which it cost two millions to quiet\u2014and who is now possessed of a princely fortune?\nYour indictment of Hamilton was not made to satisfy an idle curiosity; but neither to put him on trial, but to blacken the hearts of others with your own implacability. In my letter of the 18th of August 1809. which was in reply to one in which you had been excessively severe against him, I engaged, that if you would substantiate certain charges, I woud hold him up to the execration of mankind\u2014an engagement I am now willing to fulfil. You immediately, verbally & in writing, described him in all, and more than all the odiousness I have mentioned. You would sentence every powerful friend he has left behind him, to confinement in an Hippodrome to taste of death at the moment of your dissolution. You have thought that I should serve you as a minister of your vengeance\u2014But unless you can supply such evidence as shall remove all reasonable doubt of his guilt and their venality, do you not conceal yourself in a cauldron to be consumed, or forced out exposed, when, in the stead of such evidence, you found your dependence for assistance, and for the conviction of the public mind, on very exceptionable testimony? Raise but a probability of their guilt, and you shall silence their the supporters of his fame.\nI will now mention the method by which, if you have wronged the character of Gen. Hamilton, all that has passed between us may be dropped in everlasting silence\u2014Retract your allegations. Otherwise, support them with proof indubitable or presumptive. Should you contend, that you the interdiction you laid me under, in your Letter to of January 16. 1809, never to divulge what you had communicated, amounts to a retraction, I cannot admit that construction, however obvious it may appear, without your express permission, because there is a contradiction between such a construction, and the express and implied condition on which you made your communications. And because, having explicitly assigned as a reason for the interdiction, your tenderness of the feelings of many entitled to your consideration, I can only look upon this cause of forbearance in no other light, than as giving the weight of apparent or real delicacy to the obloquies with which you have loaded a man, whose support by those persons, on the supposition of his having deserved those reproaches, is more dishonourable to them than any experience they could have had of his character, possibly can be. Remember, too, that the interdiction was returned in answer to an application to you for leave to publish your Letters before your decease. Does the denial wear a righteous face? the sign of righteousness, or holiness?\nIf a sense of private injury has precipitated you into injustice, is it not due to Truth and Reason, that you should retract? Is it not due to the great cause you once arduously abetted in our Country, that I should demand the retraction, or demand the proofs? And is it not due to the same considerations, that if you refuse, I shall make you personally accountable to the Great Characters, and to the friends of the Great Characters, you have villified? The enquiry has been sufficiently discussed.\nI repeat, that I am indifferent, as it respects myself, whether you do, or do not, answer this letter. But if should it remain unanswered for the space of two months from its date, I will after the expiration of that time, adopt one of these three measures: I will send you, by a private hand, a copy of it unsealed, in which case your continued silence will be decisive against you: Or I will send a copy to persons most implicated: or I will publish it, and meet the consequences, whatever they may be, to which you have alluded, to deter me from making the disclosures it makes. The discouragements to a disclosure, are of another kind, and they are so formidable, that the contestation with them has been extremely arduous: It is a dishonour to our Country to unveil infirmities in those who have received her first distinctions: It is a discouragement to the practice of virtue when it must lose to expose its just reputation to the injuries it must suffer through the delinquency of its reputed votaries of eminence: To these are added, the love, esteem, friendship, and veneration I had cherished towards you, and which seem to have acquired the right of possession from a long tenancy of the heart. Surely these difficulties could not find a dissolvent but in the alkahest of public duty.\nThis Letter brings into view most of the essential matter of our Correspondence\u2014one point excepted\u2014I mean the Result. This expression may appear cabalistical, to but to yourself it is intelligible. I consider the Result of the Correspondence, as inestimably valuable as a glossary throughout, for it expounds character and object.\nOne whom you have assailed, has advanced to retaliate your blows; or rather, to shew you wound\u2019d you by their own reverberation. If the community at large will not be enlightened on matters of fact, our country is prepared to exhibit one of those awful scenes which follows from a furious, blind or misguided devotion to persons. Against such a devotion, you once zealously admonished your countrymen; and displayed before them, for their instruction, the convulsions, so occasioned, in the Italian States.\nOn your own examples and exhortations, I may with confidence found an enquiry, whether any obligation to the public can be of an higher order, than to interpose, and prevent the inveteracy of Envy, of Malice, of Revenge, of Disappointed Ambition, from being inflamed fatally to public Liberty, by its propagation?\nThe reference made to the Result cannot be misunderstood by yourself. I would, nevertheless, have picked out of the Correspondence, the parts most closely connected with it, and have followed them to the conclusion, but I was discoura had I not found the undertaking too extensive.\nThere are many thoughts which, under the  of confidence, you have liberated from your heart,  that are faithful interpreters of mysterious events in your own life. I will name one. You pronounced your son\u2019s attendance at the causes for Mr. Madison, impolitic. Why? You gave the why among the reasons for his declining to stand a Candidate for Governour\u2014that it would tend, \u201cto produce an eternal seperation between him and the Federalists, at least that part of them who now constitute the absolute oligarchy.\u201d Ah! Why was a seperation between him from men you call \u201cBears and Tygers,\u201d to be lamented? Was it because it was is an easier Labour to get into the Garden of the Hesperides by stratagem than force?\nMr. Madison names your Son  for a foreign mission\u2014temporising is no longer politic\u2014The wolf\u2019s skin is taken upon his shoulders, and the Giants who impede his way, must be pierced with arrows, or overthrown with stones. This was attempted in \u201cA Review of the Works of Mr. Ames.\u201d How true it proves, that \u201cIniquity never makes joints and squares.\u201d\nHe who assassinated Queen Deidamia was instantly seized with madness. Has not this distemper followed other instances of assassination? I have not put this question to retort your inferences against me of being agitated, melancholly, disturbed. Melancholly, and disturbance of mind inquietude, may be created by an anxiety for the public, and they may be the effect of Ambition. I received what you said of me, in the former sense; but if due to me in the latter, which I deny, my condition would not be inconsolable\u2014A man is not so indisposed to admit any I should be comforted with great and generous examples. Malevolence is denied this consolation\u2014An ingenious enigmatical explanation, in one instance, saved the head; but what can be his invention to save himself who, at a distance from a grape-vine, has expressed his impatience to see visages turned black?\nI am, Sir, / Your real well wisher,\nWm. Cunningham. Jun.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5634", "content": "Title: To John Adams from David Sewall, 24 April 1811\nFrom: Sewall, David\nTo: Adams, John\nDear Sir\nYork April 24th. 1811\nThe great the meek the learned & pious Docr. Hemmengway, has at length left us. He died on Friday last\u2014And such of his particular Friends and Acquaintance, as knew his situation, have reason to congratulate that his immortal Spirit is released, from its earthly tenement\u2014The disagreable and distressing disorder (Cancer) that had been making rapid Strides on his mortal part rendred him an object of Commiseration\u2014His patience & resignation did not forsake him\u2014His funeral solemnitys were performed on monday last, at which a greater Concourse of Persons attended, that are usual on such Occasions\u2014Docr. Buckminster of Portsmouth delivered an appropriate Discourse from 11 Kings 2d. Chap & 12th. Verse\u2014\u201cMy Father my Father, the Chariot of Israel & the horsemen thereof:\u2014and He took hold of his own Clothes and rent them, in two pieces\u201d: to a Crowded Audience in the Wells meeting House, (Whither the Corps had been conveyed) And I have Seldom Witnessed a more attentive Assembly\u2014For my particular regard for the deceased, did not permit me to withhold my paying this last token of respects to his memory and there were many others I suppose in the same predicament, for some said there were 100 carriages, from that and the neighbouring Towns\u2014may these memento\u2019s of Mortality quicken the Survivours for their particular departure, and especially him who is the only Surviving Classmate in the District of Maine\u2014\nI am / respectfully your Friend & Classmate\nDavid Sewall", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5635", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Caleb Loring, 26 April 1811\nFrom: Loring, Caleb,Curtis, Charles\nTo: Adams, John\nRespected Sir\nBoston April 26. 1811\nHaving our Ship the Hugh Johnston, William Johnston Master, now bound for St. Petersburgh with a Cargo of considerable value, we take the liberty of requesting of You the Honor of a letter to Your Son the Honble John Quincy Adams, stating to Him Your confidence of the Neutrality of said Ship & Cargo; this vessel is consigned to Mr Joseph Austen a Citizen of Boston as Super Cargo, He has already taken passage in a Brig belonging to us, & expects to meet this ship at St Petersburgh.\u2014\nWe pray You Sir to excuse the Liberty we take in troubling You with this request, & plead the very critical state of our Commerce in Europe as an excuse.\u2014\nWith Sentiments of the highest respect / We are Your obedient Servants\u2014\nLoring & Curtis", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5638", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Samuel Miller, 6 May 1811\nFrom: Miller, Samuel\nTo: Adams, John\nHonoured & dear Sir,\nNew-York, May 6, 1811.\nYour kind favour, of April 12th. & 13th. as well as the Copy of Mr Hancock\u2019s Sermon, sent by a preceding Mail, reached me in safety. An absence of several days from the City, together with an unusual pressure of professional avocations since my return, have prevented my making this acknowledgment at an earlier period.\nI feel myself much honoured by this testimony of kind and respectful remembrance, by one of the most illustrious Ornaments of my Country\u2014whom my Father early taught me to venerate\u2014and towards whom I have long been in the habit of cherishing the most profound filial respect. For a communication as highly gratifying, as it was entirely unexpected, be pleased to accept of my grateful acknowledgments.\nI had never seen Mr. Hancock\u2019s Sermon before. The perusal of it afforded me not a little pleasure. It is a truly respectable discourse in itself; & the peculiar interest which I felt in some of the information which it conveyed, rendered it more than usually acceptable.\u2014\nI am sorry that it is not in my power to furnish You with the date of my ancestor\u2019s marriage to Miss Bass? His name was John Miller. He migrated from Scotland to Boston in the year 1710. He had two children, John & Joseph. Of these my Father (John) was the Elder. He was born Decr. 24 (O. S.) 1722. so that the marriage in question probably took place toward the close of the year 1721, or beginning of 1722. The greater part of my Father\u2019s papers are lodged in Philadelphia. Being about to visit that city, I hope to have an opportunity of examining them next week. If this expected examination should enable me to answer your query more precisely, it will give me much pleasure.\u2014\nThe condescension which You manifest in taking notice of my connection with the Bass family, emboldens me to ask, whether you do not yourself bear some relation to that family\u2014and if so, what that relation is? My Father often spoke of such a relation; & in the course of an interview which two of my Brothers had the honour of enjoying with you, in Philadelphia, about the year 1790, you alluded to the circumstance. As I had not lived at home for some time before that event;\u2014as my Father died soon afterwards;\u2014& as his papers have almost ever since been distantly separated from me, my information on this point is confused and unsatisfactory.\u2014\nI have the honour to be, Sir, with the / highest respect, your obliged & obedient / servant\nSaml: Miller.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5639", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 6 May 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\nQuincy, May 6, 1811.\n Instructions to the Hon. John Adams, for the treaty of peace, dated 14th August, 1779.\n    Sir\u2014You will herewith receive a commission, giving you full power to negotiate a treaty of peace with Great Britain, in doing which you will conform to the following information and instructions\u2014\n    1st. The United States are sincerely desirous of peace, and wish by every means consistent with their dignity and safety, to spare the further effusion of human blood. They have therefore by your commission and these instructions, labored to remove the obstacles to that event, before the enemy have evidenced their disposition for it. But as the great object of the present defensive war, on the part of the allies, is to establish the Independence of the United States, and as any treaty whereby this end cannot be obtained, must be only ostensible and illusory, you are therefore to make it a preliminary article to any negociation, that Great Britain shall agree to treat with the United States as sovereign, free and independent.\n    2dly. You shall take especial care also, that the independence of the said States be effectually assured and confirmed by the treaty or treaties of peace, according to the form and effect of the treaty of alliance with his most christian majesty; and you shall not agree to such treaty or treaties unless the same be thereby so assured and confirmed.\n    3dly. The boundaries of these states are as follows, viz. These states are bounded north by a line to be drawn from the northwest angle of Nova Scotia, along the highlands, which divide those rivers, which empty themselves into the river St. Lawrence, from those which fall into the Atlantic ocean, to the northwesternmost head of Connecticut river; thence down along the middle of that river, to the forty fifth degree of north latitude, thence due west in the latitude of forty five degrees north from the equator, to the northwesternmost side of the river St. Lawrence or Cadaraqui, thence straight to the south end of Lake Nipising, and thence straight to the source of the river Mississippi, of west by a line to be drawn along the middle of the river Mississippi from its source to where the said line shall intersect the thirty-first degree of north latitude. South, by a line to be drawn due east from the termination of the line last mentioned in the latitude of thirty-one degrees north from the equator, to the middle of the river Appalachicola, or Catahouchi, thence along the middle thereof, to its junction with the Flint river, thence straight to the head of St. Mary\u2019s river, and thence down along the middle of St. Mary\u2019s river to the Atlantic ocean: and east by a line to be drawn along the middle of St. John\u2019s river from its source to its mouth in the bay of Fundy, comprehending all islands within twenty leagues of any part of the shores of the United States, and lying between lines to be drawn due east from the points where the aforesaid boundaries between Nova Scotia on the one part and East Florida on the other part, shall respectively touch the bay of Fundy and Atlantic ocean. You are therefore strongly to contend that the whole of the said countries and islands lying within the boundaries aforesaid, and every citadel, fort, post, place, harbour and road to them belonging, be absolutely evacuated by the land and sea forces of his Britannic majesty, and yielded to the powers of the states to which they respectively belong, in such situation as they may be, at the termination of the war. But, notwithstanding the clear right of these states, and the importance of the object, yet they are so much influenced by the dictates of religion and humanity, and so desirous of complying with the earnest requests of their allies that, if the line to be drawn from the mouth of the lake Nipissing to the head of the Mississippi, cannot be obtained without continuing the war for that purpose you are hereby empowered to agree to some other line between that point and the river Mississippi; provided the same shall in no part thereof be to the southward of latitude forty-five degrees north; and in like manner, if the eastern boundary above described cannot be obtained, you are hereby impowered to agree, that the same shall be afterwards adjusted by commissioners to be duly appointed for that purpose, according to such like as shall be by them settled and agreed on, as the boundary between that part of the State of Massachusetts bay formerly called the Province of Maine, and the colony of Nova Scotia, agreeably to their respective rights; and you may also consent that the enemy shall destroy such fortifications as they may have erected.\n    4thly. Although it is of the utmost importance to the peace and commerce of the United States that Canada and Nova Scotia should be ceded; and more particularly, that their equal common right to the fisheries should be guarantied to them, yet a desire of terminating the war hath induced us not to make the acquisition of these objects an ultimatum on the present occasion.\n    5thly. You are empowered to agree to a cessation of hostilities during the negotiation, provided our ally shall consent to the same, and provided it shall be stipulated that all the forces of the enemy shall be immediately withdrawn from the United States.\n    6thly. In all other matters not above mentioned you are to govern yourself by the alliance between his most christian majesty and these states; by the advice of our allies; by your knowledge of our interests, and by your own discretion, in which we repose the fullest confidence.\n    Copy of instructions to the Hon. John Adams, Esq. minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America to negotiate a treaty of peace.\nSigned, Cha: Thomson, Sec\u2019y.\nInstructions to the Hon. John Adams for the treaty of commerce.\n    Sir\u2014You will herewith receive a commission, giving you full power to negotiate a treaty of commerce with Great Britain, in doing which, you will consider yourself bound by the following information and instructions\u2014\n    1st. You will govern yourself principally by the treaty of commerce with his most christian majesty: and as on the one hand you shall grant no privilege to Great Britain, not granted by that treaty to France, so, on the other you shall not consent to any peculiar restrictions or limitations whatever in favor of Great Britain.\n    2dly. In order that you may be the better able to act with propriety on this occasion, it is necessary for you to know, that we have determined, 1. That the common right of fishing shall in no case be given up. 2. That it is essential to the welfare of all these United States, that the inhabitants thereof, at the expiration of the war, should continue to enjoy the free and undisturbed exercise of their common right to fish on the banks of Newfoundland and the other fishing banks and seas of North America, preserving inviolate the treaties between France and the said States. 3. That application shall be made to his most christian majesty, to agree to some article or articles for the better securing to these states a share in the said fisheries. 4. That if after a treaty of peace with Great Britain, she shall molest the citizens or inhabitants of any of the United States, in taking fish on the banks and places, hereinafter described, such molestation being in our opinion direct violation, and breach of the peace, shall be a common cause of the said states, and the force of the union be exerted to obtain redress for the parties injured. And\n    5th. That our faith be pledged to the several states, that without their unanimous consent, no treaty of commerce shall be entered into, nor any trade or commerce whatever carried on with Great Britain, without the explicit stipulation herein after mentioned. You are therefore not to consent to any treaty of commerce with Great Britain, without an explicit stipulation on her part, not to molest or disturb the inhabitants of the United States of America in taking fish on the banks of Newfoundland and other fisheries in the American seas, any where excepting within the distance of three leagues of the shores of the territories remaining to Great Britain at the close of the war. If a nearer distance cannot be obtained by negotiation; and in the negotiation you are to exert your most strenuous endeavors to obtain a nearer distance, in the gulph of St. Lawrence, and particularly along the shores of Nova Scotia, as to which latter we are desirous that even the shore, may be occasionally used for the purpose of carrying on the fisheries by the inhabitants of these states.\n    3. In all other matters you are to govern yourself by your own discretion, as shall be most for the interest of these States, taking care that the said treaty be founded on principles of equality and reciprocity, so as to conduce to the mutual advantage of both nations, but not to the exclusion of others.\n    Copy of instructions to the Hon. John Adams, Esq, minister plenipotentiary of the United States of America to negotiate a treaty of commerce with Great Britain.\n    Signed, Cha: Thomson, Sec\u2019y.\n    Instructions to the honorable John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Henry Laurens, and Thomas Jefferson, ministers plenipotentiary in behalf of the United States of America, to negociate a treaty of peace.\n    Gentlemen\u2014You are hereby authorized and instructed to concur in behalf of these United States, with his most christian majesty in accepting the mediation proposed by the empress of Russia and the emperor of Germany.\n    You are to accede to no treaty of peace which shall not be such as may first effectually secure the independence and sovereignty of the thirteen United States according to the form and effect of the treaties subsisting between the said United States & his most christian majesty; and secondly, in which the said treaties shall not be left, in their full force and validity.\n    As to disputed boundaries, and other particulars, we refer you to the instructions given to Mr. John Adams, dated 14th August 1779, and 18th October, 1780, from which you will easily perceive the desires and expectations of congress. But we think it unsafe, at this distance, to tye you up by absolute and peremptory directions, upon any other subject than the two essential articles abovementioned. You are therefore at liberty to secure the interest of the United States, in such manner as circumstances may direct, and as the state of the belligerent, and the disposition of the mediating powers may require. For this purpose, you are to make the most candid and confidential communications, upon all subjects, to the ministers of our generous ally, the King of France: to undertake nothing in the negotiations for peace or truce, without their knowledge and concurrence; and ultimately, to govern yourselves, by their advice and opinion; endeavoring in your whole conduct to make them sensible how much we rely upon his majesty\u2019s influence for effectuating every thing that may be necessary to the peace,  security, and future prosperity of the United States of America.\n    If a difficulty should arise, in the course of the negotiations for peace, from the backwardness of Great Britain to acknowledge our independence, you are at liberty to agree to a truce, or to make such other concessions as may not affect the substance of what we contend for; and provided that Great Britain be not left in possession of any part of the United States.\n    Signed, Sam\u2019l. Huntington, Pres.\n    Attest, Cha Thomson, Sec\u2019y.\n    Whoever shall read the foregoing instructions, to Adams, to Franklin, and to the ministers for peace, with attention, will perceive that they must have been the results of long debates and sharp contentions between two different parties in congress. The one party consisted of the delegates from New-England, unanimously supported by several of the notable and distinguished members from some of the southern states. The other party consisted of the delegates from the southern states, generally, supported by some respectable characters from the middle states.\n    Mr. Gerard, and after him, the chevalier de la Luzerne and the secretary of his legation, Mr. Marbois, resided at Philadelphia, and had daily intercourse with members of congress during all the time that these instructions were debating in that assembly. Mr. Marbois was one of the most industrious, active, ingenious and able of the Comte de Vergennes\u2019 agents. He was, as he told me, in 1779, on a voyage from L\u2019Orient to Boston, secretary of legation, had a commission from the king, had a right to correspond directly with the minister at Versailles, and was as  of the Chevalier de la Luzerne as the Chevalier was of him. Mr. Marbois had been secretary of legation at the peace of Teuchen, which terminated in favor of the king of Prussia, and against the house of Austria, greatly to the mortification of Marie Theresia. The activity and zeal of Mr. Marbois in this negotiation had given offence to the empress to such a degree that she wrote a letter to her daughter, the queen of France, complaining of his conduct and demanding his dismission from service.\u2014The queen accordingly demanded it of the Compte de Vergennes. But upon examination it was found that the particular fact upon which the empress\u2019 complaint was founded was not well supported, and the Comte instead of dismissing him, sent him to America. The Comte\u2019s friendship to him, on this dangerous occasion, no doubt secured his attachment, and increased the mutual confidence between them.\n    Mr. Jay, if I mistake not, was president of congress during all these dissentions and was a witness and a moderator in all these debates\u2014We knew therefore not only the state of parties in congress, and how equally divided they were, but all the public propositions of the French legation, and probably many of their private maneuvers. As he was president he could not mingle in any debate, and his sentiments could not be known: but it is certain, that the parties considered him, as leaning in his inclination in favor of the southern party, and both parties were surprised, when they afterwards found that he joined, as they expressed themselves, with Mr. Adams, against Dr. Franklin, and the Comte de Vergennes.\nJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5640", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Samuel Miller, 11 May 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Miller, Samuel\nReverend and dear Sir\nQuincy May 11 1811\nYour kind Letter of the Sixth of this Month is this day received with great Pleasure. I thank you, Sir for the Facts relative to your Ancestors, and Shall be obliged to you for any others that you may please to communicate to me. I may possibly furnish you hereafter with Some Information concerning your Uncle Joseph Miller: but this is mere conjecture at present. I escorted to the Tomb in the Course of this Week, the Remains of Ebenezer Miller Esqr of this Town, who died at the age of Eighty\u2013one. He was the Son of Ebenezer Miller D.D. formerly the Episcopal Clergyman of this Town, who was a Brother of Col. Steven Miller of the neighbouring Town of Milton. This Family I have known from my youth Up and I know that Joseph Miller and John Miller have been common Names among Them.\u2014Surely these circumstances are Sufficient to excite the curiosity of an Antiquarian, at least to inquire whether this Family is not the Family of your Uncle Joseph. If this Imagination is altogether chimerical, you can no doubt determine it, at once.\nyour Politeness enquires whether I do not bear Some Relation to the Family of Bass? and what that Relation is? My Grandfather Joseph Adams married Hannah Bass but whether a Daughter or grand daughter of Deacon Samuel Bass who married an Alden, I am not able, at present to determine, one or the other She certainly was. This Joseph Adams by Hannah Bass had Eight Children, of whom five Sons and three Daughters. My Father was the Second Son. The oldest Son, The Reverend Joseph Adams, Minister of Newington in New Hampshire who died in 1783 was born in 1688, The Year of the Revolution in England. The Marriage of his Father and Mother was probably in 1686 or 7. Deacon Samuel Bass who married an Alden died in 1683, at Eighty four Years of age. It is not probable that he left a Daughter, young enough to have Eight Children, and after that to die young, as my Grandmother did. I conclude therefore that She must have been a Grand Daughter of Bass and Alden. The Records of Marriages, Births, Baptisms and Deaths, which ought to have been kept with Precision, and which have been kept in this Town and Church with tolerable Regularity, I presume might be Searched with Success, to determine most of this. Facts and Dates: but I have given my Self very little concern upon these Subjects. Indeed I have observed that it is not till extream old age that People commonly begin to think much about their original and their ancestors. Thus it often happens, when it is too late, and when all are dead who could give authentic Information, Men and Women become intemperately anxious and inquisitive, about such Subjects.\nI wish to know, Sir whether Dr Miller of New York, The Physician, who is so much associated in Medical Investigations with Dr Mitchel is your Brother?\nIt is not without pleasure, nor without pride, that I am able to trace any connection of consanguinity, between two gentleman you the men who have done so much honour to the Religion Litterature and Science of America, and your affectionate Friend\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5641", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 15 May 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\nQuincy, May 15, 1811.\n The instructions of congress to Mr Jay, as minister to the king of Spain, were never communicated to me. At least, I have no recollection, and can find no copy or memorandum of them. One link in the chain will therefore be wanting. But to furnish all in my power, and to shew to the attentive inquirer, the refinements and double refinements of the Comte de Vergennes\u2019 policy, the following resolutions of congress, though frequently mentioned before, are here inserted at full length.\n    By the United States, in congress assembled, August 16, 1781\u2014The report of the committee on the communications of the honorable the minister plenipotentiary of France, was taken into consideration, and thereupon\n    Resolved, That the minister plenipotentiary of these United States at the court of Versailles, be directed to inform his most christian majesty, that the tender of his endeavors to accomplish a coalition between the united provinces of the Netherlands, and these states, hath been received by congress as a fresh proof of his solicitude for their interests\u2014That, previous to the communication of this, his most christian majesty\u2019s friendly purpose, congress, impressed with the importance of such a connection, had confided to Mr. John Adams, full powers, to enter on the part of the United States, into a treaty of amity and commerce with the united provinces, with a special instruction to conform himself therein to the treaties subsisting between his most christian majesty and the United States\u2014That congress do, with pleasure, accept his most christian majesty\u2019s interposition, and will transmit further powers to their minister at the Hague, to form a treaty of alliance between his most christian majesty, the united provinces, and the United States, having for its object, and limited in its duration, to the present war with G. Britain; that he will be enjoined to confer, on all occasions, in the most confidential manner, with his most christian majesty\u2019s minister at the Hague; and that provisional authority will also be sent to admit his catholic majesty as a party.\n    Resolved, That the minister plenipotentiary of these United States at the Hague, be, and he is hereby instructed to propose a treaty of alliance between his most christian majesty, the united provinces of the Netherlands, and the United States of America, having for its object, and limited in its duration to the present war with Great Britain, and conformed to the treaties subsisting between his most christian majesty and the United States.\n    That the indispensable condition of the alliance be, that their high mightinesses, the states general of the united provinces of the Netherlands, shall expressly recognize the sovereignty and independence of the United States of America, absolute and unlimited, as well in matters of government as of commerce\u2014That the war with Great Britain shall be made a common cause, each party exerting itself, according to its discretion, in the most effectual hostility against the common enemy; and that no party shall conclude either truce or peace with Great Britain, without the formal consent of the whole first obtained, nor lay down their arms until the sovereignty and independence of these United States shall be formally or tacitly assured by Great Britain in a treaty which shall terminate the war.\n    That the said minister be, and he hereby is farther instructed to unite the two republics, by no stipulations of offence, nor guarantee any possession of the united provinces: to inform himself, from the minister of these United States at the court of Spain, of the progress of his negotiations at the said court; and if an alliance shall have been entered into, between his catholic majesty and these United States, to invite his catholic majesty into the alliance herein intended; if no such alliance shall have been formed, to receive his catholic majesty, should he manifest a disposition to become a party to the alliance herein intended; according to the instructions given to the said minister at the court of Spain.\n    That, in all other matters, not repugnant to these instructions, the said minister at the Hague do use his best discretion.\n    Resolved, That the minister plenipotentiary of these United States at the Hague, be, and hereby is instructed to confer in the most confidential manner, with his most christian majesty\u2019s minister there.\n    Resolved, That the foregoing resolutions be communicated to our ministers at the courts of Versailles and Madrid, that they may furnish every information and aid in their power to our minister at the Hague, in the accomplishment of this business.\nExtract from the minutes.\nSigned, Cha: Thompson, Sec\u2019y.\nUpon a careful perusal of all the foregoing instructions, it was as easy for Mr. Jay, as for me to see the influence, under which many parts of them had been carried in congress, and by what party and by what small majorities. The commission for a treaty of commerce with Great Britain had been annihilated in the same manner. If the yeas and nays were taken upon any of these questions they were probably entered on the secret journal, or a still more select and mysterious journal. I have never seen it. It was not necessary for me to inquire for it, because I could have named every man who voted against those parts of these proceedings, which appeared exceptionable to me. And no doubt Mr. Jay could have done the same.\n    Well might my friend Mr. Lovel, exclaim\u2014\"blush! blush! my country\"! when he alluded to that part of the instructions to the five ministers for peace, which enjoined upon them \u201cto make the most candid and confidential communications upon all subjects to the ministers of our generous ally the King of France: to undertake nothing in the negotiations for peace or truce without their knowledge and concurrence; and ultimately to govern themselves by their advice and opinion; endeavoring in your whole conduct to make them sensible how much we rely upon his majesty\u2019s influence for effectuating every thing that may be necessary to the peace, security and future prosperity of the United States of America.\u201d\n    This instruction, to all intents and purposes, constituted the Comte de Vergennes, minister plenipotentiary with sovereign authority over all five of the ministers plenipotentiary of the United States, and was an absolute surrender of their independence to the court of France. Adams and Jay, as soon as they saw it, determined to put a liberal construction upon it. Franklin was conscience bound, to obey it literally; till he found that the majority was against him, and the negotiation would proceed without him and then he got over his scruples.\n    Adams and Jay were confirmed in their resolution to put a construction upon this instruction, consistent with common sense, the national character of their country, and their own titles as representatives of a free nation: and probably Mr. Franklin\u2019s first opinion and resolution, was shaken by an intercepted letter, from Mr. de Marbois to the Comte de Vergennes; a translation of which into English is as follows.\n    Translation of a letter from M. De Marbois, to M. De Vergennes.\n    Philadelphia, 13th March, 1782.\n    Sir\u2014South Carolina again enjoys the benefit of a legislative body, after having been deprived of it for two years. It was summoned together, towards the end of last year, and met in January at Jacksonburgh, only ten leagues distant from Charleston, where deliberations are carried on with as much tranquillity as if the state was in profound peace. Mr. Rutledge, who was then governor, opened the meeting with a speech, greatly applauded, wherein he represents in their full extent the important services rendered by the king to the United States, expressing their just acknowledgments for the same. This sentiment prevails much, sir; the different states are eager to declare it in their public acts, and the principal members of government and the writers employed by them, would forfeit their popularity, were they to admit any equivocal remarks respecting the alliance. Gen. Green affirms that in no one state is attachment to independence carried to a higher pitch; but that this affection is yet exceeded by the hatred borne to England. The assembly of Carolina is going to make levies of men and has imposed pretty large sums. As there is but little money in the country, the taxes will be gathered in indigo; and what deficiency may then be found, will be supplied by the sale of lands of such Carolinians as joined the enemy while they were in possession of the country.\u2014South Carolina was the only state that had not confiscated the property of the disaffected. The step just taken puts her on a footing with the other states of the union. The assembly of this state has passed a resolution in consequence of which a purchase of land is to be made of the value of 240,000 livres tournous, which Carolina makes a present of to Gen. Green as the saviour of that province.\n    Mr. Matthews, a delegate from congress, lately arrived in Carolina, has, it is said, been chosen governor in the room of Mr. Rutledge. He has communicated to persons of the most influence in this state, the ultimatum of the month oflast, who approved of the clauses in general, and particularly that one which leaves the king master of the terms of the treaty of peace or truce, excepting independence, and treaties of alliance. A delegate from South Carolina told me that this ultimatum was equally well known by persons of note in his state, and that it had given entire satisfaction there. It is the same with regard to several other states, and I believe I may assure you, upon the testimony of several delegates, that this measure is approved by a great majority; but Mr. Samuel Adams is using all his endeavors to raise in the state of Massachusetts a strong opposition to peace, if the eastern states are not thereby admitted to the fisheries, and in particular to that of Newfoundland. S. Adams delights in trouble and difficulty, and prides himself in forming an opposition against the government whereof he is himself president. His aim and attention are to render the minority of consequence, and at this very moment he is attacking the Constitution of Massachusetts, although it be, in a great measure, his own work; but he had disliked it, since the people have shewn their uniform attachment to it. It may be expected that with this disposition, no measure can meet the approval of Mr. S. Adams, and if the United States should agree relative to the fisheries, and be certain of partaking therein, all his man\u0153uvres and intrigues would be directed towards the conquest of Canada and Nova Scotia; but he could not have used a fitter engine than the fisheries for stirring up the passions of the eastern people. By renewing this question, which had lain dormant during his two years absence from Boston, he has raised the expectation of the people of Massachusetts to an extraordinary pitch. The public prints hold forth the importance of the fisheries. The reigning toast in the east is, May the United States ever maintain their right to the fisheries. It has been often repeated in the deliberations of the General Court, No peace without the fisheries. However clear the principle may be in the matter, it would be needless and even dangerous to attempt informing the people through the public papers; but it appears to me possible to use means for preventing the consequences of success to Mr. S. Adams and his party; and I take the liberty of submitting them to your discernment and indulgence. One of those means would be, for the king to cause it to be intimated to congress or to the ministers, \u201chis surprise that the Newfoundland fisheries have been included in the additional instructions; that the United States set forth therein pretensions, without paying regard to the king\u2019s rights, and without considering the impossibility they are under of making conquests, and keeping what belongs to Great Britain.\u201d His Majesty might at the same time cause a promise to be given to Congress \u201cof his assistance for procuring admission to the other fisheries; declaring however that he would not be answerable for the success, and that he is bound to nothing, as the treaty makes no mention of that article.\u201d This declaration being made before the peace, the hopes of the people could not be supported, nor could it one day be said that we left them in the dark on this point. It were even to be wished that this declaration should be made whilst New York, Charlestown and Penobscot are in the enemy\u2019s hands; our allies will be less tractable than ever upon these points whenever they recover these important posts. There are some judicious persons to whom one may speak of giving the fisheries and theof the West for\n        the sake of peace; but there are enthusiasts who fly out at this idea, and their numbers cannot fail increasing, when, after the English are expelled this continent, the burthen of the war will scarce be felt. It is already observable that the advocates for peace are of those who live in the country. The inhabitants of towns whom commerce enriches, mechanics who receive there a higher pay than before war, and five or six times more than in Europe, do not wish for it; but it is a happy circumstance that these divisions be nearly equal in the congress and among the states, since our influence can incline the beam either for peace or war, whichever way we choose. Another means of preserving to France so important a branch of her commerce and\n        navigation; that proposed to you, sir, by M, viz. the conquest\n        of Cape Breton; it seems to me, as it does to that minister, the only sure means of containing within bounds, when peace is made, those swarms of smugglers, who, without regard to treaties, will turn all their activity, daring spirit and means towards the fisheries, whose undertakings congress will not perhaps have the power or the will to repress.\n    If it be apprehended that the peace which is to put an end to the present war will prove disagreeable to any of the United States, there appears to me a certain method of guarding against the effects of this discontent, of preventing the declarations of some states and other resources which turbulent minds might employ for availing themselves of the present juncture. This would be for his majesty to cause a memorial to be delivered to congress, wherein should be stated the use made by his ministers of the powers entrusted to them by that assembly, and the impediments which may have stood in the way of fuller satisfaction on every point. This step would certainly be pleasing to congress and should it become necessary to inform the people of this memorial, it would easily be done. They would be flattered by it, and it might probably beget the voice and concurrence of the public. I submit these thoughts to you early, and although peace appears yet to be distant, sir, by reason of delays and difficulties attending the communications, that period will be a crisis when the partizans of France and England will openly appear, and when that power will employ every means to diminish our influence, and re-establish her own. It is true, the independent party will always stand in great want of our support; that the fears and jealousies, which a remembrance of the former government will always produce, must operate as the safeguard to our alliance, and as a security for the attachment of the Americans to us.\u2014But it is best to be prepared for any discontent, although it should be but temporary. It is remarked by some, that as England has other fisheries besides Newfoundland, she may perhaps endeavor that the Americans should partake in that of the great bank in order to conciliate their affection, or procure them some compensation, or create a subject of jealousy between them and us\u2014But it does not seem likely that she will act so contrary to their true interest, and were she to do so, it will he for the better to have declared at an early period to the Americans, that their pretension is not founded, and that his majesty does not mean to support it.\n    I here enclose, sir, a translation of the speech made by the governor of South Carolina to the assembly, and of their answer. These interesting productions convey in a forcible manner, the sentiments of the inhabitants of this state, and appeared to me worth communicating to you.\n    Signed, Barbe de Marbois.\n    The reflections suggested by this letter are more numerous than your patience would bear to publish. A very few will be noted.\u2014\n    1. This letter is a master-piece of\u2014what shall I call it? French finesse? It is very true, that we have experienced in most of the British administrations since the year one thousand seven hundred and sixty one, and especially within the last ten years, models of equal excellence. The refinements of policy in many of the courtiers in the old world can scarcely be conceived by the plain genius of native Americans, nor can they be perceived without abhorrence in the heart. Our government and its servants must be upon their guard and see and judge for themselves: placing unlimited confidence in no pretended friends. Hitherto foreign policy has obtained no essential advantage against us; except by discouraging our navy, and in that finesse, France and England most cordially unite. Russia I hope will give us better advice.\n    2. What impression this letter made upon Dr. Franklin, I know not, but by conjecture. His usual reserve and taciturnity did not forsake him\u2014at least it made no alteration in his confidence, in Vergennes. He persisted to the last, even long after the signature of the definitive treaty, in saying that \u201cthe comte de Vergennes had never deceived him.\u201d This favorite saying of the doctor is wholly incomprehensible to me. Did he mean that Vergennes had from the beginning communicated candidly to him, his design to deprive us, with or without our own consent, of the fisheries and western territories? If this was his meaning, where was his integrity and fidelity to his country, in concealing it from congress and his colleagues? Did he mean that Marbois\u2019 letter had not convinced him that Vergennes was in combination with Marbois to deprive us of the fisheries and western territories? If this was his meaning, he had more credulity in politics than he had in philosophy, morality, or religion.\n    Mr. Jay\u2019s opinion of Marbois\u2019 letter was uniform, unreserved and explicit; that of a downright honest man and a man of sound understanding.\n    3. This letter made perhaps a greater impression upon me than upon either of my colleagues, because I had been a witness to certain facts, of which they knew nothing. With all my reputed vanity, it is a severe mortification to me to find myself obliged to enter into so much egotistical history, and to relate so many facts as I have done and shall be obliged to do, upon my own single testimony. I can only appeal to God and to the world and leave it to their ultimate decision. At present I can give but hints and sketches, and I shall certainly not live long enough to publish the documents which are in my possession, much less to collect those which I know exist, though I have them not.\n    On my arrival in France, in the month of April 1778, as it has been before related perhaps more than once, I found the Americans divided into two parties, very nearly as hostile to each other as France and Great Britain are at this hour. Dr. Franklin and Mr. Deane had been at the head of one party, and Mr. Arthur Lee and Mr. Ralph Izzard, at the head of the other. Mr. Deane had been recalled and was gone to Toulon to embark in the French fleet for America. I was arrived with a new commission to Mr. Franklin, Mr. Lee and myself, as commissioners plenipotentiary to the king of France. Both parties therefore looked, to me as an umpire, because it would be in my power to decide which party should have the majority. In a country whose language, laws, customs, manners, and every thing was new to me; situated between gentlemen in American employments, one of whom, Dr. Franklin, was known to me; the other two, Mr. Arthur Lee and Mr. Ralph Izzard, were total strangers to me, but by reputation, I saw and felt the delicacy, the difficulty, the danger, and the full responsibility of my situation.\n    Dr. Franklin, was the first that I saw, and he received me like a cordial congress acquaintance of three years standing. He had reserved Mr. Dean\u2019s apartments in the house, and I agreed to take them, and make a common family with the Doctor. He immediately informed me, of \u201cthe coolness\u201d as he called it, between him on one side, and Mr. Lee and Mr. Izzard on the other: and gave me such an account of the causes of it as he thought proper. I soon saw Mr. Lee, but he was very reserved on the subject of \u201ccoolness\u201d and differences. Mr. Izzard, soon made me repeated visits, and gave me in full detail, his account of the dissensions and quarrels among American ministers. This is not the place to unravel all these mysteries which would fill a volume. It must suffice to say, that Mr. Izzard, with a fund of honor, integrity, candour and benevolence in his character, which must render him eternally estimable in the sight of all moral and social beings was never the less, the most passionate, and in his passions, the most violent and unbridled in his expressions of any man I ever knew. Mr. Izzard\u2019s history of transactions before my arrival shocked me beyond measure, and his expressions terrified me. I knew not what to think of the man or his narrative. As to enter into particulars would lead me too far out of my way, I must confine myself, at present to the point immediately before me, relative to Mr. Marbois\u2019 Letter.\n    Mr. Ralph Izzard was the first person (and that in the month of April 1778) who suggested to me a suspicion, that the Comte De Vergennes had formed a design to deprive America of the fisheries and to monopolize the greatest part of them to France. In proof of his suspicion, he quoted an article relative to the Fisheries in our treaty with France of the sixth of February 1778, in which an \u201cexclusive right\u201d had been stipulated to France, in certain important portions of the fishing grounds. As I have not time to quote the article at large I must refer to the treaty. I had been so short a time at Passy, and had so many new scenes and employments, that I am not sure that I had read the treaty. If I had, it was not with that attention, that enabled me to recollect the expressions in it. In truth I thought Mr. Izzard had been heated by controversies, and I gave little or no credit to his insinuations. Mr. Izzard however did not leave me long in this state of pirrhonism. I met him so often at his house and mine, and we met so often at dinners and suppers upon invitations at other places, where he never failed to introduce this subject; that I was compelled to look in earnest into the treaty, and compare it with his documents. He had written to England and obtained copies from the public offices, of a correspondence between the British and French Ministers, in the negotiation of the peace of one thousand seven hundred and sixty three, relative to this French claim of an \u201cexclusive right.\u201d These papers he produced to me, and I examined and compared them with attention. I then saw there was room for suspicion; but still hoped that the court of France had not seriously meditated any plan to deprive us of any claim to the fisheries. These papers were transmitted to Congress at the time by Mr. Lee and Mr. Izzard, and now remain upon the files. I have no copies of them, and if I had, they would be too long to be here inserted. Although I had always been apprehensive that at any future negotiation for peace Great Britain would play off, all her policy to deprive us of our right to any share in the fisheries; I had not hitherto entertained or conceived any jealousy that France would endeavor to exclude us, or that she would join with G. Britain in any such design. Mr. Izzard and Mr. Lee, however, together with many hints and circumstances, that occurred during my first residence in France at length fastened upon me a suspicion, that whoever should be destined to confer about peace, would have to contend with all the arts and intrigues both of France and England. As Mr. Jay was in Congress, as I presume when Mr. Izzard and Mr. Lee transmitted the papers before mentioned to that assembly, it is probable that he had conceived the same jealousy.\n    Full of these apprehensions, I embarked at L\u2019Orient on the seventeenth of June, 1779, in the French frigate the Sensible, in company with the Chevalier de la Luzerne, the new ambassador from the king of France to congress, and the secretary of his legation, Mr. Marbois and their suite, Mr. Otto, Mr. La Forest and others. We arrived in Boston harbor on the 3d of August. During the whole course of this voyage I made it my business to converse with these gentlemen with the utmost frankness and candor upon every subject which could be interesting to their country and mine in their novel connection. They appeared to be vastly pleased with my freedom and familiarity, and were not less inquisitive than I was communicative. The minister could not speak or understand one word of English: I was awkward enough in French, but he was very inquisitive in his own language, and I answered him as well as I could. The secretary understood English very well, and could speak it about as well as I could speak French. We therefore found no difficulty in conversing upon any subject.\n    The fisheries lying with great weight on my mind, I took every opportunity of conversing upon that subject both with the minister and the secretary. I mentioned nothing of the treaty, or of the doubts of Mr. Izzard and Mr. Lee, or of my own, concerning the designs of France; but represented the probability that England at the peace, whenever it should arrive, would probably exert all her art to deprive us of any share in that great source of wealth, that great instrument of commerce, that great nursery of seamen, that great means of power. I represented to them that France ought to support our claim to a share in it, if it were only to prevent England from commanding a monopoly of it; that our right to it was at least as clear and indisputable as that of England or France. That it was situated in the ocean, which was open and free and common to all nations, to us as much as to any other. That its proximity to our country seemed naturally to give us a right preferable to any European claim; but that we asked no preference, but acknowledged the right of all nations to the ocean and its inhabitants. That we were in possession and had been so from the first settlement of our country. We had carried on the fisheries from the beginning and that Great Britain was more indebted to our ancestors for the flourishing state of the fisheries, both of cod and whales, than to all the inhabitants of the three kingdoms. That the fisheries were an essential link in the chain of American commerce, which was one connected system. That they were more particularly indispensable to New-England. That our remittances to France or England could not be made without our commerce in fish with Spain, Portugal and Italy, as well as all the West India Islands.\n    I know not how many conversations I had upon this subject with those gentlemen, but I believe not less than twenty, for they both appeared as eager to talk of it as I was. The minister, though he heard me with patience and attention and complaisance, was reserved in expressing his opinion, though I understood him to nod assent to all that I had said. But the secretary, this very Mr. Barb\u00e9 de Marbois was as frank and open as I was. He declared to me in the most clear and positive terms on several occasions, that I had convinced him that \u201cwe had a natural, a legal, and a possessing right to the fisheries; that they were necessary and essential to our interests; and that France ought to support us in our claim to a full and free enjoyment of them.\u201d\n    After our arrival in America, when I heard that these gentlemen had recommended to congress so much moderation in their instructions to their minister for peace, and had advised not to insist on the fisheries and western territories as ultimata, and when afterwards I found by our instructions and by my private correspondents, that they had advised an explicit renunciation of any claim to the fisheries and western lands, I knew not how to reconcile these things with our conversations on board the Sensible. But when I saw this letter of Mr. Marbois and compared it with all my former conversations with Mr. Izzard and Mr. Lee, with all that I had heard in America and all I had experienced in France and Holland, with all our instructions from congress and especially with our conversations on board the ship, with one especially which we had while sailing over the grand bank of Newfoundland, in which Mr. Marbois, in the presence of the chevalier de la Luzerne, had been as explicit as words could express, in acknowledging his entire conviction of our right and of our interest and duty to insist upon it, and of the duty and interest of France to support us in it, what could be my reflections? Was Mr. de Marbois a consummate hypocrite? Had he deliberately laid a plan to deceive me, on shipboard, by the most solemn asseverations of wilful falsehoods, lest I should put my friends in congress upon their guard against his wiles after he should arrive at Philadelphia? This I could scarcely believe, for I had conceived an esteem for his character. I endeavored to account for this contradictory conduct upon two hypotheses\u2014One was, that the chevalier had received from the comte de Vergennes, and then possessed in his portfolio, instructions to oppose our claims to the fisheries and western lands, which instructions he had not communicated to Mr. Marbois. The other was that the minister and secretary had received such instructions from the comte de Vergennes after their arrival at Philadelphia. In either of these cases Mr. de Marbois might think it his duty to obey his instructions, though it were by promoting measures in contradiction to his own private opinion of the right and the policy. One or the other of these suppositions I am still inclined to believe was the fact.\n    4. It is not credible that Mr. Marbois would have dared to write such a letter to the comte de Vergennes if he had not been previously instructed by that minister to promote the system developed in it. We may then fairly impute that system to the comte.\n    5. That system appears to have been\u20141. To persuade congress to instruct the ministers at the negotiations for peace, explicitly to renounce all claim to the fisheries and western lands, and formally to acknowledge that they had no right to either. 2. If they could not carry the first point, then to persuade congress to resolve that they would not insist upon the fisheries, or western lands, as conditions, sine quibus non, of peace. They failed in the first point, but prevailed in the second. 3. Congress appear to have been reproached by their own consciences with a reflection that they had gone too far in their complaisance to their allies, and soon came to another resolution, that the right to the fisheries should in no case be expressly given up.\u2014This resolution had a spice of spirit and independence in it, and accordingly gave great offence to Mr. Marbois.\n    6. However confident Mr. Marbois might have been that the country and their congress were so equally divided that \u201cour influence\u201d as he expresses it, could turn the scale in favor of peace or war; he did not find that influence sufficient at last to deprive America of her fisheries or western territories.\n    7. I cannot dismiss this letter of Mr. de Marbois without observing that his philippic against Mr. Samuel Adams is a jewel in the crown of that patriot and hero, almost as brilliant as his exception from pardon in Gen. Gage\u2019s proclamation. The talents and virtues of that great man were of the most exalted, though not of the most showy kind. His love of his country, his exertions in her service, through a long course of years, through the administrations of the governors Shirley, Pownal, Bernard, Hutchinson, and Gage, under the royal government, and through the whole of the subsequent revolution; and always in support of the same principles, his inflexible integrity, his disinterestedness, his invariable resolution, his sagacity, his patience, perseverance, and pure public virtue were never exceeded by any man in America. Although he was carried away with the general enthusiasm of all parties in America in admiration of the French revolution, which I never approved for a single moment. Although his ideas of a form of government necessary for the establishment of liberty were not always nor indeed ever conformable to mine, and although he might have been seduced by designing men in his extreme old age, and his almost total retirement from the world, to injure me personally, I never can cease to esteem and admire his character or to love his memory. No man in America ever merited statues in honor of his memory more than this, unless we except his great friend and colleague, the honorable James Otis, Jun. A collection of his writings would be as curious as voluminous. It would throw light upon American history for fifty years. In it would be found specimens of a nervous simplicity of reasoning and eloquence that have never been rivalled in America.\n    8. We transmitted this letter to congress, where it made a less sensation, because there was little in it new to the members of that body. They knew that the French minister and secretary had laboured to persuade them to adopt the same sentiments: but I believe the Letter was not soon published; but it was whispered about and came to the ears of Mr. De Marbois, though I have reason to think he never got a sight of it. My reason is this, in 1785 or 1786, when I resided in England, Dr. Edward Bancroft made me a visit, and informed me that he came from America in the same ship with Marbois, when he returned to Europe after the peace. That Mr. Marbois introduced a conversation with him upon the subject of this letter, said there had been a noise made about a letter of his, pretended to have been intercepted: but he never could get a sight of it, and could not imagine what letter it could be. He asked Bancroft if he had ever seen it. The answer was in the affirmative. Do you remember enough of it to know it again, if you should hear it read? Yes. Upon this Mr. Marbois produced his letter book and read passages in a number of letters. Are any of these the letters you have seen? No. He then read more. Are any of these the right ones? No. At last he read some passages in another, when Bancroft said, that is the one. They then went through the whole letter. Whether Bancroft had a copy of it in writing in English I am not positive, but he had a distinct remembrance of it in his head, and compared it carefully from the beginning to the end and pronounced it to be the same letter faithfully translated, except in one expression, of no consequence to the sense.\n    Marbois exclaimed, \u201chow the devil could they get at my Cypher\u2014I sent it only in Cypher. I thought myself perfectly sure of my Cypher! Well. I shall deny it. No mortal has any right to know any thing about my correspondence with my government.\u201d\n    Dr. Bancroft said he thought it his duty to communicate this conversation to me, that in case any controversy should ever arise concerning the authenticity of the letter, this fact might be produced in confirmation of it.\u2014There has not however arisen any such controversy. The Members of Congress of all parties were satisfied, that it was no fabrication; and there has been but one mind in the world concerning it wherever it has been known. It must be here added that the whole of this system of the Comte de Vergennes has been since the French Revolution, revealed to the world in the Politique des Cabinets, which shews that the Comte had meditated and planned his whole scheme long before our treaty with France in February, 1778.\n    Notwithstanding this letter Dr. Franklin still persisted in his Resolution to communicate all our conferences with the British minister concerning the fisheries and western lands to the Comte de Vergennes. Mr. Jay and Mr. Adams thought this would be to commit the Lamb to the custody of the Wolf. When Mr. Franklin found Adams and Jay perfectly united, and that they would proceed without him, he turned short about and agreed to go on with them.\nJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5643", "content": "Title: To John Adams from James Monroe, 3 June 1811\nFrom: Monroe, James\nTo: Adams, John\nSir\nWashington June 3. 1811.\nI have had the honor to receive your letter of the 25. ulto. in which you are so good as to express a wish for my success in the discharge of the duties of the important & difficult office, to which I have been lately appointed by the President. For this obliging communication I beg you to accept my sincere acknowledgment. Permit me to reciprocate this friendly sentiment in your favor, & to assure you that I most earnestly hope that you may enjoy the residue of your days, all the satisfaction and happiness of which our nature is susceptible.\nI have the honor to be with great / respect your obt servant\nJas Monroe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5644", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Aaron Black, 4 June 1811\nFrom: Black, Aaron\nTo: Adams, John\n                            May it please your Excelency\n                            Aughnish near Ramelton County of Donegal  Irland. 4th. June 1811\u2014\nI trouble you at this time hearing that my Brother Moses Black of Quincy near Bosten is Dead. And being Very Uneasy to know how he Seteled his tempral affairs and what is become of his & my  Daughter to Sister Jane.\nUnderstanding that he my late Brother lived Conveniant to you, I humbly beg that you may take the trouble of Writing a few Lines in Answer to this Wish all Conveniant Speed Which May it please your Excelency will ever oblige your / Very / Humble / Servt.\nAaron Black", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5645", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Waterhouse, 11 June 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Waterhouse, Benjamin\nDear Sir\nQuincy June 11. 1811\nIn your favour of the 9th of this month, you request a Copy of the first page of your Letter to me, \u201cabout a month since.\u201d How time flies? Your Month has been three months. You have been so happy that three months have appeared but one. The Copy you desire is as follows.\nCambridge March 12 1811\nDear Sir\nI here Send for your Perusal The Preface to the Botanist. The Publisher has print off a few Copies dozen by Way of Sample of type, and to give some general Idea of the Work, as well as a Short History of its origin. I thought there might be another Service in it, viz, if any thing appeared to egotistical, or too assuming in it, my Friends would probably give me the hint. I mean it as an Introduction to a more positive Claim which I shall make in a future day. I had thoughts of adding in the Work itself those few Lines you see at the End of the Advertisement.\nIn the Inscription or dedication, I wish to add something like this. \u201cIn gratitude for being the first who recommended the subject of Natural History to his Countrymen.\u201d See Constitution of Massachusetts Section\u2014\nThe Book will not be out these three months, as the Publisher has just begun to circulate his Subscription One Reason why I have added the Discourse on Vitality pronounced before the humane Society is, because you once gave it your Approbation in terms which I should be glad if it deserved. This was in a Letter from Philadelphia, but I do not recollect the date of it.\nThe Governor Speech is a Masterly Performance and well timed and well placed. It is time for The National and State Governments to shew that the Laws and Magistrates have some Authority.\nI hope and I pray and believe that Mr Gerry has been and will be one powerful Instrument of Saving Us from a civil War. I am not however as yet under much apprehension and indeed never have been, of such a Calamity. I doubt indeed whether any Man has much apprehension of it, who did not wish it and endeavour to excite it.\nI am as usual your Friend\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5646", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Fran\u00e7ois Adriaan Van der Kemp, 12 June 1811\nFrom: Van der Kemp, Fran\u00e7ois Adriaan\nTo: Adams, John\nMy Dear Sir!\nOlden barneveld. 12 Jun. 1811\nI Shall now make an experiment, if I can dispell a malignant Spirit of gloom, which hovers about me, without any other incantation besides acknowledging your both Favours of the 4th and the 9th of april with which I was So kindly honoured by you. Indeed\u2014Sir! this intercourse is nearly the only pastime left me in my deep retreat and then m\u00ff Situation imperiously often forbids me to indulge meself in it to that lenght I Should wish. I could plead\u2014to mitigate the censure of appearing indolence, in delaying an answer So long, that manifold domestic concerns, and uninterrupted labour, which even precludes the amusement of reading if I had not by you a much potent Advocate in m\u00ff behalf. we had no prospect of Seing this Season our children here\u2014mrs vanderkemp was alread\u00ff induced to visit Philadelphia with her Daughter\u2014when unexpectedly we were informed by my Son, that his presence in the back parts of Pennsylvania not far from the N. york line was required\u2014that he would bring his family here, visit then those parts and return again\u2014He Stay\u2019d here eight days\u2014with his wife, his Sister in Law\u2014and his interesting infant Son\u2014He Started this week for Angelica and the western woods\u2014and now I Shall devote this afternoon\u2014enjoying tranquillit\u00ff\u2014to acquit me of a duty\u2014whose compliance Spreads a faint ra\u00ff of light\u2014upon my later days. Indeed Sir! when\u2014we are in my Situation\u2014among Strangers\u2014at m\u00ff age\u2014nearly alone\u2014Such a Substantial prop as your kindness is required to keep us up\u2014take this awa\u00ff\u2014Set Religion aside\u2014and ere long we would Sink\u2014disgusted of the Scenes\u2014which we must witness willingly, unwillingl\u00ff\u2014\nI rejoice, that my opinion of Lincoln\u2014as appointed\u2014was approved b\u00ff you\u2014who has known him So long\u2014but that of Wolcott, if I could place an\u00ff confidence in Some of his Political friends, was not to be palliated. It never can do credit to the President. It never can have been gratifying, to the friends of Lincoln or Adams; So much is true\u2014that the latter can not lay under deep obligation either towards the President\u2014or the Senate.\nI am no enem\u00ff of the President\u2014as long He was a Private Individual\u2014or even a head of department. I Should have courted his more intimate acquaintance\u2014could it have been performed without appearant intrusion\u2014or Servil cringing. Indirectly I have received from Him marks of civility and regard\u2014But I do not approve His Political conduct\u2014indiscriminately\u2014It ma\u00ff be that, Here in the wood\u2019s\u2014my prospect is too much clouded by Fogs\u2014my eyes too groow So dim, that I can not allways See the fitness of the measures pursued.\nAmong the Political Sins\u2014I am this instant Struck by Wolcott, appointment\u2014the President\u2019s Proclamation upon Cadore\u2019s Letres\u2014the Proclamation with regard to the Florida\u2019s\u2014their invasion, and retrogressiv motion of the arm\u00ff\u2014the appointment of Joel Barlow The Prospect which you hold up of our Government is, I fear too just. If it can not be materially reformed\u2014it must fall and it Seems to me a ver\u00ff doubtful question, if from the scattered ruins\u2014one or more good ones ma\u00ff arise\u2014except the Land is Saved\u2014as thro the Fire.  Among all the various factions I can but discover here and there a fant glimpse of disinterested Patriotism, and manly undaunted integrity, every where\u2014the Same vices in glaring colours, mor or less masked\u2014I See but few real Patriots,\u2014ver\u00ff man\u00ff contented with the name, and thriving better without it.\u2014Of this truth or falshood I have no doubt\u2014either it relates to the inns or outs.\nThat in case of equal injur\u00ff\u2014or absolute necessity of war, a war with Gr. Br. Should have been prefered by any eminent man above that with France\u2014appears to me a Paradox\u2014till the m\u00ffster\u00ff is revealed\u2014and you know, how ardently I opposed once Gr. Br.\u2019s adherents\u2014with an effectual navy America would not have been insulted by Gr. Br\u2014trampled upon by France\u2014with insolent mocker\u00ff\u2014of cajoling alternately the one and the other\u2014have become the carriers of the world\u2014till arrived at its own gigantic Strenght\u2014ever\u00ff minut increasing\u2014Her fleets might have defied the united efforts\u2014of the Despotic Powers\u2014linked b\u00ff Some Sudden event\u2014together. What would now the Situation of America be\u2014if Such a reconciliation\u2014Suddenly took place?\nIn your favour of the 9th\u2014you ask me\u2014was electricity known in the reign of Tiberius? I believe, tho it was not Satisfactorly explained, it has been observed\u2014I have a faint remembrance of an ancient passage, which I can not recollect\u2014but looking over my Liv\u00ff\u2014I find\u2014that I noticed one\u2014in my last perusal of Him: Liv. IV Pag. 86 Edinb. ed. 1752 in 12 o. \u201cNovem diali deinde Saenem tenuit, quad in Ticeno per triduum lapidetus, pluerat, ignesque cae lettes multifariam orti ad assisse complurum leri afflatu vestimenta maxime dicebantur\u201d\nI do not recollect now an\u00ff observation\u2014comparitive of Electricity to lightening before Franklin\u2014If you do\u2014you Shall oblige me with the communication.\nAs soon\u2014I can obtain a little leasure\u2014I Shall tr\u00ff, to make out a rough Sketch\u2014or rather\u2014I Shall tr\u00ff to bring a few of the principal outlines together\u2014in Some unison, and Send them. how happ\u00ff Should I be\u2014could it induce you\u2014or an\u00ff other equal to the arduous task\u2014to undertake it\u2014Then I Should have performed Something. The topics\u2014you have observed must be principal Ingredients. The Masons and  Illuminati I Should not willingl\u00ff indite\u2014except more Substantial proof, as are brought forward\u2014Some Of the members may have co\u00f6perated\u2014but I am not yet of opinion\u2014that they did So\u2014qua masons\u2014or Illuminati\u2014\nWhat a blessing would be m\u00ff Share\u2014could I Spend a few days under your roof at Quinc\u00ff! I Scarce dare me flatter\u2014that it Shall happen\u2014if however my Situation became more favorable, the Sa\u00ebrt Sacrifice\u2014that I Should make of a handfull of gold would be this journe\u00ff\u2014I was So confident, that I Should have been cordially received, if I had presented myself at your Mantion b\u00ff your Self and your Lady, that I Should not have hesitated a twinkling of an e\u00ffe, to have called for admittance\u2014had necessit\u00ff driven me to your neighbourhood\u2014what delight then, m\u00ff worth\u00ff Sir! must I have Felt, when I actually perused your affectionate invitation\u2014I feel it now in reading it over again\u2014and consider it with as warm a gratitude\u2014as if I actually had received it\u2014But have twenty years not obliterated from your memor\u00ff\u2014that I am blunt\u2014and in the woods\u2014this roughness can not have received a great polish? I know not where Libanon is\u2014but judge Smith informed me, that your Daughter lived in his neighbourhood\u2014and that mrs A. perhaps might visit her this Summer\u2014if so, he would Send me word; and then I Should go, and pa\u00ff my respect, even if the roads were not good\u2014the worst is in our vicinit\u00ff\u2014Then good Turnpike\u2014we are 12 miles from utica onl\u00ff. But even remain the promised Mem. of your academy. Continue to favour me with your continued friendship. I remain\u2014your\u2019s Sincerely\nFr Adr. v. d. kemp", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5647", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 13 June 1811\nFrom: Rush, Benjamin\nTo: Adams, John\nAct I. Scene I.\nMr: Adams\u2019s Study\nMr A: Who is there?Dr: R\u2014a friend\u2014A\u2014Walk in.\u2014Ah! Rush is that you? Where have been these two Months\u2014? You seem to have forgotten your old friend Adams.R. Forgotten my Old friend Adams!\u2014No Sir\u2014that is impossible. I owe more to your friendship than I ever owed to any human Being, except to my excellent mother, and to my beloved and faithful Wife.A. What is the news in Philadelphia?R. None Sir.A. What do your Citizens say of the battle between Capt: Rogers, and the British Sloop of War?R. They were at first much pleased with the Conduct of Capt: Rodgers, but ever since they have seen the motions of the in file leaders United States fugalmen in the town of Boston, they have generally condemned it.A. That is strange indeed!\u2014R. Yes Sir\u2014but it is no less strange than true. The Citizens of Philadelphia have long been in the habit of giving up the right of thinking for themselves. When the British treaty was first made public, All parties Condemned it in Strong terms, but no sooner did General Washington ratify it, than a majority of our Citizens defended it, and I will recollect hearing a respectable merchant who was uncommonly clamorous against it when he first read it, Abuse the rabble who objected to it as soon as he heard Genl: Washington had approved of it. This Conduct of our citizens was humorously exposed some Weeks Afterwards by Thomas Leiper. In a large Company in which he dined, and Where he met with Saml Chase he was asked What he thought of a certain measure of the British, or french Government.\u2014\u201cI have no Opinion to give upon this Subject as yet (said Mr Leiper.) but I will wait and hear what General Washington says About it, and then I will answer your question.\u201dA: What are our Rulers doing in Washington?R: I don\u2019t know. I have no political Correspondent there, and I believe Nothing that our papers say of the Conduct or Secrets of our the Cabinet of the United States.A: What do you think of Govr: Gerry\u2019s late Speech?R: I have not read it.A Not read it!\u2014Why\u2014you want not only Curiosity  public Spirit, but Curiosity. Don\u2019t you recollect Mr G: He was our Companion in the labors and dangers of 1776.R. So was General Washington\u2019s White horse, and So were General Lees dogs,\u2014and what then?\u2014But don\u2019t suppose I mean any mark of disrespect to our friend Gerry by these allusions. I allude only to the equality of in rank and fame with of the patriots of 1776 (General Washington & Col Hamilton excepted) with those revolutionary Animals. I have not only a regard for Mr Gerry, but the highest opinion of his political integrity, and this I Once heard you say, lost \u201cwas the rarest Virtue in the whole World.\u201d Tell him When you see him, how sincerely I esteem him, & how much I rejoice in his prosperity & honor.A: Are your Citizens making any preparations to celebrate the 4th of July?R. They Many of them are preparing to celebrate the praises\u2014(not of the Men who subscribed the Declaration of Independance with ropes around their necks,) but of General Washington and Col: Hamilton on that memorable day.A. Eno\u2019\u2014Eno\u2019 my Old friend upon this Subject. Let us descend to more pleasant Matters. How is your family?R I thank you Sir for your kind inquiry After them. Through divine Goodness they are all well except my poor Son John who continues in a  deranged State in our hospital, but without any mixture of the distress in his disease which first induced it.A. Where is your son, the Doctor now?R About embarking, or on his Voyage to New York\u2014Canada\u2014or Philadelphia. He has spent a Winter & Spring in London much to his Satisfaction in a constant Succession of the Company of Physicians\u2014Chemists and Philosophers of All grades and Characters.A. What has become of your Son Who went into a Counting house? He is Still at the his master\u2019s Writing desk and upon his Wharf; but so correctly has he behaved, that his master is about to send him out as Supercargo of One of his Vessels in the Course of the Summer, and upon a Voyage that Will separate him from his family for 18 months, or two years.A. How is Richard & his family?R All well, and doing Well. and now my good friend\u2014permit to ask, how is your the dear & venerable Companion of all the good & evil of your life\u2014?\u2014How is your Son Thos: B Adams & his family? Where, and how are Mrs Smith & her little flocks? Children? When do you expect the return of your son Jno Q: Adams from Petersburgh? and tho\u2019 last, not least in respect and Affection,\u2014How do you do? How is your Appetite? Do you sleep well at nights? Do Grasshopper burdens of body, or mind affect you? Do you still enjoy a Chair in your this Study? Do glasses Still supply the place of natural Vision? How is your hearing? An Answer to such questions will afford great pleasure not only to  your old friend R\u2014\u2014, but to the whole of his favour family. & And now my dear & excellent Old friend  I must bid you Adieu!\u2014Good Bye Sir! Expect another Visit from me shortly. I had like to have forgotten to thank you for the kind things you have said of my introductory letters. You appreciate them, and their author too highly. Again Adieu!\u2014R: retires\u2014bowing\u2014takes a Seat in a hack which conveys him to Boston, from Where he returns in the stage to his home in Philada.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5649", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Rush, 21 June 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\nQuincy June 21. 1811\nAs Charit\u00e9 commens par soi m\u00eame, or as We more elegantly express it, as Charity begins at home, I shall first resent the domestic part of your dramatic Dialogue, of the 13th.\nThe prosperous and promising Circumstances of every Branch of your Family gives me unfeigned Pleasure. The only exception is to be deplored, but not in despair. Richard is my Friend by a Sort of Inheritance. He cannot fail to do well, if he is careful to preserve his health, an article as much in danger at the Bar, as in Sick characters and midnight Visits.\nNow for my turn.\u2014My Companion in Prosperity and Adversity has the Same delicate health, and similar frequent ill turns as when you were more nearly acquainted with her: but the same indefatigable exertions for her Family, and all her Friends as well as her Children and Grandchildren, still continue and her Friendship for you and yours is not diminished. My son Thomas Boylston, has much ill health, and has lately mett an unfortunate accident, which has confined him for several weeks, by a Fall of his Horse. His wound is now in a good Way and he has been twice out to ride, once to Boston and once to Weymouth. He has three pretty Children two daughters and a son; and peradventure a fourth by this time, whose birth we expect to hear every Moment. Our Legislature have given him a Seat in Counsel, where I hope he will give faithful advice to The Governor , according to the Oath which he has taken.\nMrs Smith is at Lebanon, near the Chenango, in a Town called Lebanon in the State of New York. We are in great Anxiety for her, as She is threatened with a Cancer in her Breast. We expect her here in a few Weeks. Her oldest son William is with his Uncle in Sr. Petersbourg: her second son John is at Hamilton about four Miles from his Father and Mother, in the Practice of Law, and they have made him a Postmaster and a Master in Chancery. Her Daughter Caroline is with her Parents, and is a charming Girl. Charles\u2019s Widow and two Daughters are with me. The Daughters are grown up, and are good Girls: one has remarkable Abilities. The other not deficient. I expect John Quincy, with some little scepticism however, in abt October or November.\nI am well. My Appetite is as good as ever. I Sleep well O Night. No Burdens, whether Grasshoppers or Mammoths of Body or Mind affect me. I Still enjoy a Chair in the Study: but avoid close Thinking from Principle. My natural Vision is not bad, but I Use Glasses for Ease to my Eyes, which you have known to be weak and Subject to Inflammations for almost forty years. My Hearing, for any Thing that I perceive or my Friends have remarked to me, is as good as ever. So much for the bright Side. On the other I have a \u201cQuiveration.\u201d What in the Name of the Medical Dictionary, you will Say, is a \u201cQuiveration? A wild Irish Boy, who lives with my son T.B., let a Horse run away with a chaise. One of the Family ran out and cryed out Nat! why did you not Scream out and call for help. Sir! Sir! said Nat, I was Seized with such a Quiveration that I could not Speak. Nat\u2019s Quiveration is the best Word I know to express my Palsy. It does not as yet much incommode me in Writing, though my hands are chiefly affected. Another Circumstance on the dark side is my organs of Speech are gone. It would divert you to Witness a conversation between my ancient Friend and Colleag Robert T. Paine and me. He is above Eighty. I cannot speak and he cannot hear. Yet we converse. Thus I have given a particular Answer to every one of your Questions.\nAnd now how Shall I turn my Thoughts from this good humoured Small Talk, to the angry, turbulent Stormy Science of Politicks.\nBut previously I am in no fear of forgetting or being forgotten by my old Friend Rush.\nI am quite at my ease about the Battle. Regretting the honest Fellows however who were killed and wounded, it is a matter of indifference to me, which Ship fired first. I feel as I did after the Battle of Lexington. A great Solicitude appeared in Congress to ascertain by Oaths Affidavits and Depositions, which fired first. I was thought to aim at Independence, because I declared in Congress that I did not care a Farthing about this Question. Since it was become apparent that a War was inevitable, it was of no moment which commenced Hostilities, for Hostilities alone could decide the Controversy between the two Countries. Yet certainly, the were better Politicians than I because they studied and laboured to have appearances on their Side.\nI am Sorry to find from your Letter, that The Boston Tories who gave the Tone to those of all the Continent from 1761 to 1783, continue to give into those of Philadelphia in 1811.\u2014At the Same time, forget not, that the Whigs of Boston gave the Tone to the Whigs of the Continent\u2014Let not the importance of Boston to this Union be forgotten.\nYou ought to read Gerrys speech.\u2014It was in the genuine Whiggish Style of 1765 and 1775. He is the Same enlightened, indefatigable and persevering Patriot.\n\u201cLouis 14, if not the greatest King, was the best Actor of Majesty that ever wore a Crownn.\u201d Said Bolinbroke.\nOur Citizens in our great commercial Cities, if they are not the greatest Politicians that ever lived, are great Masters of the Theatrical Exhibitions of Politicks. Wasere there ever more Striking Coups de Theatre than Mock Funerals? Or our Celebrations of the Rock on which my great great, great great, (and I know not how many more greats) Grandfather John Alden, at twenty years of age first leaped at Plymouth in 1620. This Institution, however is dying away because it was found to excite too much Calvinism, and Puritanism; and perhaps too high a spirit of Liberty. Washington understood this Art very well, and We may say of him, if he was not the greatest President he was the best Actor of Presidency We have ever had. His Address to The States when he left the Army; His solemn Leave taken of Congress when he resigned his Commission; his Farewell Address to the People when he resigned his Presidency. These were all in a strain of Shakespearean and Garrickal Excellence in Dramatic Exhibitions.\nWe Whiggs attempted Somewhat of the Kind. The Declaration of Independence I always considered as a Theatrical Show. Jefferson ran away with all the Stage Effect of that, i.e. all the Glory of it.\nThe Exception from Pardon of Hancock and Adams, had a like Effect. This however was not their Contrivance nor any Device of our Party. It was an Incident in the Play that was not prepared by the Author or Actors. It was considered by the People, and justly, as decisive Proof of Sin, in the Sense of their Enemy, and of Saintship, in their own Sense.\nWe never instituted Mock Funerals for Warren, Montgomery Mercer, Wooster, or Hancock or Franklin or Sam Adams or Patrick Henry or R. H. Lee, or James Otis or John Dickinson.\nThis is a more modern Discovery and Improvement of the great Art of Aristocratical Trick, Intrigue, Man\u0153uvre or what you please to call it. The Usury of Roman Senators, must be inforced by military force, or Roman Catholick Jesuitism.\nBut all these Arts are not equal to that of making immense fortunes however Scandalous, per Saltum in a twinkling of an Eye, by a financiering Operation, which Substitutes a Paper Money, whose immense depreciations go into the Pocketts of a few Individuals in Lieu of a Paper Money whose depreciations are in favour of the whole People. A curse on Paper Money of all kinds.\nBut enough! Enough! of this ill Nature. It restores all my good Nature to bid you Adieu as your old Friend.\nI wish you would come and See me in Reality, in my Room Chamber study office or whatever you please to call it. Why not, with Mrs Rush or the Young Ladies, or both, or all?\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5650", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Richard Sharp, 25 June 1811\nFrom: Sharp, Richard\nTo: Adams, John\nDear Sir\nMark Lane London 25th June 1811\nFew letters have ever given me so much pleasure as that which you did me the honor to write in February last. The gratification which I felt in the receipt of it arose not only from meeting with a fresh mark of your attention, but from the singular importance of the remarks, which it contained, on the real \u00e6ra & true spirit of your great Revolution\nI am fully sensible of the justness, or rather the wisdom of your obvservations, having long been aware that the war from 1776 to 1783, would have been useless or dangerous, had not innumerable circumstances preexisted to form the political & moral character of the People of America\nIt is indeed most certain, through greatly to be lamented, that yours is a perilous example to follow, in consequence of the occupations, habits, & vices of almost every other nation upon earth\u2014\nIt still however appears to me that it would be adviseable to select the period of the war as fittest to excite attention & interest, and that the principles of your illustrious contest would be best delineated in their effects, & in their success.\nI see, or perhaps I ought to say that, I think I see, many serious obstructions lying in the way of the government of the United States\u2014No good, especially no political good, can be hoped for unattended by evils or by dangers\u2014It would be too much to expect that the elective institutions of your representative government should not, in their operation, give rise to many painful, & to some disgusting appearances\u2014\nI have however much hope in the correctioning principle inherent, as I am willing to believe, in all free governments. In England we perceive this energy constantly & beneficially at work, and I doubt not that it exists in the US, although I cannot exactly distinguish the organs by which it operates\nMr Sturgis was so good as to convey to me several Sheets of your Correspondence to page 316\u2014\nMay I request the remainder of so valuable a communication\nAt the same time let me assure you again, that it would afford me a sincere pleasure to be of any use to you in this country\nI have the honor to be / Dear Sir Yr. Obliged friend & Sevt.\nRd Sharp", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5651", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 27 June 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\nSirs...\nQuincy, June 27, 1811.\n    I shall now proceed with that obnoxious Journal:\u2014\n    Monday, Nov. 11, 1782. Mr. Whiteford, the Secretary of Mr. Oswald, came a second time; not having found me at home yesterday, when he left a card with a copy of Mr. Oswald\u2019s commission, attested by himself, (Mr. Oswald.) He delivered the copy, and said Mr. Oswald was ready to compare it to the original with me. I said Mr. Oswald\u2019s Attestation was sufficient, as he had already shewn me his original. He sat down and we fell into conversation about the weather, and the vapours and exhalations from Tartary, which had been brought here last spring by the winds, and given us all the influenza. Thence to French fashions, and the punctuality with which they insist upon people\u2019s wearing thier clothes in spring and fall, tho\u2019 the weather is ever so cold, &c. I said it was often carried to ridiculous lengths; but that it was at bottom an admirable policy, as it rendered all Europe tributary to the city of Paris, for its Manufactures.\n    We fell soon into politics. I told him that there was something in the minds of the English and the French, which impelled them irresistably to war every ten or fifteen years. He said, the ensuing peace would, he believed, be a long one. I said it would, provided it was well made, and nothing left in it to give future discontents; but if any thing was done which the Americans should think hard and unjust, both the English and French would be continually blowing it up, and inflaming the American minds with it, in order to make them join one side or the other in a future war. He might well think, that the French would be very glad to have the Americans join them in future war. Suppose for example, they should think the tories men of monarchical principles, or men of more ambition than principle, or men corrupted, and of no principle, and should therefore think them more easily seduced to their purposes than virtuous republicans; is it not easy to see the policy of a French minister, in wishing them amnesty and compensation? Suppose, a French minister foresees that the presence of the tories in America will keep up perpetually two parties, a French party and an English party, and that this will compel the patriotic and independent party to join the French party; is it not natural for him to wish them restored? Is it not easy to see, that a French minister cannot wish to have the English and Americans perfectly agreed upon all points, before they themselves, (the French) the Spaniards and Dutch are agreed too? Can they be sorry then to see us split upon such a point as the tories? What can be their motives to become the advocates of the tories? The French minister at Philadelphia, has made some representations to congress, in favor of compensation to the royalists, and the Comte de Vergennes, no longer than yesterday, said much to me in their favor. The Comte probably knows, that we are instructed against it; that congress are instructed against it, or rather have not constitutional authority to do it; that we can only write about it to congress, and they to the states, who may, and probably will deliberate upon it eighteen months before they all decide, and then every one of them will determine against it. In this way, there is an insuperable obstacle to any agreement between the English and Americans, even upon terms to be inserted in the general peace, before all are ready. It was the constant practice of the French to have some of their subjects in London during the conferences for peace, in order to propagate such sentiments there as they wished to prevail. I doubted not such were there now. Mr. Rayneval had been there. Mr. Gerard, I had heard, is there now, and probably others. They can easily persuade the tories to set up their demands, and tell them and the ministers, that the king\u2019s dignity and nation\u2019s honor are compromised in it. \n    For my own part, I thought America had been long enough involved in the wars of Europe. She had been a foot-ball between contending nations from the beginning, and it was easy to foresee that France and England both would endeavor to involve us in their future wars. I thought it our interest and duty to avoid it as much as possible, and to be completely independent, and to have nothing to do, but in commerce, with either of them. That my thoughts had been from the beginning, constantly employed to arrange all our European connections to this end, and that they would be continued to be so employed\u2014and I thought it so important to us, that if my poor labours, my little estate or (smiling) sizy blood could effect it, it should be done. But I had many fears.\n    I said the King of France might think it consistent with his station, to favour people who had contended for a crown though it was the crown of his enemy.\n    Whiteford said they seem to be, through the whole of this, fighting for reputation. I said they had acquired it, and more, they had raised themselves high, from a low estate, by it; and they were our good friends and allies; had conducted generously and nobly, and we should be just and grateful, but they might have political wishes, which we were not bound by treaty, nor in justice or gratitude to favor, and these we ought to be cautious of. He agreed that they had raised themselves very suddenly and surprisingly by it.\n    We had more conversation on the state of manners in France, England, Scotland and in other parts of Europe, but I have not time to record this.\n    1811.\u2014Thus ends this journal of November 11, 1782, truly copied from the original, in my own hand writing, now before me.\n1. This Mr. Whiteford was a very sensible, shrewd and well informed man, though a wit, a punster, and a cross-reader, as Mr. Burke called him in parliament. I very well knew he would immediately communicate this conversation to Mr. Oswald, Mr. Fitzherbert, and very probably to Mr. Vaughan, and had no doubt it would be written to lord Shelbourne, where I wished it might have the effect that I thought it could not fail to have, relative to fisheries, western lands, navigation of Mississippi, tories and all other objects most likely to divide us.\n2. It contains the great principle, which Mr. Jay and Mr. Adams uniformly urged through the whole negotiation, viz. That it was the interest of England, in the treaty of peace, to place America at her ease, to leave no cause of complaint of injustice, severity or ingenerosity; to leave open no room to dispute about boundaries, fisheries, commerce or tories; that America might be under no temptation to commence another war, and that France, Spain, and England might have no materials to employ in grievances to aggravate in order to excite animosities in the United States against Great Britain and stimulate them to engage in any future war on the side of the house of Bourbon. We were not supported by Dr. Franklin in this principle in its full extent. Though I cannot say that he ever explained his opinion to any of the British ministers or agents; yet it was his avowed opinion \u201cthat America owed so great obligations to France that she ought to join her in two future wars at least, against Great Britain; one to pay her debt of gratitude to France for her assistance in this war, and a second to shew herself as generous as France had been.\u201d This sentiment, in these words, he has repeatedly declared to me, and once at least in the presence and hearing of Mr. Jay.\n    3. I must own I have transcribed this day\u2019s journal with pride and pleasure, for another reason: because it is so explicit an asvertion, nine and twenty years ago, of a principle that has governed me through my whole life, in relation to the foreign affairs of the United States\u2014It is a principle that was deliberately considered and almost unanimously approved in congress in 1775, when the first motion was made for the appointment of a committee for foreign correspondence, when Mr. Jay as well as myself was present; a principle more formally adopted and confirmed in 1776, when the plan of a treaty with France was under deliberation and discussion in congress for many days. And I can now add, because it has been the fundamental principle and invariable system in the conduct of the United States towards foreign nations, through the four administrations of the national government. It is said that president Washington began it; but there is nothing less understood than the real views of that good and great man\u2014The truth is, he was smitten with the charms of the French revolution, and offended and disgusted with the English for violating the treaty of peace by withholding the posts on the frontiers, &c. &c. &c. that he was strongly inclined to enter into closer connections with France and a treaty offensive and defensive against Great Britain. I know the time and place in which and the reasons by which he was first shaken, when congress sat at New-York in 1789, in his first thoughts and inclinations, and brought seriously to deliberate on that system of neutrality, which he afterwards adopted, but not till four years mediation on the subject. In 1794, he first deligated by Proclamation his adoption of the system of neutrality. And indeed after he had adopted the system of neutrality, he could not restrain himself, some years afterwards, from expressing to a French minister his ardent admiration of the exertions of the French nation, in favour of liberty.\n    I will say nothing at present of that administration which has had the singular fortune to be rebrobated by the nation. But God knows that alliances offensive or defensive with either France or England were never on object of desire to the head of that administration, whatever it might have been to some of his ministers, to some of the senators and some of the representatives in congress in his time.\n    Mr. Jefferson\u2019s administration of eight years, was governed, as far as I can understand it, by the same system.\n    Mr. Madison\u2019s has presented the same. How long the national government will be able to maintain an impartial neutrality, I know not. It has cost us great sacrifices. But the question is, whether War with either of the belligerent powers would not have cost us more?\n    The base and wicked insinuations that Jefferson or Madison have been bribed or intimidated by Bonaparte\u2014have my utmost detestation\u2014I should believe it of Washington as soon as of either. There is more reason to suspect that both of them, and Washington too, were too much overawed by the terrors of the British navy, than by any fears of Napoleon.\n    4. It is a great consolation to me, to find a record of so frank and candid a communication of my own sentiment, and of the system of the United States, to the government of G. Britain, at so early a period and upon an occasion so memorable. G. Britain can never reproach me with deceiving them. I have invariably informed them all, that the line of neutrality was the nearest approach that I could ever make towards them. They ought never to have expected any thing more from us.\n    5. I shall make no remarks, at present, on what was said relative to the Tories. If any of your readers should perceive in it, any forebodings of the present times, that will not be my fault.\n    The Journal goes on\u2014\n    November 12, 1782\u2014Tuesday\u2014Dined with the Abby Chalut and the Abby Arnoux. The farmer general and his daughter, Dr. Franklin, and his Grandson, Mr. Grand and his lady and neice, Mr. Ridley and myself, with one young French gentleman, made the company. The farmer\u2019s daughter is about 12 years old, and is I suppose, an enfant trouvee. He made her sing at table, and she bids fair to be an accomplished opera girl, though she has not a delicate ear.\n    The compliment of \u201cMonsieur vous etes le Washington de la Negotiation\u201d was repeated to me by more than one person. I answered\u2014Monsieur vous me faites le plus grand honneur, et la compliment le plus sublime possible.\u2014Eh! Monsieur, en verite vous l\u2019avez bien merite.\u201d\u2014\n     A few of these compliments would kill Franklin should they come to his Ears.\n    This Evening I went to the Hotel de Treize Etats Unis, to see the Baron de Linden;\u2014to the Hotel de York to see the Messrs. Vaughans, and to the Hotel d\u2019Orleans to see Mr. Jay, but found neither. Returned through the Rue St. Honoree, to see the decorated shops, which are pretty enough. This is the gayest street in Paris, in point of ornamented shops. But Paris does not excell in this respect.\n    The old farmer general was very lively at dinner. Told stories and seemed ready to join the little girl in songs, like a boy.\u2014Pleasures do not wear men out in Paris, as in other Places.\n    The Abby Arnoux asked me at table, \u201cMonsieur ou est votre Fils cadet, qui chant come Orphee?  Il est du retour en Amerique. To Mademoiselle Labbard, he said \"connoissez a vous que Monsieur Adams a une Demoiselle, tres aimable en Amerique?\" Thus ends the journal of November 12, 1782.\n    I shall make no other remark upon it, than this, how is it possible to live many years with a people so good humored, so gay, so frolicksome, so frivolous, without contracting some of their politeness and frivolity? Their frivolity! Ask all Europe how much art, science, taste, valour, energy, are mixed with all this politeness in the national character. The last fifteen years of the eighteenth century, and the first ten of the nineteenth, will answer these questions to some purpose.\n    The journal proceeds\u2014\n    November 13, 1782\u2014Wednesday\u2014This is the anniversary of my quitting home! Three years are completed! Oh, when shall I return?\u2014Ridley dined with me. Captain Barney called in the evening and took my dispatches. One set he is to deliver to Captain Hill, another to Captain,   and the third he takes himself.\n    1782. November 17\u2014Sunday\u2014Have spent several days in copying Mr. Jay\u2019s dispatches.\u2014On Friday, the 15th, Mr. Oswald came to visit me, and entered with some freedom, into conversation. I said many things to him, to convince him that it was the policy of my Lord Shelburne and the interest of the nation, to agree with us, upon the advantageous terms which Mr. Stratchy carried away on the 5th. Shewed him the advantages of the boundary, the vast extent of land, and the equitable provision for the payment of debts, and even the great benefits stipulated for the tories.\n    He said he had been reading Mr. Paine\u2019s answer to the Abby Raynal, and had found there an excellent argument in favour of the tories.\u2014Mr. Paine says, that before the battle of Lexington, we were so blindly prejudiced in favor of the English, and so closely attached to them, that we went to war at any time and for any object, when they bid us. Now this being habitual to the Americans, it was excusable in the tories to behave upon this occasion as all of us had ever done upon all others. He said, if he were a member of congress he would shew a magnanimity upon this occasion, and would say to the refugees take your property. We scorn to make any use of it in building up our system.\n    I replied, that we had no power, and congress had no power; and therefore we must consider how it would be reasoned upon in the several legislatures of the separate states; if, after being sent by us to congress, and by them to the several states, in the course of twelve or fifteen months, it should be there debated. You must carry on the war, six or nine months certainly, for this compensation, and consequently spend in the prosecution of it, six or nine times the sum necessary to make the compensation; for I presume this war costs every month to G. Britain, a larger sum than would be necessary to pay for the forfeited estates.\n    How, said I, will an independent man in one of our assemblies, consider this? We will take a man, who is no partisan of England or France, one who wishes to do justice to both, and to all nations, but is the partisan only of his own.\n    Have you seen, says Mr. Oswald, a certain letter written to the comte de Vergennes, wherein Mr. Samuel Adams is treated pretty freely. Yes, said I, and several other papers, in which Mr. John Adams has been treated so too. I know not what you may have heard in England of Mr. Samuel Adams. You may have been taught to believe, for what I know, that he eats little children. But I assure you, he is a man of humanity and candor as well as integrity; and further, that be is devoted to the interest of his country; and I believe, wishes never to be, after a peace, the partizan of France or England; but to do justice and all the good he can to both. I thank you for mentioning him, for I will make him my orator. What will he say, when the question of amnesty and compensation to the tories comes before the senate of Massachusetts? And when he is informed that England makes a point of it, and that France favours her. He will say here are two old sagacious courts, both endeavoring to sow the seeds of discord among us; each endeavoring to keep us in hot water; to keep up continual broils, between an English party and a French party, in hopes of obliging the independent and patriotic party to lean to its side. England wishes them here and compensated; not merely to get rid of them, and to save themselves the money, but to plant among us instruments of their own, to make divisions among us, and between us and France; to be continually crying down the religion, the government, the manners of France; and crying up the language, the fashions, the blood, &c, of England. England also means, by insisting on our compensating these worst of enemies, to obtain from us, a tacit acknowledgment of the right of the war, an implicit acknowledgment that the tories have been justifiable, or at least excusable; and that we, only by a fortunate coincidence of events, have carried a wicked rebellion into a complete revolution.\n    At the very time when Britain professes to desire peace, reconciliation, perpetual oblivion of all past unkindnesses; can she wish to send in among us, a number of persons, whose very countenances will bring fresh to our remembrance the whole history of the rise and progress of the war, and of all its atrocities? Can she think it conciliatory to oblige us to lay taxes upon those, whose habitations have been consumed, to reward those who have burned them? Upon those whose property has been stolen, to reward the thieves? Upon those whose relations have been cruelly destroyed, to compensate the murderers?\n    What can be the design of France, on the other hand, by espousing the cause of these men? Indeed; her motives may be guessed at. She may wish to keep up in our minds a terror of England, and a fresh remembrance of all we have suffered. Or she may wish to prevent our ministers in Europe, from agreeing with the British ministers, until she shall say that she and Spain are satisfied in all points. So much for the supposed speech of Mr. Samuel Adams\u2014far inferior, however, in elegance and harmony to the common effusions of his tongue and pen.\n    The journal proceeds\u2014\n    I entered largely, with Mr. Oswald, into the consideration of the influence this question would have upon the counsels of the British cabinet, and the debates in Parliament. The King and the old ministry might think their personal reputations concerned in supporting men who had gone such lengths and suffered so much in their attachment to them. The King may say, I have other dominions abroad, Canada, Nova-Scotia, Florida, the West India Islands, the East Indies, Ireland; it will be a bad example to abandon these men, others will lose their encouragement to adhere to my government. But the shortest answer to this is the best; let the king, by a message, recommend it to parliament, to compensate them.\n    But how will my lord Shelburne sustain the shock of opposition, when Mr. Fox and Mr. Burke shall demand a reason why the essential interests of the nation are sacrificed to the unreasonable demands of those very men who have done this great mischief to the empire? Should these orators indulge themselves in philippicks against the refugees, shew their false representations, their outrageous cruelties, their innumerable demerits against the nation, and then attack the first lord of the treasury for continuing to spend the blood and treasure of the nation for their sakes?\n    The journal of November 17th continues\u2014\n    Mr. Vaughan came to me yesterday and said that Mr. Oswald had that morning called upon Mr. Jay and told him if he had known as much the day before as he had since learned, he would have written to go home. Mr. Vaughan said, Mr. Fitzherbert had received a letter from lord Townsend, that the compensation would be insisted on. Mr. Oswald wanted Mr. Jay to go to England\u2014thought he could convince the ministry. Mr. Jay said he must go with or without the knowledge and advice of this court, and in either case it would give rise to jealousies. He could not go. Mr. Vaughan said he had determined to go on account of the critical state of his family, his wife being probably abed. He should be glad to converse freely with me, and obtain from me all the lights and arguments against the tories, even the history of their worst actions: that in case it should be necessary to run them down, it might be done, or at least expose them, for their true history was little known in England.\n    I told him that I must be excused, it was a subject that I had never been desirous of obtaining information upon; that I pitied those people too much to be willing to aggravate their sorrows and sufferings, even of those who had deserved the worst. It might not be amiss to reprint the letters of Gov\u2019s. Bernard, Hutchinson, & Oliver, to shew the rise. It might not be amiss to read the history of Wyoming, in the annual register for 1778 or 1779; to recollect the prison-ships, and the churches at New-York, where the garrisons of fort Washington were starved in order to make them enlist into refugee corps. It might not be amiss to recollect the burning of cities, and the thefts of plate, negroes, and tobacco.\n    I entered into the same arguments with him that I had used with Mr. Oswald, to shew that we could do nothing, congress nothing, the time it would take to consult the states, and the reasons to believe that all of them would at last decide against it. I shewed him that it would be a religious question with some, a moral one with others, and a political one with more, an \u0153conomical one with very few. I shewed him the ill effects which would be produced upon the American mind by this measure; how much it would contribute to perpetuate alienation against England, and how French emissaries might, by means of these men, blow up the flames of animosity and war. I showed him how the whig interest and the opposition might avail themselves of this subject in parliament, and how they might embarrass the minister.\n    He went out to Passy for a passport and in the evening called upon me again, he said he found Dr. Franklin\u2019s sentiments to be the same with Mr. Jay\u2019s and mine, and hoped he should be able to convince Lord Shelburne. He was pretty confident it would work right. The ministry and nation were not informed upon the subject. Lord Shelburne had told him that no part of his office gave him so much pain as the levee he held for these people, and hearing their stories of their families and estates, their losses, sufferings and distresses. Mr. Vaughan said he had picked up here a good deal of information about these people, from Mr. Allen and other Americans.\n    Ridley, Allen and Mason dined with me, and in the evening capt.  Barney came in and told me that Mr. Vaughan went off to day at noon. I delivered to Barney, Mr. Jay\u2019s long despatches and the other letters.\n    In the evening marquis de la Fayette came in and told me he had been to see Mr. de Fleuri on the subject of a loan. He told him that he must afford America, this year, a subsidy of twenty millions. Mr. de Fleuri said France had already spent two hundred and fifty millions in the American war, and that they could not allow any more money to her; that there was a great deal of money in America. That the king\u2019s troops had been   subsisted and paid there, &c. The marquis said that little of the subsistence or pay of the British had gone into any hands but those of the tories, within their lines.\n     I said that more money went in for their goods, than came out for provisions, or any thing. \n    The marquis added to Mr. de Fleuri, that Mr. Adams had a plan for going to the states general, for a loan or a subsidy. Mr. Fleuri said he did not want the assistance of Mr. Adams to get money in Holland, he could have what he would. The marquis said Mr. Adams would be glad of it, he did not want to go, but was willing to take the trouble if necessary.\n    The marquis said he should dine with the queen to-morrow, and would give her a hint to favor us. That he should take leave in a few days, and should go in the fleet that was to sail from Brest. That he wanted the advice of Mr. Franklin, Mr. Jay, and me, before he went on, &c. Said there was a report that Mr. Gerard had been in England, and that Mr. de Rayneval was gone. I told him I saw Mr. Gerard at Mr. Jay\u2019s, a few evenings ago.\n    He said be did not believe Mr. Gerard had been\u2014That he had mentioned it to comte de Vergennes, and he did not appear confused at all, but said Mr. Gerard was here, about the limits of Alsace. \n    The marquis said that he believed the reason why the comte de Vergennes said so little about the progress of Mr. Fitzherbert with him, was because the difficulty about peace was made by the Spaniards, and he was afraid of making the Americans still more angry with Spain. He knew the Americans were very angry with the Spaniards.\n    Thus ends the journal of the 17th of November, 1782.\n    I shall make only two notes upon it. The project of going to the states general, which the marquis imputes to Mr. Adams, was certainly not his. He knew very well that such a journey would have been in vain.\n    2. Mr. de Fleuri flattered himself most egregiously, for in truth, he could not have raised a ducat, to use a certain for an uncertain trifle, in all Holland. And I could have obtained, upon my single signature, more money than I could have procured, in association with Mr. de Fleuri. the comte de Vergennes and the duke de la Vaugion. This was then and is now my opinion.\nJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5652", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 28 June 1811\nFrom: Rush, Benjamin\nTo: Adams, John\nAct 1. Scene 2nd.\nMr Adams alone in his Study.\nEnter B Rush.A: Aye Rush is that you? What is that paper you hold in your hand?R A Summary view of the physical, moral and immoral effects of certain hymns upon the body & mind of man & upon his Condition in Society. Permit me Sir to request your Acceptance of it.A What must I do with it?R: Send it to the parson of your parish,  but if he \u201ctoo good, to do good\u201d Send it to any Other person that you think will republish it, and cause copies of it to posted upon the doors of your School and Court and meeting houses in different parts of the State.A: I am afraid your labor will be lost in this business. The same Chain that binds to our our Citizens to banks and lotteries, binds them to taverns and grogshops, and to their bottles  in their Chimney Corners.R:  I lament the truth of your remark, but let us remember One of your Old friend Dr Jebb\u2019s sayings \u201cno good effort is lost.\u201d The Seeds of truth upon all Subjects are imperishable. While some of them yield their increase suddenly, Others like the Acorn, require Centuries to bring them to perfection. The Seeds of the reformation of which Luther & Calvin reaped the fruits in eclesiastical fame, were  sowed by Wickliff and Jerome, and the Seeds of all the liberty that now exists in England and the United States were sowed by Hampden, Ludlow and Others 160 years ago in Great Britain. The booksellers tell us those books that command an early & general sale seldom outlive the generation in which they are printed. The same thing may be said of Opinions. The more profound they are, & the more interesting they are to human happiness, they more Slowly they come to maturity. Posthumous fame is perhaps the only fame that is well earned. Great men are tried by their peers only After the Clamor against their opinions and actions has subsided, and After the encrease of knowledge has prepared their posterity to form a Correct judgment of each of them.A: Stop\u2014Stop Doctor\u2014your imagination is running away with you. But we will change the Subject. What do your Citizens say of Robt: Smith publication? R. \u201cWhere are my shoes and stockings?\u201d said Sancho when he was asked how he liked his goverment. Where is my pestle and mortar? William (to his Servant) bring my horse & Chair\u2014it is time to take my evening tour among my patients. Good day Sir!\u2014exit Rush. In retiring he says\u2014may peace, and joy and every form of domestic happiness be the portion of every tenant of this venerable mansion!\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5654", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 6 July 1811\nFrom: Rush, Benjamin\nTo: Adams, John\nMy dear Old friend,\nPhiladelphia July 6. 1811\nYrs. of June 21st. came safe to hand. I shall reply to it give you the echo of it in a few days. Not knowing to whom it is proper to send the enclosed packet from Lord Bircham, I have taken the liberty to address it to you. It contains (I suppose) a curious, heterogeneous oration by his Lordship delivered before some Americans in Edingh: on the Anniverrsary of General Washington\u2019s birth day.\u2014\nHealth, respect & friendship! / from Dear Sir yours / truly\nBenjn: Rush", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5655", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Benjamin Waterhouse, 8 July 1811\nFrom: Waterhouse, Benjamin\nTo: Adams, John\nDear Sir,\nCambridge 8th. July 1811\u2014\nI recvd. your letter of the 5th, with pleasure & read it with satisfaction, as I always do, because I understand your politics, and because I see in them one uniform & everlasting principle that does not bend to the fashions & caprices of the day\u2014Foolish people have cried out\u2014\u201cMr Adams has changed his politics; he is no longer a federalist, but is changed to a republican.\u201d I have as constantly replied, that I know of no man in the country who has changed less.\nI am glad that you are perusing the writings of Mr. Smith, and I wish the public could be instructed by your opinion of them. As to Mr. Pickering\u2019s publications, they cease to be interesting to any one, even of his own party. Since they appeared, I conversed with Mr. S. Dexter respecting the conduct of Pickering. He condemns him altogether. He said that the President ought to have dismissed him for intriguing with the Senators against him; and he supposed that you had beside other reasons. He then related to me your efforts to give this resentful man a comfortable living in the station of a Judge, but that it was concluded by others that the Colonel was not quite adequate to the station of a Judge. Dexter spoke with indignation of the conduct of P. towards you. This able lawyer has such a bright streak of Republicanism in his character, that he is no great favorite with the Junto. These people are more gratified with this publication of Smiths, than with the numbers of the Colonel, which last have struggled through their newspapers with great difficulty. The party was ashamed of his taking up the cudgels in favour of the Little-Beef.\nWhat I long to see, above all things is an exposition of what I call the Hamiltonian conspiracy. Whether I am perfectly correct I know not, but my general idea is this. The British party, or Tories, have long contemplated a separation of the States, & a formation of a Northern confederacy, the end and aim of which was is to be opposition to France & to the Southern States, and a sort of alliance with England. Old England was to hold one end of the golden chain of commerce, & Newfoundland the other, while the Devil and Bonaparte were to take our Southern brethren. Fisher Ames gave a toast in a certain assemblage several years ago indicating Hamilton as the military leader of this Kingdom of the North. His sentiment was to this effect.\u2014Alexr. H\u2014\u2014. may we not speedily want his great military & political talents, but when we do, may we have them. When Burr shot Hamilton, it was not Brutus killing Caesar in the Senate-house; but it was killing him before he passed the Rubicon. Hence the anguish, the deep anguish of Geo. C\u2014\u2014t & company at their Caesar\u2019s death. Whether his plan of 50,000 foot & 10,000 horse was not a part of the scheme is a question I am not able to answer; but certain I am that their extreme disappointment at his death, which amounted to an agony could not have arisen from a mere personal feeling, nor for the loss of his financeering talents. This intriguing West Indian saw in the same city one man who watched his motions, & who was capable of counteracting his plans, & the designs of his party; and this man he tried to destroy by the poisoned arrows of calumny, but (providentially for us) was destroyed himself, and with him fell, for that time, the hope of the Northern Confederacy.\u2014Hence we may account for his bust staring us in the face in the entries of some of our professors & clergymen! Washington himself is not spoken of in such terms of deep respect as is this New York lawyer! and your animadversions upon him in your printed correspondence created more disagreeable sensations than if you had spoken as much against Washington. How is all this to be accounted for, if it were not for the loss of their contemplated military leader? Two years ago, when they brought forth their famous Resolutions in the Legislature, & when Gore talked so boldly of waring with France, Hamilton\u2019s death was again a melancholly subject of deep lamentation among the leaders of the party, and the seperation of the States & a Northern confederacy was again alluded to, in private circles & \u201cassemblages.\u201d They then began again \u201cto speak daggers;\u201d and it was observed that they brought forward & caressed General Brooks, of this neighbourhood, & toasted him at a dinner they have in honor of the Spanish Patriots; but they found that the General had grown old very fast, & was spiritless, so that we have heard no more of him at their solemn feasts. All these things, and a hundred other little things, such as half uttered wishes & sentences, convince me that the party have been looking anxiously around for a military man, as near like unto Alexr. Hamilton as possible, but they can find none. They can raise their eyes to nothing higher in Massachusetts than Captn. L\u2014\u2014 and Captn. D\u2014\u2014l. S\u2014r.\u2014t! Men \u201cfull of sound & fury.\u201d Some of them have avowed that they looked to H. as the saviour of the country; but that now, there may be a dozen as good as he, but alas! there is not one, with his reputation! So that unless they invite back & forgive Aaron Burr, the South & the North will not be divided immediately.\nNow Sir, have I been dreaming or writing romance, or true history, collected from their own words & actions? I am firmly of opinion that there are in\u2014two or three hundred of the assemblage on the verge of bankrupcy, & who would enlist, under Cataline, had Cataline the confidence to beat up for volunteers. I suspect that the Governor has a similar idea, and I guess that the President & he view objects through the same glass, & in the same light; but am doubtful if the council ever had a peep through it. Walsh has taken up the odious business of Ames, that of rendering us contemptable in our own eyes, & of magnifying & glorifying modern Babylon the city of the Great King, while most of the clergy are like the ancient Augurs muttering to the people just what their masters dictate, & several of these in Boston & its vicinity will group in the guts of beast for hire. Now unless I am, like J.L. politically mad, I can trace all these things up to the Hamiltonian conspiracy that destroyed the federal administration. If these things be truths ought they not to be told to the people, instead of amusing them with the Berlin & Milan decrees, & orders of council? Ought not the people of this State to be told that their chief J\u2014\u2014 is in league against their liberties, against their constitution? And ought they not to be told that a war with England is the only remedy against the evil, and against a greater one, a war among ourselves?\u2014Thus has the spirit moved me;\u2014and if I do not seal it up, & send it off to the posthouse, I shall do with it as I hope you will burn it yours as ever\nB Waterhouse\n    All the Boston seat; the whole federal force was exerted to pass an accommodating bankrupt act", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5657", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 16 July 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\nQuincy, July 16, 1811.\n    The Journal proceeds\u2014November 18, 1782.\u2014Returned Mr. Oswald\u2019s Visit. He says Mr. Strachy, who sat out the 5th, did not reach London until the 10th. Couriers are three, four, or five days in going, according as the winds are.\n    We went over the old ground, concerning the tories. He began to use arguments with me, to relax. I told him he must not think of that, but must bend all his thoughts to convince and persuade his court to give it up. That if the terms now before his court were not accepted, the whole negotiation would be broken off, and this court would probably be so angry with Mr. Jay and me that they would set their engines to work upon congress, get us recalled, and some others sent, who would do exactly as this court would have them. He said he thought that very probable.\n    In another part of his conversation, he said, we should all have gold snuff boxes, set with diamonds; you will certainly have the picture.\u2014I told him, no\u2014I had dealt too freely with this court, I had not concealed from them any useful and necessary truth, although it was disagreeable. Indeed I neither expected nor desired any favors from them, nor would I accept any. I should not refuse any customary compliment of that sort, but it never had been nor would be offered to me. My fixed principles, never to be the tool of any man nor the partisan of any nation, would forever exclude me from the smiles and favors of courts.\n    In another part of the conversation, I said, that when I was young and adicted to reading, I had heard about dancing on the points of metaphysical needles; but by mixing in the world, I had found the points of political needles finer and sharper than the metaphysical ones.\n    I told him the story of Josiah Quincy\u2019s conversation with lord Shelburne, in 1774, in which he pointed out to him the plan of carrying on the war, which has been pursued this year, by remaining inactive on land and cruising upon the coast to distress our trade.\n    He said he had been contriving an artificial truce, since he found we were bound by treaty, not to agree to a separate truce. He had proposed to the ministry to give orders to their men of war and privateers, not to take any unarmed American vessels.\n    I said to him, supposing the armed neutrality, should acknowledge American Independence by admitting Mr. Dana, who is now at Petersburg, with a commission for that purpose in his pocket, to subscribe the principles of their marine treaty? The king of Great Britain, could find no fault with it. He could never hereafter say, it was an affront or hostility; he had done it himself. Would not all neutral vessels have a right to go to America? and could not all American trade be carried on in neutral bottoms?\n    I said to him that England would always be a country which would deserve much of the attention of America, independently of all considerations of blood, origin, language, morals, &c. merely as a commercial country, she would forever claim the respect of America, because a great part of our commerce would be with her, provided she came to her senses and made peace with us, without any points in the treaty, that should ferment in the minds of the people. If the people should think themselves unjustly treated, they would never be easy, and they were so situated as to be able to hurt any power. The fisheries, the Mississippi, the tories, were points that would rankle, and that nation that should offend our people in any of them, would sooner or later feel the consequences.\n    Mr. Jay, Mr. Le Couteulx and Mr. Grand, came in. Mr. Grand says there is a great fermentation in England, and that they talk of uniting lord North and Mr. Fox, in administration.\u2014Duke of Portland to come in, and Keppel to go out. But this is wild. You are afraid, said Mr. Oswald to\u2013day, of being made the tools of the powers of Europe. Indeed I am, says I. What powers? said he. All of them, said I. It is obvious that all the powers of Europe will be continually man\u0153uvering with us, to work us into their real or imaginary balances of power. They will all wish to make of us a make weight candle, when they are weighing out their pounds. Indeed it is not surprising, for we shall very often, if not always, be able to turn the scale.\u2014But I think it ought to be our rule not to meddle, and that of all the powers of Europe, not to desire us, or perhaps even to permit us to interfere, if they can help it.\n    I beg of you, said Oswald, to get out of your head the idea that we shall disturb you. What? said I, do you yourself believe that your ministers, governors, and even nation, will not wish to get use of your side, in any future war?\u2014Damn the governors, said he. No. We will take off their heads, if they do an improper thing towards you. Thank you, for your good will, said I, which I feel to be sincere\u2014but nations do not feel as you and I do. Your nation, when it gets a little refreshed from the fatigues of the war, when men and money are become plenty, and allies at hand, will not feel as it does now. We never can be such damn\u2019d sots, says he, as to think of differing again with you. Why, said I, in truth I have never been able to comprehend the reason why you ever thought of differing with us.\n    1782, November 19, Tuesday.\u2014In the morning Mr. Jay called and took me with him in his carriage to Versailles. We waited on the comte de Vergennes and dined with him in company with all the foreign ministers and others, to the number of forty\u2013four or five.\n    Mr. Berkenrode, the Dutch ambassador, told me that he thought we should see something very singular in England; the conflicts of parties and contentions for the ministry, were such that he did not know where they would end. It was thought that lord Shelburne could not support himself without a union with lord North or Mr. Fox; and that the choice of either would determine the intentions of the court and parliament.\n    Mr. Brantzen, the other Dutch ambassador, told me that they had began the negotiations on their part, but were as yet very far assunder, but hoped they should approach nearer in a little time. Both Brantzin and Berkenrode asked me how we advanced? I told them Mr. Oswald was waiting for a courier, in answer to his of the fifth, which arrived the tenth. I told them both that we should not be behind hand of them\u2014that if it was once said that France, Spain and Holland were ready, the British ministry would not hesitate upon any points between us that remained. They both said they believed we should find less difficulty to arrange our affairs with England, than any of the others would.\n    The Swedish minister went to a gentleman and asked him to introduce him to Mr. Jay and me, which he did. The minister told us he had been here since 1766.\n    The same ministers are here from Russia, Denmark, and Sardinia, whom I knew here formerly.\n    Mr. Jay made his compliment to Comte D\u2019Aranda, who invited him to come and see him and dine with him.\n    I see, by a long conversation at table with the baron de Linden that he has an inclination to go to America\u2014yet he modestly gives place to Mr. Van Berckel.\n    The marquis de la Fayette took leave of the king to\u2013day, in his American uniform and sword. He told me that the comte de Vergennes told him the day before, that Mr. de Rayneval was gone to England, and that he did not think the English so sincere as he wished for a speedy peace. He wished it himself, but could not see a prospect of it suddenly, &c.\n    In returning, I asked Mr. Jay what he thought of the king of Great Britain\u2019s sending an ambassador to congress? After Mr. Oswald\u2019s commission he might do it, and congress must receive him. Jay said, do you think with me upon that point too? If I were the king of Great  Britain I would send a minister, in the highest character; he should be an ambassador extraordinary, and I would accredit him, to our dear and beloved friends; and I would instruct that minister to treat congress with as high respect as any crowned head in Europe.\n    But, said I, he ought to be well instructed too, in other points, viz. never to hint or to suffer a hint against the treaties with France and Holland; never to admit the idea of our failing in our public faith or national honor; and farther, never to interfere in our parties, general or particular; with our internal policy, or particular governments; and to warn our people not to let the French ministers do it. If the Britons should strike with us, I would agree with you, after the terms are signed, to advise to the measure. If I were the king of Great Britain I would give orders to all my ambassadors, at the neutral courts, to announce to those courts the Independence of America; that I had acknowledged it, and given a commission under the great seal, to treat with the ministers of the United States of America; that I recommended to those courts to follow the example, and open negotiations with the said United States; that I recommend to those neutral states to send their vessels freely to, and receive vessels freely from all the ports of the United States. I would send the earl of Effingham, ambassador to congress, instructed to assure them that I would do them my best offices to secure to them the fisheries, their extent to the Mississippi and the navigation of that river; that I would favor all their negotiations in Europe, upon their own plan of making commercial treaties with all nations; that I would interpose my good offices with the barbary states to procure them Mediterranean passes, &c.\n    November 20th, Wednesday.\u2014The journal proceeds.\u2014Dr. Franklin came, and we fell into conversation. From one thing to another we came to politics. I told him that it seemed uncertain whether Shelburne could hold his ground without leaning upon lord North on one hand, or Fox on the other; that if he joined North, or North and Co. should come in, they would go upon a contracted system, and would join people at this court, to deprive us of the Mississippi and the fisheries, &c. If Fox came in or joined Shelburne, they would go upon a liberal and manly system. And this was the only chance they had. No nation had ever brought itself into such a labyrinth; perplexed with the demands of Holland, Spain, France and America, their funds were failing, and the money undertaken to be furnished was not found. Franklin said that the bank came in aid, and he learned that large sums of scrip were lodged there. In this situation, said I, they have no chance, but to set up America very high; and if I were king of Great Britain, I would take that tone. I would send the first duke of the kingdom ambassador to congress, and would negotiate in their favor at all the Neutral courts, &c. I would give the strongest assurances to congress of support in the fisheries, the Mississippi, &c. and would compensate the tories, myself.\n    I asked what could be the policy of this court in wishing to deprive us of the fisheries and Mississippi? I could see no possible motive for it but to plant seeds of contention for a future war. If they pursued this policy, they would be as fatally blinded to their true interests, as ever the English were.\n    Franklin said they would be every bit as blind; that the fisheries and Mississippi could not be given up; that nothing was clearer to him than that the fisheries were essential to the northern states, and the Mississippi to the southern, and indeed both to all. I told him that Mr. Gerard had certainly appeared to America, to negotiate to these ends, namely, to persuade congress to give up both. This was the reason of his being so unpopular in America; and this was the cause of their dislike to Samuel Adams, who had spoken very freely both to Gerard and his congress on these heads. That Marbois appeared now to be pursuing the same objects.Franklin said he had seen his letter. I said I was the more surprised at this, as Mr. Marbois, on our passage to America, had often said to me that he thought the fisheries our natural right and our essential interest, and that we ought to maintain it and be supported in it, yet that he appeared now to be man\u0153uvering against it.\n    I told him that I always considered their extraordinary attack upon me, not as arising from any offence or any thing personal, but as an attack upon the fisheries. There had been great debates in congress, upon issuing the first commission for peace, and in settling my instructions. That I was instructed not to make any treaty with Britain, without an express clause, acknowledging our right to the fisheries. This court knew that this would be, when communicated to the English, a strong motive with them to acknowledge our right, and to take away this motive they had directed their intrigues against me, to get my commission annulled, and had succeeded. They hoped also to gain some advantage in these points, by associating others with me in the commission for peace. But they had failed in this, for the Mississippi and fisheries were now much securer, than if I had been alone. That debates had run very high in congress: that Mr. Drayton and Governieur Morris, had openly espoused their plan and argued against the fishery. (Here in the margin of the journal is a note \u201ca mistake,\u201d as Mr. Jay tells me) That Mr. Laurens and others of the southern gentlemen, had been staunch for them; and contended that as nurseries of seamen and sources of trade, the southern states were as much interested as the northern. That debates had run so high that the eastern states had been obliged to give in their ultimatum in writing, and to say they would withdraw if any more was done; and that this point was so tender and important, that if not secured, it would be the cause of a breach of the union of the states. And their politicks might, for what I know, be so profound as to mean to lay a foundation for a rupture between the states, when, in a few years, they should think them grown too big. I could see no possible motive they had to wish to negotiate the Mississippi into the hands of Spain, but this; knowing the fine country in the neighbourhood, and the rapidity with which it would fill with inhabitants, they might force their way down the Mississippi and occasion another war. They had certainly sense enough to know too, that we could not and would not be restrained from the fishery; that our people would be constantly pushing for it, and thus plunge themselves into another war, in which we should stand in need of France.\n        If the old ministry in England should come in again, they would probably join this court in attempting to deprive us. But all would not succeed. We must be firm and steady and should do very well. Yes, he said, he believed we should do very well, and carry the points.\u2014I told him that I could not think that the king and counsel here had formed any digested plan against us, upon these points. I hoped it was only the speculation of individuals.\n    I told him that if Fox should know that Shelburne refused to agree with us, merely because we would not compensate the tories, that he would attack the minister upon this ground and pelt him so with tories as to make him uncomfortable. I thought it would be very well to give Fox an hint. He said he would write him a letter upon it. He had sometimes corresponded with him, and Fox had been in conversation with him here before I arrived.\n    I walked before dinner to Mr. Jay\u2019s and told him I thought there was danger that the old ministry would come in or Shelburne unite with North. That the king did not love us, and the old ministry did not love us\u2014but they loved the refugees, and thought probably their personal characters concerned to support them. Rayneval was gone to England and I wanted to have him watched, to see if he was ever in company with North, Germain, Stormont,Hillsborough, Sandwich, Bute or Mansfield. If the wing clipping system, and the support of the tories should be suggested by this court to any of them, it would fall in with their passions and opinions; for several of the old ministry had often dropped expressions in the debates in parliament, that it was the interest of England to prevent our growth to wealth and power. It was very possible that a part of the old ministry might come in, & Richmond, Keppel, Townsend & Cambden go out; and in this case, though they could not revoke the acknowledgment of our independence, they would certainly go upon the contracted plan of clipping our wings. In this case, it is true, England would be finally, the dupe; and it would be the most malicious policy possible against her. It is agreed, that if the whigs go out, and Richmond, Keppel, Townsend, Cambden, &c. join Fox and Burke in opposition, there will be great probability of a national commotion and confusion.\n        Mr. Jay agreed with me in all I had said; and added, that six days would produce the kings speech. If that speech should inform parliament that he had issued a commission to treat with the United States, and the two houses should thank him for it, it would look as if a good plan was to prevail; but if not, we should then take measures to communicate it far and wide.\n    I told him I thought in that case we should aid opposition as much as we could, by suggesting arguments to those who would transmit them, in favour of America, and in favour of those who had the most liberal sentiments towards America. To convince them, that the wing\u2013clipping plan was ruinous to England; and the most generous and noble part they could act towards America, the only one, that could be beneficial to the nation; and to enable them to attack a contracted ministry, with every advantage that could be.\n        I thought it was now a crisis, in which good will or ill\u2013will towards America, would be carried very far in England. A time perhaps when the American ministers may have more weight in turning the tide of sentiment, or influencing the changes of Administration, than they ever had before, and perhaps than they would have again. That I thought it our duty, Upon this occasion to say every thing we could to the Englishmen here, in order that just sentiments might prevail in England, at this moment to countenance every man well disposed, and to disabuse and, undeceive every body;\n        to drive out of countenance and into infamy, every narrow thought of cramping, stinting, impoverishing or enfeebling us. To shew, that it is their only interest to shew themselves our friends, to wear away, if possible the memory of past unkindnesses; to strike with us now, upon our own terms. Because, though we had neither power nor inclination to make peace without our allies; yet the very report that we had got over all our difficulties would naturally make all Europe expect peace, would tend to make Spain less exorbitant in her demands, would make Holland more ardent for peace; and dispose France to be more serious in her importunities with Spain and Holland, and even render France herself easier; though I did not imagine she would be extravagant in her pretensions; to shew them the ruinous tendency of the war, if continued another year or two. Where would England be, if the war continued two years longer? What the state of her finances? What her condition in the East and West\u2013indies? In North America? In Ireland, Scotland, and even in England? What hopes have they of saving themselves from a civil war? If our terms are not now accepted, they will never again have such offers from America. They never will have so advantageous a line\u2014never their debts\u2014never so much for the Tories\u2014and perhaps a rigorous demand of compensation for the devastations they have committed.\n    Mr. Jay agreed with me in sentiments, and indeed they are the principles he has uniformly pursued through the whole negotiation before my arrival. I think they cannot be misunderstood or disapproved, in Congress.\n    There never was a blunder in Politicks more egregious than will be committed by the present ministry, if they attempt to save the honour of the old ministry and of the Tories. Shelburne may be too weak to combat them: but the true policy would be, to throw all the odium of the war and all the blame of the dismemberment of the Empire upon the old ministers and the Tories. To run them down, tarnish them with votes, inveigh against them in Speeches, and pamphlets, even strip them of the Pensions, and make them both ridiculous, insignificant, and contemptible. In short make them as wretched as their crimes deserve. Never think of sending them to America. But Shelburne is not strong enough. The old party with the King at their head, is too powerful and popular yet.\n        I really pity these people, as little as they deserve it; and surely no men ever deserved worse of society.\n    If Fox was in, and had weight enough, and should take this decided part; which is consistent enough with the tenor of his speeches, which have been constant philippicks against the old ministry, and frequent sallies against the Refugees; and should adopt a noble line of conduct towards America, grant her all she asks, do her honour and promote her prosperity; he would disarm the hostile mind, and soften the resentful heart, recover much of the affection of America, much of her Commerce, and perhaps equal consideration and profit and power from her, as ever. She would have no Governors nor Armies there, and no taxes: but she would have profit, reputation and power.\n    To day I received a letter from my excellent friend Mr. Laurens, 12 Nov.London, in answer to mine of the 6th, agreeing, as speedily as possible to join his colleagues. \u201cThank God, I had a son who dared to die for his country.\u201d\n    Thus ends the Journal of the 20th of November 1782.\nJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5658", "content": "Title: From John Adams to James Trecothick Austin, 17 July 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Austin, James Trecothick\nSir,\nQuincy July 17th 1811\nI thank you for Leolin which is a morsel of exquisite Taste in composition, and a model of Politeness in Political Controversy. There may be a point or two, in which you and I may not perfectly agree in opinion, but these at the present time are not of Consequence enough to make it necessary for either of us to spend our time in Explanations. I am Sir with the best wishes for your Usefulness and advancement your obliged humble Servant\nJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5660", "content": "Title: Memorandum Preceding Letter to George Wythe, January 1776, 21 July 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: \nIn the beginning of the year 1776 There was printed, at Phyladelphia, a Pamphlet under the Title of Thoughts on Government in a Letter from a Gentleman to his Friend, if memory serves me. The Gentleman was Mr John Adams and his then a Member of Congress and his Friend now President of the United States and his Friend was Mr George Wythe then a Member of Congress from Virginia and now Chancellor of that State. The Constitution of New York was formed soon after the Publication of those Thoughts and was framed conformably to the general Spirit of them. This Same Pamphlet fell into the hands of Some Gentlemen of Essex, who convened assembled a kind of County Convention, and drew up a result in general unfavourable agreable to the Principles of it, but as it was then published without the Authors name, they did not judge it necessary to give Credit for their Obligations to it. The Essex pamphlet was published in 1779 a little before the Convention for framing the Constitution of Massachusetts, and is a Work of Merit. The Essex Junto however, need not be so vain glorious as to arrogate to themselves The honor of being the Authors Founders of the Massachusetts Constitution.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5661", "content": "Title: Note Regarding Genesis of Thoughts on Government, 21 July 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: \nQuincy July 21. 1811.\nIn the Winter of 1776 there was much discussion in Congress concerning the Necessity of Independence, and advising the Several States to institute Governments for themselves under the immediate Authority and original Power of The People. Great difficulties, occurred to many Gentlemen, in making a Transition from the Old Governments to the new, i.e from the Royal to Republican Governments. In January 1776 Mr George Wythe of Virginia passing an Evening with me, asked what plan I would advise a Colony to pursue, in order to get out of the old Government and into a new one. I Sketched in Words a Scheme, which he requested me to give him in Writing. Accordingly the next day I delivered him the following Letter. He lent it to his Colleague Richard Henry Lee, who asked me to let him print it: to which I consented provided he would Suppress my Name: for if that Should appear, it would excite a Continental Clamour among the Tories that I was erecting a battering Ram to demolish the Royal Government and render Independence indispensable.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5664", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 29 July 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\n    Sirs\u2014\nQuincy, July 29, 1811.\n    The Journal proceeds\u20141782\u2014November 26\u2014Tuesday\u2014Breakfasted at Mr. Jays, with Dr. Franklin, in consultation upon the propositions made to us yesterday by Mr. Oswald.\u2014We agreed unanimously to answer him, that we could not consent to the article respecting the refugees as it now stands. Dr. Franklin read a letter which he had prepared to Mr. Oswald, upon the subject of the tories, which we had agreed with him that he should read, as containing his private sentiments. We had a vast deal of conversation upon the subject. My colleagues opened themselves, and made many observations concerning the conduct, crimes and demerits of those people.\n    Before Dinner Mr. Fitzherbert came in, whom I had never seen before: a gentleman of about thirty-three; seems pretty discreet and judicious; and did not discover those airs of vanity which are imputed to him.He came in consequence of the desire which I expressed yesterday of knowing the state of the negotiation between him and the Comte de Vergennes respecting the fishery. He told us, the Comte was for fixing the boundaries where each nation should fish. He must confess he thought the idea plausible; for that there had been great dissentions between the fishermen of the two nations. That the French marine office had an whole apartment full of complaints and representations of disputes. That the French pretended that Cape Ray was the Point Riche.\n    I asked, if the French demanded of him an exclusive right to fish and dry between Cape Bonavista and the point Riche: He said they had not expressly; and he intended to follow the words of the treaty of Utrecht and Paris without stirring the point.\n    I shewed him an extract of a letter from the Earl of Egremont to the Duke of Bedford, March 1, 1763, in which it is said, that by the 13th article of the treaty of Utrecht, a liberty was left to the French to fish, and to dry their fish on shore; and for that purpose to erect the necessary stages and buildings; but with an express stipulation, \u201cDe ne pas sejourner dans la dite Isle, au dela du Temps necessaire pour pecher et secher le poisson.\u201d That it is a received law among the fishermen, that whoever arrives first shall have the choice of the stations.\u2014That the Duke de Nivernois insisted, that by the treaty of Utrecht the French had an exclusive right to the fishery, from Cape Bonavista to Point Riche. That the king gave  his grace the Duke of Bedford express instructions to come to an ecclaircissement upon the point with the French ministry and to refuse the exclusive construction of the treaty of Utrecht.\n    I also shew him a letter from Sir Stanier Porteen, Lord Weymouth\u2019s secretary, to Lord Weymouth, inclosing an extract of Ld. Egremont\u2019s letter to the Duke of Bedford, by which it appears that the Duke of Nivernois insisted\u2014\n    \u201cThat the French had an exclusive right to the fishery from Cape Bonavista to Cape Riche; and that they had on ceding the island of Newfoundland to Great Britain by the thirteenth article of the treaty of Utrecht, expressly reserved to themselves such an exclusive right, which they had constantly been in possession of, till they were entirely driven from North America in the last war.\u201d\n    For these papers I am obliged to Mr. Izzard, (who gave them to me in 1778, at Paris.)\n    Mr. Fitzherbert said it was the same thing now word for word; but he should endeavor to have the treaty conformable to those of Utrecht and Paris. But we had given it up, by admitting the word \u201cexclusive\u201d into our treaty. I said, perhaps not. For the whole was to be conformable to the true construction of the treaties of Utrecht and Paris. And that if the English did not now admit the exclusive construction they, (the French) could not contend for it against us. We had only contracted not to molest them, &c.\n    I said it was the opinion of all the fishermen in America that England could not prevent our  catching a fish without preventing themselves from getting a dollar. That the first fare was our only advantage; that neither the English nor the French could have it. It must be lost, if we had it not.\n    He said he did not think much of the fishery as a source of profit, but as a nursery of seamen. I told him the English could not catch a fish the more, or make a sailor the more, for restraining us. Even the French would rival them in the markets of Spain and Portugal.\u2014It was our fish that they ought to call their own; because we should spend the profit with them. That the southern states had staple commodities; but New-England had no other remittance than the fishery: No other way to pay for their cloathing: That it entered into our distilleries and West-India trade as well as our European trade; in such a manner, that it could not be taken out or diminished, without tearing and rending. That if it should be left to its natural course, we could hire or purchase spots of ground on which to erect stages and buildings; but if we were straightened by treaty, that treaty would be given in instructions to Governors and Commodores, whose duty it would be to execute it. That it would be very difficult to restrain our fishermen; they would be frequently transgressing, and making disputes and troubles.\n    He said his principal object was to avoid sowing seeds of future wars.\u2014I said it was equally my object; and that I was pursuaded that if the germ of a war was left any where, there was the greatest danger of its being left in the article respecting the fishery.\n    The rest of the day was spent in endless discussions about the tories. Dr. Franklin is very staunch against the tories; more decided, a great deal, on this point than either Mr. Jay or myself.\n    1782, November 27, Wednesday. Mr. Benjamin Vaughan came in, returned from London, where he had seen lord Shelburne. He says he finds the ministry much embarrassed with the tories, and exceedingly desirous of saving their honor and reputation in this point. That it is reputation more than money, &c.\n    Dined with Mr. Jay, and spent sometime before dinner with him and Dr. Franklin; and all the afternoon and evening with them and Mr. Oswald, endeavouring to come together concerning the fisheries and tories.\n        This morning I have drawn up the following project:\n        That the subjects of his Britannic majesty and the people of the said United States, shall continue to enjoy, unmolested, the right to take fish of every kind, on the Grand Bank, and on all the other banks of Newfoundland; also in the Gulph of St. Laurence, and in all other places where the inhabitants of both countries used at any time heretofore to fish; and the citizens of the said United States shall have liberty to cure and dry their fish, on the shores of Cape Sables, and of any of the unsettled bays, harbours, or creeks of Nova Scotia, or any of the shores of the Magdlene Islands, and of the Labradore Coast; and they shall be permitted in time of peace, to hire pieces of land for terms of years of the legal proprietors, in any of the dominions of His said Majesty, whereon to erect the necessary stages and buildings, and to cure and dry their fish.\n    We must now interrupt the course of the Journal, to introduce some other documents alluded to in the foregoing minutes and explanatory to one of them.\n    Copy of a letter from Messrs. Adams, Franklin and Jay, to the Marquis de la Fayette, dated November 1782.\n    Sir\u2014We have received the letter you did us the honor to write on the 25th. inst. (Probably this \u201cinstant\u201d is a clerical mistake, and should have been \u201cultimo.\u201d)\n    Our country has had early and repeated proofs both of your readiness and abilities to do her service. The prospect of an inactive campaign in America, induced us to adopt the opinion, that you might be more useful here than there, especially in case the Negotiation for peace on the part of France in England should be committed to your management; for your knowledge of our affairs, and attachment to our interests might have been very advantageous to us, on such an occasion. But as an opportunity now offers of your being instrumental in producing a co-operation, which would probably put a glorious and speedy termination to the war in America, we for our part, perfectly approve of your going with Count D\u2019Estaing, in the manner proposed.\n    We have the honor to be, &c. &c.\n    To the Right Honourable T. Townsend Esq.Passy, November 4, 1782.\n    Sir\u2014I received the letter you did me the honor of writing to me, by Mr. Stratchy; and am much pleased with the opportunity it has given me of renewing and increasing my acquaintance with a gentleman of so amiable and deserving a character.\n    I know you were ever averse to the measures that brought on this unhappy war. I have therefore no doubt of the sincerity of your wishes for a return of peace. Mine are equally earnest. Nothing therefore except the beginning of the war, has given me more concern than to learn at the conclusion of our conferences, that it is not likely to be soon ended. Be assured that no endeavors on my part would be wanting, to remove any difficulties that may have arisen; or even if the peace were made, to procure afterwards any changes in the treaty that might tend to render it more perfect, and the peace more durable. But we who are here at so great a distance from our constituents, have not the possibility of obtaining in a few days fresh instructions, as is the case with your negotiators, and are therefore obliged to insist on what is conformable to those we have, and at the same time appears to us just and reasonable.\n    With great esteem and respect I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient and most humble servant\n    Signed, B. Franklin\n    The letter presented to Mr. Oswald by Dr. Franklin, which is mentioned in the journal to have been delivered with the consent and approbation of both his colleagues, is as follows.\u2014\n    Copy of a letter from B. Franklin, Esq. to R. Oswald, Esq. dated 1782.\n    Sir\u2014You may well remember, that in the beginning of our conferences, before the other commissioners arrived, on your mentioning to me a retribution for the loyalists whose estates had been forfeited, I acquainted you that nothing of that kind could be stipulated by us\u2014the confiscations being made by virtue of laws of particular states, which the congress had no power to contravene or dispense with, and therefore could give us no such authority in our commission.\u2014And I gave it as my opinion and advice, honestly and cordially, that if a reconciliation was intended, no mention should be made in our negotiations of those people, for they having done infinite mischief to our properties by wantonly burning and destroying farm-houses, villages, and towns; if compensation for their losses were insisted on, we should certainly exhibit against it an account of all the ravages they had committed, which would necessarily recal to view scenes of barbarity that must inflame instead of conciliating, and tend to perpetuate an enmity that we all profess a desire of extinguishing.\u2014Understanding however from you, that this was a point your ministry had at heart, I wrote concerning it to congress, and have lately received the following resolutions, viz.\n    By the United States in congress assembled, Sept. 10, 1782.\n    Resolved\u2014That the secretary of foreign affairs be and he is hereby directed to obtain, as speedily as possible, authentic returns of the slaves and other property, which have been carried off or destroyed in the course of the war by the enemy, and to transmit the same to the minister plenipotentiary for negotiating a peace.\n    Resolved\u2014That in the mean time the secretary for foreign affairs inform the said ministers that many thousands of slaves and other property to a very great amount, have been carried off or destroyed by the enemy; and that in the opinion of congress, the great loss of property which the citizens of the United States have sustained by the enemy, will be considered by the several states, as an insuperable bar to their making restitution or indemnification to the former owners of property which has been, or may be forfeited to, or confiscated by any of the states.\n    In consequence of these resolutions, and the circular Letters of the Secretary, the assembly of Pennsylvania then sitting, passed the following Act, viz.\n    The State of Pennsylvania in the General Assembly:\n    Wednesday, Sept. 18, 1782.\n    The Bill entitled an Act for procuring an estimate of the damages sustained by the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, from the troops and adherents of the king of Great Britain, during the present war, was read a second time.\n    Ordered to be transcribed and printed for the public consideration:\n    Extract from the Minutes,\n    Peter Z. Lloyd, Clerk of the General Assembly.\n    Bill entitled, an Act for procuring an estimate of the damages sustained by the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, from the troops and adherents of the King of G. Britain, during the present war.\n    Whereas great damages of the most wanton nature, have been committed by the armies of the King of G. Britain, or their adherents, within the territory of the United States of North America, unwarranted by the practice of civilized nations, and only to be accounted for from the vindictive spirit of the said King and his officers; and whereas an accurate account and estimate of such damages, more especially the waste and destruction of property, may be very useful to the people of the United States of America, in forming a future treaty of peace, and in the mean time may serve to exhibit in a true light to the nations of Europe, the conduct of the said King, his ministers, officers, and adherents; to the end, therefore, that proper measures be taken to ascertain the damages aforesaid, which have been done to the citizens and inhabitants of Pennsylvania, in the course of the present war, with this State.\n    Be it enacted by the Representatives of the Freemen of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, and by the authority of the same; that in every county of this State, which has been invaded by the armies, soldiers, or adherents of the King of G. Britain, the commissioners of every such county shall immediately meet together, each within their county, and issue directions to the assessors of the respective townships, districts and places, within such county, to call upon the inhabitants of every township and place, to furnish accounts and estimates of the damages, waste, spoil and destructions which shall have been done and committed as aforesaid upon the property real or personal, within the same township or place, since the first day of \u2014\u2014\u2014 which was in the year of our Lord 177\u2014 and the same accounts and estimates to transmit to the said commissioners without delay, and if any person or persons, shall refuse or neglect to make out such accounts and estimates, the said assessors of the township or place, shall from their own knowledge, and by other reasonable and lawful methods, take and render such an account and estimate of all damages done or committed as aforesaid.\n        Provided always, that all such accounts and estimates, to be made out and transmitted as aforesaid, shall contain a narrative of the time and circumstances; and if in the power of the person aggrieved, the names of the General or other officer or adherent of the enemy, by whom the damage in any case was done or under whose orders, the army, detachment, party or persons committing the same, acted at the time; and also the names and addition of the person or persons, whose property was so damaged or destroyed: And that all such accounts and estimates be made in current money, upon oath or affirmation of the sufferer, or of others having knowledge concerning the same, and that in every case, it be set forth, whether the party injured, had received any satisfaction for his loss, and by whom the same was given.\n    And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the said commissioners, having obtained the said accounts and estimates from the assessor of the several townships and places, shall proceed to inspect and register the same in a book to be provided for that purpose, distinguishing the districts and townships, and entering those of each place together, and if any account or estimate be imperfect, or not sufficiently verified and established, the said commissioner shall have power, and they or any two of them are hereby authorized to summon and compel any person whose evidence they shall think necessary, to appear before them, at a day and place appointed, to be examined upon oath or affirmation concerning any damage or injury as aforesaid; and the said commissioners shall upon the call and demand of the Supreme Executive Council, deliver or send to the secretary of the said Council, all or any of the original accounts and estimates aforesaid; and shall also deliver or send to the said secretary, copies of the book aforesaid, or any part or parts thereof, upon reasonable notice.\n    And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that all losses of negroes or mulatto slaves and servants who have been deluded and carried away by the enemies of the United States, and which have not been recovered or recompensed, shall be comprehended within the accounts and estimates aforesaid; and that the commissioners and assessors of any county which had not been invaded as aforesaid, shall nevertheless inquire after and procure accounts and estimates of any damages suffered by the loss of such servants and slaves as herein before directed as to other property.\n    And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, that the charges and expences of executing the act, as to the pay of the said commissioners and assessors, shall be, as in other cases, and that witnesses shall be rewarded for their loss of time and trouble, as witnesses summoned to appear in the Courts of Quarter Sessions of the Peace; and the said charges and expences shall be defrayed by the commonwealth; but paid in the first instance out of the monies in the hands of the treasurer of the county for county rates and levies, upon orders drawn by the commissioners of the proper county.\u201d\n    We have not yet had time to hear what has been done by the other assemblies\u2014but I have no doubt that similar acts will be made by all of them\u2014and that the mass of evidence produced by the execution of those acts, not only of the enormities committed by those people under the direction of British generals, but of those committed by the British troops themselves, will form a record that must render the British name odious in America to the latest generations\u2014In that authentic record will be found the burning of the fine towns of Charlestown near Boston; of Falmouth, just before winter, when the sick, the aged, the women and children, were driven to seek shelter where they could hardly find it; of Norfolk, in the midst of winter; of New London; of Fairfield; of Esopus; &c. &c. besides near a hundred and fifty miles of well settled country laid waste, every house and barn burned, and many hundreds of farmers with their wives and children, butchered and scalped.\n    The present British ministers, when they reflect a little, will certainly be too equitable to suppose that their nation has a right to make an unjust war, which they have always allowed this against us to be, and to do all sorts of unnecessary mischief, unjustifiable by the practice of any civilized people; which those they make war with are to suffer without claiming any satisfaction; but that if Britons or other adherents are in return deprived of any property, it is to be restored to them, or they are to be indemnified! The British troops can never excuse their barbarities. They were unprovoked. The loyalists may say in excuse of theirs, that they were exasperated by the loss of their estates, and it was revenge. They have then had their revenge. Is it right they should have both?\n    Some of those people may have merit with regard to Britain. Those who espoused her cause from affection. These it may become you to reward. But there are many of them who were waverers, and were only determined to engage in it by some occasional circumstances or appearances. These have not much of either merit or demerit\u2014And there are others who have abundance of demerit, respecting your country, having by their falsehoods and misrepresentations, brought on and encouraged the continuance of the war. These instead of being recompensed should be punished.\n    It is usual among   christian people at war, to profess always a desire of peace. But if the ministers of one of the parties choose to insist particularly on a certain article, which they know the others are not, and cannot be impowered to agree to, what credit can they expect should be given to such professions?\n    Your ministers require that we should receive again into our bosoms, those who have been our bitterest enemies, and restore their properties who have destroyed ours; and this while the wounds they have given us are still bleeding. It is many years since your nation expelled the Stuarts and their adherents, and confiscated their estates: much of your resentment against them may by this time be abated. Yet if we should insist on, and propose it as an article of our treaty with you, that that family should be recalled, and the forfeited estates of its friends restored, would you think us serious in our professions of earnestly desiring peace?\n    I must repeat my opinion, that it is best for you to drop all mention of the refugees. We have proposed indeed nothing but what we think best for you, as well as ourselves. But if you will have them mentioned, let it be in an article which may provide, that they shall exhibit accounts of their losses, to commissioners hereafter to be appointed, who shall examine the same, together with the accounts now preparing in America, of the damages done by them, and state the account\u2014and that if a balance appears in their favor, it shall be paid by us to you, and by you divided among them as you shall think proper; and if the balance is found due to us, it shall be paid by you.\n    Give me leave however to advise you to prevent the necessity of so dreadful a discussion, by dropping the article; that we may write to America and stop the enquiry.\n    To John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and John Jay, Esquires, commissioners from the United States of America, &c.\u2014\n    Gentlemen\u2014Knowing the expectation of the king\u2019s ministers that a full indemnity shall be provided for the whole body of refugees, either by a restitution of their property, or by some stipulated compensation for their losses, and being confident, as I have repeatedly assured you, that your refusal upon this point will be the great obstacle to a conclusion and ratification of that peace which is meant as a solid, perfect, permanent reconciliation and reunion between Great Britain and America, I am unwilling to leave Paris without once more submitting the matter to your consideration. It affects equally, in my opinion, the honor and the humanity of your country and of ours. How far you will be justified in risking every favorite object of America by contending against these principles, is for you to determine. Independence and more than a reasonable possession of territory seem to be within your reach. Will you suffer them to be outweighed by the gratification of resentment against individuals? I venture to assert that such a conduct has no parallel in the history of civilized nations.\n    I am under the necessity of setting out by two o\u2019clock to-day; if the time is too short for your reconsideration and final determination of this important point, I shall hope that you will enable Mr. Oswald to dispatch a messenger after me, who may be with me before morning at Chantilly, where I propose sleeping to-night, or who may overtake me before I arrive in London, with a satisfactory answer to this letter.I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your most obedient and most humble servant.\n    Signed, H. Strachey.\n    To H. Strachy, Esq.\u2014\n    Passy, 6th November, 1782.\n    Sir\u2014We have been honored with your favor of the 5th inst. and as our answer to a letter we received from Mr. Oswald on the same subject contains our unanimous sentiments respecting it, we take the liberty of referring you to the enclosed copy of that answer. we have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient, &c.\n    Signed,\n    John Adams,\n    B. Franklin,\n    John Jay.\n    Copy of a letter to Mr. Oswald.\u2014\n    Sir\u2014In answer to the letter you did us the honor to write, on the 4th. inst. we beg leave to repeat what we often said in conversation, viz. that the restoration of such of the estates of refugees, as have been confiscated, is impracticable, because they were confiscated by laws of particular states, and in many instances have passed by legal titles through several hands. Besides, sir, as this is a matter evidently appertaining to the internal policy of the separate states, the congress, by the nature of our constitution, have no authority to interfere with it.\n    As to your demand of compensation to these persons, we forbear enumerating our reasons for thinking it ill founded. In the moment of conciliatory overtures, it would not be proper to call certain scenes into view, over which a variety of considerations should induce both parties at present to draw a veil. Permit us therefore only to repeat, that we cannot stipulate for such compensation, unless on your part it be agreed to make retribution to our citizens for the heavy losses they have sustained by the unnecessary destruction of their private property.\n    We have already agreed to an amnesty more extensive than justice required, and full as extensive as humanity could demand. We can therefore only repeat that it cannot be extended further. We should be sorry if the absolute impossibility of our complying further with your propositions on this head, should induce Great Britain to continue the war, for the sake of those, who caused and prolonged it. But if that should be the case, we hope that the utmost latitude will not be given to its rigours\u2014Whatever may be the issue of this negotiation, be assured, sir, that we shall always acknowledge the liberal, manly and candid manner in which you have conducted it; and that we shall remain, with the warmest sentiments of esteem and regard, your most obedient, humble servants.\n    Signed,\n    J. Adams,\n    B. Franklin,\n    Article proposed and read to the commissioners, before signing the preliminary articles.\u2014\n    It is agreed, that his Britannic Majesty will earnestly recommend it to his parliament to provide for and make a compensation to the merchants and shop-keepers of Boston, whose goods and merchandise were seized and taken out of their stores, warehouses and shops, by order of General Gage and others of his commanders and officers there, and also to the inhabitants of Philadelphia, for the goods taken away by his army there; and to make compensation also for the tobacco, rice, indigo, and negroes, &c. seized and carried off by his armies under Generals Arnold, Cornwallis and others, from the states of Virginia, North and South Carolina, and Georgia; and also for all vessels and cargoes, belonging to the inhabitants of the said United States, which were stopped, seized or taken either in the ports or on the seas, by his Governors, or by his ships of war, before the declaration of war against the said states.\n    And it is further agreed, that his Britannic majesty will also earnestly recommend it to his parliament to make compensation for all the towns, villages and farms burnt and destroyed by his troops or adherents in the said U. States.\n    Facts\u2014There existed a free commerce upon mutual faith between Great Britain and America. The merchants of the former credited the merchants and planters of the latter, with great quantities of goods, on the common expectation that the merchants, having sold the goods, would make the accustomed remittances; that the planters would do the same, by the labor of their negroes, and the produce of that labour, tobacco, rice, indigo, &c.\n    England, before the goods were sold in America, sends an armed force, seizes those goods in the stores, some even in the ships that brought them, and carries them off; seizes also and carries off the tobacco, rice and indigo, provided by the planters to make returns, and even the negroes from whose labour they might hope to raise the produce for that purpose.\n    Britain now demands that the debts shall nevertheless be paid.\n        Will she? Can she justly refuse making compensation for such seizures?\n    If a draper who had sold a piece of linen to a neighbor on credit, should follow him, take the linen from him by force; and then send a bailiff to arrest him for the debt; would any court of law or equity award the payment of the debt, without ordering a restitution of the cloth?\n    Will not the debtors in America cry out, that if this compensation be not made they were betrayed by the pretended credit, and are now doubly ruined, first by the enemy and then by the negotiators at Paris; the goods and negroes sold them being taken from them, with all they had besides, and they are now to be obliged to pay for what they have been robbed off?\n    The foregoing papers have not been arranged exactly in the order of their dates, because unfortunately some of them are without dates. In the next letter, the journal will be continued.\nJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5665", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 30 July 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\n\t\t\t\tThe Journal proceeds\u20141782 Nov. 29, Friday. Met Mr. Fitzberbert, Mr. Oswald, Mr. Jay, Mr. Laurens, (for the first time) and Mr. Stratchy, at Mr. Jay\u2019s Hotel D\u2019Orleans; and spent the whole day in discussions about the fishery, and the Tories.\u2014I proposed a new article concerning the fisheries. It was discussed and turned in every light and multitudes of amendments proposed on each side, and at last the article drawn as it was finally agreed to. The other English gentlemen being withdrawn, upon some occasion, I asked Mr. Oswald if he could consent to leave out the limitation of three leagues from all the shores, and the fifteen from those of Louisbourg?\nHe said, in his own opinion he was for it; but his instructions were such that he could not do it. I perceived by this, and by several incidents and little circumstances before which I had remarked to my colleagues, who were much of the same opinion, that Mr. Oswald had an instruction not to settle the articles of the fishery and refugees, without the concurrence of Mr. Fitzherbert and Mr. Stratchy.Upon the return of the other gentlemen, Mr. Stratchy proposed to leave out the word right of fishery, and make it Liberty. Mr. Fitzherbert said the word right was an obnoxious expression.Upon this I rose up and said, gentlemen is there, or can there be a clear right? In former treaties, that of Utrecht and that of Paris, France and England have claimed the right and used the word.\u2014When God Almighty made the banks of Newfoundland, at three hundred leagues distance from the people of America, and at six hundred leagues distance from those of France and England, did he not give as good a right to the former as to the later. If heaven, in the creation gave a right it is ours, at least as much as yours. If occupation, use, and possession give a right, we have it as clearly as you. If war, blood, and treasure give a right ours is as good as yours.\nWe have been constantly fighting in Canada, Cape Briton, and Nova Scotia for the defence of this fishery, and have expended, beyond all proportion more than you. If then the right cannot be denied, why should it not be acknowledged? and put out of dispute? Why should we leave room for illiterate fishermen to wrangle and chicane?Mr. Fizherbert said, the argument is in your favour. I must confess your reasons appear to be good: but as Mr. Oswald\u2019s instructions were such, that he did not see, how he could agree with us. And for my part I have not the honor and felicity, to be a man of that weight and authority in my country, that you gentlemen are in yours. (This was very genteely said.) I have the accidental advantage of a little favour with the present Minister: but I cannot depend upon the influence of my own opinion, to reconcile a measure to my countrymen. We can consider ourselves as little more than pens in the hands of Government at home: And Mr. Oswald\u2019s instructions are so particular.I replied to this, the time is not so pressing upon us, but that we can wait, till a Courier goes to London, with your representations upon this subject, and others that remain between us, and I think the ministers must be convinced.Mr. Fitzherbert said, to send again to London and have all laid loose before Parliament, was so uncertain a measure!\u2014It was going to sea again.Upon this Dr. Franklin said, that if another Messenger was to be sent to London, he ought to carry something more, respecting a compensation to the sufferers in America.\nHe produced a paper from his pocket, in which he had drawn up a claim. He said the first principle of the treaty was equality and reciprocity. Now they demanded of us payment of debts, and restitution or compensation to the refugees. If a draper had sold a piece of cloth to a man upon credit, and then sent a servant to take it from him by force, and after bring his action for the debt, would any court of law or equity give him his demand, without obliging him to restore the cloth? Then he stated the carrying off of goods from Boston, Philadelphia, and the Carolinas, Georgia, Virginia, &c and the burning of the towns &c and desired that this might be sent with the rest.Upon this I recounted the history of Gen. Gage\u2019s agreement with the inhabitants of Boston, that they should remove with their effects upon condition, that they would surrender their arms. But as soon as the arms were secured, the goods were forbidden to be carried out, and were finally carried off in large quantities to Halifax.Dr. Franklin mentioned the case of Philadelphia, and the carrying off of effects there, even of his own Library.Mr. Jay mentioned several other things, andMr. Laurens added, the plunders in Carolina, of Negroes, Plate &c.\nAfter hearing all this, Mr Fitzherbert, Mr. Oswald and Mr. Stratchy, retired for some time; and returning, Mr. Fitzherbert said, that upon consulting together, and weighing every thing as maturely as possible, Mr. Stratchy and himself had determined to advise Mr. Oswald to strike with us, according to the terms we had proposed as our ultimatum respecting the fishery and the loyalists. Accordingly we all sat down, and read over the whole treaty, and corrected it, and agreed to meet tomorrow morning, at Mr. Oswalds house, to sign and seal the treaties which the secretaries were to copy fair in the mean time.I forgot to mention that when we were upon the point of the fishery, and Mr Stratchy and Mr Fitzherbert were urging us to leave out the word right, and substitute liberty, I told them at last, in answer to their proposal, to agree upon all other articles and leave that of the fishery to be adjusted at the definitive treaty: I said I never could put my hand to any articles without satisfaction about the fisheries. That congress had, three or four years ago, when they did me the honor to give me a commission to make a treaty of commerce with Great Britain, given me a positive instruction not to make any such treaty without an article in the treaty of peace, acknowledging our right to the fishery; that I was happy that Mr Laurens was now present, who I believed was in Congress at the time, and must remember it.Mr Laurens, upon this said with great firmness, that he was in the same case, and could never give his voice for any articles without this.Mr. Jay spoke up and said, it could not be a peace. It would only be an insidious truce, without it.1782 November 30, Saturday. St. Andrew\u2019s day. We met first at Mr. Jay\u2019s, then at Mr. Oswalds, examined and compared the treaties. Mr. Stratchy had left out the limitation of time; the twelve months that the refugees were allowed to reside in America, in order to recover their estates, if they could. Dr Franklin said this was a surprize upon us. Mr Jay said so too\u2014We never had consented to leave it out. And they insisted upon putting it in, which was done.Mr. Laurens said there ought to be a stipulation, that the British troops should carry off no Negroes, or other American property. We all agreed. Mr Oswald consented.Then the treaties were all signed sealed, and delivered, and we all went out to Passy to dine with Dr. Franklin.Thus far has proceeded this great affair. The unravelling of the plot has been to me the most affecting and astonishing part of the whole piece.As soon as I arrived in Paris, I waited on Mr Jay, and learned from him the rise and progress of the negotiation. Nothing that has happened since the beginning of the controversy in 1761, has ever struck me more forcibly or affected me more intimately, than the entire coincidence of principles and opinions, between him and me. In about three days I went out to Passy, and spent the evening with Dr. Franklin, and entered largely into conversation with him upon the course and present state of our foreign affairs. I told him without reserve, my opinion of the policy of this court; and of the principles, wisdom and firmness, with which Mr Jay had conducted the negotiation in his sickness and my absence. And that I was determined to support Mr Jay, to the utmost of my power in the pursuit of the same system. The Doctor heard me patiently, but said nothing.The first conference we had afterwards with Mr. Oswald, in considering one point and another, Dr. Franklin turned to Mr. Jay and said, I am of your opinion and will go on with these gentlemen in the business without consulting this court. He has accordingly met us, in most of our conferences, and has gone on with us, in entire harmony and unanimity throughout, and has been able and useful, both by his sagacity and his reputation, in the whole negotiation.I was very happy that Mr. Laurens came in, although it was the last day of the conferences. I wish he could have been sooner. His apprehension, notwithstanding his deplorable affliction, under the\nrecent loss of so excellent a son, is as quick, and his judgment as sound and his heart as firm as ever.\u2014He had an opportunity of examining the whole, and judging and approving; and the article which he caused to be inserted, at the very last, that no property should be carried off; which would most probably in the multiplicity and hurry of affairs have escaped us, was worth a longer journey, if that had been all. But his name and weight were added, which is of much greater consequence.These miserable minutes, may help me to recollect; but I have not found time, amidst the hurry of business and crowd of visits, to make a detail.I should have before noted, that at our first conference about the fishery, I related the facts as well as I understood them, but knowing nothing myself, but as an hearsay witness, I found it had not the weight of occular testimony: to supply which defect I asked Dr. Franklin if Mr. Williams, of Nantes, could not give us light? He said Mr. Williams was on the road to Paris, and as soon as he arrived he would ask him. In a few days Mr. Williams called on me and said, Dr. Franklin had as I desired him, enquired of him about the fishery; but he was not able to speak particularly upon that subject; but there was at Nantes a gentleman of Marblehead, Mr. Samuel White, son in law to Mr. Hooper, who was master of the subject, and to him he would write.Mr. Jeremiah Allen, a merchant of Boston, called on me about the same time. I inquired of him. He was only able to give such an hearsay account as I could give myself; but I desired him to write to Mr. White at Nantes, which he undertook to d, and did. Mr. White answered Mr. Allen\u2019s letter by referring him to his answer to Mr. Williams, which Mr. Williams received and delivered to Dr. Franklin, who communicated it to us; and it contained a good account.I desired Mr. Thaxter to write to Messrs. Ingraham and Bromfield, and Mr. Storer to write to Capt. Coffin at Amsterdam. They delivered me the answers. Both contained information, but Coffin\u2019s was the most particular, and of the most importance, as he spoke as a witness. We made the best use of these letters with the English gentlemen, and they appeared to have a good deal of weight with them.From first to last, I ever insisted upon it, with the English gentlemen, that the fisheries, and the Mississippi, if America was not satisfied in those points, would be the sure and certain sources of a future war. Shewed them the indispensable necessity of both to our affairs, and that no treaty we could make, which should be unsatisfactory to our people upon those points, could be observed. That the population near the Mississippi would be so rapid, and the necessities of the people for its navigation rapid, that nothing could restrain them from going down; and if the force of arms should be necessary it would not be wanting. That the fishery entered into our distilleries, our coasting trade, our trade with the southern states, with the West India Islands, with the coast of Africa, and with every part of Europe, and especially with England, in such  a manner, that it could not be taken from us, or granted us stingily, without tearing and rending. That the other states had staples. We had none but fish; no other means of remittances to London, or paying those debts they had insisted on so seriously. That if we were fenced off at three leagues distance, we should smuggle eternally; that their men of war might have the glory of sinking now and then a fishing schooner; but this would not prevent a repetition of the crime, it would only inflame and irritate and inkindle a new war. That in seven years we should break through all restraint, and conquer from them the island of Newfoundland itself, and Nova Scotia too.Mr. Fitzherbert always smiled, and said it was very extraordinary that the British ministry and we should see it in so different a light. That they meant the restriction, in order to prevent disputes and kill the seeds of war; and we should think it so certain a source of disputes, and so strong a seed of war; but that our reasons were such, that he thought the probability of our side.I have not time to minute the conversations about the sea-cow fishery, the whale fishery, the Magdalen islands, the Labradore coast, and the coasts of Nova Scotia. It is sufficient to say, they were explained to the utmost of our knowledge, and finally conceded.I should have noted before the various deliberations between the English gentlemen and us, relative to the words \u201cindefinite and exclusive right,\u201d which the Comte de Vergennes and Mr Gerard had the precaution to insert in our treaty with France. I observed often to the English gentlemen, that aiming at excluding us, from fishing upon the north side of Newfoundland, it was natural for them (the French) to wish that the English would exclude us from the south side. This would be making both alike and take away an odious distinction.\nFrench statesmen must see the tendency of our fishermen being treated kindly and hospitably like friends by the English on their side of the Island, and unkindly and inhospitably and like enemies on the French side.I added farther, that it was my opinion, neither our treaty with the French, nor any treaty or clause to the same purpose which the English could make would be punctually observed. Fishermen both from England and America would smuggle; especially the Americans in the early part of the spring, before the Europeans could arrive. This therefore must be connived at by the French, or odious measures must be recurred to by them or us to suppress it; and in either case it was easy to see what would be the effect upon the American mind. They, no doubt, therefore wished the English to put themselves upon as odious a footing, at least, as they had done.Dr. Franklin said there was great deal of weight in this observation, and the Englishmen shewed plainly enough that they felt it.I have not attempted, in these notes to do justice to the arguments of my colleagues, all of whom, were, when they attended, throughout the whole business very attentive and very able, especially Mr. Jay, to whom the French, if they know as much of his negotiations as they do of mine, would very justly give the title with which they have inconsiderately decorated me, that of Le Washington of negotiation, a very flattering compliment indeed, to which I have not a right; but seriously think it belongs to Mr. Jay.Thus ends the journal of November 30, 1782. The day of the signature of the preliminary and provisional articles of peace.There is very little in the whole of this journal from the 26th of October, the day on which I arrived at Paris to the 30th of November, when the treaty was signed, relative to what passed in the public conferences between the British and American ministers. The inquiries, the investigations, the explanations, the discussions continued from day to day, through the whole of the month of November. It would have been impossible for me to have recollected and committed to writing at night, unless the night had been longer than the day, and I could have passed thirty nights without sleep.I shall in my next, state a few facts that are not in the journal.\n\t\t\t\t\tJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5666", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Rush, 31 July 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\nDear Sir.\nQuincy July 31st. 1811\nI have several sweet letters from you the last of which is the 20th of this month.\nThe table of Cider and health and Rum and death I have given to Dr Tufts who will propagate it. It is a concise but very comprehensive result of long experiences, Attentive observation, and deep and close thought.\nI was too wise to go to the great celebration. the heat would have killed me. It was here as with you. The Fashion rules all.\nI remember I spoke on the day the vote was taken. But it was only a recapitulation of Arguments which had been worn thread bare in the house by frequent repititions for a long time before. The great Controversy between Mr Dickinson and me on the question of Independence I believe was before you came into Congress. I think you did not hear it. It was then that I was somewhat \u201ccarried out in Spirit\u201d as Enthusiastic Preachers sometimes express themselves.\nYou may remember I wrote you twenty years ago that, The whigs had succeeded too well ever to be forgiven.\nAt the moment when Independence was declared you know there were full one third of the people who detested it in their hearts though they dared not confess it. In Pensylvania and New-York I have always thought there was at least one half. At the time I believed that these two States would have abandoned Us, if they had not been afraid of the Union and their Neighbours on both sides.\nAmong our secret Enemies were many of old Families and very wealthy people who with their descendants and connections were and will be the haters of all who early acted a part in the Revolution. These have sometimes had the Government of the nation in their hands as well as many of the particular States. they always have and always will endeavor to blast the Characters of all who they think had any active and efficient agency in the revolution. These Labour to obliterate all gratitude esteem and affection in the People towards the really operative Whigs by lavishing an hypocritical Adoration on Washington whom they have always considered as the mere painted head of the ship.\nI hear and see these things I believe with as much indifference as you do.\nMy Brother Cranch to whom I shewed your letter very shrewdly asked me whether you did not mean to include me in the List of those \u201cmost preeminent\u201d in the general mental disease? \u201cThose who by writing and reasoning attempt to cure\u201d  the delirious? What say you to this?\nMr Marshalls distinction is a great consolation. Success is not in our power Fidelity is, and I believe his compliment to you was very just.\nMr Smiths Pamphlet like mr Randolphs Pamphlet, Mr Monroes Pamphlet, and Mr Pickering\u2019s Pamphlet, will strut its hour upon the Stage; furnish conversation to the Idle and the partial for a few days and then be heard no more. It is however scandalous that such attacks should be countenanced and encouraged, upon Presidents whose hands are tied and cannot defend themselves.\nYours forever\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5669", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Richard Sullivan, 6 August 1811\nFrom: Sullivan, Richard\nTo: Adams, John\nHon Mr Adams, \nUnder an apprehension that sickness may still prevail in your family the Gentlemen, Trustees of the Agricultural Society, desirous of meeting your convenience, have directed me to propose that their next meeting should be held at the house of some other Gentleman of the Board. They have also expressed a hope that, as there has been no established order of succession as to the place of meeting, which has been adhered to, you would not hesitate, if convenient, to postpone the meeting at your House till the month of April or May.\nWith sentiments / of great respect / yr. humble Servt\nRd Sullivan", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5670", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 8 August 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\nQuincy Aug. 8th, 1811.\n    When the conferences between the British and American ministers were first opened, or very soon afterwards, the former demanded the cession of the whole Province of Maine. They pretended that it was no part of the province of the Massachusetts bay, and therefore no part of the American confederacy, and consequently not included in their commission nor in ours\u2014that the boundary between the United States and the British territory in America, must be Piscataqua river, &c.  \n    This wild pretension was unexpected to us all, I believe. I am sure it was to me. I contented myself with observing, that the Province of Maine had been long incorporated by charter with the old colonies of Plymouth and Massachusetts bay\u2014that they had all been under one government and administration for a century\u2014that the Province of Maine had been in arms against the pretensions of the British ministry and parliament, as long and as ardently as any part of the Union\u2014had contributed her full proportion both of men and money in the whole course of the war\u2014and that the British commissioner might as well claim the town of Boston or the town of Plymouth, as the town of Falmouth, York or Wells; for all these had alike been represented in Congress from 1774 to the present day, and been equally or at least proportionally concerned in electing and maintaining delegates in that great counsel of the nation. My colleagues promptly and cordially supported me in all these observations, and the English gentlemen did not appear to possess any information to countervail them\u2014But still insisted that they must have the rivers Penobscot and Kennebec within their dominion. From time to time after this, both in private conversations and in public conferences, the English gentlemen contended for Penobscot, Kennebec, and as far as Piscataqua river. There was so much said upon the subject that it began to be a topic of conversation at Versailles, and I was informed that some of the courtiers had received impressions favorable to the British claim. This induced me to carry to Versailles and show to the comte de Vergennes, as I have mentioned in the foregoing journal, the documents containing the authority of the governors Shirley, Pownal, Bernard and Hutchinson, in our favor, and directly in contradiction to the present pretensions of Mr. Oswald, Mr. Whiteford, Mr. Stratchy, &c. This precaution, which I took long before I produced any of these documents in our public conferences, silenced all the praters at Versailles, and we heard no more of British pretensions to Penobscot, countenanced at court. Messengers and couriers were continually passing and repassing between Paris and London, from the British ambassadors to the British ministry. One gentleman I have been informed crossed the channel eight or ten times upon these errands during the negotiation\u2014And whenever a new courier arrived we were sure to hear some new proposition concerning the Province of Maine. Sometimes the English gentlemen appeared to soften down a little and to be willing to compromise with us, and to condescend to agree upon Kennebec River as the boundary, and at last they seemed to insinuate that for the sake of peace they might retreat as far as Penobscot\u2014but Penobscot must at all events be theirs. We concluded from all these appearances, that they had instructions to insist upon this point; but we insisted upon the river St. Croix, which I construed to mean the river St. John\u2019s, for St. John\u2019s had as many holy crosses upon it as any other river in that region, and had as often been called St. Croix River.One morning, I am not able to say of what day in November, but certainly many days after the commencement of conferences, the British minister introduced to us a special messenger from London as the oldest clerk in the board of trade and plantations, and a very respectable character. He was sent over by the British cabinet with huge volumes of the original records of the board of trade and plantations, which they would not trust to any other messenger, in order to support their incontestable claim to the Province of Maine. We all treated the gentleman and his records with respect. After the usual ceremonies and salutations were over, the gentleman produced his manuscripts, and pointed to the passages he relied on, and read them.\n    I said nothing at first, but I thought the British cabinet believed that Dr. Franklin was too much of a philosopher to have been very attentive to these ancient transactions, and that Mr. Adams and Mr. Jay were too young to know any thing about them\u2014and therefore that they might by the venerable figure and imposing title of the most ancient clerk in the board of trade and plantations, and by the pompous appearance of enormous volumes of ancient records, be able to chicane us out of the Province of Maine, or at least to intimidate us into compromise for the River Kennebec, or at the worst for Penobscot.When the aged stranger had read for some time in his aged volumes, I observed that I had at my apartments documents which I flattered myself would sufficiently explain and refute whatever might be contained in those records, which should be construed or alleged against our right to the Province of Maine, and requested that the deliberation might be postponed till I could produce my books and papers. This was agreed. Accordingly at the next meeting I produced my documents.\n    Here I hope I shall be indulged in a digression to shew what these documents were and how I became possessed of them.\n    When in October 1779, I received from congress my commissions and instructions to treat of peace and commerce with the ministers of his Britannic majesty, and my orders to embark for Europe, in order to be there ready to treat whenever negotiations for peace should be opened\u2014I foresaw that there might be much difficulty and discussion in ascertaining the boundary between that part of Massachusetts called the Province of Maine and the British Province of Nova Scotia, and possibly of Canada. To prepare myself against this contingency, I procured the charters of Massachusetts, and a pretty thick quarto volume of the printed negotiations of Mr. Maitland and Gov. Shirley in the year 1754, in which many questions and perhaps all the questions relative to the subject, had been largely treated at Paris. I took some pains to procure another paper too, which though it could be  no authority of itself, it would serve me as an index to all other authorities. Although the history of this paper will be considered another digression, it must be here inserted.\n        In the autumn of the year one thousand seven hundred and seventy three, the two houses of the Legislature of Massachusetts appointed the Honorable James Bowdoin and John Adams, esq. a committee to prepare and report a statement of the title of the province to certain lands to which the legislature of New York had asserted a claim, and endeavored to support it, by a very learned work, elaborately drawn up by Mr. Duane, and adopted and printed by their authority. When the committee met, Mr. Bowdoin insisted that Mr. Adams should take upon himself the investigation and prepare the report, as he was pleased to say, because it lay more in the course of his studies and daily researches. I was very much pressed with business; Mr. Bowdoin had great leisure; Mr. Bowdoin had been fifteen years in the legislature, and having much more experience and weight, I excused myself and urged him to undertake it, promising to give him all the assistance in my power: but he refused, and at last with much reluctance I undertook it.\n    A much more considerable part of the winter, than I could well spare from my necessary engagements in other business, was spent in researches to prepare this report. I visited Dr. Mather and was kindly admitted to his library and the collections of his ancestors. I was admitted to a valuable collection of Mr. Moffat, who was very curious in amassing ancient records and pamphlets, particularly the journals ancient and modern of the Massachusetts legislature. I mounted up to the balcony of Dr. Sewall\u2019s church, where were assembled a collection, which Mr. Prince, had devoted himself to make from the twentieth year of his age. The loss of this library of books and papers, in print and in manuscript, can never be sufficiently regretted. Such a treasure never existed any where else, and can never again be made. He had endeavored, and with great success, to collect every history, pamphlet, and paper which could throw light on the reformation, the rise and progress of the puritans and the persecutions which drove our ancestors over to this wild and unknown world.\n    From the materials collected from every quarter, I drew a report and presented it to Mr. Bowdoin, who after taking time to peruse it, was pleased to say it was an excellent report, that it wanted no amendment, and that he would present it to the House. Mr. Samuel Adams was then Clerk of the House. The Legislature were convened by Gov. Gage, at Salem, and whether the report was ever read to the House or not, I know not.\u2014It was not printed in the Journal as all other Reports of that nature ever had been. Expecting to see it in print immediately, I had omitted to preserve a copy of it. This report now in 1779 I wanted to assist me in preparing documents for the negotiations for peace: but applying to Mr. Adams who had been clerk of the House, and was now Secretary of the State, he informed me that in the confusion at Salem, when they resolved on a Congress, and chose their delegates, he had mislaid it and could not find it. It was however afterwards found and delivered to the commissioners, who finally settled the dispute with the commissioners of N. York. I say it was found, because I have been informed by Governor Sullivan, Chief Justice Parsons, Mr. Dalton, and Mr. King, that they had it in my handwriting and that it enabled them to obtain from N. York the cession of the Genesee country. Where it is now, I know not; but it ought either to be returned to me or published, as I never had any compensation for it, though a grant had always been customary on such occasions, or even acknowledgment of it. This however is no mortification to me. Another consideration is infinitely more afflicting, the prudence of our State, in trifling with this immense interest, and selling a principality for a song. That territory would now build Hospitals, Universities, Botanical Gardens, or any other publick Institutions, without applying to individual subscribers, or laying any burden on the people.\n    As I could not obtain my Report in Manuscript or in print, I looked about to furnish myself with such other documents as I could find. I procured all the printed Journals of the Massachusetts Legislature, which contained any thing relative to our boundaries; and among the rest, the journals of the years, one thousand seven hundred and sixty two; one thousand seven hundred and sixty three; one thousand seven hundred and sixty four; one thousand seven hundred and sixty five; and one thousand seven hundred and sixty six.\n    In all these Journals it appeared that one Counsellor or Assistant, an inhabitant or Proprietor of Lands, within the territory lying between the River Sagadahock and Nova Scotia, was annually chosen by the two Houses of the Legislature of Massachusetts Bay; and this Sagadahock Counsellor had never been negatived by any Governor, nor was any disapprobation of his election, signified by the government in England. On the contrary the express approbation of the Governor, had been annually recorded.\n    It appeared in all these Journals that representatives from the towns in the counties of York, Cumberland, Lincoln, all within the Province of Maine, had been annually chosen, and several in the House, without any remonstrance from any Governor, or from the Government in England. In short the Legislature of Massachusetts Bay, had laid out Counties, incorporated towns, granted Lands, and regulated every thing from the date of the Charter, in the Province of Maine, as much as in the old Colony of Plymouth, or in the Counties of Worcester and Hampshire.\n    In this Journal of 1782, page 10 is a Message from Governor Bernard, to the Council and House of Representatives, reciting a resolution of the General Court on the 3d of April preceeding, in pursuance of which he had written to Lieutenant Governor Belcher, of Nova Scotia, proposing the appointment of Commissioners to survey the bay and River St. Croix, in order to fix  the boundaries between the two Provinces. Recommending also, that Commissioners be directed to survey the harbour and river of St. Croix, from thence to prove the identity of the river St. Croix, which is the known boundary between the two Provinces: and all this for the express purpose of supporting your right to the country between the rivers Penobscot and St. Croix.\nIn page 78, of the same Journal of 1762 is the establishment of Fort Pownal at Penobscot: and the establishment of Fort Halifax and the store house at Cushnoe and the bay of their garrisons.\nIn page 92, is a message from Governor Bernard, proposing to visit the eastern parts of the province, to have a conference with the Indians at Penobscot and prepare them for a treaty of peace, &c.\n    In page 98, is an order of both Houses appointing a committee to draw up a full state of the right of the province to the lands eastward of river Kennebenk, and make report at the next session.\n    In page 101, is a message from Gov. Bernard, to both Houses, signifying his intention of visiting the garrisons at Fort Pownal, and Fort Halifax in person.\n    In page 105, voted that the garrison of Fort Halifax be augmented &c. also a plan of six townships laid out at Penobscot.\n    In page 105, establishment resolved at Halifax, 3 captains, 7 subalterns, 18 non-commissioned officers, 250 privates.\n    In the Journal of 1765, page 151 the plan of the six townships was allowed and the grant confirmed.\n    In page 154, a report concerning the province title to the eastern lands, accepted and ordered to be printed, passed in Council January 20, 1763.\n    In page 162, is a confirmation of the tracts of sundry townships, at the eastward, to the grantees, &c.\n    In page 189 is another confirmation of the plan of the six townships.\n    In page 196 report on the state of the title to the country between Kennebeck and St. Croix, accepted and transmitted to the agent Maudent, which vouchers.\n    In page 244, the expences of fixing the bounds of nine townships in the counties of York and Cumberland are allowed.\n    In page 244, the expences of fixing the bounds of nine townships in the counties of York and Cumberland are allowed.\n    In page 268, is an order that the report of the committee of both Houses relative to the boundaries between this government and Nova Scotia, which has passed the whole court in the present session, be printed at the end of the Journal of the House the current year.\n    In page 271, Resolved, that the sum of thirty pounds be granted for the Hon. Thomas Hutchinson, over and above the forty pounds granted in Sept. last, in full for his services done for and at the request of this Government. (This was for drawing the report on the title to the country between Kennebook and St. Croix.)\n    In page 217, is the form of the deeds given in the name of the Governor, Council, and House of Representatives of the province of Massachusetts Bay, in New England, in the great and General Court assembled, and signed by the Governor of all the townships of land granted, between the territory of Nova Scotia and the river Sagadahock, ever distinguished  by the name of the territory of Sagadahock, granted expressly by the charter to the inhabitants of the province of the Massachusetts Bay.\n    In page 281, a township is granted to Joseph Fry, Esq. at Pigwakit, in the county of York. And a committee is appointed to repair to the province of Maine, and settle the boundary between the province of Maine and Newhampshire, and His Excellency is desired to acquaint the Commander in  Chief of Newhampshire, with this proposal.\n    At the end of this volume is an appendix to the votes of the House of Representatives for the year 1762.\n    A brief state of the title of the province of Massachusetts Bay to the county between the rivers Kennebrook and St. Croix. This is the report of the committee mentioned in page 196, for drawing which Mr. Huchinson was rewarded by grant, recorded in page 271.\n    In this report, the title of the province, is traced, from step to step, from 1436, when the Cabot, first discovered the continent of North America, under Henry the VII, to the year 1763, and is supported by the invaluable authorities of things, privy Councillors, Attorneys and Solicitors General in England, and by all the Governors, especially Shirley, Pownal and Bernard.\n    (A few lines of the manuscript is here lost.)\n    He read on with great gravity and solemnity, the records of his projects, schemes, petitions and intrigues, to obtain a gram of principality in that eastern country. When he had read as long as he pleased and as much abuse of the Massachusetts as he found recorded in the representatives of Colonel Coram, as he called him; I presented him with the colume of Maitland and Shirley, the charter of Massachusetts, and the journals of the house of the year 1762, 3, 4, 5, and 6, referred him in particular passages, and began to read on my part in page nine of the report of the brief state of the title of the province of Massachusetts Bay to the country between the rivers Kennebec and St. Croix, in these words\u2014\n    \"About the year 1718, the famous prospector Captain Coram, formed a scheme for obtaining from the crown a grant of the lands between Nova Scotia and the Province of Maine, and a petition was preferred signed by William Armstrong and diverse others, praying such grant might be made to them. This petition being referred to the then solicitor-general, part of his report was as follows\u2014The king cannot make a grant of these lands, the crown having already divested itself of its right. These petitioners, not contented with this report, framed a long petition to the king, reflecting on the province of Massachusetts Bay, and on the solicitor general, and praying a hearing before the lords of the committee which was granted. After a reference to the board of trade, and a report made, the lords came to an agreement or resolution, viz\u2014That the lands between Kennebeck and Penobscot shall be confirmed to their respective proprietors, and where there are no proprietors shall be disposed of by the government of the Massachusetts Bay, provided the said government do give up their pretensions to the lands between Penobscot and St Croix. And in regard the board of trade have given their opinion against incorporating the aforesaid tract with the Massachusetts, as being a charter government, it is left to his Majesty to erect the whole territory between St. Croix and Kennebeck into a distinct and separate province, if his majesty shall think fit. It was further ordered that the agent have time to notify the province of this resolution of the Board, that they may report their answer, and that till then, all proceedings be suspended.\n    \u201cThe agent, Mr. Dummer, April 10th, 1719, wrote to the general court of the province, desiring to know whether they would accept the King\u2019s confirmation of the land between Kennebeck and Penobscot, on the terms proposed; but the general court chose rather to retain their right to make conditional grants of the whole tract, than to give up so great a part of the country for the sake of the power of making absolute grants of a part only. Upon this refusal, the solicitations seem to have ceased, and the lords of the committee took no further order thereon. In proof of this, agent Dummer\u2019s letters and the records of the Board of trade, are quoted.\n    \u201cIn 1729, David Dunbar esq, came over from England and took Possession of the Fort at Pemaquid, and claimed jurisdiction over the country at St. Croix, by virtue of authority from, and in behalf of the crown. The proprietors alarmed at this invasion of their property, employed and empowered Samuel Waldo esq. to petition the King that the said Dunbar might be removed and that they might be quieted in their lawful possessions. Sir Bybye Lake, a proprietor in the Eastern country, joined with Mr. Waldo in the solicitation, and the petitions being refered to the board of trade, they called the province agent before them, and a state of the case, was ordered to be drawn up, setting forth the province\u2019s claim, how little expence the province had been at in defending and improving this country, the conquest made in 1696 by the French, and the reconquest in 1710, and the lords of trade refered this state, with the two following queries, subjoined to the consideration of the attorney and solicitor general, viz.\n    \u201c1st. Whether the Inhabitants of the Massachusetts Bay, if they ever had any right to the government of the tract of land lying between St. Croix, and Kennebec  have not by their neglect and even refusal to defend and take care of, and improve the same, forfeited their said right to the government, and what right they had under their charter, and now have to the lands. 2d. Whether, the said tracts being conquered by the French and afterwards reconquered by General Nicholson, in the late Queens time, and yielded up by France to Great Britain, by the treaty of Utrecht, that part of the charter relating thereto became vacated, and whether the government of that tract and the lands thereof are not absolutely reverted in the crown, and whether the crown has not thereby sufficient power to appoint governors and assign lands to such families as shall be desirous to settle there.\n    \u201cThe attorney and solicitor general heard council on behalf of the crown and on behalf of the province and proprietors, and on the 11th August 1731 made report.\n    \u201cThat upon considering the said case and queries, and the evidence laid before them, and what was alledged on all sides, it appeared to them that the tract of land lying between  Kennebec and St. Croix, was among other things granted by the said charter to the inhabitants of the Massachusetts bay, &c. Also, that the right of government granted to the said province extended over this tract of land.\n    \u201cThat it did not appear to them, that the inhabitants of the said province had been guilty of any such neglect or refusal to defend this part of the country, as could create a forfeiture of their subordinate right of government over the same, or of the property in the soil that was granted to them by the said charter, it being sworn by several affidavits that a fort was erected there, and for some time defended at the charge of the province, &c.\n    \u201cAnd as to the question stated in the case, upon the effect of the conquest of that tract of the country by the French, and the reconquest thereof by Genl. Nicholson, they conceive that the said tract not having been yielded by the crown of England to France by the treaty, the conquest thereof by the French created according to the law of nations only a suspension of the property of the former owners, and not an extinguishment, and that upon the reconquest of it by General Nicholson, all the ancient rights, both of the province and private persons subjects of the crown of Great Britain did revive and were restored jure postliminii\u2014For which reasons they were of opinion that the said charter still remained in force, and that the crown hath not power to appoint a particular governor over this part of the province, or to assign land to persons desirous to settle there, &c.\n    \u201cIn the year 1759, a petition was preferred to his majesty in council, signed Sterling, William, Phillips Lee, and Mary Trumble, praying that they may be put in possession of the tract of land between Pemaquid and St. Croix, with all the rights and privileges of the first earl of Stirling, and that the governor of Massachusetts bay might be required to withdraw and cease to exercise jurisdiction therein, &c.\n    \u201cIn 1761, the general assembly of the Massachusetts granted to his excellency Francis Bernard, esq. the Island of Mount Desert, lying within the tract aforesaid; and the said grant being presented for the royal confirmation, the right of the province to this country is again called into question.\n    \u201cFrom the foregoing facts relative to this tract of country may fairly be deduced\u2014\n    \u201cFirst. That the persons claiming under William first earl of Sterling, have no right or title whatsoever to the said country or any part thereof.\n    \u201cSecondly. That the province of Massachusetts bay hath a clear and undoubted right and equitable title to the soil and jurisdiction of the said country, and every part thereof under such restrictions and limitations as are expressed in the royal charter.\n    \u201cWith respect to the first it is to be observed, that the alledged agreement of the council of Plymouth, was made by a small number of the said council to raise estates to themselves, not to answer the main ends and design of their charter, the settling colonies and carrying the christian religion among the natives.\n    \u201cThat this agreement and the assignment of the several parts of the country never had any effect with respect to any one of the persons to whom they were assigned\u2014Sir Ferdinando Gorges and captain Mason, the only persons who ever entered upon any part of the country thus assigned, claiming under other titles, viz. Sir Ferdinando, from a royal grant from king Charles the first in 1639, and actual possession and improvement for a great number of years together, and this grant contained only the lands between the rivers Newichewanock and Kennebeck, whereas his share of the assignment took in all the lands between Merrimack and Kennebeck.\n    \u201cAnd captain Mason had before this assignment, in the year 1639, just after the grant made to the Massachusetts colony, obtained a grant in due form of the lands between Merrimack and Newichewanock, and had sent over settlers; but quitting all care of the colony the inhabitants put themselves under the protection of the Massachusetts until the year 1677, when king Charles incorporated them by royal charter as his province of New Hampshire.\n    \u201cAt the time of this assignment the lands from Pentageot to St. Croix were actually in the hands of the French, ceded to them by the treaty of S. Germains in 1632, although not possessed till 1635.\n    \u201cIt is acknowledged, that the Earl of Sterling had made some attempts to settle the Province of Nova Scotia, according to the grant thereof in 1621, and no doubt was at great expence, but being discouraged, about the year 1530, actually sold it to the French, by which unwarrantable proceeding Latour and others possessed themselves of it, and probably facilitated the cessions of it two years after and laid the foundations of all the troubles, the England have since met with, relative to it.\n    \u201cBut for the lands between Pemaquid and St. Croix, there is not the least evidence, that the Earl of Sterling or any of his posterity, ever expended one penny upon them, or that for near an hundred years together, they ever had one thought concerning them. The French under Monsieur D\u2019Aniney in 1695 fortified Pentagoet, or Penobscot, and continued there, and in the country east of it, until 1654, when it was taken from them by the Massachusetts men under Cromwell\u2019s commission, possessed until 1669, then restored to the French, and retaken by the Massachusetts in 1690.\n    \u201cHad this assignment been a grant made and executed in due form and received the royal confirmation, it was the case with the first patent to the Massachusetts colony, yet a total neglect of it from the year 1631 to the year 1759, must by all the world be deemed a forfeiture, and to add any further arguments would be unnecessarily to prove a thing that is not doubtful.\n    \u201cIn the second place both in law and equity, the province of the Massachusetts hath a good title to the jurisdiction of this country; and also to the soil, under the restrictions and limitations in the royal charter.\n    For the legality of their title the province urges, that Great Britain hath a title to the country prior and superior to any other European state; that the French hath diverse times wrested it from the possession of the English, and the English have as often recovered it from the French; that in the year 1690, in time of war the French were drove from this part of Accady, as well as from that part distinguished by the name Nova Scotia, by the forcks of the Massachusetts Bay; that in the year 1691 the French not having reinstated themselves, it was incorporated together with other lands and made part of the province of Massachusetts.\n    It does not indeed appear that the French ever had a possession of this country after 1690.\u2014Monsieur Villeban took possession of St. Johns again, but went no farther westward; great part of the country remained in possession of the Indians, and no exception can be made to the validity of the grant for that reason, but what will hold equally strong against the grants of all other the provinces and proprieties in America, whereat the Indians were in actual possession at the time of making such grants. And as an evidence of the true intent and design of the crown in making this grant, we may urge the instructions from time to time to the Governors of the province to recommend to the assembly the maintaining a strong Fort at Pemaquid, within the limits of this country, and for the protestation of it, which recommendations have been in general complied with, on the part of the province.\n    If the province then are acquired a title, how hath it been . The only province is that this territory was reconquered by the French, and afterwards recovered by General Nicholson, and by the treaty of Utrecht ceded to Great Britain, and by this means the right which would otherwise  in the province, is vested in the crown. It is acknowledged, that the commission of Subercase, French governor of Accady, included all the country to Kennebeck; but supposing an actual exercise of jurisdiction, which is not admitted, yet a full answer is given to this objection by the attorney and solicitor general in his late majesty\u2019s reign, viz. That the conquest was only a suspension of the property; that the ancient right both of the province and private persons were revived and restored, jure postliminii. And it must be understood, that the right of jurisdiction as well as property was restored, for in consequence of the approbation of the lords committee of council of this report, her majesty was pleased to recall the instructions and powers which had been given to Governor Phillips of Nova Scotia, and to Colonel Dunbar, which were inconsistent with the jurisdiction of the Massachusetts; and in consequence of this revocation, the governor of the Massachusetts, by proclamation, promised protection to the inhabitants. And all writers upon the civil law, agree in giving this sense and extent to the jus postliminii. In the digests, lib. 49, tit 15, it is defined, \u201cPostliminium est jus amiss\u0153 rei recipiend\u00e6 ab extranco, et in statum pristinum restituend\u00e6 inter nos ac liberos populos regesque, moribus, legibus constitutum. Postliminii is that right which is settled by laws and customs between us and kings and free states, of receiving from a foreign nation what we have lost, and of having it restored in its former state. And Grotius de jure belli et Pacia, lib. 3, cap. 9, sect 13. Quod de agris jus est idem esse arbitror de omni jure quod solo adh\u0153ret. Nam et loca capta ab hostibus qu\u0153 religiosa vel sacra fuerunt, si ab hac calamitate fuerint liberata, quasi quodam postliminio reversa pristino statui restitui, scripsit pomponius.\u2014The same law which is to be observed concerning the territory, I suppose, is also to be observed concerning every priviledge belonging to it. For according to Pomponius, such places as were appropriated to sacred or religious purposes, which after being conquered are freed from that calamity by a kind of postliminii, are to be restored to their former state, &c. And Puffendorffe in his law of nature, &c. book 5th, c. 6, sect 26, says\u2014But if a part of a people be recovered by the people, they were for some time divided or torn from, or by their allies, they again incorporate with the old body, and return to the place and rights they had before.\n    \u201cIt is farther to be observed, with respect to this country, that notwithstanding the frequent changes it has undergone by passing backwards and forwards from one nation to another, by force, or in consequence of treaties or conquest, yet neither side have ever been willing to acknowledge the original right and title of the other, and upon the renewal of the war, have made this country and Nova Scotia constantly an object: and it is for this reason that the French commissionaires at Paris were so fond of the distinction between cession and restitution. And when by the treaty of Reswick, it was agreed that all places should be mutually restored, no acknowledgement can be inferred from thence of the right and title of the French to this country, or to one part of it more than another.\u2014And it is a certain fact that the English, after this treaty, continued their possession of all that part west of Penobscot, without molestation from the French, only as they have been aiding and encouraging the Indians against all parts of the frontier. And there is no certainty, as has already been observed, that the French, after the treaty, took possession of any part east of Penobscot, St Johns where they had a fort, being out of the limits. And further, it was a good argument, against calling the legality of the Massachusetts\u2019 title in question again, that it has been twice in effect determined, once in the year 1718, when the solicitor general reported that the crown had divested itself of its right, and it was thereupon proposed to the province to give them an unlimited power to grant a part of these lands, provided they would give up all claim to the remainder, and still more fully in the year 1732, when the attorney and solicitor-general upon a full hearing, reported that the province by charter, had a grant of these lands, and a right to the jurisdiction, that there had been no forfeiture, and that the crown had no power to appoint a governor over them as a separate government; and with this report the lords committee of council agreed, and thereupon humbly proposed to her late majesty, then guardian of the kingdom of Great Britain and his late majesty\u2019s lieutenant within the same, that Colonel Dunbar should be ordered to quit the possession of all said lands, and that her majesty should revoke so much of her instructions, &c. as has been already recited, which was done accordingly. Now considering that this was a controversy in which the province by their agent was made a party, and the merits of the case was then largely and fully considered, the determination then made ought to be a bar to all further question concerning the title upon the same merits, otherwise a determination which might now be made may be called in question thirty years hence, and strifes and controversies will be perpetuated.\n    \u201cIf we consider the title in point of equity, the province can have no competitor.\n    \u201cThe English, of New-Plymouth, were the first of the British subjects who had any footing at Penobscot, &c when disposed by the French in 1635, made an attempt in conjunction with the Massachusetts to recover the place, but were not strong enough. With the assistance of the Massachusetts, it was recovered from the French in 1654.\n    \u201cWhen all the country west of Penobscot, in the year 1672, was destitute of protection, upon application to the Massachusetts it was afforded, and jurisdiction exercised there, until possession was taken for the Duke of York.\n    \u201cIn the reign of King James the second, under the government of Sir Edmund Andross, the Massachusetts defended the country in an Indian war, and upon the revolution recovered it from the French at their sole expense.\n    \u201cAfter the grant by the royal charter in 1691, it became the more immediate duty of the province to defend it. They were called upon by the crown to do it; particularly to maintain a fort at Pemaquid. The chief cause of all the troubles and expenses of the province during that war was the contiguity of this country to the settled parts of the province, the Indians there being a constant scourge to every other part of the frontier. Upon a treaty of peace in 1693, these Indians were brought to a submission by the crown of England, and the government of the Massachusetts.\n    \u201cDuring the whole of queen Ann\u2019s war, an annual heavy charge lay upon the Massachusetts for the defence of this and other parts of the province against the Indians of this country, and in 1722 a new war broke out with the Indians Instigated by the French, which continued three or four years at greater expence than the preceeding. A peace being concluded in 1716, the province for the security of the frontier and promoting the settlement of the country, submitted to an engagement to supply the Indians with goods at the prices which were sold at in Boston, and to allow them for their furs as high prices as they were sold at in Boston. This agreement made it necessary for the province to build forts and truck houses at Georges river, Kennebeck, Brunswick, and Saco, and to be at the expence of constant garrisons in each, and to keep a sloop continually passing to and from this part of the province. And although this annual charge bore no proportion to the annual charge of a war, yet as it continued near twenty years, in the whole, it will amount to a very large sum. Upon the commencement of the war with France in 1744, the Indians renewed their hostilities; the province was more successful against them than in the former wars; the success of the province army in the reduction of Cape Breton struck terror into them\u2014and the forces kept in one pay of the province on the frontiers caused the Penobscot Indians wholly to quit the river and country, add to retire to the Indians of St. Francois and other Indians of Canada, but during the whole war, and for several years of the present, war garrisons were maintained at the charge of the province in several parts of this country, and, except in the winter seasons, forces kept continually scouting or marching upon the back of it.\n    If the expense occasioned to the province by this particular tract of country could be ascertained, it would be found more than ten times the value of it.\n    \u201cNow if we consider that a tract of country is incorporated by the crown, annexed to and made a part of a province; powers are given to the government of that province to make grants of it under restrictions and limitations; the government is called upon to protect and defend this country, and in consequence thereof a very great annual expence is incurred for sixty or seventy years together, the Indian possessions are extirpated, and by this means a territory which was of no value before is become valuable: is it possible to conceive that under these circumstances, these powers should be taken away or called in question?\n    \u201cIt may seem superfluous to add, that none of his Majesty\u2019s governments in America can claim greater merit from the use made of the power of granting lands than the Massachusetts government can. From the beginning of the colony, the principal thing consulted has been the bringing forward the settlement of the country; and the Pomoeria or outlines of the settled parts of the province have by such grants from time to time been extended in proportion to the increase of the inhabitants: there being no instance of manors and vast tracts granted to particular persons, nor any instances of lands sold except some particular tracts within a few years past, which by reason of the settlement of the country around them were rendered more valuable, and even these the purchasers are enjoined to bring forward the settlement of, in a limited and short space of time.\n    \u201cThe ancient limits of the province, having been contracted by his late Majesty\u2019s determination of the line between Massachusetts and Newhampshire, there remains no considerable tracts of province lands, except in the eastern country; and  none there upon or near the sea, except in this particular tract and those upon or to the eastward of Penobscot River; and great numbers of the inhabitants are desirous of removing with their families to this part of the country, and bringing forward the settlement of it; which it is probable will not be otherwise effected until after a long course of years, and an expence to Great Britain in some proportion to the expence occasioned by the settlement of the provinces of Nova Scotia and Georgia.\n    \u201cInasmuch therefore, as the province of Massachusetts Bay, hath a legal and equitable title to the jurisdiction and soil of this tract of country, under the restrictions and limitations of the royal character, and it is evidently for his Majesty\u2019s interest that the enjoyment of this jurisdiction and property, should be continued to the province, it is humbly hoped that his Majesty will be graciously pleased to order that the province not be molested therein; and that such grants as have been or shall hereafter be made by the said government: of any part of this country, may obtain the royal confirmation.\n    The committee appointed to prepare a state of the title of the province to the country between the rivers Kennebeck and St. Croix, have prepared the foregoing, which is submitted, in the name and by order of the committee, January 18, 1763.\n    T. Hutchinson\n    \u201cIn council, 20th January, 1763. Read and accepted, and ordered, that the Secretary cause a fair copy of this report to be made and transmitted to the agent; together with copies of such vouchers, to any of the facts as the committee shall furnish him with. Sent down for concurrence.\n    A. Oliver, Secretary.\n    \u201cIn the House of Representatives, February 1, 1763, read and concurred.Timothy Ruggles, Speaker.Consented to\u2014Fra. Bernard.\n    In addition to these, I had another Journal in which was recorded the voyage of Governor Pownal, to Penobscot, his treaty with the indians there, and his solemnly taking possession of the river and the country on both sides of it in the name and by the authority of the province of Massachusetts Bay. This volume has been borrowed or mislaid or something worse; so that I have it not in my power, to give it in all its details.\n    These volumes, i.e. Shirley and Maitlands memorials, the Journals of the House of Representatives, and the charter and laws of Massachusetts Bay, had run all hazards with me in a leaky Ship, every hour for fifteen days in danger of sinking; and through Spain and France and Holland, and thence back to Paris.\n    When they were produced and laid on the table before the British Minister and his associates I saw no great symptoms of surprise in any of them excepting the tall and venerable clerk of the Board of trade; his countenance and the agitation he was in, convinced me that he knew the contents of these volumes as well or better than I did. It was impossible but he must have been familiar with them all. It was manifest enough that the Comte De Vergennes was not the only refined politician with whom we had to do.\n    When the gentlemen had read from his ancient records, all that he thought proper to read of misrepresentations of Coram and his associates against the Massachusetts Bay, requesting the gentlemen to peruse my other volumes at leisure, I read the foregoing report, and before I had gone half way through, I saw that all the gentlemen, not excluding the clerk himself, were fully convinced that they had taken possession of ground they could not maintain or defend. Although they did not expressly acknowledge their error, the subject subsided and we heard little more concerning the subject. The clerk with his records soon returned to England. In the next letter you will receive a few short reflections upon some of the preceeding papers.\nJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5672", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Rush, 14 August 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\nQuincy August 14. 1811\nUpon honor, now, Rush! You cannot be serious in calling me, mad, to my Face! I learned a proper Answer to you, in Bedlam in England. In one of the Visits I made to that Hospital, I took a few Turns in the Area, where Some of the most harmless of the patients are permitted to walk. One of them a decent looking Man joined me, and  conversed  very Sensibly but with much animation for Some time: but presently he began to complain, \u201cHe was a much injured Man\u201d. \u201cGreat Injustice was done him, He was cruelly treated\u201d He was brought here very wrongfully.\u201d \u201cThey might with equal Reason have brought here the most rational Man in England.\u201d\u2014\u201cSir, I am as rational a Man as ever existed.\u201d This is my first answer to you, Rush. My Second is, Nat. Lee, who was mad himself Says Some where, \u201cthere is a pleasure in being Mad, that none but Madmen know.\u201d As you, Rush, at present are not mad, however  raving you may have been formerly, you can not at present conceive this Sublime pleasure, and you have forgotten what it was.\nYou also have forgotten one Phrase, or one member of the Period in my old Letter \u201cSacrificed too much.\u201d The sentence was \u201cThe Whigs have done too much, suffered too much, sacrificed too much, and succeeded too well; ever to be forgiven.\u201d\nHowever you know there were but two Whigs in The Revolution: Franklin and Washington. Franklins Sacrifices we have in your account of Richard Bache\u2019s Fortune of 530,000 Dollars: and Washingtons Sacrifices We learn in from his Will, in which it appears he left four or five hundred Thousand Dollars to his Nephews; and from The Federal City, by which he raised the Value of his Property and that of his Family a thousand per Cent, at an Expence to the Public of more than his whole Fortune.\nPoor Hancock who was once worth four times more than both of them was not a Whig. He spent a fortune instead of making one.\nDr Rush! I request you, or your Son Richard, to write a Treatise or at least an Essay, on the Causes of the Corruption of Tradition and consequently of the Corruption of History.\u2014For myself I do believe that both Tradition and History are already corrupted in America as much as they ever were in the four or five first Centuries of Christianity; and as much as they ever were in Any Age or Country in the whole History of Mankind. This is bold and strong: but is it exageration? I know your Prudence, your Reserve, your caution your Wisdom: and therefore, as I cannot blame you, I have for a long time given Up all hope and Expectation of frank answers to Such home Questions.\nI have been severely attacked for too much candor, in acquitting Franklin in the affair of the \u201cSecrete de Cabinet\u201d and in the Affair of Beaumarchais.\u201d I met a Gentleman in Boston Streets a Friend of Franklin if ever he had one. He Seemed Staggered in his Faith. Sir, said he,  I was conversing with John Coffin Jones, upon your Character of Franklin. Jones said, \u201cif any Man will show me, any possible means, by which Franklin could have accumulated such a Property as he left at his Death; I will acquit him of the Million, The Secret of the Cabinet, &c But till then I must have suspicions. I answered \u201cI believe I could Suggest, or at least conjecture, Means whereby Franklin might have accumulated that Fortune, without Crime or Guilt. But I had no Idea of 530,000 Dollars. However your account of Lots and Houses in Philadelphia and my Knowledge and conjectures of other Things, may Still account for the whole; without the Supposition of peculation.\nHow Shall we account for the Selfishness the avarice, the all grasping Cupidity of those Sublime Genius\u2019s. Boerhaave left a Fortune, as great or greater than Franklin, or Washington.\u2014And never spent a Doit.\nJohn Adams\nP.S. Have you received from Travelling John Stewart in England his sophiometer? I am honoured with one, in gay Morocco. He is the only Man of Nature, that ever existed he Says. He is one of your Madmen to be sure. He raves against Napoleon and represents John Bull as all natural i.e all divine!", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5674", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 19 August 1811\nFrom: Rush, Benjamin\nTo: Adams, John\nMy dear Old friend\nPhiladelphia August 19th: 1811\nIt is possible Dr Franklins estate, when sold, in Order to be divided, may not produce the Sum mentioned in my last letter. It consists chiefly of real property, purchased in same the early part of his life. The improvements in our City have given it its present immense Value. It is said the million of livres committed to him to be employed in secret Services to his Country, were divided equally between the late queen of France and Count de Vergennes. This fact it is said was discovered by Govr Morris who was instructed by Gen Washington to make an inquiry After it. This information was given to me lately in a manner, and from a person so capable of knowing its correctness, that I am disposed to believe it. The Doctor was a rigid  \u0153conomist, but he was in every Stage of his private life charitable, hospitable & even generous. In his private intercourse with his fellow Citizens he was honest even above suspicion, and from all I have ever Seen and known of him I believe he was Strictly upright and correct as a servant of the public. I recollect he once told me that a large sum of money passed thro\u2019 his hands for the purchase of stores for the British Army during the last french War in America. When he Settled his Accompts with the Quarter master of the Army,\u2014he said to him to h \u201cI wait now for my Commissions.\u201d \u201cCommissions (said the Qr master\u2014) why have you not paid yourself\u201d? \u201cno Sir you see from the statement of my Accompts I have not\u201d said the Dr:\u2014\u201cI am Sorry for it (said the Quartermaster) I have no power to allow you any thing. You ought to have taken care of it yourself.\u201d\nI have no hesitation in expressing a general Want of belief not only in history, tradition, but in recorded history and biography. The events of the American Revolution opened my eyes upon those Subjects. A few nights before the Capture of the Hessians at Trenton\u2014Col: Saml Griffin with a Company of volunteer militia from Philada: alarmed a Regiment of Hessians at Mount Holly\u2014A reinforcement was sent from Trenton to support them. After the Capture of the Hessians, this mode of weakening the enemy, was ascribed to the consummate military Skill of Gen Washington. Col: Griffen to my knowledge acted without any concert with the general. It was altogether of volunteer  peice of business.\u2014\nWhat do you think of Col: Jos: Reads name not being mentioned in the historys of our Revolution as the person who suggested the retreat and escape of our Army by the quaker road after the second battle at Trenton?\u2014That wise measure gained the Victory at Princeton, saved our Army from annihilation, and perhaps, considering the desponding state of the public mind at that time,\u2014it saved our Country.\nTime and Chance happen to all things as they appear to short sighted mortals. Fame like money seems to be given with an undistinguishing hand. But all is just as it should be. Infinite wisdom & justice direct all the Affairs of the Children of men. In rejecting history and biography, I wish always to except the events and Characters recorded in the Old & new testaments. They are true\u2014because they are natural, for they ascribe the former to a divine hand, and they never fail of to mention the weaknesses & vices of the latter. There is not a single Washington among all the heroes of the Bible. not one (\u2014the Saviour of the World excepted) of Whom it is said\u2014\u201cTo us a Son is born\u201d\u2014who is stiled \u201ca Cloud by day, and pillar of fire by night\u201d it also \u201cour guide on earth, our Advocate in Heaven.\u201d and Who is said to have \u201cdisciples.\u201d\u2014Lay not this iniquity O! Lord! to the Charge of our whole Country!\u2014\nWhen  Nat: Lee was asked in Bedlam what brought him there, he said he had called the World mad, and the world called him so, and that he had been \u201cout voted.\u201d This was my fate in the year 1793 when I first introduced the use of  mercury and bleeding for the cure of yellow fever. I lost my Character for Sanity by being out voted by my brethren, but since they have universally adopted those remedies, I have been permitted to resume my reason. This is literally true. The Son of an Old tory said some time ago at our Coffeehouse, that he \u201cbelieved I had come to my senses\u201d\u2014only because the clamor of my brethren had subsided against my remedies.\nThere is not a single instance of a discovery, or improvement in any Art or Science made by a tory that I know of, in any part of the United States. Their prejudices are long as cartilaginous or bony upon all subjects, as they are upon the Subject of government.\nAdieu! ever yours\nBenja: Rush\nPS: There was not scarcly a single deceased person that was active in our Revolution that has not died poor nor who is not now in Pennsylvania: Witness Read, mifflin, morris, Wilson, and many Others of less note.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5676", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Alexander Hill Everett, 24 August 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Everett, Alexander Hill\nMr. Everett\nQuincy August 24th. 1811\nThe Pamphlet I sent You was written in the Boston Gazette between the first Congress in 1774 and the second Congress which was in 1775 immediately after the Battle of Lexington\u2014it was printed by Edes and Gill under the signature of Novanglus in answer to Massachusettensis written by Jonathan Sewal in Madam Draper\u2019s Paper. Almon in London seized upon Novanglus and printed him in a Volume of Prior documents as a Suppliment to his Annual Register for 1775 from whence it was reprinted in London in the Pamphlet You have: which I pray You to return to me because I have no other Copy and know of no other in America.\nYour favour of July 22d contains Mysterious Matter, altogether unknown to me, and in my retired hermitical Life altogether impenetrable and inscrutable. All I can say is, I will be the Tool of no Faction, nor of any Party and whenever it is thought proper to discontinue my correspondence in the Patriot, I am willing.\nIn the year 1773 there was a controversy in the General Court between Governor Hutchinson and the House of Representatives concerning the Supremacy of Parliament, or its absolute authority over the Colonies \u201cin all cases whatsoever\u201d. The Speeches, Answers, Replications, Rejoinders &c between the Governor and the House were printed in the Journals of the House, they were afterwards collected in a Pamphlet and published by themselves. I have neither the Journals of that time, nor the distinct Pamphlet but I earnestly wish to acquire them. As you are in the midst of printers and Booksellers, I ask the favour of You to inquire of the persons most likely to know whether the Journal or the Pamphlet are in being and to be purchased at any price, Judge Paine, I know possesses one of these Pamphlets\u2014perhaps Governor Gerry\u2014perhaps Mr. Lovel.\nIn 1773 or 1774 the House of Representatives impeached Chief Justice Oliver and his associate Judges for receiving their Salaries from the Crown of Great Britain before the Governor and Counsel. This impeachment was printed in the Journal but not in any Pamphlet\u2014I wish to know if that Journal is any where to be found\nIn 1786\u20141787\u20141788. the first Volume of my Defence of the Constitution was reprinted in Boston, I know not by what Printer. I wish to know; and whether any Copies remain and how many and what Price will be demanded for the whole set that remains, another Edition of it was printed in New York and another in Philadelphia I should be glad to purchase all that remain of the three Editions\u2014if the price is not too Great\u2014I know not if any Copies remain of either.\nWithout mentioning my name or bringing me into View and without putting yourself one moment out of Your way, I should be obliged to You if You could obtain any information upon any of these subjects, by natural inquiries of any Persons likely to know.\nNeglect no Business or pleasure or amusement for any of these enquiries, but You may possibly find Facts in the Course of these Inquiries of the last importance in the History of this Country which You have not Yet contemplated in their full force.\nThe Corruptions of Tradition lay the sure foundations for Corruptions of History\u2014The gross and scandalous Corruptions of American Traditions are enough to discourage Virtue and establish Vice, whatever can be done to counteract the baleful Mischief, ought not to be omitted or neglected or Procrastinated. Divert not Your time or Your thoughts from Your own contemplations for the Public or Your self upon these perhaps idle Curiosities But if anything falls naturally in Your way\u2014You will Oblige / Your very friendly, humble Servant\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5677", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Rush, 25 August 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\nDear Rush\nQuincy August 25. 1811\nIf I could be considered as a Friend to the Family I should Advise the Grand Children of Dr Franklin to divide the Real Estate among them in their several proportions rather than to sell it in order to divide the Money.\nNot a Liver or a Stiver was ever committed to Dr Franklin or any other Minister of The United States in Europe, \u201cto be employed, in Secret Services to his Country.\u201d The Million of Livres, that have excited so much speculation, were a Part of the Loans, or Donation of The King of France to the United States, which never found wanting in our Bankers hands, who said he had Accounted for all he had received. Dr Franklin wrote to the Comte de Vergennes upon the Subject and received for answer, that that Million was \u201cLe Secret du Cabinet.\u201d\nMr. Morris\u2019s discovery, most probably was no more than a Suspicion, which some Person or other communicated to him. I presume he has no Evidence: and that none ever will be obtained. Franklins hands more pure as I believe in this Business.\nThe Anecdotes of Col. Griffin and Col Reed ought to be published. \u201cSuum cuique  decus Posteritas rependit\u201d cannot be true unless, the Truth is somewhere or other recorded by Contemporaries.\nI wish you would try your hand, at an Enumeration of the Causes of the Corruption both of Tradition and History in our day. Your observation on the Characters of the Heroes in the Bible is as profound as it is correct. There is no Dious Julius, Dious Augustus or Dious Tiberius in that Book.\nIn Massachusetts as in Pensilvania, those who were active in the Revolution have died poor.\nHancock once owned Houses, Lands, Lots and Wharves in the Town of Boston and landed Estates in allmost all Parts of New England which if he had held them to the day would be worth more than Washington and Franklin were both worth; as I believe. Yet he died, not absolutely but comparatively poor. Cushing, S. Adams died poor. Paine, J. Adams and Gerry will die poor enough, though I hope not insolvent. Lincoln Knox, Brooks, Sullivan, were not rich. The great James Otis Junior, added nothing to his Property, but sacrificed immensely to the Public.\nI hope you will excuse me if I say a few Words of myself: because you have read in some of our candid Federal Papers, that I have been \u201coverpaid.\u201d My Father, now Fifty years, a Saint in Heaven, was at the Expence of my Education at a Grammar School and at Harvard Colledge. By keeping a public Grammar School in Worcester I defrayed the expence of my Education to the Bar,. In 1758, I was recommended by the greatest Lawyer Massachusetts ever produced Jeremiah Gridley Esqr And by Chief Justice Pratt and by Mr Otis and Mr Thatcher to the Court in Boston in October 1758, and then took the oath and was admitted as an Attorney. In 1761 I was called to the Bar as a Barrister by the Supream Court. In May 1761 my ever honoured and beloved Father died and by his will left me a House and Barn  and Forty Acres of Land, besides one Third of his personal Estate. If I had converted that real Estate into Money, it would in the fifty years that have passed since, at legal Interest have amounted to more I believe, that I am now worth.\nIn 1764 I married, the Daughter of the richest Clergyman in the Province as his Brother Clergymen used to say. Be this as it may he was as kind to me, as a Father in Law ought to be  and gave me, on my Marriage what I thought a very handsome Sum of Money besides the ordinary Furniture of a Daughters Household. That Sum I instantly laid down in the Purchase of an Orchard and a very fine piece of Land near my Paternal House and Homestead. This Sum, in the hands of common sense and common Industry might have been employed, in the rapid Vicissitudes which have taken place in this Country, to produce a fortune much greater than I possess. From 1758 to 1775 seventeen years I was in Practice at the Bar; Seven years of it, at the head of The Bar. In this Period I am bold to say no Lawyer was ever more laborious. I was concerned in all the greatest Causes and rode most of the Circuit of the Province. Though I was never so greedy of great Fees as some others and though our Fees in those Times were not so high as they are now, and as they were in the Revolutionary Times when Rum Sugar and Molasses, Madeira Wine and English Goods were given in Profusion to the Lawyers: Yet I got Money as I thought very fast as fast as I desired. This I laid out in a House in Boston now of great Value, in Lands in my own Neighbourhood in the Country and in the Purchase of my Brothers share of my Fathers Estate; and lent at legal Simple Interest on Bonds and Mortgages to private Persons. When our continental Currency had depreciated four or five or six hundred per Cent. My Debtors tendered to my Wife their Payment of their Debts, I advised her to receive them and put them into the Loan Office, of the United States; where they lay sometimes dead and sometimes alive till Mr Gallatin has paid them off, and for want of knowing what to do with them, I have placed very injudiciously I fear.\nIn 1783, My revered Father in Law died and left my Wife one half of a Patrimonial Farm in Medford and near Boston, which has always produced an handsome Rent, and her share of his Personal Estate\nIn 1803 my Wifes Uncle Norton Quincy Esqr died and left my Wife her full Proportion of his Estate, with his other Relations. When I was called to Congress in 1774 I left as full Practice as any Lawyer ever held in this State. I left Debts due to me on Book, to a large amount, and many other Debts on Notes and Bonds. My Friend and Agent collected what he could and lent to the Publick. I have been ten years Ambassador abroad, Eight Years Vice President of the United States and four years President.\nJohn Lowell in 1776 or 1777 removed from Newbury Port to Boston, stepped into my shoes, undertook my Business, engaged in the Employment of my Clients; and died lately worth several hundred Thousand Dollars: left a very handsome fortune to all his Sons and Daughters; and that very Spartacus, that Leader of Rebel Slaves that very \u201cRebel\u201d who lately reproached me with being overpaid has a magnificent seat in Boston a Splendid Villa in the Country and large sums in Funds Banks and Insurances all derived from his Father, for he never earned much if any thing himself. After travelling over a great Part of Europe with his Family, This very Spartacus tells the World I have been overpaid. I might safely offer him all I am worth, as I believe, for one quarter Part of his.\nIs not this Insolence too great for Philosophical or Christian Patience to bear? No. It is not, and I bear it with much Indifference, whether Philosophical or Christian or not.\nAdieu\nJ. ANear a Million sterling passed through my hands in Amsterdam on which I never received a Farthin as Commissions or in any other Way. A knowing one might have made great Profits. I have had opportunities of making a Fortune by Speculation in The English Funds. I have had offers of Partnership in a Company to purchase our whole American Debt when it was at two and six Pence in the Pound. I never would have any Thing to do with it, and never made a Farthing in any of these Ways J. A", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5679", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Kilborn Whitman, 2 September 1811\nFrom: Whitman, Kilborn\nTo: Adams, John\nSir\nPembroke Sept 2d 1811\u2014\nUnderstanding from good authority, that you have been pleased to interest yourself in my favour, respecting the appointments about to be made by the Executive of this Commonwealth, my feelings of gratitude for your friendship, with the late expressions of it, at a time of all others the most desireable, compel this acknowledgment, the expression of which you will please to accept, as coming from the heart, and which will be duly remembred, though I am informed, the interest of my friends, has totally faild of success\u2014\nAs I have reason to believe, some of my friends have intruded on your retirement, by requesting your influence with the Governour in the my behalf, it is but justice to those friends, and a proper apology to you Sir, to state the facts on which the application was founded, and your goodness will pardon the efforts which have been made, that I should receive an appointment under the new Law. The facts Sir are these, about eighteen months since,  Our Court of Pleas had become so crowded with business, in consequence of the advanced age of some of our judges, that the Bar in this County, thought it their duty to promote some arrangment, which would facilitate the progress of business\u2014they accordingly suggested to judge Watson, the propriety of resigning, and considering the opposition which had allways been made to any material  alteration in the Court of Pleas, it was judged best to consider, who of the Bar, would take the appointment, if judge Watson should resign. We requested judge Thomas of Plymouth to accept it, and pledged ourselves to petition the Executive in his behalf; he informed us, the emoluments were so small, being only about $120 Dollars the year, he could not accept it. The like offer was made a Mr Holmes of Rochester, who for the same reasons refused. We then solicited Nahum Mitchel Esq of Bridgwater to accept it, and he informed us, he had allready been solicited by judge Parsons to accept the appointment, if the seat of judge Watson should be vacated, that he had fully considered the subject, and should not accept it. I was then solicited in turn, and not taking so much time to consider of it, as the magnitude of the subject required, consented to accept it under the condition of retaining my students. The Bar address\u2019d the Executive, and I was accordingly appointed. My acceptance was founded more on the judgment of others, than on my own; for it seem\u2019d to be the oppinion of the Bar at that time, that from the number of Legal characters appointed on the Bench, that the Court of Pleas system would not be changed, and that some compensation would be made the judges, further than the fees allready established; this oppinion appeared to me to be plausible and was probible; I accordingly made an arrangment with Mr Winslow of Duxbury to take my Office and business, and contracted with him, that I would neither practice in the County myself, and that my son, who was to be admitted to the Bar this August Term, should not settle in the County; pursuant to this agreement Mr Winslow has dissposed of his place in Duxbury, moved his family to Pembroke, and procured himself a place in my neighbourhood; my son has settled on the Cape\u2014: Unexpectedly to all of us, the Common Pleas system is changed, and I am not only deprived of the pittance from my office, but likewise of my profession, unless I move out of the County: thus situated my anxiety for my family could not be suppress\u2019d; the late period of my entering the profession, with an indifferent stand for business, a family of eight children, the oldest of whom, has been an invalid for more than seven years, and from his ill health, not likely to succeed in business, all conspire\u2019d to make the present state of things to me extremely gloomy\u2014and I really thought, that if the Executive was made acquainted with my situation, it would have an effect, to procure me an appointment, if any person of my political sentiments was permitted to hold a seat on the Bench\u2014\nMy brethren of the Bar, feeling for me, address\u2019d the Governour, and requested my appointment; the Sheriff of the County, the District Attorney & Attorney General, with my neighbours, who were my friends, though differing from me in politics, joined in this request; I also was informed that your son, whom I consider as my friend, was disposed to aid my other friend, that I should be appointed.\nThus situated\u2014I had hopes that party virulence would be suspended in the appointment of judges, especially as I was informed, that it entered into the plan of the Authors of the reform, that one Federalist should be appointed in each circuit\u2014But to my astonishment I now learn, that a Legislative Caucus, have recommended Mr Mitchel of Bridgwater, as the person to be appointed, and last evening, by news from Henry Warren Esq of Plymouth my friends are assured, that I shall not be appointed, but that Mr Mitchel will: Considering my fate as determined, it is due to you Sir, that I acknowledge your kind exertions in my favour, as well as those of your son, whose friendship I never doubted\u2014and whose mind I have allways believed was above that rancor, which prostrates all pretensions, at the footstool of party, that are not political\u2014with the highest personal respect, I am your friend & servant.\nKilborn Whitman", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5680", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 4 September 1811\nFrom: Rush, Benjamin\nTo: Adams, John\nMy dear friend,\nPhiladelphia Septemr 4. 1811\nI am two letters in your debt. To the last I shall reply first.\nI am not satisfied with any one of your objections to my proposal of a posthumous Address from you to the Citizens of the United States. The \u201cgood that men do lives after them\u201d the evil they have done or the evil that has been unjustly imputed to them generally perishes in descends into the grave with them. I have lately met with a most furious Attack upon the Character of the celebrated Mr Baxter written too immediately After his death. This libel has died a natural death, but without affecting the real Character of Mr Baxter with posterity. He is justly considered as One of the greatest & best men England ever produced. His creed in Religion  embraces  both the Calvinists: & American principles. Even the great & good Dr: Sydenham did not escape the envy and malice of his cotemporary physicians. Their writings have perished. His name will live to the end of time. A library might be composed of the books written against Luther, Calvin, Whitefield and Westley. Where are those books now? and who presumes at this day to call in question the integrity or  the great atchievements of those men in reforming and benefitting the world? or who now opposes to their benevolent exploits, the infirmities of their tempers or trifling indiscretions in their of Conduct?\nI have heard the Booksellers say that a book wch: is well received when it is first published, seldom commands a durable sale, and that Stock books, as they call them, generally lie for years upon their Shelves for before they become known, After which they acquire a fame & currency which grows with time. The same remark may be applied to public men. Washington is probably the only exception to it that is to be met with in common times. He was devoured as soon as the he came from the press, and he will probably  descend like a stock book, with increasing reputation to the latest posterity. Titus, Trajan, and Alfred  have been equally dear to their Cotemporaries, and to subsequent generations, in ancient times. Perhaps it was because they were rather good, than great, for great virtues are less envied and hated than great talents, and seldom stand in the way of the pretensions of Cotemporaries to public stations and fame.\nNo hand but your own must compose your voice from the tomb. Your stile is bold, original occasionally brilliant, and at all times full of nerve. There is not a redundant word in it. It is the Artillery of language. Your son when he returns may review it your address, and give it the touches of modern grammar, and order, but with all his genius and taste in composition, he in which he is unrivalled in our Country, he will not be able to render it more impressive upon your fellow-citizens.\nHad the  Scriblers who now fill the Boston prints with  abusive publications against you; known you in 1774 1775 and 1776. Had they heard you unfold the secret causes and the probable certain Consequences of the American Revolution, had they and particularly that one of those its causes  Viz: the monopoly of Commerce, and the future empire of the ocean by G Britain,\u2014had they heard your uniform testimony in favor of Republican forms of Government, & that too long before your letter to Mr Wythe was published; had they heard the moderation with which you treated both the foreign & domestic enemies of our Country, and that at a time too when you were preeminently obnoxious to both of them; had they heard your bold & eloquent speeches in favor of independance, and did they trace all their present liberty, their superb city houses and their splendid villas, & their bank stoc & Insurance Stock chiefly in part to those exploits of your Wisdom & patriotism, they would blush at their ingratitude & implore your forgiveness before you were removed for ever from their sight.\nNow for your first letter.  The memoirs of your life as far as they relate to your property have been read with great interest by all my family. A Mr: Richardson from Charleston visited me a few days ago. He spoke with great delight of a day he spent at your house at Quincy a few weeks ago, and gave you great credit for your chearfulness, and many pleasant anecdotes of the eventful years of the Revolution. He told me among other things, that Govr: Gerry who introduced him to you, acquiesced in the correctness of B: Harrison\u2019s Speech to him upon their subscribing the declaration of Independance. Mr: Richardson mixed with both parties in Boston & assured me that with all the Complaints he heard from one party against your present conduct, he did not hear a whisper unfavourable to your integrity in public or private life. On the contrary, he often heard you pronounced to be \u201cone of the honestest of men.\u201d\u2014 He added further that both friends  & enemies agreed that you were certainly  possessed of an estate that was valued from 80, to 100,000 dollars. All my family heard this with very great pleasure.\nOn the 26th: of last month Mr: Thos: Fitzsimons added a unit to the catalogue of our departed revolutionary worthies. He died of a broken heart, induced not so much by great losses, as by the Unkindness of the persons by whom he sustained them. He lent 160,000 dollars to the late Robt Morris, not a dollar of which was ever repaid. It was my affliction to see the gradual decay of his body and mind. I loved him sincerely, and have deplored his death for he was my uniform friend. In my last visits to him, he now & then spoke of you, & always with a tribute of homage to your the purity of your intentions in all your the public Acts of your life.\nNot a word must be said of the military anecdotes of Col: Griffin & Col Reed, mentioned in one of my late letters to you\u2014no\u2014not even to your brother in law Mr Cranch, nor to any other of your public or private friends.\u2014\nWhat a striking Comment upon military history are the two letters of Com: Rodgers and Capt: Bingham! A similar comment may be seen in Sully\u2019s account of the immense difference in the details of a battle fought by Henry the 4th of France a with Henry the 3rd: which was were communicated to the former by his officers after his retreat from the field in consequence of being wounded in the early stage of the battle.\u2014\nI have read Mr Cranch\u2019s letter to Mr Norton, and have since put it into the hands of Mr Wharton at your request. Mr Cranch\u2019s theory is ingenious, but my friend Wharton I am sure will not adopt it. He has long considered London as the head quarters of Antichrist.\nAdieu! my dear friend. With love to all who daily surround your pleasant, and hospitable board, in which all my family join, I am Dr Sir your grateful & affectionate / friend\nBenjn Rush\nPS: I think I have observed that intergrity in the conduct of both the living & the dead takes the a stronger hold of the human heart of than any other virtue. It is placed before mercy by the name of justice in the Scriptures, and just men are in many parts of the inspired writings placed upon very high ground. It is right it should be so. The world stands in more need of justice than charity, and indeed it is the want of justice that renders charity every where so necessary. The  opposite vice to integrity is like the fly in the pot of ointment. It spoils every other a host of virtues. By integrity I mean not only justice as to matters of meum et tuum; but veracity, fidelity to promises; and a strict coincidence between thoughts, words and actions.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5681", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Fran\u00e7ois Adriaan Van der Kemp, 4 September 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Van der Kemp, Fran\u00e7ois Adriaan\nDr. Sir\nQuincy September the 4. 1811\nI have Sent to The Post Office this Morning, your Diploma, as Member of our Accademy. How many years ago ought you to have had it? I hope you will now communicate your Speculations to that Body through Mr Quincy their corresponding Secretary.\nI should advise Mr George Marsden to petition Congress for Relief, Setting forth his Service Commissions and present Circumstances.\nof Meteroric Stones I know no more, that of speaking Bulls and reasoning Jacks\nMay not volcanic Eruptions made by Explosions of great Masses of the Elastic Fluid, or by Subterraneous Streams of Water, breaking suddenly into Masses of burning Sulphur, and by this means converted into Steam drive up Stones to vast hights in the Air? May not these Explosions be in the Sea, in great Lakes or even in Smaller Ponds, or in Rivers; and the Cavities Soon filled up again with Water. May not Such Eruptions be in vast Swamps and deep Forests which People have not yet explored?\nNone but Lunaticks I think will go to the Moon to fetch Such Stones. But I am almost a Sceptick. I can Scarcely credit Pliny or Livy or any modern Naturalists or Historians in what they Say of Ardentes Lapides &c yet it may be true. I am as willing to be accused of Incredulity as Credulity.\n\u201cTu m\u2019aduli, ma tu mi piace.\u201d There now I ever with you.\nFriend as usual\nJohn AdamsYesterday compleated Eight and twenty Years of Peace. What other Nation has enjoyed the Blessing So long?", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5682", "content": "Title: To John Adams from William Plumer, 5 September 1811\nFrom: Plumer, William\nTo: Adams, John\nMy dear Sir,\nEpping (N.H.) September 5th 1811\nIt is sometime since I have had any information from my much esteemed friend, your worthy son, the minister of the United States at St. Petersburg. There is a report that he has not accepted the office of Judge, but will still remain at that court in the character of minister\u2014permit me therefore to ask the favor of informing me per mail when you last heard from him\u2014when you expect his return to this country\u2014and whether a letter from me would probably reach him before he will leave Russia?\nI am every week highly gratified with your invaluable correspondence, published in the Boston Patriot; and only regret that we have not more of it. These publications are to me peculiarly interesting\u2014they contain important facts known to but few\u2014& they are read by many with avidity. I hope you are resolved to bring the correspondence and statements up to the end of your presidency, if not further. You will pardon me for saying, I think it is a debt you owe your to country, to posterity, to yourself, your family and friends. And your prompt punctuality in discharging all other obligations convinces me you will cancel this.\nWill the unjust and tyrannical conduct of the belligerents, particularly the recent condemnation of our ships and cargoes by Great Britain, compel the United States to resort to war? The present time appears a critical one to our country\u2014and I fear a state of war, especially if it be an active one, will prove injurious to our government\u2014which is better calculated for a peace establishment than for a State of hostility. But it is with nations, as with individuals, there is a point in suffering when submission becomes criminal, & the employment of active force a duty. Has that period arrived for this country? Would war at this time, though we have just cause for declaring it, redress our wrongs? I frankly confess, my voice is still for peace. I would wait longer\u2014till the outrages of our enemies shall still more clearly place them in the wrong in the view of the world\u2014& render our own Union more general & stable. But perhaps, in this, I am in an error.\nI am with Sentiments of much respect & esteem, / Dear Sir, your most obedient humble servant.\nWilliam Plumer", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5683", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 7 September 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\n            The preliminaries of peace were signed and I was weary of writing in the night. I do not find that I kept any journal during the remainder of the winter, until the month of May, 1783. I spent my time in looking at France, in the court and the city, in the theatres, churches, and especially in the palace, where the courts of justice are held. This survey of the laws, government, history, morals, manners, education and institutions of that nation and country, superficial as it was, I found of great use to me afterwards in forming conjectures of the merit and tendency and final result of the revolution, which began in 1786. I knew the talents and virtues of the first mayors, but I also knew their total inexperience, and their absolute misconception of the nature of a free government.The preliminary articles were laid before parliament, and here commenced another revolution, more in appearance however than in reality\u2014I will not say disgraceful to human nature, because I am not a judge of the policy of the gentlemen concerned in it, but certainly of very great importance both to Great Britain and America. A revolution by which my lord Cambden became less friendly to America than lord Mansfield, the duke of Richmond than lord Bute, Mr. Burke and Mr. Fox than Lord North.The ways of Heaven are dark and intricate. That revolution may have operated to the advantage of America. But this is speculating to the clouds.Richmond, Cambden, Fox and Burke, who had been in opposition toward North and his party during the whole of the American contest, and who had uttered phalipicks against his lordship, almost equal to those of Cicero against Anthony, now entered into a coalition with his lordship, and were more eager than his lordship  parliament  the preliminary articles of peace. The earl of Sherburne shrunk and withered under a combination of whigs and tories, of revolutionists and jacobites against him, and the coalition administration  in! A phenomenon in the moral and political world. It was an union of the aristocracy of the three kingdoms. The union produced the same effects as all other unions of aristocracies in all ages and countries, the slavery of the king on one side and of the people on the other. An India bill was brought in totally subversive of the constitution, taking away from the crown its constitutional prerogative of patronage, and giving it, to whom? to themselves, that is, to a committee to be appointed by that very aristocracy, or rather oligarchy. The king understood them, but dared not venture on his constitutional authority to negative the bill, but thought it necessary to gain the nation of his  by exerting another prerogative which would be less unpopular, that of dissolving parliament. The nation had as much sense as the king and returned him an anti-coalition house of commons.\u2014Strange to tell, Dr. Price and Dr. Jebb became king\u2019s men upon principle, and exerted all their influence to obtain a parliament to the king\u2019s mind, though at the sacrifice of all their long established friendship for Fox and Burke.This period of English history deserves to be studied, perhaps as much as that of Thomas \u00e0 Kempis, that of cardinal Woolsey, or that of arch-bishop Laud, both in an historical and constitutional point of view.But to return\u2014we procured a passport for the ship that was too carry our dispatches with the preliminary articles to congress, in these words:\nGeorge Rex\u2014George the third, by the grace of God, king of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, defender of the faith, &c.To all admirals, vice-admirals, captains, commanders of our ships of war or privateers, governors of our forts and castles, customers, comptrollers, searchers, and to all and singular our officers, civil and military, our ministers and loving subjects, whom it may concern, greeting: Our will and pleasure is, and we do hereby strictly charge and require you, as we do likewise pray and desire the officers and ministers of all princes and states in amity with us, to permit and suffer the vessel called the Washington, commanded by Mr \u2014\u2014\u2014   Barney, belonging to the United States of North America, to sail from either of the ports of France to any port or place in North America, without any lett, hindrance, or molestation whatsoever, but on the contrary affording the said vessel all such aid and assistance as may be necessary.\nGiven at our Court of St. James\u2019, the tenth day of December, 1782, in the twenty-third year of our reign.\u2014\u2014\u2014By his majesty\u2019s command.Signed, Tho: Townshend.Ship Washington\u2014Pass.To B. Franklin, Esq.Versailles, 25th Dec. 1782.Translation.I have the honor to send you, sir, my dispatches for M. Le Chevalier de la Luzerne. The packet is voluminous, but it contains many duplicates.I wish it were in my power to inform him that our negotiation is as far advanced as yours, but it is yet at a great distance. I am not able even to foresee the issue, for difficulties grow out of the facilities to which we have consented. It will be well, sir, for you to forewarn the congress, that they may be forearmed against whatever may occur. I do not despair, I rather entertain hope, but all is yet uncertain. I have the honor to be, with a perfect consideration, sir, your most humble and most obedient servant,Signed, De Vergennes.By the United States, in Congress assembled.Dec. 31, 1782.On the report of the committee to whom was referred a letter of 14th of October last, from the minister plenipotentiary at the court of Versailles,Resolved. That the ministers plenipotentiary for negotiating peace be instructed, in any commercial stipulations with Great Britain, which may be comprehended in a treaty of peace, to endeavour to obtain  for the citizens and inhabitants of the United States, a direct commerce, to all parts of the British dominions and possessions, in like manner, as all parts of the U. States may be opened to a direct commerce of British subjects: or at least that such direct commerce be extended to all parts of the British dominions and possessions in Europe and the W. Indies. And the said ministers are informed, that stipulations be particularly expected by Congress in case the citizens and subjects of each party are to be admitted to an equality in matters of commerce with the natives of the other party.Signed, Robert R. Livingston.About the middle of January Mr. Oswald prepared to leave us and return to England. Dr. Franklin had so much at heart, his aversion to the loyalists on one hand and his platonic stipulations in favour of fishermen, merchants, and husbandmen on the other, that he took care to furnish Mr. Oswald with the following letter to carry with him in the Court of St. James\u2019s and the city of London.To Mr. Oswald Esq.(I presume it should have been to R. Oswald Esq.)Passy, January 14, 1783.Sir\u2014I am much obliged by your information of your intended trip to England. I heartily wish you a good journey, and a speedy return; and request your kind care of a packet for Mr. Hodgson.I enclose two papers that were read at different times by me to the commissioners; they may serve to show, if you should have occasion what was urged, on the part of America, on certain points; or they may help to refresh your memory. I send you also another paper, which I once read to you separately. It contains a proposition for improving the law of nations, by prohibiting the plundering of unarmed and usefully employed people. I rather wish than expect, that it will be adopted. But I think it may be offered with a better grace, by a country, that is likely to suffer least and gain most by continuing the antient practice; which is our case; as the American ships laden only with the gross productions of the earth, cannot be so valuable as yours filled with sugars or with manufactures. It has not yet been considered by my colleagues; but if you should think or find, that it might be acceptable on your side, I would try to get it inserted in the general treaty. I think it will do honor to the nations that establish it.\nWith great and sincere esteem, I am, sir, your most obedient and most humble servant.Signed, B. Franklin.I shall save myself the trouble of narration and the risque of mistaking or misremembering facts and dates by giving original letters and memoranda, at the time, whenever I can. To this end, I shall insert a translation of a letter from the Comte de Vergennes, to save the trouble of copying and your readers the trouble of reading the original French.To B. Franklin, Esq.Versailles, Saturday night, the eighteenth of January, 1783.It is essential, Sir, that I should have the honor of conferring with you, with Mr. Adams and with those of the gentlemen your colleagues, who may be now at Paris. I pray you, consequently Sir, to be so good as to invite those gentlemen to come to Versailles with you on Monday, before ten o\u2019clock in the morning. It would be well, if you would bring with you Mr. \u2014\u2014\u2014 your grandson. He may be necessary to us, to translate several things, from the English into French, and even to write. The object with which I have to entertain you, is very interesting to the United States, your masters.I have the honor to be, with a perfect consideration Sir, your most humble and most obedient servant,Signed, De Vergennes.To Count de Vergennes.Passy, Jan. 18, 1783, at 10, P.M.Sir\u2014Agreeable to the notice just received from your excellency, I shall acquaint Mr. Adams with your desire to see us on Monday, before ten o\u2019clock, at Versailles, and we shall endeavor to be punctual. My other colleagues are absent; Mr. Laurens being gone to Bath, in England, to recover his health, and Mr. Jay into Normandy. With great respect, I have, the honor to be, sir, your excellency\u2019s most obedient and most humble servant,Signed, B. Franklin.I shall bring my grandson, as you direct.To His Excellency J. Adams, Esq.Passy, Jan. 19, 1783.Sir\u2014Late last night I received a note from M. de Vergennes, acquainting me that it is very essential he should have a conference with us, & requesting I would inform my colleagues. He desires that we may be with him before ten, on Monday morning. If it will suit you to call here, we may go together in my carriage. With great regard I have the honor to be, sir, your obedient and most humble servant,B. FranklinWe should be on the road by 8.We were accordingly, on the road before eight, and at the Comte de Vergennes\u2019s office, who received us with great politeness and cheerfulness before ten: and we were soon joined by the Comte D\u2019Arunda, ambassador from Spain, and Mr. Fitzherbert minister plenipotentiary from G. Britain. This was a delicious day, and the whole company entered into the spirit of the benevolent and friendly business, which had brought us together.Our affair lay with Mr. Fitzherbert: and the first step to be taken was to exchange full powers with him which was done. As his commission is Latin and ours in English have been already printed in these letters in your Patriot, it would be needless to repeat them here. Credentials being exchanged in due form. The following declarations were signed and exchanged both in French and English. It will be quite enough to trouble you with them in English.English Declaration,Signed by Mr. Fitzherbert.Whereas the preliminary articles agreed to and signed this day between his majesty the king of Great Britain, and his most christian majesty on the one part, and also between his said Britannic majesty and his Catholic majesty on the other part, stipulate a cessation of hostilities between these three powers, which is to commence upon the exchange of the ratifications of the said preliminary articles: and whereas by the provisional treaty signed the thirtieth of November last, between his Britannic majesty and the United States of North America, it was stipulated that the said treaty should have its effect as soon as peace between the said crowns should be established\u2014The underwritten minister plenipotentiary of his Britannic majesty declares, in the name and by the express order of the king his master, that the said United States of North America, their subjects and their possessions, shall be comprised in the suspension of arms abovementioned, and that they shall consequently enjoy the benefit of the cessation of hostilities, at the same periods, and in the same manner, as the three crowns aforesaid, and their subjects and possessions respectively; on condition however, that on the part and in the name of the said United States of North America, there shall be delivered a similar declaration, expressing their assent to the present suspension of arms, and containing an assurance of the most perfect reciprocity on their part.In faith whereof, we, the minister plenipotentiary of his Britannic majesty, have signed this present declaration and have thereto caused the seal of our arms to be affixed, at Versailles, this twentieth day of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three.Signed, [L.S.] Alleyne Fitzherbert.English Declaration,Signed by the American Ministers.We, the underwritten, ministers plenipotentiary of the United States of North America, having received from Mr. Fitzherbert, minister plenipotentiary of his Britannic majesty, a declaration relative to a suspension of arms to be established between his said majesty and the said states, of which the following is a copy, viz.[Here was inserted verbatim, a recital of the forgoing declaration of Mr Fitzherbert.]We have, in the name of the said United States of North America and in virtue of the powers we are invested with, received the above declaration, and do accept the same by these presents, and we do reciprocally declare that said states cause to cease all hostilities against his Britannic majesty, his subjects and possessions at the terms or periods agreed to between his said majesty the king of Great Britain, his majesty the king of France, and his majesty the king of Spain, in the same manner as stipulated between these three crowns, and to have the same effect.In faith whereof, we, ministers plenipotentiary from the United States of America, have signed the present declaration, and have hereunto affixed the seals of our arms, at Versailles, the twentieth of January, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three.Signed, [L.S.] John Adams.[L.S.] Benjamin FranklinThe preliminary articles of peace between France and Great Britain were signed at Versailles on the twentieth of January, 1783. As it is printed in the publications of that year and in the collections of treaties, it would be unnecessary to insert it here. The twenty second article, according to my most simple and literal translation of it, is in these words\u2014Article 22d\u2014To prevent all subjects of complaint and of contestation which may have birth on occasion of prizes which may be made at sea after the signature of these preliminary articles, we have reciprocally agreed that the vessels and effects which may be taken in the channel and in the north seas, after the space of twelve days, to be computed from the ratification of the present preliminary articles, shall be on one part and the other restored. That the term shall be of one month, from the channel and the north seas up to the Canary Islands, inclusively, whether in the ocean or in the Mediterranean\u2014(depuis les manche et les mers du nord, jusqu\u2019aux Isles Canaries, inclusivement, soit dans l\u2019ocean, soit dans la Mediterran\u00e9e) of two months, from the said Canary Islands up to the equinoxial line or the equator; and finally of five months in all the other places of the world, without any exception, or other more particular distinction of times or places.I have inserted this article chiefly for the purpose of exposing the British chicanery that was immediately set to work to misinterpret the word \u201cjusqu\u2019aux.\u201d Instead of interpreting jusqu\u2019aux to mean up to, they translated it, as far as, and under this false grammar and this Jesuitical distinction, they captured many American vessels which their owners and commanders had not confidence enough in the justice of British courts of justice to contest at law.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5684", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Rush, 12 September 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\nMy Friend\nQuincy September 12 1811\nSuum cuique decus Posteritas rependit, has some Truth in it and you have addressed several Examples of it: But it is by no means an universal Aphorism; nor do I believe it to be generally true. You seam to think that Integrity is less envied than Talents. This Question deserves consideration. Under the Roman Emperors nothing was envied so much as Integrity or even the Appearance or suspicion of Integrity. \u201cOb Vertutes certissimum Exitium.\u201d The Vote to banish Aristides, because he was trumpeted for his Justice, I will not alledge in my favour; because I think with his Fellow Citizens that tho a just Man in the main, he was not celebrated for his real Integrity so much as for the most unjust Action of his Life, in destroying the ballance of the Constitution, and giving that Preponderance to the Poor over the rich which soon produced the ruin of the Athenian Commonwealth. Aristides destroyed the Ballance of Solon, and gave uncontroulable Power to the Plebians who immediately cryed out \u201cJustice! Justice! Huzza for Aristides the Just.\u201d You, Rush,! would not have borne this prostitution of the Word Justice, better than the Athenian did.\nTo be sure, honest Men have been Satyrized, ridiculed, calumnisted, belied. Sometimes the Lies have stuck, sometimes not. Julius C\u00e6sar as corrupt a Rascal as Sallust, and as exquisite a writer, wrote Anticatones, i.e. Libels against Cato. Who has destroyed these villainous Effusions of allarmed Ambition? Not the Friends of Liberty surely; they never had the Power. It must have been Roman Tyrants, heathen or Christian, ecclesiastical or temporal. I would consent that Callender Paine and Hamilton should write ten times as much Billingsgate against me as they have done, if by this Condition I could procure a Copy of C\u00e6sars Anticatones.\nWe have a beautiful specimen of your Doctrine, in Dion Cassius. He flourished under the most Tyrannical of The Emperors by whom he was promoted to great Power and Dignities from the time of the Antonines to that of Alexander Severus. Dion calls Cicero\u2019s Father a \u201cFuller, who nevertheless got his Living by dressing other Mens vines and olives; that Cicero was born and bred amidst the scourings of old Cloaths, and the Filth of Dunghills; that he was Master of no liberal science, nor ever did a single Thing in his Life worthy of a great Man, or an Orator: that he prostituted his Wife; trained up his son in drunkenness; committed Incest with his Daughter; lived in Adultery with Cerellia, whom he owns at the same time to be seventy years old.\u201d What more beautiful Calumny against me can you find in Ned Church, Phillip Freneau, Andrew Brown Peter Markoe, Calender, Duane, Cheatham, Hamilton, or the Boston Chronicle, Repertory, Gazette, or Centinel?\nMy Friend and Priest, Mr Wibirt, an admirer of Whitefield once in Company with him observed \u201cMr Whitefield! You have been abused in Pamphlets and Journals a great while; and they still continue to insult you every day; does it not often affect your Spirits? Oh No, said Whitefield; if they knew how much pleasure they gave me, they would not do it.\u201d\nStill I insist upon it, let Whitefield say what he will it is not a pleasant Thing to be told every day in a Newspaper, that one is a Rascal a Scoundrel a Lyer a Villain, a Thief a Robber, a Traytor an Apostate; even although We know and the World in general knows that those who call us so are really what they call Us.\nIt would be easy my Friend to compose an Address which should contain nothing but obvious Truths that all Men would at once approve. Such was Washingtons. Religion, Morality, Union, Constitution. Who even among the Atheists, The despisers and abhorrers of the Constitution, the Disorganizers and Promoters of a Northern Confederacy, would dare publickly to attack such Topics? What good has Washingtons Address done? Both Parties quote it as an oracle. But neither Party cares one farthing about it. With the knowing ones of both Parties it is known to have no weight but as Argumentum ad hominum to the ignorant of both sides. Such an Address would not be worth my while. In all my publick Writings for more than forty years I have sufficiently explained my sentiments and sufficiently warned my Country men against the dangers of American Liberty, long enough before the pretty Prattler Ames wrote his Jeremiads. I could sum up and abridge all I have written: but this would comprehend every Thing relative to Forms of Government, which you expressly prohibit me from Touching. In my opinion, every Thing depends on the form of Government. Without this you may declaim no Religion Morality Union Constitution to all Eternity to no Purpose. Mr Richardson of S.C. was much esteemed here by all Parties. Whoever gave him the Information that my Property was worth between 80,000 and an 100,000 Dollars infected his head with much Exageration. My Estate is chiefly in Lands in this Town of Quincy: I have none any where else excepting a bit or two of Cedar Swamp in Braintree and Randolph the whole of which would not sell for five hundred dollars.\nI have two Farms in Quincy: the best would not sell at vendue for twenty thousand Dollars: the other on which I live, would not sell for more than Ten. My Personal Estate is partly in a Middlesex Canal, which has never produced one farthing of Rent, but a continual Augmentation of Expence; and partly in a New Market which is not likely to produce any Profit soon if ever. My real Estate has never produced two Per Cent, on the Estimate I have given you. In short I have never added one farthing to my Property for ten years: but on the Contrary have been obliged to make Inroads on my little Capital.\nThe foregoing Computations have all been made in the present depreciated state of the value of Bank Bills, the most fraudulent Engines that ever were invented by private Avarice to violate the Tenth Commandment. What were Woods half pence? Oh, that We had a Dean Swift, or even a Thomas Hutchinson!\nIn this depreciated Currency if you compute my Fortune at fifty thousand dollars, you will lay it as high as the Truth will bear. And my Income from it, is far short of the legal Interest of that sum.\n is forty six. She has possessed as steady Firmness of Mind and Body through her whole Life as any Woman I ever knew. She is every Way worthy of her Mother. Adversity of which she has had a large share has never moved her more than Prosperity. But she is now threatened with a Misfortune the prospect of which casts a Melancholly gloom over my whole Family and all her Friends.\nAdieu\nJ. A.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5685", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Waterhouse, 15 September 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Waterhouse, Benjamin\nDear Waterhouse\nQuincy Septr. 15 1811\nI receive no Letters with So much pleasure as yours and Rushes. The Shortest of them always contains Something new and Solid; Some thing witty and a good deal that his humerous.\nHow many more hot Nutts for the Monkeys you will See, I know not.\nThey will lie, and laugh and joke: but they will not make much Noise, because that might provoke Some of their own Party to peep at the Patriot which they Studiously keep out of Sight.\nBowdoin would have been a Republican, if he had lived to these Times; and So would Washington Since Hamilton is dead.\nI rejoice in the Governors Spirits. He will come out of the Furnace double refined.\nYour Son was as much admired as any of the Performers, not only by my Daughter, Niece and three Grand daughters, but by all I have heard Speak of Commencement\nI know of but one Copy of The \u201cHistory of Disputes with America\u201d which I want to have printed in a new Edition. If I Send it you must return it Soon.\nPhilo Sallust is a Conjurer. What Pythoness of Ender he has called up to inform him of Old Stories I cannot conceive.\nYours always\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5686", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Joseph Dougherty, 17 September 1811\nFrom: Dougherty, Joseph\nTo: Adams, John\nDear Sir.\nWashington City Septr. 17th 1811\nA vacant place occasioned by the death of Mr. Mathers, the doorkeeper for the Senate, is now trying for by several: perhaps one hundred: I am one of the number, but it will require the greatest interest in the Country to get the place\nMay I make so free sir, as to ask you for a few lines, by way of recommendation: Mrs Johnson made mention of me in a recent letter to you: I will here subjoin a paragraph from a letter of recommendation from Mr. Jefferson\nI have the honour to be Sir, / your humble Servant\nJoseph Doughertyhe is active, intelligent, sober & of perfect integrity I considered him as particularly qualified\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5687", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 20 September 1811\nFrom: Rush, Benjamin\nTo: Adams, John\nMy dear Sir\nPhiladelphia Septr 20th: 1811\nI shall begin my letter by replying to your daughters. I prefer giving my Opinion & Advice in you her Case in this way. You and Mrs Adams may communicate it gradually and in such a manner as will be least apt to distress and alarm her.\nAfter the experience of more than 50 years in cases similar to hers, I must protest agst: all local applications, and internal medicines for her relief. They now and then cure, but in 19 Cases Out of 20 in tumors in the breast, they do harm, or suspend the disease Until it passes beyond that time in which the only radical remedy is ineffectual. This remedy is the knife. From her account of the Moving state of the tumor it is now in a proper Situation for the Operation. Should She wait \u2019till it suppurates, or even inflames much, it may be too late. The pain of the Operation is much less than her fears represent it to be. I write this from experience having about two Years ago had a tumor of perhaps a larger Size cut out by Dr Physick from my Neck. I was surprized when the Doctor\u2019s assistant told me the operation was finished, and could not help saying After C\u00e6sar when he had finished his conquests\u2014\u201cand is this All.\u201d\u2014I repeat again\u2014let there be no delay in flying to the knife. Her time of life\u2014calls for expedition in this business, for tumors such as hers tend much more rapidly to cancers after 45, than in more early life. I sincerely sympathize with her, and with you and your dear Mrs Adams in this family Affliction, but it will be but for a few minutes if She submits to have it extirpated, & if not, it will probably be a Source of distress and pain to you all for years to come. It shocks shocks me to think of the Consequences of procrastination in her case.\nAnd now for your letter. It is like all your Others. My Son has just now Snatched it from before me and taken it next door to read it to his wife, who feasts upon all your letters. I have good reason to believe as you do of Mr Whitefield sensibility to Scandal notwithstanding the Speech your friend has told you he made when interrogated upon that Subject. I once mentioned to him a reflection Lord Hillsborough had the day before made upon him & the Methodists to Mr: Deberdt, when I was in London. He instantly Started from his Chair,\u2014walked hastily up & down his room,\u2014and showed Other marks of great emotion\u2014\u201cwhat does the man mean (said he) by saying the Court has treated me with neglect? Have they not encouraged Foot to bring expose me to upon the Stage? Is not this persecution? yes\u2014they have done every thing to injure me that the laws have permitted them to do.\u201d In my occasional visits to him, I perceived Other marks of his feeling for honor and Character besides the One I have mentioned. I will recollect too that he now & then Spoke of the men that had opposed and injured him As Other folks write of their political & medical enemies.\u2014If this does not justify,\u2014it may serve at least to palliate their Conduct, for with all, Mr W\u2014\u2014 infirmities of temper. I have always beleived him to be a truly good Man.\nI am sorry your income is not equal to Mr: Richardson\u2019s Account of it, but I am glad to find it is derived from a terra firma. Our banks have not only depreciated gold and Silver, but many of them by their failures, and Counterfits have injured hundreds Of our Citizens. The Stock of the bank of the United states which sold a few months ago at 148, is now dull at 90, nor has any interest been paid upon it for nearly a year past. widows, orphans, aged citizens & public institutions suffer greatly by this event. It is to be lamented the losses and distress thus incurred, has not fallen upon the projectors, and original Stockholders in that bank. I know of but One of that Class of people who has been injured by it, and that is Mr Boudinot. His loss amounts upon the fall of his Stock he says to 20,000 dollars\u2014a small deduction from an immense estate made out of the rags, and bellies and blood of the Soldiers of the American Revolution, & for which he worships the names of Washington and Hamilton.\n\u201cThe World (says Dr South) was made for the bold.\u201d This was the case formerly. It seems now to be the portion of the artful as well as the bold.\nAdieu\u2014Ever yours\nBenjn: Rush", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5688", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Theodore Foster, 1 October 1811\nFrom: Foster, Theodore\nTo: Adams, John\nDear Sir,\nFoster October 1st. 1811.\nI expect this Letter will be delivered to you, by my worthy and respectable Friend and next Door Neighbour, Doctor Solomon Drown of this Town, who has had a liberal Education\u2014has travelled in Europe, and is a Fellow and Professor of Brown University in this State.\u2014 He is about to travel with his Lady through the Town of Braintree, on a Visit to some of her Relations, being herself related to the Russell Family formerly of Boston; and Dr Drown being desirous of making his personal Respects to you I have therefore taken the Liberty of introducing him to you which I hope you will be agreeable on account of his Learning and the Amiableness and Excellence of his Character. He is universally esteemed and respected by his numerous Acquaintance and has always entertained an high Respect for yourself, repeatedly expressed by him, in Oration delivered on Public occasion while sometime resident in the western Country.\u2014\nI very often recollect with Pleasure and Gratitude the Intimacy and Friendship with which, for more than Ten years, you honoured Me, while I was a Member of the Senate of the United States; and have often thought of writing to express my grateful Acknowledgements and the Obligation I feel as one of the Community, for your continued Patriotic Exertion to serve our Country by your very valuable writings, and the Historical Information which you have communicated and which will be duly appreciated by Posterity as an inestimable Legacy, bequeathed to them by one of the most distinguished Characters in the Great Revolution which produced a new Nation in the World with a Constitution of Government of new an unexampled Construction, calculated to produce, the greatest Happiness of the greatest Number of the People of a vast Empire rapidly growing up under it.\u2014 But I have omitted writing lest it might be an Intrusion on your valuable Time\u2014 I have however been so impressed, since reading your Publication in the Boston Patriot with a Belief that it would be agreeable You to have some Information of Facts within my Knowledge, relative to the Proceedings of a Majority of the Senate at the Famous Caucus at Mr. Binghams, in consequence of your Nomination of Mr. Vans Murray to negotiate a Treaty with the French Republic, on Advances made for the Purpose by the Directory through the Instrumentality of Mr. Pichon then at the Hague, such as I can give perfectly consistant with my Duty, as a Quordam Member of that Body that I have concluded to write you a Letter of Information of that Business, at some Leisure Time, in the Course of the present Fol  assured that if it does no good, it will do no hurt, otherwise than  Occupation of your Time in reading it.\u2014\nIn the mean time I pray you to present my due Respects to your amiable and excellent Lady and to inform her that I gratefully remember her Attention and Goodness to my former Wife and my Daughter, Theodosia, (now married to Stephen Tillinghast of Providence a Grand-son of Govr. Stephen Hopkins, with whom you was acquainted in the old Congress) when we were all in Philadelphia in the First Presidency of General Washington; and that you will accept of my most sincere Wishes that Health and Happiness may attend yourselves your Family and Friends cosidering Me as always with great Regard and Respect Sincerely and affectionately / Dear Sir, your obliged Friend & Obedient Servant\nTheodore Foster", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5690", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Theodore Foster, 6 October 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Foster, Theodore\nDear Sir\nQuincy October 6th 1811\nLast night I received your favour of the first of this month., from the hand of Dr Solomon Drowne. As I was absent when he first called at my house I lost the Pleasure of several Hours Conversation With him. This Gentleman\u2019s Deportments and Conversation so well supported the handsome Character you gave him; that I regret very much that I am not to have more of his society.\nWhile I recollect with pleasure the social hours whi has which were passed together with you and many others, while I was VP. and P. I can never look back without Pain, on the  of parties & Politicks that prevailed from 1789 to 1800. It was a bowl of Punch half Brandy or Whiskey & half water with a large mixture of Sour Drops without a grain of Sugar.\nIt is undoubtedly in your Power to give me, very material information concerning many Facts and Events during your service in Congress. Nothing was more difficult than for me to obtain the knowledge of what was going on. My enemies were interested to cancel their intrigues and Man\u0153uvres and my Friends were restrained by Sentiments of Delicacy. And I had no spies, Scribblers, or Informers.\nThe History of the Caucus of a Majority of the Senate at Mr Binghams.\nThe History of another Caucus of the Senate, upon the nomination of Col. Smith.\nThe History of another Caucus of the whole Legislature or rather of both Houses of Congress when it was determined upon honour to give an equal vote for Adams and C. C. Pinkney.\nThese are all mysteries involved in much traditional and Historical obscurity: and I should be extremely obliged to you for any information concerning any of them. You know more of the Subteraneous fires kindled by Pickering and his two devoted Friends Hillhouse and Goodhue; all three Puppets danced upon the wires of Alexander Hamilton: than perhaps you may think it prudent to communicate. I shall be thankful for any Fact relative to either that your discretion will communicate to me.\nMrs Adams is much pleased with your remembrance of her, and presents her regards to you and your Daughter, married to a Grandson of  my much respected Friend Governor Hopkins, with whom I serve in the committee for providing the first American Navy. Oh! that he was now alive and a member of Congress! We should not be long Without a Navy Sufficient to scuffle With any detachment from the Navies of Europe which theire Masters can spare to send across the Atlantic.\nI am Sir with Sentiments the most Friendly / Your most obedient & humble / Servant\n John Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5691", "content": "Title: From John Adams to William Plumer, 7 October 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Plumer, William\nSir\nQuincy October 7th. 1811\nSince my Letter to you of the fifteenth in answer to yours of the fifth of September, We have received undoubted intelligence, that my Son has declined his appointment as Judge, and that he will not return to America this year, You may therefore write with confidence that if your Letters reach St Petersburg, they will there find him.\nThe condition of his family rendered it impossible to embark for America this year and compelled him to remain another Winter though it should be at his own private expence as it must have been had he been superceded.\nYou are pleased to say that my correspondence in the Boston Patriot is read by many. It is read by some: but I believe by very few. It is not the fashion to read it. Indeed I am not solicitous for a great number of present Readers Some Harbottle, Dorr, some Johnny Choffat and possibly some Parson Prince, may preserve the paper among his Collection of Curiosities: and some future Historian may look into it and find Corrections of innumerable Errors and Corruptions of Tradition and History too, that have already crept into print.\nYour \u201cvoice is still for peace.\u201d \u201cThy will be done\u201d is my prayer, and I know of no surer interpreter of that will, than the decision of our own Government.\nWar however in my humble judgment would be better than a long continuance of Embargo\u2019s and Non Importation Laws. I am Sir with much Esteem your humble Servant\nJ\nohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5694", "content": "Title: From John Adams to James Wilkinson, 12 October 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Wilkinson, James\nSir\nQuincy October 12 1811\nOn Thursday night I received from the Post Office your favour of October the second. Although it arrived at a moment when Wounds, Sickness, and Deaths in my Family, and among my tenderest Connections had excited all my sensibility and that of all my Family I thought it my duty to answer as soon as possible to the Interrogatories you enclosed.\nMy answers are contained in the enclosed Sheet N.2. I have the honor to be very respectfully your / most obedient Servant\nJohn Adams Enclosure\nAnswers of John Adams to Interrogatories transmitted to him in a Letter of General Wilkinson of the 2nd of October. 1811.\n1 Answer to the first Interrogatory, I have copied with my own hand from the original letter in General Hamiltons handwriting now before me the whole of that Letter. The copy attested by me is enclosed with this and is marked No. 3.\n2. Answer to the second Interrogatory. While I had the honor to be Vice President and afterwards, I heard many severe things said in public and private concerning General Wilkinson, which gave me much concern because such Rumours, Suspicions, and Insinuations concerning an Officer of his rank, services, and situation, had a tendency to injure the public service in the Army and bring dishonour on the Government that employed him. I therefore discouraged no means that were employed to investigate the truth. But as no evidence was ever produced to me, which could justify any presumption or as I thought reasonable suspicion of his guilt of any illicit or corrupt connection with the Spanish Government of Louisiana either during the Administration of General Washington or that of his successor, I considered those rumours as Calumnies and continued General Wilkinson in service, as long as it depended upon me.\nI cannot venture to descend to particulars merely on Memory, and no written Documents are at present within my reach.\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5695", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Rush, 13 October 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\nDear Rush\nQuincy October 13. 1811\nSobrius esto! Recollect your own Non Nobis!\nYour Letter of the 20th. of September I communicated to Mrs Adams as you advised. Mrs Adams to her Daughter, After a reasonable Time for Deliberation and Reflections the Heroine determined. The Mother and the Daughter went to Boston and consulted Dr Warren Junior, Dr Welsh, Dr Warren Junior having previously consulted Dr Tufts and Dr Holbrook. The Physicians and Surgeons all unanimously pronounced Dr Rush\u2019s opinion and Advice, to be exactly and perfectly in all Points agreable to their own, and the Plan was laid and the Catastrophy resolved.\nOn Tuesday the Eighth of October, a day memorable in my little Annals, the operation was performed in Presence of the two Dr Warrens, Dr Welsh and Dr Holbrook, by Dr Warren Senior. The operation was twenty five Minutes in performing, and the dressing an hour longer.\nThe Surgeons all agree that in no Instance did they ever witness a Patient of more Intrepidity than she exhibited through the whole Transaction.\nThey all affirm that the morbid substance is totally eradicated and nothing left but Flesh perfectly sound\nThey all Agree that the Probability of compleatt and ultimate success is as great as in any Instance that has fallen under their Experience.\nYesterday October 12 The Surgeons met again and dressed the Wound and unanimously declare it in as good a State as they could expect.\nHad not your Letter overcome all her Scruples and Timidity, I believe she would have returned before now to Smiths Valley, which would have been to her The Valley of Jehoshaphat.Oh! that a vaccine Inoculation could be discovered  for this opprobrium of Philosophy and Midicine, The Cancer, This Physical  disgrace of human Nature!\nNeither you nor I have much Superstition in our Natures or our Creeds. But neither of Us can refuse to acknowledge a Providence in this Instance. She accidentally as the world says read your Book wrote you a Letter, received your answer altered her Plan, postponed her Journey home, and as I sincerely hope and devoutly pray saved her Life.\nI rejoice however still with trembling. I know the Uncertainty that still remains: and that our only ultimate Resource is Resignation.\nWe are all very sensible of our obligation to you, and pray you to accept our cordial Thanks\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5696", "content": "Title: To John Adams from William Plumer, 14 October 1811\nFrom: Plumer, William\nTo: Adams, John\nMy dear Sir,\nEpping (NH.) October 14. 1811\nBy the last mail I received your favour of the 7th instant, informing me that your son has declined the appointment of Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, & that he will remain at Russia, at the least another winter. In the course of the present week I shall address myself to him, by letter, in that distant country.\nI think your invaluable correspondence, published in the Boston Patriot, is read by many more persons than you apprehend. Many of my friends, correspondents & acquaintances, in different parts of the Union, read it, & a considerable portion of them with deep attention. For myself, I assure you, there is no publication that I read with more interest than that correspondence. I have the first volume of it bound in octavo\u2014 & a complete set of it from the beginning up to last week in the Boston Patriot\u2014which at the end of each year, I have bound in volumes. By the continuation of that correspondence you will perform a great service to your country\u2014& raise a monument to perpetuate your own merit, more desirable than that of marble. I do therefore sincerely hope, that you will be blessed with long life, good health & a strong & steady disposition to continue that correspondence for many years yet to come. Of the great events that occurred during your ministry abroad, & under your administration as Vice President, & President of the United States, at home, no man living has a more thorough knowledge than you have and indeed of many interesting facts, you must, from the nature of things, be the sole depository. Permit not these to perish with you\u2014but cast this literary bread upon the waters, & if you do not receive it again till after many days, I am confident that many, very many, of the deserving few, whose approbation is worthy the notice of the good & great, will with grateful hearts bless the labours & consecrate the memory of the sage of Quincy.\nI am with much respect and esteem / Dear Sir, / your real friend / and humble servant\nWilliam Plumer", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5697", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Aaron Black, 15 October 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Black, Aaron\nSir\nQuincy October 15th 1811\nOn the receipt of your Letter of June 4th. I lost no time I communicating it to your Sister and your Neice. They have written you letters in answers which you will receive with this.\nYour Brother was my next Neighbour for more than twenty years. We lived in harmony and Friendship. He lived and died esteemed and beloved by all who knew him.\nHis Estate which I understand is encumbered with heavy Debts he has left to his Widow after Payment of his debts, and several Legacies during her Life, and the reversion after her Decease, to his and your Neice, Miss Ann Hail a young Lady of promising Hopes and prospects.\nYour Sister is a Lady who is every way worthy of her late Husband and your Neice is worthy of her Aunt who has spared no tenderness, Kindness, Care or Expence, I her Education or in providing for her Comfort and happiness. I hope this brief account will be satisfactory. I am Sir very respectfully your obedient / Servant,\nJ. Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5698", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Stoddert, 15 October 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Stoddert, Benjamin\nDear Stoddart\nQuincy October 15th 1811\nYour obliging Letter of August 16th was presented to me by your son in law Dr Thomas Ewell and his amiable Lady your Daughter. Although I was confined with a wounded leg which is not yet healed; and afflicted With a series of misfortunes afflictions and Deaths among my tenderest connections such as rarely happen to any man even in this troublesome world: I am not the less obliged to you for giving me an opportunity of seeing this sensible and amiable Couple.\nThese causes however have retarded my answer and I hope will plead my excuse. I am happy to hear that your health is good and I hope your happiness unalloy\u2019d.\nI am as happy as ever I was in my life as happy as I can ever expect to be, in this world, and I believe as happy as any man can be, who sees all the friends of his youth dropping off about him, and so much sickness among his nearest Relations; and who expects himself to drop in a very short time.\nPublic affairs move me no more than private I love my country and my Friends but can do very little for either. Reconciled and resigned to my lot in Public and private, I wait with patience for a Transfer to another scene.\nAfter an introduction so solemn and gloomy, you will be surprised to find me turn to so ludicrous a subject as friend Timothy you have seen his addresses to the people, in which he has poured out the vials of his vengeance against me after having nourished and cherished it in his bosom a dozen years. He has implicat\u2019d General Sam Smith and his Brother Robert Smith the late secretary of State in a manner that ought in my opinion to bring them out in vindication of themselves and me.\nGod knows I never made any bargain with them or either of them. I never knew or suspected that they had any animosity against Pickering more than they had against you or McHann, Wolcott & Lee. No hint was ever given to me directly or indirectly from either that they wished Pickering removed or that they would vote for me on any condition or in any circumstances whatsoever.\nWhen I appointed Winchester Judge in opposition to the wish of Robert Smith as you know very well, I had the best opportunities to conciliate the Smiths if I had been so disposed. Pickering knows this as well as you: How then can he tell such an abominable Story. I cannot think that he believes it himself.\nHad I not scruples about setting an example of a Presidents vindicating himself against such attacks from a mortified dissappointed and vindictive Minister; I should be at no loss for reasons to justify the removal of Mr. Pickering.\nI am Sir with unabated esteem and Respect your Friend and humble Servant\nJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5699", "content": "Title: To John Adams from William Bentley, 16 October 1811\nFrom: Bentley, William\nTo: Adams, John\nSir\nSalem October 16. 1811\nI have taken the liberty to express my gratitude to the first of men, by sending another portion of the Endicott pears from the Oldest tree planted by Europeans in our portion of America, & to add two bottles of wine made last year in Salem by Ladies in my Society from the berries of New England.\nI am with the highest respect / of your public & private character / your devoted Servant\nWilliam Bentley.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5700", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 18 October 1811\nFrom: Rush, Benjamin\nTo: Adams, John\nMy dear old friend,\nPhiladelphia Octobr 18th: 1811\nAll my family rejoice with yours in the happy issue of the operation performed upon Mrs Smiths breast. The enclosed letter is intended as an answer to her\u2019s to me, and to serve the further purpose of exciting in her a belief that her Cure will be radical & durable. I consider her as rescued from a premature grave.\nSince my last letter to you it has pleased God to make all my family very happy in the return of my 3rd: Son Dr James Rush, and my 2nd: daughter Mary Manners with her two children, from England where they have spent two years & some months. This passage was long & extremely dangerous. This has encreased our gratitude to heaven and our joy for their return. My Son has spent his time profitably. He has brought home a mass of useful information not only in Medicine, but upon many other Subjects. I expect to be very much relieved from some of my labours by him. His amiable & unassuming manners had recommended him to my patients before he went abroad. These he has brought back with him with a stock of useful practical knowledge in his profession. My daughter\u2019s husband will follow her in the Spring. His regiment is still in Canada.\nAdieu my dear Sir. With love & congratulations to all your family I am ever yrs\nBenjn: Rush", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5701", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Christopher McPherson, 25 October 1811\nFrom: McPherson, Christopher\nTo: Adams, John\nSir\nVirgina Richmond 25th. October 1811\nI take the liberty of enclosing you herewith a Pamphlet of Nimrod Hughes\u2019s prophecy as well as a pamphlet of my own. I will thank you to forward me by return mail the Message and other papers I delivered you in Jan\u2019ry 1800 addressed to yourself and the Senate of the U.S. not acted upon by them; as I have advertized agreeable to Law, that I mean to lay the same before the next Session of Congress\u2014and the only Copy I had, is by some means withheld by some Members of the last General Assembly of this State.\u2014Should you have left them with the Public Papers in the Office of the Secretary of State\u2014please inform me the mode by which I may obtain them with the least possible delay.\nI am with great Respect / Sir, / Your Most Obedt. Servant\nChristr. McPherson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5702", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Benjamin Stoddert, 27 October 1811\nFrom: Stoddert, Benjamin\nTo: Adams, John\nDear Sir\nBladg. 27. October 1811\u2014\nI sincerely thank you for your kind letter of the 15th\u2014 It always affords me the highest satisfaction to hear of you, &, from you\u2014and more particularly when I hear favorable accounts of your health & contentment.\nI have seen & repelled the Attack of Col Pickering on you, in a point affecting your moral Character. In relation to any intrigue of my Countrymen, the Smiths with you, for the his removal from the Office of State, I have at all times felt the strongest conviction, that you never did descend to such baseness, not only because I knew you were incapable of such degradation, but because I had reason to know that there was no kind of private intercourse\u2014between you & Genl Smith (& his Brother was not at the seat of Govt) about the time of Col Pickerings removal. I knew it from this circumstance\u2014a Day or two before the New York election, in which Col Burr exerted himself with so much success as to produce a result that disappointed every body\u2014and at a moment when members of Congress, & all about the Govt. believed that City would be entirely Federal, Genl Smith & a Senator of high standing, called on me at my Office, & expressed their satisfaction  with most of your measures, though disapproving of some, which they seemed, disposed rather to ascribe to the influence of others, than to you, and  signified a desire to have a Friendly interview with you, & asked my opinion if such an interview would be agreeable. My reply in substance was, that I would not doubt it\u2014but that I would speak to you on the subject, & let them know.\nIt so happened that I did not speak to you before the result of the New York election was known in Phila\u2014This result afforded Mr Jefferson a prospect of the Presidential chair, he seemed not to have had before\u2014But for this result, I question whether it would not have been decided about that time by his Friends, to suspend his pretensions for four Years longer, and that their support, if from no other motive, for the Chance of having influence in your admn. should be given to you. If I never afterward mentioned to you my Visit from the Genl & the Senator, it was because I thought I perceived, that their views had changed, with the change of prospect occasioned by the result of the New York election. They spoke to me no more\u2014and I am very confident they avoided you.\nI am not good at remembering dates\u2014& never meaning to be  a Public Man, I never kept memos. of my political transactions\u2014But I believe this election was Just before the close of the Session of Congress\u2014and that at the close, or a Day or two before, Col P. was removed. On the morning of the Day of the removal, you communicated to Mr Lee & myself, who chanced to meet at your House, without being summoned, your intention\u2014and observed your mind had been made up on the Subject before the commencement of the Session, but that to avoid a turbulent Session (Col P having many warm Friends in both Houses) you had delayed to take the step until, the close of the session. You said you respected Col P for his Industry, his talents & his integrity, but mentioned instances to  show that he wanted those feelings a Secy of State should possess for the Character of a Prest\u2014and wanted temper to enable you to make Peace with France or preserve it with England\u2014and upon something suggested by Mr Lee or myself to induce re-consideration on your part, you added, that you, felt it a sacred duty to make a change in the Dept of State\u2014and proposed, that Mr Lee, or myself should communicate your decision to Col P in terms least calculated to hurt his feelings\u2014We both too Sincerely respected him to undertake a task so disagreeable.I have never since conversed with Mr Lee on this Subject\u2014but I do presume were he to relate the occurrance, his relation would agree, substantially, with mine.\nCol Pickering like most honest warm tempered men, may be too partial perhaps in tracing to the best motives the Actions of his Friends\u2014and too prone to ascribe to the worst, the conduct of those, whom he does not like. After hearing of the prediction of Mr R Smith at Annapolis, which I presume, has been within the last two years\u2014made 10 or 12 Days before his removal, that he would be removed, it was not extraordinary that he should imagine mr R Smith, his Brother the Genl. & theirs had successfully intrigued with you for his removal, as the price of their support\u2014and when he made the charge against you, I cannot from what I think I know of his Character, persuade myself for a moment to doubt, that he did not most religiously believe in its truth.\nWere I to venture to account for mr R Smiths prediction at Anns. it would be in this way\u2014The visit to me of which I have spoken shews that the most respectable of that party, with whom mr Smith was closely linked, were at least balancing in their minds whether their surest road to more influence in Public affairs, would not be, to attach themselves to you, especially as your re-election seemed at that time certain\u2014Col P of all your ministers was most obnoxious to these Gentn.\u2014and it might have been contemplated by them with the knowledge of Mr R Smith, to ask his removal, in return for their support\u2014and as it was too well known that the proper harmony between the President  & Secy of state, did not exist, mr Smith being sure as he thought the offer would be made, not might conclude without great violence to probability, that the offer would be made\u2014and unacquainted with your honorable principles, that it would not be rejected.\nIf any use can be made of this feeble, though sincere testimony, in removing from that reputation you so justly value a transient cloud, most freely do I consent it shall be so used\u2014I may dissatisfy men whose Friendship I prize most highly, or make others my Enemies, by this\u2014but a consideration of self never did, nor never shall deter me from doing an act of Justice.\nWith my best respects & good wishes to Mrs Adams I remain as I always have been Dr Sir with the highest regard & esteem Yr obliged Friend & Servt\nBen Stoddert", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5703", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Munroe & French, 31 October 1811\nFrom: Munroe & French\nTo: Adams, John\nDear Sir\nBoston Oct 31 1811\nOwing to an unusual press of matter for the two last papers we have been compelled to postpone the publication of the Correspondence. In the mean time we have unfortunately mislaid part of a page of manuscript. We have enclosed the last paragraph of that published, together with the first Succeeding sheet & desire you to take the pains to supply the deficiency. This frank avowal of our carelessness, (as you have not often cause to censure us in this respect,) we are in hopes, will secure our pardon. The Correspondence would have been Continued in our next, had it not been for this accident.\nSome new arrangements appear to be making in the newspaper world.\u2014We are in hopes they will not cause us to regret the loss of the Correspondence\u2014Mr E. admits the validity of our Superior Claim, unless you should chuse to make his paper the future medium.\u2014We are in hopes, however, Sir, that as your valuable Correspondence was commenced, it may be Completed in the Boston Patriot.\nYour obdn\u2019t Servants / Sir,\nMunroe & French", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5704", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Munroe & French, 1 November 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Munroe & French\nMessieurs Monroe and French.\nQuincy Octob November 1st\nI have received your kind Letter of the 31st of October and regret with you the loss of part of a Page of Manuscript.\nUpon a careful revision of all the materials I have, I find myself utterly unable to recollect enough to supply the deficiency.\nAs I have no Clerk, Secretary or Amanuensis I am obliged to write all with my own hand, which with my dim eyes and trembling fingers is so painful an Exercise that when I have written a sheet, I keep no copy and think myself delivered of it forever.\nThere is no remedy but for you to print a Note of the loss of the Scrap, and go on with what remains.\nThere is an unlucky mistake of \u201cThings\u201d for Kings, \u201cKings\u201d in the last Paragraph you printed but whether it was an Error of the Press or of the Manuscript I know not.\nI am Gentlemen your obliged humble Servant\nJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5705", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Rush, 2 November 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\nMy Venerable Friend\nQuincy November 2d 1811\nBe pleased to accept my  cordial congratulations on the felicity of your Family in the arrival of your Son and Daughter from Europe. The Doctor will be the Staff of your Age and you will be the Guide of his youth. The Daughter and her Infants will be the delights of her Mother as well as her Father.\nFor myself, clothed as I am in the Sable, I may without repining, acknowledge the Seventy Sixth year of my Age to have been the most afflictive of my Life.\nIn January 1811 died very Suddenly, leaving a distressed and helpless Family of Eight Children Mrs Norton, a Niece of my Wife, a Daughter of my Brother and Sister Cranch, who was always as dear to Us as a Child\nIn April a Horse took a fright in a Brook, reared and fell against a Stone Bridge, and bruised and wounded my Son T. B. A. in his Thigh, in Such a manner as to lay him up for Several Months under the Care of his Surgeons in great danger of being a Cripple for Life.\nIn June my Sister Cranch, in her Seventieth year, oppressed with Grief for the loss of her Daughter and with Anxiety Care and Exertion for her orphan Children fell Sick of a Fever, and lingered under the Consequences of it for four Months.\nMr Cranch my Guide Philosopher and Friend for Sixty years, at the Age of Eighty five, borne down by the Loss of his daughter and Sickness of his Wife fell at last very Suddenly on the 16. Oct. and his Wife expired the next day. both were buried together in my Tomb.\nIn June my Daughter in Law, Charles\u2019s widow who with her two Daughters lives with me, was taken with a vomiting Off blood, which has confined her under the constant Care of Physicians for three or four months and reduced her to extream Weakness. She is now however Some what better.\nMy Daughter Smith\u2019s case you know, a Source of great Anxiety to Us for more than a year was at last happily terminated by your Advice as  We hope, but at a time when So many calamities concur\u2019d as to make the Excision of a Ladys Breast appear but a Small Affliction\nTwo Month\u2019s since going out in the dark in my Garden to look for the Comet, I Stumbled over a Knot in a Stake and tore my Leg near the Shin in Such a manner that the Surgeon with his Baths Cataplasms, Plaisters and Bandages has been daily hovering about it and poor I, deprived of my  horse and my Walks have been bolstered up with my Leg horrizontal on a Sopha\nMr Smith a near Relation and most intimate Friend of ours in Boston had a Son of most promising Hopes educated at the University and the Bar, an Officer in a Cadet Corps of Militia, in the unprecedent heat of the 4th of July got a Fever that left him in a Consumption of which he died\nThe News of the Death of Mrs Johnson and Mr Buchanan her Son in Law and the dangerous Sickness of her Daughters and the dangerous Sickness in the Family of Judge Cranch at Washington arrived in the midst of all our other distresses.\nIt is Scarcely decent after all this to mention the disappointment of our hopes of the return of our Children from Russia.\nSuch my Friend is the Lott of humanity. But the Case of our Calamities has rarely been equalled Since the days of Job. Yours however, in the time of the yellow Fever were more distressing.\nSeveral of our tenderest Connections and most essential Friends at and near fourscore remain to keep up a constant apprehension in our Minds of their and our approaching departure\nThe Reflections dictated by Philosophy and Religion upon these events need not be Suggested to you, to whom they are quite as familiar as to your Friend\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5706", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 4 November 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\nQuincy, Nov 4. 1811.\n Rough draft of the passport for British Ships.\nWe, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin and John Jay, three of the ministers plenipotentiary of the United States of America for making peace with Great Britain, to all captains or commanders of ships of war, privateers, or armed vessels belonging to the said states or to either of them, or to any of the citizens of the same, and to all others whom these presents may concern\u2014send greeting:\nWhereas peace and amity is agreed upon between the said United States and his Britannic majesty, and a suspension of hostilities to take place at different periods, in different places, hath also been agreed upon by their respective plenipotentiaries; and whereas it hath been further agreed by the said plenipotentiaries, to exchange one hundred passports for merchant vessels to the end that such as shall be provided with them shall be exempted from capture, although found in latitudes at a time prior to the taking place of the said suspension of hostilities therein. Now therefore know ye that free passport, licence, and permission, is hereby given to thecommander, now lying at the port ofand bound from thence to\u2014And we do earnestly enjoin upon and recommend to you to let and suffer the said vessel to pass unmolested to her destined port, and if need be, to afford her all such succour and aid as circumstances and humanity may require.\n Given under our hands and seals at Paris, on theday ofin the year of our Lord 1783.\nBy the King.\n A Proclamation declaring the cessation of arms as well by sea as land, agreed upon between his majesty the most christian king, the king of Spain, the States General of the United Provinces, and the United States of America; and enjoining the observance thereof.\u2014\nGeorge R.\u2014Whereas provisional articles were signed at Paris, on the thirtieth day of November last, between our commissioner for treating of peace with the commissioners of the United States of America, and the commissioners of the said states to be inserted in and to constitute the treaty of peace proposed to be concluded between us and the said United States, when terms of peace should be agreed upon between us and his most christian majesty. And whereas preliminaries for restoring peace between us and his most christian majesty were signed at Versailles on the 20th day of January last, by the ministers of us and the king of Spain; and whereas for putting an end to the calamity of war as soon and as far as may be possible, it hath been agreed between us, his most christian majesty the king of Spain, the States general of the United Provinces, and the United States of America, as follows, that is to say\u2014\n That such vessels and effects as should be taken in the channel, and in the north seas, after the space of twelve days, to be computed from the ratification of the said preliminary articles, should be restored on all sides; that the term should be one month from the channel and the north seas as far as the Canary Islands inclusively, whether in the ocean or in the Mediterranean; two months from the said Canary Islands as far as the equinoctial line or equator: and lastly, five months in all other parts of the world, without any exception or any more particular description of time or place. \nAnd whereas the ratifications of the said preliminary articles between us and the most christian king, in due form, were exchanged by the ministers of us and of the most christian king, on the third day of this instant, February; and the ratifications of the said preliminary articles between us and the king of Spain were exchanged between the ministers of us and of the king of Spain, on the ninth day of this instant, February; from which days respectively the several terms abovementioned, of twelve days, of one month, of two months, and of five months, are to be computed: and whereas it is our royal will and pleasure, that the cessation of hostilities between us and the states general of the United Provinces, and the United States of America, should be agreeable to the epochs fixed between us and the most christian king\u2014we have thought fit, by and with the advice of our privy council, to notify the same to all our loving subjects, and we do declare that our royal will and pleasure is, and we do hereby strictly charge and\ncommand all our officers both at sea and land, and all other our subjects whatsoever, to forbear all acts of hostility, either by sea or land, against his most christian majesty the king of Spain, the states general of the United Provinces, and the United States of America, their vessels or subjects, from and after the respective times abovementioned and under the penalty of incurring our highest displeasure.\nGiven at our Court at St. James\u2019 the fourteenth day of February, in the twenty-third year of our reign, and in the year of our Lord, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three.\nGod save the King!\nTo J. Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay, Esquires, Plenipotentiaries of the U. States of N. America.\n    Gentlemen\u2014I have the honor to transmit to you, herewith a packet containing one hundred passports for American vessels which I have this moment received by a courier from England.\n    I take this opportunity of acquainting you, that a Proclamation was issued out in the kings name, on the 14th inst, making known the cessation of hostilities, which has been agreed upon between the several belligerent powers, and declaring farther that the several epochas at which the said armistice is to commence between his Majesty and the United States of North America, are to be computed from the third day of this instant, February, being the day on which the ratifications of the preliminaries were exchanged between his Majesty and the most christian king. I must add that his Majesty was induced to take this step under the firm and just expectation that you gentlemen, will correspond to it, on your parts by adopting the same measure reciprocally in the name of the states, your masters.\n    I have the honor to be with great regard and esteem gentlemen, your most obedient and most humble servant,Signed,\n    Alleyne Fitzherbert.\n    By the ministers plenipotentiary of the United States of America for making peace with\n    Great-Britain.\n    A DECLARATION\n    Of the cessation of arms, as well by sea as Land,\n  agreed upon between his majesty the king of\n  Great-Britain and the United States of\n  America\u2014\n    Whereas, preliminary articles were signed at Paris on the thirtieth day of November last, between the plenipotentiaries of his said majesty the king of Great Britain, and of the said States, to be inserted in and to constitute the treaty of peace to be concluded between his said majesty, and the said United States, when terms of peace should be agreed upon between his said majesty, and his most christian majesty. And whereas preliminaries for restoring peace between his said majesty the king of Great Britain and his most christian majesty, were signed at Versailles on the twentieth day of January last, by the respective ministers of their said majesties\u2014And whereas preliminaries for restoring peace between his said majesty the king of Great Britain and his majesty the king of Spain, were also signed at Versailles on the 20th day of January last, by their respective ministers\u2014And whereas for putting an end to the calamity of war as soon and as far as possible, it hath been agreed between the king of Great-Britain, his most christian majesty, the king of Spain, the states general of the United Provinces, and the United States of America, as follows, that is to say\u2014\n    That such vessels and effects as should be taken in the channel and the north seas, after the space of twelve days, to be computed from the ratification of the said preliminary articles, should be restored on all sides\u2014that the term should be, one month from the channel and north seas, as far as the Canary Islands, inclusively, whether in the ocean or the Mediterranean; two months from the said Canary Islands as far as the equinoxial line or equator; and lastly, five months in all other parts of the world, without any exception, or any other more particular description of time or place.\n    And whereas the ratifications of the said preliminary articles between his said majesty the king of Great Britain, and his most christian majesty, in due form, were exchanged by their ministers, on the third day of this instant, February, from which day the several terms abovementioned, of one month, of two months, and of five months, are to be computed, relative to all British and American vessels and effects.\n    Now therefore, we, the ministers plenipotentiaries from the United States of America, for making peace with Great Britain, do notify to the people and citizens of the said United States of America, that hostilities on their part against his Britannic majesty, both by sea and land, are to cease at the expiration of the terms herein before specified therefor, and which terms are to be computed from the third day of February instant. And we do in the name and by the authority of the said United States accordingly warn and enjoin all their officers and citizens to forbear all acts of hostility, whatever, either by land or by sea, against his said majesty the king of Great Britain or his subjects, under the penalty of incurring the highest displeasure of the said United States.\n    Given at Paris, the twentieth day of February, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, under our hands and seals.Signed\n    John Adams, (L. S.)\n    B. Franklin, (L. S.)\n    John Jay, (L. S.)\n    The winter of 1783 and the spring till late in April, had passed away; Mr Oswald was returned to England, and no minister appeared to discuss a definitive treaty. At last Mr. David Hartley arrived. He had only an order of the king to make him a commission, but no commission. We objected to this and informed him that a regular commission must appear before any thing could be concluded\u2014but consented to confer in the mean time. And here my journal was resumed, but somewhat more negligently, because the new ministry had so much of the old Scotch leaven in it, that I had very little expectation that any thing would be done.\n    The journal however, such as it is, proceeds\u20141783, May 3, Saturday. Three articles proposed by the American ministers and delivered to Mr. Hartley 29th April, 1783:\n    Article 1.\u2014It is agreed that so soon as his Britannic majesty shall have withdrawn all his armies, garrisons and fleets, from the United States of America, and from every port, post, place and harbour within the same, as stipulated by the seventh article of the provisional treaty of 20th Nov. 1782, then and from thenceforth and during the term ofyears, all rivers, harbors, lakes, ports and places, belonging to the United States or any of them, shall be open and free to the merchants and other subjects of the crown of Great Britain, and their trading vessels; who shall be received, treated and protected, like the merchants and trading vessels of the state in which they may be, and be liable to no other charges or duties.\nAnd reciprocally all rivers, harbors, lakes, ports and places under the dominion of his Britannic majesty, shall henceforth be open and free to the merchants and trading vessels of the said United States, and of each and every of them, who shall be received, treated and protected, like the merchants and trading vessels of Great Britain, and be liable to no other charges or duties\u2014saving always to the chartered trading companies of Great Britain, such exclusive use and trade of their respective ports and establishments, as neither the other subjects of Great Britain or any of the most favored nation participate in.\n    Article 2.\u2014It is agreed that such persons as may be in confinement in the United States of America, for or by reason of the part they may have taken in the late war, shall be set at liberty, immediately on the evacuation of the said states by the troops and fleets of his Britannic majesty.\nAnd it is likewise agreed that all such persons who may be in confinement in any parts under the dominion of his Britannic majesty, for and by reason of the part which they may have taken in the late war, shall at the same time, be also immediately set at liberty.\n    Article 3.\u2014The prisoners made respectively by the arms of his Britannic majesty, and those of the United States of America, both by sea and land, shall be immediately set at liberty without ransom, on paying the debts they may have contracted during their captivity\u2014and each contracting party shall respectively reimburse the sums which shall have been advanced for the subsistence and maintenance of their prisoners, by the sovereign of the country where they shall have been detained, according to the receipts and attested accounts and other authentic titles, which shall be produced on each Side.\n    The journal of May 3, 1783, Saturday, proceeds:\u2014When we met Mr. Hartley on Tuesday last at Mr. Laurens\u2019, I first saw and first heard of Mr. Livingston\u2019s letter to Dr. Franklin upon the subject of peace, dated January 7, 1781, but endorsed by Dr. Franklin January 7, 1782. The peace is made and the negotiations all passed before I knew of this letter, and at last by accident. Such is Dr. Franklin!\n    Visited Mr. Jay; found him, his lady, Miss Laurens and Marquis de la Fayette at breakfast, going out of town. Visited Mr. Laurens\u2014not at home. Duke de la Vauguion\u2014not at home. Mr. Hartley at home; Mr. Laurens came in soon after. I agreed to make a visit to the Duke of Manchester this Evening. His rank as Duke and as Ambassador, and the superiority of the state he represents, make it unnecessary to attend to the rule in this town, which is that the last comer make the first visit, or to enquire very nicely what the sublime science of etiquette dictates upon this occasion.\n    Mr. Heartley proposes that we should agree that the English should continue their garrisons in Detroit, Niagara and Michillimachinac for a limited time, or that Congress should put garrisons into those places, to protect their people, traders and troops from the insults of the Indians. The Indians will be enraged to find themselves betrayed into the hands of those people against whom they have been excited to war.\n    Mr. Heartley proposes also, that we should agree that all the carrying places should be in common. This is a great point. These carrying places command the Fur trade. Mr. Laurens hinted to me, between us, that this was the complaint in England against the ministry who made the peace, that they had thrown the whole Fur trade into the hands of the United States, by ceeding all the carrying places; and that the lakes and waters were made useless to them by this means.\n    Mr. Laurens quoted a Creek king, who said he would not be for quarrelling with either side, especially with us Americans, for we were all born of the same Mother and sucked at the same breasts. But turning to his young men, he said, with tears in his eyes, whichever side prevails, I see that we must be cut off.\n    Mr. Heartley talked about Passamaquoddy, and the Islands at the mouth of the river St. Croix. He is for settling this matter, so as to prevent questions.\n    Between five and six I made my visit to the Duke of Manchester the British Ambassador upon his arrival. Not at home\u2014left my card.\n    The next day, or next but one, the Duke returned my visit; came up to my apartment, and spent an half hour in familiar conversation. He is between fifty and sixty\u2014a composed man\u2014plain Englishman.\n    One day this week I visited the Duke de la Vauguion upon his arrival from the Hague; who returned my visit in a day or two.\n    Thus ends the journal of May the third 1783.\nJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5707", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 9 November 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\nThe journal proceeds\u20141783, Monday, May 5th.\u2014Dined with my family at comte Sarsefields. The dukes de la Vauguion and de la Rochefaucault, Mr. Jay, &c. were of the party.\n1783, Tuesday, May 6.\u2014Dined at Mr. Jay\u2019s. Lt. General Mullville, who is here to solicit for the inhabitants of Tobago the continuance of their assembly and trials by jury, was there.\n1783, Wednesday, May 7.\u2014Dined at Mr. Calmer\u2019s.\n1783, Thursday, May 8.\u2014The duke de la Vauguion, and Mr. Hartley, Mr. Laurens, Mr. Jay, Mr. Barclay and Mr. Ridley, dined with me.\n1783, Friday, May 9.\u2014Dined with Mr. Laurens, with a large company. The marquis de la Fayette shewed the beginning of an attack upon the chancellor, &c. &c.\n[N.B. in 1811.\u2014At this time began to flow a stream of pamphlets, chansons, vaudevilles, epigrams, and every species of libels against the ministry, which gradually increased to a torrent and ended in an inundation which overwhelmed all government and all religion for a time\u2014produced such a scene of horror as never was exemplified; and ended at last as all such inconsiderate enterprizes ever must end, in military empire.]\n1783, Saturday, May 10th\u2014Dined with the marquis de la Fayette, with a large American company.\n1783, Monday, May 19th.\u2014The American ministers met Mr. Hartley at my house, and he shewed us his commission and we shewed him ours. His commission is very magnificent; the great seal in a silver box with the king\u2019s arms engraven on it, with two large gold tassels, &c. as usual. The commissions of the comtes de Vergennes and D\u2019Aranda, on the twentieth of January, were plainer than ours, and upon paper. The French reserve their silver boxes to the exchange of ratifications.\nDined with Mr. Laurens and Mr. Jay, at Mr. Martley\u2019s hotel de York.\nWe are to meet of evenings at six o\u2019clock, de die in diem, at my House.\nMr. Hartley informed us to-day that the king\u2019s council had not agreed to our precautions of putting Brittons on the same footing of Americans in all American ports, rivers, &c. and Americans on the footing of Britains in all British ports, rivers, &c. He says he is very sorry for this, because he thinks it (the proposition) just and politic; and he shall ever be, in parliament, for bringing things to that point.\n1783, Tuesday, May 20th.\u2014Saw Philadelphia papers to the 12th of April. The corvette dispatched from Cadiz by the comte D\u2019Estaing, carried the first news of the preliminaries of the twentieth of January. Mr. Livingston wrote it to Carlton and Digby; but they thought it, however respectable, not authentic for them.\u2014Soon after the February packet arrived at New York from whence English newspapers were sent out, and the provisional and preliminary treaties all published in the Philadelphia papers.\nVisited Mr. Hartley\u2014He said he thought the Dutch negotiation in a bad way; and that there would be a civil contest in Holland, a Struggle between the statholder and the states. Mr. Hartley said, that some Dutch friends he had in London had told him there would be a civil dissentation in Holland, and he was now more convinced of it. He said the king of Prussia and the king of England would take the part of the statholder. I answered, they would do well to consider whether, in that case, France and the emperor would not assist the republicans, and thus throw all Europe into a flame? I told him I thought the English policy towards the republic all wrong. They were wrong to make themselves partizans of the statholder against the republicans; that they ought to be impartial; that they were interested in the conservation of the liberties of that country. If that spot should be annexed to the empire or to France, it would be fatal to Great Britain\u2014That without its liberty it could not maintain its Independency. Human life, in that country, struggling against the sea, and in danger from so many quarters, would be too painful and discouraging, without liberty. That the king of England and the statholder would make a fatal mistake if they thought of making the latter a sovereign or of increasing his power. The country would not be worth the governing.\u2014That the families of Orange and Brunswick owed their grandeur to the cause of liberty; and if they now engaged in a conspiracy against it, they must go to Italy after the Stewarts.\nI added that Sir Joseph York had been wrong to attach himself so closely to the Court and declare war so decidedly against the Patriots; that he should have kept upon good terms with the er,   Cappellans, Vanberchel, Gyselaer, Visher, &c. That I had reflected much upon this subject. I had always been ready to acknowledge, that I could not distinctly foresee what would be the consequence of our independence in Europe. It might depress England too much, and elevate the House of Bourbon too high. If this should be the case, neither England nor America, could depend upon the moderation of such absolute monarchies and such ambitious nations. America might find France and Spain, demanding of her, things which she could not grant. So might England. Both might find it necessary to their safety to gain; and in such a case it would be of great importance to both, to have Holland join them. Whereas the policy of the British Court, if pursued, would drive the Dutch into the Arms of France and fix them there. That I hoped the case put would never happen; but England would have a stronger reason than ever now to cultivate the friendship of Holland. That in my opinion she ought to give up Negapatnam and the liberty of navigation; give satisfaction to the Dutch, and carry an even hand in future between the court and the states. That the British minister ought to seek the acquaintance and friendship of the principal Patriots in all the provinces, and give them the assurances of his Court that nothing should be attempted against their constitution.\nMr. Hartley said he was of my mind, and had said as much to Mr. Fox before he left London but the king would stand by the statholder. The king said Mr. Hartley, will go wrong in Holland, and in Ireland and Scotland too; but it will all work against himself. There are discontents in Scotland, as well as Ireland. We shall have struggles, but I don\u2019t dread these. We shall have settled with America; and the American war was all that I dreaded.\n1783, Wednesday, May 21 What is it in the air, which burns? When we blow a spark with the bellows, it spreads. We force a current of air to the fire, by this machine; and in this air are inflammatory particles. Can it be in the same manner, that life is continued by the breath? Are there any particles conveyed into the blood of animals, through the lungs, which increase the heat of it? or is the pulse caused by rarifying the blood or any part of it into vapour, like the experiment made with spirits of wine in a glass tube, with a globule at each end? If one end or globule is placed in a position a little warmer than the other, you see a pulsation caused by repeated rarifications of the spirits of wine, into vapour at one end, which flows to the other, and then reflows to its formal position where it is again rarified and protruded. The external air, drawn into the lungs, in breathing through the mouth or nostrils, either leaves some particles behind in the lungs or in the blood; or carries some particles off, with it. It may do both i.e. carry in some particles that are salubrious, and carry out others which are noxious. The air once breathed is certainly altered. It is unfit to be breathed again. The body is said to render unfit for respiration a gallon of air in a minute. Four persons in a coach would render unfit, four hogsheads of air in an hour, which is more than a coach would hold; which shews the necessity of keeping the windows open, and of frequently airing your dining rooms, keeping rooms, and bed chambers. I suspect that the health of mankind is much injured by their inattention to this subject.\n[N.B. in 1811.\u2014The Philosophers, I fear will receive a little edification from these idle speculations and conjectures, which with several other trifles equally insignificant, I would have omitted, if I had not been under obligation in point of honor to print the whole of that Journal which was communicated to congress by mistake, and which the avengeful Scott has represented in so terrible a light, with all the ignorant and insolent malignity of David Hume against John Locke.\n\t\t\t\tThe journal proceeds\u20141783, Wednesday, May 21\u2014Mr. Hartley, Mr. Franklin, Mr. Laurens, met me at my house, Hotel de Roi, au Carrousel, this evening; and we exchanged with Mr. Hartley full powers, and entered into conferences.Mr. Hartley\u2019s commission is as follows.George R.\u2014George the third, by the grace of God, King of Great Britain, France and Ireland, defender of the faith, Duke of Brunswick, and Lunenbourg, Arch Treasurer and Prince Elector of the holy Roman empire, &c. To all to whom these presents shall come\u2014greeting.Whereas for the perfecting and establishing the peace, friendship and good understanding so happily commenced by the provisional articles signed at Paris, the thirtieth day of November last by the commissioners of us, and our good friends the U. States of America, viz. N. Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay, Rhode-Island, Connecticut, New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, the three lower counties on Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia, in North America, and for opening, promoting and rendering perpetual, the mutual intercourse of trade and commerce between our kingdoms, and the dominions of the said\nUnited States, we have thought proper to invest some fit person with full powers on our part to meet and confer with the ministers of the said United States, now residing at Paris, duly authorized for the accomplishment of such laudable and salutary purposes.Now know ye, that we, reposing special trust and confidence, in the wisdom, loyalty, diligence and circumspection of our trusty and well beloved David Hartley, Esq. on whom we have heretofore conferred the rank of our minister plenipotentiary, have nominated, constituted and appointed, and by these presents do nominate, constitute and appoint him, our true, certain and undoubted commissioner, procurater and plenipotentiary, giving and granting to him, all and all manner of faculty, power and authority, together with general as well as special order, (so as the general do not derogate from the special, nor on the contrary) for us and in our name to meet, confer, treat and conclude with the minister or ministers furnished with sufficient powers, on the part of our said good friends the U. S of America, of and concerning all such matters and things as may be requisite and necessary for accomplishing and completing the several ends and purposes herein before mentioned, and also for us and in our name to sign such treaty or treaties, convention or conventions, or other instruments whatsoever as may be agreed upon in the premises, and mutually to deliver and receive the same in exchange, and to do and perform all such other acts, matters and things as may be any ways proper and conducive to the purposes above mentioned, in as full and ample form and manner and with the like validity and effect, as we ourselves, if we were present, could do and perform the same; engaging and promising on our royal word, that we will accept ratify and confirm in the most effectual manner, all such acts, matters and things, as shall be so transacted and concluded by our aforesaid commissioner, procurater and plenipotentiary, and that we will never suffer any person to violate the same, in the whole nor in part, or to act contrary thereto. In testimony and confirmation of all which, we have caused our great seal of Great Britain, to be affixed to these presents, signed with our royal hand.Given at our Palace, at St James\u2019 the fourteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and eighty three, and the twenty third year of our reign.I, David Hartley, the minister above mentioned, certify the foregoing to be a true copy from my original commission delivered to the American ministers on the 19th day of May, 1783.Signed, D. Hartley.Wednesday, May 21, 1783\u2014The journal proceeds\u2014Mr. Hartley made us the following proposition, in writing, viz:Whereas, it is highly necessary that an intercourse of trade and commerce should be opened between the people and territories belonging to the crown of Great Britain and the people and territories of the United States of America; and whereas it is highly expedient that the intercourse between Great Britain and the said United States should be established on the most enlarged principles of reciprocal benefit to both countries; but from the distance between Great Britain and America, it must be a considerable time before any convention or treaty for establishing and regulating the trade and intercourse between Great Britain and the said United States of America upon a permanent foundation can be concluded: Now, for the purpose of making a temporary regulation of the commerce and intercourse between Great Britain & the said United States of America.\u2014It is agreed, that all the citizens of the United States of America, shall be permitted to import into and export from any part of His Britannic Majesty\u2019s dominions in American ships, any goods, wares and merchandizes which have been so imported or exported by the inhabitants of the British American colonies before the commencement of the war, upon payment of the same duties and charges, as the like sort of goods or merchandize are now, or may be subject and liable to, if imported by British subjects in British ships, from any British island or plantation in America. And that all the subjects of his Britannic Majesty shall be permitted to import, and to export from any part of the territories of the thirteen United States of America in British ships, any goods, wares and merchandizes, which might have been so imported or exported by the subjects of his Britannic Majesty, before the commencement of the war, upon payment of the same duties and charges as the like sort of goods, wares and merchandizes are now or may be subject and liable to, if imported in American ships by any of the citizens of the United States of America.This agreement to continue in force untilProvided always, that nothing contained in this agreement shall at any time hereafter, be argued, on either side in support of any future demand or claim.Mr. Hartley withdrew, and we entered into consultation upon his proposition.We agreed to write a line to Mr. Hartley, to inquire if he thought himself authorised to sign that agreement without further orders from St James\u2019. The gentlemen proposed that I as first in the commission should write. I answered that in that case I must have their sanction to the letter. They desired me to draw one. I sat down to the table and wrote\u2014Sir\u2014The American Ministers have done me the honor to direct me to present you their compliments, and desire to be informed whether you think yourself sufficiently authorised to agree and subscribe to the proposition you have made them this evening, without further instructions or information from your court.Dr. Franklin moved that the secretary should sign and tender, which was agreed, the letter being approved in the foregoing words.The gentlemen desired me to draw and answer to Mr. Grand\u2019s letter, and a letter to the bankers in Amsterdam; which I agreed to do, and lay it before them at their next meeting.Thus ends the journal of Wednesday, May 21, 1783.\n\t\t\t\t\tJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5709", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Stoddert, 16 November 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Stoddert, Benjamin\nDear Stoddart\nQuincy November 16th 1811\nI received in season your obliging favour of the 27th of October, but an unusual combination of calamities have prevented an acknowledgment of it till this time.\nYou need not be concerned my good Friend about Timothy\u2019s attack on my moral character. Nobody here believes him. His own most devoted Fools, I beg pardon, I mean even the Artizans who have employed him as their devoted Fool do not believe him. They know that what he has published and propagated concerning me is false and that all his long series of publications have done them and him more harm than good.\nThere is a proverbial saying in our County of Essex, the Hive of the Swarm that \u201ca Pickering could never be happy in heaven, because he must there find, and acknowledge a superiour.\u201d\nThe facts and thoughts in your Letter would require a volume instead of a transient Epistle to explain to you all my recollections upon reading them. I declare upon my honour and am ready to depose upon oath that I never had any communication directly or indirectly with Samuel or Robert Smith concerning the change in the office of State or concerning any Election of President, or Vice President. You never hinted to me, nor till I received your Letter of the 27th October 1811 had I ever the least hint or suspicion of any such conversation as you relate between General \u201cSamuel Smith and the Senator of high standing,\u201d on one side and yourself on the other.\nLet me remark a moment on what you say of Col Burr. You say that Col Burr exerted himself with so much success in New York as to produce a result that disappointed every body. It did not disappoint me. I had information upon the subject which could not be known to you. I knew that Hamilton had opposed my Election as Vice President in 1788, and my Election at every subsequent period as Vice President and as President as far as he dared and in his secret hypocritical manner. All this you may hereafter see explained more at large. For the present I will only say that walking in the Streets of Philadelphia, I met Colonel Joseph Lyman of Springfield in Massachusetts then a member of the house and as honest and amiable a Man as ever sat in Congress. Walking on the opposite Trottoire, as soon as he saw me, he crossed over, and asked \u201cif I had heard the secret History from New-York?\u201d I answered nothing in particular. \u201cWell said Lyman I can tell you some.\u201d What is it? \u201cHamilton has divided the Federalists of New York.\u201d How divided them? \u201cHe has called together a secret meeting of his confidential Friends among the Federalists and communicated to them in Caucus his design of excluding you from the Presidency and bringing in General Pinkney, and of selecting a List of Representatives for the City in their State Legislature who will concur with this plan in the choice of Electors of President and Vice President. This has disgusted great numbers of the Federalists and even several of his closest Friends, who declare they will not give countenance to any such scheme.\u201d Col Lyman added \u201cI am glad of all this for it will be the total ruin of that pernicious Faction.\u201d I answered No! Col Lyman it will be the ruin of that Faction only by brining in Mr Jefferson. If your secret news is true, Mr Jefferson is infallibly President.\nI had afterwards more ample details from various Quarters both by Letters and oral Information, and especially of Hamiltons communicating his project to the Cincinnati at New York when they chose him President of that society, who concurred with him in general though not unanimously. Nothing astonished me so much as the information I received that two Docters in Divinity, The Right Reverend knights of Cincinnaties with their blue Ribbons at their Black Button holes united cordially in express words with Hamilton, \u201cWe must sacrifice Adams.\u201d The black and blue Knights and Docters were Dwight of New Haven, and Hitchcock of Providence.\nHamilton after he had called his secret Caucuses, and his public body meetings and made his harangues in private, and public, in some of which I believe he got his death prevailed upon his Party to agree to a List of his own for Representatives of the City. They were men of Little weight, obscure in name, poor in purse, mean in Talents and meritorious only as they were confidential Friends of the great and good Hamilton. Burr who had his spies every where as Hamilton had soon got a sight of Hamiltons Ticket. He looked deliberately over it and paused. And this is Hamiltons Ticket? Is it?\u201d The answer was it is. Burr calmly put the paper in his pocket and rising from his seat, and walking across the room, \u201cNow\u201d said Burr \u201cI have him all hollow.\u201d Without loss of time he rattled about the City, sent his agents into the Country, stirred up the Livingstons, and Clintons, to unite, knowing though Hamilton did not that all the Politicks of New York were, and always had been as they are to this day, Family Feuds. Brackholst and all his name cordially joined him. Clinton and all his train of Dutch, Irish, and Presbyterians of all denominations concurred. And such men as governor Clinton, General Gates, and others the most respectable men agreed to stand Candidates for an Election in the City as Representatives, to go to Albany to vote for Electors of President, and Vice President, who would certainly vote for Jefferson, and Burr, or Jefferson and Clinton. The report instantly spread through the State that the Livingstons Clintons Burr and all were united to bring in Jefferson, and carried the Elections through the State in opposition to Hamilton, and all his Scotch Succeedors, his old Tories, his English Traders, by whom alone he had been first created, constantly preserved, and most bountifully rewarded.\nAll this I understood quite as well as Burr and much better than my amiable Friend Lyman and infinitely better than Hamilton, and instantly concluded that the business was done. Jefferson was President, whether Clinton or Burr was Vice President, or any other. And I felt the humiliation of my situation obliged to appear, to stand Candidate knowing that it would end in disgrace. Had I resigned you know that eternal vengeance would have been pronounced against me by the Federalists for having deserted their cause and eternal contempt by the Republicans for being a Poltroon.\nI certainly \u201cfelt it to be a sacred duty to make a change in the department of State,\u201d as you say. I told you and Mr Lee on the morning of the day on which the change was made. I have felt the duty ever since and feel it to this moment; and my conscience at this moment, exults, and triumphs, in the recollection of the resolute performance of it.\nWhen I said to you and Mr Lee that I respected Col Pickering for his industry, his Talents, and his Integrity I had not time, nor would it have been generous or prudent to have entered into discussions, distinctions, or Limitations. Indeed I have maintained a very close reserve of my opinions of Col Pickering having never had any disposition to hurt him or his Friends. At present I am completely absolved from all obligations of secrecy, and indeed of delicacy. I still respect his industry. Of his Integrity: I have nothing to say at present. My opinion of his abilities was the same as it is now. You may collect it in part from the following history. Going to bed lately in tolerable health and spirits I soon fell into a Reverie imagining myself in company with Timothy Pickering, Stephen Higginson, Theophilus Parsons, George Cabot, and Johnathan Jackson, in an Elegant Apartment in the Exchange Coffee house in Boston, with a good fire, bright lights, excellent wine, and odoriferous Segars. In perfect good humour they all with one accord, asked me to reveal to them candidly and frankly my reason for removing Col Pickering from the Department of State. I shall break up the Club: you will all be offended. No, one and all declared, We will take no offence and Col Pickering with more Emphasis than any one solemnly assured me that he would not be displeased let me say what I would. Upon these preliminaries being settled the following Dialogue ensued.\nA. To comply with your request at large and detail all the facts and reasons I had, for displacing Col Pickering would consume the whole night, and all the day tomorrow: but the essential and ultimate cause and that without which he would not have been removed was his Incapacity.\nHigginson: Incapacity!!! How can you say a word about his Incapacity? I am sure he is a very able Man; and all his reports as well as his correspondence with Governor Sullivan and his late addresses to the People especially shew him to be a very able Writer.\nA. A man may be able in some things and imbecile in others. A Man may be a great writer too, without being fit for a Secretary of State: There are thousands of Instances.\nJackson. What Examples occur to you?\nA. They croud upon me in such multitudes, that I can scarcely see wood for Trees. However if you must have specimens I may hint at a few. The Reverend David Austin wrote me Letters perpetually for two years in a fluent early style, full of strong expressions, and bright thoughts, to persuade me to send him to France, as an Ambassador: but he did not convince me of his Qualifications.\nPickering. He wrote me too: but I burned his Letters as fast as they came.\nA. There are two very remarkable cases this year in Virginia, Nimrod Hughes, and Christopher Macpherson. The former has published a gross volume, very well written to prove that one third of Mankind is to be destroyed on the fourth day of next June. The Latter has printed a Volume Letters to Kings and Emperors, and of other learned and ingenious Papers to prove that he is An Ambassador Extraordinary from the King of Kings vested with full powers to govern the World. and none of you Gentlemen would think either Nimrod, or Christopher, fit for Secretaries of State.\nCabot. Fie! you are too ludicrous now.\nA. Well I will be more serious. Col Pickerings honoured, Pious, and Virtuous Father was a great and able writer. I have been edified in my youth by reading many eloquent Letters to the king and many learned and Argumentative Publications asserting and maintaining the rights of the first Church in Salem.\nHis Reverend Uncle too was a great and able writer in Vindication of the Orthodox Faith. Col P. has a kind of hereditary right to be a great and able writer. Yet I believe neither of you Gentlemen would think the venerable Father, or the Reverend Uncle fit for Secretaries of State.\nColonel Pickering. Now you come too near. you Satyr is cruel.\nA. Remember you promised not to take offence, let me say what I would. I used these Examples as illustrations of my Argument, Not to hurt your feelings or to express any disrespect to the memories of the Characters alluded to which were very venerable and respectable.\nJackson This is too wicked.\nA. Well let it pass and be forgotten. Another example I hope will not be thought wicked or malicious Dr Priestley was the greatest and ablest writer of his age. He wrote an hundred Volumes to the admiration of all the world. He solicited me in person to send him on a Mission to France. I admired Dr Priestly and should have been glad to oblige him. He might have been as brilliant a Feather in my Cap as Grotius was to Louis 14th. at least in the opinion of Philosophers. But I could not in Conscience believe that he was qualified for the office or capable of performing its duties. The Senate would have negatived him and every one of you Gentlemen, as well as the people of America, would have thought me a Candidate for Dr Rush\u2019s tranquillizing Chair, If I had appointed him.\nAll. Agreed.\nA. A Secretary of State requires something more than common abilities, and much more than the Talents of a fine writer. A man may be very fit to be Post Master General, but very unfit for a Secretary of State: A man may be well qualified to be a Commissary General, or a Quarter Master General, in an Army and yet destitute of much information and Intelligence indispensable in a Secretary of State. A Man might make an excellent Surveyor, Comptroller or Collector of the Customs, and nevertheless be very deficient in that variety of knowledge and comprehension of mind necessary for a Secretary of State. I was so far from being an Enemy to Col Pickering, that if General Lincoln had died at that time I verily believe I should have nominated him to be Collector at Boston or if there had been a Vacancy in Philadelphia I should have proposed him for Collector of that Port. And after that I had serious thoughts of appointing him a judge of one of the Circuit Courts. But the acrimony of his Temper, his Irascible Passions, and his extreme susceptibility of Prejudices, forced upon me great doubts, whether he could perform the duties of a judge to the satisfaction of the People: and all these qualities, added to his ignorance of Law, I knew would disgust the Bar, and the best Judges.\nParsons. It is dangerous disputing the knowledge of Law in a Judge. Col P. wrote with great ability, eloquence, and spirit, against the French.\nA. Recollect our compact. However I should not be afraid to appeal to you, for his knowledge of the Law. As to his Phillipicks against the French, or the English, or his Phillipicks against Mr Gerry, I demur to all that evidence. Phillipicks any more than Panegyricks are not decisive Evidence of Qualifications to be a Secretary of State. If nothing remained of Cicero but his Phillipicks against Virros, Cataline, and Anthony I should not dare to infer from them that he was fit for a Consul. Had nothing remained of Demosthenes but his invectives against Philip, I should not have concluded him fit for the first Magistrate in Athens. To descend to our own times, with all the Panegyrick, and Phillipicks of Fox, and Burke, added to all their experience I am not able to say that either or both of them together were fit to direct the affairs of a great Nation, And I never wondered at King George\u2019s distrust of them.\nParsons. Your Ideas of the Talents, and Qualities of a Secretary of State, seem to be very lofty.\nA. Why did you not say \u201csublimated and Eccentric?\u201d\nParsons. What qualifications fo you judge essential to a Minister of State?\nA. A Secretary of State, for the united States of America, at the time when Col Pickering was removed ought to have been possessed of a very rare combination of Virtues as well as Talents and Knowledge. He ought to have penetrated into the remotest recesses of Antiquity, and the most distant Corners of the Earth a Compendium of all arts and Sciences as well as of the universal History of Men, Nations, and Government ought to be comprehended and well digested in his Mind.\nParsons. Heavens! where is such a Man to be found?\nA. When a perfect likeness is not to be had, The Painter will take the best he can find; as I did when I appointed Marshall Minister and you Attorney General. Recollect the situation of this Country at the time when Mr Pickering was removed. We were wrangling with Spain about Spoilations on our Commerce as well as the Demarkation of Limits and Pickering made this move inconvenient and dangerous by his quarrel with Yruro. We were at Swords Points with France and Pickering wanted to continue so. We were in the utmost danger of a rupture with England. The demands of British Creditors, and American Tories which were made upon the Commissioners at Philadelphia were so exorbitant amounting I believe to twenty Millions Sterling that the American Commissioners were obliged to break up the board. The board of Commissioners in London before whom were demands of American Merchants for damages for spoilations on their Commerce to an immense amount was also broken up. All at a stand! Clamours on all hands! British Commissioners, and Agents Scribbling! Complaints of Impressments of Seamen continual &c &c &c\nIn this situation the Department of Sate demanded a Man of the largest mind, of the coolest Temper, of the most general information, and above all a consummate knowledge of the Law of Nature and Nations, the civil Law, the common and Statue Laws of England, and of the common and Statute Laws of the United States, and the several States.\nParsons. Well, had not Pickering all these accomplishments?\nA. No! not one of them; At least he appeared to me to be totally destitute of all of them. At this time he loved England and hated France, as fervently as a few years before he hated England and loved France. He appeared to me studiously, deliberately, and diligently, to obstruct and embarrass me in all my endeavors to negotiate a Peace with France: and to be totally at a loss what to do, say, or write, on the subject of British Creditors, Tory claims, or the difficulties before the boards of Commissioners in England and America. I could get nothing done; nothing written to Mr King that was satisfactory. As to the complaints of Impressments of American Seamen I could get nothing out of him but muttering, \u201cThey have a right to their own deserters;\u201d They have a right to their own Seamen; \u201cThey have a right to their own subjects.\u201d &c &c. In short I was convinced that without a new Secretary of State, I should not be able to make peace with France, nor keep the Peace with England. That I should leave the Government in the most perplexed, exasperated State imaginable both with France and England and go out of office with a consciousness on my own Mind that I had shrunk from a Measure which I belived might have extricated us out of our difficulties.\nA change was therefore determined on.\u2014But where to find a Successor? I had considered every man in the Nation that I knew and had fixed upon two or three; but whether any one of them would accept the appointment such was the Fury of the Parties, and such the open declarations of dissatisfaction with me made by the principal Federalists was very doubtful. Washington had found such difficulties that he had been forced to take such as he could get; I was determined to have such as I could depend on or none I asked my questions, but nominated Marshall I was determined if he refused, which I very much feared, to nominate another, and if he refused one more; and if he refused I was determined to make a formal written resignation of my office and let Mr Jefferson, do the best he could.\nMarshal however with much hesitation, reluctance, and diffidence, accepted and Pickering himself acknowledged that the office had never been so well filled.\nWith my new Minister I had immediately every thing done that I wished to be done and entirely to my satisfaction. All Controversies with France, England, and Spain, were amicably settled and in a manner that neither had any Colour of Complaint.\nCabot. But could you not have supplied his deficiency  in Knowledge? and borne with a little sharpness of Temper?\nAdams. I have not said that I possessed the knowledge, but if I had every day must have been a week, to have afforded me time, to do the duties of all the offices.\nAs to the temper I could and would have endured all his Peevishness and Fretfulness, all his snapping and snarling and the brutality of his temperate Friend Goodhue; and all his intrigues with Senators and all his railings about me and my Friends, if he had been capable of performing the Essentials of his Office.\nHere Madam leaping out of bed and knocking the servants up, as usual awakened me at four o\u2019clock. The dream was so odd, and so true, that I determined to send it to you. As it expresses the truth judge you whether it was not my duty, to God, to Mankind to my Country and to myself to remove Pickering.\nJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5710", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Rush, 21 November 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\nDr Sir\nQuincy November 21, 1811.\nOn this our Thanksgiving day, among innumerable other Blessings, I have to thank express my Gratitude for your favour of Nov. 11. I do not believe that Boethius\u2019s Consolations of Philosophy, which however I have never read, would do me more good.\nI hasten to answer your Questions, that your friendly Sympathies may be no longer afflicted or allarmed. Indeed I almost repent of the Simple Tale I told you of our sorrows. It Seems ungenerous and malevolent to afflict others with our Misfortunes.\nMy Sons Wound is entirely healed. my  I walk as usual a few miles a day. My \nI was once present when a Portrait of one of the Chiefs of the Six Nations was shewn to him. It had been taken slyly by stealth when he was not aware of the Painters design. He knew himself and was much displeased. I asked him his Reason? He said he was a Warriour, and liable to be killed on any day. And he wished that nothing might remain of him to remind his Friends of him and give them pain for his loss. Is this a natural Sentiment? or a savage Refinement of Friendship and Benevolence? Or was it affectation and Indian Hypocrisy?\nI look with delight on the Pictures of my departed Friends and wish I had many more of them, than are now to be procured.\nI am not melancholy nor gloomy, but as much disposed to badinage as ever, as an instance of it, you may expect to receive Letters from me, till the 30th of Octr next if I live so long written in the genuine Spirit of Seventy Six. Witness my hand\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5711", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Samuel Smith, 25 November 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Smith, Samuel\nSir\nQuincy November 25. 1811\nColonel Pickering in his Letters or Addresses to The People of The United States has represented to the world and Supported by Certificates or Testimonies which Some Persons think plausible, that a corrupt Bargain was made between Yourself and your Brother, on one part and me on the other, that I Should dismiss the then Secretary of State from his office, in consideration of your Votes and Influence for me at the next of Election of a President and Vice President.\nAs Such a kind of Trafick would be as dishonourable to yourself and your Brother as to me, I think it would become all three of Us, to take Some prudent Measures to disabuse the Public if not to vindicate our Characters.\nFor my own Part I declare upon my honour and am at any time ready to depose upon Oath that no Such Communication, Intimation, or Insinuation ever passed, directly or indirectly between me and Yourself or your Brother. You must therefore know and feel the Imputation both upon me and yourself to be false and injurious. Consequently I can See no Objection that either of Us can have to clearing Up this matter before the Public.\nI should be much obliged to you, Sir, for your Sentiments upon this Subject, and continue to be, with much respect / your most obedient and humble Servant\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5712", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Robert Smith, 25 November 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Smith, Robert\nSir,\nQuincy November 25th. 1811\nColonel Pickering in his Letters or Addresses to the People of The United States has represented to the world and supported by Certificates or Testimonies which some persons think plausible, that a corrupt Bargain was made between yourself and your Brother on one part, and me on the other; that I should dismiss the then Secretary of State from his office, in consideration of your votes and Influence for me at the next Election of President and Vice President.\nNo such a kind of Traffic would be as dishonourable to yourself and your Brother as to me I think it would become all three of us, to take some prudent measures to disabuse the public if not to vindicate our Characters.\nFor my own part I declare upon my honour and am at any time ready to depose upon oath that no such communication Intimation, or Insinuation, ever passed directly or Indirectly between me and yourself or your Brother. You must therefore know and feel the imputation both upon me and yourself to be false and injurious. Consequently I can see no objection that either of us can have to clearing up this matter before the public.\nI should be much obliged to you Sir for your sentiments upon this subject and continue to be with much respect, your most obedient and humble Servant\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5713", "content": "Title: To John Adams from John Lathrop, 30 November 1811\nFrom: Lathrop, John\nTo: Adams, John\nHond Sir,\nBoston Novr 30. 1811\nAs I have heretofore had the honour to request your acceptance of such Discourses as my people requested me to make publick, you will permit me to request your acceptance of the One delivered on the last Thanksgiving. I hope there is nothing in it that can give disquietude to a mind purely American; and if it shall Serve in any measure to turn the thoughts of such as may read it from party views, to the true interest of our country, and the things which shall tend to honourable peace, my purpose in delivering it, and in consenting to have it printed, will be answered.\nWith great respect and esteem, / I am / you most obedt Servt\nJohn Lathrop.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5714", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Robert Smith, 30 November 1811\nFrom: Smith, Robert\nTo: Adams, John\nSir,\nBaltimore Nov. 30. 1811\u2014\nIn reply to your letter of the 25th of this month, just received, I have no hesitation in stating to you, that, at no period, of your administration, did I consider or understand, that any kind of bargain or arrangement had, directly or indirectly, in any manner or form, been proposed or made between yourself on the one part and my brother & myself or either of us on the other part, in relation the dismission of Mr Pickering from the office of the Department of State.\nBe pleased to accept an assurance of the great respect with which I have the honor to be, Sir, your Humble Servt\nR Smith", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5715", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Samuel Smith, 1 December 1811\nFrom: Smith, Samuel\nTo: Adams, John\nSir\nWashington 1 Decemr. 1811\nI had the honor yesterday to receive your letter of the 25h. Ulto. in which you Say\u2014\u201cThat Coll. Pickering in his letters to the people of the U.S has represented to the World, that a corrupt bargain was made between yourself and Brother on the One part and me on the other, that I Should dismiss the then Secy. of State from his office, as consideration of your Votes & influence for me at the next Election of President & Vice President.\nYou appear to be of Opinion that form notice ought to be taken of this assertion to disabuse the public, justly observing, that no Such communication had ever passed directly or indirectly between you my Brother & myself.\nI have taught myself to despise every attack upon any political Character, and I cannot persuade myself that any Man acquainted with your high Character will believe that you would have permitted any person to have made to you a proposition So very dishonourable,\u2014for myself I declare that I never had any conversation with you respecting Coll. Pickering that I never heard you utter one word disrespectful of that Gentleman, that I never did insinuate or express a Wish to you that you would dismiss Coll. Pickinger from office, nor did I ever insinuate or Say, that I would for any consideration whatsoever support you by my Vote or influence at the Election of President & Vice President. I never believed myself in your Confidence. on the Contrary I did at that period think that you were personally hostile to me,\u2014It is well known that I opposed your first Election and your Reelection openly on political Ground.\nIt is not known to me that you  had any knowledge, of my Brother Robert at the period alluded to\u2014if any communication had ever passed between you & him it must have been known to me I never knew of any and I am certain that none did take place.\nI have the honor to be / your Obedt. Servt\nS. Smith", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5718", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Waterhouse, 3 December 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Waterhouse, Benjamin\nQuincy December 3. 1811\nA Visit from you my good Friend, would be a cordial, and if honoured by His Honour would raise my Spirit as high as they are capable of rising: but the demands of his time and attention, from private and public affairs are constantly so urgent, that I wonder not at your disappointments.\nI am able to give you little or no Satisfaction, in answer to your Inquiries.\nI know of no Authority given in Scripture to the Prieshood to order National Fasts or Thanksgivings. The Pope in Countries that acknowledge his infallibility may order what he will. Bishops write Pastoral Letters to their Diocesses. The General assemblies of Presbyterian Churches in Scotland and America, and Synods and Councils recommend Fasts and Thanksgivings. In France and in Russia Te Dunn is ordered to be Sung, for Victories for the Birth of Princes &c I suppose by the Emperors and Kings. In England, Since The Reformation, Kings have appointed National Fasts and Thanksgivings, by Proclamation and have sometimes ordered Forms of Prayer to be prepared, sometimes by the Convocation and Sometimes by The Archbishop of Canterbury. I remember no Fast or Thanksgiving in Holland. Of Switzerland I know nothing.\nIn New England The Governors have from the first Settlement of the Country appointed Fasts and Thanksgivings annually and occasionally by Proclamation. But they have no legal binding Force. They are no more than respectable Recommendations. They have been observed as punctually in general as the Sabbath\nThe Old Congress appointed Continental Fasts.\nWashington appointed a Thanksgiving and Adams a Fast: but they were not observed by some and as they ought have been.\nI believe the House of Representatives in 1774 recommended a Fast and it was as Sacredly obs as any Sunday I ever knew. Returning from the  Circuit, I rode all that day, through a Country as still as Midn No Labour or Recreation. There is no legal Authority civil or ecclesiastical in America for enjoining and compelling obedience to any appointment or Recomendation of Fasts or Thanksgivings.\nThe Baptists and Quakers, and all other Sects, but the Presbyterians and Congregationalists have clamoured against our National Fasts for reasons which you may conjecture. Probably from a Jealousy of The two latter, and an apprehension that they may become ambitious and aim at a Superiority or Establishment. I verily believe they had rather have a Man of no Religion for a President than a Man of any; at least than a Presbyterian or Congregationalist.\nI have read \u201cPhilo,\u201d and \u201cRemarks\u201d and knew by the Style aut Erasmi &c.\nMy only wonder has been how thehe got his Knowledge.\nMy documents as you call them, ought not to prevent the immediate Publication of any Information more immediately useful for the Public to Know.\nI wonder that you and the Publick are not outrageous with impatience at seeing So much of my insipid stuff, So long out of date. I can hardly persuade myself to believe that you have read a tenth part of it. I must not wholly exhaust the Patience of the Readers.\nI am glad you are fixed in Boston. Alass! I have not bee in that grand and beautiful City these four Months.\nWeep with me, over the Tomb of my Brother and Sister Cranch in whom I have lost one of the greatest Comforts of my Life. I visited their habitation almost every day; and there I was always happy.\nI am Sir your constant Friend\nJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5719", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Rush, 4 December 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\nDear Sir\nQuincy Decr. 4. 1811\nShall I congratulate or condole with you on the appointment of your Son to be Comptroller of The Treasury? You will know the delightful Comfort of his daily Society and that of his Lady and their prattling Little ones, which I know by Experience to be in old age, among the Sweetest Enjoyment of Life, provided Always that it be not indulged to excess.\nI Should have thought too that his Office of Attorney General and his practice at the Bar would have not only given him better Profit, but opened to him better Prospects.\nI Should have thought too, that he had too much Genius, Imagination and Taste, to be able to reconcile himself to a Life of Such painful drudgery as casting accounts examining Vouchers &c\nI presume nevertheless, that he can reconcile himself to it; and there are many advantages in being near the Fountain. Mr Gallatin has been So long in that laborious Situation, that he probably will not be content to hold it many years. I wish Mr Rush may be his Successor. In either office he will have an Opportunity of acquiring a general Knowledge of Public affairs and become qualified for any Employment civil political, judiciary or diplomatical at home or abroad. My best Wishes attend him wherever he is.\u2014\nWe have seen advertised in the Aurora and several other Southern Papers Dr Franklins Works and especially his Journal in France: and although these Advertisements have been continued and expected for years, no Man here has ever Seen or heard of the Book; Pray tell me what this Means?\nI was told too that Colonel Duane has announced his Intention to take me in hand for what I have published concerning Dr Franklin. He is welcome. I had published my Proofs as well as Complaints. Let the World Judge. I have not been such a disinterested Patriot as to have Five hundred and thirty thousand dollars to assist me in my defence.\nI am as ever yours\nJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5720", "content": "Title: To John Adams from D. Fraser, Sr., 4 December 1811\nFrom: Fraser, D., Sr.\nTo: Adams, John\nRevered Sir\u2014\nNew York Decr. 4th. 1811\nPermit me to present, for the honor of Your acceptance, a copy of a \u201cCompendium\u201d which I lately published: As, a Small testimony of respect, & regard for Your eminent talents, & Patriotic Character\u2014\nI have the Honor to be very respectfully, Sir, Your humble / Servant\nD: Fraser", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5721", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Robert Smith, 6 December 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Smith, Robert\nSir\nQuincy December 6. 1811.\nYesterday I received from the Post Office in this Town, your favour of the thirtieth of November in answer to mine my Letter to you of the twenty fifth of that month\nI thank you Sir, for the Promptitude,  Punctuallity and Accuracy of your Reply, which is fully Satisfactory. It is Such indeed as I know, it must be, from the immutability of Truth.\nWith much respect, I have the Honor to / be Sir, your humble Servant\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5722", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 9 December 1811\nFrom: Rush, Benjamin\nTo: Adams, John\nDear Sir\nPhiladelphia Decemr 9th: 1811\nYou have touched me in a sore place in your letter of the 4th instant. My Son Richard has accepted of the Office of Comptroller General, and is about to remove with his family to Washington in the Course of this month. Both his parents, all his brothers and Sisters\u2014his Uncles Rush & Richd Stockton, and all his professional and personal friends remonstrated against it. I painted to him in as strong colors As I was able, the folly of giving up his present Office and business in Pennsylvania\u2014now equal to nearly 4000 dollars a year. I held up to him the high standing he had Acquired in his Native state (the Asylum of his Ancestors, who accompanied Wm Penn to it in 1683) And the high station to which his fellow Citizens had destined him in a few years. I pointed out the vexatious dangers, and poverty of political & Official life, and mentioned the distress of an & obscurity in which many of old patriots and servants of the public were now ending their days in many parts of our Country and that the Acceptance of the Office now offered to him would be an act of Suicide to his family.\u2014Lastly I implored him by my Affection for him, by the my Age, my by my gray hairs,\u2014by the prospect of my speedy Death, which must according to the Course of Nature take place in a few years, and of the importance of his presence and patronage to his mother, & to my  young Children  when I shall be called from them.\u2014But Alas!\u2014all these Arguments & importunities were employed to no purpose. There was One insurmountable Objection to them. His Wifes Connections live near Washington, and her Wishes were to be near them. There are two Classes of female tyrants\u2014Termagants, and Syrens. My son\u2019s Wife belongs to the latter Class. she is most facinating woman, and ardently beloved by her husband, & \u201cWhere love enters\u201d, you know \u201che will rule alone.\u201d \u201cAnd suffer no Copartner in his throne.\u201d\nDont you think my friend there is an error a transposition and an error in the translation latter part of the 16th: Verse of the 3rd: Chapter of Genesis? \u201cUnto the Woman he said I will greatly multiply thy sorrows, and thy Conception. In sorrow shal\u2019t thou bring forth Children\u2014and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.\u201d Should not the latter part of this Verse been   instead have been placed at the close of the 19th Verse, and reversed the persons reversed in it, as a part of the Curse inflicted upon Adam. \u201cAnd thy desire shall be to thy wife, and She shall rule over thee\u201d\nMy son James the young Doctor to whom I shall now transfer the rank and priviledges of primoginiture, is an excellent young man,\u2014well informed upon most Subjects as well as in his profession medicine\u2014and will I have no doubt shine in his profession\u2014But how little patronage does this \u201cmute Art\u201d (as Ovid calls it when he speaks of Apollo being condemned to exercise it) afford to the a  young family, compared with the profession of the law, especially when it is exercised by splendid talents and accompanied with a fair Character?\u2014\nYou have nothing to fear from Duane\u2019s threat. Long before this time, he has forgotten it. This is the manner of the man.\u2014\nI was made happy by the Account you gave me in your last letter but one, that of the Clouds which hung over your house had dispersed, and that health, and chearfulness had again been restored to your family.\u2014\nYou say nothing of Mrs Smith\u2019s breast. I hope it is perfectly and radically healed.\u2014\n I am so closely employed in discharging my numerous and complicated Winter duties that, I have scarcely time to read what I have thus hastily Scrawled.\nWith love to your fireside / in which mine joins, I am Dr Sir ever, ever / Yours\nBenjn: Rush\n   mutam exercere Artem\nPS: My 4th: Son Ben ( a promising young merchant of about 21 years of aAge) sails in a few days for Smyrrna from whence he expects to sail from for England, and Afterwards to Peterburgh as Supercargo, and Agent for his Master\u2014One of the Wealthiest Merchants in our City, and very much the friend of my son. I have taken the liberty to commend him to the Advice and good Offices of your son at Peterburgh.\nDr Franklin\u2019s estate has been divided among his Grand Children, and does not amount to nearly the sa Sum I formerly mentioned to you.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5723", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Waterhouse, 12 December 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Waterhouse, Benjamin\nDear Sir\nQuincy Decr 12. 1811\nWhat is common Law in England has been Subject to disputes enough. In Blackstones Commentaries and Fortescue Alands Preface to his Reports you may find the most intelligible Account. In general, Usage from time immemorial practiced and approved, is the Criterion\nIt is denied by many and doubted by more whether The United States have any common Law\nThere may be some Principles and Rules of Law which are common to all the seperate States\nAnd there is no Single State, but has some Rules which are undoubtedly common Law. But you will not expect me to enter these boundless Fields of Controversy, and discussion.\nI have heard it said in ancient days, that any servile Labour or indecent Recreation on a Fast or Thanksgiving day, which should give Scandal to the People would be indictable and punishable. On the Contrary I have heard that there is no difference between those days and any week days of the year. Before I went to Colledge and while I was there I knew a Gentleman a Colonel Gooch first of Boston, then of Braintree and last of all of Milton a curious Character, educated at the Temple in England and admitted a Barister there, as adroit at Intrigue as any before or since. He would make a Figure in an Ecclesiastical History of this Country. I have heard him boast the superiority of his own Witt in carting in his own hay upon a Fast Day in the face of all the People going to Church and laugh at all his Neighbours who had theirs Spoiled by a Torrent of rains by leaving it out. He said that Proclamations were not Laws.\nIf you look into the Constitution of The Massachusetts you will find a Chapter on The University of Cambridge in which The Priviledges of that Seminary are established.\nMr Cranches Countenance resembled the Pictures of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus as much or more than that of Mr Lock.\nYou say, for my Consolation that I have many Friends. Col. Pickering Says I have but few. When Drs disagree who shall decide. C\u2019est moi. . . . Yes! I have many Friends among the best and greatest People in all the States. Friends not acquired by Faction or Intrigue or any Selfish Considerations but founded on the purest Principles of public and private Virtue.\nYes, I have a Wife and Sons and a Daughter and Grand Children, God bless them. They are the Comforts and Supports of my Life.\nI also have read the Sermon of Dr Lathrop, whom I have loved and esteemed from 1768.\nThough I may not agree with my Friend in all his Sentiments, yet as he has as clear a Right to his own opinions as I have to mine, I have no right to censure them, since he has delivered them with Decorum. He has not preached Breisted and Walsh, and licentious Newspapers\nTwo or three of our Clergy have given pretty good Proofs, that if they had power they would make tolerable Archbishop Lauds or Cardinal Lorrains. Several others have furnished Evidence that they might become excellent Sacheverels. I hope they will learn more Wisdom and Moderation. The Governor has given them a dignified Memento. I will not call it an Admonition.\nI am glad to hear of your Lectures and hope your Prospects in Boston are agreable. Yours as ever\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5724", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Samuel Smith, 13 December 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Smith, Samuel\nSir\nQuincy December 13. 1811\nI have received your letter of the first of this month, in answer to mine of the twenty fifth of November\u2014It is not less frank and candid, than prompt and punctual.\nI have only to remark that you were certainly mistaken when you thought that I \u201cwas personlly hostile to you.\u201dYour brother Robert I never saw in my life, nor had any communication with him of any kind while I had any share in Government.\nWith much respect I have the honor to be, Sir your most humble Servant\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5726", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 16 December 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\n\t\t\t\t\tQuincy, December 16, 1811\n\t\t\t\tThe Journal proceeds\u20141783, May 22, Thursday. This morning I drew the following letters too be laid before the ministers this evening.Paris, May 22, 1783.Sir\u2014We have received the letter you did us the honor to write us on the  day of this month, containing a brief state of the  of the United States in your hands.\nWe see the difficulties you are in, and are sorry to say that it is not in our power to afford you any relief.\nMr. Grand, we have &c.Gentlemen\u2014Mr. Grand has laid before us, a state of the affairs of the United States under his care; and the demands upon him for money, to discharge the bills drawn upon him, are such as to require some assistance from you; if the demands upon you will admit of it. If therefore, the state of the cash in your hands, compared with the draughts made upon you, will allow of it, we advise you to remit to Mr. Grand, on account of the U States, the amount of five Millions of Livres Tournois; and we doubt not, that congress and their minister of finances will approve of it, although we have not, in strictness, authority to give orders for it.\nWe have &c.Mess. Wilham and Jan Willink.Nicholas and Jacob Vanstaphorst, and De La Lande and Fynge, Bankers of the United States at Amsterdam.This morning I also drew the following, to be paid before the gentleman this evening.ArticlesAgreed upon by and between David Hartley Esq. minister Plenipotentiary of his Britannic Majesty for  in behalf of his said Majesty, on the\none part; and J.A. B.F. J.J. and H.L. ministers Plenipotentiary of the United States of America, for treating of peace, with the minister Plenipotentiary of his said Majesty on their behalf on the other part; \nin addition\nto those agreed upon on the 30th day of November, 1782, by and between Richard Oswald Esq. the commissioner of his Britannic Majesty for treating of Peace with the commissioners of the United States of America, in behalf of his said Majesty, on the one part; and the said J.A. B.F. J.J. and H.L. commissioners of the said States for treating of peace with the commissioner of his said Majesty, on their behalf, on the other part.Whereas, it is expedient that an intercourse and commerce should be opened between the people and territories subject to the Crown of G. Britain, and those of the United States of America; and that this intercourse and commerce should be established on the most enlarged principles of reciprocal benefit to both countries.1. It is agreed that ministers shall be forthwith nominated, and vested with full powers to treat, agree, and conclude upon a permanent treaty of commerce, between the two powers and their respective citizens, subjects and countries.\u20142. For the purpose of a temporary regulation of such intercourse and commerce, it is agreed, that the citizens of the United States shall import into and export from any part of the dominions subject to the crown of G. Britain, in American ships, any goods, wares and merchandizes, which have been so imported or exported, by the inhabitants of the British American colonies, before the commencement of the late war; paying only the same duties and charges, as the like sort of goods or merchandizes are now, or may be subject to, if imported by British subjects in British ships, from any British islands or Plantations in America; and that the subjects of his Britannic Majesty shall import to and export from any part of the territories of the U States of America, in British ships, any goods, wares and merchandises, which might have been so imported or exported by the subjects of his Britannic Majesty, before the commencement of the late war, paying the same duties and charges as the like sort of goods, wares and merchandizes, are now or may be subject to, if imported in American ships, by any of the citizens of the said U. States.This agreement to continue in force, for all vessels which shall sail from any port of either party, on or before the  day of  and no longer .\nProvided always, that nothing in this agreement shall at any time hereafter be argued on either side in support of any proposition which may bo made in the future negotiation of a permanent treaty of commerce.It was observed last evening, that all the laws of G. Britain for the regulation of the plantation trade, were contrived solely for the benefit of G. Britain.\nThese laws therefore ought not now to be the regulation, which ought now to be for the reciprocal benefit of both. The new system of commerce, the permanent treaty ought to be framed for the benefit of the U. States, as much as for that of G. Britain. Will not this temporary revival of the old partial system, encourage British merchants and statesmen to aim at the perpetuation of it in the treaty? Perhaps to be indifferent about ever signing a definitive treaty.By this project of Mr. Hartleys, American manufactures are excluded from the British dominions; but British Manufactures are not excluded from the United States, Americans are excluded from carrying the productions of other countries to the British dominions; but Britons are not excluded from carrying the productions of other countries to America; two instances of partiality and inequality which may be seeds of discord. Men\u2019s minds cannot be contented under partiality among equals. They think it, as it is, injustice. It is humiliating. It is thought disgraceful.\nThe Dutch will allow Americans to bring their manufactures, and those of other countries to Amsterdam; and this attraction will draw our ships to that market. We may carry hats, Spermaceti candles &c. from America; wines from Portugal, Spain or France to Holland, Sugars &c. from the West India Islands to Holland &c.\nIf other nations allow Americans to carry any thing to them which Britain forbids, this will allure them to foreign parts, and drive them from those of Britain.At ten this morning, Mr. Hartley called upon me; said he had received our note of last night, and had reflected upon our question, reviewed his instructions, and called upon the Duke of Manchester, to consult with him; and upon the whole he thought he must wait the return of a Courier, which he should send off to-morrow.I told him, that his court must be sensible, if the trade was renewed upon the old system, it must be upon that system entire, and even then it would be a reciprocity all on one side, all in favor of Great Britain. That if they thought of excluding us from the West-India trade, they must think it would obstruct our agreement; and I was afraid if he mentioned it, and thus put it into the heads of the council, they would embarrass him with wrong orders about it. He said he should support what was right, as we wished it, in his despatches, and\nso would the Duke of Manchester; but they thought it most prudent to send to London for orders.He then said he had heard a story, in which the Marquis de la Fayette was named, that the French court had applied to the American Ministers to know if they would come into the definitive treaty, under the mediation of the two imperial courts. That we answered that such a thing might be very well, but we could not help observing that those courts had not acknowledged our Independence as yet. The reply was, that accepting the mediation would be acknowledging our independence.Whence came this story?\u2014Secrets will always be thus kept, while negotiations are carried on by such circuitous messages.At eleven, returned visits to Mr. Fitch and Mr. Boylston, and then to the Baron de Waltersdorf, Chamberlain of the king of Denmark, who remarked to me that he was surprised that his court had never been informed that Mr. Dana had full powers to treat with Denmark. I told him that Mr. Dana had been advised against communicating it. But that his court might send a full power to their minister at Petersburg, to treat and conclude with any minister of the United States vested with equal powers, and the conferences might begin as soon as they please.He said he hoped the Dutch would not regain all their trade, but that the northern nations would retain some of it. That he thought Eustatia would be of no value in future, as the king had made St. Thomas\u2019s a free port. That vessels might lie in safety at St Thomas\u2019s in the hurricane months, but not at St. Eustatia. He said that some Danish vessels had gone to America loaded with linnens, duck, sail cloth, &c.The following is a copy of the Order in Council, of 14th May, 1783, delivered to us last night by Mr. Hartley.At the Court of St James\u2019, 14th May, 1783.Present the king\u2019s most excellent majesty in council.Whereas by an act of parliament passed this session, intitled, an act for preventing certain instruments from being required from ships belonging to the United States of America and to give to his Majesty for a limited time certain powers for the better carrying on trade and commerce between the subjects of his majesty\u2019s dominions and the inhabitants of the said states, it is among other things enacted, that during the continuance of the said act it shall and may be lawful for his Majesty in council, by order or orders, to be issued and published from time to time, to give such directions, and to make such regulations with respect to duties, drawbacks or otherwise, for carrying on the trade and commerce between the people and territories belonging to the crown of Great Britain, and the people and territories of the said United States, as to his majesty in council shall appear most expedient and salutary; any law, custom or usage, to the contrary notwithstanding.His Majesty doth therefore, by and with the advice of his privy council, hereby order and direct that any oil or any unmanufactured goods or merchandizes being the growth or production of any of the territories of the said United States of America, may, until further order, be imported directly from thence into any of the ports of this kingdom, either in British or American ships, by British subjects, or by any of the people inhabiting in and belonging to the said United States, or any of them, and such goods or merchandizes shall and may be entered and landed in any port in this kingdom upon payment of the same duties as the like sort of goods are or may be subject and liable to, if imported by British subjects, in British ships, from any British island or plantation in America, and no other, notwithstanding such goods or merchandizes, or the ships in which the same may be brought, may not be accompanied with the certificates or documents heretofore required by law. And it is further ordered and directed that there shall be the same drawbacks, exemptions and bounties on merchandizes and goods exported from Great Britain into the territories of the said United States of America, or any of them, as are allowed upon the exportation of the like goods or merchandizes, to any of the islands, plantations or colonies, belonging to the crown of Great Britain in America; and it is hereby further ordered and directed, that all American ships and vessels, which shall have voluntarily come\ninto any port of Great Britain since the twentieth of January, 1783, shall be admitted to an entry, and after such entry made shall be entitled, together with the goods and merchandizes on board the same ships and vessels, to the full benefit of this order. And the right honourable the lords commissioners of his majesty\u2019s treasury and the lords commissioners of the admiralty, are to give the necessary directions herein, as to them may respectively appertain.Signed, William Fawkener.Note.Quincy, Dec. 15, 1811.\u2014This Order in Council is the first link in that great chain of Orders in Council, which has been since stretched and extended, till it has shackled the commerce of the whole globe; that of Great Britain herself, as much as any other. Poor unfortunate commerce! Universal commerce! The commerce of the world! Thou art become, like the author of all our calamities, an object of commisseration to every humane and feeling mind! Bound with strong cords and bandages, by the head and shoulders, arms and hands, thighs, legs and feet, like the unhappy patient in Dr. Rush\u2019s tranquilizing chair.I have before observed that this moment in English and American history, appeared to me of great importance. That coalition administration, which afterwards subverted the British constitution by the India bill, in one point now subverted it in another by making the thing absolute in all commercial matters. The law of nature and nations was a part, of the common law of England, and a part an essential part of the constitutional law of the British empire. The maratime and naval law of nations was also a part of the constitutional law of England. Parliament itself had no more authority over it than the king, and the king no more than Zingis Can, or the king of Otaheite. Yet this combination of nobles of all parties undertook by an act of Parliament, to divest themselves and the nation of all authority in matters of commerce and navigation, and to make the thing absolute over commerce and the seas, that he might have the power to deprive America of the rights he had so recently acknowledged by the preliminary and provisional treaty. I mean the rights of an independent maratime power.As the foregoing Proclamation of the 14th of May 1783, or rather the act of Parliament on which it was founded in the box of Pandora from which have issued all the plagues which have since distressed and still torment the commerce of the world; I will next insert Mr. Hartley\u2019s apology for it, though in his heart, to do him justice, he detested and despised it.I shall afterwards send you some copies of bills brought into Parliament before the fatal one was passed, to shew the struggle there was between equity and monopoly; between iniquity and reciprocity; between justice and selfishness; between honesty and exclusion.These must be the subjects of future letters. I shall conclude this by an act of justice to Mr. Hartley. From the first he lamented the coalition; but while a minister abroad under it, he was somewhat cautious and reserved, but afterwards in England, he was open and explicit in all companies in condemning the coalition as the most fatal error, the most destructive measure that ever had been adopted. I dined with him at his brother\u2019s in London, with a very large company, in which he engrossed almost the whole conversation at table, in a long dissertation on that coalition and its fatal measures. He inveighed against it as the cause of all the then difficulties of the nation and of all her prospects of future calamities. This to be sure, was seasoning more like a politician, than like a philosopher, because the future is hidden from us: But Sir John Temple, who was present, agreed with him and applauded him in every thing he had said.From all this I inferred in my own mind that the old whigs, the Cavendishes, the Bentinks, the Wentworths, had become heart sick of their new tory associates in the coalition. They had reason, for they were soon both discomfited and discomforted; and Mr. Pitt, a youth, a boy, became the ruler for more than twenty years. A very able and noble youth however, whether wise or erroneous in his whole system.But the disposition of the king in council, has been obstinately preserved over commerce, navigation, and naval power to this day.[I am very apprehensive, Messrs Printers, that I shall exhaust your patience and that of your readers. If I should, upon the slightest intimation of it, I will desist. I wish you to understand that it is my desire, that you will omit no communications which may be more immediately necessary for the public to know, for the sake of inserting any of my papers.]\n\t\t\t\t\tJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5727", "content": "Title: From John Adams to James Monroe, 19 December 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Monroe, James\nSir\nQuincy December 19. 1811\nI thank you for The Copy of The Presidents Message, and for the Volume of Documents. They do great honour to The President, to his Ministers and Ambassadors: and I rejoice in the Appearance of unanimity they have produced in Congress and in The Nation: which not withstanding all the apprehensions representations and Threats of Divisions, is greater than I have ever known in America for fifty years. I am, Sir, with great respect your obliged Servant\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5728", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Rush, 19 December 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\nDear Sir\nQuincy December 19. 1811\nWhen I was a Boy, not ten years old, I heard Smith Richard Thayer, a great Authority, say \u201cWhen Duty and Interest go together, they make Staving Work\u201d\nBy your own Shewing it was Richards Duty to be over ruld or ruled over by his Wife: and by my Shewing I shall make it appear to be his Interest.\nHe will Soon be Secretary of the Treasury. Or he may be a Judge of the Supream Court, or an Ambassador abroad when he pleases: or perhaps Vice President or President. Pensilvania has not had her Share, and Virginia a fourfold Proportion of American Honours. Virginia must now Court Pensilvania and New York too, or those two last will Soon join New England and play the Mischief, with the first. The Reason why Pensilvania had not her Share in the first twelve years, was that Pensilvania appeared, According to Farmers D\u00e6monology, to be Seized by the Spirit which entered into the Swine and rushed down Steep into the Sea. Mifflin, McKean, Dallas, all of you indeed, Seemed to have adopted what The great Randolph calls \u201cThe infernal Principles of French Fraternization.\u201d They were for going to War with England, and forming a closer Alliance with Robespierre and his forerunners and after followers. I thought this Project no better than making a League with The Devil. I have wondered that Jefferson did not promote Pensilvanians. I am glad Madison begins to think of it.\nI know how it is.\u2014It is So Sweet fatigued at Night with Study and Business, to sit down and chat with Consort and Daughters and Son Richard and his fascinating Wife that you cannot bear to think of loosing any part of the Entertainment. Just So have I fretted Several Times when they have taken away from me my Comfort.\nBut Non Nobis, Non nobis Solis nati Sumus.\nMrs Smith\u2019s Breast is \u201cperfectly and radically healed.\u201d Her Arm is Weak and Stiff, but the Surgeons Say it will be perfectly restored by time.\nYour mute Art is far preferable to the loquacious ones. What becomes of all the great Talkers? What happened to Cicero Demosthenes Burk Fox Pitt, Otis, Patrick Henry, R. H. Lee Bayard, Ames, Dexter, Harper, and a thousand others? I some times think that orators are unfit for Judges or Legislators or Executive offices; any Thing that requires cool deliberation and deep Judgment. A mute Franklin or a mute Washington or even a mute Jefferson is not to be found among all our orators; at least in Success and popular Importance. What will become, too, of our two great reigning Orators, Randolph and Quincy? They had better hold their Tongues.\nThe Winds begin to rustle, the Clouds gather, it grows dark; Will these airy Forces rear up the Ocean to a foaming Fury? A Spirit Seems to be rising; a Spirit of Contrition and Shame at our long Apathy and Lethargy; a Spirit of Resentment of Injuries; a Spirit of Indignation at Insolence: and what to me is very remarkable, a Spirit of greater Unanimity, than I have ever witnessed in this Country for fifty years. What Say you to your Friend?\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5729", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Fran\u00e7ois Adriaan Van der Kemp, 19 December 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Van der Kemp, Fran\u00e7ois Adriaan\nDear Sir\nQuincy Decr. 19. 1811\nLord! Lord! What a Coat you have cutt out? It would require an hundred Taylors for twenty years to make it up. I would not undertake to make a Button hole in it, during the whole Remainder of my Life.\nI thank you however, for the sketch of your contemplated Work.\nI shipped, on board the Carriage of my Son in Law Colonel William Stevens Smith the two first Volumes of The Memoirs of your American Academy of Arts and Sciences. They are now at a Place called Smiths Valley, in a Town called Lebanon, about four miles from Hamilton, a Post Town, where my Grandson John Adams Smith is Postmaster. If you can Send for them you will find them at the Valley. I had not the third Volume: but will endeavour to send it to you next Summer.\nTo what a Stupendous height, has your state of New york grown in twenty years? Of how much greater Importance has it become, unembarrassed as it is with Slaves, in a commercial Agricultural, manufacturing, military and political View, than Virginia? You will undoubtedly soon feel your Importance, but I hope you will adopt the equitable Mercantile Maxim \u201cLive and let live,\u201d and not ride So high a Horse as Virginia has.\nThere Seems to be a Storm arising and I can have little hope of living to See fair Weather again. A War will introduce great Changes in America: but none which can redound to my honour or profit or pleasure whatever it may do to yours. The United States can Sustain no ultimate Injury from it. On the contrary it will lay a Sure and certain Foundation for great and durable Power. Whether they will Use it well or ill, but be left to Time to reveal.\nGod prosper long our noble States / So sings and So prays your old Friend.\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5730", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Boston Patriot, 21 December 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Boston Patriot\n            The journal of the 22d of May 1783, proceeds\u2014Mr. Hartley\u2019s observations and propositions left with the American ministers, the 21st of May 1783:A proposition having been offered of the American ministers for the consideration of his Britannic majesty\u2019s ministers, and of the British nation, for an entire and reciprocal freedom of intercourse and commerce between Great-Britain and the American Unites States, in the following words, viz.\u2014\u201cThat all rivers, harbors, lakes, ports and places, belonging to the United States, or any of them, shall be open and free to the merchants and other subjects of the crown of Great Britain and their trading vessels, who shall be received, treated, and protected, like the merchants and trading vessels of the state in which they may be, and be liable to no other charges or duties\u2014And reciprocally, that all rivers, harbors, lakes, ports and places under the dominion of his Britannic majesty, shall be open and free to the merchants and trading vessels of the said United States, and of each and every of them who shall be received, granted and protected like merchants and trading vessels of Great Britain, and be liable to no other charges and duties, saving always to the chartered trading companies of Great Britain, such exclusive use and trade of their respective ports and establishments, as neither the other subjects of Great Britain, or any the most favored nation participates in.\u201dIt is to be observed that this proposition implies a more ample participation of British than the American States possessed even under their former connection of dependence on Great Britain, so as to amount to an entire abolition of the British act of navigation in respect of the thirteen United States of America; and although proceeding on their part from the most conciliatory and liberal principles of amity and reciprocity; nevertheless it comes from them, as newly established states, and who in consequence of their former condition of dependence have never yet had any established system of national commercial laws, or of commercial connections by treaties with other nations; free and unembarrassed of many weighty considerations, which require the most scrupulous attention and investigation on the part of Great Britain, whose antient system of national and commercial policy is thus suddenly called upon to take a new principle for its foundation, and whose commercial engagements with other ancient states may be most materially affected thereby. For the purpose therefore of giving sufficient time for the consideration and discussion of so important a proposition respecting the present established system of the commercial policy and laws of Great Britain and their subsisting commercial engagements with foreign powers; it is proposed that a temporary intercourse of commerce shall be established between Great Britain and the American States previously to the conclusion of any final and perpetual compact. In this intervening period, as the strict line and measure of reciprocity from various circumstances cannot be absolutely and completely adhered to; it may be agreed that the commerce between the two countries shall revive, as nearly as can be, upon the same footing and terms as formerly subsisted between them; provided always that no concession on either side, in the proposed temporary convention, shall be argued hereafter in support of any future demand or claim. In the mean time, the proposition above stated may be transmitted to London, requesting with his majesty\u2019s consent that it be laid before parliament for their consideration.It is proposed therefore that the unmanufactured produce of the United States should be admitted into Great Britain without any other duties, those imposed during the war excepted, than those to which they were formerly liable. And it is expected in return that the produce and manufactures of Great Britain should be admitted into the United States in like manner. If there should appear any want of reciprocity in this proposal, upon the ground of asking admission for British manufactures in America, while no such indulgence is given to American manufactures into Great Britain\u2014the answer is obvious, that the admission of British manufactures into America, is an object of great importance, and equally productive of advantages to both countries; while on the other hand the introduction of American manufactures into G. Britain can be of no service to either, and may be productive of innumerable frauds, by enabling persons so disposed to pass foreign European goods, either prohibited or liable to great duties by the British laws, for American manufactures.With regard to the West Indies, there is no objection to the most free intercourse between them and the United States. The only restriction proposed to be laid upon that intercourse is prohibiting American ships carrying to those colonies any other merchandize than the produce of their own country. The same observation may be made upon this restriction as upon the former. It is not meant to affect the interest of the United States; but it is highly necessary, least foreign ships should make use of the American flag to carry on a trade with the British West-India Islands.It is also proposed upon the same principle to restrain the ships that may trade to Great Britain from America, from bringing foreign merchandize into Great Britain. The necessity of this restriction is likewise evident, unless G. Britain meant to give up her whole navigation act. There is no necessity of any similar restrictions on the part of the American states, those states not having as yet any acts of navigation\u2014Thus far the journal of May 22, 1783.Orders in Council were now become fashionable in England. We received a new one in a letter from Mr. Laurens to the American ministers.Tuesday morning, 4 o\u2019clock,10th June, 1783.Gentlemen\u2014This moment landed. As a boat is going over to Calais, the inclosed proclamation may possibly arrive new to you. To me it wears the aspect of one part of a commercial treaty. I shall not wonder should I see our friend D H. in London, this week. I purpose lodging there to night. There and every, I shall be as I am, your faithful, however feeble and obedient servant. Signed, HENRY LAURENS.The Order in Council inclosed with Mr. Laurens\u2019 letter was the following proclamation.\u2014Now, indeed, notwithstanding all the martyrdoms of Hambdens, Sydneys and Russells, against the principle, royal proclamations had acquired the force of laws. They have maintained all the omnipotence that parliament once claimed, to 1811. How it will end history should have taught that headstrong oligarchy of nobles who were the authors of it, and then thought themselves perfectly sure of having the command of it in their own hands though in the king\u2019s name.At the Court of St. James\u2019, the 6th of June, 1783, present the king\u2019s most excellent majesty in council\u2014Whereas by an act of parliament passed this session, intitled \u201cAn act for preventing certain instruments from being required from ships belonging to the United States of America, and to give to his majesty for a limited time, certain powers, for the better carrying on trade and commere between the subjects of his majesty\u2019s dominions and the inhabitants of the said United States;\" it is owing among other things enacted, that during the continuance of the said act, it shall and may be lawful for his majesty in council, by order or orders to be issued and published from time to time, to give such directions and to make such regulations with respect to duties, drawbacks or otherwise, for carrying on the trade and commerce between the people and territories belonging to the crown of Great Britain, and the people and territories of the said United States, as to his majesty in council shall appear most expedient and salutary, any law, usage or custom to the contrary notwithstanding. His Majesty doth, therefore, by and with the advice of his privy council, hereby order and direct, that pitch, tar, turpentine, indigo, masts, yards and bowsprits, being the growth or production of any of the United States of America, may, until further order, be imported directly from thence into any ports of this kingdom, either in British or American ships, by British subjects or by any of the people inhabiting in and belonging to the said United States or any of them; and that the articles above recited shall and may be entered and landed in a port of this kingdom, upon payment of the same duties, as the same are or may be subject and liable to, if imported by British subjects in British ships from any British island or plantation in America, and no other, notwithstanding such pitch, tar, turpentine, indigo, masts, yards and bowsprits, or the ships in which the same may be brought, may not be accompanied with the certificates or other documents heretofore required by law; and his majesty is hereby farther pleased, by and\nwith the advice aforesaid to order and direct, that any tobacco, being the growth or production of any of the territories of the said United States of America, may likewise, until further order, be imported directly from thence, in manner above mentioned, and may be landed in this kingdom and upon the importer paying down in ready money the duty commonly called the old subsidy, such tobacco may be warehoused under his majesty\u2019s locks, upon the importer\u2019s own bond for payment of all the farther duties due for such tobacco, within the time limited by law, according to the net weight and quantity of such tobacco at the time it shall be so landed, with the same allowances for the payment of such farther duties, and under the like restrictions and regulations in all other respects, not altered by this order, as such tobacco is and may be warehoused by virtue of any act or acts of parliament in force. And the right honorable the lords commissioners of his majesty\u2019s treasury, and the lords commissioners of the admiralty, are to give the necessary directions herein, as to them may respectively appertain.Signed, Stephen Cottrell.To shew the sense of the American ministers, upon those proclamations and Orders in Council, I shall insert two letters from Mr. Laurens, though not exactly in the order of dates.To their Excellencies the Ministers Plenipotentiary from the Unites States of America, at Paris.London, 17th June, 1783.Gentlemen\u2014I had the honor of addressing you the tenth, immediately after my landing at Dover. As early as possible after my arrival here, I obtained an interview with Mr. Secretary Fox, who was pleased to read to me part of his latest dispatches to Mr. Hartley, which he supposed would reach Paris on the fourteenth.\u2014\u2019Tis probable, therefore, that before this time, as much of the contents as is proper for your knowledge has been communicated.\u201cReciprocity\u201d since the tenth of April, has undergone a certain degree of refinement. The definition of that term, appears now, to be, possession of advantages on one side; and restrictions on the other. The navigation act, is the vital of G. Britain.\u201d \u201cToo delicate to\nbear a touch.\u201dThe sudden and unexpected, perhaps illicit arrival of ships and cargoes from America, may have caused this change of tone. But you have heard in detail, and are more competent to judge.From a desire of forming an opinion, I asked Mr. Fox, whether he thought I might venture for a few days to take the benefit of Bath, and yet be time enough at Paris for the intended commercial agreement? He replied, \u201cI rather think you may.\u201d One need not be a conjurer to draw an inference. You will either have finished the business before I could travel to Paris; or without being missed there, I may go to Bath to repair my nerves.In this state of uncertainty, when it is easy to perceive affections are not as we could wish them, nor quite so warm as we had been taught to believe, it would not be wise to commit the United States. Wherefore I shall rest the business till I hear from you; or until a more favorable prospect\u2014flattering myself with hopes of your surmounting the late seeming difficulties.\u2014An inconvenience on your side is preferable to the hazard of a disgrace.I am with great regard and respect, &c. Signed, H. Laurens.To their Excellencies the Ministers Plenipotentiary from the United States of America, at Paris.London, 20th June, 1783Gentlemen\u2014Permit me to refer to what I had the honor of writing to you the 17th.\u2014You will recollect my suggestions, as soon as we perceived the falling off, from those warm assurances, which had been pressed in March and April. They were not ill-founded. I delayed a week in hopes of intelligence, and left you with reluctance. The temper of the times forbids even an essay.What a happy country is this, where every thing pertaining to the public, is rendered to them in newspapers? See the inclosed, containing nearly as accurate an account of certain recent occurrences, as if it had been penned by one of the parties. It might indeed have been made a little stronger. Modest men are sometimes restrained from attempting a public good from a dread of the effects of envy; of being held up in an invidious light. It would be cruel to disturb them.I have learned nothing from America, save what you may have read in the prints. To-morrow I shall proceed to Bath, and be waiting for intelligence as well from yourselves as from congress. Some consolation arises from reflecting that while I am endeavouring to mind my health, you suffer no inconvenience from my absence. With sincere regard and respect, I have the honor to be, gentlemen, your obedient and most humble servant.Signed, Henry Laurens.In the next letter you will read Mr. Heartley\u2019s apology for these extraordinary changes of principle and feeling.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5731", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Benjamin Rush, 25 December 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\nDear Rush\nQuincy December 25. 1811\nI never was so much at a loss how to answer a Letter, as yours of the 16th.\nShall I assume a Sober Face and write a grave Essay on Religion Philosophy, Laws or government?\nShall I laugh like Bacchus among his grapes, Wine fats Vatts and Bottles? or\nShall I assume the Man of the World, the Fine Gentleman, the Courtier, and Bow and Scrape with a smooth smiling Face, soft words, many compliments and Apologies? think myself highly honoured, bound in gratitude? &c &c &c\nI perceive plainly enough, Rush, that you have been teazing Jefferson to write to me, as you did me some time ago to write to him\u2014\nYou gravely advize me \u201cto receive the olive Branch\u201d as if there had been War. But there has never been any hostility to my Part, nor that I know, on his. When there has been no War, there can be no room for Negotiations of Peace.\nMr Jefferson speaks of my political opinions: but I know of no Difference between him and myself relative to the Constitution, or to Forms of Government in General.\nIn Measures of Administration, We have differed in opinion. I have never approved the Repeal of the Judicial Law, the Repeal of the Taxes, the Neglect of the Navy, and I have always believed that his system of, gun boats for a National Defence was defective. To make it compleat, he ought to have taken a hint from Molieres Femmes Pr\u00e9sieuses, or his Learned Ladies, and appointed Three or Four Brigades of Horse with a Major General and 3 or 4 Brigadiers of Horse to Serve on board his Gallies of Malta. I have never approved his long Embargo or any non-intercourse or Non Importation Laws.\nBut I have raised no Glamours nor made any Opposition to any of these Measures. The Nation approved them, and what is my Judgment against that of the Nation.\nOn the contrary he disapproved of the Alien Law and Sedition Law which I believe to have been constitutional and Salutary if not necessary.\nHe disapproved of the 8 per Ct Loan and with good Reason, For I hated it as much as any Man: and the Army too which occasioned it.\nHe disapproved perhaps of the partial War with France; which I believed, as far as it proceeded to be a holy War.\nHe disapproved of Taxes and perhaps the whole Scheme, of my administration &c And so perhaps did The Nation.\nBut his Administration and mine, are passed away into the dark backward, and are now of no more importance, than the Administration of the Old Congress in 1774 and 1775.\nWe differed in opinion about The French Revolution. He thought it wise and good and that it would end in the Establishment of a free Republick.\u2014I saw through it, to the end of it before it broke out, and was sure it could end only in a Restoration of the Bourbons or a military Despotism, after deluging France and Europe in blood. In this opinion I differed from you as much as from Jefferson: but all this made me no more of an Enemy to you that to him, nor to him than to you. I believed you both to mean well to Mankind and your Country. I might suspect you both to Sacrifice a little to the infernal Gods, and perhaps unconsciously, to suffer your judgments to be a little Swayed by a Love of Popularity, and possibly by a little Spice of Ambition.\nIn Point of Republicanism, all the difference I ever knew or could discover between you and me, or between Jefferson and me consisted first\n1 in the difference between Speeches and Messages. I was a Monarchist because I thought a speech more manly, more respectful to Congress and the Nation. Jefferson and Rush preferred Messages\n2. I held Levees once a week, that all my Time might not be wasted by idle visits. Jeffersons whole Eight years was a Levee.\n3. I dine a large Company, once or twice a Week. Jefferson dined a dozen every day.\n4. Jefferson and Rush were for Liberty and Strait Hair. I thought curled Hair was as Republican as strait.\nIn these and a few other Points of equal importance; all miserable Frivolities that Jefferson and Rush ought to blush, that they ever laid any stress upon them, I might differ; but I never knew any Points of more Consequence, on which there was any Variation between US.\nYou exhort me to \u201cForgiveness and Love of Enemies\u201d as if  I considered or had ever considered Jefferson as my Enemy. This is not So. I have always loved him as a Friend. If I ever received or suspected any Injury from him I have forgiven it long and long ago, and have no more Resentment against him than against you.\nYou enforce your Exhortation by the most solemn considerations that can enter the human Mind. After mature Reflection upon them and laying them properly to heart; I could not help feeling that they were So unnecessary, that you must excuse me if I had some Inclination to be ludicrous.\nYou often put me in Mind that I am soon to die. I know it and Shall not forget it.\nSteping once into my Kitchen one day I found Two of my poor Neighbours, as good Sort of Men as two Drunkards could be. one had Sotted himself into a consuption. His Cough and his Paleness and Weakness Shewed him near the last Stage Tom, who was not So far gone, as yet, though he Soon followed, said to John \u201cYou have not long for this world.\u201d John answered very quick \u201cI know it Tom as well as you do. But why do you tell me of it? I had rather you Should Strike me.\u201d This was one of those Touches of Nature, that Shakespeare or Cervantes would have noted in his Ivory Book.\nBut why do you make so much ado about nothing. Of what Use can it be for Jefferson and me to exchange Letters. I have nothing to Say to him, but to wish him an easy Journey to Heaven when he goes, which I wish may be delayed as long as life shall be agreable to him. And he can have nothing to Say but to bid me to make haste and be ready\nTime and chance, however, or possibly design may produce e\u2019er long a Letter between Us.\nA deep Snow fell yesterday, for the first time this year\nJohn AdamsMrs Smith is charmingly. Her Arm and Hand grow better fast.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5732", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Benjamin Rush, 26 December 1811\nFrom: Rush, Benjamin\nTo: Adams, John\nMy dear old friend,\nPhiladelphia Decemr 26th: 1811.\nDuring the time Cobbett was abusing me in his newspaper to the great joy of a number of our tory Citizens, I met Hamilton Roan in a family in which I was called to see a patient. We had met before at Major Butlers table. He took me by the hand in the most cordial manner. \u201cOur situation said I Mr Roan is a good deal alike in Philada\u2014We are both in an enemy\u2019s country.\u201d  \u201cno Sir\u201d (said he)\u2014\u201cI am in a foreign Country only,\u201d alluding to the avidity with which the Scandal published against me had been drowned by the  class of citizens above mentioned. It is true the papers no longer pour forth weekly and daily calumnies against me, but I am still in an enemy\u2019s country. My patients and my pupils (with a few exceptions) are my only friends, out of my own family. Do you wonder then at my complaining at of my son Richard for deserting me? Independently of his affection and kindness to me,\u2014his office protected kept the libellers of my reputation in Awe.\u2014But what have you done to render your  fellow citizens so hostile to you? I answer my first offence was keeping company with the messrs: Adams & Jno Hancock in the year 1774 and afterwards subscribing the Declaration of independance\u2014my second offence (of far less magnitude than the first) was opposing the wheelbarrow Constitution of Pennsylvania in 1776, and the men who supported it particularly Jos: Read  which acts are still remembered with malice resentment by some of our old constitutional now democratic citizens. My third offence was writing down the old sanguinary criminal law of our state, by which I made many old testament divines & saints and my enemies. My fourth offence was writing against monkish learning commonly called the latin & greek languages, by which I produced a confederacy of pedagogues against me. My fifth and last offence was teaching a new system of medicine part of which consisted in the use of remedies that did violence to the feelings & common sense of our citizens, and in inculcating a belief that our yellow fever was of domestic origin. \u201cThese were the most unkindly cuts of all\u201d They armed a host of malignant & ruthless passions against me. They placed my reputation in the hands of between 20 and thirty physicians each of whom brought into the field against me his circle of patients and family connections. Were I to detail to you the many acts of unkindness, ingratitude, treachery, malice & cruelty I have received from the last class of enemies I have mentioned, you would wonder how I have survived them. There are several species of hatreds, such as, the odium politicum, the odium theologicum\u2014the odium philologicum, and the odium medicum. I have felt, severely felt the effects of them all. The last has been by far the worse. It has been the hatred, not of men\u2014but of beings actuated by a Spirit truly demoniacal. In reviewing my conduct towards all the classes th of enemies that I have enumerated I cannot see much cause to complain of myself. Now and then I have yielded to the natural irritability of my temper under the sudden pressure of an injury, and spoke und used my lips unadvisedly against them,\u2014but in general I have been silent and always disposed to repay their malice injuries with kindness, and forgiveness. Not a paragraph has ever found its way from my pen to a newspaper in defence of my innocence, or to expose their the folly ignorance, falsehoods and malice of my enemies. While I thus open my heart to my dear old friend, in complaints against many of my fellow citizens, do not suppose that my life has been made completely miserable by them. The good I have enjoyed in Philada since the year 1774 has far very far exceeded the evil I have suffered. I have been blessed with an excellent wife, and affectionate as well as intelligent and worthy children. I have had the constant and faithful attachment & support of half a dozen powerful and popular citizens (several of whom are of the old School in politicks) against the  malice of my medical brethren & One of them opened his purse to me at the time when the publications against my practice reduced the income from my business \u00a3400 below the expenses of my family. In addition to these sources of enjoyment & comfort, I have derived from my studies and professional duties  a large share of intellectual and moral pleasure. The midnight cry of \u201cpast twelve oClock\u201d has often found me insensible to the Cold of Winter and the heat of Summer while I have been engaged, with ineffable delight in forming a new arrangement of facts in order to derive from them new principles, and new modes of treating diseases. For these, and all gods other mercies to me. I desire to be truly, sincerely and for ever thankful.\u2014\nMy dear wife who has been the faithful Companion of my labors pains and pleasures has sometimes told me the friend no Character in Biography more like  mine than Luther\u2019s.\u2014Ardent in all his my pursuits, fearless of the consequences of attacking old prejudices, and often hasty in my manner of speaking of my enemies. To the defects in the temper and conduct of the illustrious reformer I heartily subscribe, but I think there is a character in the old testament which more nearly accords with mine. It is that of the prophet Jeremiah. I shall give it to you in his own words. \u201cWoe is me! my mother, that thou has borne me a man of strife, and a man of Contention to the whole earth. I have neither lent on Usury, nor have men lent to me on Usury, yet every one of them doth curse me.\u201d Jer: 15.10.\nI proceed now to the second part of your letter. I do not consider my Son as having been called upon to share in the honors of the general government, nor do I believe the office to which he has been appointed will satisfy the claims, or appease the jealousy of Pennsylvania as you have supposed. You will say perhaps, what can she mean by asking for a larger representation in the honors of the general government? Is not Mr gallatin a Pennsylvanian? I once heard of a servant girl who quarrelled with a mulatto fellow servant & called him \u201ca no nation son of b\u2014\u2014th\u201d. many of our citizens who would blush to use apply such low and indelicate language to any man, do not hesitate to say Mr gallatin is \u201ca no state man\u201d, and that he belongs as much to the Union as to Pennsylvania.\nI sincerely rejoice in Mrs. Smith\u2019s complete recovery. Please to present my Congratulations to her, and the Compliments of the Season to your excellent Mrs Adams in which all my family join.\u2014\nHealth, friendship & respect! / from Dear Sir yours / Affectionately\nBenjn: Rush\nPS: I forgot to mention a 6th Source of hostility to me from a part of my fellow citizens. It was brought on by my concerning in establishing a College at Carlisle in this state. Dr Ewing who wished to be at the head of all the learning of the state, opposed it with all his might, and had the address to unite the Presbyterians in the city with him, who in consequence thereof became my enemies,\u2014and that to such a degree as to oblige me for a while to separate from them. From more just views of Dr Ewings character, they have since  forgiven me, and became my friends. The College at Carlisle; now in the hands chiefly of the Presbyterians, is now in th a flourishing institution. Its President, a Dr Atwater from Connecticut has given it great Celebrity.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-02-02-5733", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Daniel Johnson, 28 December 1811\nFrom: Johnson, Daniel\nTo: Adams, John\nHon John Adams Esqr\nBoston 28th. Decr\u2014 1811\u2014\nI have taken the liberty to enclose to you a Prospectus of a work, which I am about printing, should sufficient encouragement be found, to justify the undertaking.\nI have been casting my eyes over the list of our venerable political fathers, to select some man to commence my lists, and from whom I might at the same time be enabled to gain some character of the author. I have been induced to believe that you, from your extensive political researches would be the best qualified to give me the information which I want.\nI am with sentiments of respect / & esteem your obedient servt Daniel Johnson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1884", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Anonymous, 7 January 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Anonymous\nQuincy Janry 7th 1811\nSure my dear Friend there is a secret Sympathy in Souls whose minds are congenial to each other which draw them to communion. the Night before I received your palsied Letter, in its Silent watches my mind was employed about you and I was reflecting upon your lonely Situation for to you I knew it must be so, however Surrounded by kind tender and affectionate Friends, and I contemplated writing to you, not to accuse you of inattention towards me for I felt it not, but to inquire after your health, and to unite my tears with yours over the departed Friend we had just lost we may duly say in the words of Dr Young, \u201cour dying Friends come, over us like a cloud\u201d\nafter you left me, I frequently inquired respecting the situation of our much valued Friend. once only I was encouraged to hear that She was better, and to hope that She might be restord to her children and family\u2014but the all wise disposer of Life and Death has orderd it otherways, and it becomes his dependent creatures to Submit. I most tenderly sympathize with the afflicted family. My own Mother was of the Same Age when I lost her. I have not forgotten the pangs her death cost me, or how much I felt myself bereved of Friend and counsellor, upon whose affection and Maternal care I had hung, and to whose advise I could at all times resort, as my guide, directress and counseller\u2014I do most Sensibly enter into the grief of the Bereved Son & Daughters of our deceased Friend. the loss to them is no common one. deprived at an earlier Age of their Exelent Father. She had Supplied to them the Double Relation of Father and Mother, but let this be their consolation. when Father and Mother forsake me them then the Lord taketh me them up. the example of their parents is before them, and may her advise and counsel live with them\u2014How blessing Brighten as they take their flight? I regret now it is too late that I had not cultivated a more intimate acquaintance & intercourse, but my frequent infirmities former  absence from my native State and the frequent Sickness & ill health to which I have of late years been Subject, has obliged me to decline that Society in which I Should otherways have delighted\u2014\nI am rejoiced that you can be with them who know so well how to pour the balm of comfort into the wounded heart bosom, and whose tender sympathy may in Some measure heal the broken heart. to do good and communicate is the happy province of my Friend pray assure them that I feel no common sorrow for a loss which the hand of Time and the consolations of religion may asswage\u2014but never can efface\u2014\nI did not read your Friendly Epistle without watering it with my Tears it was all good like your own heart, full of the mercies and blessings you have received, without once repineing at the Severe affliction You have been called to endure\u2014patient Submission and resignation to the dispensations of providence is a duty at all times encumbent upon us\u2014and what we ought to strive for & cultivate, yet the example of our blessed Redeemer taught us not only to feel, but to weep over the graves of our departed Friends\u2014I have in the course of the last week been calld to Sympathize with my Neice Mrs Foster  Suddenly deprived of her infant Son, more particularly Endeared to me from bearing the Name of a dear absent Son\u2014Louisa is in turn with her sister, and will I know if she can call upon the Miss Sumners before she leaves it\u2014as I shall make a point of doing when I come to Town. the President regreted that the weather & his health would not permit him to pay the last honour to her by attending the funeral\u2014\nWhen ever you return I pray you to pass a few days with me\u2014My regard attend the Mrs Philips Your Neices, and the Sympathy and for yourself / affection of Your Friend\nA Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1885", "content": "Title: From Walter Hellen to John Quincy Adams, 11 January 1811\nFrom: Hellen, Walter\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nMy dear Sir\nWashington 11th: January 1811\nHowever melancholy the occasion, my dear friend, yet I cannot refrain from imparting to you the Heart breaking circumstance, which it has been the Divine Will to cause to take place\u2014Oh my dear Sir, I cannot find words to convey to you what my sufferings & feelings on this trying occasion are: You who are so completely competent to judge, can best tell when you are apprized it, has been the Will of the Almighty God to take from me my beloved Wife\u2014Oh yes my dear Sir, that dear Woman, with whom I had so long & so happily lived is no more\u2014This melancholy & very afflicting event took place on the 30th: Ulto.\u2014It proceeded I incline to believe from a premature confinement\u2014She was taken on the Wednesday night, & was not deliver\u2019d till the Sunday following of a still born infant, & She poor dear Soul, never spoke afterwards\u2014From my own ill state of Health, I cannot expect long to survive; but then my dear friend, what is to become of my poor dear little Children: I hope & I beg & entreat my dear Sir, that they may find a friend in You, and I flatter myself, that your both your dear wife & Kitty will be kind to them\u2014they are fine promissing Children; John eleven years of age, next month, is a very fine Boy; my little Daughter Mary a little turn\u2019d four years, is one of the sweetest little Angels you almost ever saw\u2014& Thomas my youngest just turn\u2019d two years, is an uncommonly fine Boy. Poor dear Babes, it my makes my very heart bleed when I see them\u2014I however feel a great consolation in the reflection that you, & yours will be kind to them\u2014As this will mostly likely convey you the first intelligence of this woful event, you will no doubt prepare your dear wife & Kitty for the shock will which it cannot do otherwise than occasion.\u2014\nI receiv\u2019d the night before last your very friendly & highly esteemed favor of the 12/24 Oct. & also the copy of your letter of the 7th. August\u2014and altho\u2019 Mr Roberts the Gentleman by whom the original was entrusted, has been arrived for these two Months, yet I have not recd it, nor have I had a word from him concerning it\u2014I wrote last night to Mr Buchanan, to make enquiry at Baltimore for it. I cannot my dear Sir, express to you how grateful I feel, for the Interest you have shewn, in my concerns\u2014Mr Kettle I am sorry did not proceed to St. Petersbg. as was the original intention\u2014He has disposed of most of the Property I entrusted in his care, & remitted the proceeds to Mr Murdoch of London; the balance he has left in the hands of Messr. Hotterman & Sons, of Gothenburgh\u2014& has himself just return\u2019d to Newbury Port\u2014My other Adventures to Tonningen. I have not yet recd returns for the Property was safely Landed there, but under the present state of things, I fear it will turn out a very destructive business. As for future prospects or business, I have, as you may suppose thought but little of it for some time past; Shou\u2019d my health hereafter permit (which I cannot expect) and it should be in my power to make another attempt, to try the Russian Market. I shall certainly avail myself of the House you have so friendly recommended.\nRumour says that you are to return to this Country next Summer; whether it is so or not, I cannot tell; I wish however if it is your desire, it may be so; it will give all your friends great pleasure to have you amongst  them, & none more so than myself\u2014In a Political point of view, I think you ought by all means to be here next Fall, when the Election for President & vice President will, it is said certainly be fixed\u2014you have been spoken of, to fill the vacancy occasion\u2019d by the Death of Judge Cushion\u2014Mr Lincoln, the formerly Atty Genl. is however appointed\u2014Some of your friends say, that the intention was to have appointed you, in order, that you might not be in the way at the Fall Election\u2014others of your friends wish you to be entirely disengaged should you return\u2014whilst another story is, that, Mr Lincoln is to hold the Judgship until your return, when it is to be offered to you\u2014these are the reports I hear circulated, and as they relate to you. I have thought it but right to communicate them\u2014This is intended by Mr Ervin who is appointed Minister & Emb to Denmark & embarks immediately for Copenhagen\u2014you no doubt will receive Dispatches from the Government by him\u2014which will apprize you of every thing going on here.\nWe are thank Heaven all, as well as usual\u2014I beg you will present my affectionate remembrance, to your Lady & Kitty, and I am my dear Sir / Your afflicted but ever faithful Servt.\nWalter Hellen", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1886", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 12 January 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nMy Beloved Mother.\nSt: Petersburg 12. January 1811.\nThe year eighteen hundred and ten according to Russian reckoning still exists\u2014But as its last hours are upon the wing; and as the New-Year has already made the progress of almost half a month with you, I can no longer delay the opportunity of wishing you, and my dear father, and my George and John, and all the family around you, not the compliments of the Season, but a truly joyful year to be followed by many more.\nThe new-year\u2019s day is always kept in this Country with great solemnity and festivity\u2014Visits in person or by cards must be paid to the whole Circle of one\u2019s acquaintance; and by the foreign Ministers to all the persons of distinction who frequent the Imperial Court\u2014At Noon the mass is celebrated in the Imperial Chapel, after which there is a levee or as it is called here a Diplomatic Circle held by the Emperor at which the two Empresses attend. In the Evening there is a masked Ball at the Palace, for which from twelve to fifteen thousand tickets are issued, and to which of course all classes of the People are admitted\u2014Although styled a masked Ball there are no Masks\u2014The Court company go in dominos and Venetian dresses, and the people in all the various dresses of the different Provinces of the Empire\u2014After the Ball, in which there is no dancing, there is a supper at the Hermitage to which a select party of two or three hundred persons receive special invitations.\nSince I wrote you last which was on the 5/17 December I have had no letters from you or from any of my friends at Boston or Quincy\u2014We have heard indirectly that Captain Beckford had arrived at Boston, but I have not yet received the acknowledgment of the receipt of any letters sent by him\u2014From the time of his arrival until this letter reaches you, if you do not receive very frequent advices from us, it will not be our fault\u2014We have written not only directly, but indirectly by the way of Archangel, of Riga, of Sweden and of England\u2014and I now send this by the way of France.\nI have received despatches from the Secretary of State, dated about the middle of October; and my wife has a letter from her mother, of 3. November\u2014They were brought by the Essex frigate, which had a passage of only 23. days from Norfolk to L\u2019Orient; and then by a Russian Courier who came in seventeen days from Paris.\nThe President\u2019s Proclamation of 2. November, came by this opportunity; and according to present appearances I shall no longer have the means of writing to you by the way of England.\u2014For the English Government still adhere to their orders in Council and instead of meeting the advances which France certainly made towards at least a less rancorous War, if not towards a Peace, have exasperated the Emperor Napoleon not only to persist in the Berlin and Milan decrees; but to extort a Declaration of War against Great-Britain by Sweden; to issue a new decree for burning all the English Merchandise which had been introduced by Contraband upon the Continent, and to annex the Hanseatic Cities as well as Holland to the French Empire.\u2014The infatuation of the English Government about their Orders of Council continues in all its force; and France uses it as an argument to justify all her encroachments upon her neighbours\u2014In all this England plays the losing game, though France has not succeeded yet in injuring essentially her Commerce. The king of England has had a new attack of his unhappy malady, and by the latest Accounts that we have there was a prospect that a Regency would become necessary\u2014This might produce a revocation of the Orders of Council, and perhaps even a Negotiation for Peace.\nWe are all in as good health, as a family so numerous as ours can generally be expected to be\u2014Within the last three weeks we have lost three of our most frequent and intimate associates\u2014Mr: Harris, our consul\u2014Mr: J.S. Smith and Mr: Jones\u2014the two latter of those Gentlemen are pursuing their travels, and although they took different roads, expect to meet each other against Vienna in February\u2014Mr: Harris is gone upon a tour for a couple of months to Archangel and Moscow. I had for some time thoughts of going with him; but concluded that I would not be advisable for both of us to be absent from this Capital at the same time.\nMrs: Johnson mentions in her letter to my wife, that she had lately heard from you that our boys were well\u2014But the last letter that I have from you is dated 25. July, and the last from my brother is of 7. May.\u2014We have received no regular file of Boston papers later than March; but now and then a few straggling, and for the most part federal papers\u2014They generally deserve the application to them of a very excellent toast given at the Faneuil Hall dinner the last 4th: of July, in honour of the federal brethren at New-York\u2014The prayer that they might \u201cShine, brighter and brighter unto the perfect day\u201d was not less ingenious than it was pious, and if it could avail as much as the prayer of the righteous is authorized to expect, would be as profitable to the federalists at the Head-Quarters of good-principles as to their brethren of the Manhadoes.\u2014They would all be the better for a little furbishing of intellect.\nIf we remain here the next Summer, I must request you to forward your letters, among other ways by that of France whenever a good opportunity may happen.\u2014You can enclose them under cover to Mr: Jonathan Russell. Charg\u00e9 des Affairs of the United States at Paris\u2014There are Courier\u2019s frequently passing between Paris and this City, by whom single letters can be sent; but not large packets. I say if we remain here the next Summer, because I am uncertain whether we shall or not\u2014Mrs: Johnson writes that the American newspapers have announced that we shall return home\u2014It is not at present my intention, but in the vicissitudes of human life we know not from one day to another what may befall us; or where we may be called\u2014Wherever we may be, at lease one thing will be unchangeable, as long as the pulse of life shall beat at my heart\u2014it is the dutiful affection of your Son\u2014\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1887", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 15 January 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson\nmy dear daughter\nQuincy Janry 15th 1811\nIt is a long time since I addresed a Letter to You, and a much longer since I received a Letter from you. altho there are so many natural impediments, and artificial obstruction in the way of a free communication, I will not wholy relinquish the hope I have: that some of the many Letters I have written may find there way to you.\nvessels arrive from the North, but do not bring any tydings of you, and vessels go, of which we know not, for Commerce is so bepuzzeld, that it has not any Regular Channel\nI have the pleasure to say to you, that your sons are well, that they grow in Stature, and increase in Knowledge. The absence of their Father will undoubtedly deprive them of many Sources of knowledge which he would open to their youthfull minds, but the watchfull attention of their Aunt Cranch to preserve their Morals pure, and to instill virtuous principles into their minds is a great compensation to them for the absence of some other advantages which they might obtain at a public school.\nGeorge is with me, and is reading Walter Scotts works, with the Lady of the lake he is highly delighted, and with Miss Porters Scottish Chiefs, which is a work of pre Eminent worth\u2014I know not when I have met with any thing of the kind so interesting, so nobly patriotic, so pure in sentiment, walace might truly be stiled, the Christian Hero.\nIn the spring I wrote you that mr James Foster had a son who was Christned John Quincy Adams. It was a fine child, blooming, sprightly and Lovely, but suddenly snatchd from them by that fatal disease the Croup\u2014well to day, and a Corpse the next, at the age of seven Months. I felt for it a stronger attachment from the name it bore\u2014 Mr Whitney has had a severe sickness in his family. he had himself a fever calld here the Typhus his daughter Harriot was Seizd with the same and dyed. Simon Frazer and william & mr Whitneys son George all lay dangerously Sick at the same time. Simon Frazer dyed. the others have recoverd, but it broke up the School for near two Months. not any person took the fever who attended, nor has it broken out in any other family\u2014\nwe have great cause of thankfullness that no other breach has been made upon our immediate connexions but from my list of Friends, several links have been broken off. Judge Cushing was a Death daily to be expected, and desirable to himself but our Friend Mrs Sumner is taken away in no very advanced Age She sickned about six weeks ago, and last week paid the great debt of nature; to the distress and great Grief of her son and daughters\u2014and the her Friend\u2019s.\nI hear frequently from you Mother, who I presume will not let this opportunity slip by our Minister mr Erving to the court of denmark\u2014of writing to you\u2014he is to sail from Nyork and there our Letters must go, as he was a long time at Washington I think your Friends must have embraced the opportunity of writing by him. I received a Letter from your Mother in high spirits. Your Brother was arrived there from New Orleans, and Mrs Pope was returnd with her Husband, so that she had double joy. they were all in good health, mr Hellen excepted. she however wrote more favorably respecting him. your Mamma wrote me that she expected quite a crop of little ones this winter, no less than four. May they live and prosper\u2014the Russian climate is too cold to produce an American. I have lately been reading the Edinburgh Review & some extracts of a dr Clarks travels in Russia. If he is not as fabulous as those foreigners who have written their travels in America, I do more than ever commisirate your situation, and crawl whilst I shrug my shoulder in writing. I dare not tarnish my paper with any extract from him\nI know from the experience I have had of very cold weather here, that a cold Country must be a dirty one and in a climate which requires so much fun, to keep one from freezing, it is not to be wonderd at, that other than humane Beings take shelter under them.\nI hope the time is not far distant when you may return to America. in the present convulsed State of the world, I know not a Country the inhabitents of which have so great cause for gratitude and thankfullness to Heaven for the peace, plenty, and tranquility they enjoy.\nI shall write to my son if I have time before the post goes. the latest Letters from you are dated in Sep\u2019br\u2014 My Love to your Sister, and to William not forgetting my dear Grandson George\u2014\nLeiut govenour Lincoln is appointed judge in the Room of Judge Cushing\u2014\nIf william welch should not Sail for America before this reaches, I request two peices of sheeting to be sent me by him and one day table cloth 6/2 yd 3 half long & 6:2 two yds\u2014any commission I can execute for you I shall do it with pleasure\u2014pray my son to send a Bill of them that I may pay to his Brother the amount\u2014\never affectionatly your Mother\nAbigail Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1889", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Josiah, III Quincy, 15 January 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Quincy, Josiah, III\nDear Sir:\u2014\nQuincy, January 15, 1811.\nI thank you for two presents, the Message and the documents. Mr. Madison follows the example of Mr. Jefferson in this instance; but is the difference between a speech and a message of much importance? Does the aversion to speeches and the partiality for messages arise or proceed from the spirit of democracy or aristocracy?\nThe glorious uncertainty of the law is a proverbial expression; and why may we not speak of the glorious uncertainty of politics? It gives you great legislators, philosophers, and orators ample scope for all your genius, experience, sagacity, and eloquence. What can be more glorious for the notables of all parties?\nAn old man, however, in his sixteenth lustre, would not willingly exchange for all your glories such a morning as this, when, unencumbered with the least responsibility for anything, he sees the sun rising in an atmosphere as clear as crystal, after an imprisonment of a fortnight or three weeks by bad weather.\nWe have now the third flight of beautiful snow and fine sleighing. The two former were dissipated in two or three days. This I hope will last till you come home. The blustering and bullying of France and England disturb me much less than the freezing and thawing of this winter. I know, with submission, that all their power and all their policy can do no more finally than compel Hercules to feel his strength and show his wit.\nI am, sir, as ever, your friend and humble servant,\nJ. Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1890", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Catherine Nuth Johnson, 19 January 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Johnson, Catherine Nuth\nQuincy. Janry. 19 1811\u2014\nIf the Sympathizing Tear\u2019s of Friendship could assuage the agonizeing Bosom of my Friend; freely could I pour them there.\nI cannot Say how much I was shockd the last Evening at receiving a Letter from Louissa from Boston, informing me of the Sudden Death of your dear daughter Hellen\nO! my Friend this is indeed a trial. what can I Say, or how administer comfort?\nThe circumstances attendent upon a childbed death have ever appeared to me one of the most awful dispensations of providence\u2014I know how deservedly Dear Mrs Hellen was to all her family; and in what high estimation my Son held her. her loss to them is no common one, and the Situation of her three Sisters must render her Death allarming to them in a greater degree\u2014\nReligion my Friend, does not forbid us to weep, and to mourn for our Departed Friend\u2019s, but it teaches us to cast our Sorrows upon that Being in whose hands, and at whose disposal we are, and who can heal the wounded Bosom, and bind up the broken heart\nunto that Being I commit you all, my dear afflicted Friend\u2019s, from whom I pray, that you may receive that Support, and consolation, which it is not in human power to bestow.\nI was just going to take my pen, when these Sad tydings reached me, to congratulate you upon Letters recently received from our Children, bearing date 25 &27 october, with agreable accounts of their health\u2014I presume you have received Letters by Similar conveyance, extracts from them would ill Suit your present feeling\u2019s\u2014I will only Say Shall we receive good and not evil?\nIf must be a Source of pleasing recollection when the hand of time has wiped the tears from the Eyes of your son & mrs Pope, that they were enabled to See their Sister, a consolation denied to her other Sisters; to whom I know not how to communicate the agonizing event.\nAs Soon as you can obtain Sufficient composure to write to me, let me know the particular circumstances which deprived you of a daughter, her partner of the wife of his Bosom, and her children of a tender and affectionate Mother. To all of whom present; as a Sincere Mourner, and Sympathizer in their affliction / your Friend\nAbigail Adams\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1891", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 20 January 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nNo 1\nMy dear Son\nQuincy Janry 20th. 1811.\nAs I had made up my mind to Submit to the unpleasent circumstances attendent upon distance, and the frozen Region which not only excludes light, but seals up all communication with each other. I was the more delighted to receive your Letter of October 25th\nA day auspicious to me, altho in your Letter you do not notice it. The Aniversary of the day, which united me to your Father, and the 47th of our union\u2014when I look back, and contemplate upon the various scenes through which I have passed, and the many painfull seperations I have been call\u2019d to endure, in times perilous to our Country, when I enumerate the times which your Father, and other Branches of my Family have traversed the mighty ocean, and been preserved through many dangers, and that we have escaped them, I am ready to say, it is of the Lords doings, and it is marvelous in my Eyes\u2014I would fain believe, what has long been impressed upon my mind. That you are destined to Serve your Country in her most essential, and important Interests, for years yet to come\nWhile the Spirit of party rages, Kept alive by the two great Belligerent powers, each of which is struggling to embrace us, we must not expect that justice or gratitude from our Country which is due to those who sacrifice themselves to secure her independence and existance, that their good will be evil spoken of all History Shows.\nIn a late Review of a Life of Barry I met with a Letter of mr Burk\u2019s to him. as you love every thing from the pen of Burk\u2014you may consider the extract, as applicable to yourself\n\u201cThat you have just subjects of indignation always and of Anger often, I do no ways doubt, who can live in the World without some trials of his patience? but believe me, the Arms with which the ill disposition of the world are to be combatted, and the qualities by which it is to be reconciled to us,\u2014are moderation, gentleness a little indulgence to others and a great deal of distrust of ourselves, which are not qualities of a mean Spirit, as some may possibly think them, but virtues of a great and noble Mind, and Such as dignify our nature as much as they contribute to our repose\u201d\nyour Letter of the 25. october: fully explains what was not before doubted by me, that the hugh and cry raised against you was for your detection of counterfeits, and Striping them of their false covering\n\u201cIf you corruption\u2019s hand expose\u201d\n\u201cYou make corrupted Man your foes\u201d\n\u201cWhat then? you hate the paltry tribe\u201d\n\u201cbe virtue yours;\u2014be theirs the bribe\u201d\nMr Forbes the consul was attacked with more virulence than you have been; he addrest a long Letter to his Friend in Philadelphia which was published, and which exposed the villany not only of van Sander, but disclosed some secrets respecting some of our Boston Merchants. Mr Forbes does not Scruple to say that he had been offerd bribes, and such as if he had been base enough to have accepted, would have placed him in circumstances in which he would not have wanted the consulship for a support. he writes with the warmth and ardour of a Man who is conscious that he has acted uprightly\u2014and feels himself injured by base aspersions and calumny. Since the publication of his Letter, I have not heard any more reflections cast upon the Russian Minister for medling or any think further said respecting the useless Mission\u2014\nThe Merchants are very glad to get a Special Minister to Denmark, and no comments upon a Frigates being Sent to convey him; Mr G Erving is appointed, and by him I hope to convey this and other Letters to you; I was rejoiced to learn that my stragglers had reached you. there are some of your Letters, Still missing.\nyour Brother is writing by this opportunity. I hope we shall be in time\u2014as to our State politicks we enjoy a perfect calm. Govr Gerry has experienced the most tranquil administration as yet of any Govr for a long time. our Legislature will be in session in a few days. we may then Stir up a Breize, but I think it will not shake mr Gerry.\nCongress have had closed doors the greater part of the Session\u2014I know not of what use it can be, if Marplots are allowed to disclose what is confidentially communicated to them, as Mason did the British Treaty, and Col Pickering has lately done, by reading in the Senate a Letter confidentially communicated by the President respecting the Florides\u2014for which a vote of censure was past upon him, and a motion made to expell him. If this had been done when Mason betrayed his trust, it would have been an example, and then with a better face they could have punished Pickering\u2014you will see by the Papers, that our writers are as eager as ever to censure the President for taking possession of the Florides, or rather that part which belongs to us, and are for assisting the British Government to lay claim to it in behalf of Spain. This and the renewal of the Bank Charter, and the Non Intercourse against Great Britain are the Great Subjects before Congress\u2014and will require more time than this Short Session\u2014\nLeiut Govenour Lincoln is appointed judge of the Supreem National Legislature Judiciary in the place of Judge Cushing the Newspapers Say he accepted only to keep the place warm for J Q Adams when ever he returns\u2014altho I know there were many who wished you might have been here to have filled it, & the late judge himself wished you to have been his Successor I think you have exprest yourself of a different opinion\u2014this is however out of the question\u2014\nSince I wrote last to you, we have lost our Neighbour mr Black, and major Barret\u2014mr Black was a Friendly benevolent Man, and a good Neighbour. I Shall miss him, and mrs Black thinks of removeing to Boston which will be a great breach in our friendly circle\u2014\nyou Parents yet remain to you but at their advanced Age, you should prepare your mind for an event which must take place \u2018eer long. If it is the will of heaven I could wish that it might be protracted untill they might embrace their Son again in his, and their Native Land\n\u201cWhether this blessing be denied or given\u201d / Is wisely hidden from / your truly affectionate / Mother\nAbigail AdamsI must not close this Letter without Saying to you that your Sons are well. John Stands by and desire that his duty may be presented to his dear Father and Mother & his Love to his Brother\u2014as this is the first Letter I have written to you Since the year commenced I Shall Number it, and continue to do so", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1892", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 21 January 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson\nNo 1\nmy Dear Daughter\nQuincy Jan\u2019ry. 21 1811\nThe season was so far advanced, and several vessels had arrived from the North without Letters, that I had given up the Idea of hearing again from you, untill Spring\u2014your Letter was therefore doubly acceptable to me. I wrote to you a few days previous to the receipt of your Letter of 23d of october, and Sent it on, to Newyork to go by our Special Minister to Denmark\u2014 Altho I regret that you are destined to remain in a climate so harsh, and so dismall as I should esteem it, for to me the genial influence of the Sun is so necessary, both, to my health and Spirits; that I deplore his absence, if only hidden from me for a few days; and I feel anxious not only for your health but for that of my son; who is as Sincere a Lover of the great Luminary as I am. when I was in England, I used frequently to Boast to  mr Brand Hollis of, our fine clear skye, and bright Sun Shine, over his foggy Island. he replied to me, that he should not like to be dazzeld with so much blew and Gold. every Country is, and ought to be dear to the Natives of it, and I dare Say the Russian prizes his, as much as the Good Lady did her barren Rock of Gibralter.\u2014who after visiting England, and Seeing the fertility of its Soil, and tasteing the various Luxeries which it offers, was questioned how She liked the Country? replied very well, but it was nothing at all to Gib\u2014\nScott in his Lay of the last Minstrel, has a fine passage in print, after having recited with great Skill the wars between the Borderes and the Southerns, he is asked, \u201cwhy he, who touched the harp so well\n\u201cShould thus, with ill-rewarded toil,\nwander a poor and thankless Soil?\nwhen the more generous Southern land\nwould well requite his skilful hand.\u201d\nTo which with great feeling and warmth he replies,\n\u201cBreathes there the Man with Soul so dead,\nWho never to himself hath Said,\nThis is my own, my native land!\nWhose heart hath never within him burned,\nAs home his footsteps he hath turned\nFrom wandering on a foreign Strand!\nIf such there breathe, go, mark him well;\nFor him no Minstrel raptures swell;\nHigh though his titles, proud his Name,\nBoundless his wealth as wish can claim\nDespite those titles power and pelf;\nThe wretch, concentered all in self,\nLiving shall forfeit fair renown,\nAnd doubly dying, shall go down\nTo the vile dust, from whence he sprang,\nUnwept, unhonoured, and unsung.\u201d\nThe sentiments are so just & so happily exprest, that I could not refrain from transcribing the whole of it.\nThe Country and climate where you now reside will still more endear to you, even your adopted Country, and you must reflect with pleasure upon the benifit mr Adams is obtaining for it, in a commercial and I have no doubt, in a political view, also as time will show.\nI respect the Emperor Alexander for his possessing a mind Superiour to exterior Show and Splendor, that he knows how to appreciate merrit, and honour integrity, ungilt and unvarnished\u2014I am well satisfied that our Country would derive much greater advantages from a more liberal appointments to their Foreign Ministers. I know by Experience that they are Subjected to many mortifications of which their Country know not of. If mr Adams has perseverence, and fortitude, sufficient to bear him through the period you mention, I trust you will do all in your power to Soften the rigor of it, & make it as agreable as circumstances will admit. The Subject which preys upon your mind, and which You have repeatedly mentiond, is surely no fault of yours. It was well known to mr Adams before he was connected with you and can never, be a complaint against you. nor was you ever reminded of it by any of his connections, nor can it, by any means lessen your influence with him. his honour and his Reputation, must be as dear to you, as tho you had possessd ever So large a fortune, and I should esteem it a misfortune for You to have carried him a fortune, unless he had possesst Sufficient to have balenced it\u2014 believe me my dear, altho you might have felt more independent, you would not have been happier\u2014\nI think you are intirely mistaken with respect to your opinion of the professorship, and you must permit me to rejoice, that you did not Succeed. if as you say, you endeavourd to influence him against accepting it. politicks had very little influence in determining that point it was not that, which raised the Scorn of the junto against him. opposition to the Boston Bank was one of the first of his political offences. the part he took in the Senate of the United States, and the Report in Smiths case in which Col Burr was implacated, was the second. a greater Still was his meeting the Cacus in favour of the Election of mr Madison. the opposition which he made to the encroachment of Great Britain, and her unjust claims upon his country together with voteing for the Embargo; and more than all the rest, the talents which he discoverd when ever he was calld to act, or Speak raised a spirit of envy and of Jealousy. the party knew that he was not a Man to be bought, or bribed, to be terrified, or dismayed\u2014how then must he be assaultd by lies, by calumny, by crushing him if possible\u2014\nThe professorship will never again be fill\u2019d with equal tallents, and I am not alone in this opinion. I consider Mr Adams Lectures as one of the most durable monuments of his literary fame, and reputation. that they have, and will continue to benifit the Youth of our Country, beyond the present period, I will venture to affirm\u2014For the honour of the Family, I would not exchange those Lectures for as many diamonds. they would only reflect an outward Lusture, but these will endure and Shine brighter, and reflect greater Lusture upon his name in years yet unborn. my only regret is, that he was obliged to relinquish the object, before he had compleated his plan, and to publish without a revision\nyou will not complain that I do not write often enough to you; your Friends at Washington keep you informed from that quarter, and can give you more news of the fashionable world from which I have long since retired.\u2014\nI request you to present me kindly to your Sister, and to William Smith mr Grey and my little Grandson who I hope to live to See, return to their Native land again.\nI am my dear Daughter / Your affectionate Mother Abigail Adams\nI suppose I should not be forgiven if I did not Say the Boys were well and both dinned with me to day as usual on Sundays\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1893", "content": "Title: From Mary Smith Cranch to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 21 January 1811\nFrom: Cranch, Mary Smith\nTo: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson\nQuincy Jany 21d 1811\nI feel asham\u2019d My Dear Neice when I think how few Letters I have written to you since you left us. I should be inexcusable indeed if I had not known your other Friends had not kept you inform\u2019d of the welfair of your dear Boys under our care. I have receiv\u2019d three Letters from you, for which I sincerely thank you, the last august 27th considering the difficulties attending the conveyence of them tis a great favour so many of yours Should have reach\u2019d your Friends here.\nI am sorry your situation is not more agreable to you the many sacrifices you have made & are still making will never be appretiated or rewarded as they ought: but by him who knows the purity of the intentions & the integrity with which your invaluable Friend executes the Mission which he has accepted. From that Being who knows the Secrets of all Hearts he will receive a rich recompence in a better World.\nWhen I look upon your lovely children & think how much they lose by your absence I feel a wish that I was better quallified to pour instruction into their tender & prolifac minds\u2014but be assur\u2019d we omit no opportunity to fix Principles which may lay a solid foundation for their Parents to build upon in some future time\u2014They certainly posses uncommon powers of Mind. John will Make as good a reader as his Brother & is quick at arithmatic this I teach him, & he is very fond of the Study, he commits to memory very quick every thing that is requir\u2019d of him him His writing you will judge off yourself as he will send a Letter. his health is much better than it used to be he has not needed a Physician but once since you left him he was threaten\u2019d last october with a putrid sore Throat & was confin\u2019d to his Chamber a week. he had a Fever & a very bad throat & Tongue, but by constant attention & the blessing of Heaven he soon recover\u2019d & has been very well Since he has lost but one Tooth with us. I will take all the care I can to make them both keep them clean\nOf George I cannot say enough\u2014his Capacious Mind is ever craving knowledge\u2014& his quickness of apprehension renders it a pleasing Task to afford him all the assistance in our power. History is his favourite Study he reads it almost every evening to Me & sometimes Suprises me by his judicious observations. Mr Cranch converses with him often upon such Subjects & he forgets nothing that is told him. when hearing his attitude is attention itself. there are many things in his Manner: & Temper which yet want to be corrected, but I think we gain upon him in both. there is no one can make more good resolutions than he does, as his reason ripens they will I doubt not be executed. one evening when reading the chapiter in the Bible from which he has quoted a verse in his Letter to you, he sprung up & said, \u201cThat is just like me aunt\u201d I told him if he thought so he now had a subject to write to you upon as you had said he must mend of all his faults. the Ideas in his Lettes are all his own. I only help\u2019d him to arrange them a little better than he had done he did not like to send it unless I would\u2014he was detain\u2019d from School a Month by a Sickness in mr Whitneys Family\u2014it was a dreadful Fever which he had first himself but lightly. his youngest Daughter was soon after taken with it & dy\u2019d. then his Son & two of his west India Scholars one of which dy\u2019d & no one expected for a long time the life of his son, but he has recoverd & the Family are now all well. in the midst of the sickness mrs Whitney was put to Bed with a Daughter. they had a most distress\u2019d Family for many weeks\u2014\nour children are all well. mrs greenleaf has another Son\u2014we have just receiv\u2019d mr Adams Lectures for which we sincerely thank him. the good effects of them are very visible at Cambridge they will be a Treasure in any Library. George is reading them, when he will get thro I know not. for his Notes are longer than his Fathers Text. will you present him my most respecful & affectionate regards within, & accept for yourself Sistir & mr Smith little charles included, the best wishes of both mr Cranch & your / affectionate Aunt\nMary Cranch", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1894", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to William Smith Shaw, 23 January 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Shaw, William Smith\nmy dear William\nQuincy Janry 23. 1811\nI desired Louissa to call and See you, and to tell you that I would Send for you to Quincy if you was able to come out. She writes me that your buisness is such that you think you cannot come. a Sick Man Should lay asside all buisness if possible. you had better do so for Louissa Says you was too Sick to remove at present but as Soon as your dr will permit you to come, I have a chamber and fire at your Service and a Number of Nurses who will attend you, and one who knows from sad experience how to Sympathize with you. Mrs Dexter too will be ready to do you any Service\u2014I fear you cannot be So well accommodated at a Boarding house. I wish I was near you. Mr J Adams is confined with the Same Complaint\u2014\nI am dear William your affectionate\nAunt Abigail Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1895", "content": "Title: From John Adams to John Quincy Adams, 25 January 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nMy dear Son\nQuincy January 25. 1811\nMr Erving, our Minister destined to Copenhagen, has already a Letter for you from me and others from your Mother and politely offers to transmit this as he may have opportunity, and expresses a desire to manifest his high Respect for Us and for you, upon greater Occasions.\nI am ashamed to Number my past Letters to you, they have been so few, but this is the Second at least Since this year came in.\nOur Massachusetts orator Mr Quincy is displaying his Eloquence and Zeal in the great Counsel of the Nation: and although our Friends Fame and Popularity with his Constituents will be promoted, it is doubted whether The Public Good will be So much advanced. There are So many Seeds and Elements of division, that it is unnecessary to multiply them by premature Threats which will not intimidate and which may perhaps be soon reciprocated. Quincy is very clever: but I cannot read a Word without regret that glances, at a dismemberment of the Union though ever So remotely or obscurely. The dangers to American Liberty will be increased beyond all Mr. Ames\u2019s Imaginations and the Independence of both Parts of the Division would be totally lost, by a Sepearation.\nOur Legislature met on Wednesday. Mr Story is Speaker, instead of the Attorney Gen. Mr Morton: and I know not that We have had a more accomplished Speaker, Since the Revolution. Mr Lincoln is Judge in place of my much lamented Friend Cushing, and I know not that We could have had a better unless you had been at home.\nCalled down to Mrs Cushing, and Mr Sumner, who are going to Situate, Sumner produced me the Palladium, Repertory and Chronicle. The two first have learned the Art of Panegyrick from you and Trumpett away the Praises of Quincy\u2019s Speech, beyond Huperbole. \u201cThe most wonderful Speech that ever was delivered in any Assembly\u201d &c The Chronicle abuses it and him. Says it was made and sent him from Boston, &c Quincys Ambition like all other Ambition is boundless, and he has Talents and Advantages that will raise him to Fame if his Constitution Should not fail him. He takes some of your Ground in the Louissiana Question, but not all of it.\nThe Terror of \u201cOffence to Spain, France and England\u201d is introduced upon this Question as upon all others: but I believe We must claim our own, let any or all of the three like Us or not.\nThis Subject and the Bank and the Non Intercourse with England are Setting Us all on fire. We Shall have amusement enough, and that We may have it from the Fountain I have Subscribed for the National Intelligencer. The first Number of it, brought me the debate upon Mr Pickerings Conduct. It is well to inforce the Observance of their Injunctions of Secrecy: but I cannot See any Thing very heinous in Pickerings Conduct in this instance. They Should have begun with Stevens Thompson Mason.\nWhile I have been writing this Letter the affecting and afflicting News has been brought me of the Sudden Death in a pulmonary Fever of our Cozen Mrs Norton, leaving Eight Children to deplore the Loss of her tender affections and her Excellent Instructions in their Education. The Family and all ours will be greatly distressed by this melancholly Event. I dread the Effect of it upon your Uncle and Aunt Cranch: and your Mother takes So deep an Interest in all Such distresses of her Friends that I am not without Apprehensions for her.\nOur Friends and Acquaintance fall around Us like the Leaves, and my turn is not yet come! Whenever it may arrive, and whatever deprivations I may be called to endure, I pray God to bless you and yours to whom I Send my Love as well as my Blessing. George and John are delighted with their Letters from their Parents and their Brother.\nI am your affectionate Father\nJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1896", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 26 January 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nNo 2\u2014\nMy dear Son\nQuincy Jan\u2019ry 26 1811\nI have already written to you twice by this opportunity. I had not intended to have taken my pen the third time, but having received intelligence from Washington which I wish\u2019d might be communicated to mrs Adams, and her Sister with that prudence and tenderness which so distressing an event calls for I thought it best to communicate to you the Sudden death of Mrs Hellen, who was at Church on Christmas day; and burried on the New year. She died in Child bed. I have not yet any Letters from the family. I wrote immediatly to mrs Johnson, who I know must be overwhelmed with Grief as well as the whole Family, with whom as well, as with my dear daughter & her sister I do most tenderly Sympathize. \u201cMy dyeing Friend\u2019s come o\u2019er me like a cloud\u201d for these three Months past, the Aged, the Middle Aged, and youth & Infancy have followed in quick succession\u2014I had scarcly wiped the tears from my Eyes, feeling as I have done the distress of my Friends in Washington, when a stroke nearer home cloaths me in mourning\nThe death of Mrs Norten is almost as sudden as that of Mrs Hellen, not 48 hours from the time she was first attackd, before her blessed spirit winged its way to Realms of Bliss; then why Should I mourn for her? here she had little health much care, anxiety, and more labour, than her poor Frame could Sustain. To her family she is indeed a loss; her prudence her Eoconomy, sustaind them in credit. her counsel & example trained them up in the way in which they should go.\n\u201cwhat tho\u2019 short thy her date,\n\u201cvirtue, not rolling Sun\u2019s the mind matures.\n\u201cThat life is long, which answers life\u2019s great end\u201d\nyour uncle and Aunt, feel keenly this distressing event, but as Christians, they say the will of the Lord be done.\nSay to your wife, that I enter into her grief, and most tenderly sympathize with her, and Kitty;\nHowever we may live there is not any Religion by which we can dye die, but the Christian which gives us the glorious prospect of Life eternal. If Says the Apostle if \u201cin this Life only, we have hope; we are of all men the most misirable.\nReligion! Providence! an after-State!\n\u201cHere is firm footing; here is solid Rock\n\u201cThis can support us;\n\u201cHis hand the good man fastens on the Skies,\n\u201cAnd bids Earth, roll, nor feels her idle whirl\u201d\nI have no hope of hearing again from you for many Months. what other changes await us in that period is known only to that Being, \u201cwhom from all Creatures hides the Book of fate\u201d Whilst we are directed so to number our days, as to apply our hearts into Wisdom and may this Salutary admonition, be duly impress\u2019d upon the mind and heart of / your affectionate / Mother\nAbigail Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1897", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Josiah, III Quincy, 29 January 1811\nFrom: Quincy, Josiah, III\nTo: Adams, John\nDear Sir.\nWashington. 29th. Jany. 1811.\nI have the very great pleasure to acknowledge your favour of the 15th. Inst. Be assured, Sir, that I appreciate the honour of your correspondence; and that it will be a precious reward to cultivate and deserve your esteem and confidence. \u201cThe uncertainty of politics\u201d is, indeed, as obvious, as it is lamentable. I cannot, however, unite with you, in applying to it the epithet \u201cglorious.\u201d It is to me, a most humiliating and depressing fact.\u2014Since there are no guides, which are infallible, whom shall we follow? Since there are no principles, which seem, absolutely, settled, what foothold has reason, on which it may tread with firmness? All the lights of reflection fail, all those of history are extinguished, at the breath, and the bidding, of the spirit of party. The wisdom, which our fathers taught us, is despised. And the liberty, with which you, and they made us free, is little else than a cloak for licentiousness. Temporary projects supersede all the prospective duties, resulting from permanent relations. And the pride and patronage expected from an extensive territory are taking place of that consolidating and masculine course of policy, which distinguished the two first administrations. I know not what fates await us. And, in the mysterious course pursuing, I can see no other way than to cast anchor upon long established principles and trust my own, and my country\u2019s fortune, so far as any agency of mine has an influence upon it, to their firmness.\nYou will easily perceive, and I shall not conceal, that the course of my reflections has, in some degree, been shaped by the very responsible stand I have taken against the admission of New Orleans, as a state, into the union. My remarks, on that subject will, probably, have reached you, through the papers, previously, to this letter. I should have had the honour of transmitting them to you, personally, and I shall soon, but I have been waiting for a copy from Baltimore, where I am told they are publishing, in a better type than that of our ordinary newspapers.\nEverything of this kind, now-a-days, takes a party lurch, and is attributed to party projects. Yet the truth is that the ground broken by me was as little anticipated by any one of my own, as by any of the opposite. Whether right, or whether wrong, I was irresistibly driven to it, by a sense of duty to my country. This I have followed instinctively, and shall, let it lead me where it will, and let me it run me foul of whom, or what it will. If the consequences I have there drawn be not true. If the anticipations be not real and reasonable, I confess, that the guides of my mind are deceptive, and that the lights, heaven has set up in it, afford no distinct vision of things. I have not expected, nor do I expect, that the ground there defended will speedily be popular. The evils are distant, at least, twice the length of the nose, and that is half as far again as the majority of those, who call themselves politicians deign to examine. The expressions, at which exception was taken were selected, and the event, not altogether unanticipated. My determination was to mark the opposition to the bill, distinctly, in the public mind; and oblige it to be attentive to the subject. I have thus far attained my end. As to the rest I am indifferent.\nThe opportunity your letter gave me has drawn me into this explanation. But it is without any design to attract a reply from you on the topick. You may not incline either to censure, or approve. This, however, was a case, in which my own sense of duty was so clear and so imperious, that, let whatever be the event, I can have no regret. I write to you, with the more frankness, because, Sir, I confess, there has always been towards you, and yours, something of the filial and fraternal, in my feelings; and whatever casual differences may arise , should any, ever, exist, they can never affect the pride I feel, in my sense of your friendship or the very great respect with which I can never cease to be your obed. and very hble St.\nJosiah QuincyPlease to present me very respectfully to your lady & family.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1898", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 30 January 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nSt: Petersburg 18./30. January 1811.\nI wrote you on the last day of the old year, Old-Style, and sent my letter under cover to Mr: Russell our Charg\u00e9 des Affairs at Paris\u2014It went by a Courier of the French Ambassador, and I requested Mr: Russell to forward it by the earliest opportunity to America\u2014I shall send the present by a Gentleman who is going to Copenhagen; and shall desire to have it forwarded from that place, or from any other whence a good opportunity may happen to present itself.\nI begin with the best news that ever can be given to distant friends; by the information that we are all well\u2014My wife was much indisposed for two days at the close of the last week, but is now thank Heaven, recovered\u2014Charles grows like a mushroom, and chatters a compound dialect of French, German and English, which I hope will save him one of these days the trouble of beating either of these languages into his head with the grammatical hammer\u2014\nWe have gone through all the days of troublesome Ceremony for this Winter\u2014The New-Year\u2019s day Court, and Evening Mascarade\u2014The benediction of the Neva-Waters, on the 6th: and the Empress\u2019s Birth-day on the 13/25\u2014They have been this year less troublesome than usual having been abridged of one tedious Ball.\nThe new year commenced by the burning down of the principal theatre in this City\u2014The fire broke out about 2. O\u2019Clock in the Morning, and in two hours time the whole interior part of the building was demolished. French and Russian plays were performed at this house alternately two Evenings in succession\u2014\nWe have had hitherto no weather severely cold this winter\u2014But for the last two months we have scarcely had sight of the Sun\u2014The only fair weather they have at this Season of the year is that of extreme cold\u2014That is generally attended with sun-shine, and without wind\nThere is not much prospect of Peace between the Russians and Turks; but they are in winter-quarters and do not fight\u2014Whether they fight much in Spain and Portugal, you probably hear more fully and sooner than we do here. As the French who are the allies of Russia are very much detested by them, we have about twice a week reports that Massena has been totally defeated\u2014By the time one such Report cools down into a Fable, there is always another ready to take its place\u2014On the other hand the french official gazettes which we receive here fresh and fresh, are continually boasting of their successes against bands of Banditti, in all the provinces of Spain; and one of the latest accounts I have seen was to tell how Marshall MacDonald, a Duke and a Commander in chief of a French Army, succeeded in covering a convoy of Cattle from Girona to Barcelona, to supply that place with provisions\u2014Which shews pretty clearly what sort of a conquest of Spain the French have to boast of.\nIt is a vulgar french proverb, that appetite comes by eating,\u2014the Great Napoleon had scarcely swallowed Holland before he found his stomach craving for more\u2014He then took a part of Switzerland, because he says he made a road through the Country, and the People have not paid for it; but he tells his Senate that when he gave a Constitution to the Swiss he foresaw that France would soon want that part of the Country, and so seperated it from the Confederation, that it might always be ready to be incorporated at a minutes warning. Last of all he has annexed the Hanseatic Cities and a great part of his brother Jerom\u2019s kingdom of Westphalia to France, which his Counsellors of State say is indispensably necessary, because England refuses to revoke her orders in Council.\u2014One of them makes no hesitation of saying in the face of the world, that \u201cthe Will of Napoleon will always be a decree of Fate\u201d\u2014There is but one step from this to the horns of Jupiter Ammon.\nWhen we turn back our recollections merely to the years from 1790 to 1795, and observe what is now passing, on the Continent of Europe, it is hardly possible even for those who saw how much of error, and of imposture there was in the first days of the french Revolution, not to behold with some surprize the machine of the present day managed by the same identical men who were then the loudest proclaimers of liberty, equality and the rights of the People\u2014The mire of the streets is not so vile as the People, and whatever belongs to the People, in the estimation of their present masters\u2014But the fashion of anarchy and mob-government never lasts long\u2014The dominion of military despotism, once established may last for thousands of years\u2014\nAs there is nothing like civil or political liberty left upon the Continent of Europe, it does not seem to be of much consequence to whom the People belong\u2014But the great misfortune is that as the system of future Government which is organizing for them rests upon nothing but military power, its tendencies are not only to rivet the most oppressive kind of slavery upon mankind, but to open before them an endless prospect of inevitable War.\u2014If all the Conquests of France could be accomplished like those of Rome and Holland and the Hanseatic Cities, by the mere drawing up of a Senatus-Consult, it would no more be worthy of a rational man\u2019s consideration than it was of the Republicans of Amsterdam, whether they were to have a king Louis or an Arch-Treasurer of the Empire, Duke of Plaisance, to administer their affairs.\nAlthough we have letters from Washington to the 3d: of November, and have heard indirectly to the last of October from Boston we have nothing from you, or from any part of the family of a more recent date than the first week in August, and my latest date from my brother is still in May. We are now deprived of the Intelligence which in the summer Season we get from the Newspapers\u2014As to American Politics since the 4th: of July we have heard no-more of thm than of the Politics of China. I wish to learn how the Elections for the next House of Representatives in Congress have turned out.\nI beg you to present my dutiful remembrance to my father, and to give my blessing and their mother\u2019s to my dear Sons George and John\u2014I am in daily expectation of receiving a letter from George of his own writing; and by this time I hope John is beginning to learn to write too\u2014I long to see them and you, but fear I shall not yet enjoy that pleasure the present year\u2014Whether absent or with you, I am and shall be, ever your\u2019s \nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1899", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, January 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Cranch, Mary Smith\nmy dear sister\nJanuary 1811\nMr Lincoln our Carpenter came this morning from Weymouth he saw mrs Humphries who watchd last night with Mrs Norten. She Said that mrs Norten was a little revived this morning I hope with trembling\u2014may we be enabled to say Gods will be done for herself we need feel no anxiety. She will be relieved from her Earthly duties which Seem too great for her feeble Frame  frame but for her Friends and relatives we have reason to mourn\u2014\nYours everA A\nNancy Howard will watch to night. I will Send her to you She has been much with the Sick with mrs Field and mrs Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1900", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, January 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Cranch, Mary Smith\nmy dear sister\nJanuary 1811\nIt is a great grief to me my dear sister that I can do So little for you in your trouble when I owe So much to you. beside being much of an invalid myself Jackson is very Sick keeps his Bed\u2014and a thousand cares devolve upon me in concequence of the Sudden determination very reluctantly enterd into from a sense at this late period, without any previous arrangment. but all this is Small in comparison to leaving mrs Norten and you Sick\u2014Becky will watch with you to night\u2014I Send some wine for mrs Norten, and pray you to Send me your demijohn\nMrs Smith and Betsy Howard are gone to Town to day I have to prepare ten of us to go away\u2014a new coach man to Seek\u2014I did not design you should have had any intelligence about it, but mrs Smith Says She told you on Saturday. pray let me aid you with any thing I have that you want\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1901", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Mary Smith Cranch, January 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Cranch, Mary Smith\nmy dear Sister\nJanuary 1811\nHow are you to day? have you heard from weymouth? I send you a Barrel of pears and a Barrel of Russet Apples. if you have them put under your corn House untill the weather freezes they will keep better I also ask your acceptance of a Barrel of Rye flower\u2014I hope I Shall be able to See you tomorrow: I am taking calomil to day\u2014I Send the Linnen and my two Trunks which you have always been So kind as to take care of\nYour truly affectionate\nA A", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1903", "content": "Title: From Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 4 February 1811\nFrom: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nSt Petersburg Febry. 4th 1811\nAfter so long a silence my dear mother I scarcely know how to address you without troubling you with complaints of your not writing.  since July I have not received a line from you our solicitude and anxiety to hear from you adds terribly to the tediousness of our banishment and render my residence here almost insupportable\u2014\nIt is here confidently reported that Mr Adams is shortly to be removed to France I however put no faith in it and it is far from my wish as it universally said to be the most unpleasant and expensive residence for a Foreign minister in Europe in addition to which having become reconciled to the manner of living here and being comfortably established and recieving the highest distinctions at Court I should prefer remaining here untill I return home but you know my dear mother in these arrangements I am perferfectly neutral and shall always cheerfully acquiesce in such plans as Mr A. deems most advantageous\u2014\nPermit me my dear Mother to repeat my thanks for the obligations you are continually laying me under for your kind care of my darling Children as also to all the family to whom I cannot sufficiently express my gratitude Offer my most affectionate respects to the President, and all our dear friends with repeated Kisses and every good wish to our darling Children Charles sends his love to them and says he wants to see them very much in which he is most heartily joined by their most affectionate mother and your grateful daughter\nL C A\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1904", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Josiah, III Quincy, 9 February 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Quincy, Josiah, III\nDear Sir\nQuincy February 9th 1811\nI have received with much pleasure your favor of the 29th of January. Before I proceed, let me premise a few preliminaries.\n1. I disdain all pretentions and Thoughts of Authority, Superiority or Influence arising from Age, Experience or any thing else: and expect and desire and insist that you give no more attention or respect to any opinion of mine than if it were the opinion of the celebrated Sexton of our Church, Caleb Hayden.\n2. That difference of opinion make no unnecessary Alteration in private Friendship. In the course of my Life I have differed in sentiments in Religion and Politicks from my Master Putnam and my Master Gridly and fifty others of my Friends without any diminutions of Esteem or regard. I have differed for many years in Political Sentiments from your Grandfather, your Uncle Samuel, your Cousin Jonathan Sewall, Daniel Leonard and some others the most intimate Friends I ever enjoyed, without the smallest personal Altercation, and I am bold to say without a diminution of Esteem on either side. I might enumerate a long Catalogue of others in Subsequent Periods; but you will think you already have enough of my gossiping Garrulity.\nNow for your letter. When I applied the Epithet \u201cGlorious\u201d to the uncertainty of Politicks, I meant it ironically, as We say the Glorious uncertainty of the Law Those who smarted under the Lash of the Law probably applied it sarcastically to the Lawyers, as the Frogs said to the Boys who pelted them It is sport to you, but death to us.\nI ought not to object to your Reverence for your Fathers as you call them, meaning I presume the Government and those concerned in the Direction of public affairs, much less can I be displeased at your numbring me among them. But to tell you a very great secret, as far as I am capable of comparing the Merit of the different Periods, I have no reason to believe that We were better than you are. We had as many poor Creatures and selfish Beings, in proportion among us as you have among you: nor were there then more enlightened Men, or in greater Number in proportion than there are now.\n\u201cHeaven from all creatures hides the Book of Fate\u201d \u201cLe grand Rouleau in haut\u201d cannot be read by our Telegraphick Telescopes.\nShould I let loose my Imagination into futurity, I could imagine that I foresee Changes and Revolutions, such as Eye hath not seen nor Ear heard: Changes in forms of Government; Changes in Religion; Changes in ecclesiastical Establishments; Changes in Armies and Navies; Changes in Alliences & foreign Relations; Changes in Commerce &c &c &c without end.\nI cannot see any better Principal at present, than to make as little Innovation as possible: keep Things a going as well as we can in the present train.\nThe union appears to me to be the rock of our salvation and every reasonable measure for its preservation is expedient. Upon this principle I own, I was pleased With the purchase of Louisiana: because Without it we could never have secured and commanded the Navigation of the Missippi, and Without the Navigation of the Missisippi, the Western Country Would infallibly have revolted from the Union. Those states would have united with England or Spain or France, or set up an independence, or done any Thing else, to obtain the free use of that River.\nI wish the constitution had been more explicit, or that the states had been consulted: but it seems Congress have not entertained any doubts of their Authority; and I cannot say that they are destitute of plausible Arguments to support their opinion.\nYour Eloquence and oratory upon this question are worthy of your Father, you Grandfather, and your Great Grandfather. you spoke your own sentiments, I doubt not, with Integrity, & the sense of a Majority of your immediate Constituents, and will not only increase your Popularity with them, but extend your fame as a statesman and an orator. But will not influence at present the great Body of the people in the nation.\nProphecies of Division have been familiar in my Ears for Six and Thirty years. They have been incessant but have had no other effect, than to increase the attachment of the People to the union. However lightly we may think of the voice of the People, sometimes, they not unfrequently see further than you or I, in many great fundamental questions. And you may depend upon it they see, in a Partition of the union, more dangers to American Liberty than poor Ames\u2019s distempered imagination conceived, and a total loss of Independence for both Fragments, or all the fragments of the union.\nBut I was about saying a word upon the constitution. You appear to be fully convinced that the convention had it not in contemplation to admit any state or states into our Confederation, than situated without the limits of the thirteen states. In this point I am not so clear. The Constitution it is true must speak for itself and be interpreted by its own phraseology: yet the History and state of things at the time may be consulted to elucidate the meaning of Words and determine the bona fide intention of the Convention. Suppose we should admit for argument sake, that no member of the Convention foresaw the purchase of Louisiana: it will not follow that many of them did not foresee the necissity of conquering sometime or other the Floridas and New Orleans and other Territories on this side the Missisippi. The state of things between this Country and spain 1787 was such as to render the Apprehensions of a War with that Power by no means improbable. The Boundaries were not settled, the Navigation of the River was threatened; and spain was known to be tampering and England too\nYou think it impossible the convention could have a Thought of a War with Great Britain and the conquest of Canada In this point I differ from you very widely. The conduct of Great Britain and the conduct of our states too was such as to keep up very serious Apprehensions between the two Powers. The Treaty of Peace Was not fulfilled on either side. The English had carry\u2019d away the Negro\u2019s in direct violation of a most express stipulation. They held Possesion by strong Garrisons of a long chain of posts Within our Territory commanding many nations of Indians among whom they excited dispositions hostile to us, the limits were not settled against Nova Scotia, & many Turbulences between the inhabitants arose. On the other side the old debts were not Paid and positive laws existed in many if not most of the states against their recovery. I therefore think it highly probable that the convention meant to authorize Congress in future to admit Canada and Nova Scotia into the union in case We should have a War and be obliged to conquer them by kindness or force.\nAs I love a Freedom and boldness in debate, I was sorry to see the Personalities against you and your constituents: yet I think Mr: Poindexter and others have offered arguments in answer to you of great Weight.\nThe Precedent in the admission of Vermont I have not seen answered.\nWith Thanks for the Documents you sent me and with one petition for a favour I Will conclude: The favour is that you would be so good as to advance five dollars for me to the Editor of The National Intelligencer, as I am a subscriber for his paper and I Will repay you the moment I see you or send it to your Lady as you please.\nI am / Sir your obliged Friend\nJohn Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1905", "content": "Title: From Count Romanzoff to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 10 February 1811\nFrom: Romanzoff, Count\nTo: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson\nLe Comte de Romanzoff, Chancelier de l\u2019Empire, prie Madame d\u2019Adams de lui faire l\u2019honneur de venir souper chez lui, le Vendredi 10 Fevrier \u00e0 10 heures.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1909", "content": "Title: From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Smith Adams, 13 February 1811\nFrom: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nMy Dear Sister,\nAtkinson February 13th. 1811.\nThe Time since I have written to you, I acknowledge is too long for One, whose Heart is deeply interested for all her dear Relatives, whose Memory loves to dwell, & delights to linger, where walk the smiling Virtues, in their most dignified, attractive, & lovely Form.\u2014For several weeks past, I have been examining myself, to know from what Cause I kept Silence.\u2014Though many Pleas were brought forward, to satisfy my Conduct\u2014alledging that I had been sick, had many Cares\u2014was surrounded by some vexatious Scholars, whose noisy Tongues were Rebels to all Thought, & calm Reflection\u2014& those who were good, required much of my Time, & attention\u2014that it was cold weather, & had not any convenient place for Writing.\u2014Yet, all these Attestations, however true, did not satisfy Conscience\u2014So poor Pilgrim, was arraigned at her awful Bar\u2014And could you believe it\u2014She brought in her ever righteous Judgment\u2014& declared it was Pride\u2014Erring Pride\u2014Fear, Shame, & Procrastination were found to be its powerful Accomplices\u2014which had opposed my Duty, & had prevented my writing to my dear Sisters\u2014Whose Partiality, & Affection had led them too highly to appreciate the Ebulitions of my Pen, & the arrangement of a few Thoughts, the seeds of which were sown by my earliest Friends, by whose genial warmth, & fostering Hand, the \u201cyoung Ideas were taught to shoot\u201d\u2014But since, have been so choaked by the rubbish, anxieties, Sorrows, & Cares of Life, that I can only here, & there, collect sometimes a few straggling Flowers, which Fancy throws in my way, & in there humblest, simplest Garb, present them, as Emblems of my Gratitude, that the Soil is not yet wholly impaired\u2014\nI confess my Vanity was flattered by the good opinion my Sisters had expressed for me, so far as made me fear to write, lest I should sink in their Estimation. Ashamed to give cause\u2014I delayed\u2014Not considering that the Indulgence of One Error, was the Introduction to many\u2014& that our feeble, imperfect Endeavours to perform our Duty, shewed a better Heart, & must be more acceptable, than a total neglect\u2014\nThus, was I communing with myself, & reasoning on, when the News-paper was presented to me, announcing the Death, & time of burial of our beloved Niece.\u2014All Pride, & Vanity, was in a moment hushed\u2014Affected by the solemn Tidings, I felt no disposition, but that of Compasion, & Tenderness for the bereaved Family, & an ardent desire to do all in my power to pour the balm of consolation into the wounded Hearts of my dear venerable Brother & Sister Cranch, by calling into view, the many Virtues of their deceased Child.\u2014Her bright Example, never to be forgotten, of early Piety\u2014how soothing\u2014Her devotedness to God, which evidently shone through every period of her useful Life, must serve to assuage their Grief, calm, & ameliorate their Sorrow\u2014They cannot mourn as those without Hope\u2014Hope, that She is safely lodged above these rolling Spheres\u2014in realms of Joy, & Peace.\u2014There, I can contemplate upon her with Delight\u2014\n\u201cThere thy bright Train, immortal Friendship, soar,\nNo more to part, to mingle Tears no more!\u201d\u2014\nAnd I humbly hope, that through the merits of a Redeemer, & the sanctifying Influences of the blessed Spirit, we may be prepared for an heavenly Inheritance & join her blest Society, with \u201cSaints made perfect\u201d\u2014Yes!\u2014this is a consoling Thought, a pleasure pure in which no Evil lurks\u2014& for which no earthly Treasure could compensate.\u2014\nOur Duty now, points to the living\u2014to soothe the afflicted Husband\u2014to comfort, to advise, & aid the bereaved Children.\u2014While a gracious Providence is pleased to continue the lives of their Grandparents, they will scarcely feel their Loss\u2014They have always done much to lighten their Daughters Burthen, but now there must be such an increase of Care, as I fear will be too heavy for their advanced age to Support\u2014As necessity calls, may their Strength be proportionate, & their precious lives be protracted as a blessing to all\u2014I wish it was in my power to take one of the little Girls, & for the present, give our dear Sister, some relief\u2014most gladly would I do it\u2014I wish I did not live so far off\u2014\nTo lose such a Sister, as you describe Mrs Hellen, to have been, is a most melancholly Circumstance to an Orphan Family\u2014Though we should endeavour to acquiesce in the rectitude of the divine Government, & be sensible that we are surrounded with innumerable unmerited Favours, yet, \u201cSighs, might sooner cease, than Cause to Sigh. for, Man is born to Trouble, as the Sparks fly upward\u201d\u2014\nWe have had here a long Storm, but not extreme cold\u2014Had it come one week sooner, how must it have added to the distress of our Weymouth Friends\u2014An unusual quantity of Snow, is now upon the Ground, Though I find myself feeble, & trembling, yet I desire to be thankful, that we enjoy, all of the family, a comfortable Share of Health\u2014or I know not what we should have done though our people were out with Drags, & eighteen Yoke of Oxen, to clear the Post Road, but still it is dreadful Travelling\u2014May the choicest of Heaven\u2019s blessings be the portion of my revered Brother, & Sister, prays, your\nE\u2014 Peabody", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1910", "content": "Title: From John Adams to John Quincy Adams, 14 February 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nMy dear Son\nQuincy. February 14th. 1811\nAt the Request of Mr Quincy, I inclose to you, his Speech on the Admission of States into the Union which are Situated beyond the Limits of the 13 original Confederates. You will want none of my Comments upon it. Your Authority is quoted in it, in Support of its Principle. The Prophecies of Quincy\u2019s imagination are not altogether chimerical; tho I hope the fulfillment of them is far, very far remote in futurity.\nThe Career of this Congress is almost at an End. They will leave Us, in as much Uncertainty as ever. They will find in time that a Man without a Fist or an Arm is not a Match at Pugilism for a Man who has two.\nAs you probably sometimes want Amusement from Ennui and Comfort against Calumnies; and as Public Affairs are above my Comprehension, I will Send you an Extract of a Letter to me from Philadelphia of 27. Jan. which can Surely excite no War in Europe, nor interfere with any mercantile Speculation\n\u201cI have finished Reading in Course, the last of the Lectures upon Rhetoric and oratory. The just and often original Reflections which they contain; their Stores of well arranged Learning; above all, the high moral tone upon which they are Set: make them, I think, the best present, which has yet been given; to American Litterature. The youth of Pensilvania, as well as those of Massachusetts, will, I hope Study them as Models of Schollarship and taste; while the incidental Praise which they bestow upon our own Institutions, will Serve as well to engender Patriotism: as the classical Spirit which marks them, through out; cannot fail to awaken, wherever they are read Studied a relish for Letters. I cannot, Sir, adopt the Sentiment, that the Author is too much of a Poet for a Statesman. The Poets are the finest Writers. They are the bet Philosophers too; for theirs is the Philosophy of Nature and the Mind. Their very Art, is Eloquence. If they are not practical Statesmen, they at least know how by their Precepts to form them. I believe it is Johnson who says that the Iliad, is the first Production of the human Mind; and We may ask where is the prose Composition that has lived So long, or in all Ages ranked So high. But Sir, to prove that the two Characters are compatible, I will not longer forbear to Seize the most apposite illustration by taking the Instance before me; where my only hesitation is, whether to place the Schollar before the Statesman, or the Statesman before the Schollar\u201d\n\u201cIf any Thing could draw together more closely the Cords of our Union it ought to be the Sentiments expressed under this head in the Review of Ames\u2019s Works.\nHow Sweet is such Praise? It is from The Attorney General of Pensilvania.\nIf I were a Lover of Snow I would not exchange Climates with you at this time. There is more Snow on the ground than I ever Saw at one time Since the Year forty one or two 47 in the last Century.\nThe Misfortune of Mr Hilliard has embarrassed the Sale of the Lectures Somewhat\nThe Loss of your Sister Hellen and your Cousin Norton will affect you very Sensibly. I condole with your Lady and her Sister, with you, I know of no better Reflections upon Such occasions than to remember that Such Bereavements must be Supported because they are inevitable; that they are ordered by a Wisdom Superiour to ours; and that they are intended for our good as well as that of others. Let Us do all in our Power to make them Subservient to our Improvement.\nyour Sons are well. My Love to W. Smith and my dear little Charles.\nyour new House in Court Street looks very respectably and has the most commodious offices in Town.\nOur Gen. Court have Shewn Moderation as well as The Grvr & Lt Govr. But the House has Sent Home the Glouster half dozen Reps. for Causes which you will See in the Papers. Some Noise will be made; but I cannot think the practice can be tolerated or connived at; that of Bonds conditiond to choose Party Men.\nA", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1912", "content": "Title: From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Smith Adams, 16 February 1811\nFrom: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nAtkinson February 16th. 1811\nMy Dear Sisters, interesting Letters conveyed by the Mail, were gratefully received by their obliged & sympathizing Sister\u2014As I had not written to you for many weeks, I considered your letters as adding Obligations upon me, not to be remiss for the future,\u2014But you  knew it was not from want of affection, & though you might not suspect the Truth, yet your Candor, always puts the best construction, when no designed Error is evident. Therefore kindly gave me immediate Intelligence of my dear Niece\u2019s Death, & a particular account of the Order, Performances, & Interrment; which must have been peculiarly painful for our dear Sister to have particularized\u2014She, pious Woman, has written to me a most excellent Letter, & exemplified all those Christian Virtues in her Husband & herself, for which they have been so long justly admired, beloved, & revered\u2014\nI pray Heaven, their Trials, may not be more, than they are enabled to bear\u2014They were ever fond Parents, & had cause to delight in their Children\u2014In one view it is harder for such to part\u2014But \u201cthe Lord gave,\u201d & resumes, when Infinite wisdom sees best\u2014\nI am grieved too, to hear of our parental Dr Tuft\u2019s Lethargy\u2014I thought of Him, & knew his benevolent Soul, would wish to afford Mr Norton all the kind assistance in his power, in his time of distress, when Friends are known, & even a small act of kindness sinks deep\u2014\nPoor Edward too, was I presume, was worn down with Grief, anxiety, & Cold, which made him so sick\u2014The attending, and standing at the Grave, when a Friend, has been Interred, has often proved the Cause of another\u2019s Death\u2014Mr Nortons Care must be great, & I rejoice that he has a Sister, to be with him, & assist him in his Family\u2014A good Aunt, comes the nearest to a Mother of any one\u2014\nAnd you my ever dear Sister, was brought upon the bed of Sickness, I presume, by your Exertions, to do good Offices to all\u2014I am thankful, you were not long confined\u2014\nYour ever maternal Bosom, always devising liberal Things, led you to Boston\u2014O! how kind, & good it was in the President & you, my loved Sister to go & invite my dear sick Son, to your House, to nurse, & place him where he might if possible, find some repose to his distressed Limbs\u2014It is very unfortunate for him, to be deprived of Health\u2014I think he is subject to bad coughs I hope the Rheumatism will not seize upon his Lungs\u2014May is please Heaven, to restore him Soon\u2014It is a painful circumstance that I am not with him, or my Son, here with me\u2014I have written to him last Saturday, & told him, to let me know, if he was worse, & I would come, or his Sister, & she would make him an attentive charming Nurse\u2014She has been so much herself Sick, that she knows how to apply the assuasive balm of kind assiduities\u2014Her health has been better this winter, than in former cold weather\u2014She has had but little pain across her breast this winter\u2014though this long Confinement affects us both\u2014\nThrough you, my Sister, is the only way, that I can hear from my Son\u2014you will not fail to write me a line as often as you are able\u2014I fear he has not flannel enough\u2014If he would but enclose four or five Dollars in a letter, I would purchase flannel at Haverhill, make him Waistcoats, & Drawers, with pleasure\u2014I wish Mr Peabodys Salary was larger\u2014Then our power of doing kind offices, would not be so circumscribed, as now is / that of your affectionate / Sister\u2014 \nE\u2014PeabodyPray give my love where due, & write if it is only six lines if you know how my Son does\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1913", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 18 February 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson\nMy dear daughter\nQuincy Febry 18 1811\nI hope the afflicting intelligence which you must receive from your Friends at Washington, will not be too suddenly burst upon you, but that your best Friend may have been intrusted with it, that he may prepare your mind for the heavey tydings.\nI know that mrs Hellen was a dear and favorite sister to you all, and well deserving of your attachment. The circumstances which deprived you of her, were the same which attended the death, of Clopstocks sainted wife.\nWhilst I mingle my tears with yours over the Remains of your much loved sister,\u2014I would lead your mind to the only Source of consolation, from whence you can draw comfort tion to sooth and calm your agitated Bosom. To that resignation which teaches submission to the will of heaven, and that confidence in the Supreem Being, which assures us that all his ways are just, and Right, however hidden in mazes, and perplexed to us, short sighted Mortals\u2014it becomes us to say\n\u201cTeach us the hand of Love divine\n\u201cIn Evils to discern\n\u201cTis the first lesson which we need\n\u201cThe latest which we learn\u201d\nI have before written you two Letters by mr Erving our Minister to Denmark. he is so long detaind that they will be old before he leaves here. he has been waiting a month for the ship to come to Newport for him\u2014 the weather has been against him for we have had a specimin of a Russian winter, such loads of snow as to break down the fruit trees\u2014and banks which have measured 21 foot. the weather has not been remarkable cold\u2014I commit this Letter to chance. mr Gray will find a conveyance for it\nThe death of mrs Norten has come very near my dear Brother and Sister Cranch, who never lost a child before. She has left Eight Children. the three youngest daughters\u2014poor Babes they know not their loss\u2014unto heaven I commit them, who has promissed to be the Father of the orphan\u2014\nI congratulate you upon the safety of mrs Pope who got to bed of a daughter, the week after the death of your sister, and who with her Babe, whom they call Florida are well\u2014\nyour sons are also well, and have written to you by mr Erving\u2014\nMrs T Adams Louisa Susan and  all desire to be kindly rememberd to you\u2014sSo does your sympathizing / Mother\nAbigail Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1914", "content": "Title: From John Adams to Josiah, III Quincy, 18 February 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Quincy, Josiah, III\nDear Sir\nQuincy February 18th: 1811\nI owe you thanks for your Speech, on place and Patronage. The moral and Patriotic sentiments are noble and exalted; The Eloquence masterly and the satire inimitable. There are not in Juvenal nor in Swift any images to be found more exquisitely ridiculous than the Charleston Hack, and the Treasury swill Trough, and Pigery. But are you right in supposing the rage for office more eager and craving now than it always has been? or more grasping and intriguing for executive Offices than for Legislative Stations? Have you read many of the circular Letters? Have you attended much to the course of Elections, even in our New England Town Meetings?\nGeneral Joseph Warren was President of the Massachusetts provincial Congress in 1775, and he often said that he never had till then; any Idea, or suspicion of the selfishness of this People or their impatient Eagerness for commissions.\nI will tell you none of my Experiences during the 8 years I was Vice President or the four following years: But there is no Necessity of the same Reserve, when in 1776 and 1777 I was president of the Board of War; or in less Pompous Phrase, Chairmen of the committee of War. In this capacity all applications to Congress to General Washington and to the board for Commissions and Promotions in the army, and for Contracts Commissary Ships Quartermaster Ships &c were committed to me. And I really think as much Zeal appeared then as there has been seen since. Yet the military Commissions were not very lucrative.\nAgain. Are you right in imputing all this Zeal to Avarice? The Ardor for Commissions in the Militia in New England where no Money is to be got, but much to be spent, is as intense, as any ardor whatever. The Post of Clerk, Sergeant, Corporal and even Drummer and Fifer, is coveted as earnestly as the best gift of Major General. There is no people on Earth, so ambitious as the People of America. The Reason is because the lowest can aspire as freely as the highest. The highest offices are as fair objects to the Tradesmen or Farmer as to the Lawyer The Priest Physician or Merchant. In other Countries None of those Ranks think of Commissions. Employment and Profit in their private occupations and pursuits is all they wish. Ambition and all its hopes are extinct.\nBut I have more serious objections to Mr Macons motion, as well as to your amendment.\n1. Both the Motion and the amendment would be ineffectual. If Fathers, Sons, and Brothers were proscribed, there would be the same zeal and exertions for Cousins First, Second, Third, and Fourth, and for Grand-Fathers, and Grandsons; and Uncles: and what is oftener a Stimulus than any of these Relations, for Friends who have been, or will be active agents and Instruments in promoting the Members interest among his Constituents and procuring him votes. This is the great Spring of all in the minds of Senators and Representatives to obtain favours for Favorites; among their Constituents, in order to attach them by Gratitude, and establish their own Influence at home and  abroad. No Law, No Constitution, that human Wit or Wisdom can devise can ever prevent Senators or Representatives from soliciting Offices and Favour from their Friends.\n2. Both the Motion and Amendment appear to me unconstitutional. The President has or ought to have the whole Nation before him, and he ought to select the men best qualified and most meritorious for office at his own Responsibility, without being shackled by any Check by Law, Constitution, or Institution. Without this unrestrained Liberty he is not a check upon the Legislative Power nor either branch of it. Indeed he must be the slave of the Party that brought him in. He never can be independent or Impartial.\n3. Both the Motion and Amendment are in the pure spirit of Aristocracy. Neither Mr Macon nor yourself considered it in that Light. But it is exactly in the Temper and Spirit of all Corps of Nobility jealous of the Power of the Executive, since the Creation. This jealousy is often actuated by the purest spirit of Patriotism, and the most perfect integrity, but if it is not checked and controuled, it never has ceased to encroach untill it has made the Executive a mere head of Wood and drawn all the Power and resources of the Nation into the insatiable Gulph, the irresistible Vortex of an Aristocracy or an Oligarchy. I am my Dear Sir your obliged Friend\nJohn Adams.In some former Letters I have begged two Favours.\n1. that you would pay my Subscription for a year for the National Intelligencer, to be repaid at sight\n2. That you would bring from Dr Rush a very small Pacotille\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1915", "content": "Title: From Richard Cranch Norton to Abigail Smith Adams, 20 February 1811\nFrom: Norton, Richard Cranch\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nMy dear & honored Aunt,\nWashington, Feby. 20th. 1811.\nI have received your kind letter dated Feby. 11th. and feel the warmest gratitude for your tender sympathy with me in my affliction. I am sure there is nothing so consoling to a heart wounded by grief, as the thought that others sympathize with us in our sorrows. You, my dear Aunt, knew my mother, and you knew how dearly and how deservedly she was loved by her family, her connexions and all who had the happiness of her acquaintance; you may conceive, therefore, how acute must be the grief, of those who were so intimately acquainted with her virtues as the members of her own family. Under the pressure of such severe and trying calamity, were it not for the cheering hope which our divine religion affords of again meeting our deceased friends in a happier world, the loss of such dear and beloved connexions would be insupportable\u2014I think I should sink under the weight: but it is the eminent privilege of the Christian religion to afford us the consolation which we need. While nature bids us weep over the grave of our departed friends, Christianity teaches us not to sorrow as those who have no hope, but to prepare ourselves, by imitating the good example which our pious connexions have left us, to meet them again in that blessed world where no sorrow can enter, and where friends shall no more be separated.\nFor the kind attentions & tender sympathy of my friends I feel more gratitude than I can express. May they never feel affliction like mine; but if Providence should call them to suffer it, may they never want friends who will impart to them that comfort which they have so kindly imparted to me. But to Him who has seen fit to afflict us we must look for that higher consolation which it is not in the power of our kindest friends to give. May we all experience this divine consolation, & may the sainted spirit of my mother look down from the realms of bliss & impart peace & comfort to the bosom of her afflicted family & mourning relatives.\nWe were very sorry to hear, by my Grandfather\u2019s letter, that you had been so ill, & hope that eer this you are quite recovered. Uncle & Aunt C. send their affectionate remembrance. Remember me respectfully to my Uncle & the rest of your family, & believe me, my dear Aunt, / Your ever grateful nephew,\nR. C. Norton.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1916", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 22 February 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nmy Dear Son\nQuincy Febry 22d 1811\nThe Schooner Washington owned by mr Gray is ready to Sail for St Petersburgh. I have already sent some Letters on Board of her, but the great bulk mr Erving is charged with, and when he will Sail, I know not. he has been ready, and waiting this Month for his Dispatches. concequently our Letters are already a Month old. There is a Charm in a Letter of recent date, Consisting in its very figures, if it has not any thing more to recommend it, than the latest intelligence of the health of your Friends. my late Letters have borne you such melancholy intelligence, both from home; and washington, that I am rejoiced to have it to say, that at present we are all in comfortable health. my arm I believe is the most infirm; I have however been riding out, amidts Snow banks through which passages have been dug of 10 & 12 feet height.\nI Stated to you in my last, that I had received all your Letters to No 8; except No 4, and from mrs Adams I have received as many as Eight. She has not however numberd hers, and one from Kitty, to all of which I have replied. The news papers will be Sint you by mr Gray. you will find from them, that Electionering has commenced, and that the Fed\u2019s have coupled the Honble William Philips, with mr Gore.\nMr Gerry and mr Gray, have been the very Men, who have conducted the affairs of the Government, with that moderation and justice, which you recommend, and which certainly has had the benificial effect of Softning the asperity of Party animosity; and harmonizing the discordent String\u2019s. by it, they have themselves, enjoyed their Short lived honours: in more tranquility: than any of our chief Majestrates; for a long period before\u2014you will be comfirmd in this opinion; when you read the Gov\u2019r Speech, and the Replie of the Senate\u2014but no Sooner has the Waves Subsided, and a trancient calm Succeeded, than a new Election comes to foment and agitate them again, and to blow up all the  turbulent passions into a Storm\u2014\nI am full in opinion with the British Statesman in the house of Lords, when a Motion was made to repeal the Septennial Act, \u201che observed that Frequency of Election, had uniformly proved the curse of every State in which it was indulged; it renders the counsels of a Nation as fluctuating as the popular will, and as flagitious as the popular will disposition\u2019s it, substitutes in legislation, for the energy of wisdom, and the coolness of discretion. the voilence of folly, and the rashness of that party intemperence which it enkindles; it keeps a Nation perpetually heated by the ferment it necessarily excites, and lets loose to prey upon Society the worst of human passions. it vitiates publick Morals, and poisons individual Comfort\u201d\nare we not in the daily experience of these Solid truths? could it be that eagerness for publick employ, and that hunger for office, for which our countrymen are more notorious than any other, that could lead the Framers of our Constitution to leave so wide a Feild, so open a common for the unbridled herd to range in, not only to display their wanton tricks of triping up each others heels; but Gladiators like, to worry and tear each other to peices;? If they had foreseen the rapid increase and population of the Country  and the wealth which has kept pace with it, not only new States Springing up, but Foreign States purchased, and incorporated with our own? would they have lift such a field open for corruption and intrigue as annual Elections for the Chief Majestrates? I mean the Framers of our Massachusetts Constitutions?\nyou will See in Some of the papers an extract of a Letter from you to me. I thought justice to You required it.\nMr James Foster was here, and read the Letter, and Said, he would get it into the paladium\u2014I told him, as they had been partly free with publications respecting the purport of your mission to Russia he might take it, to them: but if they declined to give it, to the patriot, they publishd it, immediately, and the Patriot & Chronical both republishd it\u2014Since it has been found necessary to Send a Minister to denmark, all is Silence with respect to the Russian embassy. only a report is still kept up, that you were comeing home. Lincoln when appointed judge, was to keep the Seat for you. Lincoln declined; and now Alexander Wolcot is appointed. I do not know what they will find to say next. only that much fault is found with the nomination.\nI do not know but you may have received a Letter from the Secretary of State, which you may not be able to account for, for which reason I inclose to you coppies of two Letters. you will See by their dates, that they were written near a year ago, If I errd, you must attribute it to an over anxious zeal for you, and a fear that you would find yourself So embarressed as not to be able to extricate yourself.\nIn your Letter of Sep\u2019br 17th you mention having been Sick through the Months of March & April. what were your complaints. I hope not the Rheumatism, which so many of our Family are afflicted with. I have felt anxious for that weak Eye of yours least the constant Snow and ice Should injure it by its brightness, but it seems that you have not much Sun to dazzel you.\nyou sent me two peices of Sheeting but you have not Sent me any Bill, and I am unable to pay the amount into the hands of your Brother through want of it. I have to request you to Send me by any of mr Grays vessels, Sheeting or table Linnen to the amount of one hundred Dollors, 50 by one vessel & 50 by an other. I wish the Sheeting to be of a finer texture than the last; that is one part of it, and let it be accompanied by the cost, as it must be enterd at the custom House\nyou will See by the number of this, that I have not been deficient in writing to you Since this year commenced.\u2014\nI met with an observation in one of your Letters. Speecking of your Lectures, \u201cyou observe, that correctness is always cold\u201d now that is Such a charming mantle for me, that I cannot but be rejoiced at the observation and wrap myself and all my incorrectnesses under its cover. what I write is from the heart, and that always dictates a Warmth of Love, and affection, which Age cannot chill, or time diminish / in the Bosom of your / affectionate Mother\nAbigail Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1917", "content": "Title: From John Adams to John Quincy Adams, 22 February 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nJohn Quincy Adams Esq.\nQuincy February 22. 1811\nYesterday I received by the Post from New York, your obliging Letter of 9. Novr.\u2014Whether Letters are Sent through London Paris Gottenbourg or directly to Boston or directly to St. Petersbough they get along through all the Crannies and Gauntletts. I must Say that every Body has been very friendly in assisting our Intercourse by Letters. I have considered your Mothers Letters as written for me and yours to her as intended for me, which has made me too negligent of writing in propria Persona.\nA real Marveile has occurred. Alexander Wolcott has been nominated as a Judge in place of Cushing, at the Instance as it is Said of Barlow: and negatived by the Senate by a great Majority. Joel Should never think of any Thing but Poetry. He is writing an History in which Tom. Paine is to be recorded the greatest Statesman of his Age.\nQuincy has become a greater Orator in Congress than Randolph. Inclosed is a fresh oration on Patronage, Sentiments sublimely patriotic, satyre caustic as Juvenal. The President to be stripped of his constitutional Prerogative, and a host of Citizens disfranchised, for what? For a regulation which would be wholly ineffectual. Solicitations for Offices would be as ardent as ever for Cousins and for political electioneering Friends and agents: for Runners Setters Bawlers and Scribblers. Judgment! Judgment! where art thou? Is there nothing left in human Nature but Fancy Passion Prejudice and Whim?\nGore and Phillips against Gerry and Gray. In all Events we shall have a rich Lt. Governor.\nGerry and Gray are very popular, Party apart. But Gerry complains in private, of the Sollicitations for Offices, as much as Quincy. He is afraid to open a Letter. A generous  Ambition to Serve our Country, an ardent desire to do good in a public Office is not wanting in many of our Citizens. It is very uncharitable and ungenteel to hint at Loaves and Fishes. Can a rational Creature be so mean as to court public Office for private Profit or Pleasure?\nEvery Man who reads The Lectures Speaks of them in private in raptures! Yet nothing is Said in Public. You know the Reason. Ld Mansfield\u2019s advice to Copley was \u201cyou must engage The Puffers\u201d. The Puffers in this Country are all engaged by Party.\nThe Name of Van Sander has Silenced all, Your observations on the war with Turkey and Persia and the State of Things in the North are very Striking. I rejoice that The Emperor is So friendly to Us and to you.\nyour Living tres petitement, tho the Effect of dire Necessity is still greatly to your Honour. Persevere in it with the utmost obstinately obstinacy. Shrugs and Sneers cannot hurt you.\nYou Lady is very good. She writes often and very elegantly but feels the petite vivre more keenly than you do. Your Sons are well and in a good way. George has begun his Virgil and with great delight. Smitten with the Picture of Ajax vomiting fire and dashed upon the Edge of the sharp rock, for ravishing Cassandra in her Temple, &c &c\nYou Gentlemen Russians have no right to boast over us of your Superiour Snows, Ice and Cold. I have never known So much Snow upon the ground Since I was ten years old: and the cold penetrates the marrow of the Bones, especially old ones.\nOur Country has tried and will try every Measure but the right one. The Navy The Navy, a Navy is the grand desideratum and the Unum necessarium. In private it is acknowledged, but nobody dares avow it in public.\nBanks, Banks upon Banks are Spreading through the U.S. When will the United States understand the Simplest Rules of Arithmetick, and that two and two do not make Eight or ten.\nA Mr Porter of New York has made the most Sensible Speech against the National Bank that I have read.\nWhat a Methodical Letter I have written? If any Deeper laughs I Shall not cry.\nLove to Louisa Catherine, William and the little Indian, The young Bacchus. Kiss him for me.\u2014\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1918", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Caroline Amelia Smith De Windt, 26 February 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: De Windt, Caroline Amelia Smith\nQuincy, 26 February, 1811.\nYour Letter, my dear Caroline, gave me pleasure. As all your\u2019s are calculated to enliven the spirits, I take them as a cordial, which during the residence of the baldpated winter and a close confinement to my chamber for several weeks, I have been much in want of. And now what return can I make you\u2014What can you expect from age, debility and weakness?\nWhy, you shall have the return of a grateful heart, which amidst infirmities is not insensible to the many blessings which encompass it. Food, raiment and fuel, dear and kind friends and relatives, mental food and entertainment sufficient to satisfy the most craving appetite and the hopes and prospect of another and better country even an heavenly.\n\u201cEternal power! from whom these blessings flow,\nTeach me still more to wonder\u2014more to know,\nHere round my home still lift my soul to thee,\nAnd let me ever midst thy bounties raise,\nAn humble note of thankfulness and praise.\u201d\nAlthough my memory is not so tenacious as in youth, nor my eye-sight so clear, my hearing is unimpaired, my heart warm and my affections are as fervent to those in whom \u201cmy days renew\u201d as formerly to those from \u201cwhom my days I drew.\u201d I have some troubles in the loss of friends by death, and no small solicitude for the motherless offspring, but my trust and confidence are in that being who \u201chears the young ravens when they cry.\u201d I do now know my dear Caroline, that I ever gave you encouragement to expect me at the valley, although I should rejoice to be able to visit you\u2014but I now look forward with the hope of seeing you here as an attendant upon your mother as soon as the spring opens and the roads will permit.\nWe have snow by the cargo this winter. Not a bird flits but a hungry crow now and then, in quest of prey. The fruit trees exhibit a mournful picture, broken down by the weight of the snow; whilst the running of sleighs and the jingle of bells assure us that all nature does not slumber.\nAs if you love me, proverbially, you must love my dog, you will be glad to learn that Juno yet lives, although like her mistress she is gray with age. She appears to enjoy life and to be grateful for the attention paid her. She wags her tail and announces a visiter whenever one appears.\nAdieu, my dear child\u2014remember me with affection to your brother and with kind affection to your honored father and also to your uncle whose benevolent qualities I respect and whose cheerful spirits have made \u201cthe wilderness to smile and blossom as the rose.\u201d\nMost affectionately, / Your Grandmother.\nAbigail Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1919", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, 26 February 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nmy dear Sister\nI received your Letter by the Mail of yesterday, and by the return of it to day I write you a few lines to give you all the information which I have been able to collect respecting your Son; mr George Beal who lodges near him; and is frequently going back to to Boston & returning I get him to call and inquire after him. my last account was on monday two days Since. he reports that he is getting better, tho not yet able to go out the weather has been much against him, and the travelling So bad that none of our Family have been able to go to town.  his uncle wrote to him last week and repeated his invitation to him, which I hope he will embrace as Soon as he is able to get out.\nMr Harrod was in Town I hope he went to See him\u2014I your Letter of the 13 came to me the last week. your apology for not writing before and the Source from whence it arose I Should not have Suspected my Sister of\u2014Pride do you Say? you remind me of an observation of Mrs Chapone in a Letter of hers to her Friend Mrs Carter. the translation of Epictitus; \u201cWhat is the meaning I wonder that imperfections are So attractive? and that our hearts recoil against Gigantic and unnatural Exelence? it must be because perfection is unnatural, and because the Sweets charm, and most endearing ties of Society arise from mutual indulgence to each others failings\u201d altho I willingly grant the palm of excellence to the pen of my sister, I will not permit the acknowledgment to influence her to the or restrain her when She thinks that She has not leisure to write correctly as correctly as her pride requires\u2014I have the Authority of my Son for Saying that Studied correctness is always cold\u2014I had rather have one warm line from the Heart, than 20 correctly cold from the head; I need not Say, for it is too apparent that I never Studied Stile; who\nThe little learning I have gaind\nIs all from Simple nature draind\nyou well know what our early Education was. neither Grammer or othe orthography were taught us\u2014it was not then the fashion for females to know more than writing and a little arithmetic. no Books upon female Education were then in vogue no Accademies for Female instruction were then establishd. To our dear and venarable Brother Cranch do I attribute my early taste for Letters; and for the nurture & cultivation of those qualities which have Since afforded me much pleasure and Satisfaction. he it was who put proper Books into my hands\u2014Who taught one to Love the Poets and to distinguish their Merrits\u2014Milton Pope Tompson and Shakespear were amongst the first, but to the works of Richardson was due whatever I possess of delicacy of Sentiment or refinement of Taste in my early and juvenile days\u2014Miss Mores opinion of Richardson works which she gives in her Coelebse correspond exactly with mine, and altho they have almost past away by the fashion of the Times, and are borne down by a las redundence of new puplications, I give it as the Sober opinion of 67 years\u2014that no work of the kind either before or Since has Equalld those of Richardson for purity of Morals refinement of taste, or delicacy of Sentiment. no person who is not abandoned, can read them without making the Heart better. the Argument which have been brought against the Character of Sir Charles Grandison; that it is too perfect a Character, has no weight in my mind\u2014as an example ought not a model to be held up\u2014there is nothing to which a noble mind might not attain, and their were faults and failings which he himself acknowledged:\u2014Mrs Chapone Says he never wrote any thing which did not Show an Exelent Heart and a very uncommon understanding She was in habits of intimacy with him, and held a very entertaining correspondence with him upon the Subject of Filial obedience & Parental Authority, in which she differd from him. She was only affraid that the character of Sir Charles would occasion the Kingdoms being over run with old Maids\u2014\nI know you will rejoice to hear from your absent Nephew and Neice\u2014 I have Letters as late as the 16 November\u2014they were then all well. but the Rivers were all frozen over, the bridges taken up, and winter with all its Privations making Rapid Strides and for Six months to come, they did not expect to hear from their Friends, or be heard from\u2014this is indeed a painfull Situation. our dear Brother and Sister Cranch are much perplexed to know what to do with mr Norton & Family. unless his people would consider him, it does not Seem as tho he could keep house. he has no faculty himself of taking the domestic charge of it, and the little all will Soon run to Ruin. who could he get\u2014who would Spend and would be Spent for his family to the last Spark of existance like the departed and Released Suffeur\u2014in vain will it be for him to Seek anew\u2014he may find a companion\u2014but where can he find a Mother\u2014circumstanced as he is for his Children", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1920", "content": "Title: From John Adams to John Quincy Adams, 26 February 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nDear Sir\nQuincy February 26. 1811\nA Battery of Great Guns, has been erected in Philadelphia in the Beginning of this Year, under the Command of a young Engineer Mr Walsh of Baltimore. As Sylla Said that in young C\u00e6sar were many Mariuses, perhaps it may be found that in this young gentleman are many Hamiltons\nThe Title of his work is The American Review of History and Politicks, and general Repositary of Litterature and State Papers to appear quarterly. The first Number has appeared in 200 pages of very large Octavo, besides 60 pages of  State Papers. His List of Subscribers is immense. I am told that not only the Boston Host but every Man among their followers has subscribed. Very probably the same may be said in New York and all the great Cities in American including Canada and Nova Scotia. He has embellished his work with a beautiful Flower from Demosthenes against Phillip, in which Distrust is urged as the best guard against Tyrnany. \u201c\u0391\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03af\u03b1. \u03a4\u03b1\u03cd\u03c4\u03b7\u03bd \u03c6\u03c5\u03bb\u03ac\u03c4\u03c4\u03b5\u03c4\u03b5. \u03a4\u03b1\u03cd\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2 \u1f00\u03bd\u03c4\u03ad\u03c7\u03b5\u03c3\u03b8\u03b5. I shall take his Advice and never loose sight of this \u0391\u03c0\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u03af\u03b1. Timeo Danaos, et Dona ferentes. My Distrust is so great that I suspect him to be in concert with and supported by not only all the discontented and disaffected in the United States, but the Scottish Reviewers and all their Connections in Europe and all the French who are disaffected to Napoleon, especially the fugitive Eccliasticks. He begins openly and bravely and boldly, by setting up Mr Ames Mr Hamilton &c as the greatest Men almost that ever lived.\nAs your Friends in Boston send you the Newspapers so punctually I need not say that the Electioneering Campaign is opened and Mr Gore and Mr Phillips are the Candidates against the Powers in Possession. If they prevail it can be only from the Supineness of their Antagonists and the general Confidence of strength, for no Administration was ever more tranquil or gave more Universal Satisfaction.\nHave you ever read Manilius\u2019s Astronomicon, written in the Time of Tiberius? In it, is this Line\nEripuit Jovi Fulmen, Viresque tonand\u00ed. This was not written by Mr Turgot nor Sir William Jones, nor a Dutch Poet.\nYour last Letter to me was of 9. Novr.\nRichard Rush Esq is appointed Attorney General of Pensilvania. He says No Man in the U.S. is a Match for Walsh but J.Q.A. I hope however he will be to wise to enter the List of Gladiators.\nWe are all as well as usual. My Love to all yours without naming any one but Mr Charles.\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1923", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 28 February 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nMy dear Mother.\nSt: Petersburg 16/28 February 1811.\nWe assisted last week, at the public examination of the Institute of the order of St: Catherine, a boarding school, or College for the Education of young Ladies of noble families; under the Patronage of the Empress-Mother  The young Ladies are divided into four Classes, and are two years in each class\u2014They enter from six to ten years of age, and when their education is finished, they pass this public examination, which accordingly takes place in the Month of February of every second year.\nThe invitations to attend the exhibition, are sent by the Empress Mother, and are regularly sent for one of the two days, to all the foreign Ministers\u2014They attend in full dress, as at the Imperial Court, and have the most distinguished seats of Spectators assigned to them, together with all the principal Ministers and first Nobles of the Empire\u2014The examination takes two days, and turns on the following objects\u2014First day 1. Religion. Sacred History of the old and new Testament, and Moral Philosophy. 2. Universal Geography, preceded by an abridged course of mathematical Geography 3. Universal History Antient and Modern, and the History of Russia in particular 4. Russian Literature\u2014Second day 5. Arithmetic 6. The German Language. 7. French Literature 8. Experimental Philosophy 9. Singing and Music 10. Dancing.\u2014Besides which are presented Essays of Composition and of Translations, and a variety of specimens of drawing, embroidery, and every kind of needle work.\u2014We attended on the second day. The examination of Arithmetic was in the Russian language, and I could not understand it\u2014The instructor however in that department put the questions, and the young ladies answered by making cyphered figures with chalk on a large black board standing in a frame like a looking-glass, which could be seen by all the auditory; and by explaining the cyphers as they made them. The Examination of the French and German Languages was made by Books, in French, German, and Russian which the young Ladies brought to different persons of the Audience each one requesting the person to whom she gave the Book to open it and indicate to her any passage at pleasure, which she then took and translated three or four sentences as she read them off\u2014from French or German into Russian, or from Russian into French or German\u2014You perceive that this examination admitted of no previous minute preparation, and that it was a real and severe test to ascertain proficiency in the languages\u2014Some of the Ladies appeared to acquit themselves well of the performance, though others stammered and hesitated a little in their translations. One of the Ladies brought me a French Book, and translated into Russian a passage at which I opened it for her\u2014I presume she performed it well, but if she was qualified for her task, I was not so for mine\u2014The ignorance of the Judge might have served for learning to the Scholar\u2014I saw that she read French with perfect ease, but the language into which she rendered it might have been Sanscrit or Chinese for aught I knew.\nThe Examination of French Literature comprehended Logic, Rhetoric and Poetry\u2014Here as you may suppose, I was a little more at home, than upon the Article of Russian Translations\u2014It was the repetition of a lesson learnt by heart; and it had been very well learnt\u2014The instructor puts all the questions, and the Ladies answered verbatim from their Books. Thus one of them told us not only what was a Syllogism but demonstrated to us by a genuine Syllogism in Barbara that All vicious men must be unhappy\u2014In the same manner, that is in the form of question and answer between the teacher and the pupil the Ladies gave us the definitions of almost all the principal figures of Logic and of Rhetoric with an example to illustrate each definition\u2014They did the same in Poetry, and repeated many excellent specimens from the French Poets\u2014Racine\u2014Rousseau\u2014La Fontaine and some others\u2014Several of them recited these verses with great propriety and Spirit\u2014This part of their studies was perhaps more congenial to their taste than that the examination of which immediately succeeded\u2014Experimental Philosophy\u2014The whole apparatus of pneumatics, electricity, and chemistry was brought in and displayed before us\u2014If this examination was not remarkably instructive it was at least amusing\u2014The teacher would have been a good subject for a Caricature\u2014He puts his questions\u2014for instance upon the properties of matter\u2014extension\u2014cohesion\u2014divisibility and so forth\u2014the young Lady would answer by giving the definition of the property required\u2014then he would ask her what was the experiment which proved it, but he generally took care to answer that himself, not sufficiently trusting to the Pupil\u2019s memory; and he always undertook to perform the experiment, and most frequently failed. In one or two instances the young Lady undertook it after him and succeeded\u2014Figure to yourself the Graces of antient Fable (for there was no Venus among them) with a Silenus in the midst of them, surrounded by an Electrical machine and an Air Pump Leyden Jars, and Vials of gaz, giving definitions of oxygen, hydrogen, and muriatic acids, and delivering dissertations upon Nature\u2019s abhorrence of a vacuum\u2014Unluckily this part of the Exhibition was abridged\u2014the Professor burnt his own and one of his pupils fingers, by spouting a flame of Spirits of Wine from a fountain, and the young Ladies had not time to give us the electrical shock.\nA select part of the Company was then ushered into two adjoining Rooms, in one of which was a cold Collation, and refreshing Cordials, and in the other the drawings, paintings, embroidery and various needle work of the young Penelopes and Arachnes were exposed\u2014The drawings were in crayons\u2014indian ink or water colours\u2014Most of them were copies, and bore very well a comparison with the Prints in Copperplate, their models. The name of each young Lady was marked by a ticket upon her performance, and the names of all the workers at the large pieces of embroidery which had occupied several hands\u2014All these samples were extremely well done\u2014The specimens of writing and composition were numerous, but I accidentally miss\u2019d seeing any of them.\nAfter an interval of about half an hour, we returned to the Hall, and heard the musical performances; the instrumental part of which was executed by men\u2014The Ladies are indeed all taught to perform upon the Piano, but probably the want of time deprived us of the pleasure of hearing them\u2014But they sung\u2014Airs\u2014Duets, Recitative and Choruses, from the Four Seasons of Haydn\u2014Some parts of which were very difficult, and altogether discovering great proficiency in the Art.\u2014The whole exhibition was closed with dancing\u2014There were Choirs in which the whole number joined, and single dances, with the Shawl, or a garland of Roses, particularly calculated for the display of elegant motion\u2014The Russian, Polish and Spanish national dances, were performed by small parties of two, three or four at a time; but the German Walse, the favourite dance of fashionable companies, at this time, here as well as all over the Continent of Europe, was omitted.\nThere were eighty one young Ladies, in the Class which underwent this examination, and who have completed their Education at this school\u2014They were all dressed alike, in a plain white muslin gown, with a scarlet ribband round the waist. Those who had distinguished themselves by peculiar merit wore nosegays of lilies of the valley at the breast.\u2014They were all extremely graceful\u2014Some of them had fine forms; but there was scarcely a beautiful face in the whole number.\nThe System of Education implied by this examination is said not to be precisely the same with that which is actually pursued\u2014Few if any of the young Ladies, on leaving these Seminaries are so learned, or even so accomplished, as these exhibitions would seem to import.\u2014Some parts of the Instruction which is professedly given them, are not the most suitable to their sex, and are seldom very effectually taught even to boys\u2014A Lady may be very fairly allowed in any part of the world, not to know how to square the hypothenuse any more than how to square the Circle\u2014I question whether any of the Ladies from the Institute of St: Catherine, or from the Convent of Noble Ladies, another and still more celebrated School of the same kind are so perfect mistresses of Euclid\u2019s Elements, as they are of the Walse, which they are not allowed to exhibit\u2014Yet with every allowance which ought to be made for the varnish of a public exhibition, I know not how it would be possible to make more judicious or more excellent provisions for the Education of young Ladies of rank and fortune in this Country than we find here exemplified.\nPerhaps the Education of the female nobility of Russia will not be a subject in which you will feel much interested\u2014In that case you will consider this narrative, as only a preliminary to the information that we are all well, and that since my last letter to you, dated 18/30 January, I have not had the pleasure of receiving one from you\u2014I do not intend in future to suffer any one Month to pass without writing to you\u2014The last accounts direct that we have received from you are by your letter of 25. July; more than seven months past\u2014But Mr Gray has received letters from his Parents of a date as late as 13 Decr. by which we had the happiness to learn that you were then well.\u2014I have in former letters requested you to write without waiting for the knowledge of any special opportunity to send your letters; but to give them when written into charge of Mr: W. Gray\u2014We shall then at least not be seven or nine months without immediate intelligence from you\u2014I have at present no expectation of returning home the next summer\u2014Indeed it is doubtful whether in any Event I should find it possible\u2014I say this, because you may perhaps expect us. But to whatever period our homeward voyage may be postponed, be assured that I shall return with unaltered and unalterable filial duty and affection.\nA.My father and my boys; if they are not always upon my paper are always in my memory and my heart\u2014I shall remind my brother and his family of my remembrance by a special epistle to himself\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1924", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Hannah Phillips Cushing, 2 March 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Cushing, Hannah Phillips\nmy Dear Friend\nQuincy March 2d 1811\nHow often I have in imagination I have visited you this Dreary season. I know not, but not a day has past without my thinking of you, and wishing that it had been my good fortune to have been situated in the Neighbourhood of you. then would your cheering countenance have enlivened the confinement I have experienced since I saw you. for the week after I was taken sick and am now only leaving my chamber after Six weeks, in which time I have been twice in a close sleigh for a mile or two. I was seizd with a fever and that with most voilence & pain, but through the goodness of heaven it soon abated, tho it left me weak and low; and the winter has been so severe that I thought it best to keep close.\nI know you have resources within yourself for entertainment and that you have kind and tender relative around you, but Still it is our Natures to resist confinement, and to pine after variety if you have been blocked up with snow as we have been here you must have been shut out from society from abroad\nI have wanted to take my pen & ask you what you thought of the Nomination of the President for a judge? after mr Lincoln declineing I Saw the Nomination of our mr Wolcot and without attending to the Christian Name, I was pleasd to find he had made so good a choice as our old Friend oliver Wolcot and that party considerations had not influenced him, at the same time it was confirming the choice before made of him for a judge by a former  Predessor, and it was not untill I saw the opposition that I discoverd my mistake\nThe latter Gentleman, I have often heard you mention, . . . I have now heard of a new appointment altogether unexpected to me considering the circumstances under which it is made. it is said to have been unanimous in the Senate\u2014I mean that of my Son. I know it will be a cordial to you to see the place of your dear Friend filld by a Man whose character you can esteem and of whose qualifications, those he who nominated and those who approved, were all personally known to them. what his own sentiments may be with respect to the acceptance of it, I know not since it has taken place but he has sometimes said he would not hold the office of judge if tenderd to him\u2014For my own part, I should rather have him judge of the Supreem Court of the united States, altho I know it to be a highly responsible Situation, than President or vice President of the united States. it removes him from that focus of party animosity jealousy envy and bitterness which, draws into its  vortex every Man of talents Superiour tallents in the Country. I had recieved information from washington, that if mr Adams had been at home he would have been first Nominated\u2014I replied to this infirmation, that I thought it the duty of the President to fill the place, and that there were many Characters to be found who would do honour to the office, and many more who undoubtedly thought themselves qualified and that to hold the office for a Man absent upon a Foreign Mission would be a very envidious thing. it was then whisperd that Mr Lincoln was to be appointed and to hold the place untill mr Adams returnd\u2014others Said he was to be appointed to put him out of the way\u2014I most heartily concur in thus putting him out of the way of Foreign Missions, or of other offices So eagerly Sought after by asspireing Ambition\n            These things are said my dear Friend in confidence to you\u2014I hope the snow will soon dissapear and that I shall then have the promissed pleasure of a visit from my dear Mrs Cushing / to her obliged and affectionate / Friend\nAbigail Adams\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1926", "content": "Title: From Thomas Boylston Adams to John Quincy Adams, 3 March 1811\nFrom: Adams, Thomas Boylston\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nNo 14 Old / 5 New Series\nMy dear Brother\nQuincy 3d: March 1811.\nMr: Erving has not yet left Boston, but expects to go for Newport on the 5th instant, for the purpose of embarking in the John Adams Frigate, in a few days. I think it probable he will not sail, under a fortnight from this time. The news of your appointment as an Associate Judge of the Supreme Court for the Massachusetts District, has just reached us, and as it is the harbinger of your speedy return to your Country and friends, it is received with peculiar pleasure by all your family. I do not know with what sensations you will receive the intelligence, nor do I venture to surmise the course you will take. The unanimous approbation of your nomination by the Senate, has been communicated to me by your friend S W Dana, in a letter, this day received from him. In Boston, yesterday, I heard from all parties, expressions of satisfaction and cordial acquiescence in this appointment, and such is the state of business in this Circuit, that your return is anxiously looked for, the ensuing Autumn. I am apprehensive that in many respects, this sudden change in your destination, may be productive of great embarrassment to you. It would be idle in me to anticipate your ultimate resolution on this subject, nor will I add of my own opinion more than that the Publick will be great gainers by your acceptance of the Office in case of your return.\nUpon our publick affairs I cannot furnish you with any news; nor considering  the circuitous route, which this letter may go, would it be prudent to say much concerning them. The great question respecting the U S Bank Charter, which has been agitated in Congress during a great part of the Session, was decided, by the Casting vote of the VP. against a renewal of the Charter. This is a beginning of reformation, very likely to produce ultimate good, though attended now with disasterous consequences, by anticipation. Tomorrow the United States Bank & all its branches are reduced to private life. It is a sad blow to our Merchants of a certain description and I believe it will greatly annoy a foreign Capital which has been largely interested in the Stock of this Bank. This Capital has had a pestiferous influence upon our publick and National concerns, and as a most powerful and efficacious engine it has been at all times employed in our political contentions.\nThe Non-intercourse law is to be enforced with rigour, if at all; so say the newspapers, and that is all I know about it. Mr Eppes has introduced some saving clauses to be hung on as riders, which may possibly pass to be enacted.\nOur State Legislature closed its Session on Thursday last\u2014 Mr Story as Speaker of the House acquired new honour and applause. Mr Otis took leave of Senate, as President, FOREVER, as he intends. I think there is an awful squinting in this phraze. Despondency sometimes talks with most miraculous organ. Mr Gore is again nominated for Governor. We are without apprehension for the issue of the approaching Campaign. There is however a foreboding silence and stillness which may portend a violent struggle, but, I think the friends of the present Chief Magistrate are awake\u2014No fear, the watch-word.\nI had intended to write you at great length, but am obliged to close my Letter or lose the conveyance.\nMy account Current goes by this opportunity, but a long letter I send on to New York to go by Mr E.\u2014has not reached him\u2014\nI am on the point of starting for Dedham Supreme Court.\nEver Yours\u2014\nTBAyour Sons are well\u2014So are we all\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1930", "content": "Title: From James Madison to William Steuben Smith, 4 March 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Smith, William Steuben\nJames Madison. President of the United States of America.To William Steuben Smith Greeting4 March 1811\nReposing a special Trust and Confidence in your Integrity, Prudence and Ability: I have appointed you the said William Steuben Smith Secretary of Legation of the United States of America to His Imperial Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias; authorizing you hereby to do and perform all such matters and things as to the said place or office doth appertain, and the same to Hold and exercise during the pleasure of the President of the United States for the time being, and until the end of the next Session of the Senate of the United States, and no longer\nIn Testimony whereof, I have caused the Seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed.\nGiven under my hand at the City of Washington the fourth day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand Eight hundred and eleven and of the Independence of the United States of America, The Thirty fifth.\nsigned James Madisonby the President.R. Smith Secretary of State.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1931", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Hannah Phillips Cushing, 5 March 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Cushing, Hannah Phillips\nMy Dear Friend,\u2014\nQuincy, March 5, 1811.\nI believe I may say with truth, that I have been your daily visitor through the dreary season of winter, and altho not visible to you, I have sometimes seated myself by your fire side, and held sweet converse with you; and not unfrequently regretted that it was not my good fortune to have been situated near your dwelling; then would your cheering countenance have enlivened the confinement I have experienced since I saw you.\nThat week I was taken sick; and am now only leaving my chamber: the weather has been so unpleasant, and the roads so obstructed by snow, that I have not been able to get abroad.\nYou will see by the publick papers that the president has nominated, and the senate unanimously appointed my son, as successor to your late, and ever dear Friend, in his office as judge, altho I know by information received early in the session from Washington, that it was his wish to do so, I considered his absence, as an insurmountable objection. I also knew what interest, what importunate interest would be made for many candidates.\nThe appointment was altogether unexpected both to the president and to me, the unanimity with which it was assented to, and the general satisfaction which it appears to give to all parties, will I hope and trust induce him to accept the appointment, which so honorably calls him back to his native land and which I hope will shield him from that spirit of animosity which has so unjustly assaild him. It will place him out of reach of competition for office, which occasions so much envy and jealousy amongst all parties. I had rather have him hold the office of Judge, than that of any foreign embassy or even Chief Majistrate of the United States. I think my Dear Friend you will be gratified that the seat your Friend so honorably held, and so faithfully discharged will not be disgraced by his successor.\nBoth his Father and I have written to him, to urge his acceptance of an office, which he has heretofore, when mentioned to him, exprest a reluctance to filling if ever he should be appointed to it.\nHe will now have many motives to consider what then appeard to him, a place for which he did not consider himself adequate to.\nI know the interest you take in whatever concerns your Friends, will plead my excuse, for making myself and Family the subject of this Letter. Pray let me hear how you are. My regards to your Sisters, and believe me at all times Your truly affectionate Friend\nAbigail Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1932", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Catherine Nuth Johnson, 6 March 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Johnson, Catherine Nuth\nmy dear Madam\nQuincy March 6th 1811\nThe great quantity of snow upon the Ground has obstructed the travelling So much, that the post did not get in last week, and your Letter which Should have come by that Mail, did not arrive untill yesterday.\nThe Nomination and appointment of mr Adams, had been announced in the public papers, and in Some private Letters, before I received yours\u2014\nSupposing that his absence would be an insurmountable objection towards his appointment, the information you gave me upon the Subject, I rather considerd, as the wish of Some of his Friends; than as a practicable matter; the Nomination of mr Lincoln, was not a surprize to me, that of mr wolcott was\u2014but I am disposed to make every allowence for a President of the United States, with respect to appointments. I know, for I have been witness to enough of it, how eagerly every office is Sought after, by both Parties, how urgent, how pressing, how importunate Candidates are for themselves, and Friends and often how painfull the task is, for a President to decide, between the merrits and qualifications of Rival Candidates. Much has been said of the dangers arising from Patronage believe me, there is more of torment, than pleasure or utility in it\u2014\nAs this appointment of mr Adams was the voluntary act of the Presidents, without the knowledge or expectation either of his Father, or Mother, or any other Friend, in this quarter of the Union\u2014I esteem it the more highly, and I consider it an honorable call for him to return to his Native Country. both his Father and I have written to him, and given him our reasons. why we think it encumbent upon him to accept the appointment, so unsolicitedly made, So cordially and unanimously confirmed, and so universally approved.\nI have written immediatly to you that you might know my mind upon a Subject, which gives me more pleasure than if he had been Elected chief Majestrate of the united States. I hope he will So maturely weigh the Subject, as to remove from his mind, every objection, which has heretofore inclined him to think that he never would go upon the Bench\nI would request of mr Pope, to express to the President, my gratification at the honorable manner\u2014in which he has recalld him to his Country.\nI will not permit myself to doubt of his return If his Life, and that of his family, are Spared, and I hope we shall see them before the close of the Present year. I am sure the prospect of it, will be hailed by mrs Adams with inexpressible joy, if I may judge from the Strain of all her Letters.\nyou must my dear Madam Strive to Support your Spirits. you have a double call for them; the Infant ospring of your dear Daughter must look to you, to Supply the place of her whom they have lost and to aid their Father in their Education\u2014your son, no doubt would be a grand great Solace to you, but his Duty, and his interest call him away, to the Climate he is Seasoned. the Country, I have heard is delightfull, and he, much esteemed, and Respected in it\u2014\nwe must look to the bright Side, as well as to the dark Shade of the picture, and balance our Comforts, against our Privations\u2014and Surely we Shall have cause to rejoice\u2014\nI must request you to remember me to mr Hellen, whose health I hope may be reestablished, to mr and Mrs Pope my best wishes for an agreable journey, and health & prosperity, to miss Adelade, an invigorated Constitution, and a good Husband, to the rest of your Family ever comfort they need\u2014our Grandsons request that I would present their Duty to you. they are elated with the hope of seeing their Parents return and with this Anticipated hope I Subscribe your Friend\nA Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1933", "content": "Title: From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Smith Adams, 8 March 1811\nFrom: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nAtkinson March 8th. 1811\u2014\nI thank you My Dear, & revered Brother & Sister, for your repeated attentions to me, & mine.\nThe Cold, & the Snow yet remaining upon the Earth, renders it I fear, very painful & unpleasant Weather for my Son. I hoped to receive a Letter from him before this time, Silence in any one else I should construe as inability, or an increase of Disease.\nFew Children I believe are half attentive enough to the feelings, & wishes of their Parents, The Fountain of Love & Tenderness in us, flows with unremitting Ardor, expands, (not wastes) in various delightful Streams, nor is exhausted, \u2018till vital Blood ceases to move. But the filial affections keep on in a regular course, they find no circular Line, nor reverberate back to there original Source.\nWe often shew too great Partiality for our Children; & I find myself perfectly disposed to make every possible Excuse for my Son\u2019s not writing. But even the sweet-tempered benevolent Mrs. Chapone, would not I believe, think the silence of a Friend, had any attractive Charm, or was one of those Imperfections, from the \u201cIndulgence of which, arise the most endearing Ties of Society.\u201d\u2014\nI do not ask for frequent Letters, all I desire is, such as his Circumstances, & particular occasions make requisite. And to you, who I know love him, I may say, I think his not writing to his Mother, One of his great failings\u2014&, all the way I have to comfort, & quiet my vexed Heart, is to think he is possessed of many Virtues; & that if he really knew of how much value I esteemed a rational confidential literary Intercourse, his Benevolence alone would induce him to write\u2014\nYou my dear Sisters are both happy in having Sons, who not only have the Tongue, but the Pen of the Eloquent, & who use it, for the Edification, Comfort, & Delight of their absent Friends\u2014\nA deep conviction of both my Sisters Excellence, & of my own demerits, make me quite blush,  when you talk of \u201cyielding\u201d the Palm. For were you, with all the Gods, & Goddesses assembled upon Mount Ida, & Pallas herself, or my sweet generous condescending Sister, should proffer the honoured Boon,  a consciousness of my own unworthyness would make me turn abashed.\nEvery day I feel more sensibly my own deficiencies & the want of early Initiation in those Branches of Learning for which my longing Soul panted, & with which our more favoured Daughters are blessed.\u2014There were then no Academies, no regular mode of Education for our Sex\u2014& to the Virtues, more than to the Instructions of our Venerable Parents, we owe much.\u2014Our Mother, dear excellent Woman did all she could, learned us to read, & gave us Dr. Wall\u2019s Hymns; & by her my lisping Tongue was taught divine Truths made more obvious, & pleasant by his Song, & from those I received my first Impressions of Religion.\u2014\nTo my dear Brothers, & Sisters, whom in my Youth I was much with, I feel myself under particular Obligations for my early Impressions which I dearly love to trace\u2014Many of their Observations I treasured up in my little Store-house, from which I have experienced much benefit\u2014Their smiles were a Stimulus, & their profound Knowledge, was an Incitement to my own acquisitions\u2014\nYour Sentiments, & Ideas my Sister, relative to the Works of Mr Richardson, exactly coincide with my own\u2014I have ever been his admirer, & warm advocate. Indeed almost every other Novel appears to me inspired, & futile,\u2014if not dangerous\u2014& I have always regretted that Abby could not procure the reading of his Clarissa, as it is preferable to the other two, & one of the best Performances to improve young Ladies, of which I know;\u2014& as you observe, no one can peruse this preceptive Author, \u201cwithout rising better, from the Feast\u201d\u00b5In the Character of Mrs Shirley, how dignified, & amiable does old age appear\u2014& in Dr Bartlet, how worthy, & attractive is the Ambassador of Heaven\u2014\nIt is a Circumstance of Felicity to me, that we my dear Sisters, are an happy Triumvirate, united in Taste, Sentiment, & Love\u2014Are yet Probationers\u2014\u201cfellow Workers\u201d I trust; in the service of our ascended Lord\u2014May we still do much Good, & so improve those Talents he has given, as to receive at the closing Scene his gracious Plaudit\u2014\nI rejoice My Sister to hear of your son\u2019s & Family\u2019s health\u2014& that he has had the united Suffrages of both Houses, for the Office of cheif Judge\u2014may he return to the Bosom of his Friends & Country\u2014Their choice, is a pleasing evidence that they have confidence in his Wisdom, & Integrity\u2014\nI think Mr Mackeen very politic in no sooner having his Lectures\u2014For he must know the almost adored Image of his Predecessor, still lives in the Hearts of his Pupils. The Science he taught\u2014the moral & religious Precepts he instilled, now enriches their retired meditations\u2014& their public Exhibitions\u2014\u201cThe Honey of his Persuasion\u201d still dwells upon their Lips\u2014& the purity, elegance & sweetness of his Diction yet vibrates with delight\u2014Of such a Son, who would not be gratefully proud?\u2014may he long prove a Blessing, & be blessed prays your Sister,\nE Peabody", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1934", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Abigail Amelia Adams Smith, 10 March 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Smith, Abigail Amelia Adams\nmy dear Daughter\nIt is so long Since I received a Letter from you or any of the Family that I am not a little anxious to hear. I have attributed it to the great fall of Snow which has obstructed prevented the Southern post getting in Regular Succession\u2014and we have learnt that the Northern Roads are still more obstructed\u2014yet I have Sent every Post to the office in hopes to hear. I have written You Several Letters to which I have not any return it is now the 10 of March & the Snow is ten foot high in banks between here and the meeting house\u2014\nI have been out only three times since Jan\u2019ry and then no farther than your Brothers\u2014\nYou have learnt by the publick papers I trust that your Brother is honorably recalld to his Native Country\u2014unexpectedly to us, because we thought his absence would have been an objection which could not be overcome\u2014I knew from early information from Mrs Johnson that it was the wish of the President to place him in that office, but I presume he was so harassed and beset by Recommendations and urgent Supplications, that he was led to the Nomination of a man Whom it appears was not esteemed qualified for the place and after one  Resignation and one negative, the President was determined to Nomminate from his own judgement and personal knowledge, the unanimous approbation concurrence of the Senate, and the universal approbation it meets with from all parties, is very gratifying to me, upon many accounts It is peculiarly So, I am Sensible the duties of the Station are arduous and highly responsible. of his qualification, there is no question. the  permaancy of the office will releave him from that a great portion of envy and jealousy which a Rivalship for other offices might excite in the minds of candidates, and which with other circumstances renderd his Residence here unpleasent to him\u2014he will be able to be at home Some part of the year and by that means can Superintend the Education of his Children. he can reside where he pleases. I hope during the lives of his parents it will be at Quincy\u2014he can live within his income, and tho he cannot go grow rich, he can be live independent\u2014\nI am making calculations for him as tho upon the  Spot, and as tho no ocean divided us\u2014I have a confidence, and a firm belief that his Life will be protected and Spaird, and that he is designd to be in the hands of Providence a great Blessing to this Nation\u2014call it vanity or by what name they please Such is my Faith, and may it be unto me all or to  it\u2014you will naturally feel anxious for William. I hope he will have an inclination for merchandise, but with its present prospects, it is truly deplorable, but it appears that this State of things cannot last long, and William residence in Russia may give him Some opportunities and acquaintance which may  assist in future enterprises. mr Gray proposed his engaging in Some thing of the kind\u2014and if he returns I do not doubt but Some thing may be found out benificial for him\u2014he can barely live in Russia I am sure upon what is allowed him\u2014I have forwarded Several Letters from him Since I received any acknowledgment that they had been received. I am very anxious respecting what in your last Letter dated Janry you mentiond to me. I have sent you Dr Welchs opinion. dr Hollbrook concurrd in the application of the medicine, but both agreed you had better be present, that they could judge better & advise to more effect. let me know particularly concerning the State of it. and let me hear from you as Soon as possible\nYour affectionate / Mother\nA Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1935", "content": "Title: From Andrew Buchanan to Catherine Nuth Johnson, 13 March 1811\nFrom: Buchanan, Andrew\nTo: Johnson, Catherine Nuth\nMy Dear Madam\nBaltimore March 13. 1811\nI hasten to relieve the anxiety of our Friends in Washington by informing you that your Daughter Carolina gave birth to a Son this Morning about 10 OClock\u2014All that I can say of him at present is that he is a fine, fat, plump Boy with excellent lungs\u2014\nC. is doing charmingly her trial was about two doubtful hours before Doctor White\u2019s arrival, and two real ones after\u2014\nYours Very Affectionately\nAnd Buchanan", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1936", "content": "Title: From Hannah Phillips Cushing to Abigail Smith Adams, 14 March 1811\nFrom: Cushing, Hannah Phillips\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nMy dear Friend\nScituate March 14th 1811\nI will without delay thank you for the ind letter of the 5th, which was not received till yesterday. It has been my intention to ask after your health for some time, & that of your dear Sisters; My heart feels much for her sore bereavement, as her day is so may her strength be. To that great being in whom she confides I commend her, with her afflicted Husband. May he be more to them than sons or daughters. Do offer them my best regards & sympathy. How much sickness falls to the lot of my beloved Friend; if my presence could have cheere\u2019d you how earnestly then do I wish to have been there; but the weather & roads have been such, that I have not even ventured out since the Sabbath after my return. However if our dwellings were as near each other as I heartily wish, all obstacles would have vanished between me & your sick chamber. The appointment of Mr Adams as the successor of my blessed Husband, gave me great joy. I know not that being I should have prefered. How events follow each other. My best Friend was successor to his Father, as Chief Justice. I hope & pray that he may not decline. My heart records your goodness in writing so often to me, without waiting for a reply. Next month may bring us together; it is a visit I contemplate upon with delight.\nMr Sumner passed last Friy night here, Elizas health was better. He came in a slay with Mrs Emily Phillips, & Mrs Paine, who brought her eldest daughter to stay a few weeks, & took home Sarah the second daughter who had been some time with us.\nAll my family are well & unite with me in affectionate regards to you & yours\nYour Afflicted\nH Cushing\n21st\nMy beloved Friend\nJust as I am writing my name the man who takes the Mail to Boston passed by, which has delayed this one week, as he only goes on Thursdays. Your letters always afford me great pleasure, & never more than when your Family are the principal subjects of them, except speaking of those happy beings that have passed away.\nI have always considered the Office of a Judge of the U.S. preferable to any other, & do most heartily hope Mr Adams will accept of his appointment. Then he will be out of the Vortex of politics, I wish every one to think as highly of him as does your ever / AffectionateH C", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1938", "content": "Title: From Catherine Nuth Johnson to Andrew Buchanan, 17 March 1811\nFrom: Johnson, Catherine Nuth\nTo: Buchanan, Andrew\nWashington March 17th 1811\nI sincerely Congratulate you My Dear Sir on the Birth of your Son, and the Safety of our Dear Caroline. as soon as you inform me on a Certain Subject, I shall myself address her. it will give me great Pleasure, to have this answered immediately, as I am very desirous and anxious, to know if she, and the Babe Continue Well\u2014Tom left Washington on Wednesday morning, for your City, since which I have not heard any thing from him, Notwithstanding he Promised me faithfully to write me, on Friday, as he Contemplated going to Philadelphia. I presume he is gone on. you will oblige me, by any information you Can give me Respecting his Plans, if he intends going in the Clifton, or the Baby? if you let Caroline know you have heard from me, Present My affectionate Love to her. and tell her I shall as soon as Harriet is safe in Bed, gladly obey her Summons to Pay My Respects to the little Stranger\u2014Love to the Children Mr Boyd and Mr Hellen Request you will send them about 24 Pound of Butter by the Stage Between them as More will not Keep this Warm Weather\u2014affectionly yours\nC Johnson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1939", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 19 March 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nSt: Petersburg 19. March 1811.\nIn proportion as the time lengthens since the receipt of your last Letter, which is also the last that I have received from any of my friends at Quincy, I find not only my anxiety to hear directly from you increasing with it, but also my desire and determination if possible to relieve you and my other friends with you from a similar anxiety respecting us, which you would feel in the case of so long an interval without receiving letters from us.\u2014There may perhaps yet pass two full months, before the dissolution of the Russian Rivers, will afford us opportunities of writing directly from this Country; but from the middle of November when the Navigation stopp\u2019d, untill this time, there has never pass\u2019d a month, without my writing to you, and forwarding the letter to some place, whence it would be possible to transmit it immediately, or within a very short delay.\u2014I have repeatedly found the advantage, of a rule which I have taken the liberty of recommending both to my brother and to you\u2014which is not to wait before writing, for the opportunity to send; but to have the letter ready written for the opportunity.\u2014Since the beginning of this month, I have already sent letters for you or for my brother to be forwarded from Hamburg, from Paris, and from Gothenburg, and although I know not how or when I shall be able to dispatch this letter, I am persuaded that when once ready, I shall not have it long upon my hands.\nOur Society here, as you will naturally suppose is principally composed of the Corps Diplomatique; which of all the moveable sand-banks in this world of mutability, is perhaps the most given to change\u2014When we arrived here, in October 1809, it consisted of a French Ambassador-Ministers of the second order from the kings of Denmark, Prussia, Sardinia, Saxony, Bavaria, Wurtemberg, Holland, Spain, Naples and Westphalia\u2014There were from Sweden the two negotiators who had just concluded the Peace of Fredericshamm, one of whom had been for many years the Swedish Ambassador at this Court; and then had as he still has the powers, but without the formal character of Ambassador\u2014There was also a Charg\u00e8 d\u2019Affaires from Portugal, or from the Prince Regent of Brazil, and an Agent from the Hanseatic Cities.\u2014Austria and England were not represented.\u2014Seven of these kings, besides the French Emperor, were themselves novelties, credited since the commencement of the present Century, and lineally descended from the Revolution which was to found Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, and to abolish monarchy on the face of the globe.\u2014Four of them, Holland, Spain, Naples and Westphalia, were of the collateral Bonaparte Dynasty, which had been set up, before he had undertaken to have children of his own to provide for.\nWe had been here about three months when the Duke de Mondragone, the Minister from the king of Naples, was recalled and took leave. Observe that by the king of Naples I mean the person once named Joachim Murat, whose title to that throne sprouted from his marriage with a sister of the Emperor Napoleon\u2014For there is yet here another Neapolitan Nobleman, the Duke de Serra-Capriola, an Ex-Ambassador of the antient king of the two Sicilies Ferdinand, but who is not recognized in that capacity now. The Duke de Mondragone was the head of one of the proudest and most illustrious noble families of the kingdom of the two Sicilies, and the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Joachim Murat.\nAbout the same time Count Einsiedel the Minister from the king of Saxony, was recalled from the mission here, and sent in the same capacity to Paris\u2014He  was a man of infinite humour and pleasantry, but he protracted for five months at least our residence at a very uncomfortable public Inn\u2014He received his recall in December, and was to go in January\u2014I engaged to take the house which he was to quit; which we accordingly now occupy\u2014But from January to June he was always going the next week, and we were waiting at the Inn.\nThe Bavarian Minister, the Chevalier de Bray, a frenchman by Birth, was the only public Minister here, who had his wife and family here with him.\u2014They were very amiable, and paid us all possible attention\u2014But after passing the last Winter here they went into the Country\u2014He obtained a leave of absence, to travel for one year, and they are now at Rome or at Naples.\nThe Chevalier Six d\u2019Oterleck, the Minister from the king of Holland, was an old acquaintance of mine\u2014I had seen him in the year 1795, as the Citizen Six, in the first year of Batavian Liberty, go to Paris from the Batavian Republic, to attempt a negotiation for Peace, with the Committee of Public Safety of the French Republic one and indivisible. He was now metamorphosed into the Chevalier Six d\u2019Oterleck, bdizened with the Ribbons of three Orders of knighthood, and Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary from the king of Holland\u2014The king of Holland was the person who in the year 1801. had been introduced to me by General Beurnonville, at Berlin, by the name and style of la Colonel Bonaparte.\u2014The king of Holland, to me who had received part of my Education at Amsterdam and at Leyden, and who at a later period had myself been accredited to their High Mightinesses the States General of the United Netherlands, was as odd a sound to the ear, as the sight of Citizen Six with his Ribbons and his Stars was to the eye.\u2014But the king of Holland is no more\u2014About the month of January 1810. Monsieur de Champagny, otherwise called the Duke de Cadore, the Emperor Napoleon\u2019s minister of foreign Affairs made the discovery that Holland was nothing but an alluvion of France; whereupon the king of Holland made a Treaty with his august brother ceding about one third of his kingdom to France\u2014And as notwithstanding this cession the British ministers refused to repeal the Orders of Council, the king of Holland abdicated\u2014his whole kingdom was incorporated with the french Empire, and my friend the Chevalier Six d\u2019Oterleck, found himself in the condition of Othello\u2014His occupation was gone\u2014So he had the honour of dining with the Emperor Alexander, which he could not have had if he had been simply a Minister recalled; went to Paris last August; was appointed Intendant of the Domains, and received the Emperor Napoleon\u2019s permission to wear the ribband of the Bavarian order of St: Hubert\u2014a very large blue ribband.\nI call him my friend the Chevalier Six d\u2019Oterleck, because with all his metamorphoses and all his ribbons, he is a good-hearted, friendly, as well as a sensible and well-informed man\u2014While he remained here I was upon a footing of great intimacy with him, and I met with a very serious loss in his departure\u2014He had almost all the sound and useful qualities of the antient Dutch character, and he had a very peculiar and sincere regard for our Country, where he is the owner of very considerable possessions.\nOne of the Swedish Negotiators whom I have mentioned, was here only a few weeks, and returned to Sweden\u2014Count Stedingk, the informal Ambassador, was to have remained only untill last June, and a frigate then actually came to take him home. But just at that time happened the sudden Death of the late Crown Prince, and Count Stedingk was requested to stay here some time longer\u2014He is yet here, and a most amiable and respectable man\u2014He served with the french army in America during our war, and was wounded at the affair of Savannah.\nAbout a Month after us, arrived here Count St: Julien as an informal Envoy from the Emperor of Austria. The Emperor of Austria, in that character is as much of a novelty as all the rest\u2014The reason for all these informal missions is to escape from questions of etiquette, and the necessity of disputing for precedence with the French Ambassador, who would take and maintain it upon all occasions, before all other Ambassadors\u2014Before the dissolution of the German Empire, French Ambassadors yielded precedence to those of the Emperor of Germany\u2014Now they insist upon it themselves\u2014To avoid an unprofitable contest, Austria sent Count St: Julien, first without Diplomatic Rank, and now with the character of  Envoy-Extraordinary, that he may without any evaporation of dignity walk after the French Ambassador\u2014But then he is to be treated as a sort of Semi-Ambassador; something more than a mere Envoy, and has been all winter preparing to live in Style.\nThe Agent from the Hanseatic Cities, vanished from the Diplomatic Circle, about two months ago, upon the incorporation of his Sovereigns with the French Empire\u2014I have not seen him since. He was a very respectable man, and from his long residence in this Country, an agreeable acquaintance\u2014His name is Wiggers.\nThe Charg\u00e8 d\u2019Affaires from Portugal, the Chevalier Navarro d\u2019Andrade, I had known as Secretary of the Portuguese Legation at Berlin\u2014He is also my very worthy and valuable friend; but he is recalled\u2014A Minister is appointed to come in his stead; and he expects to depart in May or June.\nLastly the French Ambassador, Caulaincourt, Duke de Vicence, Grand Ecuyer of France, one of the most accomplished as well as one of the greatest noblemen of the Napoleon creation has received his recall, and only waits for the arrival of his successor, a Count and General Lauriston. We shall regret the Ambassador, whose civilities to us have been frequent and uninterrupted, and but for a reserve which we have thought necessary in accepting them, would have been much more frequent still. He lives in a style of magnificence scarcely surpassed by the Emperor himself, and has an easy, unassuming simplicity of manners, which is not very common among the modern Grandees, and which does not always distinguish even the antideluvian great.\nAnd here ends my first Canto of mutability.\u2014It will make you acquainted with many of the persons, whom we have most frequently associated with here, and shew you how they pass like Chinese shadows before us\u2014But whatever changes I may witness or experience, be assured that my duty and affection to you will remain immutable.\nA\u2014All Well.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1940", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 22 March 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nSt: Petersburg 10/22. March 1811.\nI dined yesterday at the French Ambassadors, at a diplomatic dinner of about sixty persons in the highest and most formal style.\u2014I give you a description of this entertainment, which may amuse you as a specimen of the usages of the time and place, and give you an idea of what is understood to be the suitable style of entertainment by an Ambassador\u2014The invitation was by printed Card, sent five or six days before the dinner, which by the custom is the signal of a formal entertainment.\u2014All invitations to dinner without ceremony are sent by verbal message, or given personally. The printed Cards, although on the face of them they ask for an Answer, never are answered, unless to decline the invitation\u2014The only answer expected is personal attendance.\nWhen the invitation is without ceremony, the guests are expected to go not in full dress\u2014But in frock Coats, and, if you choose in boots and with a round hat. But when the invitation is by Card they must go in a full Court dress\u2014that is to say in Uniform, for there is no Court dress here but in Uniform.\u2014In the Summer Season however the Chancellor of the Empire, Count Romanzoff sometimes invites by Cards, specifying that the Company are to come in frock Coats.\nThe hour of dining varies at different houses from four to five O\u2019Clock.\u2014The Chancellor\u2019s Cards are always for four O\u2019Clock\u2014the Ambassador\u2019s for half\u2013past four\u2014These are the only two houses where Entertainments of this kind are given; or at least where I have witnessed them.\nAt half\u2013past four therefore I went to the Ambassador\u2019s Hotel, at the outer\u2013door of which stood the Porter or Swiss in a full dress\u2019d livery deeply bordered with Gold\u2013Lace\u2014A three corner\u2019d hat also gold\u2013laced\u2014a broad girdle of Cloth passing over from the right shoulder to the left side, bordered with gold\u2013lace, and worked with gold embroidery, and a large thick staff about five foot long, and headed with silver\u2014He opened the folding doors, and I stepp\u2019d from the Carriage into the house.\u2014As my style here is altogether republican I went only in a Chariot and four, attended by two footmen in livery, and driven by a Coachman on the Carriage Box, and a Postillion between boy and man, on the left right side horse of the leading pair\u2014My own foot\u2013men followed me about half the way up the stairs, where I threw off and gave them my Shoop, a loose outside Fur\u2013Garment, fit only for wearing in a Carriage\u2014The weather not being cold I had not taken with me the loose boots lined with fur or flannel, which are also worn in winter, when riding in Carriages, and are thrown off on entering the house. They are indispensible, in the severity of the Season, and are slip\u2019d on and off over shoes and silk\u2013stockings, with as much ease as the shoop is from the shoulders.\nOn the steps of the stair\u2013case at the Ambassador\u2019s Hotel, stood a line of twenty\u2013foot\u2013men, reaching from the bottom to the top of the stairs\u2014All in the same livery as the Swiss, excepting the girdle, staff and hat; and in silk stockings instead of boots\u2014They stand there from the time when the company begins to arrive come, untill all the guests are arrived\u2014They stand like so many Statues and are there merely for the magnificence of the shew\u2014At the top of the Stair\u2013Case at the folding doors of the first-antichamber stood two Chassaurs, with pea\u2013green liveries as deeply laced with silver as those of the footmen with gold, and with each a hanger suspended at the thigh by a leather baldric passing over the shoulder\u2014These like the Swiss, were in Boots\u2014In the second Antichamber was a line of eight upper Servants, above the rank of footmen & Chasseurs\u2014In uniform dresses embroidered in gold, but of the same Colours with the liveries.\u2014They were all in silk Stockings, and stood like the footmen; merely to be seen by the Company.\u2014In the third Antichamber the guests were received and greeted by the Ambassador\u2019s Secretaries and by the French Consul\u2014The Ambassador himself stood in the Saloon, near the door of  entrance, both folds of which were wide open; and there received & returned the salutations of each guest as he arrived, after  which the guest pass\u2019d on into the Circle standing without any regular order about the Hall\u2014In the course of half an hour the whole company was assembled; and all continued standing untill the Ambassador\u2019s Steward in a full dress;  not of livery, but of cloaths richly embroidered in the antient Style of Court dresses, came and announced to him that the Shaal was ready.\u2014The Shaal is a dram of cordials, served with a relisher of cold tongue, or ham, caviar, cheese, anchovies, and other stimulants to appetite, which it is customary to take immediately before sitting down to dinner\u2014It was served on a small table in the second anti-chamber, and each guest who chose to take it helped himself at the table without sitting down\u2014This ceremony being performed, which did not occupy more than five minutes of time, the Ambassador bowing round to the Company invited the Chancellor to pass into the dining Hall, and accompanied him to his place at his own right hand at the middle of the table. The remainder of the company followed without any particular order of precedence, each person taking his place according to his own idea of propriety, or to the courtesy of others\u2014All the Ministers and General Officers however national and foreign waited yesterday, and gave the step  of precedence immediately after the Chancellor and the ambassador, to the Austrian Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary, Count St: Julian, who for certain reasons is treated with very peculiar distinction at this time\u2014The rest of the Company took their places as I have mentioned, at discretion.  The dinner was over in about an hour, and seldom lasts longer on these occasions of parade\u2014There is no distinction of different Services, and no time lost either in setting on and removing dishes, or in carving.\u2014The table is elegantly decorated with a plateau, and a variety of images in porcelain, and ornamented plates filled with confectionary and fruits; which form part of the desert; but no other dish is ever set upon the table\u2014Those that require carving are all carved by the principal servants in attendance\u2014The dinner begins with soup; a plate of which is carried by the footmen and offered to every guest at the table.\u2014The soup plates are of elegant porcellain\u2014Then follows a succession of seven or eight dishes of flesh and fish variously cooked, with and without vegetables; and some of them with pastry, according to the fashion of french Cookery.\u2014If the dishes in which they are served are large, and the footmen bring small portions of it round, and present them to every guest as with the soup. If the dishes are small, they are presented in succession to the guests each of whom helps himself from the dish as he pleases\u2014Bottles of french table wines, red and white alternatively, and Decanters of Water, are placed on the table between every two persons seated at it, with a tumbler and a Wineglass to each person\u2014But a variety of fine wines, are served round by the Butler, and some of the footmen, between every dish or two that is presented\u2014One glass only of each sort of wine is offered to each guest.\u2014They usually begin with Madeira\u2014to which succeed various french wines; red and white alternately, untill Champaign is presented with the last dish of flesh\u2014Then come Jellies\u2014preserves\u2014fruits\u2014Sweetmeats\u2014and last of all Ice\u2013creams, with a small glass of sweet wine\u2014There are no healths drank,   and no Toasts; and every guest has as little to do with the drinking, as with the eating of another.\u2014Among the Liquors served round are usually English Porter and ale, and frozen punch in champaign glasses.\u2014On rising from table, the footmen behind the chairs, offer tumblers of greenglass filled with water, to every guest to wash his mouth and fingers\u2014the Company return through the antichambers into the Saloon, where they continue standing as before dinner\u2014the Servants hand round Coffee, and afterwards cordials in glasses not much larger than thimbles, after which each guest drops off one by one, without taking leave or being noticed by any person as he retires\u2014At the head of the Stair\u2013case he finds the Chassaures and footmen, who the moment he appears call for his Servants, one of whom comes to him and put on his Shoop and fur\u2013boots; while another goes and orders his Carriage up to the door\u2014there stands the Swiss, and at the moment when the Carriage drives up opens the door\u2014The guest enters his Carriage, and goes home, or wherever his business or his pleasure calls him. I said there was no distinction of Services at the table\u2014But after the soup, untill the last dish of flesh, emphatically called the  Roast, which is always accompanied with a sallad, and followed by the glass of champaign, the Plates in which every thing is presented and the Dishes are of silver Plate\u2014After which the plates are of the most magnificent China, usually of Sevres painted with Portraits, Views\u2014Landscapes, or History\u2013Pieces, no two plates of which are alike\u2014At this period of the repast, the silver plates are taken away from before every guest, and in their stead is substituted a plate of this superb porcellain, with a napkin of more beautiful damask than that first served (which is however not taken away) two dessert knives, a fork a Spoon and a  Paddle all of silver gilt, excepting the blade of one of the knives, which is of steel.\u2014The knife with a silver blade is to pare  or to cut fruit\u2014That with a steel blade to cut preserves or confectionary, or any thing requiring a keener edge than silver\u2014The Paddle (I call it so from its form; I know not its proper name) is to take up the liquid jellies of preserves, or ice\u2013creams, which might  spread themselves over the surface of your plate, and might escape the scoop and thickness of a spoon\u2014The second napkin is merely to wipe your lips and fingers; when you wash them on rising from table; that which you have used at dinner, being supposed less suitable for that purpose. The attention of the servants to the guests at table is so vigilant, that you scarcely ever have occasion to ask for any\u2013thing. The instant that you have emptied  your plate, or that you lay down your knife and fork or spoon, your plate is taken away and a clean one is given you in its stead\u2014If you choose to have your knife fork and spoon changed you lay them, or either of them in the plate\u2014If you lay them aside on the Cloth, they are not taken away\u2014whenever they are, others are immediately given you with the plate\u2014If you have occasion for a fresh supply of bread, the footmen perceive it, at least as soon as you do yourself, and present you a new piece just as you are ready to call for it\u2014If you take two or three glasses of the various kinds of wine that are handed round, the glasses as you empty them are taken away without any hint from you\u2014the name of each kind of wine is mentioned to you by the servant who offers it\u2014If you decline taking any dish or glass offered you, there is no occasion to speak\u2014you only raise your hand & touch with the back of your fore\u2013finger the edge of the plate or of the waiter in which it is presented\u2014The servant understands you and offers the same plate or waiter to the guest seated next you.\u2014As several plates are serving from the same dish, at once in various parts of the table; the whole company is served with it in a very few minutes\u2014The Conversations of each guest are merely with his next neighbours at table and in a low voice that they may all be carried on at once\u2014The voice of a servant is never heard, unless to mention the names of the wines as they are offered\u2014The Ambassador and the Chancellor sometimes have a Band of Music, who occasionally strike up an air or a march at intervals during the dinner\u2014Yesterday however there was none. Ex uno, disce omnes\u2014I give you the discription of an individual for an idea of the genus\u2014All these parade dinners are alike; differing only in some insignificant details\u2014For instance, the Ambassador, who is one of the politest men in the world, never pays any attention to any part of the dinner, more than any one of the guests\u2014The Chancellor usually himself pours out the sweet wine, the last that is served\u2014two kinds of which he has before him\u2014he calls out to each guest by name, asks him which of the two he will have, and according to his choice sends him a glass by a footman\u2014This you will observe is a mark of special attention\u2014but it is troublesome both to the Chancellor and to the guests\u2014The Ambassadors fashion is more of a piece with the whole system\u2014His servants carry round the sweet wines like all the rest\u2014They offer to each guest the choice of two; but in that as in every thing else, the master of the house, can be distinguished from the guests, while at table, only by the seat which he occupies.\u2014Every thing moves like a piece of Clock work\u2014The dishes\u2014the Cookery\u2014the Wines are all of the most exquisite inventions of luxury, and yet there is less of intemperance in fifty such feasts,  than is  in one of our dinners succeeded by a carousal of six hours long; swilling upon a mixture of madeira\u2013wine and brandy. A.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1941", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 29 March 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Thomas Boylston\nSt: Petersburg 29 March 1811.\nAt length after an interval of five months and seven days, since that when your last preceding letter came to hand, I have this morning enjoyed the pleasure of receiving your\u2019s of 24. September\u2014It is more than six months old; but as it is dated two months later than any letter that I had yet received from Quincy, it was as welcome and almost as grateful as if it had come with the speed of a Telegraphic despatch.\nIt was forwarded to me from London by Mr: Farley, who was taken on his passage to France in a vessel of Mr: Gray\u2019s, and carried into England; and like almost all the letters which have reached us from American, has travelled far by Sea and by Land before it could find me. It is still without a number, so that I am not certain but that it leaves others yet outstanding, between it, and its immediate predecessor hitherto received; which bears date the 7th: of May. As however it acknowledges at once the receipt of four letters from me dated from the beginning of February to the last of June, I infer that there is no intermediate letter from you, missing; and thereupon I recur again to the Rules, which I have laid down to myself for corresponding with you, and which I have already recommended for your use in return\u20141. To write at least once in the course of every Month. 2. Not to wait for the knowledge of an opportunity to send, but to have a letter always ready for the opportunity. 3. To return a separate answer to ever letter received.\u2014By a steady and persevering practice upon these principles I am confident that we shall have the pleasure of hearing from each other more frequently & more recently than we have done hitherto.\nI renew my cordial thanks to you for your careful attention to my private concerns, and for the information concerning them contained in your letter\u2014I am glad that you have found it convenient, and warmly hope that it will prove as profitable as you expected to remove into the dwelling at the foot of Penn\u2019s Hill\u2014As to the Repairs, being perfectly satisfied of your Discretion, and that you would incur no expence for them which would not be necessary for your comfort and that of your family, I subscribe in the most entire Confidence to all your arrangements, and shall be pleased in proportion as you make them suitable to your own wishes.\nThe first intimation which I received of your removal and of your purpose to take my two boys into your family was by a letter from your wife to mine which was brought by Mr. Jones and which was received in September\u2014It was a plan perfectly agreeable to us; and concerning which I could not hesitate, on the supposition that it would be agreeable to Mrs. Cranch\u2014I felt myself under such Obligations to her for the kindness and care which she had bestowed upon them in times of our absence on repeated occasions, that I could not think of removing them from her family, unless it were with her own cheerful consent and approbation\u2014My wife\u2019s sentiments were precisely the same; and I wrote accordingly to my mother.\u2014About a Month afterwards, I received your letter of 7. May mentioning more particularly your intentions; and have supposed untill now that the boys would be with you\u2014I can now only say that I approve entirely of your plan, and shall be well satisfied to have you take them; but it must be on condition that Mrs. Cranch shall also be satisfied with the arrangement; and most especially that she shall be assured it is not from any abatement of our gratitude for her kindness, or of our persuasion that they would continue to have every parental affection paid to them under her care. I have in several of my late letters specified many particulars of their education, which I am very desirous should be attended to, and to which no person can so well attend as yourself\u2014The use and management and necessary caution of fire-arms, and dangerous weapons, and the art of swimming in particular\u2014Those are both things attended with so much danger that the very thought of my children\u2019s being exposed to them is painful\u2014But it is in both respects a knowledge so useful and so necessary to preserve from dangers inevitable through life, that I wish to have my boys familiarized to them under the eye of one whose caution will be sharpened with all a father\u2019s anxiety.\nThe French Language, and the hand-writing are also objects of such high importance in my estimation that I must repeat the request that they may on no account be neglected. George had been so slow in learning to write, and in the course of two years had made so very little progress before we came away, that unless incessant attention be paid to him on this Article, I am afraid he will never write a good hand. As to the French, I am perhaps prejudiced a little in favour of it, from the particular advantages which I myself have derived from my own intimate knowledge of it; and which I am sensible have resulted rather from the special incidents of my life, than from any Circumstances generally applicable to the pursuits of Americans\u2014I over-rate it perhaps, as I have sometimes thought my father over-rated the Law; because it has been so special a friend to myself\u2014But so it is\u2014What can we reason but from what we know? An American whose destiny will never lead him out of his Country may I know, get along very well through life, without French, but on the Continent of langua Europe, it is so universally the language of business, as well as of elegance and taste that I am extremely desirous that my children should all possess it.\nI hope you have before this paid he Bill for \u00a3300 Sterling, which more than a year since I drew, upon the Credit, which he Mr: Gray had first furnished me on my leaving the United States\u2014He has in the most obliging manner not only sent me the additional credit, which on my arrival here I had written to request of him, but gave orders to the Captains of all his Vessels which came here last year, to supply me any sum for which I should have occasion from the proceeds of their Cargoes\u2014The very extent, and generosity of this Confidence operated as a warning to me not to abuse it, and I have now reason to hope, that I shall not be under the necessity of drawing upon it, at all\u2014You may at least be assured that I shall not call upon you for any further contribution, and if on the receipt of this the Bill remains unpaid, I wish you to discharge it immediately, with my renewed thanks to Mr: Gray, for the accommodation which I have used, and for those which he has placed at my disposal, but for which I have had no necessary call.\nI certainly approve of your expedient in placing even at private security the surplus of my funds in your hands, rather than insist upon a partial payment of principal on my note to my father, against his inclination\u2014But by the receipt of this I trust you will be able to discharge the whole amount of the Note; and that he will be willing to receive it\u2014You must yourself find out some way of investing it safely for him, which being upon the spot you can surely do with a little attention\u2014But I must intreat you not to place any money of mine upon any private security whatsoever, so long at least as there is a Cent of debt of my own to pay\u2014This injunction I wish you to consider as positive\u2014And if my father and mother continue unwilling to receive the payment of my Notes to them, and you have a balance of mine in your hands, place it in the public funds and not upon private security. If I had not heretofore by a multiplied and dear experience learnt how worthless all private security is to a man separated from it by the Atlantic Ocean, I should have one indication of it in the shivers of Hilliard\u2019s credit, and his incapacity to furnish you so much as the fifty Copies of my own Lectures, which I had purchased, to give as presents to my friends; while he in his ruin was subsisting upon the fruit of my labours.\nThe only stipulation, or rather verbal agreement with Mr. T. Welsh junr: of which I have any recollection, upon the rebuilding of the House in Court Street was, that the Rent should be suspended for the time, while he would be obliged to take an office elsewhere, and that he should be suited in the new Building with an Office, instead of that which he held in the old one\u2014and at least the same Rent. I accordingly stipulated with Messrs: Osgood and Whitney that he should be so accommodated\u2014But I never understood that Mr: Welsh had a thought of asking for an offset of arrears; nor do I see with what propriety he could ask it\u2014That he should not pay for an Apartment while he could not occupy it, was a reasonable condition\u2014That he should have in the new Building, one instead of that which he gave up was also reasonable, and I took care to secure it for him\u2014But if he had claimed an offset of arrears, merely for his consent that I should rebuild the house, I should rather have waited untill the expiration of his term\u2014The trouble of moving and removing his Office-furniture and Books was all the sacrifice that I could desire him to make, and had he asked it I should readily gave paid the expence of that\u2014But I did not and do not expect to pay him for his consent, merely because he might have withheld it. Let him have every fair and just accommodation; and if payment is inconvenient to him, indulge him with time\u2014If you can give him the occasion to pay in the way of his business, I shall be satisfied; but he certainly never hinted to me the idea of an offset of arrears.\nI will write from this place to Mr: Copley in London, requesting him to deliver the Portrait to the order of Mr: Boylston; so that whenever the non-intercourse shall again cease, he may have it by writing for it. But you must also procure from your father an order upon Mr: Copley to deliver it to my disposal, which I think he did once give me, but which I had not then the means of transmitting, and which I have not now at hand\u2014This reminds me of the two Portraits, of my father and mother which that, I know not what to call him, Stewart has so shamefully kept, and which I wish you could get once more out of his hands, as you once rescued them from the Sheriff at Philadelphia.\u2014Among some of my papers which I left with you, is the receipt for painting that of my mother\u2014But I know not whether you can find it.\u2014If you can I recommend to you to bring an action for it against Stewart, and make the Sheriff take it from him again.\nMy paper draws to a close; and as I mean to send this letter over land to Amsterdam, I am too stingy of postage to commence upon another Sheet\u2014But I shall glean the materials for another letter, from your last, which is as fruitful of epistolary matter, as according to one of Shakespear\u2019s lovers, a request for a kiss is of conversation between a Lady and a Gentleman\u2014We have here a new Winter just now setting in\u2014I do not expect to have an opportunity to write you by direct conveyance for more than two Months to come.\u2014The river Neva, at this moment would bear Atlas and his load.\nA.All Well.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1943", "content": "Title: From Madame Colombi to John Quincy Adams, 1 April 1811\nFrom: Colombi, Madame,Colombi, Fran\u00e7ois\nTo: Adams, John Quincy,Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson\nLeurs Excellences Monsieur & Madame de Adams\n1 April 1811\nSont invit\u00e9es de la part de Mme Colombi et de celle de Mr. Fran\u00e7ois Colombi \u00e0 assister aux c\u00e9r\u00e9monies fun\u00e8bres d\u2019Antoine Colombi, leur \u00c9poux et fr\u00e8re, qui auront lieu Lundi 20 Mars, dans l\u2019\u00c9glise Catholique, \u00e0 10 heures du matin.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1944", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, 2 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nMy Dear Sister\nQuincy April 2d 1811\nAn inflamation in one of my Eyes, will prevent me from writing more than to thank you for your last very flattering Letter; and to say that I place it amongst my richest treasures\u2014\nThe president was in Town last Saturday and brought out with him your son. he does not appear to me to be fit for Buisness. he is very lame, and full of Rheumatism yet. he wants a wife to Nurse and tenderly care for him. If he had been where he could have been properly attended to, he would neither have sufferd half as much, or half as long. a sick person wants food frequently. I believe from what I can learn, that he never got even broth more than once a day. his coffe in the morning, & at night. his Land Lady, very seldom Saw him, and believed very little about his complaints; no Soft tender female hand to dress even his Blisters, or wrap him in flannels\u2014in short he was basely used. and every body is exclaming against his remaining in the house any longer. one of the Boarder gave up to him a very warm & comfortable chamber, but his Bed was not attended to no it ought to have been. a Black Man Slept in his Room  when he could not keep himself at all, and was more humane kind and tender than his mistress\u2014I have insisted upon his quiting her house & charged him if he found himself unable to do buisness, to take a carriage & come up immediately to Quincy and he has promised me that he will.\nMy own mind is, that you should come to Boston and see him, if you are able, and bring Abbe with You. you may as well make your visit to us in the Spring as September fall of the year  must not blame him too much for, not writing. he could not bend his  at all, nor hold a pen. he was much worse after I Saw him than before. he owns that he never before knew the true value of kind attentions when he was sick, knew them by the want of them, poor fellow. instead of attending to buisness, he wants nursing, but he would be better able to do buisness if he had kind and attentive care at home\nMrs Smith has procurd him lodgings with a woman whose kindness in sickness is well known and attested, who offers him the choice of any Chamber in her House, and who says she should esteem it an honour to have mr Shaw for her Boarder, a Mrs Hatch and there I hope he will go. it did not cost him less than 15 dollars pr week I do not know but 20 whilst he was sick\u2014he found his own wood, and all his Liquors for any company who call\u2019d to see him, and  I presume the extra attendance of the black Man\u2014and his Doctors Bill. I do not take in his loss in buisness. I repeat it, that if he had a prudent good wife he might live much more comfortable, and I believe with as little \nYou must come and see him. he w. be at the office he says if he can Sit up\u2014he rides there & back, a Journey will be the best thing for him, as soon as the weather grows mild and he can Spair time to go. But I really  do feel much concern for him\nMrs Adams has made several attempts to get to Haverhill, but has repeatedly been dissapointed\u2014I do hope She will Succeed now. if She can I know she will not leave there, without Seeing you.,and she can tell you all about us. poor feeble invalides we are, Sister Cranch and myself\u2014we look old, witherd, feeble, and most good for nothing\u2014parson wilird used to ask, what is an old woman good for? the only answer I could give, was that She would do as a Set off against an old Man\u2014Whilst I live however I hope I shall not be intirely useless to myself or others\u2014so prays your truly / affectionate Sister\nA Ado you think an old cheese or two could be procurd of mrs Little we have just finishd the last, and the President does not know how to do without Some. If you could get them for me, and they could go to mr Harrods to be Sent to mr Forters by the stage. I should be glad to have them and to pay whatever they may charge\u2014I ought to have mentioned to you that mrs Greenleaf had lost her infant 12 weeks old which was never well from the time of its birth\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1945", "content": "Title: From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Smith Adams, 6 April 1811\nFrom: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nMy Dear Sister\u2014\nAtkinson April 6th. 1811.\nI have but just received your very Sisterly Letter, by Mrs Adams, handed me this morning. I immediately sat down & wrote to my Son, urged him to adjust his affairs with his Landlady, pay if possible, & thank her for any extra\u2014kindness he has received\u2014& quit her House as soon as convenient\u2014I certainly know he may obtain respectable Boarding, at good Houses, for a less price\u2014A little unconcern, or cold uninterested manner when we are sick, sinks our Spirits, & chills the vital Blood\u2014How tenderly have I watched over the pillow, & gently, softly dressed the Blisters of my sick Boarders!\u2014you, & I have nothing, no defficency of this kind, to reproach ourselves with, I desire to be thankful for\u2014It grieves me to the Heart, to think how much my Son, must have suffered\u2014There may be many excellent Landladys for the Gay, the robust, & the healthy, but alas! how few affectionate, tender Nurses\u2014Who from genuine principles or Phylanthropy will delight to pour oil, & wine, & bind up the wounds of a Stranger, & the swoln Limbs of their fellow mortals\u2014Yet Heaven be praised, the good Samaritan once lived, & such do still exist, though the number may be but small indeed\u2014And those, with such a heavenly disposition, I hope he will endeavour to seek, & as soon as he can adjust his affairs, place himself under very different Care, from what he has experienced of late\u2014\nMy youngest Girl has a terrible Felon, I have to poltice it several times in a Day\u2014She neither eats, nor has slept for a fortnight much\u2014& it must be opened again\u2014She is patient as possible, but says, Mamm, I cannot help crying\u2014Lydia, has gotten a bad cold & coughs again, but if nothing more happens, I intend to go to Boston, or Abby shall, as soon as I possible can\u2014I intend going to Haverhill this afternoon & see Mrs Adams if I can\u2014I have time to write no more then that I am, with sincere affection, in the bonds of love\u2014your Sister\nElizabeth Peabody\nPS\u2014At Table to day, the question was asked In what does beauty consist? The Ideas of it, vary so in different countries, that it is assumed that there is none but in Opinion\u2014I well know this, that aged people have to pay, whatever they once possessed or did for the protraction of their Lives\u2014At least I think time has taken all, or the little I ever had\u2014Why then does, the learned sagacious Addison say, that Beauty, it consists principally in the mind? For I am not willing, yet to allow that I am less wise, or good, & yet Abby says, \u201cO Mamm,\u201d how you look\u201d\u2014nor will I allow, that my Sister\u2019s Hearts, or minds is less lovely, though their External figures may  decayed\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1946", "content": "Title: From Thomas Boylston Adams to John Quincy Adams, 7 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, Thomas Boylston\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nNo 16 Old6 new Series\nMy Dear Brother.\nQuincy April 7th 1811\nThe departure of the Ship Horace, the same in which you sailed, for St Petersburg, was as sudden as her actual destination was unexpected to me. She has gone again to Russia, within a few days, and I was in the belief that she was bound to France. Mr Gray wrote by her, but I do not know of any other letters for you on board. I had written a short letter to you, but a little time since and I hope it will be the first to inform you of your appointment to return home. Whether any intimation was given you, in a formal manner, of the intentions of the Executive, in order to prepare you for the event, I have never heard. Every body enquires when you are expected home, as much as if I knew all about it, and as if your appointment as Judge, had been known to you, a twelvemonth before it happened. I had prepared for you a long letter, in which my opinion of certain measures of Government, of recent date, was expressed with more freedom than, upon better reflection, I thought expedient for me to communicate to you. I destroyed the labour of some hours in a blaze of the moment, and, considering the dangers of the Seas &ca: I have not repented the act. Most of my Letters, since the commencement of the current year, have related chiefly to your private affairs, but from the mode of conveyance, and the length of their detention after their dates, I apprehend you will be too long deprived of them, for your comfort or my justification. The US. Corvette John Adams, sailed from New Port. RI. the 20th: March, having on board Mr Erving, whose ultimate destination is Denmark, but whose first errand is said to be in Paris. I gave him leave, if he found it practicable to forward some of the numerous letters he bears for you, by land. He is sufficiently aware of the necessity of exertion in this respect, and will probably transmit but few in that way. His appointment to this Mission took place so soon after the meeting of Congress, in the Autumn; that I presume you will hear of it many months before you hear of the Envoy\u2019s arrival, in Europe, and it will naturally occur to you that we should write at large by so good a conveyance.\nYour latest letters for any of our family, have been received within a few days. No 11. to your Mother; I received in Boston on the 4th instant, and as I was necessarily detained in Town until yesterday, having no good chance to send it to Quincy, I ventured to break the seal and examine the contents. It appears by it, that you had then, 5th/17 Decr: received nothing from me of later date than May, at which I am not well pleased, since the frequent expression of your anxiety upon the subject of your affairs in my hands, may not have been relieved for a length of time after that date. My Letter of the 24th September was very full upon the subject, though unaccompanied with a formal account current. I fear it miscarried, by being sent in some circuitous route, of which I am quite ignorant, since my letters have gone from Mr Gray\u2019s Counting Room, when opportunities have offered. If the said letter of September went to France, there is no hope of its safe passage, and you will be yet in a distressing suspense upon the business to which it relates. But I will not distress myself with conjectures. You want to hear the news of this day rather than the surmise of six months ago.\nMy business in Boston, last week was for the purpose of attending the Supreme Court, and bringing your suit with the N Bedford Turnpike to a conclusion. It was continued Nisi from Plymouth County, last October, and until the last week, there has been no Court aptly composed to hear the argument. I have informed you of the course it took at Nisi Prius\u2014A Verdict was found for the Plffs, and the Judge Reported the points made by Defts Counsel to be argued to a full Court. The single questions whether the paper bearing your signature, contained a special promise to pay your proportion of the expence of making the Road & Bridges, and whether the Count in the declaration which was the foundation of the Verdict would support it, were all the Court would hear, and before Mr Whitman had much more than broke ground, the Court decided, (arguendo, among themselves) that the Verdict should be set aside and the Cause stand over for a new trial, and if the Plaintiff moved to amend by his Declaration, it should be upon terms. I was surprised to find that the Court, under our Statute of Jeofails, have gone so far as to admit an Amendment in so late a stage of the Cause; but I find they have in more than one reported case, and therefore we could not induce the Nisi Prius Judge to Non-suit the Plaintiff at the trial. I must presume however to congratulate myself that there is every prospect, but one, of our ultimately prevailing in this contest. I need not mention the glorious uncertainty of the law, as our only dread. You have given a fair trial to your Adversary and have thrown him on his back; should he rally again to the struggle, we cannot cry Craven. Genl: Lazell was present at the defeat; indeed he has been chiefly instrumental in the whole engagement, but even his high rank could not shield him from the catastrophe. His Son-in-Law N Mitchill, wrote his argument and sent it to Boston to be read, which was accordingly done. If the attack is to be renewed it will commence at the adjourned Court for Plymouth County, this Summer, but as I shall not yield an inch of ground, there can be no ultimate decision before your return. This circumstance is a considerable relief to me on various accounts, particularly as it respects your funds.\nI have procured for you a complete set of the US. Coins. Mr Quincy brought them, when he returned from Washington, and our friend S Ewing Esqr: paid Dr. Rush on my account for them. They are so nearly done up in papers that I did not undo any, and I have delivered them to Captain Boit of the Shop Cordelia, which will sail in a few days for St Petersburg, where I hope you well receive them in a good condition.\nBy this time you may think I ought to say something of the Election of State Officers. I think there is no doubt of the re-election of Messrs Gerry & Gray by handsome majority, and many believe in the choice of a majority of Republican Senators. This, if true, is a great stroke, considering the times and the pressure of Commercial restrictions. I have a great deal more to write, but time fails. It would be ungracious in me however to conclude without informing you that I have recently been honoured by the Governor with a Commission of considerable importance, in association with Perez Morton Esqr Atty General and Jonathan Smith Esqr of W Springfield, to go into the County of Lincoln in obedience to an order of the house of Representatives; to enquire into the causes of discontent which have some time since been manifested in some towns of that County, and to make Report, at the next Session of the Genl Court. I expect to set out, if my health will admit, in about a fortnight. The Journey will do me good, if I can but being and proceed; I am sorely afflicted with many grievous complaints.\nApril 8th:\nP.S. Your Boys are well\u2014They are not to live with us, as I have made up my mind; it is best they should remain with their Unckle and Aunt Cranch. I did however acquit myself of an obligation imposed by a regard to your pecuniary interest and in reply to a Letter addressed by my Aunt to my Wife, after the receipt of your Letter to my Mother in which you mention the prospect of your Son\u2019s changing their abode, for the purpose of becoming members of my family, I very fully expose my motives as a justification for having meditated a change. If by the Providence of God it should be our Lot to meet on Earth no more, I appeal to that Letter with great confidence that you will find therein my excuse if not my justification.\nMy Dear Spouse has left me in a temporary state of widowhood by going to Haverhill for a few days. She would join me very cordially in her love to all her friends in Russia, were she present, at this writing, by which I subscribe / our faithful friend & Brother", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1947", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 8 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nNo 9\nmy dear Son\nQuincy April 8th 1811\nYour Letter of december No 6\u2014/17 came Safe to hand yesterday, the last No was 8. So that two others must be upon their way.\nI thank you for your punctuality in writing, and have only to regret, that from july, untill october: I did not write, as there were not any vessels up for the North of Europe, and the impediments were so multiplied as to discourage me, but from that time to the present, Scarcly a Week has elapsed, but either your Father, Brother, or I have written to you as you will find, if mr Erving Who Saild about three weeks Since for denmark arrives Safe, as well as Several of mr Grays vessels; by which we have Sent Letters.\nyour Father received a Letter from you of Novbr 9th, No 5\u2014 in the Month of Feb\u2019ry These two last Letters,\u2014were unexpected Guests but not the less welcome. we have had this Winter the greatest Quantity of Snow that has fallen for many years. it has had a very gradual Thaw, without any great Rain, So that we have not Sustaind any injury as was apprehended\nThe Month of March has been very pleasent, and the Season very healthy. I have as usual been confined during great part of Jan\u2019ry and Feb\u2019y and Some part of the time very Sick. my Constitution bends to the blast, and rises again. my Spirits are good altho the flesh is weak, but old Age is a disease which time does not cure, and, I must Say, I would not live alway if I could..\nIt is not necessary for me here to repeat, the melancholy events which have taken place amongst our connexions, as many Letters from Washington, and Quincy have already related them to you, and those of a pleasing and agreable nature, you will receive nearly at the Same time, Such I call the prospect of your return to your Native Country, and Event which to me is very gratefull, as the Seat to which you are appointed, is honorable and respectable.. I hope it will meet with your approbation, and acceptance. your Friends are gratified with it, one of whom expressess herself in this manner\n\u201cThe appointment of mr Adams as the Successor of my blessed Husband gave me great Joy. I know not that Being I Should have prefered\u201d even those whose political Sentiments differ from Yours, express a confidence and Satisfaction which is a homage to virtue.\nThe Mission to Russia is looked upon with a different aspect now, to what it was when you first engaged in it and altho you must expect that your Services will be grudgeingly acknowledged yet they are Seen and felt, by those who Silently enjoy the Sweet fruits of them.\nIt will be attended with Some difficulty, to find a proper Successor. Since the rising of congress, it has been reported that mr Smith, the Secretary of State was appointed by the President to Russia, an other report Says that he has resignd his office, but declines going to Russia these are Newspaper reports; What real foundation there is for them, I cannot determine.\nThere is much murmur, and ill will, as you may readily Suppose, by the Renewal of the Nonintercourse with Great Britain. this is made a political Engine against the Government, and all those who support it every method is tried to excite an open opposition to it. terror, Jealousy and falshood are all in a way to allarm the ignorant, and to influence our Election for Gov\u2019r\nMr W Phillips is united with mr Gore. you know how extensive \u201cconnection he has in Boston, and there they carried the vote. a Majority of three hundred\u201d more this year than the last against mr Gerry\u2014my own opinion is that mr Gerry will be chosen\u2014but with a less Majority than the last year\nTo aid the importent work of a junto Election the old Champion of British Rights, has assumed the pen, and addrest the good people of the united States, in a Series of Letters, in which he attacks the administration of Adams, Jefferson and Madison. he throws about arrows fire Brands and darts, with the venom of the Serpent, and dips his pen in the gall of the Asp\u2014The Major was affraid to publish the Letters previous to the Election, least it Should ruin their cause, the Sober federalists Condemn him, Whilst the Republicans are gratified that he has Shown his teeth. Timothy must be craked, for he asserts things without foundation, and absolutely false to my certain knowledge. it would engrose too much of my paper to detail them. Dr Holten once told him, that he would not be happy in heaven if he found his Superiour there.\nHis ReElection as Senator depends upon the present Election of Govenour\u2014he professes to have no Anger, no resentment, but writes from pure Love to the people, who are the most duped and deceived people in the world with respect to their Rulers\u2014every line discovers the fretted porcupine.\nyour Sons are both well. George grows fast John is Small of his Age. They are Still with their Uncle Cranch. in Some Letter which I wrote you, I Said, there I hoped they would remain, without adding any reason for the wish; which I ought to have done\u2014it did not arise from any apprehension that they would not be equally kindly and tenderly treated, if they were removed, for otherways, my apprehension arose, least they would be too much indulged. George who is a fine Boy, altho as I have mentiond rather positive will yeald to the decicive Authority of his Aunt. her old Age and the respect which the other Children pay to her orders, are an example to him, and rason, and reflection, always bring him to an acknowledgment when he has done wrong\u2014\nyour Brother is necessarily So much absent from home, that he could not attend to them, as mr Cranch does who is always at home, and She Seldom absent even a day. the distance from School was an other objection\u2014to his Aunt Cranch. George Spends many of his Evenings in reading loud to her\u2014where there are three young Children, and a fourth Soon expected it would be impossible to pay that attention Which is so necessary at Georges Age John is easy-managed without any difficulty, and a very good Child\u2014I mean no disparagement to Mrs A, who is a prudent, industerous exelent wife and Mother making Small means, appear handsome, who is every thing to him which a good wife ought to be\u2014adieu my dear Son. Remember me kindly to my daughter, her sister, and / William whose family are well. ever Your Affectionate Mother\nAbigail Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1948", "content": "Title: From John Adams to John Quincy Adams, 8 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nMy dear Son\nQuincy April 8. 1811\nThe Public Mind Seems decided that Gerry and Gray are elected, and a Majority of Senators their Friends.\nOur Friend P. will not then be So Successful as he was when he brought G. in and turned you out.\nYou are destined to be a Judge, and I am glad of it because it affords me a Chance of enjoying a Portion of your Society at least once a Month or two. And because it takes you out of The Tourbilion of Politicks.\nCan you purchase for me and bring home with you Manilius\u2019s Astronomicon? Let me give you an Extract of a Letter from Van der Kemp of 28th March 1811.\n\u201cI am more and more convinced that \u201cEripuit C\u0153lo Fulmen\u201d &c is a downright Plagiarism. Your question who is the Franklin in Manilius\u201d? removes every doubt. Manilius gives a Description of the Progress of the human Mind. How it went on gradually from  Earth to Heaven, till it explained Meteors &c I Submit the whole Passage to your decision\nNec prius imposuit rebus, finemque manumque Quam C\u0153lum ascendit, Ratio, cepitque profundis Naturam rerum causis, viditque quod Usquam est, Nubila cur quanto quaterentur pulsa fragore;Hibern\u00e2, \u0153stivea, nix grandine mollior essetArderent terr\u00e6, Solidusque tremesceret orbis,Cur imbres ruerent, ventos qu\u00e6 causa moveret,Pervidit; solvitque aniumis miracula rerum:Eripuitque Jovi fulmen, vires que tonandiEt Sonitum ventis: concessit nubibus ignem.\nI wonder the democratical Divines and Philosophers have not united with The In Atheists and all other Infidels in Europe to apply Some of these Lines to Tom Paines Age of Reason and other enlightened Writings, to Joel Barlows Advice to the priviledged orders, and good Dr Stiles\u2019s learned and prophetic Lives of the Judges Goff and Hayley.\nBut it Seems Manilius did not foresee the progress of Reason in making Such discoveries in Religion and Government.\nYour Sons are well and good. George was here Yesterday and is delighted with his Virgil: intends to get into Cicero before Pa, comes home. John went from Us this morning to school. He reads charmingly and writes pretily.\nOur Friends are all as well as Usual.\nMy Love to Louisa, William, Kitty and Charles and all others who know or care for your affectionate \nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1950", "content": "Title: From John Adams to John Quincy Adams, 10 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nMy dear Son\nQuincy April 10. 1811\nYesterday Mr Pope of The House of Boardman and Pope, No. 37. India Wharf, was so obliging as to call upon Us to let Us know that they had a Ship to depart for St Petersbourg on Fryday next the 12th. The Ship Cordelia Captain Boit: and that they were desirous of taking any Letters from Us. Since then I have heard that Mr.  Jordan is going in her, but he has not been so complaisant as to Let us know it.\nConcordi\u00e2 res parv\u00e6 crescunt: discordi\u00e2 maxima dilabuntur. Jefferson, Hamilton, Randolph Knox &c were always in dissention in Washingtons time. You know what happened in the time of his successor: not so much dissentions among themselves, and as Contradictions to their Master. We have formidable Amounts, now of Controversies in the Cabinet. Smith out, Monroe in; Eustis going out, the Lord knows what Clintonian or Livingstonian coming in. Duane Seriatim attacking Gallatin and pleading the Cause of Wilkinson. &c &c &c\nIt is agreed on all Sides that Gerry and Gray are chosen and probably a Majority of senators of their Confidence. All is yet uncertainty from Europe. A special session of Congress is expected by many.\nIn this state of Things I think you cannot hesitate to accept a Seat on the Bench. I do devoutly pray that you may not refuse it. How corrupt and malicious sower might be the motives of some who voted for it, I am sure it is a smile of Providence upon you and yours.\nDuane has published Franklins Secret Journal in France, in four Volumes of his Works. I have not seen them. I have already sent to the Printers matter enough for Six or Eight or Twelve Months to come and have but just arrived at Paris to meet the Ministers of Peace. My famous Journal with all its follies on its  head must now come out! and to the discussions of this day must be added the dissentions of 30 years ago. So be it.\nI believe it will be found that The President of the United States must have some controul over his Ministers Secretaries & heads of departments.\nReason, notwithstanding the Prophecy of Manilius has not yet made Progress enough to subdue the formidable Host of Passions Prejudices and Interests, his Enemies to preserve Harmony and pure undeviating public Virtue; much less as a perfect conformity of Understanding among Mankind.\nLove as Usual. All well. Uncle Cranch swallowed up in Raptures with a new Book called Bible News. A new Sect of Christians to be called Worcesterians rising up. Poor human Nature: Disputes in Religion and dissentions in Politicks, without End.\nThe Boys well Yesterday. good Boys.\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1952", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Caroline Amelia Smith De Windt, 18 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: De Windt, Caroline Amelia Smith\nMy dear Caroline.\nQuincy April 18. 1811.\nI write you a few lines just to say that I send your mother a century Sermon, preached in this town when your Grandfather was about four years old. He says he recollects the day\u2014as his mother carried him to meeting and pointed out to him the old lady Penniman mentioned in the Sermon said to be near an hundred years old\u2014The Sermon had got out of print\u2014A number of persons who wished to preserve it more as an ancient Record than for any particular merit there is in it, had it reprinted\u2014and as many of my ancestors as well as those if your grandfather are named in it I thought your mother would like to have one to preserve. You will see by these records that this town was originally a part of Boston\u2014that it was not separated until the year 1634. The only part of the town which retains the name of Mount Wollaston was owned by my Grandfather Col. John Quincy and after the death of my Uncle Norton Quincy the Farm was purchased by your Grandfather and is now in his possession.\nThe reverend Moses Fisk who was ordained here in 1672 married my Grandfather Quincy\u2019s Mother and Madam Marsh the Mother of Mrs Josiah Quincey formerly Ann Marsh was a daughter of the Reverend Mr Fisk. The first Deacon of the Church Mr Samuel Bass married an Alden\u2014A daughter of their\u2019s married an Adams the great grandfather of your Grandfather now living. Madam Mary Norton mentioned as having presented a velvet cushion to the church was my Great-Grandmother by the Mother\u2019s side. Hon. Edmund Quincy who went as Agent to Great Britain and died there with the small pox was Uncle to my grandfather Quincy.\nI have written this to you because it is a subject which young people scarcely ever think of but as they advance in years they become more inquisitive about their ancestors. As this country was settled by a religious and learned people although somewhat bigotted we can trace our Ancestors much easier than those people who are settled by conquest\u2014and we can trace them to pure unadulterated English blood.\nWith my love to you father and Mother / I am, my dear child, / Your affectionate Grandmother\nAbigail Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1953", "content": "Title: From William Eustis to Abigail Smith Adams, 22 April 1811\nFrom: Eustis, William\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nMadam,\nWashington April 22nd. 1811.\nIt is among the instances of good fortune which are now & then permitted to accompany the discharge of a public duty, that franking a Letter from the State Department in the absence of the Secretary has brought me to your recallection and attention. Judge Adams as I am informed has been requested to return to the United States as soon as circumstances will admit: and as no public vessel has sailed or will probably sail within a short time for the baltic, he will select a merchant vessel in which to make the voyage. Captn Bainbridge in a very fine ship I think from Baltimore has been mentioned\u2014but this will depend on the time of her sailing from Russia with perhaps other circumstances. With great respect to President Adams & the family / I am Madam, your obliged / and humble Servt.\nW. Eustis", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1954", "content": "Title: From John Adams to John Quincy Adams, 23 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nMy dear Son\nHead Quarters of The Lieutenant Governor in Boston April 23 1811\nYour Mother and your Father have dined here with great Pleasure this day, and I have borrowed a Pen to write you one Line by a Vessel to Sail in a day or two, barely to Say we are all well. George and John are very well and very attentive to their Studies.\nThe Corporation for an Hospital have met to day, and all Parties very cordial and unanimous.\nI can add no more, only that Mr Gerry and Mr Gray and their Families are well and happy\nOur News from France and England afford us no great comfort and but little hope.\nLet me introduce to you The Captain of the Vessel that carries this who is recommended to me as a very worthy Man.\nMy Love to Louisa and Kitty, to Mr Smith, Mr Everet and all others who know any thing of me, especially to Master Charles. Oh how We all long to grasp the dear Boy in our Arms. Your / Mother joins with your Father\nJ. A.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1955", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 24 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nmy dear Son\nQuincy April 24th 1811\nyour Letter No 10 has found its way in four Months after its Date. It is as you observe, three and four Months that Letters are upon their passage before they reach the place of their destination. I have thought it very fortunate, with all the chances they run, that So many of them reach us in perfect order, not of time, but condition\nyour No 4 I give up as wholy lost, but of the late Numbers, 9 only is missing. 11 I have received. I dinned yesterday in Town, at the Leiut. Govenours, where I like much to go, because I can take a dinner with them at any time, quite in the family way, and indulge ourselves in our favorite topick, that of our Dear absent Children.\nyou have by your last Letter almost reconciled me to the Russian climate. I had conceived from the Weathers being so much colder than ours, and the winter so much longer, that the Snow Storms must be as much more voilent, as the weather was colder. the braking up of your winters must be bad, and the Streets dangerous to pass.\nThe little day light, and sunshine, would be an insurmountable obstacle to me against the climate, for most dearly do I love the Glorious Luminary. you will recollect the Country with pleasure, having been So cordially received by his Imperial Majesty, and distinguishd by his personal Regard.\nI am desirious of learning how you realish your Recall, and the office to which you are designated?\nI am for fixing your Residence with us at Quincy, where I hope to the paternal Mansion, you and your family will come, upon your first arrival. Mrs Richard Beals House is to be Sold soon. Mr Braidly who married her Sister, and who purchased the house, having ly dyed. Mrs Blacks House and Gardens will be to Let an other year\nI hope Mrs Adams will be reconciled to living in Quincy the few remaining years of the Lives of your Parents.\nyou will be obliged to pass Some part of your time at washington, when no doubt it will be agreable to mrs Adams to accompany you, and to visit her Friends\nMy Imagination has dwelt with Delight on the prospect, by I rejoice with trembling, knowing how easily and how Suddenly all may be blasted.I desire to Submit all events to that overruling Providence, who has carried you out, and returned you heretofore in Safety, and whose protecting Arm is Still over you for good, and who if Seen best, will, will permit us again to meet.\nIt with pain I mention to you the declining health of your valuable Friend, and Respected Pastor, the Rev\u2019d mr Emerson, who is thought to be in the last Stage of a decline, and who is expected to live but a few Days more. at the Same time I must inform you that judge Dana, is despaired of, if now living, from three Paralytic Strokes.\nMr Gerry and Gray are Reelected by a larger Majority than the last year, notwithstanding the Efforts made to remove them, by the Boston Caucus, who \u201cdeclare, who resolve, that Such an unjust, oppressive and tyrannical act,\u201d meaning the Non intercourse If persisted in, must and will be resisted\u201d\nyet not all their Resolves, or inflamitory publications, has produced the least opposition to the Law it has been peacably acquiesced in, altho bearing hard upon the merchants\nI inclose you one Number addrest to mr otis upon this occasion. It needs no comments of mine\nyour Brother Sits of tomorrow if able upon an excursion to the Eastward. I hope it will Serve his health he is appointed one of three Commissoners to Settle the disputes between the Landholders in the County of Lincoln. I am very anxious for his Health. he has many very dissagreable complaints which allarm me. he returnd last Evening from Dedham court, So unwell that I fear he will not be able to go So Soon as required.\npresent me affectionatly to Mrs Adams, with Love to William and Charles. your Dear Boys are both well. no School to day, So George is with Us, as we like to have him and he thinks It a treat to come.\nI am my dear Son / most affectionatly / yours\u2014\nA", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1956", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 24 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nSt: Petersburg 12/24 April 1811.\nThe Russian People pass their lives in a continual and alternate succession of feasting and fasting. Every individual whether of high or low degree celebrates two days in every year; one for his birth and the other for his baptism, which is called his name day, and is kept on the day marked in the Calendar, as devoted to the Saint of the same name; for it is a religious principle that every body must be named after some Saint, and a rule of the Greek Church never to give more than one Christian name to the same person\u2014The days of public solemnity are all of a religious character, and all annually return\u2014The ecclesiastical year commences at Christmas, which is celebrated the 25th: of December\u2014From this day the people are allowed to eat flesh untill eight weeks before Easter; that is for a time of varying duration, Easter being in the Greek as well as in the Latin Church a moveable feast\u2014It is the Sunday following the full moon which happens on or next after the twenty-first day of March\u2014Christmas day and two or three after it are Holidays during which the People amuse themselves with various sports, and drive in procession sleighs, round a Corner of the Winter Palace in this City\u2014For a week before Christmas there is a market of frozen meat brought from distant parts of the Empire, and from which the lower classes of People in St: Petersburg stock themselves with their whole Winter\u2019s provision of fresh meat\u2014The bullocks, sheep and Swine are all brought in sledges and without being cut up into quarters\u2014Most of the Marketmen think it a good piece of wit, or at least an expedient to attract notice to set them upon their legs, and it is a curious show for a stranger to walk through a succession of fleeced and embowelled flocks and herds, and droves, amounting to many thousands.\nThe Russian Calendars all inform the people how long they may eat meat\u2014Thus in the almanacs of the present year it is announced that meat may be eaten 6 weeks and one day\u2014That is from and including Christmas day to the 5th: of February\u2014Then began what they call the Butter-week; that is a sort of ambiguous week, half fast and half feast, during which they must renounce flesh, but may eat fish, and butter, (from which it has its name) and when the Christmas sports, the races and Ice hills upon the river, and the processions of sleighs before the Imperial Palace are resumed with double ardour\u2014The Butter-week is extended to the Sunday which succeeds it, and from that day follow seven weeks of rigorous lent, called by the Greek Church the great lent, during which according to the severity of the Church rules they should eat absolutely nothing but bread and salt.\u2014Something of this rigour is however abated in practice in the interval between the first and last day of these seven weeks, and among the highest class of the nobility there are persons not extremely scrupulous about observing the fast at-all.\u2014This laxity however affects their reputation in the popular opinion, and there are few even of the highest ranks, but choose to be thought regular in their practice\u2014The Imperial family are punctilious in setting the example\u2014During the last year\u2019s lent the Empress-Mother, and her unmarried daughter the Grand-Duchess Ann, paid a visit to the Grand-Duchess Catherine, a Sister of the Emperor\u2019s, who is married to a Prince of Oldenburg, and usually resides at Twer, a City between this place and Moscow\u2014On their way they pass\u2019d through the City of Novogorod the antient metropolis of Russia\u2014They were received and entertained by the magistrates of that place, in the most distinguished manner. That is to say, the magistrates met them at the gates of the City, accompanied them to Church where they attended the divine service, and afterwards presented them\u2014bread and salt.\u2014All which was publicly announced in the official Court Gazette\u2014During the whole seven weeks of Lent, all the Theatres are closed\u2014The only species of public amusements, that are allowed, are Concerts and Oratorio\u2019s\u2014No entertainments are given, and the families which profess to be scrupulous in their duties neither pay nor receive visits\u2014There are religious solemnities three or four times a week throughout Lent, and in the last or Passion-week every day\u2014On the Thursday of Passion-week, the Metropolitan of St: Petersburg the highest ecclesiastical parsonage of the Empire washes the feet of twelve poor persons, in commemoration of the same act, performed by our Saviour to his Apostles the day before his crucifixion.\u2014The next day, that is on Good-Friday, there are in the Churches religious ceremonies specially allusive to the crucifixion, and a regular funeral procession to a place within each church where a scenical representation of the holy sepulchre is exhibited, and remains, lighted with lamps untill Easter day\u2014I saw this scene on the last Good-Friday, at the Roman Catholic Church in this City\u2014It was in a chapel adjoining the great altar. In the middle of the Chapel was a transparent tomb within which was the image of a corpse, large as a man\u2019s body. In the background was a view of Calvary with three Crucifixes standing and at a distance the temple of Jerusalem\u2014At the foot of the tomb were the figures of two women, the Virgin Mary in the attitude of fainting, and Mary Magdalen: at the head were the images of two Angels, one of them bearing a canvass unrolled with the head of John the Baptist painted on it and in front of each end of the tomb, at a small distance from the figure of a soldier in the antient Roman armour to represent the guard mentioned in the gospels.\u2014This and similar exhibitions in all the Greek Churches are preparatory to the solemnities of Easter which celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and which are the most remarkable of all\u2014They begin precisely at Midnight by a religious ceremony which lasts between three and four hours\u2014The signal for their Commencement in all the Churches of this City, is a Cannon fired from the fortress.\u2014I attended this year the celebration at the chapel in the Imperial Palace, where the foreign Ministers are not on this occasion invited, but where they are admitted and have a good stand secured to them as Spectators, if any of them chuse to be present\u2014I say a good stand, because it is one of the peculiarities of the Greek Church, that all their religious acts are performed standing\u2014The only exceptions are occasional kneeling, and prostrations; but no person is ever allowed to sit\u2014there is neither chair nor bench, nor seat of any kind in the Church. Between eleven and twelve at Night of Saturday, the day preceding Easter, I went to the Palace in full dress as to Court, and just before the Ceremony began was introduced into the Chapel, and placed at a station the most advantageous for witnessing all that was to take place.\u2014Precisely at Midnight the Cannon sounded from the fortress, and the Emperor entered the Chapel. He was accompanied by his Mother, and followed by two of his brothers, one Sister, and all his Court.\u2014He took his stand within the Chancel on the right hand; and his Mother stood at his left\u2014The princes and princess stood without the Chancel surrounded by the crowd of Ministers, Generals and Courtiers which filled the Chapel\u2014Eight or ten officiating Priests stood in a line before the Sanctuary, the doors of which on this occasion alone are open\u2014and a Quire of Male singers was stationed behind a railing on either side of them\u2014The singers are partly men grown and partly children; but the Greek Church allows no instrumental music, and no female voices.\u2014Some of the attendants in waiting, presented immediately to the Emperor and Empress Mother, and then to every other person in the chapel a small lighted wax taper, which every person took and held in hand during a part of the Ceremony\u2014Then the Quire of Singers commenced chanting a hymn, and marched out in procession, followed by the Priests, and the Emperor and Imperial family, walking two by two, and every one with the lighted taper in the hand\u2014They went out of the Chapel, and performed three times the round of three or four halls adjoining the Chapel, into which they then returned in the same order & resumed their respective Stations\u2014At the ordinary Churches this procession marches out into the Church-yard, or Street, and thrice round the building itself. It was followed at the Chapel by what I believe was a Mass; for my total ignorance of the language in which the solemnities are performed prevents me from understanding any thing that is said or sung\u2014At the close of it however, seven of the Priests ranged themselves in a line, each of them having a holy relic in his hand\u2014The Emperor went up and kiss\u2019d the relics and afterwards embraced the Priests themselves\u2014The Empress mother and the other members of the Imperial family followed in succession and went through the same process, excepting that the Priests instead of being embraced by the Ladies, kiss\u2019d their hands.\u2014This however is a recent innovation, as the antient rule was that the women as well as the men should always on this occasion salute one another with a holy kiss.\u2014And the ceremony being considered as emblematical of the primitive equality of all Christian believers, and of the purity of Christian innocence, I find many persons here and of various ranks in Society who are by no means edified at the substitution of hand-kissing, for the good old smack upon the cheek and lips, which they boast of as having always been given at Easter, by the Empress Elizabeth, with indiscriminating favour, alike to men and women. The kissing is not confined to the Priest-hood\u2014Every individual in the chapel (not including strangers) was understood to have the privilege of going up and embracing the Emperor, and so many of them exercised it, that for a full hour he was employed in bestowing this mark of kindness upon everyone who chose to approach him\u2014At the same time in every part of the chapel each individual was exchanging embraces with all the others around him, and in the course of the hour, I was witness to a multitude of kisses which it seemed to me would have satiated the greediness of Joannes Secundus\u2014After this operation was over a new religious ceremony began, the most remarkable part of which was the reading of the four gospels\u2014There are four of the Priests, standing at desks, each one with his face towards one of the Cardinal points, who read in alternate succession, and by three verses at a time, a chapter from each of the four gospels, beginning with the first Chapter of St John\u2014This is meant to commemorate, and mark the fulfillment of the Saviour\u2019s injunction to his disciples to preach the gospel to all the Nations of the Earth\u2014It concluded by the Principal Priest\u2019s taking the Communion; but without administering it to any other person. We came home between three and four in the Morning.\u2014This was the mere introduction to the Easter Holidays\u2014I shall give you an account of them in another letter\u2014The time draws near when I hope to have opportunities of writing to you directly\u2014The lock of ice upon the Neva river was last-night broken open.\u2014We are all Well.\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1957", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 28 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson\nmy Dear Daughter\nQuincy April 28th 1811\nScarcly a week has past, for these two Months in which I have not written either to my Son, or to you, but our Letters are not only committed to the Chance, of winds and waves, which may Scatter them like the leaves of the Sibyls, but they have many other hazards to run, through the Dens of Cyclopes, and the fangs of the Harpies.\nI write this to Send you by the Ship Hugh Johnston, Captain William Johnston Master, belonging to the House of Loring & Curtis American Merchants, belonging to Boston, and with whom Price Greenleaf, the Son of mr Thomas Greenleaf of Quincy, and Brother of Thomas Greenleaf junr, well known to you, Served his time.\nThey have requested to take Letters to the American Minister at Petersburgh, knowing that in case of Capture, they might be considerd as Some Evidence of their perfect Neutrality\nother Merchants have made Similar applications having been informd, that Letters from the Family, had been the means of the clearing of more than one vessel. I wish the fair and honest Merchant to be Secure; and every imposture detected, and punished.\nI received a Letter from your good Mother this week, dated April 16th from Baltimore, where She had been to visit Mrs Buchanna whom She writes me, has a fine Son, as mrs Boyed had, before she left washington.\nMrs Pope continues at washington through the Summer as a Session of Congress is not improbable. Adelade is better in health. mr Hellen, very feeble, and infirm\nYour Brother left them last week for new orleans\nall this you might learn from your own Family but the chances are So much against the Security of vessels, that it will be no injury to repeat the Same thing\nyour dear Sons, are well, and good Boys. George grows fast. John has not yet taken a start. Mrs Cranch has a great charge having taken the three Daughters left by mrs Norten and one Son, which with a Son of mrs Greenleafs and your two Boys, make up a Group of young ones the eldest of the whole, is but 12 years old, yet she gets on with great care method and regularity.\nMrs T B A\u2014expects to be confined in June. her Little ones are now, all Sick at once, with what the dr calls a Catarrhous fever, and to add to our anxiety, her Husband was necessitated to leave them having been appointed one of three commissoners to go to the Eastern Country to adjust claims of Lands. he has been much out of health, ever Since last Spring I had hoped a journey might be of Service to him, if he could have left home with a mind at ease. I Still hope he may be benifited, but he has many very dissagreable complaints.\nMy anxiety is great also for my dear and only daughter I have not mentiond it before, I know that It would distress william\u2014She is apprehensive of a cancer in her Breast. I have besought her to come on to Boston and take advise, and I have consulted dr Welch, and Holbrook. they have advised as well as they could without Seeing her, but wish her to come here I cannot yet prevail upon her. She thinks that She cannot leave home without the Col. and that he cannot come, but the real Truth is, I believe, She thinks the Physicians would urge the knife, which she says, the very thoughts of would be Death to her\nHeaven knows what is proper for our trials in this Life. I pray that I may be resignd, and Submissive, what ever I may be calld to endure. heitherto, I may Say; Goodness and mercy have followed me.\nTomorrow Your Father has the Melancholy office of pall holder to the Remains of his much esteemed Friend and companion through many trials, Judge Dana. he was Seizd Suddenly with a paralitick Stroke about a week Since, which in a few days terminated his Life\nI know my dear Son will mourn the Death of his Friend and Preceptor with whom he first trod the Russian territory, more than near thirty years ago, and with whom he was intimatly connected, and for whose memory he will always preserve a high respect and Esteem. alass I fear I Shall Soon have to add to the Melancholy List, his Worthy Pastor, Mr Emerson\u2014whose case is thought incureable\u2014your Father and I are both well at present. at our Age, we cannot promise ourselves length of years. that it may please heaven to prolong them, in vigor, untill we may hail your return to America, is the wish nearest the heart, / of your truly affectionate / Mother\nAbigail AdamsMy best Love to my Son to whom I wrote last week. to your Sister, to william and Charles a kind remembrance\u2014our last Letters were dated in December which we have received from you. your Mother mentions that She has received Letters of the same date. I coverd two Letters for William from his Father and Mother last week, which were committed to the Leiut Govenour\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1958", "content": "Title: From John Adams to John Quincy Adams, 28 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nMy dear Son\nQuincy April 28. 1811\nThis Line will go by the Ship Hugh Johnston William Johnston Master bound for St. Petersbourg. She belongs to the House of Loring and Curtis and is consigned to Mr Joseph Austin, all Citizens of Boston: So that I presume if Neutral Ships Neutral owners Neutral Cargoes and Neutral Consignees can in any case Sail Securely, this Letter will reach you with safety.\nI have Mementos enough. Fryday brought me a Summon to the Funeral of the late Chief Justice Dana and Saturday from Judge Sewall of York an account of the Death and sepulture of my Classmate Dr Hemenway of Wells.\nYesterday I visited the Botanical Garden and dined with The Trustees and Visitors at President Kirklands in Cambridge. The Garden is a grand and beautiful object. A new and handsome house for the Professor an Admirable Green house and hot House and a Garden in a train of fine Cultivation, well formed on every Side present objects very agreable and much to the Credit of our young Country.\nWe are all well\u2014as your Sons are well and behave well and make handsome Proficiency in their Studies.\nYour Brother is gone to Wiscasset with The Attorney General and Mr John Smith of Springfield, on a Commission to Settle disputes between Claimants to Land.\nOur Governors are chosen by Majorities larger than last year, The Senate is with them 21 to 19.\nNothing certainly to be concluded as yet from any Intelligence from France or England.\nThis whole Nation expects and desires to See you on the Bench with a Unanimity that you must respect. Every day brings fresh Proofs of this that cannot be contradicted, disputed or evaded. And with the Nation al Voire your Mother, and all your other Relations / cordially unite your affectionate / Father\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1959", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 29 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Thomas Boylston\nSt: Petersburg 29. April 1811.\nI am informed that a vessel belong to Mr: W. R. Gray, called the Washington, which sailed from Boston the 20th. or 28th: of February last has arrived at Baltic-Port, not more than two hundred miles distant from this place, and is expected at Cronstadt as soon as the Navigation of the gulph will be entirely clear\u2014We had heard a week or ten days since the arrival of this vessel at Elseneur, and have all been from that time on the tiptoe of expectation for letters from our friends at Quincy; which we think it impossible but that she must have on board\u2014The river Neva pass\u2019d from the solid to the fluid state six days ago, but the Ice from Lake Ladoga has yet to float down; which usually happens from ten days to a fortnight after the breaking up of the Ice at the City\u2014Untill that happens the gulph is not considered as navigable; so that we have yet about a fortnight to look forward for the arrival of the Washington at Cronstadt.\nIn the mean time having an opportunity to write by two of our Countrymen who are going to Gothenburg, and thence directly or indirectly to the United States, I shall not suffer it to escape me, and in addition to all the rules for improving the speed and frequency of our Correspondence which I have adopted and recommended to you before, I now add that of writing a few lines at the latest possible hour before the departure of the person by whom the letter is to go\u2014I cannot indeed promise always to practice upon this rule with you; because I have a public Correspondence to which my duty requires that on every occasion my first attention should be paid\u2014Neither would I be understood to exact it very rigorously of you in return; because it might make it necessary for you to be more constantly and severely upon the alert than the importance of the object may require\u2014But as a rule to be born in mind, and practiced upon whenever it may be not inconvenient, I think it will contribute to the result at which I aim.\nAs promotive to the same end, I send you a list of all the letters that I have received from you since I sailed from Charlestown, marking their dates, the days of their reception, and the time intervening between the two periods\u2014By this you will perceive that the average of time between the date and reception, of the seven letters received is five months\u2014To this I add a list of the letters which I have written to you\u2014From which you will ascertain whether you have received them all, and if you marked the several dates of their reception you can draw a similar average of the time that they were upon their passage\u2014Since the adoption of the rules, I find that I have written much more frequently than before\u2014Time slides away so insensibly that I should scarcely have imagined, had I not brought this list before my eyes that from June to September last and from October to February I had not written to you\u2014I did indeed in the intervals write several times to my Mother, so that since last July I think you can scarcely ever have been a full month without hearing from us.\nBesides the motive of quickening the circulation of our correspondence, I have another reason for entering into these minutiae\u2014As this Country is absolutely locked up against all intercourse by sea upwards of seven months of every year, and as one of my public duties is to give information as frequent and as recent as I can, I have been naturally put upon the search for expedients to transmit letters and despatches\u2014The political state of Europe is continually multiplying and varying obstacles to the communication, in addition to those of Nature; and I would willingly persuade our Government if I could that their Communications with their public agents in Europe ought to be more active and expeditious than I have ever known them; and as this unquestionably of all Europe the spot with which the difficulties of Communication are the greatest, I have been constantly upon the watch for means to remove them as much as possible.\nYour letter of 24. September is yet the last which I have received; and from my dear Mother I have none later than 25. July. As the world of waters is again open before us I hope we shall now hear from you very often during the navigating Season. At least I have no doubt but we shall have vessels from the United States, arriving here in swarms, if the English, the French, the Danes and Swedes will let them come\u2014Indeed they might dispense with the permission of all these Nations except the first; but without their leave none will reach a Russian Port.\u2014The trade however according to all appearance will be good for Nothing, and much more probably a source of loss than of profit\u2014First because it will be, as it already is overstocked; and secondly because it will ere long labour under the double burthen of highly aggravated duties and of English fellow-customers, in competition\u2014They hitherto have been excluded; but as an immediate War between France and Russia is considered as unavoidable, the Peace between Russia and Great Britain will follow of course\u2014I can hardly say this to you now without indiscretion, because to this day there has been no public manifestation of the slightest misunderstanding between the Cabinets of the Tuileries and of St: Petersburg\u2014But you know the fashion of modern War is to strike before they speak, and it is highly probable that you will hear of actual hostilities between the Russian and French armies, before you receive this Letter.\u2014The Condition of the Ports on the Baltic and Gulf of Finland will then depend upon the Fortunes of the Campaign\u2014On this subject I do not think it prudent to say more at present.\nWe are in hourly expectation of hearing the arrival of Mr: Livingston as Minister in France, and of Mr: Irving, in the same capacity at Copenhagen. Neither of those Gentlemen will find his Mission a bed of Roses. The one will be extremely dependent as to its result upon the other.\u2014The policy of France is at this time as hostile to the United States as it ever was since our existence as a Nation.\u2014We hear and I most sincerely hope truly, that the Non-importation act which was proposed in Congress before the discovery of what the French Government intended by the professed revocation of the Decrees of Berlin and of Milan did not eventually pass.\u2014It was a trap to catch us into a War with England\u2014A War which England most richly deserves, but which would on our part be more than ever impolitic at this time\u2014\nMr: Pinkney has taken leave at the English Court, and by this time I suppose is far advanced upon his passage home\u2014The British Ministers however say that the Negotiations are not yet at an end, but that they have sent out new propositions by Mr: Foster, who goes as Minister Plenipotentiary\u2014I have no hopes that these propositions will be acceptable or admissible, but I hope Foster will behave himself better than Jackson; that he will spare his Country\u2019s partizans in Congress and the Massachusetts Legislature, the degradation of proclaiming themselves the satellites of his insolence, and that he will not undertake to instruct the Antient and Honourable Artillery company of Boston at a public dinner where he is their guest, against, whom they are to draw their swords, meaning particularly as he and they know, against their own Government.\nI am yet waiting for Instructions from Washington to ascertain precisely the time when we are to embark upon our return home.\u2014But I have still the prospect of being detained here another Winter.\u2014I had taken a lease of the house in which we now reside for two years from the first of last June Old Style, and this lease has accordingly a little more than a year to run\u2014But he Emperor of Russia has just now some occasion for the house, and is in Treaty with the owner to purchase it, for the Crown. By the Laws of the Country the sale of a dwelling House annuls all leases, and so at the expiration of my first year I shall have to look out for a new habitation.\u2014Our intention at present is to take a house for the Summer in the neighbourhood of the City, and to seek at leisure for another Winter-Residence.\u2014We shall find none either so comfortable or so cheap as that in which we are.\u2014We are as well, as, all things considered, can be expected; and ever affectionately your\u2019s.\nA. List of Letters received from you since 5. Augt: 1809.\nDates. Time of Passage Reception.\n1809.August11.4. MonthsDays.1809.Decr:11.Novr:62151810.     Jany:21 1810Jany:12420June1Feby:20519Augt:8March27625Octr:22May7529Septr24651811March29.List of Letters written by me to you since 5. Augt: 1809.1809. Number1.Augt:16.1810. Feby:5.Cypher.1811. Number11.Feby:2.Septr:24. Dup. Number5.Feby1412March52.Octr:286.April2113173.Novr287.June3014294.Decr:148.Septr:815April10.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1960", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, April 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Greenleaf, Lucy Cranch\nmy dear Neice\nca. April 1811\nI thank you for your kind inquiries. I am better to day. I had the Rheumatism in my head, and was quite Sick yesterday. I took a little medicine last night and find it has releived me, tho I am not very smart to day. mrs Smith thanks You and will call and see you. She is engaged to her Brothers to day\u2014She has walked out twice into the Neighbours\u2014your Brother wrote me Sometime Since that altho he did not doubt mr Adams would be a good judge, yet he thought they might obtain judges. but Such an other Statesmen was not easily to be found in whatever Station he may be placed. my greatest pleasure will arrise from the belief, that he is a good and an honest Man your affectionate / Aunt\nA A", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1961", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 2 May 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nSt: Petersburg 2. May 1811.\nThe religious ceremony of which in my last Letter I gave you an account, began at Midnight and terminated between three and four in the morning.\u2014It was accompanied by a Salute of 21. Guns fired from the Fortress, two or three times, at particular stages of the performance\u2014This was conformable to the customary practice; which always ushers in Easter day at St: Petersburg with an expence of gunpowder and a volume of Sound, equal to that which in the good Town of Boston, introduces our Independence-Day\u2014This is only one of many particulars in which there are characteristic resemblances in the celebration of the two days\u2014Thus, for example, they are both days of military Parade\u2014At ten in the morning the Emperor reviewed all the troops then in this Metropolis, amounting to more than thirty thousand Men\u2014Our military exhibitions are not so numerous, nor so splendid; but of these thirty thousand heroes, how many may never stand again to be reviewed on Easter-day!\nIn front of the Imperial Winter-Palace is a large and Magnificent Square, connected by a public walk in front of the Admiralty, with another square equally spacious and magnificent; In the centre of which is the marble Church of St: Isaac; with the incomparable equestrian Statue of Peter the Great before it, and further on in the same line a Bridge of Boats crossing the Neva, and the commencement of the Granit-sided Quay, which is one of the wonders of the reign of Catherine.\u2014A minute and sufficiently correct description of all these objects is contained in Porter\u2019s sketches, which in one of your letters to me, you mention having read.\u2014It is on these two Squares that the troops are drawn up, when reviewed by the Emperor, which he usually does every Sunday morning; but with peculiar solemnity on Easter-day\u2014But besides the splendor of appearance derived from this Parade, the Square of St: Isaac on these occasions is the scene of all the popular amusements which enliven the festivities of the Season\u2014A number of slight buildings are erected on one side of the Square, in which from Easter-day untill and including the ensuing Sunday, continual exhibitions during the day-time are presented of Rope-dancers, Chinese-Shadows, puppet-shows, mechanical and optical representations, strange animals, and the like delights of the Populace, to the successive Crowds of People, who can afford a few copeeks for admission to each of these places of entertainment\u2014And to some of these temporary theatres, there are adjoined, an external stage or Balcony, upon which Punch and his wife, Jack-Pudding and Merry-Andrew occasionally sally from within, to allure by their antic tricks and the delicious sample of their Sports, the wavering Prudence of the simple youths, whose parsimony struggles with their love of pleasure, and whose Copeeks still linger in their pockets.\u2014On each side of the Church are raised a number of Swings and Whirligigs, filled by a succession of men, women and children who keep them in perpetual motions\u2014The Swings consist of a suspended plank upon which three or four persons sit side by side, while at upon each end of them stands a man or woman, who by the alternate pressure of their own weight keep the vibration constant from side to side, untill weariness puts an end to their sport.\u2014The Whirligigs are cross bars something like the wings of a wind-mill, with a large chair, or bucket suspended at the ends of each bar; in each of which two or three persons are seated, and which are swung round perpendicularly by machinery.\u2014Twenty or thirty of these two sorts of machines are ranged along close to one another, and intermixed together, which from Noon to Sun-set of every day, are incessantly whirling and balancing, all together, and as one set of the occupiers tires, instantly filled with another\u2014Beyond them, on the side of the Equestrian Statue, are two sliding hills, another of the amusements peculiar to this Country.\u2014At the amusements of the Butter-week, which are in February, they are erected on the river, and are called ice-hills\u2014an accurate description of them is given of them in Porter\u2019s 15th: letter, and they have indeed so often been described that I shall spare you the repetition of the same thing here\u2014At Easter\u2013time the Ice upon the river is usually so much weakened, and the weather in the day time so warm, that the real Ice\u2013Hills can no longer be enjoyed\u2014But so fascinating is this pastime to the common People here, that they substitute these artificial Imitations of the Ice-hills in their stead\u2014The Construction of the Stages is the same\u2014But the inclined planes down which they slide, and the flat between the Stages at their feet, are laid with Planks, and the sledges upon which the Sliders go down are upon little wheels or rollers, confined on each side by a small channel in which they must run.\u2014Of these Sports, only the lowest classes of the People partake; but every afternoon during the week, the People of better condition, that is every body who owns or can hire a Carriage, ride in procession round the two Squares for two or three hours, beholding all these amusements of the nobility, and at the same time exhibiting themselves, and their Carriages, and Liveries and Horses, in Spectacle to one Another\u2014The Imperial family occasionally appear two or three times every year in these processions, and the Emperor himself sometimes attends them on horseback.\nOn Monday, the day after Easter, a levee or Diplomatic Circle is held by the Emperor, at the Winter Palace, where according to the appropriate phrase of Etiquette, he and the Imperial family receive the felicitations of the foreign Ministers.\u2014Felicitations for what? do you ask?\u2014For the Resurrection of Christ: to the celebration of which all these festivities are devoted\u2014In all the religious ceremonies and in all the traditionary usages of this Week, there is some allusion to that great event.\u2014The kiss promiscuous, so disgusting to Porter, and so delightful to Carr, (for these two British travellers, both rapturous sentimentalists, were very differently affected by a fashion, which custom here soon flatters into indifference as much to those who behold, as to those who practice it)_this kiss which levels all distinctions both of rank and sex, and which the Imperial Consort of Russia must in the rigour of principle bestow upon the meanest moozhik who presents her an egg, is nothing more than a recognition of that universal equality and brotherhood which Jesus came to proclaim to the whole human race; and as to the egg, which puzzles all the travellers so much to account for, what more expressive emblem could have been chosen to express that eternal life, bursting from the shell of mortality, of which the Resurrection of Jesus was the first fruit, and the most precious pledge?\u2014The custom of giving eggs, is as universal as that of kissing\u2014Servants give them to their masters\u2014Friends interchange them with one another, and it is an act of delicate gallantry from a Gentleman to a Lady\u2014On presenting the egg, the giver pronounces the words \u201cChristos Voskrest\u201d\u2014Christ is risen\u2014to which the receiver answers \u201cVoistinnoi Voskrest\u201d\u2014He is indeed risen; and then the salutation succeeds. The common people who can afford no more, give real, hard boiled hens eggs, with the shells dyed red\u2014But persons in easier circumstances give artificial eggs, of paste-board, wood, glass, marble, porcellain, candied sugar, and in short of almost every material that can be fashioned into the shape\u2014Boxes of Sugar-plums assume this form in presents for children, much to the entertainment of master Charles; and it can take even the shape of a Lady\u2019s work-bag; not to call it on so serious an occasion a Ridicule\u2014The windows of innumerable shops in the City are decorated with multitudes of these artificial eggs, of various sizes, suspended by silk ribbons of all the gaudy Colours, and of various prices from five Copeeks to a hundred rubles\u2014They are also hawked about the streets by the Carriers of Ginger Bread, and sugar-candy\u2014In short these objects are so multiplied at these times before the eyes of a Stranger to the Custom, that he would almost be induced to believe that in Russia, breeding eggs, and kissing, was the business of human life.\nOn Easter-day the seven-weeks Fast is at an end. Many of those whose abstemiousness has been carried to an excess which physical Nature can scarcely support, now plunge into the other excess, of bestial gluttony and drunkenness. The habits of intoxications to which the Russian Populace are addicted, have often been noticed\u2014It is the natural vice of those who have not the means of indulging others.\u2014But there is a singular character of harmlessness in the ebriety of this People\u2014Among the multitudes whom I daily meet staggering and sprawling about the Streets, I have never witnessed any thing like a fray, and scarcely ever any thing like a brawl\u2014This quietude is partly owing to the submissive Spirit of the Nation, and partly to the rigorous vigilance of the Police\u2014Every Police officer, of the lowest class has the privilege of using the cudgel over the backs of the populace at discretion; and so faithfully is the privilege exercised, and so numerous are the Police\u2013Officers, that on the slightest symptom of disorder by a moozhik in the Streets, he receives the immediate admonition of a severe bastonade, from some little, spare green-coated Beadle, who seems as if to start out of the ground for that single purpose, administers the discipline without speaking a word, and then vanishes with as little noise as he appeared. The regularity and absolute power of the Police is equally visible in the tranquility with which the crowds of People assembled at the Sports disperse immediately after Sun-set\u2014In the course of half an hour the sliding-hills are deserted, the Whirligigs and Swings are emptied and unmoveable, the hundreds and even thousands of equipages have retired, the bustle of the throng has given place to silence and Solitude, and the Square just swarming with festive myriads is as quiet and unfrequented as the Streets of an American City On a Sunday.\u2014The change of its appearance after the close of the Holidays is still more remarkable\u2014In twenty-four hours the Sliding-hills, the whirligigs, the Swings and the Theatres have all disappeared, the Square resumes its customary appearance, and not a trace remains of the motley multitudes which have been eight-days reveling upon it.\nBesides the Great Lent, before Easter, there are three other fasting terms in the course of the year\u2014One called the Fast of St: Peter\u2014thirty\u2013one days in May and June\u2014One from the 1st: to the 15th: of August, called the Fast of the Mother of God\u2014and the fourth from the 15th: of November to Christmas day\u2014They are not quite so rigorously kept as the great one, but they are all preceded and followed by one or more days of festivity and intemperance.\nThus much for Russian Holidays and Fasts\u2014If you incline to slumber over this account of them, or any other of my frequent letters, I can only beg you to consider them as apologies for repeating to you as often as possible, that we are well, and ever faithfully your\u2019s.\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1962", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 10 May 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, George Washington\nMy Dear Son George.\nSt: Petersburg 10. May 1811.\nI received only two or three days ago your letter dated the 24th: of September of the last year; and although it had been written so many months before it came to me, it gave me and your Mama very great pleasure, and I take the first opportunity to write you this in reply to it.\nI was glad to see that the greatest part of your letter was written with your own hand; and I hope very soon to receive another letter from you, written wholly by yourself\u2014I shall keep this one, and all those that will come from you hereafter, to compare them together, and to see what improvement you make in your hand-writing.\nI am also much pleased with your account of the Books that you had been studying and reading when you wrote me\u2014 When you write me again, you must tell me in what language it was, that you read Virgil and Homer\u2019s Iliad, because as you do not tell me any thing about learning a Greek Grammar,  and as you only say you had got into Cornelius Nepos, in the progress of your latin studies, I do not suppose that you meant to say you had read Virgil in Latin, or Homer\u2019s Iliad in Greek; and yet, you doubtless know that Homer\u2019s Iliad was written in Greek and that Virgil wrote in latin\u2014There have been many translations of the famous Poems of these authors, some into prose and some into verse. I suppose it is some of them that you read, and should like to know which\u2014I suppose you know too the difference between prose and verse.\u2014If you do not, ask your uncle Thomas to lend you from your Grandpapa\u2019s library the volume of Moliere that contains le Bourgeois Gentilhomme, and read that Comedy\u2014That will tell you what prose and verse are, and help you to retain or recover your French, and give you a hearty laugh besides.\nThere are La Fontaine\u2019s Fables too, which are many of them taken from \u00c6sop\u2019s Fables, that you have studied\u2014Supposing you were to read one of them every morning or every Evening before you go to bed\u2014What I am not pleased with in your letter, is to find you are afraid of forgetting your French; because if you do, it will be owing to your own carelessness and neglect\nThe last letter that I wrote you was in September\u2014We live here in a Country where the winter lasts so long and it is so cold that for seven months in every year, and sometimes more no ships can come to it or go from it\u2014St. Petersburg is built on the sides of a river called the Neva and in the beginning of November this river freezes over so hard that the ice is five or six feet thick: and so it remains untill the Month of April; and sometimes untill May\u2014In February and March the people dig out great rocks of this ice each big and heavy enough to load a one-horse sledge, and carry them about the City to fill the ice-cellars where they keep it all through the Summer\u2014Some years ago there was a house of ice built upon the river, and a wedding of two dwarfs celebrated in it\u2014All the furniture of the house, the chairs the tables, the bed-stead, every thing was made of ice, and they fire a salute in honour of the marriage from Cannon made of ice\u2014In the midst of winter the Sun rises at a quarter after nine O\u2019Clock in the Morning, and sets at a quarter before three in the afternoon; so that there seems to be hardly any day-time\u2014But then in the Summer the days are as much longer than ours as they are shorter in Winter; and at midnight we can read and write without candles as easily as at noon\u2014I do not know whether you have begun to learn Geography and the use of the Globes\u2014If you have, you will soon understand the causes why the days and nights are of such different lengths in different Countries.\nWe are in great hopes of receiving a letter soon from your brother John, to whom you must present my love and tell him I shall answer all his letters as soon as possible after I receive them\u2014Charles has not forgotten you though he was so young when we left home\u2014He learns to speak English, French and German all at once, and we hope when we return will speak them all with ease.\nYour Mama and Aunt Catherine are well, and we all long to have letters from Quincy to tell us the same good news of our friends there\u2014There was a vessel called the Washington that came from Boston the latter end of February, and we were in hopes to have received letters by that opportunity; but we were disappointed, and so must hope that the next vessel that comes will bring them\u2014You will give my dutiful affection to your Grandpapa and Grandmama, and my kind remembrance to all your uncles, and Aunts, and cousins\u2014Also my respects to Mr: Whitney, to whom I hope you will continue to give satisfaction by attention to all your studies.\nI am, my dear Son, your affectionate father\nJohn Quincy Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1963", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 13 May 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Thomas Boylston\nMy dear Brother,\nSt: Petersburg 5 March 1811\nThe Austrian Minister, Count H. Julian, some time since, jokingly asked me if I had received any very late advices of the year before last from home\u2014When I turn to the last letter that I have received from you, and find it dated 7. May 1810. the Count\u2019s wit seems to have lost all its exaggeration. The longer we remain absent from our Country and our friends the more uneasy we feel under the long intervals between the times when we receive letters from you. It is now more than four months since I have received a line from you, and ten full months since the date of your last letter.\nAs the westerly voyage from Europe to America is almost always longer than the easterly voyage from America to Europe, it is in the natural course of things to be expected that our letters to you will be longer from the times of their date in reaching your hands than your\u2019s in coming to our\u2019s.\u2014yet from the frequency with which since our arrival here I have written, and the pains that I have taken to send by various conveyances, I think it impossible either that you should have been at anytime upwards of four months without receiving a letter from me, or that the date of my last received letter should at any time have been full ten months old.\nMy dear Mother does indeed complain in the latest letters that we have received from her, that you had also been long without hearing from us\u2014We had not the last Winter so many opportunities of forwarding letters to places from which they could be dispatched to America, and as none of the vessels which went from Cronstadt sailed before the middle of June, and all experienced considerable detentions before they got clear of the Baltic and the North Sea, most of our letters must have been of antient date when you received them. But from the time when the Horace arrived at Boston, which I hear was on the 13th: of September untill this time, and indeed untill you receive this letter, if you remain at any time a month without receiving letters from us, it will be because the obstacles to their transmission are absolutely insuperable.\nI have in a former letter requested you to write me at stated periods, say at least once a month, without waiting to know by what opportunity to send it. During the Summer Season, while vessels bound directly to Russia sail from the United States, if when your letter is written you will give it to Mr. Gray, and request him to forward it by the first opportunity that may occur, to judge from the experience of last year, your letter will never wait a fortnight, without being dispatched, and although it may be four or even six months before it will reach me; yet the succession being once established, the intervals between the receipt of one letter and another will on the average not be longer than those between their dates\u2014At least we shall not have the mortification of seeing vessel after vessel of Mr. Gray\u2019s or Mr. Thorndike\u2019s arriving direct from Boston, Salem or Beverly at Cronstadt or at Archangel, without bringing us a line from Quincy\nBut by the time when I can expect you will receive this letter, that is, by the last of July the Season for dispatching vessels direct from the United States for Russia will be past, and as my present anticipation is that we shall spend the next Winter, as we have the present and the last at St: Petersburg, I am now thinking of expedients to secure the transmission of your letters to us from October \u2019till June\u2014We have no temptation to bind the sweet influences of the Pleiades, but I should fain loose the bonds of Orion.\nMr. F Gray who is with us, received letters from his father about a fortnight since, dated 13 December\u2014They bore the Post mark of Paim-boeuf, a very old acquaintance of your father\u2019s and mine, which is about ten leagues below Nantes upon the River Loire\u2014We conclude therefore that the letters must have been sent by a vessel bound to Nantes, and that they were put into the Post office at Paim-boeuf\u2014They came without difficulty, and very expeditiously having been received here in little more than two months from their date.\nMr Russell of Providence, who brought me a letter from you is now our Charg\u00e9 d\u2019Affaires at Paris\u2014you may enclose under cover to him any letter for me, and he will forward it either by the Post or by some Courier from the Russian Ambassador to his Government\u2014I have received several letters from the United States through that channel.\nIf Mr. Pinkney should return home from England, I understand that Mr. J. S Smith who left us about two months ago, is to be the charg\u00e9 des affaires in England\u2014you may enclose under cover to him or to Mr. Lyman our Consul at London letters for me, and they will not have much difficulty in transmitting them to me.\u2014If the non-Intercourse should be removed, there will perhaps be despatch vessels sent by the government, or the Packets may still go\u2014You will always recollect that the letters to send thus should be light\u2014A single sheet of paper, and a cover\u2014If you enclose one letter within another take that the inside letter be sealed only with a wafer\u2014Sealing wax is objectionable not only for its weight; but because it wears out or tears the paper within which it is enclosed.\nHere is precept upon precept\u2014and on my part I promise you that it shall be followed by line upon line\u2014From this time forward, unless prevented by Circumstances as far beyond my controul as they are beyond my foresight, not a month shall pass by without my writing at least one letter to you, and one to my mother\u2014I ask of you a like return; and if you have no subject to write upon, send me extracts from Hutchinson\u2019s History.\nI mentioned Mr. J. S. Smith\u2019s having left us\u2014since his arrival in Europe he has been an industrious traveller\u2014He landed in Norway, and went by land to Stockholm: there he was taken sick, and was detained almost the whole of last Winter\u2014To come here however he was obliged to travel round the gulph of Bothnia, a journey of two thousand miles; by the impracticability at that particular season of a water passage of less than fifty\u2014He arrived here towards the latter end of March and in June and July visited Moscow, and the celebrated annual Fair of Makarieff\u2014He returned and spent about five months here, during which he was with us almost every day\u2014He finally quitted us about the last of December, intending to go to Berlin\u2014Dresden\u2014Vienna and Paris\u2014His appointment will probably shorten his tour, and direct his course immediately towards England\u2014We were all much pleased with his Society, and regretted his departure\u2014He is of an amiable disposition and of agreeable manners. I think him well qualified for the station to which he is appointed You must always take it for granted that we are all well, when I do not tell you otherwise\u2014This is the inference which I always intend to make when our letters from America do not expressly say that you are all well. But the last summer one of the letters which we received happened to speak only of our George, without saying anything of his brother, and untill the next letter came, my wife was a little anxious lest John should have been sick\u2014I argued with her that the conclusion was not logical, but in fact I was almost as uneasy as herself, that it might be true\u2014 you know what love and absence are, and how they operate upon the solicitude and imagination of a Mother\u2014We have not been so much involved in dissipation this Winter as the last, though yet too much for my taste\u2014We are now in the midst of the longest and most rigorous of the four Russian lents\u2014All is quiet and devotion, and I had almost said famine, untill the Easter Holidays, which are still six weeks distant\u2014\nFeasting or Fasting, I am always equally your\u2019s.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1966", "content": "Title: From Hannah Phillips Cushing to Abigail Smith Adams, 16 May 1811\nFrom: Cushing, Hannah Phillips\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nScituate May 16th. 1811\nNot one word have I heard from you my dear Friend since your kind letter, saying that you was but just leaving the chamber, after a long confinement. I hope & pray that you soon regained your usual health though that at best is delicate. Various circumstances have prevented my being with you ere this. Three weeks since I was called to Plymouth, to sympathize with my beloved Mrs Hammatt for the death of her lovely infant, who went to bed well & was a Corpse before morg. The Phin. thought he had the quinsey. Doctor Barns\u2019s sickness & death engaged some of my time; & now like Martha of old I am cumbered about many things, though I hope not altogether neglectful of the one thing needful. It was wisely ordained by Providence that we all should have parts, & duties, to perform, while we remain on earth, & my cares have greatly increased since I have to act them alone, & every days experience adds to my esteem & veneration for that departed Saint. It is hard very hard my Friend to be seperated from a protector, counseler, & bosome companion, who for thirty six years was a host to me, & in whose society I always delighted. At the same time my heart rises in gratitud to the great Ruler of the Universe, for continuing us so long together, & the all consoling hope revealed to us, of a reunion with our dear Friends in the World of spirits. Permit one observation more how cheerfully did our Friend encounter the blasts of winter, rough roads, & icy streams to get a support for me; at a time too when his constitution was greatly enfeebled by sickness, & an accumulations of years. You justly observed, \u201cHow blessings brighten as they take their flight.\u201d How I have digressed from the motive of writing this letter, which was to ask after your health & Friends. Next week I may be prevented from accomplishing my long wished for visit as Judge Barns, & some of our Plymouth Relatives are expected; so it is not in my power to say when I may probably see Quincy. If you contemplate an excursion soon, be so good as to hint it by next Wedys. mail. My family remains the same, each member of which desires with me to be affectionately remembered to you & yours. My regards to Judge & Mrs Cranch, Mr. & Mrs Adams. Your Truly & / Affectionate Friend\nH Cushing", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1967", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Ann Frances Harrod Adams, 17 May 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Adams, Ann Frances Harrod\nDear Daughter\nQuincy. May 17th 1811\nI rode up to your house this morning to inquire how the Children were and heard that they were both well. dexter Slept there last night. I will Send George in with the chaise tomorrow, if mr Adams returns. George may come out in the Stage. If there Should be any Salmon to be had tomorrow and mr Foster would get me part of one, I will be much obliged to him\u2014I should not like to give more than a quarter of a dollar pr pd.\nYours affectionatly\nA A\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1969", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Catherine Nuth Johnson, 19 May 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Johnson, Catherine Nuth\nMy Dear Madam\nQuincy May 19th 1811\nI received your favour dated at Baltimore of April 28th, with the Letter inclosed for Mrs Adams, which I had an opportunity of immediatly forwarding by a vessel which saild last week for St Petersburgh\nI find by Letters from my Son, that those Letters which have gone by way of France have had the most speedy conveyance, and I regret that I have not oftener made use of it, altho they may be Subject to inspection\u2014by Letters which I received by way of Newyork, last week from Saint Petersburgh, dated the first and 30 of Jan\u2019ry, my Son writes, that they had not received Letters from Quincy of a later date than, 28 of july, but that mrs Adams had received Letters from you by way of France to the 3d of Novbr. and the Presidents proclamation, and dispatches from the department of State late in Octr\nI hope they will begin to receive Letters in abundence. I have written many, and altho Several of them must bear them Melancholy tidings, they will also carry them intellegence of their Surviving Friends\nTo mrs Buchanan the death of the Rev\u2019d Mr Emerson will give both pain and Sorrow. I know that She; as well as my Son abroad; mrs Adams and Kitty; will be Sincere mourners,\nHe had been for a long time in Slender health and for the last four months, unable to preach. a Scirrhous in the Stomach was found to be his complaint, and he might be said to have starved to death, as he could not keep any food upon his Stomach for a long time. To his Flock, and to the publick, his Death is Severely felt, at the early Age of 42 years & his amiable wife and Six Small children are calld to endure a loss to them irreparable. May that Being who knows their Sorrows heal them.\nI presume you have Letters by the Same vessel which brought mine. mr Adams writes me, that they had not then experienced any very Severe cold, but that they had Scarcly Seen the Sun for two Months, that there Sunshine, when they were favourd with it, was usually attended with Severe cold. He Says they had got through the parade of this winter with more ease than the last. he regrets the loss of some of their most constant and agreable companions: mr J J Smith and mr Jones, who had left them to commence their travels, and mr Harris there Consul, who was gone to Moscow and Archangle upon buisness. at first mr Adams writes, that he inclined to go with him, but afterward concluded that it would not be adviseable for both of them to be absent from the Capital at once.\nMr Adams appears to have made up his mind for a residence there an other year, tho he says that you wrote his wife, that the Newspapers announced his return the present year. If mr Barlow has not yet Saild for France, I Shall try to get a Letter to him for St Petersburgh. can you inform me when he goes and from whence.\nThe political horizen my dear Madam does not Brighten or shine upon America. The two Great Warlike Nations are determined to darken us as much as their means will permit, or their power accomplish. The Maxim of our own Government, is, better to Suffer wrong,  than do wrong; Napoleans Spanish triumphs will not Shine in history as the most brilliant of his exploits. the Hair of Sampson must be clipt.\nour Grandsons George and John are well and request me to present their Duty to you, and Love to their cousins. I am Dear Madam / affectionatly your Friend\nA Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1970", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Josiah, III Quincy, 21 May 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Quincy, Josiah, III\nDear Sir.\nSt: Petersburg 21 May 1811.\nI received in September last, your favour of 11. July preceding, which was brought by Mr: Jones, together with the second part of the third Volume of the Memoirs of the American Academy; intended for the Imperial Academy of Sciences in this City; which has been duly presented to that body.\nEarly in the course of the last Winter, I received from their Secretary the Volume last published of their Memoirs, to be transmitted to the American Academy. I take accordingly the first opportunity which has presented itself, and you will receive it together with this letter.\nThere is at Moscow the antient Metropolis of this Empire a learned Society, called the Imperial Society of Natural History, of Moscow, which is desirous of being reckoned in the number of the Corresponding Institutions, to interchange their publications with the American Academy\u2014I have sent them, one of the spare second Volumes of the Memoirs, which I brought with me from America\u2014But they have neither the first, nor the third Volume, nor have I here a copy of either which I could send to them\u2014If the Academy have any of those volumes to spare I beg leave to recommend that each of them may be sent here addressed to that Society; and that a copy of all the subsequent publications of Memoirs be forwarded for them, together with that which is usually sent to the Academy of Sciences of this City.\nI am with great regard and esteem, Dear Sir, your friend & humble Servt\nJohn Quincy Adams.Dear Sir St: Petersburg 4. June 1811.\nMr: Charles Etter, a Mineralogist attached to the Department of Public Instruction, and a member of the free economical Society of St: Petersburg, desirous of giving a testimony of his respect to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has requested me to transmit a collection of Russian Minerals, which he has formed, and presents to the Academy together with a description of them contained in the letter from him enclosed with this\u2014I accordingly send them by the Laurel, Captain Burnham, in a box addressed to you, and accompanying this letter.\nMr: Etter is a zealous friend of Science, and would be gratified with an object opportunity of corresponding with the Academy or any of its members in relation to it. Presuming that they will pass a vote of thanks to him for this donation, I am sollicitous that it should be transmitted to him without any unnecessary delay.\u2014If you think proper to communicate it through me, I expect to remain here still a sufficient time to receive it\nFrom some intimations which Mr: Etter has given me, I believe he would consider it a distinguished honour to be elected a member of the Academy, and I am perswaded he would be a useful one. Should it be thought proper to bestow upon him this token of respect, I would further ask your attention to transmit the formal Certificate of his Election as soon as you can find it convenient.\nI am, Dear Sir, very sincerely your\u2019s \nJohn Quincy Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1971", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Hannah Phillips Cushing, 22 May 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Cushing, Hannah Phillips\nYour favour of I received by the last mail. I had been in daily expectation of hearing from you, or Seeing you Since the begining of the Month. my own health is better than when I wrote you last and I think I could enjoy my dear Mrs Cushing Society whenever She will favour me with it; I have not any expectation of leaving home for more than two days which will be in Boston.\nSince the Short period that we Saw each other, how many of our acquaintance are numberd with the dead. Some like Good dr Barnes full of years, Some in the midst of their days & usefullness like the worthy and much lamented mr Emerson Some where Who tho past the meridian, had not arrived to those years which the Psalmist computes as the Age of Man the Revd Mr Eckly, and the able judge Dana\u2014and the Infant Bird you recount amongst the of your beloved Neice with whom I Sympathize. neither Age Youth or Sex are exempt from this Warfare\nJudge dana is removed, and no man appeareth to lay it to Heart. If my absent Son had been in America, the Grave would not thus Silently have closed over him\nA Man who Sustaind Several public offices and for Several years held that of chief Justice of the State, which all who knew him, acknowledge he discharged with fidelity and integrity, ably Supporting the character of a bound judge Suddenly taken out of the world\u2014not a solitary Line to characterizes his worth, his very funeral unattended but by Relatives, and pall holders, with a few Scattering exceptions. the contrast with that of your beloved\nHusband must forcibly Strike your mind. can we fail to call to mind upon this occasion the funeral obsequies of a Man cutt off in a duel,  and the mock Heroicks of party exhibited upon the occasion by, o Shame Clergy as well as Laiety\u2014\nThe funeral honours paid to a much more worthy Character are still fresh in our memories. the Same Spirit of party Reign Was dominant upon that occasion, tho I do not doubt but that there were many Sincere Mourners who rather wished his asshes to have mingled with those of his Ancestors, than to Steady Friend to the Liberty and independence of his Country, he was not the devoted party man, have his memoirs exhibited as a pagent for the public to gaze at.\nand Shall the Man who will not blindly Sacrifice to any party, desend to the grave unnoticed, without any honorable mention of him? No my Friend the Sincere and heartfelt tribute of gratefull remembrance embalms the ashes of him who is never mentiond but with the Reccollection of Some virtue\u2014Some amiable traitS some benevolent purpose the Sweet Recollection of which still flourishes, tho He Sleeps in Dust,Sweet Solace to the wounded Bosom\u2014\nWith respectfull remembrance to all your Relatives who encompass you, and with the hope of Soon Seeing You at Quincy I am my dear Friend / most affectionately / yours\nMy Family thank you for your remembrance of them and request me to present theirs to you & yours\u2014\nA, AMy Family thank you for your remembrance of them and request me to present theirs to you & yours\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1975", "content": "Title: To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 30 May 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, John\nMy dear Sir.\nSt: Petersburg 30. May 1811.\nI had the pleasure of writing you last, on the 9th of November, since which I had not enjoyed that of hearing directly from you, untill this day last week when your two favours of 11 and 14 Feby: came to hand\u2014together with Mr. Quincy\u2019s Louisiana speech\u2014several other letters, and a number of Books and pamphlets, and newspapers, from which almost all my attention has hitherto been diverted, by the melancholy and distressing tidings in the letters.\nI am not deeply versed enough in Greek, and have not time to spare from more indispensible occupations, to read Epictetus in his original tongue\u2014But in both the English Translations of Mrs. Carter and of Lady Mary, I have read him many years ago, and at a still earlier date, I had read in a French Translation, belonging to you, at Auteuil, the Meditations of Marcus Antonius, the Imperial disciple of the slave Epictetus, and who I think has been as an instructor more useful to me than his teacher.\u2014The two Books ought always to be read and studied together\u2014They are both founded on the same system of philosophy; but there is this difference between them; that the slave prepares us most effectually for the evils of life, while the Emperor guards us most carefully against its prosperities\u2014It becomes me with Gratitude to a kind Providence to acknowledge that the occurrences of my own life hitherto have been of a character to require the application of Marcus\u2013Aurelius\u2019s lessons of Temperance more than of Epictetus\u2019s school of Fortitude\u2014For both I have had frequent occasion, and I have had quite as much faith in them as I ought\u2014perhaps more. I believe much, very much in the usefulness of the Stoic Philosophy, to promote the pursuit of happiness as well as the practice of virtue, and it is of all the antient systems of philosophy, that which is most congenial to the still wiser and more perfect doctrine of Christianity\u2014It is a very feeble though a very common objection to both, that the practice of those who believe in them often contradict their professions; and a still more trivial argument against them, that human Passions, are often too mighty for their controul\u2014Hypocrisy would never assume a mask, but for its likeness to an Angel\u2014The mask is a vile imposture, but the angel is not the less a celestial Spirit\u2014To say that the sensitive part of our nature, is too frail for the government of its rational part, is to take the exception for the rule\u2014There are degrees and moments of pain, when the precepts of Epictetus can take no effect\u2014But because the bandage or the balsam cannot instantaneously heal the wound, must they therefore never be applied?\u2014\nIn the midst of my dissertation upon the Stoic Philosophy, came upon me the whole budget of Dispatches, letters and newspapers brought by Mr: Erving as far as Paris, and by the Russian Consul in France, from that City. I had been thinking how congenial to my own feelings and resolutions was the following passage of your letter of 11. Feby: \u201cIn absolute private life, scorning all intrigue, but employing your studies for the solid Interest of Mankind and your Country you may do more real good in my Opinion than in any publick Station\u201dand had been pleasing myself that you would be gratified in finding that I had already expressed precisely the same sentiments in my letter to my brother of 10. April\u2014when to give me another view of the question, comes a Commission as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, and your, and my ever dear and venerated mother\u2019s letters of 4. March\u2014When I assure you that in the whole course of my life, I scarcely ever did a responsible act of which I was proud or ashamed, without feeling my soul soothed or galled with the reflection how it would affect the sensibility of my Parents, I leave it to your own imagination to judge who all my philosophy, all my love of retirement, all my opinions of my superior usefulness in private life, have been staggered by this Commission and these letters\u2014The Commission, inasmuch as it offered me an honourable station, and a pittance, (a miserable one indeed) for the maintenance of my family, during the remainder of my days, was all that my ambition could wish, or that my estimate of the value of money could expect\u2014As it presented me the occasion of returning creditably to my Country, to my friends, and above all to my Parents and my children, it brought me the most welcome of messages\u2014But you have long known my own sense of my own unfitness for a seat in Judicial Tribunals\u2014You did not perhaps know, but I had written to my brother, at a time when I had not a suspicion of this appointment, whah particular objections I had against this Office, arising from a wish long since settled in my mind that it might be occupied by another person.\u2014I will not say that there was little attraction to me, in a place which had already been declined by one man, and to which another had been nominated before me\u2014I never did and never will suffer considerations of this nature to influence my determinations\u2014But to take the seat which from the bottom of my heart I believe due to my friend, and for which I am equally convinced that my friend is better fitted than myself\u2014if my reluctance to this must be considered as fastidious delicacy\u2014be it so\u2014It is not one of the sentiments for which it will be necessary for me to apologize to you.\nYet I am deeply sensible to the personal kindness as well as to the honour shewn me by the President in the Nomination\u2014to the much more surprising though not more unexpected unanimity of the Senate in approving it\u2014To the popularity with which you assure me the appointment has been received; and to the wish manifested by several of my friends, and most especially by yourself and my Mother that I should avail myself of this opportunity to return home\u2014Concurring with my own ardent inclination to be once more restored to the bosom of my Country, to the pleasures and instruction of your Society, to the means of Superintending the education of my darling boys, and with the impulses physical and moral which urge me to more southern climes and a more frugal establishment, these can comport with a residence in this Country, they would have produced an extreme perplexity of mind, and a conflict of emotions under which either decision would have been followed by an uneasiness and dissatisfaction with myself, not very suitable for a Stoic philosopher\u2014From this Dilemma, the blessing of Providence (for so I fervently pray, that I may ultimately have cause to consider it) had by a simple and very natural circumstance in the condition of my family, graciously pleased to relieve me\u2014My wife is labouring under what Shakespear calls \u201cthe pleasing punishment which women bear.\u201d She expects her deliverance in August, and from October the Navigation of the Baltic becomes impossible\u2014In this state of things I cannot embark for a Voyage to America\u2014To say that no Office in the Union could tempt me to expose the lives of a wife and infant to the dangers inseparable from such a passage at this time, would but weakly express my resolution upon this occasion\u2014I am not aware of any duty which can counterbalance that which commands me to await the result of this dispensation of Heaven here\u2014In January last I had received permission to return home, and had some expectation of being superseded here\u2014I then informed the President, that under these circumstances, if my mission here should be terminated, I should remain here as a private individual untill the next Summer\u2014Such was, and such still remains my determination\u2014It rests upon a foundation not lightly laid, and which not even this new and extraordinary incident has been able to shake.\nThe idea did for a moment suggest itself to my consideration, of stating the facts anew to the President, and leaving it at his discretion, to fill the place by a new nomination, or to leave it vacant untill the next Summer when I have every reason to hope I shall find it practicable to go home.\u2014But my Spirit could not brook the thought of asking or even permitting that an Office thus important should be kept vacant merely to suit my private convenience, and besides the dictate of my own principles, I had before me your example, when appointed Chief Justice of Massachusetts\u2014I remembered that you had declined the acceptance of that Office, to prevent it from remaining too long unfilled by the necessity of your attendance upon other duties\u2014As a direction for my conduct upon every occurrence involving public principle, I know of no human Law more unerring than your example.\nI have therefore explicitly declined the acceptance of this appointment, and in a letter to the President of the United States, have alledged with as much delicacy as the subject would admit the motives of my determination\u2014It has been painful to me to be brought to this test of my principles, and I regret exceadingly that a fourth nomination should have become necessary for an Office to which as my sincerest wishes could have availed there would been only one\u2014With regard to my own conduct as I had not a moment of hesitation with regard to upon its propriety, I am not apprehensive that I shall ever look back with dissatisfaction upon the course I have taken\u2014But I would gladly be justified for it in the opinion of the President to whom I am indebted for the nomination, and above all in your\u2019s, and in that of my Dear Mother\u2014There is neither Office, Dignity, Honour, nor Emolument in the gift of man, single or collective, upon this spot of Earth, which could for a single moment counterbalance the anguish that I should feel in giving by any voluntary act of mine a serious pang to you.\u2014I feel however a cheerful confidence that after fully weighing the difficulties of my situation you will approve the grounds upon which I have rested\u2014I am sorry, very sorry to disappoint the expectations of my Country, by withholding myself from that Judgment Seat where their partiality would have placed me; but how much happier for me and for them is it, than it would be to disappoint their expectations upon the seat itself!\nI cannot, my Dear Sir, mingle any other subject in the same letter with this\u2014I received with your letters of 4. March, those of 15. and 25. Jany.\u2014in all, five, dated since the Commencement of the present year\u2014I intend to answer them all, as well as those from my mother, Brother and Children which came also by Mr. Erving\u2014We have now many vessels ready or nearly ready to sail for America, and I shall write is possible by them all\u2014My duty, love, and friendship wherever due\u2014We are all as well as can be expected\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1977", "content": "Title: From Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 10 June 1811\nFrom: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nPetersburg June 10th 1811\nWith a mind sorely depressed by the late afflicting intelligence from America and the many additional circumstances which are hourly occurring to encrease the difficulties of my present situation and I feel  almost incapacitated from writing even a few lines to thank you & my dear Sister Adams for the very tender and affectionate manner in which you broke to us the melancholy Tidings of our poor Nancy\u2019s dreadful death Terrible was the shock and it is much embitter\u2019d owing  to the Situation of the other branches of my family from whom we have not recieved one line to soothe the cruel anxiety of our minds heaven has granted me strength to overcome this bitter stroke after two days of suffering and anticipation of a premature confinement I am restored to health with every prospect of going through my full time but even this circumstance adds to the present unneasiness of our family here as it renders a removal impossible at least Mr Adams will not hear of it and the season of the Year when I shall be released will render a passage very dangerous should I get well over it for all of us but particularly for myself and so young an Infant the Navigation of these Seas is at all times dangerous but particularly so during the long nights in October & Nov. and Mr A. does not like the idea of risking a journey by land which would be attended with almost equal difficulties before we could reach a Port from whence we could sail with less danger\u2014\nYou will have seen my dear Madam ere this reaches you that Mr. Adams has the to declined the acceptance of the appointment of the Judgeship from motives which I did not even know existed but which although I regret are too honorable not to meet with my fullest approbation this circumstance inplaces us in a most uncomfortable situation as we are beset by reports that keep us in a state of perpetual agitation yesterday it was said Mr R. Smith was arrived to take Mr A\u2019s place and we are assured that he is on his way to this place having left America sometime since in a Frigate should this really be the case it appears to me that steps must have been taken of a very remarkable nature at the seat of G. as they would at least I should imagine wait for an answer of acceptance or refusal before they would actually make an appointment to supercede him here all these things combin\u2019d tend to keep my mind in such a state of trouble agitation and suspense that I hardly know what I write and I am sure you will feel and accept my excuse\u2014Write my beloved Mother that we are all well but tell her I dare not yet trust myself to write but as soon as I attain a little more composure I will write her at length Kiss my sweet Boys for me and assure them as well as yourself of the true and sincere affection / of your daughter\nL C A.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1978", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 11 June 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nSt: Petersburg 11. June 1811.\nYour letter of 15. Feby: which was brought by Captain Brown, of the Washington, and which I received on the 23d: of last Month, gave me the first intelligence of those afflicting Events the Death of Mrs: Hellen and Mrs: Norton\u2014I received it early in the morning, and was thereby enabled to communicate it to my wife and her Sister, with as much preparation as the nature of the case would admit\u2014But after the long, long expectation of letters from America, which had been sharpening in eagerness for so many Months, the first suggestion that they were come, and were to give any thing but joy, told so effectually the full tale of woe, that it was impossible to break altogether the abruptness of the stroke\u2014They were both affected as you will conceive better than I can describe\u2014My wife was for several days severely ill, and it is yet in the dispensations of merciful Providence to determine to what extent she has been or may yet be a sufferer by the consequences of this heavy calamity\u2014By the blessing of God we are now encouraged with favourable hopes\u2014She is as well as could be expected in her situation, and has written you a letter which I enclose.\nA week after the receipt of yours of 15. Feby:\u2014which is numbered 5. came the packets which had been sent by Mr: Erving, containing your N. 1. Jany: 20:\u2014N. 2. Jany: 26. and N. 7. 4th March\u2014So that if correctly numbered there are still 3\u20144\u2014and 6 to be received.\u2014But there have come at the same time your letters of 15 and 21 Jany: and 4. March to my wife; besides one to Catherine Johnson.\nThe subject which most urgently calls for an immediate answer is that spoken of in the letter of 4. March\u2014Besides your wishes, and those of my father, expressed in a letter from him of the same date, I am stimulated by all the considerations which have presented themselves to my own mind, and by the advice of several other friends who wrote me by Mr: Erving to return home\u2014A duty however of a still more commanding nature has required me to stay, and consequently to decline the acceptance of an office, the duties of which I cannot discharge. I have sufficiently explained to the President of the United States, and still more fully to my father the motives upon which I came to my determination\u2014There are occasions in the private concerns of individuals, as well as in the public affairs of Nations, when the wisdom of a resolution can be ascertained only by the issue of Events\u2014The rejection of an excellent offer seems to be among those things which nothing but ultimate success can justify\u2014I cannot hesitate in saying to you, that for my individual interest, there is not in the United States nor under them an Office so eligible as that of a Judge of the Supreme Court\u2014A settled Station during good behaviour; tantamount to a tenure during life, or at least during my own pleasure\u2014useful and honourable occupation\u2014a secure competence to support my family\u2014the happiness of being at home with you; with my father, with all my children, and the prospect of a harbour sheltered from that tempest of foul and malignant passions, through which it has been and still must be my lot to live, all this was included in the Commission so unexpectedly tendered me by the President and an unanimous Senate\u2014All this I have irrevocably put away from me\u2014and at a moment when according to a report current here, I am already superseded, in the mission to this Country.\u2014But in the beginning of last January, I was led to expect a recall, and I then informed the President that I should in such case remain here, as a private individual probably untill the next Summer\u2014The occasion which detains me, continues to this day, and I have no reason to think it will be possible for me to embark for America with my family, during the present year\u2014Neither can I ask or consent that the office should be kept open and unfilled another year to suit my private convenience. I have therefore declined it; and have not been under the necessity of sacrificing to selfish and prudential considerations my sober and deliberate opinion of my own comparative unfitness for the office\u2014my long formed and steadily entertained aversion to a Judicial Station, and my best feelings of personal friendship.\nWe were long in a state of uncertainty, whether the Navigation between this Country and the United States, would be at all admitted during the few months of the present year, while the season allows it\u2014Before the British fleet appeared in the Baltic, a number of American vessels were detained by Danish privateers; and what is yet worse, four at least have been taken by french privateers and carried into Dantzick\u2014There was a party in England for declaring a general Blockade of the Baltic, from an idea, that it would force the Northern Powers to admit vessels and goods into their Ports under the British flag\u2014In reality it would have excluded them more rigorously than ever; and so the British Government appear themselves now to be convinced\u2014For although they have a very large force in the Baltic they have hitherto declared no blockade, and have suffered neutral vessels coming here freely to pass the Sound. upwards of thirty American vessels, have already arrived at Cronstadt since the Navigation commenced, and most of them within the last week.\u2014Several directly from the United States; but hitherto none, excepting the Washington, from Boston\u2014I wrote you more than a month since, by the William, Captain Standly, who sailed however only a few days past from Revel; and now I write by the Galatea, Captain Towne, a vessel belonging to Mr: W. R. Gray\u2014This and several other vessels by which I send public despatches or private letters, sail nearly at the same time, and if eventually successful in their voyages, will also arrive in America about the same time. In your letter of 4. March, you mention having requested me in a former letter to send you out by any vessel of Mr: Grays sheeting and table linen to the amount of one hundred Dollars\u2014Not having yet received that former letter, I know not in what proportions you would chuse to have each of the two Articles, and have therefore thought best to wait a little longer before I execute the Commission\u2014I expect there will be other vessels  Mr: Gray\u2019s here, besides those now ready to sail, and the Palafax, Captain Welsh is here, not yet ready to go.\u2014I shall be careful to perform your order, before the close of this Season; though I shall probably not come home with the goods myself.\nThere has been a prospect of War between France and Russia\u2014the natural consequence of which would be a peace between Russia and Great Britain\u2014I say this to you freely, because I believe it is no secret any where\u2014But I must renew a request which I made in one of my first letters to my brother after I left America\u2014Let nothing from my private letters be published in Newspapers, and in the communication of them even to friends, (holiday friends) let great reserve be used\u2014My very earnestness in this wish may seem ridiculous to you; but remember there are readers, and very sharp-sighted readers too in London, Paris and St: Petersburg as well as in Boston; New-York and Washington\u2014I have never learnt the art of turning my letters to my family and dearest friends into a diplomatic Correspondence\u2014I must write to you in careless confidence or I cannot write at all\u2014Yet, sloven as I am, I do not like to present myself in my night-cap and bed-gown, before assemblies of Emperor\u2019s, Kings Princes and Peoples\u2014still less to have reported to them, what I say about some of them to my nearest intimates; which though strictly true, and not improper for me thus to say, assumes a very different character, when appearing as if authorized by myself and under my name.\nBut I was saying there has been a prospect that Russia would have before this time Peace with Britain, and War with France\u2014Had it been realized I think the War between us and England would have been inevitable\u2014I have been strongly apprehensive it would be so at all events; from this obstinacy of the British Government in adhering to their orders of Council\u2014I pray God that it may prove otherwise, and that Mr: Foster whom they have now sent out as Minister may carry something which we can accept\u2014The orders of Council have brought upon England herself burdens which she cannot much longer bear, and infamy which she can never wash out\u2014A paper currency depretiating to nothing, and fraud and perjury, under public authority by her system of licences.\u2014Their Bank Bills are already thirty per Cent below par, and consequently the exchange is every where draining them of the precious metals\u2014They debate about it in Parliament, where the Chancellor of the Exchequer talks on the subject like a school-boy or a pettifogger\u2014he is told there is an excess of paper, and he asks for a definition of excess\u2014He hears that Spanish Dollars pass for six shillings sterling a piece, and he quibbles upon the meaning of depretiation\u2014Mean time the Bank piles million upon million of paper money\u2014the necessaries of life rise nearly if not quite in proportion to silver and gold\u2014There is a paper price and a specie price for every thing that can be bought and sold, and to crown the whole a man\u2019s person cannot be arrested for a debt after a tender of payment in paper, but his estate may be sold on Execution to effect a payment in coin\u2014The frauds and perjuries of the licence trade have been exposed, and they are the genuine though base-born offspring of the Orders in Council\u2014But the project of monopolizing the Commerce of the World still makes them cling to this base and disgraceful system, and Heaven alone can turn their minds from it\u2014When will Britain and France, and America become sensible that neither of them will ever attain the full extent of its pretensions, and begin to think of what each must yield to the pretensions of the other?\u2014The Emperor Napoleon is said to have made a speech not three months ago, asserting in the broadest terms that he would atchieve the utter ruin of Great-Britain\u2014How long will it be before he recovers from that delirium?\u2014God only knows; who for wise purposes, however mysterious to us, makes the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing\u2014\nI will write as soon as possible to my boys\u2014In the mean time I ask the Blessing of Heaven upon them; on my Father; on all the family around you, and Benjamin\u2019s portion upon you.\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1979", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Walter Hellen, 13 June 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Hellen, Walter\nMy Dear Sir.\nSt: Petersburg 1/13 June 1811\nI received a few days since, your kind letter of 11. January, containing the distressful intelligence of the heavy misfortune which had them just befallen you, in the loss of your nearest and dearest friend. Sympathizing with you sincerely in this severe dispensation of Providence, my concern is much aggravated, by the account you give me of your own state of health, and the anticipations which I fervently pray to God, may not be realized\u2014We had already been informed of your long and distressing illness, and were longing as we still long ardently for better tidings concerning you\u2014We yet indulge the hope that a merciful Heaven will spare you to your family and friends, and that this Letter may find you restored to them and to health.\nThe anxiety that you naturally feel on account of the future prospects of your children, and your recommendation of them to my kindness, has affected me deeply as it ought\u2014At this distance from my Country and from them, I know not in what manner it may be possible for me to be useful to them\u2014But be assured, My Dear Sir, that I have every motive that can influence my heart, to give them every assistance that they may need, and which may be in my power; and that if they should as you fear unhappily be deprived of their remaining Parent, I shall together with the other friends to whom you may commit the care of them, endeavour to supply, as far as it can be supplied, the place of Parents to them.\nI have not been able to obtain any information respecting the Tobacco which you had ship\u2019d by the John Andrew, Captain Bayne; but I been informed by Mr: Pitcairn, at Hamburg, to whom I had written to make enquiries in consequence of your former letters, that your other shipment of sixty Hogsheads had safely arrived at Tonning, and were by order of Messrs: Van Staphorst and Co: of Amsterdam put under the care of Messrs: Bauers of Altona, who are mentioned to me as a safe house From your own letter, I am led to hope that you had at least the certain information that the other adventure has also been safely landed\u2014They may therefore be considered as out of all danger, excepting the oppressive duties with which that as well as other Articles of American produce have been burthened in France and the Countries under French Dominion.\nI am much surprized to learn that the original of my letter of 8. August last to you, had not been received by you; so long after the arrival of Mr: Roberts in the United States. And I regret it the more, because with it was enclosed a letter from a very respectable commercial House here, containing a circumstantial account of the Russian Commerce which would have been extremely useful to you, in case you should have continued in the intention of attempting a speculation to St: Petersburg.\u2014It is however more than probable that the markets will be so overstocked with adventures from America the present year, that for your personal interest it will be best not to have been one of the adventurers\u2014Sweden and Russia, are the only Countries in the North of Europe where our trade can obtain admission; and the demand of those two Nations, for Articles which we can furnish them, as well as our demand for their Goods in return, is so extremely limited, that it is a branch of Commerce easily broken down by the weight of its own fruits\u2014Thirty-five American vessels, almost all with rich Cargoes have arrived at Cronstadt within the last month, and three or four times as many may be expected before the close of this Season, that is within the next four months For the Navigation of the Gulf of Finland is scarcely ever practicable more than five months in the year; and the last of them is extremely dangerous.\nThis same state of things has made it necessary for me to decline the appointment, which the President and Senate have bestowed upon me, as a Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States\u2014I have reason to suppose that it will be impossible for us to embark for America this year, and the office cannot wait for me untill the next.\nMy wife and Catherine have both been excessively distressed at the loss of their beloved Sister; and are deeply anxious respecting the state of your health, as well as that of their other sisters. An anxiety rendered more painful by their receiving no letters from Mrs. Johnson, or from any part of the family themselves\u2014I am aware\u2014and endeavour to persuade them that this forbearance arises altogether from motives of prudence and of regard to them; that the intelligence which must so profoundly afflict them, might at least reach them in as gentle a form as it could be presented\u2014They have both been several days ill\u2014my wife severely and alarmingly ill\u2014She is now far from well, but so far recovered as to flatter us that she will yet get safely through her time\u2014She expects to be confined in August.\nWe are otherwise in good health\u2014As I again pray to God that this may find you\u2014I beg to be remembered affectionately to Mrs: Johnson\u2014to your children, and to all the branches of the family in your neighbourhood\u2014Remaining with great regard and esteem, My Dear Sir, your friend and Servt\nJohn Quincy Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1980", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to John Adams, 15 June 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, John\nMy Dear Son\nSt: Petersburg 15 June 1811.\nI have received your letter dated the sixth of February last, and was very much delighted to see it so well written; because I know that it was written by yourself.\u2014I have marked it down, number one, and put it upon my file\u2014When your next letter comes, and I hope that will be soon, I shall compare the hand-writing with that of number one, and shall see what progress you make in writing. I trust that every letter you write me, will give me the pleasure of seeing it better written than the one before it.\nI also put number one to this letter, because it is the first that I write to yourself only, and in answer to the first from you to me\u2014I am very well pleased that you have resolved to keep your own file, and hope that it will be followed by an entertaining and instructive correspondence between us.\nI rejoice at being informed that you went so steadily to Mrs: Bass\u2019s school, and that you committed to memory the pieces that were given to you to learn.\u2014As you are now almost eight years old, and will, with God\u2019s blessing be in your ninth year when you receive this letter, I suppose you will have begun to go to school with your brother George at Mr: Whitney\u2019s; and then you must write me what you learn there. To whatever school you go, you must always be careful to learn as fast and as well as you can; not only because the more and the better you learn, the more your Parents and friends will love you, but because when you grow up to be a man, the more knowledge you possess the better enabled will you be to fulfill your duties to God and to your Country.\u2014\u201cTake fast hold of instruction\u201d says Solomon, the wisest of men; \u201clet her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.\u201d\nYour Mama, and Aunt Kitty, and brother Charles, are all pretty well; and we all long very much to see you\u2014But I fear we shall not be able to come home untill next year.\u2014Charles does not go to school yet; but he learns to read at home\u2014And he speaks English not quite so well as German, and a little better than French.\u2014About a fortnight ago, your Mama put away his petticoats and had him dressed in a jacket and pantaloons, such as you wear\u2014When he had worn them two or three days, I said to him \u201cnow Charles is a man\u201d\u2014\u201cYes said he\u2014but I am not a man when I go to bed\u201d\u2014That was because when he goes to bed he takes off his jacket and pantaloons\u2014don\u2019t you think it was a droll answer?\nGive my respects to uncle and Aunt Cranch, and my love to your brother George\u2014I wrote to him about a month ago, and intend to write to him again very soon.\nI am, my dear Son, your affectionate father\nJohn Quincy Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1981", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 20 June 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Thomas Boylston\nSt. Petersburg 20. June 1811.\nThe letters by Mr. Ewing have arrived\u2014And among them I have to acknowledge the receipt of your numbers 1. 2. and 3. of the new series, dated 20. 22. and 31. Jany. together with your account to the close of last year\u2014I have already acknowledged the receipt of your number 4/13 and I have within a very few days recd: your 5/14 dated 3. March.\nIn one of my late letters I sent you an exact list of all the Letters from you, together with their dates which I had untill then received.\u2014There were seven which with the five of the present year make twelve, exclusive of the account.\u2014There must therefore still be two of your last year\u2019s letters which I have never received.\u2014One of them is that of which you speak in the one of 20. Jany as having tied me of the compensation of the \u201cbuilding in Court that; of the situation of the New Market Interest, and of the fate of my Contract for the first Edition of my Lectures.\u201d\nYour number 4/13 had prepared me for disappointment, on receipt of the account; and in my last I threatened you with a second scolding in return for it\u2014I cannot say that the general result is satisfactory to me, but I shall reserve my particular remarks for a future letter.\u2014It is my earnest desire in what I shall have to say on the subject, to avoid if possible, wounding your feelings, to make every possible allowance, for the loss on one side, and the charges on the other, which however unexpected to me, were inevitable or necessary\u2014And perhaps then I shall honor duty, scrutinized my own expectations as well as your realities. I shall really find little to blame, but my own ill luck excepting that of which I said quite enough in my last letter\nIt is probable that you will have only one more occasion to furnish me an account of your receipts and expenditures for me previous to or upon my return home. In that case it may at all Events be needless for me to give you my further Instructions for the future\u2014Nevertheless I cannot forbear to repeat the injunction which I have so often given you before\u2014to pay my debts\u2014and not to  any money of mine to private accurity\u2014Light your fire with my Bank Bills sooner than lend it upon the note or Bond of my name, untill my debts are paid.\nI shall now take up your letters, in chronological order, and refer successively to the subjects, noticed in them, remembering my promise to give you a seperate answer to every single letter, and only reminding you of the Thread needle that maxim that method, however dull, \u201cis the soul of business.\u201d\nWith regard to the residence of my boys, I am now satisfied that they should remain where I placed them on leaving home\u2014I am not only sure that they will be treated there with all possible care and tenderness, but grateful as I ought to be for the constant kindness and affection that they have experienced there\u2014I should have been equally confident that they would have been carefully and affectionately treated in your family, and as a matter of pecuniary convenience both to yourself and me, I should have wished them with you. But what is convenient to us, may be convenient elsewhere too, and from the moment that I knew it contributed to the ease and comfort of declining years, and to support burthens which Heaven has seen fit recently to aggravate\u2014I cannot withdraw the little aid which this thrift may contribute to the purpose of pure benevolence, while fulfilling on my part the duties of the most vigorous Justice\u2014I shall regret the loss that George especially may sustain by not residing with you, particularly by missing the necessary means of preserving his French; but after all it will only cost him a little more trouble hereafter, and I flatter myself I shall eventually have the glory of teaching it to him all myself.\nIf you was surprized at my use of the term cockering, my surprize was in the fourth degree of comparison more than superlative, to find that it was not only new to you, but that you entirely mistook its import. As however it is a word the meaning of which it very materially imports you to know, give me leave to impart to you \u201cin dreadful secrecy,\u201d from a rare and curious Book called Johnson\u2019s Dictionary, the definition, derivation and illustration of this most mysterious word.\nTo C\u00f3cker, va (Coquiliner. French) To cede; to fondle; to indulge. Most children\u2019s constitutions are spoiled by cockering and tenderness. He that will give his son sugar plums to make him learn, Locke on Education: does but authorize his love of pleasure, and cocker up that propensity which he ought to subdue.\nBred a fondling and an heiress\nDress\u2019d like any Lady Maryress\nCocker\u2019d by the servants round,\nWas too good to touch the ground.\u2014Swift.\nNow don\u2019t you serve me as Cousin William Cranch did when I sent him an extract from Hume\u2019s History\u2014don\u2019t you threaten me with a quotation from Noah Webster\u2014for if you will look into his compendious Dictionary you will find that cockering is as good a word and as bad a thing for the children of New as for those of old England.\nI wish you had concluded to compromise the Turnpike business at the first turn, while the other party was in check; and when a moderate arm might have ransomed me from the effects of my own folly. I have little relish in throwing away good money after bad; and how can I expect that the real Justice of my cause should be discovered by the Court, when it was so egregiously misunderstood by my own Counsel, and that Counsel Mr. Dexter. If he does not know but I ought to pay the money, I have too much reason to believe that the Judge\u2019s uncertainty upon the same question will ultimately settle against me.\u2014The fraud and falsehood in obtaining my signature, and my neglect to take witnesses when before the Company had been at a dollar of expence, I told Lazell to strike out my name; and dispose of the shares to some other person, cannot be proved to the Court, and between you and me, since certain decisions of the Massachusetts Supreme Court, in the Half Moon business, and some other Circumstances upon which I do not wish to enlarge, I am not entirely confident that the merits of the case are sufficient to obtain a judgement from that tribunal, in a cause to which your or I may be a party.\nMr. Dexter told you that our defense was good in Law\u2014that my signatures was in its nature conditional\u2014that is, that I would take the shares, on the terms, prescribed by the Act of Incorporation\u2014and on the sale penalty of forfeiture of the shares, if they should not be paid for.\u2014Why, my dear friend, this is precisely the ground of my equitable defence\u2014It was my own undoubting conviction that such was exactly the extent of my obligation and no more, which made me sign my name so readily, upon the verbal promises of a stranger, and which made me afterwards content myself with telling Lazell most explicitly to withdraw my name, without taking legal evidence to substantiate the fact. From that time (April 1805 at Mr. J. Greenleafs house) I never considered myself as having any thing to do with the Company\u2014I never was notified of their meetings, and never had any opportunity of voting or acting as a proprietor Many months after, Lazell sent me Certificates of shares by Captain Beale, which I refused\u2014Lazell himself afterward sollicited me to take them without pretending that he considered me bound so to do\u2014I again refused them and in both instances referred to the promise made me by Lazell when I first signed, that the Company should proceed to no expences untill all the shares should be taken; and to my formal notice to Lazell, before any expence was incurred, to withdraw my name.\u2014If I had believed that instead of being obliged to transfer my shares, according to the act of incorporation; Lazell and his associates could go on accumulating charge upon charge, and at the end of five years sue me and recover money to pay for all their extravagant, and fraudulent expences, I certainly should have taken effectual  measures to escape their claws at an earlier period\u2014If nothing else could have been done, I could have claimed the benefit of forfeiting my shares, for the first payment\u2014If my ground in the suit is not equitable, I am sure I know not what equity is\u2014However as the cause is to be argued in October, to a full Court, I hope you will receive this letter before the Session of the Court; and I beg you to assure Mr. Dexter with my best respects, that if I believed my defence only a legal one, I would never have travelled the Supreme Court to decide it, or any Counsel to argue it. I have no doubt however but he will do me full Justice in the argument\nI have much yet to say, and little paper left\u2014So you must wait for my next number\u2014Only one word\u2014If you  have still a difficulty to pay off my debts, by partial payments; and have a balance unemployed in your hands consult Mr. Gray the Liett. Governor, on my behalf and at my request about it\u2014I find there is a new Insurance Company, of which he is President\u2014I wish you had vested the Balance you had in that Stock\u2014I know Mr. Gray will advise you judiciously and readily about it He has placed a similar confidence in me, in concerning his own, for the amount of ten times as much property as I ever did or ever shall own, And I feel perfectly secure of his friendship, in relation to any advise you  may ask of him on my account.\nWe are all well\u2014excepting as before excepted\u2014Expecting, in humble Hope\u2014and ever your\u2019s\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1983", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 21 June 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nmy dear son\nQuincy June 21 1811\nI write to you by every opportunity altho I hope you will have left St Petersburgh before this can reach you, but as there admits of a possibility that you may be Still, there,  I know it will be a great gratification to you to learn that your parents are Still living, and in health. your children too are well, and Good Children which is of more concequence than mere animal enjoyment.\nI have been in great distress for this fortnight for my dear Sister Cranch whose valuable Life has for more than a week, been desparid of from a plurisy fever & reduced to the very brink of the Grave. we now hope that her valuable Life may be preserved yet longer, to Sustain that of your uncle who could not many days Survive her, and for the Sake of her Motherless Grandchildren\u2014your Brother has been confined for 5 weeks from a fall from his Horse, which bruised him so much that an absess was formed upon his Thy thigh, which has been opend, and we now hope he is upon the recovery;\nThe Republican Majority are determined to Support Government. the opposite Party have conducted very rashly\u2014but I Shall not enter into any minute account of their proceedings as this Letter may have more chances than usual to run. Govr Gray was here yesterday and informd me that he had a vessel going from Newport, by which I Send this with Love affection and regard to the Family from yours,\nAA", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1985", "content": "Title: From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Smith Adams, 28 June 1811\nFrom: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nMy Dear Sister,\nAtkinson June 28th. 1811\nThe very sudden change of the weather last Sabbath, when I was in a high state of persperation; caused so great opression & hoarseness upon my Lungs, as made me feel quite sick, & detained me in Town a day longer than I intended\u2014As I had not sent to Mr Peabody, I thought best to send to Mr Parker, & go on Bag, & baggage, to our own Door in Atkinson by Wednesday Stage, which was much more convenient, than to Stop & take a chaise in Haverhill\u2014I arose about three Clock, found the weather gloomy as I felt\u2014Dressed me, & waked Cousin Abby\u2014She was soon ready\u2014& all the bundles at the Entry door, when the shrill Horn, & the rattling wheels gave signal of the Stage near at hand\u2014This waked our affectionate, attentive Mrs Foster, for he, poor Man, was too feeble to arise, & assist, as I know he would, had his health permited\u2014But she dear Woman, kindly prevents the wishes of her friends, & does all she can, for every One\u2014would not let me open the gate, but went Herself\u2014Mr Parker the Driver, was very good, & placed in all our things very nicely\u2014She had made some Coffee the night before, but neither of us could drink it\u2014nor eat\u2014So without being more than half awake, Cousin Abby placed herself in the Stage close by my side, very safe\u2014And Mr Driver proceeded to take up the other Passengers\u2014The Town, seemed in solemn silence all\u2014Sols bright, cheering radience was obscured by a thick Atmosphere, & scarce any One had risen to \u201cHail the new Day\u201d\u2014Presently the Stage stoped at a House, &, a Number of Gentlemen appeared equiped for their Passage\u2014As I wanted One to fill up the Vacancy in the seat, I eagerly cast my Eye around, & fixed upon him, whose air was modest, & dignified, whose Countenance was & Expression was literary, & Classical\u2014& requested him to take his seat on the same Box\u2014with me\u2014The thick Clouds had dissappointed my anticipated pleasure, of beholding Aurora dapplng the East with all the vivid colours of the rainbow, while the glorious Orb of Day, rises in peerless Majesty, & leads the mind gratefully to contemplate upon Him who \u201ccauseth the Day Spring high to know his Place\u201d\u2014\nThe late heat of the weather had relaxed every human Fibre\u2014Intelligence itself seemed withered\u2014& we all for some Time sat as Muets. Exhibiting the Noddeer, & the Nodde\u2014Every one, but your Sister fast asleep, & all \u201cthe Sweets of forgetfulness proved\u201d\u2014My Swain was dreaming of the Aonian Maids, I fancyed & looked as if invoking the aid of Urania\u2014His countenance was sweet, & so expressive of a rectified Heart, & Peace within, while his Head gently reclined upon my shoulder, that I could not be so cruel as to rouse him from his Elysium\u2014untill I could no longer refrain from the agitation of laughing at the droll Figure we all made\u2014He very politely appologized, & said, that he had been riding from New york all the Night before,\u2014& was greatly fatigued by the Journey\nThe weather was cool, we breakfasted at Reading a little after Six, arrived at Haverhill a quarter after Ten\u2014had the pleasure of announcing to Mr Harrod the birth of another Grandaughter, \u201cplump as a little Duck\u201d\u2014& safely reached our own Door, a few minutes before twelve\u2014where the thronged roof echoed, with, \u201cI am glad to see you\u201d\u2014How do ye, &ca\u2014After I got home, I had the mortification to find my hoarseness increase, & it was with great dificulty, that I could answer the numberless questions of my family\u2014To day I feel relieved, & am much better\u2014It is with, (I hope) a grateful heart that I reflect upon the convalescent state of our beloved Sister\u2014She has more important duties yet to perform, & Heaven is pleased to protract her Days, & will I trust afford her Strength in the Hour of Trial, should it see fit, to take from her, her Lover, & her Friend\u2014I think he has been so shaken that he cannot continue long\u2014but soon must his earthly Tabernacle fall\u2014His pure Spirit be welcomed to mansions of never ceasing bliss\u2014\nAfter so long an absence, to return, & find all the family in comfortable health, demands my grateful acknowledgements, to Him, \u201cwho is the Giver, of every good Gift, & the Health of our countenance\u2014\u201d\nCousin Abby Adams had a cold, but is better, attends to day the Academy, & seems quite happy with her companions\u2014\nMr Peabody, & my Daughter unite with me, in wishing the President, & you every needed Blessing\u2014With sentiments of / Love, Gratitude, & Esteem, I am ever /  Yours affectionately\nElizabeth Peabody\nPS Excuse the writing, I would copy it, if I thought it worthy, & had time\u2014\nTell mrs Adams, I know all her feelings respecting the absence of a beloved Daughter\u2014But what our judgment considers as best, we should view as a pleasure\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1987", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 30 June 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nSt: Petersburg 30. June 1811.\nI have now to acknowledge the receipt of your number 6. dated 22. February, brought by the Henry Captain Harris; a vessel of which we had heard nearly a Month since, and which has at length arrived after a passage from Boston of 100 days.\u2014The arrivals from America now crowd upon one another in multitudes which I am afraid will prove not very profitable to many of the adventurers.\u2014From Quincy we have yet nothing later than 4. March; but letters and newspapers have been received by other Americans here to the beginning of May.\nThe Massachusetts election appears to agitate the Americans in Europe almost exclusively; of all the other Elections going on at the same time in many parts of the Union, I see paragraphs in the newspapers, but hear not a syllable from any other Quarter\u2014But American Federalists in this City have received letters from their friends in London and in Gothenburg, in high exultation, announcing the Election of Mr: Gore by a majority of more than three thousand votes\u2014other Americans of different politics contest the validity of this return, and affirm that Mr: Gerry and Mr Grey have been re-elected, though by a reduced majority compared with that of the last year.\u2014Why this extreme anxiety and concern for the Massachusetts Election?\u2014Is it Mr: Gore, for whose elevation all this enthusiasm is harboured?\u2014I think it by no means difficult to account for\u2014There is much foreign hope and fear involved in these Massachusetts Elections\u2014All the rest\u2014even New-York are despaired of\u2014But the Massachusetts federal politicians have got to talk so openly and with such seeming indifference, not to say readiness of for a dissolution of the Union; they are so valiant in their threats of resistance to the Laws\u2014they seem so resolute for a little experiment upon the energy of the Union and its Government, that in the prospects of a War with America, which most of the British Statesmen now at the helm, consider as in the line of wise policy, they and all their partizans calculate boldly and without concealment or disguise upon the co-operation of the Massachusetts federalists\u2014The Massachusetts Election therefore is a touchstone of national principle, and upon its issue may depend the question of peace and War between the United States and EnglandHowever hostile a British Ministry may feel against us, they will never venture upon it untill they can depend upon an active co-operation with them, within the United States,\u2014It is from the New-England federalists alone that they can expect it, and from them they will doubtless received it\u2014From the same view of the subject, though prompted by very opposite feelings, I too take a deep interest in the Massachusetts Elections\u2014I have known now, more than seven years the projects of the Boston faction against the Union\u2014They have ever since that time at least been seeking a pretext and an occasion for avowing the principle\u2014The people however have never been ready to go with them; and when in the Embargo time they did for a moment get a majority with them, they only verified the old proverb about setting a beggar on horse-back\u2014Mr: Quincy has been at the pains now of furnishing them with a new pretext, which will wear no better than its predecessors\u2014Mr Quincy should not have quoted me as an authority for a dissolution of the Union\u2014He may be assured it is a doctrine that never will have my sanction.\u2014It is my attachment to the Union, which makes me especially anxious for the result of the Massachusetts Elections\u2014They are a contest of life and death for the Union\u2014If that Party are not ultimately put down in Massachusetts as completely as they already are in New-York and Pennsylvania, and all the Southern and Western States, the Union is gone\u2014Instead of a nation coextensive with the North-American Continent, destined by God and Nature to be the most populous and most powerful People, ever combined under one social compact; we shall have an endless multitude of little insignificant clans and tribes, at eternal War with one another, for a rock or a fish-pond, the sport and fable of European Masters and oppressors.\nLet me turn to your letter\u2014The President had informed me of that which you had written to him, and of which you have now sent me a copy\u2014The consequence was that on the 4th: day of January last I received his permission, communicated to me by the then Secretary of State, to return home\u2014The time however was left at my own option, and more than a month afterwards I received a private Letter from him (of the same date) with that of my official leave to go home) urging me to stay, if I could without making too great a sacrifice of my private interest.\u2014From the 4th: of January it was for more than five Months physically impossible for me to embark for America\u2014for although the river broke up rather earlier in the season than usual, the 10th: of this month was the day upon which the first vessel bound to the United States sailed from Cronstadt\u2014But besides this, on the 4th: of January, we were but just aware of another cause of detention, which might continue, untill it would be too late to embark during this year\u2019s navigable season, and which if so, would detain us untill June 1812\u2014I suppose you know why I say it might detain us, and why I yet say it may detain us untill that time\u2014We were and are looking forward to an uncertain period\u2014it may be longer or shorter\u2014It may even now still terminate in time to make it possible for us to embark this year\u2014But this is not our natural expectation\u2014I did therefore instantly determine, at all Events to stay though it should be at my own cost and in my capacity as a private individual\u2014I wrote so to the President, and waited for the next incident. That proved to be my appointment as a Judge; and it is said, the appointment of a successor to me here\u2014The condition of my family remains the same\u2014I cannot go\u2014I have declined the seat on the Bench, and I am patiently waiting the arrival of my successor\u2014I know that your letter to the President was written from the tenderest and most affectionate concern for myself and my family\u2014And I see that our letters to you on our first arrival here, fully justified all your alarm, on the foundation of which you wrote\u2014Happily for me, in fixing my establishment here, I did finally resolve to break through all the trammels of immemorial usage and indispensable extravagance\u2014I did buckle it down to the very edges of my means\u2014I make no debts\u2014and shall make none, if I can go home immediately upon the cessation of my public character\u2014A year of expence without compensation, and with the additional burthens of an increased family, must inevitably encroach upon my Estate in America; but excepting that I shall sink no Capital\u2014\nYou enquire what my illness in March and April of last year, mentioned in one of my former letters, was\u2014It was complicated\u2014A very severe cold, with an excessive inflammation of one eye\u2014A broken shin (how it came I never knew) which fretted and inflamed untill it laid up my leg for a fortnight\u2014A nervous fever, caught by keeping late hours, by surfeiting banquets, and by the harrassing vexations incident to my situation at that time\u2014My letter from which you sent the President an extract, gave you a general idea of them\u2014the details would be manifold, and tedious\u2014All together they confined me to my bed and chamber about a Month, since which time I have enjoyed my health and Spirits remarkably well.\u2014We have kept house more than a year, very comfortably, and allowing for suitable sacrifices of Vanity very agreeably.\u2014We have Society, both European and American, as much as we desire, and may have more when we please\u2014I have had official business enough to do to occupy all my time, it is perhaps not business of such high importance and deep responsibility as an ambitious man might wish to be charged with; but I am not an ambitious man\u2014My coming here was not of my own seeking\u2014But after having accomplished a Voyage of 6000 miles\u2014nearly half of which was a Baltic Navigation in October, I have no special eagerness to return through the same risks, with a family so much more unfitted to encounter them\u2014The worthy friends of mine who began by charging me with meddling to exclude American Commerce, have now changed their Notes\u2014The Mission to Russia now needs nothing but \u201ca vigilant officer of the Customs\u201d; and Mr: A. is admitted to have discharged its duties sufficiently\u2014If I am suited to the service, the service is assuredly suited to me\u2014From the instant that the public interest shall be deemed to be accommodated by my recall, I would if possible fly from here upon the wings of the winds\u2014But for me\u2014I want no other Office, at home or abroad\u2014I must indeed go home to my children and my Parents, without unnecessary delay; but do you think when I do come home that I shall be suffered to live in Peace?\nMy father laughs at me and says \u201cit is a terrible thing to be a man of so much importance\u201d\u2014I think he will have the pleasure of another laugh at my consequential airs, when he reads what I have written to him and to you, with regard to publications from my letters\u2014But although I have suggested their inconvenience, I do sincerely thank you for that which you did allow\u2014the motive is entitled to all my gratitude, and the effect, my justification from an infamous calumny appears to have been complete.\nI shall procure and send you the sheeting and linnens according to your orders; and I will if possible send them out, by our old friend the Horace, which has found the way to Cronstadt again, unexpectedly\u2014This letter I mean to send by the Palafax Captain Welsh, but she goes so immediately after the receipt of your letter that I shall not be able to procure the Articles to go by her.\u2014We have been suffering nearly a week from the excessive heat of the weather\u2014The Sun is eighteen hours and a half of the twenty-four above the horizon, and the night is scarcely cooler than the day\u2014My blessing to my boys.\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1988", "content": "Title: To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 30 June 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, John\nExtract of a letter from Mr John Quincy Adams.\nSt: Petersburg 30th of June 1811.\n\u201cThe Massachusetts election appears to agitate the Americans in Europe almost exclusively; of all the other Elections going on at the same time in many parts of the Union. I see paragraphs in the Newspapers, but hear not a syllable from any other Quarter\u2014But American Federalists in this City have received letters from their friends in London, and in Gottenburg in high exaltation, announcing the election of Mr. Gore by a majority of more than three thousand votes\u2014And other Americans of different politicks contest the validity of this return, and affirm that Mr: Gerry and Mr: Gray have been re-elected, though by a reduced majority compared with that of the last year.\u2014Why this extreme anxiety and concern for the Massachusetts Election?\u2014Is It Mr: Gore, for whose elevation all this enthusiasm is harboured?\u2014I think it by no means difficult to account for. There is much foreign hope and fear involved in these Massachusetts Elections\u2014All the rest\u2014even New York are despaired of\u2014But the Massachusetts federal politicians have got to talk so openly and with such seeming indifference, not to say readiness for a dissolution of the Union: they are so valiant in their threats of resistance to the Laws\u2014They seem so resolute for a little experiment upon the energy of the Union, and its Government, that in the prospects of a War with America, which most of the British Statesmen now at the helm, consider as in the line of wise policy, they and all their partizans calculate boldly and without concealment or disguise upon the co-operation of the Massachusetts federalists\u2014The Massachusetts Election therefore is a touchstone of national principles and upon its issue may depend the question of peace and War between the United States and England\u2014However hostile a British minority may feel against us, they will never venture upon it untill they can depend upon an active co-operation with them, within the United States\u2014It is from the New England federalists alone that they can expect it, and from them they will doubtless receive it\u2014From the same view of the subject, though prompted by very opposite feelings, I too take a deep interest in the Massachusetts Election.\u2014I have know now, more than seven years the projects of the Boston faction against the Union\u2014They have ever since that time at least been seeking a pretext and an occasion for avowing the principle\u2014The people however have never been ready to go with them; and when in the Embargo time they did for a moment get a majority with them, they only verified the old proverb about setting a beggar on horse-back\u2014Mr Quincy has been at the pains now of furnishing them with a new pretext, which will wear no better than its predecessor. Mr Quincy should not have quoted me as an authority for a dissolution of the Union. He may be assured that it is a doctrine that never will have my sanction. It is my attachment to the Union, which makes me especially anxious for the result of the Massachusetts Elections\u2014They are a contest of life & death for the Union\u2014If that party are not ultimately put down in Massachusetts as completely as they already are in New York & Pennsylvania, & all the Southern & Western States, the Union is gone\u2014Instead of a nation co-extensive with the orthAmerican Continent, destined by God & Nature to be the most populous & most powerful People, ever combined under one social compact; we shall have an endless multitude of little insignificant clans and tribes, at eternal War with one another, for a rock or a fish-pond, the Sport & fable of European Masters and oppressors.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1990", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, 30 June 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Greenleaf, Lucy Cranch\nMy Dear Neice\nQuincy June 30 1811\nI promised to write you what I considerd the State of Your Dear Mother. She has appeard since you left her to be mending Slowly, has Slept considerable at night. her Sleep has not been altogether quiet, a Groaning which you no doubt observed attended it. She had taken the Bask Several times, but yesterday was obliged to quit it, her mouth and Stomach being very Soar, and her Breast tight. her nerves were much agitated, and a hack cough very troublesome yesterday, which prevented her lieing down or Sleeping. I think the cold change of weather obstructed her persperation, and brought on some fever. I thought her too low yesterday to be left without a Watcher. Mrs Dexter was with her last night, and reported to me this morning that she rested the latter part of the night\nLouissa was with her yesterday and is so again to day. I was with her in the afternoon of yesterday, and Shall See her again this afternoon\u2014\nJust returnd from your Seeing your Mother. She is better to day. her Mouth is very Soar. the Sparce is covering it, but her other complaints have Subsided. She has slept Some to day. your Father is much better than he was last week\u2014I hope my dear Neice that both parents may be continued to their family and Friends, and restored to health and usefullness again. I am most affecly / Your Aunt\nA Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1992", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Anonymous, June 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Anonymous\nmy dear Madam\nJune 1811\nyour two last favours of May 18th & 29th are now before me unreplied to. my apology must be that it has been our general Election for of the High, altho nigardly paid office of Govr Leiut Govenour Senators & Legislature. and pray Madam methinks I hear you ask what have you to do in it. why really nothing at all, but to give them my good wishes. but you must know that at this period there is a collecting together Friends and Relatives from all parts of the State, Some to attend the Annual Festival, and others to meet their acquaintance. accordingly we have a larger proportion of company at this period than at any other part of the Year\u2014having had a number of Friends to visit me, my time has been occupied in attending to them, and upon my Son who was thrown from his Horse three weeks Since, and most Severly bruized So that he has been confined ever Since to his Bed, chiefly, I hope he is upon the recovery but think it will Still be a work of Time.\nI am now to thank you for your interesting communications from St Petersburgh, as well as from Washington\nThe High and distinguishd honers confered by the Imperial Family upon mr Adams and his Family will ever be acknowledged as a Respectfull and Friendly disposition of the Emperor towards America and gratefully as it personally respects Regards her Minister. I am not anxious for fear any of their Heads Should be turned. Courts have been too Familiar to mr and mrs Adams for them to be renderd vain by the distinctions Shown them however marked, and most certainly those of the Emperor Alexander have been pecularly So. we will allow Kitty to feel herself particularly honourd and flatterd by the emperors urbanity politeness and graciousness. She ought to entertain a high Sense of it\u2014but her good Sense will instruct her what use to make of it whenever She returns to this Country\u2014where envy would be excited by and those passions which would do her more real injury, than all the distinctions She has received could possibly benifit her. \u201cI was not a little pleased at her observation, that her travells, had renderd her Modest\u201d Books may instruct & inform the mind, but we must Rise with the world, to learn Mankind\u2014\nwhich we Shall find \u201ca wild where weed and flowers promiscuous shoot\u201d\nyou observe that the Federal papers abuse the president for the concequences of the engagement between Commodore Rogers and the little Belt. If the president was not assailed I Should think he had not done right. The honour of the American Flag has been nobly Supported\u2014and the insolence of the opponent properly Chastized\u2014I regret the poor fellows who fell in concequence of the misconduct of their Commander but Innocent Blood has been Shed to appease the Slander of innocent Blood, as it Should Seem. we know who hath declared vengance is mine I will repay it,\u2014pray my dear Madam read with attention Govr Gerrys Speech at the opening of the Legislature. do not let the Length of it terrify you. I unite with him in allmost all he has said\u2014The assemblage as he Stiles them, the Leaders particularly deserve all the Chastisement he has given them. The Anglomanes and the alias the Junto will abuse him for it\u2014but he cares little for that\u2014He has not any pecuniary motive to be their Govenour, but quite otherways\u2014he is superiour to their favors and their flattery he would despice\u2014he Speaks the truth boldly to them and he does it in the language and Stile of a Gentleman\u2014the Speech must be highly approved by every Friend to the honour and interests of our Country.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1993", "content": "Title: From Alexander Hill Everett to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 6 July 1811 to 18 July 1811\nFrom: Everett, Alexander Hill\nTo: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson\nVibourg. July 6\u201318. 1811.\nI reached this place, Madam, after a ride of 22 hours. I cannot refuse myself the satisfaction of sending you a few lines; not only because I suppose, it will be the first letter you ever received from here and perhaps the last you ever will, but because I think it the most effectual remedy  against being forgotten at the first post. It cannot be supposed that I have in an absence of 22 hours obtained any information of great moment or unveiled any diplomatic secrets, that would deserve to be transmitted in cypher. I have merely seen\u2014but I anticipate the contents of my letter, before I have finished the introduction. I think you may have observed, Madam, that there is a happy elasticity in the springs of all the intellectual operations of men, which occasions them to resist with a very slight assistance and overcome very great pressures. You have no doubt in consequence of my note of yesterday of the great abattement  which I was suffering on leaving your family: which was not much lessened by taking leave yesterday morning of a number of good friends and I parted from Mr. Adams with tears in my eyes. Gray and myself indulged in some melancholy reflexions, as we rode out beyond the gate, the chamber of which was blackened by the cloudiness of the day and the foulness of the road. We talked of the flight of years and the frailty of men: His leaving me was the last accession to my really melancholy situation and you must confess yourself that such a complication of woes was enough to press a royal merchant down, much more one, who is neither merchant nor royal. As I advanced, the clouds retired from the sky and the roads began to grow better. The fields were strewed with all sorts of wild flowers, on which not being botanist enough to tell exactly in what page of Linnaeus to find them all, I bestowed names to my fancy. There was the \u201cwaving heath with blossoms red,\u201d the blue harebell which by the advice of Mr. Sevlt I suffered to flourish still: the daisy, that little flower with silver crest and golden eye and many, many more than I can tell. I plucked a few bundles of them and placed in my bonnet upon which I felt a great awakening. The country for the first two stages was still exceedingly pleasant and at 50 min. past 8, as I reached the third stage, therm. at 18\u00b0 Reaumur, the sun went down most beautifully over the land of our nativity. All these things were so delightful, that they immediately reminded me of those lines of Beattie, which not doubting you know them by heart, I shall transcribe for your amusement.\nOh how canst thou renounce the boundless store\nOf charms, that nature to her votary yields;\nThe warbling woodland, the resounding shore\nThe pomp of groves and garniture of fields\nAll that the genial ray of morning gilds\nAnd all that glitters to the beam of even\nAll that the mountain\u2019s sheltering bosom shields\nAnd all the dread magnificence of heaven\nOh how canst thou renounce and hope to be forgiven.\nHaving, or I trust, given you some idea of the face of the country, I shall now, Madam, endeavor to illustrate the character of the people that inhabit it, a race of men entirely different from the Russians in language and manners, who call themselves Tchoudes. They are not so comely and well-made as the Russians, and I think them an inferior race of people. In order to ascertain what their notions are of government and politics, I made Th\u00e4us ask a postilion, who, tho\u2019 young had as intelligent a face, as any I had seen whether he knew any word for Gorudas, but he could not be made to understand the term. In order to come still nearer home, Th\u00e4us asked him by my direction what the name of his master was on which point he was equally ignorant. This rather proved the postilion\u2019s ignorance or want of comprehension, than the deficiency of the language and on inquiring at the next tavern (which I have long made it a  & point to consider as the only mode of resolving difficulties) I found that Emperour was K\u00e4sar and King K\u00f6ning, both Swedish words.\u2014Their difference from the Russians appears very strongly in the language, which has no affinity with the Russian. There is a vast  deal of humming and haing in it or aspiration. I obtained from the intelligent postilion abovementioned a list of the numbers as far as five, which are as follows. Kax 1. Yux 2. Kolomy 3. Mees 4. T\u00e2tsomy 5. In order to retain them better in memory, I put them into verse, which I transcribe for your use if you should have the same disposition. Kax, Yux, A nest of rooks, Kolomy Mees. We\u2019re all of a piece T\u00e2tsomy, One two many, imitated from the old poem, One, two, come buckle my shoe &c.\nYou will observe, if you please, Madam, that these numerals have no apparent resemblance either with the Gothic or Teutonic\u2014the Latin or Greek or the Sclavonian dialects, which are commonly considered the sources of all the languages of Europe. These three fountain languages have indeed considerable resemblances, tho\u2019 commonly looked upon as originally different, which is evidently proved by the same example, by which we have proved the difference of the Russian and Tchoud languages viz, the first five numerals, which are for example in German Ein zwei, drei fier f\u00fcnf. In Greek. Heis, duo, trees, tessares, pente. in Russian, Oden, dva, tre, chetere, pait, all of which are more or less like each other and not at all like Kax Yux, &c, which resemble more the croaking of a crow, than any thing human.\nIl faut tout dire says Voltaire. I met on the first stage, a couple of persons with dark swarthy faces and black beards, at whose appearance Th\u00e4us was a good deal puzzled. He first pronounced that they looked like priests and giving up that idea, he thought they looked like rascals. At last he concluded that they were a couple of descendants from the old worshipper of Osiris and Isis, that travel about the world under the name of Zangari and tell fortunes for a few copecks. They conversed very fluently in Tchoud with our intelligent postilion, who was then on the box.\u2014This is all, that occurs to me at present, worth communicating. Perhaps as I go on I may get  some more particulars of this  very singular race of beings.\nPresent my best regards to all your family, particularly to Charles and permit me to offer my assurances of perfect respect and devotion. (The two preceding letters were not sent.)", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1994", "content": "Title: From William Cranch to Abigail Smith Adams, 7 July 1811\nFrom: Cranch, William\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nDear Madam\nWashington July 7th. 1811.\nUpon receipt of your kind letter of the 17th. ulto. I was too deeply afflicted by the information it contained even to thank you for it, as I aught to have done. I inferr\u2019d from it that my dear mother had gone to join the departed spirits of her mother, her father and those other friends from whom she had been so long separated by death. It was A day or two pass\u2019d before I was undeceived; so that your kind letter had fully prepared me to meet the dreadful certainty which I every moment expected. The parting pang was over. Her restoration (if it shall please heaven to restore her to health) will to me be like a resurrection. Next to our Gratitude to the great disposer of Events, is that to you, my dear Aunt, and her other kind friends, for their your tender assiduities during her sickness. As for myself, while I have life & recollection, I can never cease to be grateful to you, not only for this particular instance of your goodness, but for the thousand, thousand kind offices you have render\u2019d to all branches of our family.\nHow solitary would have been the last days of my father! How desolate his habitation! But I will not dwell upon a scene which may never be realized. I will rather hope that the clouds which hang round the evening of his life may grow brighter as his sun declines.\nI am happy to find by my father\u2019s letter that you have hear\u2019d from Mr. Adams at St. Petersbugh and that he and his family were well the last of March.\nI was, as you may well believe, much gratified with his appointment to a seat on the bench of the Supreme Court; although for the good of my country I wish his Sphere of action were more enlarged. His talents as a statesman will be more important than his services as a Judge. We might possibly find such another Judge, but we may in vain look for another such statesman.\nI was also much pleased to find hear of the appointment of Mr. T. B. Adams to a seat on the bench of Massachusetts, though I believe there is more of honour than profit attendant upon the office.\nPlease present him & Mr. Adams my affectionate remembrance.\nTo my dear & venerated Uncle present my most grateful & affectionate respects\u2014and to Miss Smith my kindest regards.\nWe are all well\u2014Mrs. Cranch joins in every sentiment of respectful & affectionate gratitude, with which / I am, my dear Aunt, / your respectfully affectionate / Nephew\nW. Cranch.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1995", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 10 July 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Thomas Boylston\nSt: Petersburg 10. July 1811.\nWe are in the midst of the bustle of a removal\u2014I wrote you some time since that we were in the predicament of having the house in which we live sold over our heads\u2014afterwards I told you, as I was told by my landlord that the bargain was broken off, and we should remain in the house\u2014About ten days ago my Landlord came and informed me that it was sold, and that if I could go out on the first of July Old Style, it would be a great accommodation to the purchaser, who wished then to come in\u2014Luckily there was a pleasant house in the Country, about two miles without the City, which was to be let, and which I immediately engaged for the remainder of the Summer\u2014If we stay here next Winter as in all probability we must, I shall have the trouble and vexation of house hunting, as well as that of removing again in September\u2014In other respects the Country residence for two or three months will be preferable to that of the Summer.\nA few days since I received your favour of 19. March\u2014As it is short and not numbered I suppose I am to consider it as a volunteer\u2014The abundances of letters received from you and others of our friends since the Summer commenced has in some sort compensated for the long interval during which we were deprived of them.\u2014As long as the Waters flow, we have very frequent, and often very recent intelligence from our CountryThe public news we generally get from the Gazettes.\u2014For example I find in the Boston papers which I have seen to 8. May, that you was one of three Commissioners appointed to go into the District of Maine, and that you were at Wiscasset the first day of that month\u2014I was happy to hear so much as that of you, and of so late a date\u2014But I marvelled that you had mentioned nothing of this appointment in any of your letters. The first accounts that we had of the Massachusetts Elections (they came from England) were that Mr. Gerry and Mr. Gray were superseded by the federal Candidates. This I find was a miscalculation\u2014But the complexion of both Branches of the Legislature remains yet very uncertain\u2014Massachusetts appears still to depend upon foreign Politicks.\nThe Port Folio Critique upon my Lectures has never presented itself to me, neither am I at all anxious to see it\u2014I never heard of its existance but by your letter of 22d. Jany:\u2014If it is as dull as the Knickerbocker History, I should chuse to be excused from reading it\u2014Whatever may be my fate elsewhere, I am sure I shall  never have an impartial Critic in America, while I am myself alive\u2014No one but a friend or foe will take the trouble to review me; or a mongrel of both breeds like the anthologist\u2014As to the Port Folio to which you and I once rendered so many thankless services. I expect as little Justice from it, as from all the other federal common Sowers of Literature and politicks in America\u2014How the Port Folio under all its metamorphoses has lived so long is to me unaccountable\u2014I think it  has now received its death wound from Walsh whose Review will be edited with more talents, more Industry, more Consistency, and incomparably more address. I have seen Walsh\u2019s pamphlet on France and the first number of his Review. Making allowances for the prejudices and passions of a violent Partizan, his account of France appears to be tolerably correct; but his bombastical enthusiasm for England is not only so absurd but so full of representations ridiculously false, that it has given me a strong suspicion of his honesty\u2014It looks too much as if it was calculated for the federal swallow, (for which no camel is too big) with a cool and deliberate contempt of truth\u2014He has had the cunning to declare himself a warm friend to the American Revolution\u2014Dennie and the Anthology, were more candid and more in unison with English Passions\u2014Walsh will find it hard, very hard to get along with his ardour for the American Revolution, and his worship of John Bull, marching pari-passu. He sets out with the avowed intention of indoctrinating the People of America to know what is good for themselves\u2014Ames tried that Experiment for several of the last years of his life\u2014Timothy labours in the same vineyard\u2014and they recommend themselves to their auditory, began by telling them that they were all a pack of Knaves and fools & madmen. Hopeful disciples to turn into wise and sober and virtuous Patriots!\u2014Walsh is more cunning too in this respect\u2014He does not begin so much like the Irish Orator with you \u201cragged, beggarly, lousy rascallions, I love you, you know I do.\u201d But he tells us the Country is hideously metamorphosed since the days of Washington, and promises very kindly to change it back again to all its former beauty\u2014There is no character which our federal heroes are so fond of assuming as that of a reformer\u2014But it is not like their Charity\u2014it never begins at home.\nMr. Blodget of Philadelphia, arrived here last week and brought me a letter from our friend J. Ewing\u2014Though it was written last August, he mentions having received the copy of my Lectures which you had sent him\u2014But does not tell me, what I first learnt from Mr. Blodget, that he was married\u2014I believe Dennie now remains the only bachelor of your old circle of intimates at Philadelphia, and he I understand lives entirely with Mr. Meredith.\nWe have had since our first arrival here a continual succession of Americans, so that we dwell among our own People, almost as much as if we were at home\u2014The winter before last sixteen American vessels wintered at Cronstadt and several at Archangel.\u2014Upwards of one hundred and fifty arrived at and sailed from Russian Ports last Summer.\u2014More than thirty pass\u2019d the last winter in them, and sixty three have already arrived this Summer at Cronstadt, besides twenty or thirty at Archangel and Riga\u2014a large proportion of these vessels have supercargoes or owners, and many of them bring letters of introduction to me\u2014They are for the most part transient acquaintance who remain here only while their business detains them, but they enliven our Society, and by their own Correspondences with America, keep us informed of the principal news in circulation sooner than we can obtain it from our own.\u2014Some of them are naturalized Americans, but the greater number are natives of the Northern and Eastern States as far as Virginia inclusive\u2014Of the States South or West of that I think I have not seen a native since I have been in Russia.\nHaving cooled down to a proper degree of temperature from the disappointment which I have acknowledged to you that I felt on the receipt of your Account, I may now suggest to you some of the observations which on due reflection, remain upon my mind after its examination.\nI cannot forbear to request that you would for the future be less indulgent to tenants in the Article of repairs\u2014If you suffer yourself to be frightened into expence for them by every tenant who chuses to threaten that he will leave the house without them, you will not only have the rents wholly absorbed, but as you have done in Hefferan\u2019s case, make the house a charge instead of an income\u2014For such tenants as Hefferan not a cent of expence should ever be allowed for repairs\u2014yet you have charged me nearly fifty dollars, for Carpenter\u2019s Work and laying a floor in his Cellar; for which there was no sort of necessity.\u2014Tenants are always clamorous for repairs, and Landlords almost always refuse them\u2014I am now going into a house the Landlord of which refuses even to repair the broken windows\u2014I am going out of a house where I have had a Landlord noted as one of the best and most liberal in St: Petersburg\u2014He has very civilly refused to incur the expence of repairs in every case when we have asked them.\u2014Yet many of them have been so necessary, that I have had them done at my own expence; and now the house is sold and I had ten days notice to quit\u2014your charges for repairs upon all my houses are far beyond my expectations, and I must earnestly recommend to you to be close handed and not quite so good natured\u2014you have always a sufficient excuse plead your orders.\nAnother charge you have voluntarily assumed for me, by paying nearly a hundred dollars a year town Tax for me\u2014I ought not to have been taxed a Cent\u2014It is all for my real Estate, for those same houses, and you should have stipulated with every tenant that he should pay the taxes\u2014\nThere are numbers of your charges that I do not understand\u2014Such as Discount for foreign bills\u2014Joseph Faxon\u2019s account\u2014Bills for Posts and Rails for farm\u2014Taxes in Braintree Quincy and Milton\u2014Charles Newcomb\u2019s bill for work done in Briesler\u2019s time\u2014and several others\u2014of the Taxes and repairs I must say the same as I said of those in Boston\u2014of the repairs on your own house, great as they are, I will repeat that as they were for your comfort and that of your family, and as they were in amount, so much beyond your intentions, I freely allow them\u2014But I leave to your own reflections whether you ought to charge me a Commission of 2 1/2 per Cent, for expending my money, to your own use.\nAt the close of the present year, the lease of the house in Court Street will expire I wish you to lease it at public Auction, for five or seven years, to one tenant, who must stipulate to pay all the taxes, repairs and charges upon it during the term\u2014to deliver it up at the end of the term in as good condition, as he takes it, reasonable use excepted, and to pay the rent quarterly, giving security to your satisfaction for punctual payment.\nI still expect to pass the next Winter here\u2014But whether as a public or a private man, is altogether uncertain, as it depends upon the pleasure of P. U. S.\u2014I rejoice therefore that you promise to continue writing untill you hear of my intention to return home.\u2014All well.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1996", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, 10 July 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nMy Dear Sister\nQuincy July 10th 1811\nNot having Wholy dissolved by the intense heat of the last week, I am enabled from a change of the weather to take my pen, in lieu of my fan, and to ask you how much of you is left? when I Saw how much you sufferd the Saturday I left you in Boston from the heat, I was not a little anxious for you the last week: when it was 20 degrees hotter. I know not whether for four days together, I ever endured more from heat, and poor Juno labourd so hard for existance as any of us.\nour dear Sister Sustaind it to astonishment, altho She was weakend with it. She is frail feble and panting, recovers very slowly, is Short breathd, and cannot walk or move without loosing her Breath. her Mouth is better, her appetite was good as we could expect, and as fancyfull as sick people usually are, but what a wreck does age and Sickness make of the human Frame? Such a Struggle for existance, which appears Scarce worth holding when obtaind. how justly does the Scripture describe it, Labour and Toil and pain, but what a Glorious prospect opens to our view. this Corruptable, shall put on incorruption, and this Mortal shall put on immortality. Let us look through this vale and trust the Ruler of the Skies.\nWhy my dear Sister your Letter was as fancifull as romantic as mrs Ratcliff\u2014I Should say it was the ospring of one Score, rather than three, yet you left us in the dark as to the name of the Modest Swain \u201cwhose air was dignified where expression was literary and classical\u201d but whom Morpheus placed upon your ShoulderSusan was very earnest for a further history respecting him\u2014\nLast Sunday morning arrived here through all the dust and heat of the week, my dear daughter Smith, with John and Caroline they came in an open carriage, a Light waggon upon springs Such as they use in their part of the State, and in 6-days from their own door. I need not Say how much rejoiced we were to meet after a Seperation of three years, and a half. Mrs Smith is gone to Town to day to consult dr Welch respecting her complaint which has not yet appeard to injure her health, altho the appearance is Allarming. I pray heaven it may not terminate in one of the most to be dreaded of all complaints.\nI have Spent part of yesterday, and of this day with our dear Sister. She Says I must write for her, and thank you for your Letter. She is not able to hold a pen, but the disposition for talking is as great as ever, and the care about her Family predominant in her mind She exhausts her Spirits and Strength, by talking. She cannot bear to be left alone, and we are some or other of us with her almost every day. our dear Brother has revived with the hopes of her recovery upon whom, under heaven, his own existance depends. I do not think our Sister can possibly be able to attend to her Family for many Months to come, if ever. the Springs of Life are languid and worn down\nand now I must ask my dear Grandaughter how She is? She must not think Quincy cooler than Atkinson. we Slept with all our windows wide open. I hope She is content. I will attend to her wants as soon as my Tennant will attend to mine\nwe have to day some rain. I hope the life blessing is extended to you. Many persons fell sacrifices to the heat of the last week, both in our own State, and others. I have not heard of any in this Town. pray my dear Sister Send Abbe on as Soon as you can Spair her. She will be an acquisition to us, and much comfort to our Sister who she can be occasionally with; we will all take our turns. John returns tomorrow with regret, that he cannot visit Atkinson first. he desires to be affectionatly rememberd to Mr Peabody to you and the Abbe\u2019s Mrs Smith also presents her duty and hopes to see you, and yours before She returns\u2014\ncompany and many avocations oblige me to bid you adieu. Respects and Love were due / From your Sister\nA AdamsJuly 11th", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1997", "content": "Title: From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Smith Adams, 13 July 1811\nFrom: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nAtkinson July 13th. 1811\nI hope my Dear Sister\u2019s Fibres are not so relaxed by the late intense heat of the weather, as not to be able to hold a Pen, & by her communications inform, comfort, & eddify her anxious Sister, & Friends\u2014I was agreeably supprized by receiving two very kind letters from our good Brother Cranch, since my return to Atkinson\u2014They gave me a very gratifying account of our dear Sister\u2019s gradual restoration to health\u2014Even from the brink of the Grave\u2014For it seemed to me for three Days, as if her Soul, stood quivering on the verge of Life\u2014to it almost bound & not fly hence\u2014No doubt, it has pleased heaven to preserve her life for the performance of many more important Duties\u2014& will I hope strengthen her in the time of Trial\u2014\nIt was doubly pleasing to me to receive information of the family by my Brother Cranch because, when I left him, I really feared he would never be able to write again, or his earthly Tabernacle long continue\u2014\nHe mentioned your receeving Letters from your Son\u2014Had he heard of his Judicial appointment?\u2014Do you expect his return in the Fall?\u2014Have you received any farther account, from your dear Daughter Smith?\u2014\nTo these, & many more family Concerns, I think my good, kind Sister will answer soon, if she is able\u2014\nHow did the ever worthy President, bear the uncommon warmth of the Season? Even the strong nerves of Mr Peabody was entirely relaxed\u2014We could scarcely work, or eat last week\u2014& few of us could sleep\u2014& all Study at Our House was at a low Ebb\u2014I could not reprove, for I had not strength\u2014I thought of my feeble Sister, but hoped it did not oppress her as us\u2014I felt anxious for my Son, I found the heat, almost killed Him\u2014I did not leave the Town my Sister, till I myself, heard Mr & Mrs Salles say, they would receive him as a Boarder, as soon as they could get a proper House\u2014\nCousin Abby seems very contented, & Mr Pose, says she does well, for a beginner\u2014How does your Son Thomas, & his Wife, & Children? Mrs Adams, & all?\u2014I left your Shade in Mrs. Fosters Bereau\u2014I think, I hope you have got it safe\u2014I wore it to meeting, & intended to have put it in a paper directed to you, but forgot to\u2014\nI hope you will excuse this bad hurried scrawl, & accept of my affectionate regards & of Mr Peabody, Abby\u2019s, high Esteem, conveyed through the medium of your Sister\nE P\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1998", "content": "Title: To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 21 July 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, John\nMy Dear Sir.\nSt: Petersburg 21 July 1811.\nAmerican vessels are now pouring upon us in floods\u2014I wrote you less than a month since that there had then arrived at Cronstadt forty since the opening of the year\u2019s Navigation; and already the number exceeds ninety, besides as many more at Archangel and the other Russian Ports\u2014They have already glutted the markets untill they are forced to disgorge; but I hear that they are still coming by the hundred\u2014I am sorry for the adventurers\u2014They will almost universally make ruinous voyages.\nTo us however they furnish the advantage of bringing numbers of our Countrymen, bearers of news and newspapers from the United States; and occasionally, though very rarely a letter from some one of our friends. Yesterday morning for instance, Captain Boit of the Cordelia, called upon me, and delivered me your favour of 23. April dated from the \u201cHead Quarters of the Lieutenant Governor\u201d\u2014I had already received, ten days ago your letter of 10. April, which was intended to have been sent by the same opportunity, but which was brought by a Captain Peart\u2014In both these letters you manifest anew the wish for our return; and in one of them repeat the desire that I should accept the Judicial Office to which I had been appointed.\nOn this subject my determination was founded upon Circumstances which could not be known to you, at the time when your letters were written\u2014I hope they will be sufficient in my your mind for my justification\u2014With regard to my acceptance of the office it is now too late for repentance; nearly two months since I declined it\u2014I have not changed my feelings or my opinions\u2014But in your letter of 10. April, there seems a suggestion that the state of things in America has increased your idea of the urgency that I should accept the proffered seat upon the Bench\u2014In a former letter you had intimated that a refusal of the Office would be imputed to unbridled Ambition.\u2014\nI suppose there are who would impute it to unbridled Ambition, whether I had or had not consented to be adjudicated\u2014Because there are who have long since settled it in their own minds that I am ambitious; and that as you observe with reference to another person, all Ambition is boundless\u2014When the mind is predisposed to a certain conclusion in matters of opinion, the facts most irreconcileable with each other, serve equally well for premises\u2014For instance, if from my refusal of one of the most distinguished Offices in the Union, the inference must be drawn that my motive was unbridled Ambition, what would have been the inference from my acceptance of it?\u2014Do you think it would have established me a reputation for meekness and humility?\u2014I never was afraid of the reproach of being ambitious.\u2014But I have many many times felt an obligation of duty to sacrifice the sentiment of Ambition, to my family or my friends; and still oftener have I been irresistibly impelled to sacrifice it, merely to tranquility, not to say to the love of ease\nWhen I came to Russia, my motive doubtless in the opinion of many was Ambition\u2014But there were not wanting persons who thought I was sent here for the express purpose of putting me out of the way\u2014More than one of my friends wrote, and spoke to me of it, as of an exile, and it was certainly not a voyage, which I considered calculated to promote ambitious views\u2014I knew that it was not agreeable to you, and that Circumstance alone was enough to take away all pleasure from it\u2014I knew equally well that it was going straight away from the high road of Ambition, and so far as related to political prospects, retiring into obscurity.\u2014My real motive was perfectly simple\u2014The Constitutional Organ of my Country had assigned this to me as my proper Post\u2014I saw no reason sufficient to induce me to refuse it.\nThe same Constitutional Organ has now seen fit to call me home, and to put me as one of my friends writes me, upon a high shelf\u2014How does it appear to you?\u2014You welcome it as the means to procure my return, and because it would remove me from the tourbillon of politics\u2014But yet you specially wish me to accept; because parties are splitting up; because one Secretary is out and another in\u2014Because the Governor & Senate of Massachusetts are Republican\u2014Because all was uncertainty from Europe; and a special Session of Congress was expected\u2014\nIn this State of Things, had I accepted, and returned home, do you think that a seat upon the Bench would have removed me from the tourbillon of politics?\u2014do you think it would have been a shelter from the \u201cwind of this commotion.\u201d?\u2014I will candidly confess to you that I have no such idea\u2014If my own Passions would allow me to stand aloof from all Politics, as much as every Judge ought to, the Passions of others would involve me in them\u2014If my heart is sufficiently impartial towards all my Countrymen, to make me a proper umpire in their controversies, their hearts are not impartial enough to me, to make them fit to be judged by me\u2014is this the phantom of my Imagination?\u2014I will not give you a dissertation for what you will understand by a hint\u2014My aversion to a Judicial Office rests chiefly upon this settled opinion\u2014The opinion, upon all my experience\u2014all my self-observation\u2014all my observation of others in their relations to me.\nI have other objections against holding a judicial office, with which I need not trouble the public, and which I should have desired to keep exclusively within my own breast\u2014How shall I disclose them to you, after acknowledging my apprehension that you will disapprove the opinions in which they originate?\u2014Pressed as I am by your advice so earnestly and so repeatedly urged, I must however disclose them, and leave the estimate of their weight to your indulgence\u2014Let me say then that I am deeply dissatisfied with the what is called the Administration of Justice, both in our State and Federal Courts\u2014That by the principles of their organization and proceedures, they appear to me in the majority of cases to produce by inevitable necessity, within the sacrifice of substantial Justice, either to mere forms, or to general rules.\u2014I entertain some very heretical opinions upon the merits of that Common Law, so idolized by all the English Common Lawyers, and by all the Parrots who repeat their words in America\u2014These opinions have not been adopted hastily or without Consideration\u2014They are deeply rooted in my mind, and could not easily be eradicated\u2014In the Report to the Senate, in the case of John Smith, and in one or two passages of my Lectures, I have given a mere glimpse at some of them\u2014One of my motives for doing it was to feel the public pulse with regard to certain principles\u2014The storm of Passion in the Senate, and the clamour throughout the Nation excited by those very passages of the Report, as well as the enthusiastic approbation of the same passages, by another party, both in the Senate and among the People induced me to be extremely cautious in future, how I mingled such edged tools as these in the political controversies of the times\u2014I have not weight and influence enough in my Country, to bring it over to my opinions, and I have too much Independence of Spirit to renounce them myself.\u2014In any other than a Judicial station I have no call to discuss them\u2014There, a sense of duty would often compel me to bring them out, and if I did, you may be assured, that neither my life nor the good People of America would be tranquilized by it\u2014\nI have been obliged to change my usual place of abode, in St: Petersburg\u2014the house in which I resided, and of which I had a lease to the 13th: of next June having been sold, and the lease of course annulled\u2014I was fortunate enough to find a comfortable and beautifully situated house, on an island, within the bounds of the City, but really a Country Seat, on the Banks of the Novka\u2014It had been some months empty for want of a tenant, and being suitable for habitation only during the Summer Months, its owner was glad to let us have it at a moderate rent\u2014We took it for four months, of which one is nearly past, and at the end of which we must again seek for Winter lodgings.\nI received last Evening your favour of April 28\u2014N. 10. brought by the Hugh Johnston, Captain Johnson, which renews the injunction upon me to accept the appointment which I have refused\u2014I can add nothing to what I have already written you upon this subject.\u2014If I could recall my answer to the President, declining the office, it must have been by asking that he should keep it vacant for me another year, after it has been to the great injury of the public already been kept so one twelvemonth\u2014My wife is now in hourly expectation of being confined\u2014It would be impossible within two Months after her Confinement to embark for such a Voyage, and with such a family\u2014It would not be impossible, with an infant of two Months old, and a mother nursing it, of such a Constitution as my wife\u2019s to undertake a Voyage in October, over the gulph of Finland, the Baltic, the North-Sea, and the Atlantic Ocean, but I certainly would not undertake it, unless some great and important public interest, could justify me in staking the lives of my wife and child upon such a voyage\u2014I am not sensible of any such public interest; and it is still my intention to pass the Winter here\u2014I shall have the inclination, and with the blessing of Heaven hope there will be no insuperable impediment to my return next Summer\u2014but not to be a Judge\u2014not to usurp the place which ought to be held by Judge Davis\u2014\nWe have very lately received the account of the action between the Frigate President, and the Little Belt.\u2014The English ministerial papers assert that the first shot was fired from our Frigate\u2014I hope this is not true\u2014But affairs appear to be rapidly coming to the last extremities between the United States and England\u2014A War appears to be inevitable, and I lament it with the deepest affliction of heart, and the most painful anticipation of consequences\u2014It is at home that an English War will bring on our heaviest trial, as I presume one of its early effects will be a struggle for the division of the States, which has been so long in contemplation and preparation by the New England federalists.\u2014Our Commerce too will suffer most severely by the War, though it will continue to be carried on to a considerable extent, by contraband or by licences\u2014\nIt is upon the fate of the War in Spain that the fate of the world is suspended\u2014So says the Emperor Napoleon, and so speak the actions of the British Government\u2014We are now in expectation of the news of a Battle\u2014But why should I say this to you, when if such a Battle has been fought you will hear of its issue nearly as soon as we shall\u2014I could tell you indeed of a Battle in Turkey, between General Kutuzoff and the Grand Vizir\u2014Last Sunday I attended the Te Deum to celebrate the Victory of the Russians\u2014But the Russians have something now upon their hands more serious than a Turkish War\u2014Digito compesce labellum.\u2014The year 1811 is passing in Peace\u2014Your\u2019s in duty\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-1999", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Abigail Louisa Smith Adams Johnson, 23 July 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Johnson, Abigail Louisa Smith Adams\ndear Abbe\nQuincy July 23d 1811\nyour Mother has been So constant in writing that I have been the more remiss. I am glad to find that you are content, and happy I hope. I was in Boston on Saturday, and bought for you a Box of paints, and  Bennets Letters. I Sent them to mr Phineas Fosters with a request that you he would take them to Haverhill for you. Charles Welch who understands paints pronounced them very good, and in the one Row Box, all the coulours you have occasion for; I also bought four Brushes for you. if anything more is wanting, you must let me know, with respect to your Studies. I would have your hand writing and Arithmatic and Grammer particularly attended to. make yourself Mistress of each Branch. you may find them necessary to you to procure you a living. we know not what we may be called to pass through in this world, if you are not thus obliged to improve them. no Lady is qualified to pass through Life with credit to herself and usefulness to others without Some knowledge of them all, and why when you undertake a thing should you not excell in it? it requires only Steady habits, and application to obtain the prize Set before you.\nyour Aunt Smith, and Caroline are here and well your Aunt Cranch gets along but Slowly. She is very weak, and has a bad cough which troubles her very much. She has rode out a little ways Several times, but is obliged to crawl up Stairs upon her Hands when She returns\u2014Riding Suits her. She thinks She could ride Several miles, but her Spirits are much beyond her Strength\nyour Aunt Adams is quite well She dined here last Friday, and on Sunday carried the Baby out which She named Francis Foster. She looks much like Elizabeth. Thomas grows pretty daily\u2014\nGive my Love to your Aunt, and tell her that I think mr Shaw walks much better. he was here on Sunday, and Says he is better. he talks of taking a journey, to be absent Several weeks as Soon as the Court rises. I think it will Serve his Health\nwhen are we to See Cousin Abbe? we have been looking for her Some time. I got your Aunts Letter about the Same time She got mine\u2014I Shall write to her Soon\u2014\nI was amused with your politicks. you must tell the young Ladies that I have heard it observed that a Ladies politicks Should be always those of their Husbands now if they fix theirs, they must be Sure they are Right, and chuse accordingly, or they may chance to Spar, and that would be very unpleasant. I fix it as a principle that every Lady Should Love her own Country in preference to any other, and that whatever tends to promote its prosperity its happiness and welfare Should be regarded by her, next to her near Relatives\u2014for in the Fredom and Independence of her country, is containd her own happiness, and that of her connections. I ask them to Name a Country equally Blest with our own, not withstanding all the Clamours against our Rulers, and all the injuries we have Sustaind from forign powers? neither war, Pestilence or Famine would waste and destroy our Land. we dwell in peace and Safety. our Country produces us every necessary, and many of the Luxuries of Life. no hard task Master gripes them from us. no Children of want Starve for Bread. there is one thing we want. we want gratefull Hearts and deserve not the abundant mercies we receive\u2014\nMy pen grows So bad that I must close my Letter with the hope of hearing from you, and that in better hand writing than what is written by your / affectionate Grandmother\nAbigail Adams\u2014\nPS\u2014your Aunt and cousin  desire to be rememberd to  your uncle and Aunt Peabody  and to your cousin & you", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2000", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to William Stephens Smith, 23 July 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Smith, William Stephens\nDear Sir\nQuincy July 23 1811\nI hope you will not impute my not writing to you by your son to want of attention to you, or a proper Sensibility to your request containd in your Letter to me. The extreem Heat of the weather, and my joy at the arrival of a dear and only Daughter after an absence of three years and a half, realley disqualified me for my pen, and Johns Stay was so limited that I could not Say by him What I wished, as I had not then Seen the Doctor myself. since then  I have conversed upon the Subject. his opinion is, that no outward application Should be made, and that mrs Smiths general State of health is so good as not to threaten any present danger. he does not pronounce it to be of the nature we feared, tho he cannot say but what it may terminate in one and he further say that it may remain in its present state many years unless improper  applications should be made. he advises to the use of the Hemlock pills.\nMrs Smith and Caroline Sustaind the heat of the weather and the fatigue of the journey with much vigor. The Idea of Distance has greatly diminished since I find that one week can bring us together. by Johns Letter to his Mother he has made a more rapid retrogade\u2014a Rogue\u2014he frightned us all, by his list of untoward accidents, which he never experienced\nI began to think before his Mother got through his Letter, that the whole sum of the Misiries of human Life had befallen him at once\u2014when behold it was a vision of the Night. I consider it a very fortunate circumstance that your good Mother & sister are with you, to supply the place, and in some measure compensate for the absence of your Best Friend, and Dear Daughter, who I find no way alterd but in her more womanly appearence, and deportment, her lively disposition, So sweetly chastned with that first of Female virtues, Modesty, and her tender attentive and affectionate behaviour endears to her to every one.\nI hope you will not impatient for their Return, but spair them to us as long as you can, you may live many Years to rejoice in them, neither the Father or Mother can expect to Remain much longer, infirmities increase with years, but I will enjoy the present. nor damp the joy, by fut anticipations of the future\nYour domestic Naration amused us much, I could see the Zeal of your Mother, and the anxiety of Nancy to make every thing correspond with ancient establishments. present my kind and affectionate Remembrance to them\nwe wish you may make it convenient to visit us, when ever mrs Smith returns\u2014a journey and the Sea air may benefit your Health\u2014The president desires to be Rememberd to you & yours\u2014we all unite in Love and affection to the whole Family of whom we talk Daily\u2014\nI am dear Sir / yours in Love and Friendship \nAbigail Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2005", "content": "Title: From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Smith Adams, 3 August 1811\nFrom: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nAtkinson August 3d 1811\nYour Letter my Dear Sister, received a week since, flattered me with the pleasing Prospect of our beloved Sisters recovery\u2014 though slowly, & feeble, I trusted she might yet be of great service to her family, by her Presence, & Instruction; but your Intelligence by to Days Mail; has damped my fond Expectations\u2014deeply shaded, & almost erased the pleasures of Hope\u2014The sudden & voilent attack made medical applications necessary, which no doubt has greatly impaired her Constitution, & rendered recovery more slow, & difficult\u2014I depended much upon her appetite, as Nature at her age wants frequent supplies\u2014if that ceases, we have little reason to expect her long continuance\u2014Her Cough must wear her out\u2014And yet my Sister, I find it hard to realize that we must \u201csee her Face no more\u201d\u2014hard to bring my mind to bow submissive, to such an Event\u2014though for her we trust it will be happy\u2014When I was at Quincy, the first week of my visit, I thought I saw in our Sister, almost youthful vigor, joined to the Experience, usefulness & wisdom of age, & I counted for her protracted Days, & length of years\u2014to advise the young, & sustain the Orphans\u2014. But God sees, not as feeble limited, human Creatures\u2014& will adjust all in Righteousness\u2014This is my Anchor\u2014 Here we must wait\u2014\nDr Denny, & Daughter, & other company from Ipswich coming has prevented my sending by this weeks mail\u2014\nAugust 7th\nI rejoice my dear Brother & Sister, that Heaven has given you an opportunity of again folding a beloved Daughter in your Parental arms\u2014accompanied by her dear Children\u2014 I cannot tell you how pleased Mr Peabody would have been to have taken Cousin John by the hand, & pressed him to his Heart\u2014we all regret his being obliged to return so soon\u2014\nI am exceeding glad to hear that the Drs. do not think Mrs Smiths Breast in so dangerous a state as we feared\u2014As the bunch is moveable, I think it must be of the even kind, & perhaps more easy cured\u2014She always was possessed of Fortitude, & great strength of mind, & will I trust, submit to What may be considered best\u2014Present my love to her, & my ardent wishes for that she may experience the Supporting hand of Him, who healeth Diseases\u2014\nMy Daughter I intended should have been at Quincy e\u2019re this time, & have done all in her power for her Aunt\u2014But the Heat of the weather, I believe, brought a very uncomfortable breaking out, in her neck, & head\u2014that I dare not have her leave home\u2014She is now a little relieved; & will be able I hope soon to go, & be of what service she can\u2014She can take some care of the Children at least\u2014But more persons than can do good\u2014injures\u2014\nMy Cousin Abby, is a lovely sweet tempered youth\u2014She has begun to pars, but it took her a month to commit the Accidence; & Mr Vose does not like they should commence any other Study, till that is obtained\u2014It is the foundation, upon which to build\u2014For her Companions, she has some very studious, & she seems disposed to apply with diligence, more than at first\nAnd is less under the Influence, of what Mr  calls marching Orders\u2014 Indeed, the weather has been so intense, that none of us, could long keep in one place\u2014I have only time to assure her Mother that we all love her Daughter, & that I really think she holds herself better, & more erect than she did, & think her amiable Mothers good letters, will do much to improve, & instruct\u2014as well as those adieu of my Dear Sisters\u2014Excuse this bad paper, & hasty scrall from her who presents respects, & love where due\u2014joined by Mr Peabody, & Abby\u2014yours with affection \nE P\u2014To my Sister, you will say everything proper from me", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2007", "content": "Title: From Alexander Hill Everett to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 11 August 1811\nFrom: Everett, Alexander Hill\nTo: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson\nStockholm. August. 11. 1811.\nI have a thousand apologies to make to you, Madam, for not having troubled you sooner with a line, which to avoid fatiguing you, I omit altogether\u2014In fact I have as yet met with nothing of sufficient importance to deserve your attention and I can hardly flatter myself that you will find any thing here to repay the pain of reading. To be sure, I should pity the man, who could travel from Petersburgh to \u00c5bo and say \u201cit is all barren\u201d whereas, on the contrary it is in many parts remarkably fertile and I suspect the man who should apply the above remarks to this country would make a greater mistake than the original grumbler, that said it of the land between Dan and Beersheba. Nevertheless, there is very little of such food, as travellers love to feed on and ladies love to read of. No adventures of Knight-errantry; no souvenirs from those good old days, when the men were all brave and the women all beautiful\u2014Here and there, indeed, one may see a moated castle or a garrisoned fort, but they are appropriated merely to the vulgar purpose of defending a town and make no pretentions to the honour of harbouring ghosts and spectres or of re-echoing the sighs and cries of any imprisoned damsel\u2014To an admirer of nature in all her forms one of the most interesting objects, that can occur on this journey is the beauty of the Swedish women, which, I suppose, is now so well established by universal consent, that it would be almost a proof of heresy in taste not to corroborate the story.\u2014I am aware, that it is in some measure, transgressing the rules of nice propriety in addressing one lady to speak of the beauty of another, but I am also aware that your enlightened mind is equally above such miserable jealousies and such rules made only for those that stand in need of leading-strings. I therefore observe without hesitation, that immediately on passing the ancient boundary-line between Russian and Swedish Finnland, and particularly in the town, which has the honour of bearing your name the first on the Swedish side, there is a very remarkable improvement in the aspect of its female face divine for I have remarked that the beauty of the Swedish ladies is rather in their complexion and face than their form, tho\u2019 the latter could not well be inferior to that of their immeasurable neighbors. It would be wrong to say, that I met with no interesting object on the route. On the contrary I was highly pleased and interested with the peaceful contentment and pastoral happiness of an old Corycian, that I met with on one of the rucks in the bay of \u00c5bo, whom I mentioned in my letter to Mr. Adams a few days since. In rambling through his fields I plucked by accident a head of clover, attracted by the blossom. Afterwards as I held it in my hand it reminded me of the clover we were all hunting for the day before I left Petersburgh and I said to myself, Now it would be droll enough, if on this sprig, which I plucked by accident, there should be a four-leaved one.\u2014There was however and I preserved it carefully between the leaves of Martin Luthers German Bible and have now the honour of inclosing it to you in the hope that it will bring you a great deal of good fortune and Gl\u00fcsh.\nI have not sufficiently digested in my brain the chaos of different things I have seen at Stockholm to be able to give you a rational account of it\u2014I was very sorry that Mr. deCabre was not arrived, from whose acquaintance I expected a great deal of pleasure\u2014Perhaps it may be amusing to hear a little of Col. Burr, with whom you are so well acquainted. I know the gentleman, with whom he resided the year that he passed here. He says, that the Col. lived very sparingly, appeared to be rather unhappy, was still however amiable and attentive to its fair, so much so that the cuisuilre of this French gentleman was deeply touched with its belle passions, and after the departure of Col. B. talked strongly of following him. Tho\u2019 she was neither handsome nor cleanly, she had a sensible heart. \u201cAh, why should fate such pleasure have, Life\u2019s dearest bands untwining\nAnd why so sweet a flower as love\nDepend on fortune\u2019s shining.\u201d\nSpeaking of love and a sweet flower naturally reminds me of Miss Johnson. I beg you to present my best regards to her, which, if I had time, I would throw into rhyme. It is my firm resolution not to submit to the usual fortune of travellers, that of being forgotten at the first port. Charles, I trust, is in good health. If I were better informed of the actual state of things, perhaps I might find myself authorized to make an enquiry for the health of a certain mysterious personage, already perhaps designated as la nouvelle alas Discretion however seals my lips in expectation of farther intelligence.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2009", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Catherine Nuth Johnson, 12 August 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Johnson, Catherine Nuth\nMy Dear Madam,\nSt: Petersburg 12. August 1811.\nIt is but a few days since I received your favour of 1. March, though I had two months earlier learnt from Mr Hellen the heavy misfortune that had befallen him. I have deferred answering your letter untill this day, with the hope, which is that this moment realized, of announcing to you my Lousia\u2019s deliverance\u2014 She has this day at seven in the Evening, after a severe labour of about twelve hours given me a daughter, and I would not suffer the day to pass without communicating to you the joyful tidings\nThe expectation of this Event was the occasion upon which I declined the appointment with which I was honoured by the President and Senate at the close of the last Session of Congress.\u2014It would have been impossible for us to have accomplished a voyage to the United States before this time and I could not think of embarking in such a condition of my family\u2014 The present State of things makes it equally unadvisable if not impossible to embark during the remainder of the present Season, and I have thus no prospect of being able to reach the United States this year.\u2014The Office was of such a nature as not to admit of the delay which was indispensable for my return\u2014I therefore held it my duty to excuse myself from accepting it.\u2014\nMy dear wife has not written I believe to you for several months; nor to any of her friends in America\u2014The motives which have induced her silence will readily be conjectured, and I trust will meet your approbation or your indulgence\u2014She has written you by Mr. Reuss who I hope has ere this delivered you her Letter, in which I believe she had informed you almost to a day when the time of her confinement was to come. I have written almost every week since that time to my friends at Quincy, and from your Correspondent there I trust you will frequently hear of her state of health, but as my anxeities on her account particularly during the last three months might have communicated an alarm to you which I was unwilling to give, I have prefered waiting for the moment when I hoped with the blessing of Heaven to have only such intelligence to impart as would delight the heart of a Mother.\nCatherine is well, as are all the rest of our family, the new born damsel included, I hope in a few days to have the same to say of her Mother; in the mean time requesting to be remembered affectionately to Mr Hellen, and to all the other members of the family. I remain Dear Madam / your faithful friend.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2011", "content": "Title: From William Stephens Smith to Abigail Smith Adams, 12 August 1811\nFrom: Smith, William Stephens\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nDear Madam\nLebanon august 12th, 1811\nI have received your affectionate and interesting Letter of the 23d. of July you have conversed with the Doctor, but omit to mention his name, you say it is his opinion \u201cthat no outward application should be made, and that mrs: Smith\u2019s general state of health is so good as not to threaten any present danger, he does not pronounce it to be a cancer, tho he cannot say, but that it may terminate in one. It may remain in its present state many years, unless improper applications should be made, he advises the use of the Hemlock Pills\u201d the Doctor will excuse me if I say, the above opinion reminds me of Tom Paines point no point in his sailing up the Delaware\nBut Knowing as I do that hemlock is the principal medicine recommended in cases of Cancer, I have no doubt in my mind, but he conceives this to be the disorder, Mrs: Smith in her letter of 11th. July say\u2019s the doctors opinion is that it is an obstructed Gland (granted) and what is a cancer? it is a hard indolent tumour seated in some of the Glands; as the Breast, armpits &c. If the tumour becomes less unequal, of a livid, blackish or leaden colour attended with violent pain, it is (plainly) called an occult cancer. When the skin is broken and an Ichorous f\u0153tid matter is discharged it is (plainly) called an open or ulcerated cancer.\nIf no outward application is to be made to draw the complaint to the surface and force it to assume a character, so that a decided opinion may be formed and specific remedies applied, does he mean that it should be permitted to disperse its malignancy thro\u2019 the whole frame, untill health and vigour of constitution is destroyed, that when ultimately it shews itself, the whole frame is so contaminated and debilitated, that in all human probability external applications can have no possible effect, and we must wait in pensive melancholy silence the sure inevitable calculated approach of death? No. my opinion is, as the complaint in the doctors mind is a non-descript, but that it may terminate in a cancer, it had better be drawn forth in the first instance and forced to take its station, then we shall know what remedies are to be used and where to apply them and what internal medicine will best aid them\nThe cancer is decidedly under the command of known species, and piquant cures have been made in this state, let the doctor make it unfold itself so as to decide the use of the Knife\u2014In my opinion the proper medicine and external applications had better be attended to, and administered, when the afflicted enjoys a good state of health supported by an uninjured constitution and can boyantly bear what little inconvenience may arise from the operation of medicine and the effects of external applications, than to wait the slow operation of time, untill the whole frame is affected and of course debilaty ensuing, the recovery will be twenty to one against us.\u2014The doctor advises simply the use of hemlock pills these pills are of a very slow operation, and their effect is almost if not entirely unnoticed by the patient, the only indication which can be had when it is proper to stop taking them, for some day\u2019s, is, when the head is affected and a dizziness, succeeded by a langour in the brain is noticed, these hints of a necessary check if too frequently experienced may prove suddenly fatal, or be attended with mental derangement\u2014However Doctor Stork of Vienna recommends the extract of the hemlock plant as very efficacious in cancers of every kind, he does not pretend to fix the time in which a cancer may be resolved by the use of hemlock, but he say\u2019s he has given it for above two years in large doses without any apparent benefit; nevertheless the patient was cured by persisting in the use of for six months longer. This at least is encouragement for giving it a fair trial. The powder of hemlock is by some preferred to the extract, they are both made of the fresh leaves, and may be used in the same manner, Doctor Nicholson of Berwick say\u2019s, he gradually increased the dose of the powder from a few grains to half a drachm and gave four drachms of it in the day with remarkably good effects. The Hemlock may also be used externally either as a poultice or fomentation\u2014\nIf the pills recommended, are to aid the operation of the  plaister originally advised, perhaps they may operate on the blood, bile and interior fluids, jointly to produce a benificial effect, if the hope and calculation is a total dispersion\u2014well and good. but if only internal remedies are applied, and they should fail in producing the desired effect, the whole frame becomes affected and the disorder should then assume a decided Character the applications for the cure of an open and ulcerated cancer, and a change of medicine and particular diet is requisite, recourse must be had to alternatives, and the dernier resort of medical men, in such cases, is Calomel which may produce the desired effects\u2014but when administered for a length of time, to a person debilitated, and on the decline of Life, the patient is too frequently left to drag out a miserable existance, under a strict regimen and an insupportable debility of the whole frame, untill exhausted nature surrenders at discretion and the patient sinks listlessly into the Silent Grave.\nI am an advocate for prompt and decisive experiments to ascertain the nature of the complaint, and its decided character, this was to me the primary essential object of the visit, I hesitated to treat it as a cancer, least I should err,\u2014but if it is a cancer, let it be pronounced so, and as I said before, I have no doubt, it can be promptly cured\u2014If it is simply a swelling of the breast common to females from 40 to 50 years of age, too long unattended to, the Knowledge of the Doctor, and the attentions and experience of a tender Mother; with the enlivening society of an affectionate amiable Daughter, will I flatter myself shortly tranquilize the feeling\u2019s of an affectionate husband & father\u2014\nYou say my dear Madam \u201cyou hope I will not be impatient for the return of Mrs: Smith and Caroline, but that I will spare them to you as long as possible, that I may live many years to rejoice in them, but that neither her father nor yourself can expect to remain much longer infirmities encrease\u2014but you will not damp the joy\u2019s before you, with a future case\nI will wave the right to claim the performance of the duty imposed upon a Wife, viz that she shall quit father and mother and cleave unto her husband, for the last twenty five years, your dear daughter has fulfilled her duties as a Wife, friend and mother in a very exemplary manner; too to which I bear willing and cheerful testimony, founded on the solid basis of truth; now I will endeavour in some degree to repay the obligation in the quarter century to come, and if it will be in any degree productive of pleasurable sensations to you and her venerable and most respectable Father I will leave my mother and family and cleave unto my Wife, thus reversing the obligation connected with a marriage Contract;\nI will never express a wish to seperate your only and lovely daughter from you in your declining age, I will make arrangements to come and reside near you, that she may be with you, and I with her, if a furnished House, or Genteel appartments could be hired near you such as Mrs: Smith approves of, let me know the amount of quarterly rent, I will make the necessary arrangements with a competent surplus for contingencies and come and take my modest station\u2014I am done with public life, I seek only for retirement, which I can have in your neighborhood I suppose as well as on the banks of the Chenango, for at the time I failed the base attempt of Mr: Jefferson to destroy me on the Miranda question, I concluded that fortune had determined to make him the instrument of my destruction and I promptly determined no longer to attempt to render her propitious, but to immitate the example of Aristonines and singly brave her utmost anger, in consequence of my decision, she seems disposed to reconsider me with some degree of complacency she smiles at my fortitude and is somewhat disposed to relent, she finds she cannot shake me, and I am determined she shall never again deceive me so probably we shall in future go on together calmly, not being exposed to her flatteries, I can never be in any degree sufficiently subservient, to seek her smiles improperly\u2014Perhaps you may be disposed to consider this proposition as shewing in some degree a want of that attention that is due to my own venerable, highly esteemed and much beloved Mother, this I think I can never be charged with, I leave her in the bosom of my Brother, with every disposition to contribute to her comfort, by an abundant supply of every thing she can wish or want thro\u2019 life, and an ample provision for Nancy her only remaining Daughter, who has attended to her for years, with every assiduity that filial affection could dictate or parental solicitude could hope for, and be gratified with. Should she be at any time indisposed, I know my attendance upon her will be essential to her tranquility and peace of mind, of course on the first intimation of any indisposition, I can be with her in three day\u2019s from Quincy, my absence in such a case will be readily assented to, by my dear Wife and Daughter.\nNow my dear Madam you have the subject question in your own hands, subject only to the controul and guidance of your prudent Daughter for myself I will never make arrangements independent of her wishes, but will myself confirm and make fortune subservient to me, in this business, she may yet for a time circumscribe my circle of movement but she cannot check the fulfillment of this arrangement, should it meet with the approbation of the concerned\u2014\nSo no more at present from / yours to serve\u2014as we / Country Gent: sometimes conclude / Our Letters\u2014\nW: S: Smith", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2012", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 15 August 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, George Washington\nMy Dear Son George.\nSt: Petersburg 15. August 1811.\nSome time since, your Mama and I received two letters from you at once\u2014the first to your Mama was dated 18th. January, and the other to me 5th: February\u2014I was glad to see that you had taken pains to write them as well as you could and that your hand-writing was improved.\u2014I intreat you my Dear Son, to pay constant attention to your hand-writing\u2014It is now more than four years since you first began to learn to write, and your brother John in less than two writes almost as well as you\u2014Now, I do not mention this for the sake of commending your brother, to mortify you, but for the sake of giving you a little more good advice\u2014It often happens that one person learns a thing much easier than another, and sometimes when a boy sees that his Schoolmate learns faster than himself, he thinks he cannot help it and becomes discouraged and careless\u2014But a true spirited boy, as I hope you are, does exactly the contrary\u2014He takes double pains, to keep even pace with his fellows, and when he does that he is always sure to succeed\u2014I believe there is a Fable about a greyhound that lost a race with a tortoise\u2014Now whenever you find that in learning any thing worthy of being learnt, Nature has only given you the powers of a tortoise, you must determine to give yourself those that will make you a match for the fleetest that runs with you.\nYou say you wish you could practice the advice contained in one of my former letters as well, as you understand it\u2014You may be sure I shall never give you any advice but such as you can practice if you please\u2014But among the good and necessary things that you have to learn is that of ruling your own Spirit \u201cHe that hath no rule over his own Spirit\u201d said Solomon, \u201cis like a city that is broken down, and without walls\u201d\u2014that is, always liable to be destroyed, and sure to be ruled by his greatest enemies.\u2014In all the good Books that you have read; in Cornelius Nepos, in the Arabian Nights, in the History of Charles 12. and above all in Homer\u2019s Iliad, you will find this lesson constantly repeated: but no where with so much energy, and authority as in the best of all Books the Bible.\nI am obliged to finish this letter sooner than I intended, the Gentleman who is to take it being now waiting for it\u2014I have the pleasure of informing you that you have a Sister, who was born last Monday the twelfth day of this Month\u2014She is in very good health, and your Mama, is as well as could be expected.\nPresent my respects, to Uncle and Aunt Cranch, and to Mr: Whitney, and my love to your brother John\u2014Charles often talks of you and is very well.\nI am your affectionate father\nJohn Quincy Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2013", "content": "Title: To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 20 August 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, John\nMy Dear Sir.\nSt: Petersburg 20. August 1811.\nPart of the enclosed press-copy of my last Letter to you, is so faint, that unless you should have received the original, before it comes to hand, I am afraid you will be obliged to call for the assistance of younger eyes to make it out. Since it was written I have had the pleasure of receiving letters from my brother, and my wife has had one from my mother, but none from you\u2014I remain however yet in arrears of correspondence with you, having already received your number 10. since the Commencement of the present year.\nMy wife was brought-to-bed the twelfth day of this month at seven O\u2019Clock in the Evening\u2014As the Ladies seem to have a prescriptive right to the first intelligence of Events of this Nature, I wrote the account of this, to her mother and to mine the same day on which it happened\u2014She has not on this occasion, altogether escaped those consequences of Confinement which have in former cases of the same kind been so afflictive to herself, and so alarming to me\u2014She was unable to leave her bed an hour, untill the sixth day\u2014But she is now recovering slowly, and will I hope in the course of the month be restored at least to a state of health as good as she has ever been used to enjoy. She is delighted with having this time a daughter, and the child is as healthy and lively as we could wish.\nThis Circumstance, which has occurr\u2019d precisely at the time, when according to the ordinary progress of things we expected it, has settled my determination to pass here the ensuing Winter\u2014I have been waiting for it with more than usual anxiety, not only because the news of the calamity in her family, had come to her in a very sudden manner, and at a most critical period, but because it was in a manner indispensable to my own justification for the line of conduct which I have pursued in declining the public appointment to which I had been called at home\u2014It would have been impossible to have embarked since the opening of the Navigation this Season, with a thought of reaching the United-States before this time; and assuredly no vessel which has sailed this year from hence has yet arrived in America\u2014Independent of the inevitable dangers of the voyage to a woman in this condition, that of a labour and child-birth at Sea, to a person with my wife\u2019s Constitution was an idea utterly insupportable\u2014I am persuaded you will not think I ought to have incurred this risk.\u2014My only doubt is, whether you may not entertain an opinion, that now, I might still embark before the closing of the Navigation, and that I ought to have availed myself of this possibility\u2014But should the getting up, be as rapid and as prosperous as our most sanguine hopes can anticipate, it would yet be impossible for us to embark at Cronstadt before the month of October\u2014If it were merely a voyage from England or France to the United States at that Season I would undertake it; but to begin a voyage through the Gulph of Finland, the Baltic and the North-Sea, precisely at the time when men of War, are compelled to abandon them, and then to come upon the American Coast in December or January at best, with an infant of two months old, and a nursing-mother, not made like Ann of Cleves, is what nothing but the stake of a great public interest would warrant, and what I shall not now attempt.\nAs I declined the seat upon the Bench, upon the foresight of this State of things, I conclude that another judge will be appointed during the next Session of the United States Senate\u2014The place here will remain to be disposed of at the pleasure of the President\u2014I forsee no insuperable impediment to my return home the next Summer, if he deems my recall to be still expedient\u2014If at any time I could have harboured an Ambition or desire to go elsewhere, the state of affairs in the only places where I could be transferred is sufficient to damp a fiercer flame than I ever felt\u2014Among the good-natured friends that I have both in Europe and America, who speculate and foretell upon persons and appointments, there have been enough to give me notice of destinations, which might have been assigned to me\u2014I assure you in the sincerity of my heart, that I have never had an intimation of these possibilities, without serious concern, lest they should prove true, and that I have felt a real satisfaction at finding the lot cast upon others, which it was supposed by many hoped by a few, and feared perhaps by more than either might fall to me\u2014In justice to my own feelings I ought to tell you, to whom my whole soul is as open as to itself that I never will shrink from any Post, which the Constitutional organ of my Country shall assign to me, for any difficulty or danger with which it may be beset\u2014But I may be allowed to feel a satisfaction when I see myself pass\u2019d by, in the assignment of a place where I know there is nothing but difficulty and danger to be expected\u2014You have in some of your letters suggested the idea, that the motives of some of those whose suffrages concurred to the appointment last offered me, were neither pure nor friendly to me\u2014Of those which actuated the President I am as sure, as if they were in my own heart\u2014I know they were both honest and kind to me\u2014Among the Senators there were certainly two, whom no personal regard for me would have withheld from recording their votes against me, and who not having done it, must have been actuated by motives of a different kind\u2014If it were in my nature to suspect dishonest intentions in conduct apparently fair, my own interest in this case would lead me to more favourable conclusions\u2014It is more honourable to myself as well as to the voters to believe that they gave their assent to the nomination from the conviction that I was well qualified for the Office, than to imagine that they foresaw it would be a place  where I should be stowed away from public view, or unavoidably forfeit any popularity which I might possess\u2014Those at least are motives which no one will acknowledge, and considering the unanimity of the vote in Senate, as a testimony of confidence in my integrity from political opponents as well as friends, it has been the most gratifying occurrence of my life\u2014The office itself, of a Judge, nothing could ever reconcile to my own inclinations; but with this testimony in my favour, I can retire to private life, not with a prouder consciousness of my own uprightness than when I was turned out of the Senate by my Constituents, the Massachusetts Legislature, but at last with a dismissal, less offensive in form, and more agreeable in substance.\nMy good friend, Quincy, whom notwithstanding his great and manifold political errors, I still adhere to in heart as a friend, made last Winter an eloquent, satirical and witty speech upon the ungovernable passion of Americans for place\u2014He seems to assume it as the basis of his whole discourse, that the desire for public office is a Crime\u2014and with a very magnanimous patriotism, he pours forth his indignation and contempt without respect of persons both upon friend and foe, guilty of soliciting themselves or of having relations in Congress who solicit for them the distinctions and the profits which may be derived from the public service\u2014Mr Quincy is not the first whom I have heard talk as if the consummation of human virtue consisted in the aversion or disdain to hold any public Office\u2014Longe alia mihi est mens\u2014It is my opinion that the wish even for the honours and emoluments of public office, is not in itself a culpable sentiment\u2014that there is nothing disgraceful or despicable in avowing it, nor yet in seeking its gratification by fair and ingenerous means still less can I find it in my heart to despise the member of Congress, who by the same means endeavours to procure these advantages to his father, son or brother, if deserving of them, nor the father, son, or brother, who by the honest influence of such a member of Congress, should obtain them\u2014In all this I see nothing despicable, and nothing dangerous, but the excess to which in common with other  human passions it is liable\u2014I have too good an opinion of the social affections of Quincy himself, not to believe that when his son Josiah shall have grown to manhood, his father would without reluctance see him proscribed from all public service, an outcast from all the favours of his Country, because he the father might still be serving that Country as a member of Congress.\nBut although there is nothing dishonourable or unjust in the pursuit of public office, I always have considered and yet consider it as a passion which requires great moderation, self-management and controul\u2014I never solicited any public office whatsoever, for myself, nor that I recollect for any of my relations\u2014My own maxim has been to wait until called by the voice of my Country, and to repair without hesitation to the Post assigned me by that. I have in several instances indeed interfered to prevent the call, and in the single case have answered it by denial\u2014But I have never withstood it, but from solid and cogent reasons, nor if my present Station should be the last to which I may ever be destined shall it be from any fastidious delicacy of mine, to reject any office for which I may be thought and may think myself suitably qualified\u2014\nAfter the multitude of high, honourable and profitable trusts which have been committed to me by my Country, I should indeed deserve the reproach of unbridled Ambition and of base ingratitude, could I not with cheerful heart, retire for the remainder of my days to private life, and see her henceforth distribute to others of her children, those favours of which she has hitherto been so lavish to me\u2014And surely there never could be a time where for the peace and tranquility of my own life or for the future prospects of my children, I could withdraw from the responsibilities of the approaching Events, with more comfort and satisfaction.\nI intend to send this letter by the vessel bearing your name, whose arrival here I announced to you in a former letter\u2014I mentioned her as the fortieth American which had this year reached Cronstadt. She has been followed by so many others that the number now amounts to one hundred and twenty-nine\u2014But how many of them will be permitted to get home is problematical\u2014I shall write as long as any are allowed to pass.\nMr. Everett has left us, and is travelling for pleasure and improvement in Sweden, Dr: Gray goes in a fortnight or three weeks to pass the Winter in Holland and France\u2014Our family will be reduced in numbers, and lose some of its agr\u00e9mens\u2014But then there is to enliven it the presence of an additional young Lady upon whom I ask your blessing. Being ever dutifully your\u2019s.\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2014", "content": "Title: From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Smith Adams, 20 August 1811\nFrom: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nMy Dear Sister,\nAugust 20th. 1811\u2014\nLast Tuesday the Horn blew to announce the Departure of the Mail an Hour sooner than the usual Time, which obliged me to break of abrubtly, even without any Signature\u2014Though I suppose you would know from whom it came, by the badness of the writing, & local Circumstances\u2014I find since my last Fall sickness that my hands tremble more than they used\u2014\nNot received a Letter from you, nor my Cousin, who promised she would write me a few Lines to let me know, how, & when she got home, makes me fear her dear Mother is not so well, & that you are sick\u2014While my Friends remain so unwell, a few lines every week would be peculiarly acceptable\u2014\nAbby A. Shaw will go on to Boston this week, perhaps, to day, if it is not to hot weather, & the Stage very full\u2014\nI suppose Mr Greenleaf, & Family will be at Quincy as usual\u2014And I think Abby had better not go to Quincy till after Commencement, as Mrs Cragie was very desirous of her being with her several weeks\u2014And it may make it more inconvenient for her to get from Quincy to Cambridge, than from Boston\u2014\nI find Mr Richard Norton, is coming on with two of Judge Cranch\u2019s Sons\u2014which must be an addition to Brother Cranchs Family\u2014were our dear Sister, but well, how easy, & how pleasant would everything be\u2014\nBrother Cranch wrote by Fridays mail to Mr Peabody, & I was supprized to find our dear Sister, was obliged yet to have Watchers\u2014 I was in hopes she did not stand in need of such Care\u2014He writes, that he thinks her Lungs are yet sound, & that the cool weather advancing may have a favourable effect,\nI sincerely wish his Hopes, may not prove vain\u2014But by what you wrote I have my fears\u2014The firm belief that the Judge of all the Earth, will do right, is my Consolation, amid all the Vicissitudes of Circumstances, & under all the Trials which may await us\u2014\nI have found a dark pair of Stockings & a handkercheif of Cousin Abbys, which I shall send my Mr Peabody, next week who will take the Tuesday Stage, & go on for Commencement, & is likely\u2014it is the last he may ever take\u2014Samuel Gilman has written a very pleasant Letter, & requested our attendance at his Chamber\u2014I shall not go, though he feels to Mr Peabody, & me like a Child\u2014May heaven Guard, prosper, & bless the virtuous Youths of the present Day\u2014I believe Cousin changed her Stockings, & took those marked for Henneretta Coflin\u2014She will be good enough to let me know, that I need not look further\u2014\nWith proper respects to the President, & Love, to every branch of your lovely family / I subscribe yours most affectionaley", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2015", "content": "Title: From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Joseph Barlow Felt, 21 August 1811\nFrom: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nTo: Felt, Joseph Barlow\nMy amiable Friend,\nAtkinson August 21st. 1811\u2014\nCompany, unexpected, & avocations unavoidable, have for several Days occupied my whole Time, & left me but a few moments to address my absent Friend, & to thank him for his Letter, forwarded by Mr Cogswell\u2014\nI am rejoiced to hear both from Mr Nichols & you, that your College affairs, wear so favourable an Aspect\u2014It must be consoling to Government, & lighten the oppressive Cares, of those who have the charge of rearing Youth to Literary pursuits, to moral Virtue, & religious important Truths\u2014You very justly comment upon the different feelings, & Situations of those who had walked in Wisdom\u2019s Path, & had engaged the Love & Esteem of the Worthy; & of such who had squandered Time in doing Nothing, or in \u201criotous Living,\u201d in scenes of folly, & dissapation, had incurred Disgrace, forfeited the kind regards, & good wishes of their fellow Students\u2014& must now quit the fair, pure found of Knowledge, mortified that they had not wit to apply, nor Taste to experience, or realize its Sweets\u2014you mention seeing Mr Paine, since his unfortunate Suspension\u2014Unfortunate indeed\u2014Though with you, I sincerely hope his Folly, will prove a Beacon, to preserve him from future Evils\u2014You are too well acquainted with my Temper, my feelings, & the ardent Interest I take in the welfare of Youth, not to know that their Errors cause a deep Sigh, & bitter pang to my Heart\u2014Yet his subsequent honourable Conduct, soothed, & in some measure attoned for the Indiscretion of his Youth\u2014I pity his good Father, & am grieved that Mary should add to the weight of Trouble, which he already has, in the Indisposition, of her, who ought to lessen his domestic Burdens, instead of increasing. I regret that one, who has ever been a member of our family, should place himself on such disagreeable Ground.\u2014Ground, which in future he must tread with double Caution\u2014for it is always more difficult to retrieve, than to keep your Rank\u2014Yet however arduous, I hope he will have ambition, & virtue enough to exert every power of body, & Soul, & apply closely to his proper Studies\u2014avoiding the dissapated, & the Intemperate of any Discription\nMr Gilman has given a very polite Invitation to our family to attend his Commencent,\u2014He has the honour to recite a Poem\u2014I have not heard the Subject\u2014but hope whatever it is, he may be so happy as to do it justice\u2014Mr Peabody I hope will go, Abby\u2014is now at Boston\u2014I shall, like Sarah, be in my Tent\u2014\nI know you will be grieved to hear our excellent Mr Vose, is now sick a bed, been confided with a billious Fever for 17 Days\u2014we hope it has turned, but his pulse is slow, & feeble but I hope, out of danger\u2014\nI have always been glad for close applicants, when a vacation is at hand\u2014They generally are worn down by hard Study, & their Health requires a release\u2014I hope you soon will experience one of Sirs\u2014friendly Salutations at the Hospitable Mansion you so affectionately mention\u2014Here, share whatever our Call affords\u2014\u201cour frugal fare\u2014our Blessing & repose\u201d\u2014\nIn behalf of Mr Peabody, I proffer you his best Wishes for your health, prosperity, & Happiness, with those of your Friend\nElizabeth PeabodyIt is late\u2014excuse every inaccuracy\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2016", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, 24 August 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nmy dear Sister\nQuincy August 24th 1811\nTruly my dear sister I blush and am asshamed that I have not written to you in replie to your Several kind Letters; I will not hunt for excuses, or pretend the extreem heat of the weather prevented, altho it was so oppressive that I could not do any thing but fan and pant. I have repeatedly said well I must write this day. abbe have you written\u2014No Mam why have you not, you have leisure? \u201cI do not know what to write. Not know? why cannot you tell your Aunt that you got home well on Sunday morning through the kindness of Mr Foster Who brought you out, that you had the happiness of finding your Mother better than your fears\u2014altho much reduced pale and emaciated, that she still continues low weak and feeble, and has only been once out to ride, and that she is not yet able to sit up half the day, that she has frequent returns of pain in her Stomack, and that you fear she will be a long time before She recovers\u2014that she find you So necessary to her that she knows not how to spair you, because always having been with her, you know better her wants and how to attend her than Sister Susan, who thus far is what miss Abbe ought to have written\nMrs Adams looks very misirable, and is So. I Sometimes think she will fall into the State of our Emerson She cannot take sufficient food to nourish her without great distress at her Stomack\u2014She has frequent relapses\u2014and pines away. her Stomack always assid. our dear Sister remains much as She has been for weeks past. Sometimes her cough better, then more distressing\u2014last Sunday she rode down here, and was brought in to the House, put upon the settee and staid an hour. She afterwards rode too far, and was much fatigued She is too much enfeabled to judge for herself\u2014She has a large addition to her family. Richard Norten, and Judge Cranch\u2019s two sons, who I understand are to be with you. they have never been firm under the Paternal Roof, and are altogether unacquainted with the world\u2014I hope they will not be brow beaten by the young Gentlemen, you have with you. as you can always have a choice, I would not keep any Boys who were not quite correct, or that could be made so in a short time\u2014the hope of reclaiming is a laudible endeavour\u2014but evil communications corrupt the morals, and deprave the understanding\u2014these Childrens minds are pure at present\u2014\nMrs Greenleaf and three of her children are comeing up to pass commencement week. I shall take  George and John here. we have not any late Letters from abroad\u2014\nI heard of cousin Abbes being in Boston and sent for her to come out, on Thursday when I sent the carriage for mrs Smith and Caroline who had been to pass a week at Newtown with mrs Guild. sshe declined comeing out untill after Commencement. we have invitations from Leut Govr Gray and from mr Mason & mr Otis. the president and I both excuse ourselves, but the younger part of the family will go\nwe hope to see mr Peabody here and that he will not be in such haste to return as usual\u2014\nShall I pay to your daughter the balance due to you upon your account or Send it to you by mr Peabody?\nI know not whether in her Mothers critical state she had better return again. I think I shall be better able to judge as the weather grows cooler\u2014\nadieu my dear Sister pardon past omissions\u2014and I will endeavour that information shall follow\u2014with due Respect to mr Peabody\u2014I am / most affectionatly yours\nAbigail Adamsyour son kept Sabbeth with us & grows very fat I have never Seen him So much So. he is very well", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2017", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Catherine Nuth Johnson, 24 August 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Johnson, Catherine Nuth\nMy Dear Madam,\nSt: Petersburg 24. Augst. 1811.\nI wrote you the letter of which a copy is enclosed on the very day of my dear wife\u2019s confinement.\u2014I sent it under cover to the Secretary of State, by Mr. Richard Willing who sailed in the Bengal for Philadelphia.\u2014He has been gone only two or three days, so that the copy may perhaps reach you sooner than the original\nI ought in it to have acknowledged the receipt of your favour of 1. April, enclosing a letter for Catherine, and which had come to hand nearly three weeks sooner than that of 1. March.\u2014We have since heard from you untill late in April, and of you, untill nearly the last of May.\u2014With my last dispatch to the Secretary of State I enclosed a letter for you from Catherine.\nThe day after my wife\u2019s confinement She was extremely ill, but since then has had a hitherto a better getting up than she has been accustomed to.\u2014She has not yet left her chamber, but is now as well as we can expect, with a fair prospect of a speedy recovery. The child has enjoyed perfect health\u2014They say She looks to much like her father to be handsome. I am not yet informed, what is to be her name\u2014I hope her Mother\u2019s.\nI am Dear Madam, faithfully your\u2019s.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2022", "content": "Title: From William Cranch to Abigail Smith Adams, 1 September 1811\nFrom: Cranch, William\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nMy dear Aunt,\nWashington Sep. 1. 1811.\nI thank you most sincerely for your excellent letter of 5th. ulto. which I should have answer\u2019d before, but for the sickness & removal of my family. The precarious state of my dear mother\u2019s health, for some time past, has, I trust, in some measure prepared me for an event, which is certainly inevitable and which we know can not be long procrastinated. Indeed our term of existence here is so short, our enjoyments so unstable, our hopes so delusive, our anticipations so false, that it is as much the dictate of Philosophy as of Religion to trust but little to the future\u2014to anticipate neither good nor Evil\u2014but to say, in the language of our holy religion, sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.\nI am thankful that her mind becomes illumined as her frame decays, and that she enjoys such a fine flow of spirits. I hope they may continue to gild the evening of her days.\nI have received several letters from my father lately which indicate a calmness, a tranquility and a vigour of mind scarcely to be expected at his time of life, and in the situation of his family. I am thankful that he thus retains his faculties.\nThe great rains we have had, have made the season very sickly, especially in the neighbourhood, where I lived. The disease most prevalent is the bilious remittent fever. I have taken part of a house on the hill near the house built by the late Gustavus Scott who was one of the Commissioners of this city. The house formerly belonged to Mr. Holmead. The change of air must be considerable; at least we are out of the influence of the local causes to which in a great measure I attributed our bad health\u2014I mean the stagnant water in the cellars of the unfinished houses\u2014and in the brick yards, and the marsh of James\u2019s creek, with which we were surrounded at the point.\nI think I ought not to return to it again; and as I am to seek a new residence I have sometimes thought of removing to Alexandria, where rents are low & provisions cheap; and where I can have the benefit of good schools for my daughters without sending them to a boarding school; & where every thing is convenient, and society upon a scale better suited to our circumstances and habits. The district court, of which I am sole Judge, sits only in Alexandria.\u2014 The only disadvantage which I think of at present is, that I shall not find it so convenient to attend the Supreme Court to take notes of reports, and as if I resided in this city. Alexandria I believe is more healthy than the city.  The Ague & fever has not been known for many years, in the thick settled part of the town; and the bilious fever is very rare. I should be able to visit my land, in case I should improve it, without the heavy tax of the Bridge toll.\nThese are my principal reasons for thinking of a residence in Alexandria\u2014but I am by no means determined.\u2014Health, education, society, economy and convenience, and are considerations of the first importance in chusing a residence, and if the balance of these should be clearly in favour of Alexandria I ought to go there.\nEight Nine of my family have had the bilious fever this summer; although the season has not yet arrived when we generally expect it. We are all recovering but one servant who was taken two days ago. Mary has had no fever these last 36 hours\u2014Nancy had a fever last night & great part of this day; but it seems now to have intermitted & we have begun to give her the bark.\nI am happy to hear that Mrs. Smith and Caroline are with you & in health. Present her my best, and if she will accept them, my affectionate regards\u2014as well as to your son, the two Mrs. Adams\u2019s & Susan & Louisa; and accept for yourself and for my venerated Uncle, / the most respectful affection / of your obliged & grateful / nephew\nW Cranch.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2024", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 10 September 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nSt: Petersburg 10. September 1811.\nThe first page of the enclosed Press-Copy of my last Letter is so faint that unless you should have received the original, before it comes to hand, I know not whether you will be able to read it\u2014The second however is more plain, and contains the material information of the whole; the birth of my daughter\u2014This information has since been repeated in letters to my father and my brother, dispatched by different vessels; some of which I trust will arrive\u2014On the whole, it is remarkable how few of the letters which we have written to our friends or which they have written us have ultimately miscarried\u2014Though I am not always fortunate enough to get an acknowledgment of the receipt of those I have written.\u2014I have mentioned to my brother that the French Police at Hamburg had done me the honour to think one of my letters to him worth reading and keeping\u2014And there is one to you N. 14. dated 28 February, which has probably failed also in the conveyance\u2014I sent it to Mr Russell at Paris, to be forwarded and he wrote me that he should send it by the Flash, a vessel which was to have sailed from L\u2019Orient in April. But Mr Patterson of Baltimore who has lately been here, and left Paris in May informed me that the Port of L\u2019Orient had been blockaded ever since the month of April by the English, and that the Flash had never dared to go-off.\u2014The last letter which we have from you is that of 8. June, to my wife\u2014We have received none from America for a Month, and are afraid that we shall receive very few more before Winter\u2014The Season for Vessels from the United States to arrive here with a probability of being able to return this year is already past, and that of their departure is close at hand\u2014A fortnight ago there were upwards of one hundred American vessels laying in the single Port of Cronstadt\u2014more than two thirds of them are already gone, and several are waiting only for a wind.\u2014There is a new obstacle however to their passage out of the Baltic\u2014Since Mr. Erving has arrived at Copenhagen, the Danish Privateers have had so little chance of succeeding in their depredations upon our trade, that some of them have tried another resource; they have obtained French Commissions, and taking vessels close at the passage of the Sound carry them into Copenhagen, and send their Papers to Paris\u2014We know of two American Vessels, coming here, that have been thus taken, and will certainly not arrive this Season.\u2014One of them belongs to Lieutenant Governor Gray.\nWe have heard from America, to as late a period as 6. July, when we are told that Mr: Pinkney and Mr: Foster had both arrived. There were on board of the Essex frigate several despatches and letters from me; and among the rest the original of my letter N. 12. the duplicate of which you received by a vessel from Copenhagen.\nYesterday we had the christening of our daughter\u2014As the United-States have not among the usages of their diplomatic establishment; seen fit to adopt that of allowing a chaplain to their Ministers abroad, the Ceremony was performed by the Revd: Dr: Pitt, Chaplain to the English Church in this City, and according to the ritual of the Church of England\u2014I should have preferred the mode of baptism, according to the practice of my fathers, to which I adhere, both in belief, and in Sentiment.\u2014But I consider the rite itself as so essential, and the form as a matter so entirely subordinate, that in case of necessity, I would sooner have my child baptized by the forms of the Greek or of the Roman Catholic Church, than omit it altogether\u2014The Sponsors were, our Consul Mr Harris a Quaker\u2014Madam Bezema the Lady of the Portuguese Minister, a Roman Catholic, and Mrs: Krehmer, a Lady born of English Parents, and belonging to the English Church\u2014That a Quaker and a Portuguese Roman Catholic should join with a Church Clergyman to baptize the child of a New-England Congregationalist at St: Petersburg the Capital of Russia, is an incident rather extraordinary in the annals of the World. We had the flag of the United States flying at the end of ou a pier extending from our garden out upon the river, and a company consisting of several of our Countrymen, with the Saxon and Westphalian Ministers, to witness the service.\u2014The child was named after her mother Louisa-Catherine\u2014I beg leave to recommend this incident to my honoured father, as a good theme for meditations upon Government.\u2014If Mr: West or Mr: Copley had been of the party I should have proposed to them to make a Picture of it.\nTo-morrow is the festival of St: Alexander Newsky, one of the ancestors of the present Emperor, and his patron Saint. This Prince was born in the year 1220 and died in 1264\u2014His pretensions to Sanctity as I find them recorded in History are founded upon two of his actions\u2014The first was, defeating the Swedes in a pitched battle, on the Banks of the Neva, from which he also derived the name of Newsky\u2014Alexander of the Neva\u2014and the second was turning Monk on his death-bed\u2014Neither of these deeds, was in the Spirit of that age, enough to make by itself a Saint\u2014Almost all the Russian Princes for several centuries died monks\u2014But they did not all win complete victories over the Swedes\u2014It was the Battle of the Neva, rather than the Cowl, that obtained for Alexander the crown of glory.\u2014It was certainly that battle too, which made him such a favourite with Peter the Great; who after accomplishing the Conquest of these Provinces from the Swedes, built his City of St: Petersburg, and founded a monastery within two miles of it, on the very spot (so at least he chose it should be considered) where Alexander had won the battle\u2014to him he dedicated the monastery, and there he built a magnificent Church and archepiscopal Palace, where the metropolitan of the Empire resides\u2014In honour of the same Saint he also founded an order of Chivalry, still subsisting as the second order of Russia, in point of distinction\u2014Peter having done so much to keep this Saint in the fashion, his Successors have been emulous of the same devotion\u2014The Empress Ann had the bones of the Saint transported to this Church, and deposited in a shrine of massive silver\u2014Even Catherine of Anhalt-Zerbst not only gave his name to her grand-son the present Sovereign, but rebuilt the Church with increased Splendor, and enriched it with many costly ornaments and precious relics.\u2014On the 30th: day of August Old Stile, of every year the Emperor and all the Imperial family go in solemn procession to this Church, and after attending the celebration of a religious solemnity, separately and in succession walk up and prostrate themselves before the shrine of the Saint, in Adoration.\u2014No Strangers are invited to this celebration, but if any of the foreign Ministers chuse to attend, suitable places are assigned to them\u2014I accordingly attended it last year, and my curiosity was so fully gratified, that I shall probably not repeat the visit now.\u2014I should have regretted it much however had I not once seen it\u2014The performance of the mass differs in some respects from that of ordinary occasions, but the most remarkable incident is the Ceremony of Imperial Adoration\u2014The prostrations practiced under the Greek Church, are far more lowly than mere genuflexions. They consist not merely in falling upon the knees; but in bowing the head, and striking the forehead upon the pavement or floor\u2014if I had not seen the Adoration of St: Alexander Nevsky, I never should have known, I do not say with what perfect decorum, but with what exquisite gracefulness, and what imposing dignity, it was possible for such an act as that to be performed by a beautiful Princess of sixteen\u2014Yet in seeing her, was it not natural for a heretic to think, how much fitter the worshiper was for the object of such worship than he to whom it was paid?\nIt being what they call the Emperor\u2019s name day, it is kept with high festivity at the Palace; and the present year as the last, the French Ambassador gives a great diplomatic dinner the day before, and the Chancellor of the Empire another, the day after\u2014I am just called to dress for the first.\nBefore I go, I must say something to you about my children at home\u2014You mention in your last Letter that George is getting aukward tricks and habits; which gives me some concern\u2014Though I never sacrificed much myself to the Graces, and though I hold in utter contempt the doctrine that makes them the foundation of a system of education, yet I should be deeply mortified if either of my children should prove notoriously destitute of them\u2014As the Graces are Ladies, they generally recommend those who pay them the most attention, at least to their own Sex: And as  the learned President Montesquieu observes, the ladies are the best judges of many qualities very essential to a man\u2019s success in the world\u2014It is upon the Ladies that I must entirely depend for giving this sort of polish to my boys, and I rely much upon your goodness in this respect to the two that are with you.\nI am not easy under the idea of being entirely useless to their education myself\u2014I should in no case take much share in the formation of their manners\u2014But their morals are of my concern\u2014I have in consequence of my reflections on this point written George a letter, which I intend shall be followed by others\u2014As it will be upon topics beyond the research of his years, I presume he will not understand it; but as my plan is of considerable extent and susceptible of further enlargement I have thought it best to begin now, though at the risk of not being immediately understood. I have referred him to you for the explanation of any thing that he may find too hard.\u2014But if his capacity should not yet be expanded enough even to receive such explanation, as is very possible, he may be allowed to put the letters upon file without troubling himself about them after a first perusal for the present\nWe are all in as good health as the Circumstances admit\u2014Remember me dutifully to my father, affectionately to the family, and believe me ever faithfully your\u2019s\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2026", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to William Smith, 12 September 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Smith, William,Smith, Hannah Carter\nQuincy Sepbr 12 1811\nAltho I cannot personally be with you, oweing to the Sickness in my own Family, to pay the last tribute of respect to the remains of your Dear Departed Son, be assured my dear afflicted Friends, that my Heart, my Thoughts, and my affections are with you, and that I do most tenderly Sympathize with you in this day of your visitation\nMay that all Mercifull Being, whose ways are not as our ways, heal the Breach made upon you, and impart to you that consolation which is not in the power of Earthly Friendship to bestow. we see but in part, but we Shall know hereafter\n\u201cwait the great Teacher Death and God adore\u201d\nvirtuous, pleasent, and Lovely in Life He is gone to Brighter Realms to worship, and adore, altho calld upon as Believers and Christians to Resignation and Submission we are not forbiden to feel the hand which Smites us. a greater Character than Human, wept at the Death of a beloved Friend.\nLet your consolation be that you Sorrow not, as those who have no hope\nunto that Being who loved us and gave himself for us, in the full confidence that all his ways are Right, I commend you my Dear Friends, beseaching him to Support you and to pour the balm of consolation into your wounded bosoms\nBe assured of the tenderest Sympathy of the President, and your truly afflicted Friend\nAbigail Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2027", "content": "Title: From Abigail Amelia Adams Smith to Benjamin Rush, 12 September 1811\nFrom: Smith, Abigail Amelia Adams\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\nQuincy 12 Septr 1811\nyou will I hope pardon the Liberty I have taken to address myself to you Sir upon a Subject which has become very interesting to myself. since I have been on a visit to my Parents, I have met with a volume of your Medical inquiries, in which are containd some observations upon the use of Arsenic in the cure of Cancers and schirrous complaints\u2014\nabout May 1810 I first perceived a hardness in my right Breast just above the nipple which occasioned me an uneasy sensation, like a burning sometimes an itching & at time a deep darting pain through the Breast, but without any discolouration at all. it has continued to Contract and the Breast has become much smaller than it was. the tumor appears now about the size of a Cap and does not appear to adhere but to be loose\u2014I applied to a Physician and he recommended me to apply a Plaister of the cicuta which I did and kept it on several weeks but did not find any good affect from it it appeard to me to increase the uneasiness I therefore took it off. I have also taken a considerable of cicuta in Pills, but I thought they produced a heaviness in my head & have for some time discontinued them I came to since I have been here I have consulted several Physicians upon the Subject they have all advised me not to make any outward application to it\u2014and as it has not affected the State of my health they do not recommend me to use any medicine\u2014Still I am uneasy upon the Subject\u2014for I think I observe it becoming harder and a little redness at times on the skin Dr Warren who has seen it told me that in its present state he would not advise me to do anything for it but if it should enflame I had better apply for surgical aid\u2014this is a remedy that I dont know in any Event I could consent to submit to\u2014certainly I should wish to try every other possible expedient first. and if in the course of your researches you should have discovered any thing that you find of use in this state of it, you would confer a great obligation upon me by communicating it\nI am Sir with great respect your obedient Servant\nA Smith", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2028", "content": "Title: To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 14 September 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, John\nDear Sir.\nSt: Petersburg 14 September 1811.\nSome time in the month of June last there was published in the Boston Patriot, a pretended State-Paper, purporting to be signed by the Duke of Cadore, addressed to His Excellency\u2014as in extreme secrecy, and containing a common-place invective against the British Nation-Constitution, and Royal Family; mixed up with a panegyric upon the Duke of York, and the incendiary Jackson\u2014a curse upon the murder of Louis 16 and his murderers; a dissertation upon Wicliff-Huss\u2014Luther, and the price of Seats at Covent Garden Theatre; abuse upon Erskine, Cobbett, the Burdett party and ministerial opposition in England, and as the choicest effusion of gall, of which all the rest seems to be only the froth, an allusion to the Government of the United-States, as the \u201cweakest and most contemptible of Governments.\u201d\nHow the Editors of the Patriot can have been imposed upon to take and publish as a genuine State-Paper, what appears to me the most stupid because the most glaring forgery that I ever saw, is not for me to explain\u2014They do not expressly warrant its authenticity; but they declare their own persuasion of it, not only from their confidence in the source from which they received it, but from what they consider as its internal evidence.\nIt appears to have been republished in many of the federal newspapers, in the United-States; whose Editors were doubtless highly delighted with the terms in which it speaks of their Government\u2014I have it in the New-York Commercial Advertiser of 22. June, which has been sent me by Mr Russell from Paris, and in which the paragraph containing this insult is printed over a second time in a different page of the paper, with evident marks of exultation\u2014There is also a little Comment of Sympathy and love for the English king and Constitution, natural enough for its place, but into which the Patriot, the original publisher had not been duped.\nBut the great fortune of this State-Paper was to be made in England\u2014The London Courier of 30 July publishes it, as perhaps the most important State paper ever laid before the British Nation; and instead of speaking like the American editors, in terms of doubt or hesitation with regard to its authenticity, the Courier not only solemnly declares and repeats that it is beyond all question authentic, but undertakes to give a history of its publication\u2014It says that during the last Autumn, (the piece is dated 30. October 1810) there appeared to be some wavering and irresolution in the policy of the Russian Cabinet\u2014That the paper was then written and addressed by the Duke of Cadore to the Russian Ambassador at Paris, to be laid before his Government, in order to persuade the Emperor of Russia that the war with England must be continued, untill the British Constitution should be destroyed or the present royal family driven from the throne\u2014That the Russian Ambassador accordingly sent it to his Court, where it did not prove successful\u2014That the Russian Government, to let the United States know how their Government was spoken of by the French Minister of foreign affairs, and perhaps to have the paper made known in England, communicated it to Mr J. Q. Adams the American Minister at St: Petersburg, who transmitted a copy of it to his own Government; and also to his father, through whom it was first published.\nFrom the Courier, a ministerial paper, this miserable fabrication was copied into many of the other English Newspapers, but in most of them is recognized as a forgery\u2014The Courier persisted in asserting its authenticity, and in the tale of its having been transmitted by me, and published by you\u2014A translation of it, was soon after published in the Moniteur, and copied into the Journal de l\u2019Empire, with a few short Notes, in one of which it is declared to have been forged in England\u2014A German translation, with the notes of the Moniteur has appeared in the Hamburg Correspondent, so that it has been now thoroughly circulated all over Europe together with the falsehood which ascribes its transmission from this Country to me, and its publication to you.\nIt was in the London Courier that I first saw it, and then considered it in the same light as it is viewed in the Note of the Moniteur\u2014as a mere English forgery\u2014I did not suspect that the imposture had ever appeared in the Boston Patriot, and I could not conjecture what motive could have prompted the Editor of the London Courier, to use my name as instrumental to the Circulation of so wretched a fable\u2014Some days afterwards, I received a letter from Mr Russell, enclosing the New-York Paper, above-mentioned, and the Moniteur containing the translation\u2014Since I know that the first publication was in the Boston Patriot, I am not so totally at a loss to imagine why the English Editors so boldly palmed your name and mine upon the public to avouch this infamous fraud, but I am not a little surprized that the Editor of the Patriot should have been misled to credit so far the authenticity of the pretended Memoir, as to have admitted it into his Paper, and to have avowed his belief that it was genuine. If the braying of the animal, had not been sufficiently audible to disclose the imposition of the Lion\u2019s skin, I should really have thought that the Editor of the Patriot, would have discovered him by his ears.\u2014If a dramatic author were to put in the mouth of a known character, sentiments I will not say so foolish and absurd, but so totally at War with the notorious sentiments of the person represented, he would be hooted off the stage for ignorance of the first principles of his art.\u2014That there should have been in human Nature baseness enough to attempt this deception is not at-all remarkable, but that there should have been in men of worth and discernment, blindness enough to believe in it for a moment, is extraordinary.\u2014I am not however at present of opinion that it was of English invention altogether\u2014the Editor of the Patriot must know whence it came to him, and he may be sure it was a cheat practiced upon him\u2014No such paper was ever written by the Duke of Cadore\u2014or sent by the Russian Ambassador in France to this Country, or communicated by the Russian Ambass Government to me; or transmitted by me to any person in the United States, or, (without a particle of hesitation, I add,) first published through you.\nIt is the more to be regretted that the Patriot should have given countenance and currency to this trick of political swindling, because its intended effect, and so far it obtains credit, its real effect must be to propagate and strengthen those false opinions, and groundless jealousies, which the present English Ministry and their faction every where, are attempting to impose upon mankind\u2014Ignorant or blind to the real state of the world, and to the necessity which every wise Statesman must feel of adapting his political system to it, the English Ministers of this day, have come to the avowal that their only plan for futurity is perpetual, or at least interminable War\u2014They will neither discuss nor even listen to any proposition of Peace\u2014And as in this long War, like that of the house of Saul, against the house of David, they are waxing weaker and weaker, while their adversary waxes stronger and stronger, they find the spirits of their people beginning to flag, they find and think it necessary to make them believe they are fighting for their existence, for their Constitution or for their Sovereign, when in truth they are only fighting for the Chateaux en Espagne of their Ministers\u2014As the plain truth will not answer to justify their policy, they have recourse to such falsehoods, as they know to be best calculated to stimulate and to controul the Passions of their People\u2014Swift in his Art of political lying complains that the French king and universal monarchy had been so prodigally brought out, instead of being kept like the bears for shew, once a year, that they had almost lost their effect of terror\u2014But N\u00e1poleon is a more durable bug-bear than Louis 14. and lavish as they have been of him for these nine or ten years, they have not yet worn him out.\u2014The Bonaparte panic has been made a political engine in America too, where but for the Camel-swallow, and Ostrich maw of faction it would have been only ridiculous\u2014With us too it has howled the song of War against his universal Empire, untill it grew hoarse upon the sky, and now when the whip-poor-will warble of Walsh and the raven croak of Pickering waste alike their sweetness on the desart air, at a moment when the lash of british outrage and insult is smarting in every honest vein, a gross, direct, and palpable forgery comes with unblushing face to turn the public indignation away from its proper object, and through the Boston Patriot obtains access to the public mind.\nAlthough the use of my name in this piece of villainy, was first made in the London Courier, and does not appear in the American papers, it must in all probability have been suggested to the English Editors from America, and may have been intended by the original author of the spurious memoir, certainly with views of no friendship or kindness for me\u2014The Courier has even been grateful enough to pronounce a panegyric upon yourself and me, wisely and ingeniously confounding us together as one and the same person.\u2014I believe you will be as little ambitious as myself of such praise.\nI have written to Mr: Russell at Paris, and declared to the French Ambassador here that the whole of the story, so far as my name is concerned, was false and destitute of all foundation\u2014Count Romanzoff declares the same, as respects the Russian Government, and the Russian Ambassador at Paris has equally denied having ever received any thing like the pretended Memoir\u2014I have no doubt you will be equally surprized as I was to find yourself vouched for as an authority in the Courier, to authenticate this deception.\nI enclose under cover with this, a letter for my Son George, and one which I will thank you to forward to Mr Plumer, of New-Hampshire\u2014I wrote, only four days since to my mother, and informed her of the baptism of my new born daughter by the name of Louisa-Catherine.\u2014She is now a full month old, and has hitherto enjoyed perfect health\u2014Her mother is also recovered from her Confinement, and as well as nursing usually admits. The rest of the family as healthy as the Season allows\u2014Charles growing fast\u2014Mr: Gray and Mr Jones leave us, in two or three days; for Paris.\u2014\nAccept my duty.\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2029", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 15 September 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, George Washington\nLetter 2.\nSt: Petersburg 15. September 1811.\nThe first point of view, in which I have invited you to consider the Bible, is in the light of a Divine Revelation. And what are we to understand by these terms?\u2014I intend as much as possible to avoid the field of controversy, with which I am not well acquainted, and for which I have little respect, and still less inclination\u2014My idea of the Bible as a Divine Revelation, is founded upon its practical use to mankind, and not upon metaphysical subtleties.\nThere are three points of doctrine, the belief of which forms the foundations of all human morality\u2014The first is the existence of God\u2014the second, is the immortality of the human Soul, and the third is a future state of rewards and punishments\u2014Suppose it possible for a man to disbelieve either of these three Articles of faith, and that man will have no Conscience\u2014He will have no other Law than that of the Tyger and the Shark\u2014The laws of man, may bind him in chains or may put him to death, but they never can make him wise, virtuous or happy\u2014It is possible to believe them all without believing that the Bible is a divine Revelation\u2014It is so obvious to every reasonable being that he did not make himself, and that the world which he sees could as little make itself, that the moment we begin to exercise the power of reflection, it seems impossible to escape the conviction that there is a Creator\u2014It is equally evident that this Creator must be a spiritual and not a material being\u2014There is also a consciousness, that the thinking part of our Nature is not material but spiritual\u2014that it is not subject to the laws of matter and therefore not perishable with it\u2014Hence arises the belief that we possess an immortal Soul\u2014Pursuing the train of thought, which the visible Creation and observation upon ourselves suggests, we must soon discover that the Creator must also be the Governor, of the Universe; that his power, his wisdom and his goodness must be without bounds\u2014that he is a righteous God, and loves righteousness; that mankind are bound by his laws of righteousness, and accountable to him for their obedience to them; and that as he does not always reward or punish them in this life according to their good or Evil deeds, the completion of divine Justice must be reserved for another lifeThe Existence of a Creator\u2014the immortality of the human Soul, and the future state of retribution, are therefore so perfectly congenial to natural reason when once discovered, or rather it is so impossible for natural reason to disbelieve them, that it would seem the light of natural reason would alone suffice for their discovery\u2014But this conclusion would not be exact.\u2014Human reason may be sufficient to get an obscure glimpse at these sacred and important truths, but it cannot discover them in all their clearness.\u2014For example\u2014In all the numberless false Religions which have swayed the minds of men in different regions and ages of the world, the idea of a God has always been included\nFather of all\u2014in every age\nIn every clime ador\u2019d\u2014\nBy Saint, by Savage and by Sage\u2014\nJehovah\u2014Jove\u2014or Lord.\nSo says Pope\u2019s Universal prayer\u2014But it is the God of the Hebrews alone, it is the God revealed to us in the Bible alone, who is announced as the Creator of the World\u2014The ideas of God entertained by all the most illustrious, and most ingenious Nations of Antiquity, were weak and absurd\u2014The Persians worshipped the Sun\u2014the Egyptians believed in an innumerable multitude of Gods, and worshiped not only oxen, crocodiles, dogs and cats, but even garlicks and Onions\u2014The Greeks invented a poetical religion and adored men and women, virtues and vices, Air, Water Fire, and every thing that a vivid imagination could personify\u2014Almost all the Greek Philosophers reasoned and meditated upon the Nature of the Gods; but scarcely any of them ever reflected enough even to imagine that there was but one God\u2014and not one of them ever conceived of him as the Creator of the World\u2014Cicero has collected together all their opinions upon the nature of the Gods, and pronounces that they are more like the dreams of madmen, than the sober judgments of wise men\u2014\nIn the first book of Ovid\u2019s metamorphoses there is the an Account of the change of Chaos into the World\u2014Before the Sea, and the Earth and the sky that surrounds all things, (says Ovid) there was a thing called Chaos\u2014and some one of the Gods, he does not know which, separated from one another, the elements of this Chaos, and turned them into a World\u2014Thus far and no farther could human reason extend\u2014But the first words of the Bible are \u201cIn the beginning, God created the heaven and the Earth.\u201d This blessed and sublime idea of God, the creator of the Universe, this source of all human virtue and all human happiness, for which all the Sages and philosophers of Greece and Rome groped in darkness and never found, is revealed in the first verse of the book of Genesis.\nI call it the source of all human virtue and happiness, because when we have once attained the conception of a being who by the mere act of his will created the world, it would follow as an irresistible consequence even if we were not so expressly told, that the same being must also be the Governor of his own Creation\u2014That man with all other things, was also created by him, and must hold his felicity and his virtue on the condition of obedience to His Will\u2014In the first Chapters of the Bible, there is a short and rapid historical narrative of the manner in which the world, and man were made; of the Condition, upon which happiness and immortality were bestowed upon our first parents; of their transgression of this Condition, and of the punishment denounced upon them, and the promise of redemption from it by \u201cthe seed of  the woman.\u201d\nThere are and always have been where the holy Scriptures have been known, petty writings, and self-conceited reasoners, who cavil at some of the particular details of this narrative\u2014Even serious enquirers after truth, have sometimes been perplexed to believe that there should have been evening and morning, before the existence of the Sun\u2014That a man should be made of clay, and a woman from the rib of a Man\u2014that they should be forbidden to eat an Apple, and for disobedience to that injunction be with all their posterity doomed to Death\u2014That a serpent should speak, and beguile a woman\u2014and that eating an apple could give the knowledge of good and evil\u2014All this is undoubtedly marvelous, and above our comprehension\u2014Much of it is clearly figurative and allegorical; nor is it easy to distinguish, what part of it is to be understood in a literal, and what in a symbolical sense\u2014But that which it imports us fo to understand is plain\u2014The great and essential principles upon which our duties and enjoyments depend, are involved in no obscurity\u2014A God, the Creator and Governor of the Universe is revealed in all His Majesty and Power\u2014The terms upon which he gave existence, and happiness to the common Parent of Mankind are exposed to us in the clearest light\u2014Disobedience to the Will of God was the offence, for which he was precipitated from Paradise\u2014Obedience to the Will of God, is the merit, by which Paradise is to be regained\nHere then is the foundation of all morality; the source of all our obligations as accountable Creatures\u2014This idea of the transcendent power of the Supreme being is essentially connected with that by which the whole duty of Man, is summed up in Obedience to his Will\u2014I have observed that natural reason might suffice for an obscure perception, but not for the clear discovery of these truths\u2014Even Cicero could start to his own mind the question whether Justice could exist upon Earth unless founded upon piety but could not settle it to his own satisfaction. \u201cHaud scio (says he) an pietata adversus deos sublata, fides etiam et societas humani generis et una excellentissima virtus, justitia tollatur.\u201d The ray of divine light contained in the principle that Justice has no other foundation than Piety, could make its way to the Soul of the heathen, but there it was extinguished in the low, unsettled and inconsistent Notions, which were the only foundations of his piety\u2014How could his piety by pure or sound, when he did not know whether there was one God or a thousand\u2014whether he or they had not any concern in the formation in the world; and whether they had any regard to the affairs or the conduct of mankind?\u2014Once assume the idea of a single God; the creator of all things, whose Will is the Law of moral obligation to man, and to whom man is accountable, and Piety becomes as rational as it is essential\u2014It becomes the first of human duties, and not a doubt can thenceforth remain that fidelity, and the association of human kind, and that most excellent Virtue of Justice, repose upon no other foundation.\nAt a later age than Cicero, Longinus, expressly quotes the third verse of the first Chapter of the Book of Genesis, as an example of the sublime\u2014\u201cAnd God said, let there be light: and there was light.\u201d\u2014And wherein consists its sublimity?\u2014In the image of transcendent power presented to the mind, with the most striking simplicity of expression\u2014yet this verse only exhibits one of the effects of that transcendant power, which the first verse discloses in announcing God as the Creator of the world\u2014The true sublimity is in the idea given us of God\u2014To such a God Piety, is but a reasonable service\u2014To such a God the heart of man must yield with cheerfulness the tribute of homage, which it never could pay to the bleating Gods of Egypt, to the dissolute debauchers of the Grecian Mythology, nor even to the more elevated, but no less fantastical imaginations of the Grecian Philosophers and Sages.\nI shall resume this subject in another letter\u2014And I reserve a small corner of my paper to tell you that your Mama, brother Charles, and Sister Louisa, who was christened last Week, and the rest of us are well, and that we hope before the Winter sets in to hear the same good news, at least once more from our friends at Quincy\u2014It is more than a month since we have received any letters from America.\nFrom your father\nA,", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2030", "content": "Title: From William Stephens Smith to Abigail Smith Adams, 15 September 1811\nFrom: Smith, William Stephens\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nMy dear Madam\nLebanon Septr. 15th. 1811\u2014\nI received your very affectionate Letter (dated the 20th. of August, post mark 2d inst.) on Wednesday; in my Letter of August 12th. I may have expressed myself with too much Solicitude and given my opinion too decidedly in Opposition to that of professional men\u2014they will have liberallity , enough, to excuse me\u2014I fully agree with you that it would be best, having advised with Surgeon\u2019s and Physicians to follow their advice\u2014I shall never hazard an opinion on the subject again, but being conscious of having fully discharged my duty to you, and my dear Wife, in this interesting case, I will hope in tollerable tranquility, for the best, do every thing I am requested to do, and acknowledge I am totally ignorant of the case, and will only attend to her wishes on the subject.\nWith respect to my proposition to reside near you I conceived it a duty I owed you, and mrs: Smith, that duty being paid, I rest satisfied with your answer.\nThe season is fast advancing when travelling will be unpleasant, I should wish, that mrs: S. and Caroline would be in motion homewards as soon as agreable to them after the receipt of this Letter, I think the stage conveyance too harsh for them If you can spare them the Chariot, and inform me of the day of departure by Post, I will meet them with a covered carriage, and attend them home, where we have always lamented their absence, and now grow solicitous for their return\u2014The sooner the amiable creatures are with us, the better, for we are all anxious for their Society &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c. &c.\nYou are pleased to speak in flattering terms of this State I think it merits it\u2014there is lately published a brief Topographical and Statistical Manual of the State for the present year, it presents three-hundred Villages, generally from thirty to forty and six hundred houses, four hundred and fifty two towns including four cities\u2014forty five counties and the census of 1810. give nine thousand hundred and sixty-thousand inhabitants and the returns of the Militia regularly enrolled in 1809. was one hundred & two thousand and sixty eight\u2014and agreable to calculation the next general return of the enrolled militia will exceed one hundred and eighty thousand\u2014we have thirty three thousand and sixty eight looms, which produced the last year nine million, ninety nine thousand, seven hundred and three yards of cloth, worth five million, two thousand, eight hundred and ninety one dollars & eighty two Cents\u2014we have one million two hundred and eighty thousand sheep, three hundred thousand horse and one million of neat cattle\u2014besides numerous establishments of tan works, Breweries falling mills, Paper mills, Hat factories, Powder mills, Rope Walks, sugar houses, oil mills, blast furnaces, air furnaces, cut nail factories, forges trip hammers, rolling and slitting mills, that Value twelve million eighty two Thousand five hundred & twenty five dollars\u2014four hundred & thirteen Carding machines and twenty six cotton factories\u2014the value of these anually exclusive of private domestick manufactories exceeds sixteen million of dollars.\nThe County of Cayuga produces annually two million two hundred & forty skeins of silk and the salt at the works, one hundred and forty seven thousand dollars annually and encreasing\u2014there are thirty six bridge companies with five hundred & nine thousand dollars of Stock, one hundred thirty five turnpike companies with seven million five hundred fifty eight dollars stock and our roads extend over a length of four thousand five hundred miles\nThe capital stock of the incorporated banks is eleven million six hundred & ninety thousand dollars\u2014besides other important, Items too lengthy to detail\u2014\nSuch my dear Madam are the recourses of the single state of N. York other states no doubt, present proportionably similar important and interesting lines, which I apprehend our dignified rulers are not so intimately acquainted\u2014with as our real enemies and false friends\u2014\nI apprehend internal commotion, I do not dread a foreign War, the latter if entered into some time past, with a  becoming dignity, would have put the former asside, but wiser men must deside the important question\u2014I have no objection to share the danger but I cannot solicit employment\u2014\nPresent me most respectfully to the President / And believe me respectfully and affectionately / Yours,\nW: S: Smith", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2032", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 22 September 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, George Washington\n(Letter 3)\nMy Dear George,\nSt: Petersburg 22 Septr: 1811.\nMy last letter contained the substance but not the form of an argument for considering the Bible as a divine Revelation. It explicitly stated the three points of belief which I deemed indispensable to the happiness the virtue and improvement of mankind.\u20141. The existence of one God, the Creator and Governor of the Universe and particularly of mankind\u20142. The immortality of the Soul\u20143. A future life of reward, and punishment.\u2014I shewed you that the natural and ordinary powers of the human mind are not sufficient for the discovery of these truths\u2014That they are disclosed in the Bible, by special and distinct Revelations from God, in a manner altogether different from the ordinary course of nature\u2014And hence it follows that the Bible, considered as Divine Revelation contains a series of direct Communications from the Creator of mankind to individual persons, which have been by some of them committed to writing, and which include a code of moral and religious Laws suitable for all mankind, and binding upon all who are blest with the Knowledge of it. But if the belief of these doctrines be essential to the happiness, virtue and improvement of mankind, why were they particularly disclosed by Revelation to a few individuals of a single nation? Why were they not made discoverable to all men by the simple operation of their reason? the answers to these questions, are also to be found in the Bible\u2014The first Parents of mankind were created immortal, innocent, and happy. But they were created free. The tenure of their blessed state was on the condition of obedience to the Will of God.\u2014This Condition they violated\u2014they forfeited by their transgression, their immortality their innocence and their happiness\u2014With them they lost their posterity; who could be redeemed to their original State, only by intervention of a Saviour.\u2014Among the miseries brought upon mankind by the Apostacy of their Ancestor, was the loss of the Knowledge of the true God, and of their own immortality.\u2014This loss was not however total in any part of the World; a remnant of it was every where preserved; but in different degrees among different Nations\u2014It was the purpose of divine Providence that it should never be wholly lost, and that in his due time it should be wholly restored\u2014To a succession of Patriarchs untill Abraham, and afterwards to him and his descendants alone untill the appearance of Jesus Christ. God continued to communicate his Will by special Revelation. But even from them he reserved the clear and certain hope of a future life: untill Jesus Christ came with glad tidings of great joy to all mankind; bringing life and immortality once more to light by the Gospel. To the three articles of Faith, which I have supposed to be essential for all Religion and Morality\u2014the Bible as a Divine Revelation adds therefore a fourth\u2014the original excellence and present fallen condition of man\u2014This tenet is peculiar to the Religions founded upon the Bible, and it has great and numerous consequences upon the moral system of Christianity\u2014An omnipotent Creator, an immortal  Soul, and a day of Judgment are sometimes considered as the foundations of Natural Religion, though after all, independent of the Bible, they are mere speculation and conjectures which men may believe or disbelieve according to the strength or weakness of their minds.\u2014But the fall and redemption of man, with all the duties incumbent on us in consequence of them, are taught only in the Bible. Obscure and confused traditions, preserved among the heathen world some memorial of this truth as well as of the others.\u2014In the mythology of the Greeks it was believed that men were originally made virtuous and happy, and had gradually become vicious and miserable.\u2014Hence their poetical fictions of the four ages of gold, silver, brass and iron.\u2014But in those curious mixtures of forgotten history with inventive fancy, there was no moral principle involved. They admitted the degeneracy of mankind, but they inculcated no precept for its restoration to its original purity\u2014They lamented that Astr\u00e6a had abandoned the Earth, but they gave no hopes of her returning to it again.\u2014By admitting the Bible as a divine Revelation, we have hopes of future felicity, inspired together with the conviction of our present wretchedness.\u2014The blood of the redeemer has washed out the pollution of our original Sin, and the certainty of eternal happiness in a future life is again secured to us on the primitive condition of obedience to the Will of God. By considering the Bible as Divine Revelation, we acknowledge a frequent miraculous interposition of divine power.\u2014The reluctance at coming to this admission is to many persons of the present times, the strongest objection against the authority of the sacred Scriptures\u2014Nature it is there operated by general Laws, but those Laws of which we have no Knowledge but by inferences which we draw from the observation of their effects are themselves among the Evidences of an omnipotent Creator, and it requires no great effort of the understanding to perceive that he whose power was competent to produce the general rule must also be possessed of the power of making every particular exception.\u2014The power to create being once admitted to exist, it would bear  scant trifling to cavil about the modes of Creating. A miracle is nothing more  than a physical phenomenon, different from those which we are accustomed to observe; for if by a miracle we understand merely something incomprehensible to our understandings, the growth of a spire of grass is as miraculous as any thing related in the Bible. In receiving the Bible as a diving Revelation, I do not consider every part of it even in the original languages as having been written by preternatural inspiration from Heaven. I do not suppose it necessary to consider the Book as exempt from physical, geographical and Chronological errors.\u2014The translations into modern languages, and the English translation still used, in particular abound with errors. The revelations themselves are of two kinds, those which were made to particular persons, occasionally and for temporary purposes and those which affected the destinies and duties of mankind, for all ages.The forms of Revelation which Divine Wisdom assumed were so various and would multiplied that it would require a long Dissertation and perhaps a large volume to enumerate and explain them.\u2014It is necessary here only to remark that from the Creation untill the Death of Moses God manifested himself to the Patriarchs sometimes in human shape and sometimes by visions, by dreams. and by angels, and finally sometimes by voices which were heard in the air when there was nothing to be scene.\u2014The direct and personal intercourse from God to Man, ceased from the time of Moses, untill that of Jesus Christ.\u2014In Deuteronomy XXXIV. 10. It is expressly said\u2014\u201cAnd there arose not a Prophet since in Israel like unto Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face\u201d\u2014It is the belief of the great majority of Christians, that in the person of Jesus Christ, God himself again appeared in human form\u2014That He took upon himself the nature of man, to teach mankind his most perfect law, and to redeem them from the curse of death, by submitting to it himself. This however has become a subject of great controversy among Christians themselves.\u2014I have read very little of the numberless volumes which have been written on both sides of this question.\u2014 But I have endeavoured by assiduous attention to the New Testament, to settle my own opinion concerning it\u2014There are so many passages both in the Gospels and the Epistles, which Countenance the doctrine of the Divinity of Christ, and so many which appear incompatible with it, that to my Judgment it is not among the things clearly revealed.\u2014I know not how to order my order my Speech by reason of Darkness, and I therefore conclude it is one of those mysteries, not intended to be unfolded to me during the present life. But whether Jesus Christ was a manifestation of Almighty God in the form of a man; or whether he was but the only begotten Son of God, by whom he made the world, and by whom he will judge the world in righteousness, I consider as merely a speculative question, which I am not called upon to settle, and about which my only duty is not to suffer my Passions or Prejudices to be engaged on either side.\u2014That he came into the World to preach repentance & remission of Sins\u2014to proclaim glory to God in the highest, and on Earth Peace Good Will to Men\u2014and finally to bring life and immortality to light in the Gospel, all this is equally clear, if we consider the Bible as Divine Revelation, and all this it imports infinitely to our conduct in this world, and our happiness in the next to know\u2014The rest may be left to a brighter state of existence to ascertain.\nLet us now, my Dear Son,  conclude by resuming the duties to God, to our fellow creatures and to ourselves, which are derived as immediate consequences from the admission of the Bible as Divine Revelation.\u20141. Piety\u2014From the first Chapter of the old Testament to the last of the New, Obedience to the Will of God, as inculcated, as including the whole duty of Man\u20142. Benevolence\u2014The love of our neighbour is very forcibly taught in the Old Testament, but to teach it more effectually was the special object of Chris\u2019ts mission upon Earth\u2014\u201cLove\u201d, says St. Paul XIII Romans 10. \u201cas the fulfilling of the Law.\u201d But Christ in his discourse to the apostles at the last Supper says \u201cA new commandment I give unto you. That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another\u2014By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love  one to another.\u201d\u20143. Humility\u2014The profound sense of our own infirmities, which must follow, from the Doctrine of Original Sin, and of its punishment inflicted on all human kind, necessarily inspires meekness and lowliness of Spirit\u2014these too, are commanded in express terms by Jesus Christ, and as principles of morality, they are not only different from the maxims of every other Known system of ethics, but in direct opposition to them.\u2014I shall perhaps on some future occasion, undertake to shew you a comparative estimate of these three Cardinal Virtues of Christianity, with the four Cardinal Virtues of the heathen Philosophers\u2014which were Justice\u2014Prudence\u2014Temperance  and Fortitude\u2014every one of them entitled to the epithet which Cicero gives to the first of \u201cuna excellentissima virtus.\u201d but which as forming the measure of human duties, can only serve to shew forth in brighter evidence, the unrivalled superiority of the moral Code of the Bible. From your affectionate father\u2014\n\u201cThe bright & most excellent virtue", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2033", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 24 September 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nMy Dear Son\nQuincy Sep\u2019br 24 1811\nyour Brother returnd this Evening from Boston and gave me notice that a vessel would Sail for Sweeden tomorrow the notice is So Short, that I can only write you a Short Letter. I Shall in future follow your advice, have a Letter ready for the occasion and not wait for the opportunity. it was not however, untill last Saturday that I received a Letter from William Smith, that I was informed of the necessity you were under of passing an other Season in Petersburgh. I had conjectured it from what you wrote in Your Letter of May 19th, which is the latest date I have yet received from you; your Brother received one last Saturday from you dated in June; and George one from his Mother of the Same date. by your Brothers Letter, I found you had received those written to you by mr Erving,as well as those by the Washington\u2014I have written many Since, but not So frequent as I Should, if I had not flatterd myself that you would return.\nyour Children are well, but they as well as I, are in danger of loosing one of their dearest and best Friends. In the Month of May, my dear Sister Cranch was Seizd with a fever, of the plurisy kind. it was So voilent, as to require Severe Remedies. for Several weeks She was So ill, that we expected every day would be her last. the fever however Subsided, but Nature is exhausted. it is near four Months that She has lain Sick in a consumption. her feet have Swelld, and a voilent Cough daily waste her. She is taken up in a chair and put into a carriage and carried out to ride, and thinks She Shall recover. during the height of her disorder, your uncle was so opprest and borne down with affliction, that we all thought one grave would Soon receive them both. through the whole of this most distressing Sickness, She has had an uncommon flow of Spirits, a care and Solicitude for her Family, which only death can diminish. when She was first taken for several Weeks, I had as many of the Children with me, as I could, George and John & one of mrs Nortens. but as Soon as her fever Subsided, She would have them all back. it really has appeard to me, and to all her Friends, that as her Body weakend, her mental powers brightend. what is very Singular; She Will think that She Shall yet be restored, altho all her Friends, and her Physicians would not be Surprized at her departure at any hour. Hard indeed have I found the trial,.my heart recoils when I endeavour to realize the Seperation. To her Family, her death will be\u2014a loss not to be estimated\u2014To the Children committed to her care\u2014She has been more than a Mother\u2014Gaurdian, Friend companion\u2014The will of heaven be done If we part, we Shall Soon meet again.\nIn my own Family I have a Sever Sickness. mrs C Adams has been Seven weeks confined to her Chamber by complaints which tend to a Hectic. She was Seazd with a puking of Blood to a very allarming degree. when that Subsided, it left her in Danger of an affection upon her Lungs She remains yet very Sick\u2014\nWilliam Smith dyed last week with in a Consumption, of the most rapid kind, to the great distress of his parents and Friends;\nMy Chapter of Melancholys is closed\nwith a gratefull heart, I thank heaven For the health of Body and vigor of mind which your Father enjoys, altho he met with an accident a fortnight Since which has lamed him ever Since\u2014he went out in the dark to view the Comet, and Struck his Leg against a Sharp Stick & cut it, So much as to lay him by\u2014I hope it is now in a good way to recover.\nI have got this far through the Season without any Severe Sickness, altho it has been the hottest Summer we have had for many years\u2014\nyour Sister and Caroline have made me a charming visit this Summer. they have been a comfort to me under my trouble, tho I could not but regret that they were call\u2019d to so painfull a duty\u2014 they will leave me next Month. Caroline is all that is Lovely in a woman\u2014 She has all the virtues, and graces united, not so much in a Regular Set of features or complexion, \u201cbut an animated form which Speaks a mind within.\u201d\nI Shall not touch upon politicks. my Letters I hear are Sometimes opened. they cannot be any great booty to any one, and this I am Sure will have no charms to attract attention\u2014\nThe dissapointment your Friends all experience at the necessity you have been under to decline your appointment is a proof that they believe you well calculated for it.\nI had flatterd myself that I Should See you again. I will Still Cherish the Idea.\nMy Love to your dear companion whom I hope I may congratulate on the Birth of a daughter\u2014If a Son, I Shall not repine. your Brothers last is a daughter\u2014one judge is perhaps as much as falls to the Share of one Family. Your Brother is Chief Judge of the County of Norfolk, under the New Regulation the Countys of plimouth, Barnstable & Bristol will be included I Suppose you will learn all this from himself\u2014as well as that he is one of the Govenours Counsel\u2014\nMr Smiths pamphlet will no doubt be Sent you\u2014you can make your own comments\u2014Mr Pickerings Letters too will appear in a pamphlet\u2014the Mountains labour\u2014\nIf the Country  disgraced by such publications it would be of little concequence\u2014\u201cas it is they fret their hour upon the Stage\u201d\nI had a Letter form Washington not long Since The Families were all well. mr Hellen had given up his House to the British Minister\u2014\nI hope we shall Soon receive Letters of a Recent date from you and from Mrs A\u2014Remember me to Caroline To my Grandsons, and to every Member of your American Family\nGeorge and John Shall both write Soon\nyou will hear a long Story about the Frigate President, and little Belt, Captain Bingham\u2014the result of the Court of inquiry attach no blame to Comodore Rogers.\nI have no time to coppy or correct.\nmost tenderly and affectionably / Yours\nA\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2034", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 25 September 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Thomas Boylston\nSt: Petersburg 25 Septr: 1811.\nThe flood of our letters from America, as well as of vessels arriving from the United States has almost entirely subsided. From the last week in May to the first in August we received nearly thirty letters from Quincy, so that I began to think I had entered rather rashly into the engagement, among others of answering separately every individual letter\u2014Nor have I yet since that time completely fulfilled the promise\u2014But by adhering strictly to that of writing at least once every month to you, and to my mother, to which I have now added a third letter to my father, I expect eventually to acquit the score though several months may elapse before the whole debt will be paid.\nSince my last to you, which the enclosed copy will shew you was written the 27th: of August, the only letter we have received had been one from my Mother of 21. June.\u2014It was brought by a vessel of Lieutt: Governor Gray\u2019s, destined to this Port\u2014The Radius, Captain Lander\u2014Unfortunately she was taken by a privateer wearing French colours, and carried into Copenhagen\u2014There she is still detained, and will continue to be so, at least over this Winter\u2014Mr. Erving however obtained from on board of her my Mother\u2019s letter to me, and forwarded it to me by the Post\u2014I received it last Saturday.\u2014it has sharpened the desire of hearing from you again, and at a later date\u2014Its accounts of Mrs. Cranch\u2019s illnesses, and the consequences of your bruise by the fall from your horse give me no small concern and some alarm\u2014I pray for better tidings by the next conveyance.\nThe London Newspapers are usually from three to four weeks from their date in reaching this place\u2014And they commonly contain one or more paragraphs of Public news from the United States which have got across the atlantic in a similar interval of time\u2014It is through this channel that we always receive the most recent intelligence from our Country, though it sometimes come to us through another secondary medium by transfer into the French or German Gazettes, which we regularly receive twice a week\u2014They are seventeen days coming from Hamburg; and three weeks from Paris.\nIt was in a London Paper, the Courier that I first saw the political forgery, pretended to be a letter from the Duke of Cadore, which had originally been published in the Boston Patriot\u2014In addition to the original imposture, which though it first came from America, I hope and believe to have been of English origin, the Editor of the Courier trumped up a tale of its having been addressed to the Russian Ambassador at Paris\u2014sent by him to the Emperor Alexander\u2014communicated by the Russian Government to me, transmitted by me to my own Government; and to my father, though whom he says it was first published\u2014And all this without hesitation or scruple\u2014Not as a conjecture given as probable\u2014not as a report received from others, but as if unquestionable certainty and incontrovertible fact.\u2014I am perfectly sure that the assertion respecting my father is as false as all the rest, but it is utterly unaccountable to me how the Editor of the Patriot could have been made the dupe of what appears to me to be so clumsy an imposition\u2014He says it bears the very image and superscription of modern Caesar\u2014which only shews how little he is acquainted with that personage, and how open he has suffered his mind to the rank absurdities, and cunning misrepresentations of Englishmen and anglified Americans.\u2014Ames tried to scare all our federal old women out of their senses by telling them with a grave face that he trembled for fear Bonaparte would take his and their children for a conscription against St: Domingo; and Walsh, with a little mincing of the matter, just enough to shew that he does not believe a word of it, says that indeed he does not know but\u2014he is no coward\u2014but really there may be some danger of the conscription against St: Domingo\u2014In all this however there is no forgery\u2014Ames\u2019s fears raised a Spectre before his mind\u2019s eye, which he really believed he saw, and from which he started with a shriek of horror\u2014Walsh affects to partake of his trepidation, because he has his purposes to answer by spreading it among others\u2014but the author of this spurious paper advances one step further in the righteous Cause\u2014Hobgoblins and prophecies are not highly-seasoned enough for his palate\u2014Plain, downright forgery, is his fashion of raising bugbears, and so he puts the Duke of Cadore\u2019s name to a jumble of materials as incongruous, and ridiculous as the composition of the Caldron of Macbeth\u2019s witches, the result of which is to be, that Bonaparte intends to destroy the English Constitution, and dethrone the hose of Hanover, and that he considers the United-States, as ruled by the weakest and most contemptible of Governments.\u2014That such a wretched piece of Patch-Work should have pas\u2019d current for genuine among the profound wiseacres of the federal Gazettes, that Russell or Coleman should have taken or given it all out for Gospel would have been natural enough; but I really should never have suspected quite so much cullability, in the Editor of the Patriot.\nSince I wrote you last I have also read in the Aurora, the whole of Mr: R. Smith\u2019s publication, and I have seen one or two more of Mr: Pickering\u2019s addresses to the People\u2014I hear that Mr: Smith has been answered in the National Intelligencer and has replied\u2014 There seems to be something in that office of Secretary of State peculiarly calculated to overset under-ballasted minds\u2014Edmund Randolph\u2014Peace be to his Remainders\u2014but he like Mr Smith was obliged to Vindicate his Resignation\u2014Pickering mistook Mrs: Reynold\u2019s paramour for President of the United States, and surrendered up his official virtue to that gay deceiver as fondly as the lady did her conjugal virtue\u2014He did not chuse to resign, and so he now vindicates his going out upon expulsion\u2014Mr Smith seems to have mistaken who was President too, but his optical illusion terminated in himself.\u2014As a party pamphlet his publication is written with some address\u2014But do you think he ever put to himself the question whether the single fact of the publication did not involve in it a breach of trust, more dishonorable to him and more detrimental to the public than every thing he has made out against Mr Madison? If he did, and settled it to his own satisfaction that he should not be chargeable with such a breach of trust, he ought, instead of hackneyed, and in his case not very applicable adage about measures and not men, and the drawcansir parade about the dangers to which he was exposing himself, to have begun by proving as much to the satisfaction of his readers\u2014These breaches of trust, have indeed unfortunately been so frequent in our short History, and they have always been so much countenanced by party Spirit, and so secure of impunity, that I am afraid it has infected the very principle of our National Character\u2014The vote of censure upon Mr: Pickering last Winter was a tardy, feeble, and I fear ineffectual attempt to maintain the rule of secrecy upon which alone the possibility of confidential communication between the President and the Senate can subsist; and even that was too much an affair of party\u2014I believe that our heads of Departments and our Ministers to foreign Powers, ought all to be under the restriction of an Official Oath; and I wish some of the thoughtful members of our National Legislature, would bring the subject before Congress for discussion\u2014Our Laws do not contemn the aid of Oaths as ties upon human Conscience in matters of revenue, where perhaps their efficacy is most questionable; and we administer quite enough of them in our Custom-houses, to secure the payment of the paltriest impost\u2014\nIn the acts of establishing the Departments of Foreign Affairs and of War, there is an Oath of Office \u201cwell and faithfully to execute the trust committed to him\u201d provided to be taken by the Secretaries\u2014But there is none required by the Acts establishing the Departments of the Treasury and of the Navy, and none any where for the Ministers abroad.\nI am still without instructions from the Government respecting my continuance here\u2014As the navigable season is drawing rapidly to a close, and we have another Russian Winter at hand, I am looking out for expedients to transmit our letters, between the months of October and June\u2014Mr: James Anderson, was appointed last May, Consul of the United States, at the Port of Gothenburg in Sweden\u2014He arrived at Archangel, and is now here on the way to his Post\u2014He intends proceeding thither immediately\u2014I shall enclose my letters for America during the Winter to him to be forwarded, and as it is probable that soon after this can reach you there will be vessels coming to that Port, it will likewise afford you opportunities for writing to us, which I hope you will use\u2014Enclose your letter under cover to him, and they will be forwarded to us by the Swedish Mails.\nWe are so pleasantly situated in our Country house, that we shall leave it with reluctance.\u2014But our neighbours are already moving into the City, and we shall not be able to remain here with comfort more than another fortnight\u2014The house in which we formerly resided is at last definitively sold, and we have been obliged to take another\u2014We shall not be quite so well lodged but at about the same expence. The air of the Country has however been so salutory to us all, and particularly to Charles, that I do not regret the changes of our residence\u2014We are now all in good health\u2014As you assure me in one of your letters that your son Thomas looks like my wife\u2019s father, my wife perhaps to return the compliment insists that her daughter Louisa looks like you\u2014The only resemblance that I can find in her is to my father.\nMr: F. Gray left us last week with Mr: T. M. Jones, for Paris. I wrote to his father a few days ago by the Rubicon, Captain Hovey, who has not yet sailed\u2014I expect this will go by the Cordelia, in which Mr: Swan came out and returns.\nRemember me faithfully to all friends and believe me ever yours\u2014\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2036", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 29 September 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, George Washington\nLetter 4.\nMy Dear Son\nSt: Petersburg 29. September 1811.\nThe second general point of view, in which I propose to you to consider the Bible, to the great end that it may \u201cthoroughly furnish you unto all good works,\u201d is in its historical character. To a man of liberal education the study of History is not only useful and important, but altogether indispensable; and with regard to the History contained in the Bible, the observation which Cicero makes respecting that of his own Country is much more emphatically applicable\u2014that it is not so much praise-worthy to be acquainted with it, as it is shameful to be ignorant of it.\nHistory, so far as it relates to the actions and adventures of men may be divided into five different classes. 1. The history of the world, otherwise called Universal History. 2. That of particular Nations. 3. That of particular Institutions. 4. That of single families and 5. That of individual men\u2014The two last of these Classes are generally distinguished by the name of Memoirs, and of Biography\u2014All these classes of History are to be found in the Bible; and it may be worth your while to discriminate them from one another.\n1. The Universal History is short, and all contained in the first eleven Chapters of Genesis, together with the first chapter of the first Book of Chronicles, which is little more than a genealogical list of names\u2014But it is of the highest importance, not only as it includes the history of the Creation, and of the fall of man, of the antideluvian world, and of the flood, by which the whole human race, excepting Noah and his family were destroyed, but as it gives a very precise chronological account of the time from the Creation untill the birth of Abraham\u2014This is the foundation of all antient History, and in reading the profane historians hereafter I would advise you always to reflect upon their narrations with reference to it\u2014With respect to the Chronology, a correct idea of this is so necessary to understand all history antient and modern that I may hereafter write you something further concerning it\u2014For the present I shall only recommend to your particular attention the fifth and eleventh Chapters of Genesis, and request you to cast up and write me the amount of the World\u2019s age, when Abraham was born.\n2. The remainder of the Book of Genesis, beginning at the twelfth Chapter, is a history of one individual, (Abraham) and of his family during three Generations of his descendants\u2014After which the book of Exodus, commences with the history of this same family multiplied into a Nation\u2014This National and family History, is continued through the Books of the Old Testament, untill that of Job, which is of a peculiar character, differing in many particulars from every other part of the Scriptures.\nThere is no other history extant, which can give so interesting and correct a view of the rise and progress of human associations, as this account of Abraham and his descendants, through all the vicissitudes to which individuals, families and Nations are liable\u2014There is no other History, where the origin of a whole Nation is traced up to a single man, and where a connected chain of Events, and a regular series of persons from generation to generation is preserved. As the history of a family, it is intimately connected with our religious principles and opinions, for it is the family from which Jesus Christ in his human character descended\u2014It begins by relating the command of God to Abram, to abandon his Country, his kindred, and his father\u2019s house, and to go to a land which he would shew him\u2014This command was accompanied by two promises, from which and from their fulfillment arose the differences which I have just noted between the History of the Jews and that of every other Nation\u2014The first of these promises was that God would make of Abram a great Nation, and bless him\u2014the second and incomparably the most important was that in him, (Abram) all families of the Earth should be blessed.\u2014This promise was made about two thousand years before the birth of Christ, and in him it had its fulfillment\u2014When Abram in obedience to the command of God had gone into the land of Canaan, the Lord appeared to him, and made him a third promise which was that he would give that land to the Nation which should descend from him as a possession\u2014This was fulfilled between five and six hundred years afterwards.\u2014In reading all the historical Books both of the Old and the new Testament, as well as the Books of the prophets, you should always bear in mind the reference which they have to these three promises of God to Abram\u2014All the history is no more than a narrative of the particular manner and the detail of Events, with which those promises were fulfilled.\nIn the Account of the Creation, and the fall of man, I have already remarked that the moral doctrine inculcated by the Bible is that the great consummation of all human Virtue consists in Obedience to the Will of God. When we come hereafter to speak of the Bible in its ethical character, I shall endeavour to shew you the intrinsic excellence of this principle, but I shall now only remark how strongly the principle itself is illustrated, first by the account of the fall, and next by the history of Abraham.\nIn the account of the Creation we are informed, that God after having made the world, created the first human pair, and gave them dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the Earth\u2014and also gave them every herb bearing seed, and fruit of every tree for meat\u2014And all this we are told God saw, was very good.\u2014Thus the immediate possession of every thing good, was immediately given them; and its perpetual enjoyment ensured to their descendants; on the sole condition of abstaining from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil\u2014It is altogether immaterial to my present remarks whether this narrative is to be understood in an allegorical or a literal sense\u2014As not only the knowledge but the possession of all created good was granted, the fruit of the tree could confer upon them no new knowledge but that of evil, and the command was nothing more than to abstain from the knowledge of evil\u2014to forbear from rushing upon their own destruction\u2014It is not sufficient to say that this was a command in its own nature light and easy\u2014It was a command to pursue the only law of their Nature\u2014to keep the happiness which had been heaped without measure upon them\u2014But observe, it contained the principle of Obedience\u2014It was Assigned to them as a duty; and the heaviest of penalties was denounced upon its transgression\u2014They were not to discuss the wisdom or Justice of this command\u2014They were not to enquire why it had been enjoined upon them; nor could they have the slightest possible motive for such an enquiry\u2014Unqualified felicity and immortality was already theirs\u2014wretchedness and death were alone forbidden them, but placed within their reach merely as a trial of their Obedience\u2014They violated the Law\u2014they forfeited their Joy and Immortality\u2014they \u201cbrought into the World, death and all our woe.\u201d\nHere then is one extreme case in which the mere principle of obedience could be tried\u2014A command to do abstain from that which from which every motive of reason and every interest would  have deterred, had the command never been given\u2014A command given in the easiest of all possible forms, requiring not so much as action of any kind, but merely forbearance.\u2014And as its transgression was so severely punished, the only inference we can draw from it is, that the most aggravated of all crimes, and that which includes in itself all other is disobedience to the Will of God.\nLet us now consider how the same principle of Obedience is inculcated in the history of Abraham by a case in the opposite extreme\u2014God commanded Abram to abandon forever his Country, his kindred, and his father\u2019s house, to go, he knew not where; promising as a reward of his obedience to bless him and his posterity, though he was then childless\u2014He was required to renounce every thing that could most contribute to the happiness and comfort of his life, and which was in his actual enjoyment; to become a houseless, friendless, wanderer upon Earth\u2014on the mere faith of the promises that a land should be shewn him which his descendants should possess, that they should be a great Nation, and that through them, all mankind should receive in future ages a further blessing\u2014The obedience required of Adam was merely to retain all the blessings that he enjoyed\u2014The obedience required of Abraham was to sacrifice all those that he possessed, for the vague and distant prospect of a future compensation to his posterity\u2014The self-controul and self-denial required of Adam was in itself the slightest that imagination can conceive, but its failure was punished by the forfeiture of all his enjoyments\u2014The self-dominion to be exercised by Abraham was of the severest and most painful kind, but its accomplishment will ultimately be rewarded by the restoration of all that was forfeited by Adam. But this restoration was to be obtained by no ordinary proof of obedience\u2014The sacrifice of mere personal blessings however great could not lay the foundation for the redemption of mankind from Death\u2014The voluntary submission of Jesus Christ to his own Death, in the most excruciating and ignominious form, was to consummate the great plan of redemption, but the submission of Abraham to sacrifice his beloved and only Son, the child promised by God himself, and through whom all the greater promises were to be carried into effect\u2014the feelings of Nature, the voice of humanity, the parent\u2019s bowels, were all required to be sacrificed by Abraham to the blind, unquestioning principle of Obedience to the Will of God\u2014The blood of Isaac was not indeed shed\u2014The butchery of an only son by the hand of his father was a sacrifice which a merciful God did not require to be completely executed\u2014But as an instance of Obedience it was imposed upon Abraham, and nothing less than the voice of an Angel from God, could arrest his uplifted arm, and withhold him from sheathing the knife in the heart of his child\u2014It was upon this testimonial of Obedience, that God\u2019s promise of redemption was expressly renewed to Abraham\u2014\u201cAnd in thy seed shall all the Nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice\u201d\u2014Gen. XXII. 18.\nI have not done with this subject, and intend to pursue it, in my next letter\u2014\nFrom your father\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2038", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 2 October 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nSt: Petersburg 2 October 1811.\nYour favour of 21. June, without a number, was forwarded to me from Copenhagen by Mr. Erving, who recovered it from the Radius, which on her passage to this place, was taken by a french privateer, and is still detained in Denmark\u2014Like almost all the letters which we have received this year it brought tidings of sickness and affliction among our friends\u2014In the sorrow which they have so often inflicted, I still bless God that they assure me of the health and welfare of my Parents, and of my Children.\nIn the first letter which you wrote me this year, there was an extract of a letter from Burke to Barry the painter, upon which I have reflected many times since I received it\u2014One of the reasons why I am so much an admirer of Burke is because he always thinks so much, and leads his reader to think so much upon every thing that occurred within his observation\u2014I have within a few days seen the Edinburgh Review of the life and Works of Barry, from which you took this Extract; at least I find it again there, and the history and character of Barry there given in connection with it, explains to me the only part of the extract, upon which my mind had hesitated a little in assenting to its accuracy\u2014Moderation\u2014Gentleness and indulgence to others are undoubtedly, and universally of \u201cstrong prevailment,\u201d in counteracting the ill dispositions of the world, but I am not sure that a great deal of distrust of ourselves is always calculated to produce the same effect. I readily perceive why Burke recommended it with the other qualities to Barry; because it was precisely that of which Barry stood most in need, and that for the want of which he was most severely suffering\u2014But I believe there are many tempers and dispositions, who carry the distrust of themselves to excess, and to whom it would be more wise and just to recommend Confidence in themselves, and reliance upon their own Judgments\u2014My own experience of life, and self-observation, has often led me to the conclusion that one of my failings was too much distrust of myself\u2014In the scenes of political life, such as those that I have been engaged in, distrust of ones self, renders absolutely indispensable a proportionate Confidence in others\u2014In Legislative Assemblies every man whether a leader or a follower must often sacrifice more or less his own judgment to that of those with whom he associates\u2014 And in times of party virulence these sacrifices must be greater and more frequent than in more tranquil periods.\u2014It is then that the principle of distrusting and that of confiding in himself becomes to every conscientious man a question of no small difficulty and delicacy; and even in the ordinary affairs of life, I have often found it a very perplexing question. Of the ill-dispositions of the world, it would not become me to complain\u2014The confidence of my Country in me has for many years been to say the least equal to any thing that I had a right to expect, and in a very recent instance has far exceeded my own\u2014On one occasion however it was withdrawn, and in a very conspicuous manner by the Legislature of my native State\u2014It was for having confided in myself, and for having acted upon questions of great public interest, according to the dictates of my own deliberate judgment, in opposition to the momentary feelings and heated passions of my Constituents.\u2014Had I during that period followed Mr Burke\u2019s principle of greatly distrusting myself, and of course greatly confiding in others, my conduct would have been certainly very different, and I might possibly have retained the Confidence of those to whose opinions I must have sacrificed my own\u2014But I have no reason to believe that the general Confidence of my Country in me would now be greater than it is, or which is infinitely more important that the result would have been more useful or more honourable to my Country.\nI am just informed by the French and German Gazettes, that Congress are called, together by Proclamation, to meet on the 4th: of November; and in the English newspapers I find that there is a sort of Coalition between the two quondam Secretaries of State, in assailing through the medium of the press Mr: Madison\u2019s administration. Mr Pickering\u2019s perseverance and tenacity is worthy of a better Cause though his \u201cmauvaise foi\u201d (he would certainly impute this expression to French influence) is as remarkable in his present, as it has been in many of his former publications; and his personalities shew very little either of Mr Burke\u2019s distrust of himself, or of his moderation, gentleness or indulgence to others\u2014I know not how Mr: Smith and Mr Colvin have settled between themselves their militating claims to the composition of the letters which were to ascertain the contested title of the late Secretary\u2019s abilities, but perhaps Colvin is only one of the parasites of power, who were to raise the storm, which Mr Smith assures the People of the United States he will have to buffet.\nThere are now very few American vessels left here, and we cannot expect the arrival of any more, during the present year\u2014At least if any others should yet arrive they will, like ourselves be obliged to remain here untill next Summer before they can return. I expect to send this by Mr Loring Austin, a young Gentleman who came last Summer to Archangel, and is now about to embark for Boston.Although we are within the bounds of the City of St. Petersburg, the situation where we are is so much in the Country that it begins to be uncomfortable, and we intend to remove next Week into the City.\u2014If you have the English translation of Storch\u2019s Picture of Petersburg, I can show you where we are\u2014Please to open the Plan, and look to the Branch of the river marked C. That is the Nevka, upon the borders of which is our residence\u2014This river together with the Little Nevka, marked on the Plan D and a small stream called the Karpoffka marked M forms an island called The Apothecaries Island, on which a Building marked 123 is designated in the Explanation of the Plan as the Surgery School\u2014Our house is the next door to this building, and with only the Street between them\u2014Here is a fac-simile of that part of Storch\u2019s Plan.DRAWINGThe dotted part is not upon the Plan\u2014I have added it here to shew you our house, Garden and pier extending out upon the river at the end of which, according to the fashion of the Country we have a flag-staff, and on the days when we receive Company, hoist the flag of the United States. You will see by mere inspection of the Plan, that the situation is quite rural, and as a mere Summer residence, it is as pleasant as any place of abode that ever fell to my lot\u2014From our door down to the Karpoffka, there is a Mall, enclosed by low railings on both sides, extending along the Bank of the River, and kept in excellent order, for the sole convenience of walkers\u2014The plot, marked 122 is a very large public Garden, called the Apothecary\u2019s or Botanic Garden; containing a great variety of plants, and always open for walking\u2014Beyond the river at the separation of the two Nevka\u2019s the figure in form of a spade, and mark 126. indicate the Imperial Palace, the usual Summer Residence of the Emperor and Empress, in front of which, upon the River, are stationed two Yachts, with an excellent Band of Music, who have regularly entertained us with their martial Concerts, at the Emperor\u2019s dining hour, between four and five O\u2019Clock, and at nine in the Evening, almost every day throughout the Summer\u2014We are so near, that with the open doors and windows of warm weather, we heard it as if it had been before our own door. The Palace is upon an Island formed by the two Nevka\u2019s, contiguous to the isle of Apothecaries, and called Kammenor Ostroff, which in Russian signifies Stony Island\u2014On the main land beyond that Island, and in sight from our Windows, is the Country Seat of Court Strogonoff, with a large and very beautiful English Garden, likewise always open to the Public, and sometimes in the Summer much frequented\u2014Count Strogonoff is one of the most distinguished noblemen of the Country; and is yet more illustrious by his attachment to the fine Arts, than by his great wealth, high rank and venerable years\u2014In the City he has one of the finest Collections of Pictures, extant in Europe\u2014But his garden here has a rarer and more memorable ornament\u2014The very tomb of Achilles, before which Alexander the Great and Julius-Caesar, paid their homage to the character of the hero. It was brought from Greece by the Commander of a Russian fleet, which was so much celebrated for its naval victories over the Turks during the reign of Catherine, and by him presented to Count Strogonoff, who has placed it with many other monuments of Antiquity in his Garden.\u2014There are two other large and handsome Gardens, open to the Public, in our neighbourhood, and over which I have occasionally varied my daily walks\u2014The French Ambassador, and the Danish Minister are our near neighbours, and many others with whom we have as much intercourse as suits our mutual convenience\u2014While the weather was fine, we never wanted Company, and even now we have no reason to complain of being Solitary\u2014But the leaves before my windows are falling in showers from the trees as I write. The river, as Charles tells me is m\u00e9chante, by which he means stormy\u2014The days of dampness, and darkness, and chilling frigidity, are at hand and even here\u2014I still linger in my Russian Arcadia, but the ladies and the children call for the snug comforts of the City; and at the next letter I shall write you I shall have bid a last farewell, as a residence, to the pleasant borders of the Nevka, and be once more \u201cin populous City pent.\u201dIn the meantime Adieu\u2014We are all well.\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2039", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to George Washington Adams, 6 October 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, George Washington\nLetter 5.\nSt: Petersburg 6. October 1811.\nWe were considering the Bible in its historical character, and as the history of a Family\u2014From the moment when the universal History finishes, that of Abraham begins, and thenceforward it is the history of a family of which Abraham is the first and Jesus Christ the last person. And from the first appearance of Abraham, the whole history appears to have been ordered from age to age expressly to prepare for the appearance of Christ upon Earth.\u2014The history begins by the first and mildest trial of Abraham\u2019s obedience, and the promise as a reward of his fidelity, that in him all the families of the Earth should be blessed.\u2014The second trial, that which required the sacrifice of his Son, was many years afterwards and the promise was then more explicit and more precisely assigned as the reward of his obedience.\u2014There were between these periods two intermediate occasions, recorded in the 15th: and 18th: Chapters of Genesis, on the first of which the word of the Lord came to Abraham in a vision\u2014and promised him that he should have a child from whom a great and mighty Nation should proceed, which after being in servitude four hundred years in a strange land, should become possessors of the land of Canaan from the river of Egypt to the river Euphrates.\u2014On the second the Lord appeared to him and to his wife Sarah; repeated the promise that they should have a child, that Abraham should \u201csurely become a great and mighty Nation and that all the nations of the earth should be blessed in him.\u201d For I know him (said the Lord) that he will \u201ccommand his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment: that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him.\u201d\u2014From all which it appears obvious that the first of these promises was made as subservient and instrumental to the second; that the great and mighty Nation was to be raised, as the means in the ways of God\u2019s Providence, for producing the sacred person of Jesus Christ, through whom the perfect sacrifice of atonement for the original transgression of man should be consummated, by which all the families of the Earth should be blessed.\nI am so little versed in controversial divinity, that I know not whether this 18th: Chapter of Genesis has ever been adduced as an argument in support of the Doctrine of the Trinity\u2014There is at least in it an alternation of the three divine persons and of one, not a little remarkable and which I know not how to explain\u2014If taken in connection with the 19th: Chapter it would seem that one of the three men, entertained by Abraham was God himself, and that the other two were angels, sent by God to destroy Sodom\u2014Leaving this however let me ask your particular attention to the reason assigned by God for bestowing such extraordinary blessings upon Abraham\u2014It unfolds to us the first and most important part of the superstructure of moral principles erected upon the foundation of obedience to the Will of God\u2014The rigorous trials of Abraham\u2019s Obedience, mentioned in this and my last Letter were only tests to ascertain his character in reference to the single and I may say abstract point of Obedience\u2014Here we have a precious gleam of light disclosing what the Nature of this Will of God was\u2014that he should command his children and his household after him\u2014by which the parental authority to instruct and direct his descendents in the way of the Lord, was given him as an authority and enjoined upon him as a duty; and the lessons which he was thus empowered and required to teach his posterity were to do Justice and Judgment\u2014This as Obedience to the Will of God is the first and all comprehensive Virtue taught in the Bible, so the second is Justice and Judgment towards Mankind, and this is exhibited as the result naturally flowing from the other.\u2014In this same chapter too is related the intercession of Abraham with God, for the preservation of Sodom from Destruction\u2014The City was destroyed for its crimes, but the Lord promised Abraham that the whole City should be spared if in it only ten righteous men should be found. The principle of mercy was therefore sanctioned in immediate connection with that of Justice\u2014\nAbraham had several children, but the great promises of God were to be performed through Isaac alone; and of the two sons of Isaac, Jacob the youngest only was selected for the foundation of the sacred family and Nation\u2014It was from Jacob that the multiplication of the family began, and his twelve Sons were all included in the genealogy of the tribes which afterwards constituted the Jewish People\u2014Ishmael; the Children of Abraham by Keturah, and Esau the eldest son of Isaac, were all the Parents of considerable families, which afterwards spread into Nations, but they formed no part of the chosen People, and their History as well as that of other neighbouring Nations, is only incidentally noticed in the Bible so far as they had relations of intercourse or of hostility with the People of God.\nThe history of Abraham and his descendants to the close of the Book of Genesis, is a biography of individuals\u2014The incidents related of them are all of the class belonging to private and domestic life\u2014Joseph indeed became a highly distinguished public character in the land of Egypt, and it was through him that his father and all his brothers were finally settled there; which was necessary to prepare for the existence of their posterity as Nation; and to fulfill the purpose which God had announced to Abraham, that they should be four hundred years, dwelling in a strange land.\u2014In the lives of Abraham\u2014Isaac\u2014Jacob, and Joseph many miraculous Events are recorded; but all those which are spoken of as having happened in the ordinary course of human affairs, have an air of reality about them which no invention could imitate.\u2014In some of the transactions related, the conduct of the patriarchs is highly blameable; circumstances of deep depravity are particularly told of Reuben\u2014Simeon, Levi and Judah, upon which it is necessary to remark that these actions are never spoken of with approbation; but always with strong marks of censure, and generally with a minute account of the punishment which followed upon the transgression. The vices and crimes of the patriarchs are sometimes alledged as objections against the belief, that persons guilty of them should ever have been specially favoured by God; but vicious as they were there is every reason to be convinced that they were less so than their cotemporaries\u2014Their vices appear to us at this day gross, disgusting and atrocious; but the written Law was not then given\u2014the boundaries between right and wrong were not defined with the same precision, as in the Tables, given afterwards to Moses\u2014The law of Nature was the only guide of morality by which they could be governed, and the sins of intemperance of every kind, recorded in Holy Writ, were at that period less aggravated than they would have been in after ages, because they were in a great measure sins of ignorance\u2014\nFrom the time when the sons of Jacob were settled in Egypt, untill the completion of the four hundred years during which God had foretold to Abraham that his family should dwell there, there is a chasm in the scared History\u2014We are expressly told that \u201call the souls of the house of Jacob which came into Egypt were three score and ten\u201dGen: 46-26. and Exod. 1.5.\u2014It is then said, that Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation\u2014after which nothing further is related of their posterity than that they were fruitful, and increased abundantly; and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them, untill there \u201carose up a new king, which knew not Joseph.\u201d\u2014On his first settlement in Egypt Jacob had obtained the grant from Pharaoh of the Land of Goshen, a place peculiarly suited to the pasturage of flocks\u2014Jacob and his Sons were shepherds, and this circumstance was in the first instance the occasion upon which that separate spot was assigned to them, and secondarily was the means provided by God, for keeping distinct and separate two Nations thus residing together\u2014Every shepherd was an abomination to the Egyptians\u2014and the Israelites were shepherds\u2014Although dwelling in the land of Egypt therefore, the Israelites were Sojourners and strangers; and by a mutual antipathy toward one Another, originating in their respective conditions of life, they were prevented from intermingling together by marriage, and losing their distinctive characters\u2014This was the cause which had been reserved by the Supreme Creator, during the space of three generations, and more than four Centuries, as the occasion for eventually bringing them out of the land.\u2014For in proportion as they multiplied, it had the tendency to excite the Jealousies and fears of the Egyptian king as actually happened\u2014Those Jealousies and fears, suggested to the king of Egypt a policy of the most intolerable oppression, and the most execrable cruelty towards the children of Israel\u2014Not content with reducing them to the most degraded condition of servitude, and making their lives bitter with hard bondage, he conceived the project of destroying the whole race of them by ordering all the male children to be murdered immediately after they were born\u2014In the wisdom of Providence this very command was the means of preparing the family, thus multiplied into a Nation, for their issue from Egypt, and for their conquest of the land which had been promised to their ancestor Abraham; and it was at the same time the immediate occasion of raising up the great Warrior, Legislator and Prophet who was to be their deliverer, and leader\u2014Henceforth they are to be considered as a People, and their History as that of a Nation.\nDuring a period of more than a thousand years, the Bible gives us a particular account of their destinies\u2014An outline of their Constitution, civil, ecclesiastical and military, with the code of laws prescribed to them by the Deity, is contained in the Books of Moses, and will afford us copious materials for future meditation\u2014Their subsequent revolutions of Government, under Joshua\u2014fifteen successive chiefs denominated Judges, and a succession of kings, untill they were first dismembered into two separate kingdoms, and after a lapse of some centuries both conquered by the Assyrians and Babylonians, and after but at the end of seventy years, partially restored to their Country and their Temple\u2014constitute the remaining historical Books of the Old Testament\u2014Every part of them is full of instruction\u2014But my present purpose is only to point your attention to their general historical character.\u2014My next letter will contain a few remarks on the Bible, as containing a system of morals\u2014In the meantime I remain your affectionate father,", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2041", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to William Cranch, 17 October 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Cranch, William\nMy Dear Nephew,\nQuincy,  17  October, 1811.\nYour dear Father has joind the Spirits of the Blessed made perfect, on saturday last he was taken sick, appeared as he frequently has upon former days was wandering in his mind,\u2014but a general prostration of strength took place. He was sensible only for a few moments at a time; exhausted Nature sunk to rest, without pain or struggle, and heaven has been pleased to save him the anguish of following your dear Mother to the Tomb. She supports herself with the Resignation of a true christian; saying the \u201cLord\u2019s will be done, we are parted only for a few hours or days. I shall soon meet him in Realms of Bliss.\u201d\nShe can have but a few days longer upon earth. Emaciation, so that her Bones are almost bare, together with swelling of her feet, hands and face, show us daily that her passage to the grave is speedily hastening; and, my dear Nephew, we have every reason to believe that your dear and blessed parents are gone and going to the God and our God, whom they have faithfully served upon Earth\u2014and if we trust in him, as I hope we do, we shall be supported through life & through death. I am, my dear Nephew, /  your sympathizing / and afflicted Aunt,\nAbigail Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2042", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to William Smith Shaw, 18 October 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Shaw, William Smith\nDear William\nQuincy october 18th, 1811\nYour good uncle Cranch is gone. heaven has Saved him the greatest anguish he could experience in this Life. the following her to the Tomb, She is still living, which is all we can say. The family requested me to notify you that the funeral will be on Saturday at 2 oclock\u2014the Corpse to be carried to the meeting House. I will thank you to lend me if you can without inconvenience to yourself 30 Dollars dr Tufts has not been able to go to Town this week. when he is I will repay you with thanks. Your Sister wants Some articles of mourning\u2014as She has not any thing to wear\u2014\nLouissa will inform you what they are and purchase them for her; I am my dear Nephew / Your afflicted Aunt\nAbigail AdamsPS since writing the above Louissa I believe will not want of you more than 10 dollars on my account", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2044", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 21 October 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Thomas Boylston\nSt: Petersburg 21 October 1811.\nThe original of the enclosed did not go, as I had expected by the Cordelia; for she sailed on the very day that it was written, and before I could send it down to Cronstadt. But it was dispatched by the Hector, Captain Hetherington, which sailed, only three days later, for Providence\u2014All the vessels which had arrived here during the regular season, are now gone\u2014The last, or last but one that sailed was the Weymouth, Captain Gardner, on board of which Mr: Loring Austin went passenger\u2014By him I wrote to my mother\u2014Since then I have had one opportunity of writing indirectly by the way of Gothenburg, and wrote to my father\u2014This letter I expect to send by Commodore Bainbridge, who has spent the Summer here, and untill lately expected to be detained here the whole Winter\u2014Having however completed his business sooner than he had apprehended he has determined to return, and takes his course through Sweden\u2014I hope to have several other similar opportunities during the remainder of this and the next month, after which the passage hence to Sweden becomes generally impracticable\nSince the summer vessels have all departed, and within the last week a number of new comers have appeared; four or five Americans have reached Cronstadt, and several others have put into Ports short of the Gulf, and from which it may still be possible for them to get away this year\u2014New difficulties however have arisen to annoy the Navigation of the Baltic, which make it now unsafe for any unprotected American, and which it is probable will make it the next season quite inaccessible to our vessels.\nDuring the present year the British have not blockaded either the passage of the Sound, or even the Port of Elseneur\u2014At the beginning of the Season, and untill the first week in August, the passage was entirely free; and all the vessels from the United States came and returned through the Sound, without resorting or needing to resort to the aid of a Convoy\u2014Before the British squadron appeared in the Baltic, a privateer under french Colours from Dantzig took four American Vessels with valuable Cargoes\u2014all of which have been condemned at Paris, on the pretence of their having been English property; but in reality because they were bound to Russia; and because money was wanted to fortify Dantzig\u2014As soon as the English fleet appeared this privateer was laid up, and we thought the danger for this Season was past\u2014After the Disaster of the Little-Belt, some of the English Commanders stop\u2019d American Vessels, untill they had time to receive new orders from England\u2014But after a short detention released them again\u2014In the first week of August, a Privateer appeared at Copenhagen; and issuing from that Port immediately after two Americans, which had already passed the sound, and were coming here, took them and carried them back the same day to Copenhagen\u2014But instead of a Danish, the Privateer had a French Commission\u2014The papers of the captured vessels were put into the hands of the French Consul, and sent to Paris, where they will no doubt be treated just like the British captures, carried into Dantzig\u2014Soon afterwards several others of these privateers with French Commissions appeared at Copenhagen and Elseneur, resolved to take every vessel coming up or going down that they could\u2014They have actually taken several, though I know not how many\u2014The English keep themselves I suppose purposely distant, and suffer these privateers to have their full range\u2014Their success however this year, will have been partial and not very extensive\u2014But unless our vessels next year should be protected by Convoy, they must not attempt coming into the Baltic\u2014If the Government think the trade worth protecting they must send Convoys of their own\u2014for besides the disgrace of recurring to British Convoys for Protection they are not altogether without danger\u2014 The Danes condemn everything they can lay hold of, that has been under convoy, whether coming or going, and although they seldom catch any such, they have got several Americans thus taken last year, and have damaged others this Season\u2014\nMr: Barlow arrived the 6th: of last Month at Charbourg\u2014I have a letter from Mr Russell at Paris of the 20th: he does not say that he had then seen Mr: Barlow, but he assures me that the Frigate in which he came had brought no letters for me; owing as he supposes to the expectation when she sailed from the United-States, of our arrival there\u2014This reason is satisfactory so far as respects Communications from the Government\u2014But from you or my Mother, who had determined to continue writing untill you should be certain, of our being upon our return, I did expect to have heard by this occasion; and the disappointment is by no means diminished when I think of the information in my Mother\u2019s last letter, concerning the health of friends very dear to us\u2014But why should I tell you of my sinister forebodings, instead of relying upon a gracious Providence?\u2014Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.\nMr Russell goes, (or rather by this time is gone) to take charge of the public affairs of the United-States in England, untill the appointment of a Minister\u2014I have a great regard and esteem for Mr J. S. Smith, who was several months with us here, and whose amiable disposition, and lively character made him an universal favourite\u2014When I learnt that he was to be our Charg\u00e9 d\u2019Affairs in England, though I thought him well qualified for that Office, I was a little surprized that a situation of such importance and responsibility should have been assigned to so young a Man, and with so little experience\u2014At present, I am persuaded that the change has not been occasioned by any deficiency on his part in the performance of his duty; and I hope it has not been necessarily connected with the misconduct of his uncle\u2014With Mr Russell I have been in correspondence during his residence at Paris, and it has been a source of much valuable information\u2014I expect to renew this Correspondence with him in England\u2014If as I now expect, we should return home next Summer, it will be too late to ask you to write to us under cover to him\u2014But probably that channel will be the shortest and the surest for the transmission of letters between the United States and Russia.\nMr Barlow will be obliged to wait, I presume, untill the Emperor Napoleon\u2019s return to Paris, before he can enter upon business, or even be recognized in his diplomatic character\u2014When acknowledged, I am not very sanguine that he will be able to accomplish any thing useful or honourable to his Country\u2014He will have according to a French proverbial expression to feed upon adders\u2014But if as I hope, he is authorized to assume with the French Government a tone becoming the dignity of the Nation that he represents, and if as I trust, he is not to be cajoled by unmeaning phrases, and hypocritical compliments, he may do honour to himself and refute as Armstrong effectually refuted the Calumnies of those who have so long charged us with subserviency to France\u2014The manner in which Armstrong\u2019s letter of 10. March 1810 was received by all Europe as well as all America, proves to perfect demonstration that the full assertion of our rights, in a style of firmness and intrepidity is the most useful as well as the most spirited policy\u2014\nI hope that Congress will take special care not to break into a War with England\u2014It is probable, and I might say almost inevitable that the British system of policy which has been so full of outrage to our rights will soon undergo a great change\u2014It is now persevered in only from passion, obstinacy, and defiance of opposition\u2014It is already recoiling upon England herself with such increasing pressure, as must ere-long be intolerable\u2014I have reasons which I cannot fully explain to you, for wishing that a War may still be avoided; but one equivalent to all the rest is that it would reduce us to a state of great dependence upon France\u2014It would draw us into the Vortex of the french political system from which it might take a Century to extricate us again\u2014or by a reaction equally pernicious it would throw us back as an appendage to the British system, and plunge us headlong into the ruin towards which that is so rapidly tending\u2014\nThe most important piece of private intelligence that I have to communicate is the news of our removal back into the City of St: Petersburg\u2014I have explained in former letters, what we mean by this, and in my last letter to my Mother I have shewn even geographically how it has happened that without really going out of the City, we have resided during the summer months in the Country\u2014I because so much attached to that Residence, that I could hardly be persuaded to leave it, even by the appearance of Winter\u2014We have a tolerably comfortable house in town, which I was obliged to take for a year\u2014We came in the 8th: instt: and have had snow almost everyday, from that time\u2014The Summer has been uncommonly fine for the climate, but we are threatened with a Winter longer and severer than usual.\nI have said nothing to you in my late letters, concerning my affairs in your hands\u2014No need I say any thing at present\u2014The Newspapers have informed me that the Directors of the Middlesex Canal are calling for more Assessments\u2014for those you have doubtless provided\u2014After the close of the present year I hope you will have an addition to your receipts by the rent of the house in Court Street\nAlways remember me dutifully to my Parents and affectionately to my boys to your own family and to the kindred circle in your neighbourhood\u2014If I often repeat this in the same phrase it will only prove the perpetuity of the Sentiments from which it proceeds.\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2045", "content": "Title: From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Smith Adams, 21 October 1811\nFrom: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nAtkinson October 21st. 1811\nMy dearly beloved, & only Sister, for the \u201cthreefold silken Cord is broken\u201d To what an unusual Striking, affecting Providence have you been called to witness,\u2014such as my Eyes never beheld\u2014Very pleasant, & lovely through a long series of years, & in Death we may say, they were not divided\u2014Together freed, their Gentle Spirits flew, to Scenes of immortal Bliss, we humbly trust\u2014Thought can pursue no further\u2014the Curtain is droped\u2014Our dear Brother was not permitted to converse\u2014you say, he was not sensible of his approaching Summons\u2014but his excellent life, still speaks, & will be a continual Lecture\u2014O how I wished to have been witness to those heavenly strains, which solaced our Sisters latest moments\u2014Her pious Resignation to the will of our heavenly Father, will comfort you in your retired moments\u2014& may her life, Sickness, & Death, be an incentive to the young relatives as well as to the aged\u2014to live in the conuptial State like our dear departed Brother, & Sister, joint Heirs of the Grace of God, that they may die, the Death of the Righteous\u2014\nLike you my Sister I would recollect mercies, & be thankful that they were continued to us, & to their dear Children for so great a length of years\u2014An infinitely wise God, knows the best time when to accomplish his Purposes\u2014& with humility, meekness & resignation we should submit all to his Disposal\u2014Most young persons can ease their Grief, by Tears\u2014I cannot\u2014\nPoor William, & Richard, just saw their Grandparents, enough to lament their Loss\u2014but they nor the other dear Orphans, know not their loss & the value of those Instructions, nor of the fervent prayers which were daily offered by their ever to be revered Grandparents\u2014& do not feel the loss, like us\u2014Upon you my dear Sister, I know it comes with peculiar weight\u2014How will the House sit Solotary, that you were wont so oft to visit,\u2014Where are those angelic Smiles that beamed benevolence, & love!\u2014& cheered the Hearts of all their Friends!\u2014glowing perhaps, with Seraphic ardor\u2014praising the \u201cLamb that was slain, that was, & is, & is to come\u201d\n\u201cWhy should we mourn such departed Friends,\nOr shake at Deaths alarm\u2014\n\u2018Tis but the voice that Jesus sends\nTo call His Children to his arms\u201d\u2014\nYour cares of heart & head have been great, & still are my Sister\u2014for with the surviving, our duty lies now\u2014I hope Mrs Greenleaf will be permited to take the House & live in it\u2014but at this distance I know not what is proper\u2014Mrs Nortons numerous family, what will be done with them? While their Grandparents lived, the little girls would never have felt the loss of their dear Mother\u2014nor the Sons neither\u2014It was a great Comfort, that Mrs Greenleafs health would permit her being with her mother, for she could provide for the whole family, better than any other person\u2014But dear woman! how will she feel the weight of this Bereavement\u2014& how will her worthy Brother support the heavy Tydings\u2014I had written, intending to send a letter to be convey\u2019ed as usual to Washinton  Saturdays mail,\u2014but your Letter frustrated  my purposes\u2014& shewed me how uncertain all our prospects are\u2014I add to Mrs Cranchs Letter, a few lines, & mentioned the mournful Event of his Fathers death\u2014Mrs Cranch had written to me & said there was 30 Dollars at Quincy, which she wished might be taken for me to get the Lads cloathing, flannels, &ce for the winter\u2014every thing now is deranged\u2014but I thought I would mention it before\u2014Mr Richard Norton returned to Washington\u2014for the Children want Shoes, & have had them made I have had company all this afternoon & Evening, for which I am Sorry, for I had rather be alone\u2014I do not love to see people, who do not feel, & are wholly uninterested for me\u2014They are now gone to Bed\u2014it is late, & this must appologise for this incoherent Scrawl\u2014I am almost affraid to hear from Quincy, lest it should bring tyding, that you are sick, but as your needs go I pray heaven, may be your Strength\u2014\nIf My dear Abby wants anything I have, let me know & I will send it by Judge Peabody to Boston next week Mr Peabody is better, but his Leg is bad, & I have to bathe him yet\u2014He tenderlly sympathises with the bereaved, & joins in prayers, & love with your afflicted, & sympathising Sister\n E.\u2014 PeabodyI wrote to my Brother Cranch, that Mr Peabody would have Thomas Norton come when it was convenient & he would give him three months board at the Academy\u2014his Fathers paying \u2014O that my power to do good was equal to my wishes\u2014\nMy dear Sister, I can never enough thank you for being so good as to write\u2014pray continue your favors to your affectionate\n E P.Abby do you write too, you have had an impressive Lesson\u2014pray heaven to bless, & to sanctify the afflictive Scene which has passed before you.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2046", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, 22 October 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nmy Dear Sister\nQuincy October 22d 1811\nI wrote to you upon fryday, but I do not now recollect what I have written. I know that my heart was full and my mind wrought up, to a pitch, beyond what it would bear.\nThe Solemn Scene which presented to me, two Dear Relatives Sleeping in Death at the same moment, can never be effaced from my mind. upon Saturday I followed their remains to our own Tombs and Saw them dposited Side by Side, never more to be Seperated. 50 years had they lived together in the greatest harmony Love and Friendship, united in their Religious principles and Sentiments as well as in their worldly pursuits. together they have I trust assended to their God and our God. they have joined the Spirits of the just made perfect and are Singing Hallelujah to the most high. these reflections my dear Sister rob Death of his Sting, and assuage the too Selfish grief of my heart. why do I ask myself\u2014Should I wish their longer Stay upon Earth? they had fulfilld the Age allotted to Man. they lived to every usefull purpose whilst upon Earth, and were not permitted to become burdensome and helpless, to themselves, or others. I really feel a releaf from  when I reflect, that neither is left to mourn for the Death of the other.\n\u201cThe thought of death indulge\u201d I will give it its wholesome Empire, and may it Still the tumult of my ruffled breast\u201d\nMr Whitney deliverd a most excellent discourse from the hundred and 12 Psalm, 6 verse, the righteous Shall be held in everlasting remembrance, in which he drew the Character of our dearly beloved, and Respected Brother. while he was writing this Sermon  intelligence was carried to him, that our dear Sister had expired. affected as he was, he added a handsome Sketch of her Character to his Sermon. Truth was his Guide. there was not any flattery, nor any part of the Character over charged, as a large and crouded  Audience  testified by their attention, their tears and their Silence. the Relatives and Friends will apply for a coppy for the press\u2014The week before her death, I was with her when mr Whitney visited her, and prayed with her. She calld him to her Bedside, and thanked him, conversed with him upon her faith and hopes Said, that She frequently thought, that She was not an inhabitant of this world if She could be write down her thoughts, we should find that She held converse with Superiour Beings\u2014\nMr Cranch came in. mr Whitney asked him how he did? he replied, well only in trouble. trouble Says She with the most Cheering voice, what troubles you? Your Sickness my dear he replied. O Says She, be like me. there is not any thing troubles me. She preserved that Cheerfullness to the last moment. I never saw her Shed a tear through her whole Sickness. when she was told that he was gone\u2014She replied we Shall soon meet again. he has left me only for a few moments. I Shall know where to find him. the day before her death She  sufferd much,  was lost and wandering at times\u2014Said once to me\u2014Seems to me, never any body faild So fast as I have, yet even then exprest hopes of Recovery. I did not live to Say Sister we think you cannot get well. how could I damp the ardour of her Spirits, which Strove to keep alive the wish of living for the  poor Motherless Children of her departed Daughter?\nShe Said in the conversation which I think in my last Letter, I mentiond her having with Susan about an hour before her Death, that She was both ready and willing to depart if it was the will of heaven. an hour before I was there, mrs Quincy was calld to See her. She was going to Boston for the Season. She took a most tender and affectionate leave of her, told her She Should never see her again\u2014thanked her for all her kindness to her, and to her Family. Seeing Mrs Quincy much affected, She desired her to retire, and  overcame \u2014\nShe had received Letters from mrs Clark and mrs Foster from abroad She call\u2019d for them, and gave them me to read, desired me to write answers to them\u2014directed me with the utmost Calmness to the draw where mr Cranchs will was deposited, gave directions respecting the post office, and in all respects appeard collected and more like her former self than I had Seen her. I had not any Idea when I left her but that She might continue Several days. She spoke to the President when he went in, with as much cheerfullness and Spirit as usual, desired me to  direct Some Rice boild for her. her exit was as Sudden when it took place as possible. a Suffocation as I Suppose from the water which I heard the Evening before rolling within her.\nI thank heaven that her Suffering was not prolonged and much greater. She never complaind or , every body was kind, and good\u2014every thing She ate or drank was pleasent.\nMr Cranch was Lethargic from the first. he had Some lucid intervals, but could not express himself in a connected Sentence. this I regret, as I know we Should have all been Edified by his conversation. he did not Suffer any pain, but a distress for Breath\u2014thus my dear Sister has the Scene closed upon our dear Friends. may we be prepared to  follow them, our lives as  blameless and our death as happy and Peacefull as theirs that we may be of that happy number who shall be held in Everlasting Remembrance\u2014Mrs Greenleaf has conducted herself with the calm temper of a Christian, and a worthy descendent of Such pious parents.\nMy dear Neice has behaved with propriety as She always does. every thing proper and necessary was done for her. She is gone to day to Boston to get her a coat, which I Shall have made for her when She returns.\nCol Smith arrived here upon Sunday morning, and was  releived to find mrs Smith had gone through the dreaded opperation and to find her also so well She walks from one chamber to an other, and Sits up the chief of the day. the wound has closed and healed. her arm She is forbidden to use, keeps it in a Sling, and is not allowd to lift it up\u2014She is weak but not more so than might be expected. Abbe Adams is getter better Slowly\u2014\nSince I began this Letter I have received yours of october 29th\u2014I beg mr Peabody to take great care of his Leg a wound in the Leg, is a serious matter. Six week has the president Sufferd from his. it is  just so that his  upon it now\n in vinigar, and wash the bruised places. it will remove the  Blood, and restore the circulation. Let me hear from you, and know how he does\u2014\nwe all desire to be kindly rememberd to you and I doubt not, we have your prayers for us\u2014as we are mindfull of you in our petitions to heaven\u2014 I am my dear Sister your / Sympathizing and afflicted / Sister\nAbigail Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2047", "content": "Title: From William Cranch to Abigail Smith Adams, 22 October 1811\nFrom: Cranch, William\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nMy dear Aunt,\nWashington Octr. 22d. 1811\nI received yesterday your kind letter of 17th. instant, informing me of the death of my dear and venerable father, and of the hopeless state of health of my dear Mother. I rejoice and am thankful that my father was not left to linger out a painful and solitary existence deprived of the dear partner of all his comforts. which It seems like a special interposition of the all\u2013merciful hand. My dear Mother, I know, feels all the anguish, which a christian can or ought to feel. I am sure she also rejoices, (if she has not already escaped from all her troubles) that my father has gone before her. And if she is sensible of approaching death she will feel still less of Anguish. The separation will be only momentary. She has less to attach her to Earth. Her regrets will be for those she leaves behind; but having perform\u2019d her duty most faithfully, she will, with confidence, trust their fate to the mercy of Him who  gave them existence.\nI have not hear\u2019d from Mrs. Boyd & Mrs. Pope the last three days; but they were then on the recovery and were consider\u2019d out of danger. All the rest of the family were well. Mr. Boyd has return\u2019d.\nMy two eldest daughters are with their Aunt Greenleaf at Allen-town in Pennsylvania. The rest of us are well.\nI hope my Uncle has recover\u2019d from the wound in his leg. Please present him my most respectful affection, and beleive me most sincerely your affectionate, respectful & obliged nephew\nW. Cranch.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2048", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 24 October 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nSt: Petersburg 24 October 1811.\nBy every vessel that has arrived for several months from America, and which we should have expected to bring letters for us, we receive, instead of letters, apologies for not writing, because we were thought to be on our passage home\u2014You only have foreseen the contingency which has actually happened, that we might  be detained over the present Winter, and you only continue to give us some evidence of the condition of our dearest friends at home\u2014Your letter of 24. July was sent to me from Cronstadt a few days ago, by Mr Ducoster who has not yet arrived in this City himself, and Mr: Ingraham, whom I have seen informs me, that he was at your house at Quincy some days later\u2014I have seen Boston Newspapers to the 10th: of August, but one line from you is more precious to my feelings than all the Newspapers in America\u2014\nMy letter of 29. March to my brother, was one of the numerous experiments which I made last Winter to send by indirect communication, while the Navigation here continued closed by the Season\u2014As it reached its destination in less than four months from its date, I must consider it as one of the successful experiments. I enclosed it to Messrs: Willink, at Amsterdam, requesting them to forward it by the first opportunity which they should have\u2014But I had sent by other conveyances many other letters of earlier dates, and among the rest three to you, of 28. Feby: and of 19. and 22. March, which not being noticed in your letter I conclude you had not received when it was written\u2014As the first of them went by the Flash, from l\u2019Orient, which I find arrived at New-York about the 20th: of July, I hope you received it a very few days after the date of your last\u2014The other two went from England, and I may supposed reached you in August, as also a later letter of 24. April.\u2014The extreme irregularity in the time of transmission which you will perceive in the receipt of my several letters proceeds not only from the natural impediments to communication, but from a multitude of incidental obstacles, resulting from the actual State of the World.\u2014By the course of the Seasons, the only part of the year during which letters can be dispatched from hence, by Sea is from the 15th: of June to the last of October and the ordinary time during which they would be received if the passages were free from the first of September to the last of January.\u2014From February to September every letter that you receive from this region must be by conveyance like that through which I send this letter\u2014I am now obliged to recur to it earlier than was necessary last year\u2014The last of the homeward bound vessels sailed the 15th: of this month, and although several others have since arrived they will be obliged to Winter here.\nAs I anticipated at the close of my last Letter, we removed, a few days after it was written, back into the City; and although with the aid of Storch\u2019s plan, I could again point you precisely to the spot upon which we now reside, yet as it is merely in a street, and as one street is so much like another in all European Cities, that unless you had a particular knowledge of the place, a mere indication of the spot would give you no idea of our situation, I shall not attempt it, as I did in describing to you our Summer residence\u2014Though we do not expect to remain here longer than untill next June, I have been obliged to take the house untill the first of September old Style\u2014I have repeated to you and to my other friends so many times the causes which detain us here, that I can have nothing further on that head to add. I foresee nothing now which should prevent our return home the next year\u2014My residence in Russia, after I had once fixed and carried through my Resolution, with regard to the Style of my household establishment, has hitherto been very comfortable and agreeable\u2014as much, and I believe more so than it could possibly be any where else, absent from my Country\u2014I hope that our course of life will this winter be still more quiet and regular than it was the last\u2014I look forward to many Circumstances not very pleasing in prospect as awaiting my return home\u2014The disgraceful and disgusting Violence of faction, which has been increasing instead of diminishing since I came away, and which is more hideous at a distance even than in the midst of it, would make me anxiously wish to prolong my term of banishment, (as it was called) were it not that nothing can compensate for distance from my Parents and my Children\u2014I know too well my native land, and its inhabitants, and all the Passions that are working and will work among those of my own neighbourhood, to believe that I shall go home to the personal tranquility that I am enjoying here\u2014If an inflexible Resolution to remain in private life, were compatible with my opinion of social duties, and I were sure of my own inclination to take it, and my own firmness and perseverance to carry it through, I should still not be able to defend myself from taking a deep interest in the public Affairs of my Country, and taking such an interest, I should find stimulants to active exertion in my own heart, if not in the instigations of others, which it is not my nature to resist\u2014I am not so much of a Pythagorician as to have forsworn the use of beans, nor have I like Socrates a familiar Spirit, warning me not to meddle with the administration of public affairs\u2014But our ship is in the midst of the tempest, and in undertaking any part of her management, it is inevitable necessity not only to share in all her dangers, but to be made responsible for her Fate\u2014These Considerations have effectually guarded me from all regret that accidental occurrences have arrested my return home this year, and relieved me from the honourable burthen that was destined for me there\u2014But I cannot wish to linger here after the necessity which has tied me shall have ceased, and I shall receive with satisfaction the President\u2019s renewed permission to return home, though to no seat of public trust in the place of that which I am to leave.\nIn my last letter I mentioned a Count Strogonoff, one of the first noblemen of the Empire, and spoke of his wealth and rank, his taste for the fine arts, his garden, his cabinet of pictures and his antique monuments. Within a week before that letter was written, I had attended at the ceremony of Consecration of a new Church, a Cathedral dedicated to our Lady of Kazan, one of the most magnificent edifices that I ever beheld\u2014This Church had been more than ten years, building, and was consecrated on the anniversary day of the Emperor\u2019s Coronation.\u2014The Ceremony was very splendid, though somewhat fatiguing\u2014 It was between four and five hours long, during which we were kept standing, for as I have observed heretofore there are neither pews, seats nor benches in a Russian Church, and all their religious services are performed standing\u2014Count Strogonoff was present at this Ceremony; and though nearly eighty years of age, stood like all the rest, untill the last half-hour when he found it necessary to withdraw\u2014As President of the Academy of Fine Arts he had been charged with the Superintendence of this Building, and had often expressed the wish to live only to see it completed\u2014This wish was gratified, and within one fortnight afterwards his obsequies were solemnized in the same Church\u2014I attended them also, the last Week. The Ceremonies were nearly as long as those of consecrating the Church\u2014There are some remarkable peculiarities in the Russian funeral service, one of which has been misunderstood and misrepresented by strangers and travellers who have witnessed it\u2014In Porter\u2019s travels, however, which you have read, a correct account of it is given\u2014It is a written paper containing a prayer, and a certificate of the character of the person deceased which is read by a Priest, and deposited in the Coffin before it is finally closed. It goes commonly by the name of the Passport, and is considered as a letter of recommendation for admission into Heaven.\u2014On this occasion too I heard a Russian funeral Sermon; the first discourse from the pulpit which I had heard delivered.\u2014Preaching is a part of the divine service very seldom performed.\u2014I could not understand a word of the discourse; for although we have been here two full years I have not a tincture of the language\u2014The preacher\u2019s delivery was very good.\nI wrote a few days ago to my brother intending to send the letter by Commodore Bainbridge, who after spending the Summer here is going to Gothenburg, there to embark for the United States\u2014But as his departure has been postponed and another opportunity occurred by the way of Riga I forwarded that letter thither and shall commit this to the Commodore in its stead. There are still several of our Countrymen, here who will be going at different times in the course of the next two months, and by whom I shall continue to write.\nI beg to be affectionately remembered to all our friends with you, and particularly to my Sister, whose health will I hope be restored by her visit to you\u2014We have not for a long time had any letters from either of our Sons, though I flatter myself they will be constantly improving themselves in the faculty of writing. We are all in good health\u2014Charles is a good boy, and is learning to read French\u2014When we come home, I expect his English will be diverting to his brothers. My daughter Louisa, is an accomplished young lady for her weeks, and has in her mother an excellent nurse\u2014She promises to be a nut-brown maid with a very audible voice, and as yet delights in nothing so much as a full breast of milk\u2014We are daily seeking for resemblances in her countenance, and associate her in fancy with all our dearest friends\u2014She has the eyes of one; the nose of another, the mouth of a third and the forehead of a fourth, but her chin is absolutely and exclusively her own. Charles has just come into my chamber, and desires me to give his duty to Grand-papa and Grand-mama and his love to his brothers George and John\u2014to which I have only to add my own.\nA25. October\u2014\nI must not again forget to wish you joy of this day\u2014I surely ought to remember it\u2014May the blessing of Heaven give you and my father many more happy returns of it.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2049", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to William Cranch, 25 October 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Cranch, William\nmy dear nephew,\nQuincy, 25 October, 1811.\nThe solemn and impressive scenes through which I have passed the last week, were too affecting to me to commit to paper. I thank God for that support and consolation which now enables me to address the only son of my dear departed brother and sister, endeared to me by every tie of affection and consanguinity, whose lives were a worthy example to all their posterity, and whose deaths were a comment upon their lives. As they had lived together in bonds of closest conjugal harmony and affection, near fifty years, so an all wise and merciful providence has removed them together to the realms of bliss; and this, my dear nephew, is a consolation to me, that neither is left to mourn the death of the other. That they were spared to us so long is another source of thankfulness. That they endured no more pain or agony in their departing moments, is among the blessings we have to be thankful for. That they have left such bright, and, as far as the imperfections of human nature would admit, spotless characters behind them, is the richest legacy they could transmit to their posterity.\nYour father was seized with a lethargy which deprived him in a great measure of his speech, and prevented us from receiving from his dying lips the testimony which he would undoubtedly have given, to the truth and excellence of that religion of which he had ever been an ornament. Heaven was satisfied, and his work was finished. Your dear mother, through her whole sickness, was full of faith, hope, and charity. Although she struggled for life, for the sake of your father, and the dear orphans, I may say, of your sister, yet, when she was informed of his death, it did not affect her as it would have done in health.\nI passed the three last days of her life chiefly with her, in two of which she appeared wandering; in one of them she did not mention your father, in the other she talked much of him, and in a kind of ecstacy said, \u201cHe has only stepped behind the scene; I shall know where to find him;\u201d so upon another occasion she said, \u201chis whole life was prayer;\u201d that \u201cnow all her tie to life was broken; she was both ready and willing to die.\u201d Once, after a silence of some time, she broke out into an apostrophe\u2014\u201cO my son, my son\u201d\u2014and said no more. I presumed she had been thinking of the grief which the death of your father would occasion to you.\nThe day she departed, your uncle and I were in her chamber. She thanked us most tenderly for all our kindness to her, and her family, as she expressed herself; her mind appeared less wandering than through her whole sickness. She was perfectly collected, and called to her bedside my granddaughter Susan B. Adams, and taking her by the hand, conversed with her upon the importance of early piety, upon the duty which she owed to God, to her parent, and her grandparents, and upon the duty and efficacy of prayer. She dwelt upon that with great eloquence and pathos, when offered in sincerity; said she had never offered to Heaven a petition which she did not see answered in receiving the blessing, or, if denied, she could trace the kindness of the hand in withholding it; recommended to her the repeated perusal of a sermon, in Dr. Paley\u2019s works, upon early piety, from this text, \u201cBe sober minded;\u201d having finished, (and I can only give you an imperfect sketch,) she said, \u201cThis is all I can offer you Susan, for your kindness to me; it is my last legacy;\u201d and so it proved. During this conversation, we were all but herself in tears. Her lungs were sound and strong. She appeared to me much more comfortable, and likely to continue for some time, than for two days before. The family being so numerous, I usually returned home to dine; I did so this day, never to see her living face more. In less than an hour, your brother, D. Greenleaf, came in and told me her spirit had fled; Heaven kindly spared me the last sad parting pang.\nI shall not make any apology to you for my minuteness; it is the sweet remembrance of the just, and will, I hope, solace you under your bereavement. Richard Norton has no doubt written to you of the respectable manner in which their remains were interred, accompanied by a numerous assembly to church, where Mr. Whitney delivered to a crowded audience an excellent discourse from Psalms: \u201cThe righteous shall be held in everlasting remembrance,\u201d in which, with much justice, he gave the characters of your respected parents. The sermon will be published.\nI hope, my dear nephew, while I live, that you will consider me as a parent, and present me as such to your dear partner, although I can never supply her place to you, whose death you mourn.\nYour uncle and the whole family unite in sympathy and affection.\nI am, my dear nephew, / Your affectionate and sympathizing aunt,\nAbigail Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2050", "content": "Title: To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 31 October 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, John\nDear Sir.\nSt: Petersburg 31. October 1811.\nIn the month of June last Myers Fisher junr: of Philadelphia, who is established here as a partner of a Commercial House, called upon me with a Gentleman who had just arrived with a Vessel and Cargo of which he was the owner, and whom he introduced to me by the name of Mr David of Philadelphia\u2014I thought this Gentleman a total stranger to me, and was a little surprized when he said to me, Sir, you and I are very old acquaintances with each other\u2014Do you not recollect a boy by the name of David, who was one of your schoolfellows at Mr Le Coeur\u2019s at Passy in the year 1778? I recollect two boys of that name, who were brothers; born in London, of French Parents, who had been sent over to France for their Education\u2014Well, Sir, I am the youngest of those two Brothers\u2014And then he told me several anecdotes of occurrences at the School, which had as completely escaped my Memory untill he reminded me of them, as his own person\u2014 I excused myself as well as I could for not having had a Memory so retentive as his, but the passage from twelve to forty-five years age accomplishes a metamorphosis in one\u2019s looks, which it requires something more than Memory to trace back\u2014It was remarkable that this was the second instance since I have been here, in which I have been recognized by schoolmates of Le Coeur\u2019s Pension\u2014The other was a Mr Rudolphe, and Engineer, whom I had more irretrievably forgotten than Mr David\u2014For even now, after he brought Circumstances to my Mind, which I do remember, I can recall no trace either of his person or his name\u2014 I have not been well pleased with myself to find that my schoolmates of that period have so much better memories than mine, and I have set all the usual casuistry of self-love in motion to account for it in a manner which may spare me all mortification at the Discovery.\nBut the occasion upon which I mention Mr David to you is, that after having passed the Summer here he is now going to Gothenburg, intending to return thence either directly, or through England to Philadelphia, and it is by him that I shall take the opportunity of forwarding this letter\u2014It is already the third that has occurred since the Navigation directly from Cronstadt has been closed, and I hope to have several others in November and perhaps December\u2014There is however a very troublesome, and at this Season a very dangerous water passage over the gulph of Bothnia, between this place and Gothenburg, and the Winter has already declared itself here with such severity, that the River Neva is completely frozen over.\nSince I wrote you last we have had no further news from America and expect none of any material importance, untill the Session of Congress.\u2014We hear of nothing but the violence of political parties concentrated in the State of Massachusetts and especially in the town of Boston\u2014Old Hillhouse used to say seven years ago, that there was no remedy for our evils, but \u201ca little surgical operation,\u201d and it was he and a number of heads in Connecticut and Boston, about as wise and comprehensive as his, who then seriously formed the project for dividing the Union, of which at the last Session of Congress Mr: Quincy condescended to become the Herald\u2014 It was on the very same Lilliputian scale of policy too\u2014Because Louisiana, and the Western States would soon be able to out-vote New-England in Congress\u2014I had settled it in my mind long before that time, that this project could never be carried into execution, but by Treason and Rebellion; and that those were the least greatest of two evils in comparison with the chance of New-England\u2019s being occasionally out-voted in Congress\u2014To my mind therefore the bare intimation of what Mr Quincy seriously avowed in Congress, and what Hillhouse hinted by the jocose figure of an amputation, contained those two Crimes Treason and Rebellion, as completely as in the physical world the grub obscene contains the wriggling worm\u2014I do not imagine that either Hillhouse or Quincy ever pursued their own reflections so far as to be brought to this Conclusion, though Quincy by his \u201cviolently if they must\u201d has admitted that the division may cost a civil War, the chances of which I suppose he will not deny, might if unsuccessful, finish by giving it the name of Rebellion\u2014Such however was my Conclusion\u2014That individual Treason and collective Rebellion were necessarily implied in the execution of the scheme for dividing the Union, and the system of conduct uniformly pursued by the party which first conceived that design has invariably confirmed me in the opinion which I had formed upon a consideration of it a priori, as a mere theoretical speculation.\nIt seemed to me that there was littleness, and contraction stamped upon the very conception, that the American Union must be dissolved, because the New-England interest might be out-voted in Congress\u2014There was indeed no New-England Interest, clear or strong enough to unite its own Representatives in their votes\u2014But admitting that there had been, or that in future there might be, I saw no indication that it would be without its proper and reasonable influence in the National Councils, nor could I possibly discover any Interest, which would not suffer more by the natural and inevitable collisions, of independent and disconnected bordering Nations, having no common deliberative principle of association, than it could while they were united under one and the same system of Legislation\u2014\nAs the conception of dividing the Union, appeared to me little and narrow, I could not avoid assuming it as a measure of the minds by which it was entertained; and as I thought the Execution of the project would on the contrary require minds of a very enlarged and capacious character, I did not think the persons so ready to undertake this mighty work, exactly calculated to carry it through\u2014I therefore believed that it would ultimately prove unsuccessful, though probably not untill after the experiment of a civil War\u2014What and whom a Civil War might in its progress bring forth, I could not foresee, but judging from past and present experience I supposed, a Jeroboam, a Julius Caesar, a Cromwell or some such ferocious animal, who might or might not unite the Country again under one Government\u2014If he did it must be military, and arbitrary\u2014If he did not, it would be because another tyrant like himself, would head another State of a similar description, to feed between them a perpetual state of future War between the different Sections that now compose the Union\u2014It was possible that instead of two such wild beasts, the Nation when once split up might produce an indefinite number of them, and monarchies and oligarchies, and democracies might arise as among the States of antient Greece, and the more they multiplied the more materials would they furnish for future War\u2014Now in all these prospects of future times, grounded on the assumed principle of dividing the Union, I did see chances of splendid Fortunes for individual Avarice and Ambition, which our present simple Republican and Federative Government does not and cannot hold out; but at the expence of blood and treasure, and freedom and happiness to the great mass of the Nation in all its parts, from which the hand of a parricide would shrink with compunction.\nFrom the frequency with which I return to this subject, in my letters to you, and to others of my friends, which will be seen by you, may be judged how much it occupies my thoughts and how deeply it affects my feelings\u2014It enters into most of my meditations upon History, upon Government, and even upon the Poetry that I read\u2014Marmion, and the Minstrel and the Lady of the Lake have no moral to me but to shew the consequences of dividing States which Nature admits of being United\u2014The picture of border Wars, is a memento to me of what awaits us if we ever yield to that senseless and stupid call for division, which I have so long heard muttered in my own neighbourhood, and which Quincy has now taken a trumpet to sound forth in the very Sanctuary of Legislation\u2014In short Union is to me what the Balance is to you; and as without this there can be no good Government among mankind in any state, so without that, there can be no good Government among the People of North-America in the state in which God has been pleased to place them.\nOf ourselves we have little else to say than that we are all well\u2014I have got into such a regular and quiet course of life, and have now so little troublesome public business to do, that my time passes smoothly away; and it would pass as happily as the condition of human Nature admits, but for the irresistible calls which I hear from my Parents and my Children\u2014As respects myself, the interests of my family and the service of my Country, I know not which would be most desirable for me, to remain here or to return home; but the sense of duty prescribing my return is so strong that I shall feel uneasy untill I comply with its commands\u2014Hitherto I have left it altogether at the Pleasure of the President, after declining the appointment to the Branch\u2014I have had motives which it is unnecessary formally to explain to you, for avoiding hitherto an explicit request to be recalled\u2014It still remains therefore at the President\u2019s option\u2014If he recalls me without such a request, I shall however be perfectly satisfied with his determination\u2014If he authorizes me to remain here longer, I shall soon make the request which I have hitherto delayed\u2014At all Events I hope to see you in the course of the ensuing year, and to take upon me that imperious duty of superintending the Education of my Sons.\nI pray you assure them of my constant affection, and my mother of my unalterable duty\u2014with my kind remembrance to all the other branches of the family, & particularly to my Sister\u2014\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2051", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, October 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Greenleaf, Lucy Cranch\nDear Neice\nI heard last Evening of the melancholy event, and sincerely sympathize with the afflicted family I send you some peices of crape  they are rusty, but the best we have. if you attend the funeral, and want a Bonnet, if mine will answer and my crape cloak they are at your service\u2014I intended to have asked You here to day to have past it, with mrs Cushing and Caroline, but a melancholy duty calls you else where\nYours affec\u2019ly\nA A\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2052", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, October 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Greenleaf, Lucy Cranch\ndear Mrs Greenleaf\nwill you get mr Norten to inform by Letters mr & mrs James Foster of the death of your dear Mother and our request to them to attend the funeral on Saturday\u2014Louissa did write to them the morng that your Father died, but some exception was taken that they were not notified by the Family. mr George Palmer Should be written to, he had not heard of his uncle death till Louissa informd him. mr dexter will carry the Letters. get you a day  if you think proper or do any thing else you may want\u2014had he not better wait for the plates\u2014could you Spair your chaise for him, we have to Send ours various ways to day\nyour affecly\nA A", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2053", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Hannah Phillips Cushing, 3 November 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Cushing, Hannah Phillips\nmy dear Friend.\nQuincy Novbr 3d 1811\nI owe to your Friendship, a Letter of thanks for the interest you take in whatever concerns me or mine. I know your Sympathizing Heart will hasten to pour the balm of consolation into the afflicted Bosom of your Friend, when you learn that my dear and beloved Sister is numberd with the dead. this is an event which my mind was in a measure prepard for, from her long Sickness, but I had not realized that one grave was to receive at the Same time, her dear venerable companion also. He fell Sick upon a Saturday Evening, and the Tuesday following closed a well spent Life; She survived him only untill thursday noon having no desire to remain longer upon Earth, and upon the Saturday following, they were together consignd to the Tomb. their Remains were placed Side by Side in the Church where they so frequently had worshiped together. mr Whitney deliverd an Exellent discourse to a crowded Audience from psalms. \u201cThe Righteous Shall be held in Everlasting Remembrance\u201d\nWhile I weep the loss I have Sustained, I would not be unmindfull of the mercies I have received. I desire consolation in the circumstance of their both going together, having lived together near half a Centry, in the most cordial conjugal Harmony and felicity they are together gone, to the realms of Bliss. if either had lived to mourn the loss of the other, it would have been as Young expresses it, \u201cThe Survivor dies\u201d that I have enjoyed their Society for so long a period. and that their mental faculties were not more impared, but their usefullness continued almost to their dying hour, is cause of gratefull recollection to me; and their memory is a rich inheritance to all their Surviving Relatives, and a cordial to the drooping mind, when the pangs of seperation assail it. This you my dear Friend know from Similar experience.\nThe week before their deaths I received Letters from washington informing me of the death of my Friend Mrs Johnson and her Son in Law mr Buchanna of a Billious fever, and of the dangerous Sickness of mrs Boyed and Pope. the latter have survived and are upon the recovery. These distressing events so near each other, have call\u2019d for all the aid which Religion affords, and I have cause to thank Heaven that I have been supported through them, and may I have cause to Say, it is good for me that I have been afflicted, with a gratefull heart I would Bless the hand which wounds and heals.\nMrs Smith has been highly favourd. the wound is intirely healed, altho She cannot yet use her Arm. it gains Strength as She recovers. She has twice rode out. I cannot however think it Safe for her to return this winter. the Season must be far advanced before She could leave here; and a cold or fatigue against which her physicians have gaurded her, might prove fatal to her.\nLetters from my son in Russia inform us, that he has declined his Seat upon the Bench. The Situation of Mrs Adams, who expected to be confined at the very time when, they ought to have embarked for Home, wholy prevented their thinking of returning this Season; and obliged him to decline the office, which he considerd already kept open too long, for the public Service. She got to bed in August with a daughter.\nI feel a dissapointment, but I console myself with the pursuasion that all things are wisely ordered, and will terminate for the best good of the whole.\nThe president desires to be rememberd to you he has recoverd from his Lameness\u2014Mrs Smith request her kind regards to you and gratefully remembers your Friendly attention towards her. Mrs Adams & the whole Numerous family present their regards. be kind enough to remember me to you Sisters, and your Neices. Let me know if I am to congratulate Martha upon her Marriage\u2014I am my dear Friend affectionatly yours\nAbigail Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2054", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Thomas Boylston Adams, 6 November 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Thomas Boylston\nSt: Petersburg 6. November 1811.\nSince I wrote you last (which the enclosed will shew you was very lately) though I have not have had the pleasure of hearing from you, I have at least enjoyed that of hearing of you\u2014Mr: Ducoster, brought me a letter of 24. July from my Mother, and Mr Ingraham has brought us verbal information three days later\u2014The thread of life, as somebody says in Shakespear is of a mingled yarn; our eagerness to receive letters from home has this year been too often punished as if it were a crime, by the afflictive intelligence which they brought when they did come\u2014For you among others how many an anxious hour have I pass\u2019d since receiving your letter of 7. April.\u2014In my Mother\u2019s last letter she tells me that your health was improved and how have I longed to learn the same from yourself! I have at least the satisfaction of finding that you are becoming daily more distinguished by public notice, and hope I may congratulate you sincerely upon your Judicial dignity\u2014Of the new accession to your family too I have been informed, and heartily wish you joy upon it\u2014Miss Frances Foster, and Miss Louisa Catherine came so near together, that they had almost like to have been twins, if they had not had two fathers and mothers\u2014I pray that your daughter may be as fat and healthy, as by God\u2019s blessing mine has hitherto been\u2014\nIf my young lady had come one month earlier, I should now in all probability have been halfway upon my passage home\u2014There was a fine ship called the Dorothea, which sailed about the middle of September, for Philadelphia, and in which we might have taken passage\u2014But my wife was not then out of her chamber, and since then there has been no good opportunity of which we could have availed ourselves\u2014I sometimes regret that we are detained here for another Winter\u2014Not on account of the Office which was tendered to me\u2014Upon that subject I may say between you and me, my inclination and my resolution has not varied one iota, since I wrote you on the 10th: of April, when to be sure I expressed my sentiments merely upon speculation little thinking that at that very moment the appointment had been made, which was to put them to so close a test\u2014But because there is so little public business which can employ me here, and that little is now of such minor importance that I cannot divest myself of the opinion, that I could perform more useful service to my Country at home than here\u2014This opinion, with the desire to see again my Parents and Children, and the consciousness of a duty to fulfill in the Education of my two eldest boys, which I cannot fulfill here, often suggest to me moments of uneasiness that I am yet fastened to this extremity of the Eastern Hemisphere.\u2014My wish and intention therefore is to return home the next Summer\u2014But in the present State of the World it is scarcely possible to say whether the Ocean will be navigable for American Vessels the next year. Since the English have given up the blockade of the Baltic at the passage of the Sound, it has been renewed by French privateers\u2014Four American vessels coming here were taken by a French privateer and carried into Dantzig in May last, and their papers sent to Paris, where they have been condemned\u2014Two were taken in August and carried into Copenhagen\u2014papers sent to Paris\u2014Vessels and Cargoes condemned and confiscated\u2014One of these was a brig belonging to Lieutenant Governor Gray\u2014All of them unquestionably American and perfectly neutral\u2014Among the vessels that have sailed from hence for the United States, we know already of two, the Augustus, Captain Flint, and the Horace Captain Leach, which have been taken by the Danes, after having passed Elseneur\u2014Both these vessels had dispatches from me, and letters to my Mother dated 29. July and 12. August\u2014And on Board the Horace was the sheeting for which she wrote to me last Spring, and also a piece which I had sent for my Sister\u2014What the cause, real or pretended for the capture of these vessels was, I do not know, for we have yet nothing but rumours about them, and they are various\u2014I hope however that most if not all of our other vessels which have come into the Baltic this year will escape them, and that all our merchants will be completely warned of the danger that awaits them for the next\u2014If they attempt the passage at Elseneur they may consider it as certain that they will be taken; and if taken, certain to be condemned\u2014\nCongress are already in Session, and probably before you receive this letter, will have taken some decisive step to fix the state of our relations with Europe\u2014But I trust that step will not have been taken without a knowledge of the manner in which France is treating us; nor without a cool and deliberate consideration of the effect, which this treatment ought to have upon our course of policy\u2014You know my sentiments with respect to the non-importation Act of the last Session\u2014It pass\u2019d upon the conviction that the Berlin and Milan decrees had been effectually and bona-fide repealed\u2014In all the proceedings of France on that subject, I had seen a Character which was far from deserving the discrimination which was then made on our part, between her and her enemy; but I did and do still respect most highly the motive upon which the Act was adopted\u2014The sacred fulfillment of an honourable promise\u2014At this time I think little doubt can remain upon any mind, concerning the real intentions of France\u2014The dispute whether the Berlin and Milan Decrees have or have not been repealed, is degenerating into a cavil upon Words\u2014Yes!\u2014as to us, they have been repealed\u2014At least I know not of any official act of the French Government, contrary to their Declarations to that effect\u2014But as prohibitory duties are in common sense and common reason always equivalent to prohibition, the Tariff issued cotemporaneously with the declaration that the two decrees were revoked, was substantially a Non-importation Act, pointed directly against us\u2014In form it certainly did not violate our neutral rights, but in substance it was the same thing\u2014By internal regulation, it made the exercise of our neutral rights impracticable with regard to the most profitable part of our Commerce\u2014It satisfied the letter, but not the Spirit of our prior Law\u2014If however all this be admitted, it is clear that our pledge has been completely redeemed\u2014If we promised to our loss, we have made our promise good\u2014We have now a new score of injury and outrage to take up\u2014The depredations of the present year are not committed by virtue of the decrees of Berlin and of Milan, but upon simple orders of the Emperor Napoleon, that all Colonial Merchandizes, coming from whence, and belonging to whom they may, are to be considered as English, and coming from England\u2014therefore to be confiscated\u2014Surely after this, it is perfectly useless to enquire whether the Decrees of Berlin and of Milan, are, or are not repealed.\nAt the same time it becomes constantly more and more evident that Napoleon is ardently desirous, of a War between the United States and England\u2014A War which would be highly propitious to his purposes, which would hasten undoubtedly the ruin of England, but which would either rivet upon us the fetters of France, or make them so intolerably galling that the feeling our Country, would cast them off for the still more cruel and insufferable manacles of England\u2014Now if there were not other reasons in abundance to deter us from a War with England, one reason equivalent to ten thousand is that he desires we should have it\u2014For the very reason that our neutrality is the state the most unfavourable to his views, I hope we shall adhere inflexibly to it\u2014At present we may with great safety set in substance his enmity at defiance.\u2014And the most effectual way of doing it will be by placing him and his adversary again precisely upon the same footing\u2014Our non importation act, is of all the measures hitherto taken, most seriously and severely felt by England\u2014The course of Exchange is a proof, and an unanswerable proof of its great efficacy\u2014It occasions no doubt many partial inconveniencies in our own Country, but as a defensive weapon it works so well that I should incline strongly to its continuance\u2014But I would apply it, or an equivalent measure without hesitation and without delay to France. And I would assume a tone in Negotiation with her, which should leave no room for anybody to talk of our partiality in her favour\u2014Armstrong\u2019s letter of 10. March\u2014and its effects sufficiently shewed the true tone that ought to be taken with her\u2014When I say I incline to the continuance of the non-importation, I speak of course without a full knowledge of its operations at home; if that should make a repeal expedient, I think it will be difficult to substitute any measure of equal power in its stead\u2014England besides her pauperism and her paper money, is getting upon very bad terms with her allies in Sicily, in Spain, and even in Portugal\u2014She is in a great dilemma between the Cortes of Cadix and the South-American Patriots of Independence\u2014This skein becomes from day to day more entangled, and she will never be able to unravel it.\u2014It will I flatter myself be our policy to keep ourselves cool and calm, and to do nothing to involve us in the Catastrophe which cannot be very remote\u2014\nThe last week in October we had cold enough to constitute a Washington Winter\u2014Before the close of the month the river was frozen over, strong enough to bear passengers\u2014There was nearly a food deep of Snow, and the Sleighs were in universal circulation\u2014We have now had four or five days of rain and thaw, which have carried off all the Snow, and threaten to break up the river\u2014an accident which happens not oftener than once a Century\u2014Americans are still going to embark from Gothenburg, and I shall suffer no such opportunity to escape me without writing to somebody.\u2014Remember me suitably to your wife and Children, and to all other members of the family\u2014Valemus\u2014Valete.\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2055", "content": "Title: From Archibald Young to Abigail Smith Adams, 7 November 1811\nFrom: Young, Archibald\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nNovember 7th 1811.\nCloathing purchased for George and John Adams\n3 peices Blew Nankeen at 2 dollars pr piece61 peice yellow125 2 yd Gingham.631 yd vesting142 4  yds check169 5 doz pearl Buttons1503 yd cotton Cloth751 half oz Sewing Silk254 skains coulord cotton25Archibald Young\u2019s Bill paid by Mrs A A.$10.29Mrs A. A. Account within22.821502924.6115.0CR By Cash\u2014$15 9.61By Do\u2014 4.5019.50\n Recd and settled in full to this day\nAbigail Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2056", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, 8 November 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nmy dear Sister\nQuincy Nov\u2019br 8 1811\nI recieved your Letter by the last Mail inclosing one for your daughter, who left me last week, to our great regreet. I expostulate with her for making her visit So short She Said She had been five weeks with us. I could Scarcly credit it, untill I looked back, and then So many events had during that period rapidly Succeeded each other, that I had not calculated how the time had passed\nIt was a visit fraught with Such impressive Scenes, as will not I trust be Soon, or can eradicated from her mind.\n\u201cTis a prime part of happiness, to know\nHow much unhappiness must prove our Lot\u201d\nI Sent the Letter in to my Neice the Same day I received it. She is well, and proposed to remain in Boston three weeks. She was very fortunate going into Town while I had a Tailoress with me, getting her Coat and a Bempant Gown which She had made immediatly and is quite Equiped for the winter. I have not been able to write you the week past. you know what a large and encumberd family is added to a constant Succession of trancient company. The calls upon me are numerous. Col Smith has been here nearly 4 weeks. Mrs Smith will not be able to return with him this winter. She cannot use her Arm at all. She has rode out three times  but being a little presumptious and riding one day rather too far\u2014She has not been so well Since, and is now Satisfied that She must not attempt the journey this winter. the Col will return, and Mrs Adams and Abbe will go with him. it is an excellent opportunity for her to visit her Mother, and I hope it will benifit her health\u2014and it will lessen the cares of my Family which have been numerous this Summer. but I desire to be gratefull for the Health I have enjoyed, and for the blessings which have been mingled with my afflictions. it is a gratification to me to have the Habitation which I have So long been accustomd to visit, as the dear abode of my our venerable Brother and beloved Sister, occupied by her worthy Daughter and her descendents\nMr & Mrs Greenleaf have removed into it, and She will keep her Sisters daughters with her through the winter. Brother Cranch left a will, written many years ago, in which after ordering his debts and funeral Charges to be paid, he gave the whole of his Property to his wife, to be used by her for the Benifit of her Children and Grandchildren\u2014His will must be proved, and an administrator appointed, and altho She died without a will, Still as the Estate could not be  untill the condition of the will was fullfilld, and as She had property in trust for her, now Bonds and Administration must be taken upon her estate. this will be attended with more expence & trouble. there were not I believe any heavey debts, a hundred dollors which he borrowd during her Sickness & the drs Bills and funeral Charges will be the principle\u2014I hope there will be Something left for mrs Greenleaf\u2014as well as for the others; mr c Norten I presume has had nearly all his Share\u2014Nine Hundred dollers are due from him which ought to go to the Children.\nMy last accounts from washington were that mrs Boyed and Pope were upon the recovery, but a Letter which came yesterday from Baltimore, written at the request of Caroline informs us of the Death of her Husband\u2014and at the Same time what I feared was the case, that he dyed leaving no property. She has one child by him & he left four by his first wife\u2014they have Some property which came to them by their Mother, and in which their Father had his Life but not a farthing of which She can claim\u2014I do most Sincerely compassionate her. it was a marriage, not of choice, but persuasion of Friends and who can paint the feelings of a delicate mind. Subjected to dependence and Seeing no prospect of releif, but in a marriage which might intittle you to a home\u2014but that very home depending upon the Brittle thread of Life\u2014The Death of Mrs Johnson, which I  for the Sake  respected worldly affairs a release to  George and John I must commit to your Care. they have not been kept So regular this Summer, as they ought to have been: oweing to the Sickness of their Aunt, and of their being Some times in one place & sometimes in an other. here they would find too much time for play and my Family is not calculated to keep Such Children in. various work people with whom they will occasionally mix, and learn what is improper, cannot be avoided. I hope they will not give you any unnecessary trouble George is a good temper Child, and may be managed by reasoning but I discover in John a quickness of passion, and a Stiffness which requires Subduing. I wish their hand writing may be particularly attended to, English Grammer for John, before he commences Lattin George will pursue his Studies in Lattin and Greek\u2014\nMr Adams will be so much absent this winter, that it appeard to me out of the question for them to go there. I have therefore engaged to take upon my own Shoulders the responsibility of placeing them at Atkinson. there entrance money will be Sent with them, and we Shall expect to pay the Same as others. Mr T B Adams will always answer their quarter Bills or any other expences you may necessarily be at for them\u2014\nI must close or the mail will leave me\u2014we have Letters from Russia dated in Sep\u2019br All well there\nLet me know how mr Peabodys leg is the President found great benifit from the use of Ledwater, and putting it into poltice\u2014I am dear and only Sister", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2057", "content": "Title: From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Smith Adams, 11 November 1811\nFrom: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nMy Dear Sister,\nAtkinson Novem. 11th. 1811\nThe excellent Sermon you sent, me was indeed \u201ca cordial to my Heart\u2014\u201d I thank Mr Whitney for the justice he has done to departed excellence, & for his sympathetick remembrace of me, & the absent Relatives\u2014It was my ardent wish to have been present at the mournful Obsequies, but it was not to be\u2014Mr Peabody\u2019s Indisposition, & a number of contingencies prevented\u2014I have been laying plans in my own mind ever since, to make you a visit, of a week\u2014but they have all proved abortive, & I fear now the Season is so far advanced, I must give up the Idea\u2014As I could not be there, it has been a consolation to me that my Daughter was at Quincy\u2014though I really long to have her come home that we may sit together, & recount the Virtues of my dear Brother, & Sister\u2014long\u2014long will they be held in sweet remembrance by those who knew them\u2014& by us, so long as Reason lasts\u2014It is a comfort my dear Sister, to have those arround us who are interested, & do feel interested in all our Concerns\u2014Those who knew their worth, & the sincere, unabated affection which has ever subsisted, between us, must lend the balm, of a sympathetic Tear\u2014I am thankful I was with my Sister, at the first of her confinement\u2014though she was too sick to converse with, as I wished\u2014I was so happy as to converse more with my revered Brother Cranch than I had done for many years\u2014& it seems now, as if I now heard those fervent Prayers, in which his whole Soul was engaged\u2014making supplications\u2014which could not be uttered\u2014\nI rejoice with you that Mr, & Mrs G. occupy the House of their beloved Parents\u2014I hope no other Claimant will appear to molest them\u2014I mentioned to Sister Cranch, that Mr Peabody would give Thomas Norton his board, & let him go to the Academy three months, if it met their approbation\u2014My Sister seemed pleased with the proposal\u2014Mr Peabody did not think to say anything when at Quincy, but told Mr Richard Norton at Boston\u2014& he seemed gratified too\u2014but we have not heard one word from his Father\u2014My Brother, & Sister thought then that Thomas, should be taught, so as to go into a merchants Store in the Spring\u2014\nMy Dear Sister, Mr Peabody, & I, are both willing, & desirous to do all we can\u2014It pains me that we can do so little\u2014I sincerely hope the proposed journey of your Daughter Adams, & miss Abby, will be of great benefit to her infirm state of health\u2014The Bosom of her Mother, & the soft air of her native City, may afford some lenient Balm.\u2014She has my fervent wishes for her perfect restoration.\u2014Cousin Abby was here but six weeks, & half\u2014which at two Dollars pr week made 13 Dollars\u2014which he says, if you please you may pay to my Daughter\u2014Eight Dollars of which I beg the favour of you to retain, & present it from me if you please to my Cousin Abby, as a token of my regard for her Parents, & of my Love for her\u2014I would have written to her, before her departure if I could\u2014But I know the sweetness of her desposition, will induce her to pay every possible attention to her Dear, & amiable Mother\u2014\nIt will releeve you, & the President from many an anxious hour\u2014& solitary ones too, to have your dear Daughter with you this winter\u2014you did not say when your grand Children were to come, if they come in the Stage\u2014the can come to the Door in it on mondays or on Fridays\u2014or do you intend sending them by Mr Dexter in a Chaise\u2014I wish you would let me know by friday mail if you could.\u2014Whether my Abby will return before thansgiving, or not, I do not know\u2014as she never was at this season from home, I fancy she will tarry in Town till after\u2014Has not Mrs Cotton Tufts offered to take one of my dear Nieces Daughters? perhaps, she waits to be requested\u2014one does not always know whether a thing would be pleasing to Friends\u2014\nBe assured every kind wish is included to every Branch of your, & my Connections / when I subscribe your ever obliged / & affectionate Sister\nElizabeth Peabody\nPray let me know  how Mr Cranch at  Washington is if you can\u2014\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2058", "content": "Title: From Thomas Boylston Adams to Orchard Cook, 14 November 1811\nFrom: Adams, Thomas Boylston\nTo: Cook, Orchard\nSir.\nQuincy November 14th 1811\nI have just received, on my return from Boston, this Evening, your favour of the 10th: instant, and cannot but express my regret that you have found it necessary, for your own vindication, to enter into so ample an explanation of the difficulties you have recently encountered. I am very desirous of avoiding any personal interference in the disputes of individuals, with whom I have no immediate connection, other than that, which results from an Official Station, and I am happy to find, by your letter, that I stand exonerated, in your mind, from any intentional agency in the transaction to which you allude. Before the receipt of you letter I had been confidentially informed, that your last letter to me, on the subject of nominations, was in the hands of the Honble: Mr: Carlton, and that use had been made of it to your prejudice. The first suggestion was, that only a copy was in his possession, as in your letter to me, but afterwards it was said, that your original letter was in the hands of that Gentleman, the last of which is probably the fact. I cannot say but the first surmise of such an incident cause a momentary hesitation as to the truth of it, for I really believed your letter was in my drawer under lock & key; but on second thought, it occurred, that I had communicated the original to the members of Council, from your section, and that I could not remember it having been returned to me. The communication, on my part, was voluntary and for the purpose of interchanging information among the Members of the Executive Council, nor was I at all solicitous whether any letter addressed to me, of a publick nature and relating to Candidates for Office, was in my custody, or in that of any member of the board; for as I found no disposition to reserve, on the part of others, I discovered none on mine; always supposing that such communications were under the seal of secrecy and would not travel out of the Council Chamber. Having thus informed you of the manner in which this occurrence was brought about, and renewing my expressions of regret, that it has been productive of unpleasant apprehensions to you, I must refrain from comment, least in the future consequences predicted by you as likely to flow from it, I may find myself implicated in difficulties, which I must disclaim all agency in having been instrumental in exciting, and which I am extremely desirous should subside, not only for the publick good but for the sake of the reputation of the parties unhappily concerned.\nI began a Letter to the Honble: Mr: Carlton yesterday, which I was able to finish only to day, and it will go by the same Mail with this to you. I have barely informed him, that I had heard it said, from high Authority, that your letter to me had been used to your disadvantage and that he was in possession of it; Also requesting a return of the Letter to me. I am perswaded that it will be returned to me, and I hope without any such use having been made of it as is suggested. I must ask the favour of you to preserve this letter, as I shall your\u2019s from the inspection of any other person; for I think it a correct rule of correspondence, as well as of oral & colloquial intercourse between man & man, that nothing should be written or spoken, that we should be unwilling to say before the face of the person or party implicated, either to his prejudice or praise. And when difficulties have been unnaturally created, it is no time to destroy any part of the evidence by which they have been attempted to be allayed.\nI formed a favourable opinion of the character and acquirements of your friend Dr: Rose during my intercourse with him on my visit to the County of Lincoln. I wish we had a Land Office in this State that he might be the Surveyor-General, as they have in Pennsylvania; at any rate, I should be pleased to see that Gentleman in some station where his peculiar talents might be employed in the service of the Commonwealth.\nI perceive the delicacy of your present situation and I hope you will have the necessary courage to encounter it with honour to yourself\u2014and with credit to the Government. Your display of courage must, as you are situated, be, in the field of forbearance, and I therefore recommend your taking no notice whatever of the publication in the Centinel. All our enemies want is to divide, well knowing that it is their only chance of victory over the Republican phalanx. I am Sir, Respectfully your Hble Servt\nThomas B Adams\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2059", "content": "Title: From Hannah Phillips Cushing to Abigail Smith Adams, 14 November 1811\nFrom: Cushing, Hannah Phillips\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nMy Dear Friend\nMiddletown November 14th. 1811.\nI did not need your last token of love to remind me of my duty to one who is unwearied in exertions of friendship towards me. My mind dwells much on my dear absent Friends & it is with truth I can say that you & yours have a large share of my contemplations. By my own woful experience I can & do most sensibly feel for you under your bereavments. The society of a good Brother & Sister is precious indeed, & to realize that we shall not again on earth see their faces, or hear their voices, is heart renting indeed at the same time that you have every consolation that religion can inspire to solace & support you. \u201cThe righteous shall be held in everlasting remembrance.\u201d Yes my beloved Friend we ought to rejoice for them that their days are numbered & finished, for they no doubt have, or will hear that joyful sentence \u201ccome ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you.\u201d May others speedily be raised up to fill the gaps they have left, & shine as burning lights to all around them. As to those dear Children who have in a few month been deprived of two Mothers, Providence will take care of them, in whom we must confide. Let the sympathy I feel make my condolence acceptable to all the Relatives. Our Cup is wisely mixed with joys, & sorrows, & I am thankful that you are permitted to sing of mercies, in the hopeful prospect that the knife has proved salutary to your lovely Daughter. May her life & health be continued a blessing to all her numerous Friends. I regret more then ever that her place of residence is so far from ours. But this world is not our home; we shall I trust be near each other in a happier clime. \u201cWe shall meet again,\u201d was almost the last expression of your dying Sister to me. Give my best love to Mrs Smith & say that I hope She will not think of returning home this winter. The risque is too great has been my impression from the first.\nWhat sore trials await, Mrs Adams & Sister. The arrows of death have flown so thick around their family, though anxious to learn they must in future dread to hear from this Country. May they lean upon the Rock of ages for support, & be enabled from the heart to say, \u201cit is good for us that we have been afflicted.\u201d The sudden death of our Friends which so frequently occurs, is a loud call to survivers to stand with our lamps trimed & burning, & so be enabled to welcome the stroke which shall separate us from earthly Friends, to reunite us to blessed spirits in Heaven. I presume that you will be pleased to hear that we not only had a comfortable but a pleasant journey. Passed five days in Providence with our Sister Johnston, & her daughter Mrs Hopper, & four days after we came here Sister Bowers was blessed with a fine grand daughter, now three weeks old. Both Mother & Child are well. My Sisters, & Nieces, are all enjoying the same blessing. & They are grateful for your kind remembrance of them, & Offer their condolence, with affectionate regards to you, & Family. William Bowers is placed in a good family in this Town, & attends Store. Martha I presume will not be married this winter. They wisely posepone their union in hopes of better times. I saw Miss Lord last eveg her Phyn has clothed her in flannel, & her health is better. She requested her love to you, & the Ladies.\nThis Town is very pleasant, the society good, & I have many near & dear Friends remaining; yet I experience a degree of melancholy pleasure daily in not seeing those dear Objects which once was so closely twined around my heart. But we come into this World for the purpose of leaving it; & it is design\u2019d only for the infant state of our existence. \u201cThe lord reigneth let the Earth rejoice,\u201d are most comforting reflections; & they ought to cheer, & animate us, under the pressure of our greater Trials. My heart promps me to converse still longer, but my poor eyes admonish me that it is time to quit my pen after requesting my respects to the President & love to all the Family\nYour Affectionate Friend\nH CushingMrs Phillips desired a most respectful & affectionate remembrance to Mrs Adams & her family\u2014\nI have just returned from a pleasant walk with Mrs E Phillips The day is very fine, & the verdure still continues in some degree, which is always delightful to my eye. How different the scene this time twelvemonth. But I must bid you again adieu, or my letter will be too late for this day.\nYours Af H C", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2060", "content": "Title: From William Cranch to Abigail Smith Adams, 16 November 1811\nFrom: Cranch, William\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nWashington Novr. 16th. 1811.\nI have not words, my dear Aunt, to express my gratitude for your kind and consoling letter of the 25th. ulto.\u2014It was, as I wished, minute and particular respecting the last moments of my dear and venerable parents. Mr. Norton\u2019s letters having been directed to George town remain\u2019d there some days, so that your letter was contain\u2019d the first information I received of the death of my mother, except the notice in the centinel of Octr. 19th.\u2014\nI am very thankful that neither of my dear parents was left to linger out a solitary existence. We could not have prayed for that the scene should close with more serenity. Death seems to have come without his terrors. The extraordinary exhiliration of spirits which illumined the last days of my mother, seems to have been kindly order\u2019d to cheer and brighten those of my father, and to bear him up untill the time appointed for both to drop into the tomb. I am sure their prayers must have been heard and answer\u2019d.\nI thank you my dear Aunt, I thank you my dear and venerated Uncle, for all your tenderness to them in their dying moments\u2014I thank their friends for the testimonies of respect with which they were born to the tomb.\u2014I thank the Revd. Mr. Whitney for his prayers & Eulogy; and I thank my God that we have so many consolations under our bereavement.\nI have requested my sister to thank our brother Daniel Greenleaf for the important services he render\u2019d, as well as for all his kindness and attentions.\nMy excellent nephew R. C. Norton, I knew, would do all in his power to mitigate the calamity. His heart is good, and he has a solidity and firmness of character that inspire confidence. He is much respected here among his acquaintance.\nI am thankful that my sister has been supported through these trying scenes. The weight of the affliction falls heavier upon her than upon any of us.\nI was sorry to hear of Mrs. Smith\u2019s affliction. I hope the painful operation she has suffer\u2019d may effect her cure. Please to present her my respectful & affectionate remembrance and assure her of my sympathy.\nI heard transiently that Mrs. C. Adams is out of health. I hope and trust the information is not correct, as it has not been mentioned in any of my letters. Please to present her my respects\u2014and to the rest of the family my affectionate remembrance.\nI hope my Uncle\u2019s leg is heal\u2019d and that he enjoys good health\u2014present him my most grateful acknowledgments.\nWhat can I say, or what can I render to you, my dear Aunt, for your kind offer to supply the place of my departed parent? You have already been a parent to me. You have always taken a parent\u2019s interest & solicitude in my welfare and felt a parents solicitude for my happiness. I needed no assurances. I have always seen and felt it. But did I not know that you live, not for yourself, but for the happiness of others, and that your happiness consists in making others happy, I could not consent to add to your cares, your anxieties and your troubles (of which you have so many which the world knows not of) by accepting this nearer relation which you so kindly offer. In accepting it I shall only ask for the benefit of your inestimable advice in any domestic concerns should they require it. And if it shall please heaven to put  afford me an opportunity of making some poor return for all your kindness to our family I shall be more than happy.\nThe session of the court, the removal of my family, & the bustle occasioned by the meeting of Congress must apologize for my not having sooner answer\u2019d by your letter.\nI have received R.C. Norton\u2019s of the 8th. and my sisters of the 11th. instant.\nWith truly filial affection, and with most unfeigned Gratitude, I am, my dear Aunt, your dutiful & obliged / Nephew\nW. Cranch", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2061", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to John Quincy Adams, 17 November 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nmy dear son\nQuincy Novbr 17th 1811\nThe intercourse between us is daily more and more obstructed, it may prolong your tranquility that it is so: I know not how to take up my pen, yet painfull as the Duty is, I must perform it, untill the task may devolve upon some other, to tell you that your Parents are also numberd with the dead. I wrote you in Sep\u2019br, an account of my dear Sister Cranchs Sickness, and of the little prospect I had of her Recovery. This Letter if you received, may have prepared you to expect the painfull intellegence of her death. She Sickened the beginning of June, with a plurisy fever, and from that, fell into a consumption. While the frail tennament decayed and sank under the weight of years; and disease, her mind became more active, more vigoras, and \u201cThe Souls dark Cottage, batterd and decayed,\nLet in New light, through chinks which time had made\u201d\nI have past through Scenes, my dear Son in this last year; most Solemn, and impressive. God grant that it may be good for me that I have been afflicted; I have consignd to the Tomb in one day, my dear and venerable Brother Cranch, and my beloved Sister, after a sickness of four months, She expired upon the 17 day of october. Mr Cranch had flatterd himself with the hopes of her Recovery, untill the last week of her Life. It was always his wish, and prayer that he might not survive her, & his prayer was answerd, upon the Saturday previous to her death, he was Seized with a lethargy which deprived him of his Speech, and with a few lucid intervals only, he continued untill tuesday morning, when he expired She Survived him only untill the next day at Noon, willing and ready as she exprest herself to depart, having no earthly tie to hold her longer\u2014when told that he was gone, She replied in an extacy\u2014O he has only Stept behind the Scene, I shall know where to find him\u2014\nAmiable, virtuous, and good through Life, united in the strongest Bonds of harmony Love and affection, they were united, also in death, and their deaths, were such as is desirable. they did not out live their usefullness, nor exhibit a Second Childhood so humiliating in Age. their minds were vigoras to the last period of existance, and together their spirits have joind the Angelic Choir, and will I trust receive the Sentance of well done good and faithfull servants, enter into the joy of thy Lord.\nMr Whitney deliverd a discourse upon the day of their interment to a numerous and crowded Audience from Psalms\u2014\u201cThe Righteous Shall be in Everlasting Remembrance\u201d I wish for your pen to do justice to the Life and Character of one of the best of Men. Mr Whitney gave a Short and handsome Scetch of him, and of your Aunt, but he did not know him as you did.\n\u201cString, after String is Sever\u2019d from the Heart\u201d the three fold cord is broken\u2014as Sisters we never knew contention, our only Struggle was who Should Serve the other most. Your Children have lost most valuable Friends, and gaurdians of their minds and Morals\u2014So indeed have all the youths committed to her care. I have had the Children with me for some time, and think the next best place for them is Atkinson\u2014I Shall give you my reasons in a future Letter.\nWould to heaven my tale of Sorrow was closed a more distressing one remains to be told. Reluctantly with the written request of Adelaid to me, do I comply\u2014Most sincerely do I wish not to be the first to communicate to my dear daughter and Catharine, the loss they have Sustained in the death of their Mother. a Malignant  Billious fever has prevaild in Washington the two last months, and Swept, the young, the middle aged & the Aged from the Stage. upon the 11 of Sepbr I received a Letter from Mrs Johnson in which she wrote, that she had not been well, upon the 29th of the Month she died, the 10th day of her fever; Mrs Boyd and Mrs Pope were dangerously Sick at the same time, Mr Pope and mr Boyd were both in Kentucky, which renderd their Situation more distressing. Mr Buchana, was Seizd with the Same fever in Baltimore; and died the Wednesday after Mrs Johnson\u2014I have Letters from mrs Hellen, from Adelaid, and from mrs Buchana, to all of whom I wrote upon the first notice of their distress and affliction\u2014Mrs Johnson was taken Sick at mr Boyds She went to Stay with her daughters during the absence of their Husbands\u2014Mr Hellen had given up his House to the British Minister, and taken one upon the pensylvania avenue, Mrs Boyd and Pope they were obliged to remove to mr Helens, and they are upon the recovery, when my last letters from Washington arrived.\nMy own Bosom has been so lacerated with repeated Strokes of woe, that I can mingle, tear for tear, with the afflicted daughters of my esteemed Friend and correspondent, Whose death I most Sensibly feel and whose loss will be long regreted by me. Tell them my dear Son that I pray for them, that they may be comforted, and that they may find consolation in that Religion which teaches us Submission, and Resignation under every dispensation of Providence. Mrs Buchana has a much harder trial then they are call\u2019d to endure; deprived both of Husband and Mother at the same time, with an Infant Babe, and I fear, without any means of Support\nThey must excuse my writing to them untill time has healed the wounds now bleeding. What could I say to them but that which would increase their greif\u2014?\nMany Letters have lately arrived from you to Your Sons, Your Father & Your Brother, I do most sincerely rejoice with you in the Birth of a daughter. May She live a blessing to her Parents\u2014 The last date to me was the 11th of June No 20 and compleats my list to that time, one inclosed from mrs Adams of the 6th of June. Your Father received one dated in Sepbr and your Brother also.\nShall I fill my paper with dirges? let me sing of Mercies as well as judgment, altho\n\u201cThe winter is as needfull as the Spring\nThe thunder as the Sun\u201d\nIn the midst of the troubles which encompassed me through this Season I had one trial more to endure\u2014\nThis was an opperation upon your Sister, who came here with Caroline in july to consult the Physicians upon a tumour in her Breast, and which was pronounced a cancer\u2014after taking the opinion of Drs Warren Welch & Hoolbrook, she wrote her case to dr Rush\u2014who gave a decisive opinion, that there was no chance for her Life, but by an immediate opperation, to this with the permissions persuasion of her Friends She finally consented and five weeks since was performed by dr. Warren and his son attended by Dr Welch and Hoolbrook\u2014She supported herself through it with calmenss & fortitude, & bears with much patience, all the concequences of weakness and confinement, and loss of the use of the Arm, as any Heroine\u2014She is doing well, and recovering as fast as could be expected after an opperation in which the whole Breast was taken off\u2014the wound is intirely healed, and every affected part was removed, So that we have every prospect of her perfect recovery to Health and Usefullness again. but She remains with us this winter not being able to ride, only a short distance, for at a time. Tell William this and that his Father left us this last week, having past a Month with us\u2014that he was well, and that he came upon my writing to him, that his Mother has consented to an opperation, but she would not wait his arrival. She choice chose to save him the pain, and past through it ten days before he reach\u2019d Quincy.\nAnd now my dear Son, let me say to you that your Father and I are quite Satisfied with your declineing the Seat upon the Bench as you could not return in Season, and as the public Service certainly requires its being immediatly fill\u2019d\u2014but I am not Satisfied with your other Arguments I think your Samples not well founded, but you must think and judge for yourself\nI know not how, or when this Letter will reach you. Should the address of it, prompt the prying Eye of a British officer to Creak the seal, as in former instances, he will not find any thing to gratify his curiosity, but the Solemn Events to which human Nature is Subject, and to which the Sovereign as well as the Subject, is equally liable\u2014I feel for and commisirate the unhappy State of mind to which his own Sovereign is now reduced to teach the world, that neither Rank or power wisdom or virtue can Secure from the Lot of humanity Kings or Princes\u2014\nat present we are all well. Your sons went to Atkinson the last week, with Thomas Norten & two of Judge Cranchs Sons whom he has sent on for their Education. they are fine Boys older by Several years than George\u2014Most tenderly and affectionatly I tender my Love to my daughter & Infant Grandaughter & to Charles and to William and Kitty\u2014and to yourself my Blessing\u2014\nA A", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2062", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 26 November 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson\nmy dear daughter\nQuincy Novbr 26 1811\ndo not think that I have not participated in your Joy, upon the Birth of your daughter, because I have not sooner congratulated you upon the event. Let it be to you cause of gratitude and thankfulness that you have reason to sing of Mercies, as you have abundent occasion to do, for The lives and Health of your two sons whom you left under the care and patronage of two of the best of Friends. whose unremitting attention to their minds and Morals will I hope have an abiding influence upon their future conduct in Life, and it is with much satisfaction that I have heard, both George & John, repeat their Maxims and instructions I have done the next best thing for them that I could, we have sent them to Atkinson Academy, and placed them in the Family of Brother and Sister Peabody, with two of Judge Cranchs sons from Washington, and Thomas Norten\u2014there they will find the renewal of the same kindness which they experienced in the Family of my dear & venerable Brother, and beloved Sister Cranch, now resting from their Labours in the Silent Tomb.\nMy Bosom has indeed been lacerated with wound upon wound, and I scarcly dare trust my pen to resite them to you, who alass are deeply interested in them. I have written largely, and particularly to my Son. he will communicate the Letter to you if he receives it\u2014\nYour Sister Adelaide has requested me to perform for her a most painfull office, knowing as She says from experience, that I can Sooth the wounded Bosom. If mingleing my sorrows with yours, could afford relief\u2014most freely would it flow\u2014they are mingled. they are united over the Graves of your dear Mother\u2014your Brother Buchana, and my dear Brother and Sister Cranch, all of whom in less than one Month were consignd to the Tomb.\nupon the 19th of Sep,br I received a Letter from your Mother, saying that she had not been well upon the 29th of the Same Month, a Billious fever of a very malignant kind put a period to her Life. your two Sisters Mrs Boyd and Pope lay dangerously Sick at the same time with the like fever, and Mr Buchana died the week after your Mother at Baltimore. the fever raged in the city for several weeks and carried off many of its inhabitants, amongst whom was Mrs Stuart who was upon a visit to her daughter Peters; Scarcly a house excaped sickness; Adelaide escaped, and was able to attend your Mother through the whole of her sickness; In replie to my inquiries respecting the Sickness of your Mother, She writes me, that the constant stupor in which she lay, for several days previous to her death, renderd her incapable of giving her, her last benidiction or expressing a wish relative to any of her other Children altho she adds, I flatter myself my poor Mother was sensible of my attentions towards her\u2014\nFrom mrs Buchana I have received a Letter in replie to one I wrote her\u2014she is deeply wounded\u2014I quote her own words\n\u201cHeaven has, and I hope will support me through all my sufferings\u2014for the sake of a dear Infant have I struggled through with Resignation and composure\u2014his little smile is all that is left me of past happiness\u201d and for that blessing do I return my thanks to my Creator.\nLet the current of grief flow\u2014most deeply have I drank of it,\u2014I will not in this letter recite to you all that I have been carried through in the past Summer, and that with more than my usual share of health. Mercy has been mingled in my cup\u2014my dear Mrs Smith is upon the Recovery from a most Dangerous, and what must have proved fatal, dangerous Disease, and this in the midst of my affliction Mrs T Adams has also recoverd from a puking of Blood in large quantities which endangerd her Life, reduced her to a shadow and confined her three Months to her Chamber. during this period my dear sister lay sick first, with a fever; and then with a decline which terminated her Life. Mr Cranch flatterd himself that She would recover, untill the last week of her, Life when he gave her over, and sank away with only two days of Sickness. he died upon the 16 of october, She survived him only untill the next day: both of them were entomb\u2019d upon the 19th.\nMy dear daughter I have derived comfort and consolation from the firm belief, that the judge of all the Earth must do Right that Resignation and Submission to his dispensations is the Duty enjoind upon us, and that it is for wise purposes that we are tried in the furnace of affliction. I dwell with delight upon the virtues of my dear Relatives and consider them happily freed from the troubles of Life, and the infirmities of Age; and I can rejoice that they are both gone together, gone as I believe, to Brighter, fairer, better, Realms; it can be for me, but a short seperation. that I may meet them again is a consoling reflection\u2014may you receive comfort, and consolation from the Same Divine Source\u2014\nI have received only one Letter from you since the 10th of last June. knowing your Situation I have not thought much of it; present my Love to Kitty\u2014I know how much afflicted she will be. what I Say to one, I Say to both. I have endeavourd to console your Sisters, and have written to them all. from Adelaide I have received several very Charming Letters\u2014She is a good Girl.\nGive my blessing to my Grandson and daughter\u2014I hope I may live to see them, but whether I do or not, train them up in virtuous habits\u2014by that alone can they live happy, or die in peace\u2014I am your afflicted & / Sympathizing Mother \nAbigail Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2063", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, 28 November 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nMy Dear Sister\nQuincy Novbr 28th 1811\nI hear that Cousin Abbe is to return tomorrow to Atkinson. I Send by her two pr Socks for George and John. mittins I have not yet got knit, nor Georges waistcoats done; I hope I Shall before he wants them. I know they are where every proper care will be paid to them. they will both want new Hats Soon\u2014I thought they could be purchased in Haverhill as well as here, and that it would be better for them than to get them to carry on. I believe I had better Send John a suit of blue Nankeen. he could put them on occasionally if his others Should want mending, which I hope they will not very Soon. I think they Should have two prs of overalls to one coat\nwhatever they may have occasion for, you will be so good as to Supply and charge with their quarter Bills to mr T B A who will pay them. Tell the Cranchs that I will send any Letters for them to their Father free of postage if they inclose them here, under cover to the President.\nI hope mr J Greenleaf will remain here with his Family\u2014mr daniel Greenleaf will I believe be prevaild upon to administer upon the estate it is not a difficult one to Settle, no Landed property and very few debts there will be Something to divide amongst them. mr Judge Cranch in connection with mr Quincy will I believe make a purchase of the House & Land belonging to it, of virchilds H that are to be found.\nI Should have been very glad to have Seen you here before winter, but the days are So Short, and the Chance of its being cold prevented my urging it, altho I think we Should have enjoyd the visit my Family is so much Smaller, and Stiller,  nine persons having left it within a fortnight. it consists now of only 14 Men. I Send you three Sermons. I had given away the most of mine before you wrote. we have not heard a word from the Col. or Mrs Adams Since they left us; tho they promissed to write from North Hampton, and Albany\u2014Mrs. Smith gets on Slowly with her Arm She cannot use her hand to feed herself or dress. the Mussels were obliged to be laid so bare that it requires a long time for them to recover\u2014\nI was glad to hear by mrs Adams that mr Peabody had so far recoverd as to be able to ride to Haverhill She regreeted that She could not make you a visit.\nBy Captain Welch, in the Palafox I received Letters from Russia last Evening. he has had Such a long and tedious passage that I have Letters by other vessell, two months later. I rejoice for the Sake of the family that he has arrived Safe. they begin to be very unhappy about him. I have been writing Letters to Russia, but they are of So melancholy a nature, that I fear they will dread in future to See my hand writing\u2014I inclose to you a Letter which I received this week from judge Cranch. it is so much in the temper, and Disposition of his Father, that I beheld the living picture of him\u2014return it\nI am Sorry to Say that Edward Norton has returned from his uncles at Hollis Town to be a burden to his Father, with his cloaths worn out, and tired of Farming. Nothing I fear will do for that youth, but Severe disscipline. what a trial to have such a child? I had Spoken for a pr of Shoes for both the Boys previous to their going away, but as they were not made, I believe it will be best to have them made with you, Such as you think proper for them. I know you will find a great additional care upon you, but hope when cousin Abbe gets home that She will releive you from Some of it. I had not time to run the heals of Johns Socks\u2014I will thank you, if you will ask Abbe to do them\u2014 let me know if any thing is wanting. I hope George will learn to Eat like a Gentleman I fear you will think that, he received neither admonition, or advice\u2014I Should judge hard if I did not know under what care he had been placed\u2014George may be led, and drawn. I never found him obstinate. possitive I have,\u2014that comes by inheritance\u2014there are faults which lean to virtues Side\u2014I hope he will be kept at School with more Steadiness than he has been he has powers which may be high wrought, and I wish he may be obliged to buckles to his Studies. John is Slow, but will do well by and by.\nLet me know how they conduct. I am more anxious for them, than if their Parents were here\u2014I wish you would be so good as to put them to write letters to their Father. he expects it of them, and I will send the Letters they have received which are unanswerd\u2014the last of George\u2019s you will see, is upon reading the Scriptures\u2014I did not let him take it, for fear he would lose it: and as his Father enjoind upon him not to loose lose it, for that he designd more upon the Same Subject I wish you to preserve it for him\u2014I Shall write to you as often as I can. I have many calls of Duty affection and Friendship which employ my pen.\naffectionatly your Sister\nAbigail Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2064", "content": "Title: From Mary Smith Gray Otis to Abigail Smith Adams, 29 November 1811\nFrom: Otis, Mary Smith Gray\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nWashington Novr 29th 1811\nI was much gratified my dear Mrs Adams the last week; by a line from you: especially as it announced your own health & that of your family with Mrs Smith\u2019s restoration. I have thought of her with much anxiety & sympathised with you both, on the various events, which have call\u2019d forth all the feelings of the human Heart.\nWhilst you feel the loss of your excellent Brother & Sister, you cannot but rejoice, at the \u201cExeeding weight of Glory\u201d, which we are assured awaits such pure & upright souls, as theirs were. I thank you, for the sermon; we think Mr Whitny, has done justice, in a very hansome manner to the characters of those departed saints.\nMr Otis desires his respects, to Mr Adams & yourself, he sent the letter for your son: immeadmediatly to the Secy. of State, requesting it might be forwarded with the first dispatches either to France or England.\u2014\nYou wish I suppose, to know something of a City, which you saw in its rudest state. It has improved more than I expected, that is, from, the Capitol to the Presidents & so on to Georgetown; as for the hill on which we reside, it presents, but a Sombre appearance The block where Shelle kept & another at a little distance are uninhabited, the enormous rents & great expences during the Session, involves the Landlord Tennant so much, that in the recess his house is stript, & he & his family are left destitute. We are very pleasantly accomodated with the widow, of Mr Mathers, the former door keeper a very good woman, & who studies our comfort & pleasure in every thing; indeed, I did not expect, to have had so much, home felt comfort, any where in this city.\nWe have dined at the Presidents & were at the Drawing room on Wednesday eveg:, an immense crowd & extremly brilliant, the eveg: was delightful & drew together all the beauty & fashion, of the District; many ladies whom you formely were acquainted with Mrs Munro still retains much beauty, but the most distinguishd personage, was Madam Bonaparte, who chooses to be heard & noticed wherever she is; she has all the ease & volibility of a French woman.\nMrs Pope call\u2019d to see us, she looks very thin & has a bad cough & complains of not getting her strength. Mrs Boydd is still confined to her room; they have had a very distressing summer. I find those, who have had the Fever, still drooping. Mr Deblois has been at the point of death & is very slowly mending. Mrs D has also been very sick. Mr Dalton has come back to the city, I have seen her but once, they are near a mile from us. Mr White & wife are with them which must be some comfort to them. What a dreadful exchange they made, in coming here. Mrs Cranch is a mile & half, from us, we were tempted by the mildness & pleasantness of weather, to take a walk there, yesterday morning. we found them all well. It has been more like May than Novr ever since we came. All whom we would wish to be on a social footing with, are so remote that we are obliged to be content with a morng: call, notwithstanding the roads are perfectly safe & good it is not agreeable to go 2 & 3 miles in the evening Mrs Breck & Mrs Lloyd are near George town\nI was very much pleased to hear that Mrs Smith & Caroline, were to be with you this winter; it would have been too much, to have parted with them also. Remember me, with Affection, to them, & to Louisa. Harriet & Mary join in every sentiment of affection & Respects to Mr Adams & yourself.\nIf you can spare time, from your various occupations, to write, to so miserable a correspondent, it will be gratefully received by / Your Friend & Cousin\nM Otis", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2065", "content": "Title: From John Quincy Adams to Abigail Smith Adams, 30 November 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nSt: Petersburg 30. November 1811.\nAlthough since I last wrote to my brother, on the 6th: instt: we have neither received a line from America, nor had an opportunity of transmitting a letter to any place from which it could be dispatched to you; yet remembering my engagement never to suffer a month to pass without writing at least once to you, and once to him, and perceiving that as it applies to you, I am within one day of a failure in the performance, I now resume the pen\u2014Mr Smith, the brother of Mrs: C Millar, who brought me a letter from you, and has been several months here, is on the point of departure\u2014He goes to Gothenburg to embark there, or wherever he can get an opportunity direct to the United States\u2014By the same course of Route, I have already written to somebody of the family at Quincy, four times since the close of the Navigation here\u2014But as the passage of the Gulph of Bothnia between this and Sweden, cannot be expected to remain much longer open, this may perhaps be the last opportunity by which I shall be able to send during the Winter\u2014\nMy letters to you of the 29. July and 12. August were dispatched by the Augustus Captain Flint, and the Horace, Captain Leach, both of which vessels have been taken, and are still detained at Copenhagen; without a prospect of being released during the Winter\u2014The letters by the Horace, I gave to Mr Hall, a Gentleman in Lieutt: Govr: Gray\u2019s employ, who I am informed has proceeded to Gothenburg without waiting for the liberation of the Horace, and intends to take passage as soon as possible in another vessel, for the United States. He has doubtless taken the letters with him, and I hope they will reach you safely\u2014But the sheeting for yourself and for my sister, which I had sent on Board the Horace, will be detained with it, and probably share the destiny of the ship\u2014I wish it may ultimately reach you. It was rather fortunate that by being disappointed in the expectation of the table-linen, which I had ordered from the interior of the Country, where it is manufactured, I did not ship it with the sheeting\u2014If as I expect and intend, we ourselves return home next Summer, I will bring it with me.\nWe are all tolerably well; our daughter Louisa having just past through the vaccine inoculation\u2014As the fashion of the Ladies is in full dress, to bare entirely their arms, she was inoculated on the shoulder, so that the scar might not be visible\u2014But the Doctor inoculated her in two places, both of which took the infection; and the inflammation of her arm was greater than it had been with either of our other children\u2014Just at the time when it was at the highest, she took another disease which passes here for a species of the mumps, but which I believe was only a severe Cold, and sore throat\u2014Between the two complaints however a third worse than either was bred, which was a high fever; and her mother was at the same time quite unwell, threatened with a sore breast\u2014They are now both much better and I trust in a day or two more will be quite well\u2014With this exception the Child has been the strongest and healthiest we ever had\u2014\nCharles has just this instant left me\u2014I gave him this morning La Fontaine\u2019s Fables, with wooden Cats to each Fable; and he has been standing this hour by the side of my Table, spelling out the titles of the Fables, and looking for the animals in the Cats\u2014appealing every now and then to me to help him out, and so immovable from his stand that I could neither get rid of him, nor continue writing\u2014I have at length persuaded him to go and shew the Book to his Mama and Aunt\u2014I teach him to read French myself; and it is as yet the only language in which he can read at-all.\u2014It is not a very illustrious pastime to teach a child of four years old his alphabet; but a suitable school or a suitable teacher would not easily be found here; and as it has always been one of my hobby-horses to teach my children something myself, I enjoy it with him by instructing him in his A.B.C.\nSince our return to the City we have had the misfortune to lose one of our Countrymen, who contributed to make our Society here lively and agreeable\u2014Mr W. H. Blodget of Philadelphia, arrived here in June last\u2014I had seen him once in Philadelphia, and he brought me a letter of warm recommendation from Mr S. Ewing\u2014We had the pleasure of seeing him often\u2014He had formed a commercial connection and establishment in this City, and had a fair prospect of success\u2014About a month ago he was seized with a Typhus fever, and died after a fortnights illness\u2014He was but a little turned of thirty, and among the Americans in this place was highly distinguished both by the excellency of his character and by his Understanding. He is sincerely lamented by all who knew him.\nI am reading a Book, not altogether new, but which has been published at Paris, in the course of the present year, and is of a singular character\u2014It is the narrative of a pilgrimage from Paris to Jerusalem, performed in the year 1806 by a Frenchman, and one of the finest geniuses of France\u2014He published about ten years ago a large work, called the Genius of Christianism, which I have not read, but which is much celebrated, and which I understand to be a vindication of the Christian System against the philosophical faction\u2014Since then he published a Religious Romance called The Martyrs, which I also know only by reputation\u2014But having laid the scene of it in Palestine, and wishing to be acquainted with the aspect of the Country by his own personal observation, he undertook this Journey, passing through Greece as he went, and returning by the way of Barbary and Spain\u2014To the classical scholar therefore as well as to the pious Christian believer the book is extremely interesting\u2014Protestants I believe have never admitted much merit in pilgrimages, or considered that there was any peculiar devotion due to the Holy Land, more than to any other\u2014But I am not protestant enough, to feel an entire indifference to these things, and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, the Valley of Jehoshaphat, The lake under which Sodom and Gomorrah were swallowed up\u2014The river Jordan, and Siloa\u2019s brook, that flowed fast by the Oracle of God, I am sure would affect me much as Mr Chateaubriand describes, or rather disclaims the power to describe their effect upon him\u2014To be sure in an account of profit and loss, one can hardly think it worthwhile, at a heavy expence, and with manifold imminent degrees of one\u2019s life to go to Jerusalem, for the sake of reading Racine\u2019s Athalie on the spot where the real Tragedy was acted; but Reason must grant a little indulgence to Sentiment\u2014Pawn\u2019s Hill, and the Braintree North Common Rocks, never looked and never felt to me like any other Hills, or any other Rock\u2014why?\u2014because every shrub and every pebble upon them, associates itself, with the first consciousness of my existence that remains upon my Memory\u2014Every visit to them brings with it a resurrection of departed time, and seems to connect me with the ages of my forefathers\u2014But what solemn and sublime associated ideas, must that mountain bring forth, which was the scene of all the wonders from the sacrifice of Abraham to the sufferings of the Saviour, upon which our hopes of eternity repose\u2014Had I been bread a Roman Catholic of this Century, I should not have gone like Mr Chauteaubriand in pilgrimage to Jerusalem\u2014I have neither the privilege of an enthusiast nor the prerogative of a Poet\u2014But in the twelfth Century I should have been very much tempted to follow Peter the Hermit, and Godfrey of Bouillon\u2014The pilgrim of the present age, formally defends the Crusades, as expeditions of a wise just, and magnanimous policy, and seems more than half inclined to preach a new one at this day\u2014His zeal is perhaps too fervid, and the Master might possibly have said to him \u201cye know not what Spirit ye are of\u201d\u2014But certainly, considered in the light in which he views them, the Crusades were not the wild, extravagant and absurd undertakings, which they have so often been presented to be\nThe French Literati are divided into two parties\u2014The Philosophers and the Religionists\u2014The latter are gaining ground fast upon their adversaries, and Chateaubriand may be considered as their greatest leader\u2014He was lately elected a member of the National Institute, in the room of Chenier, a Regicide and a Philosopher, who had gone to his own place\u2014But of 25 votes at the Election, Chateaubriand had only 13. and there were 12 for a rival Candidate\u2014But though elected a member he has never been received, because instead of a panegyric upon his Predecessor, according to the usage, he had written for his reception discourses and was ready to deliver a violent invective upon Chenier, and upon the murder of Louis 16.\u2014The time for this was not quite come\u2014The Academy got wind of his intention; appointed a Committee to examine his discourse, and insisted upon alterations and modifications\u2014Chateaubriand said his discourse should be that or nothing\u2014The Academy appealed to the decision of the Emperor Napoleon, who forbade the delivery of the discourse, because it revived the memory of crimes which, he had pardoned\u2014So the pilgrim lost his academic chair, and is like the Statues of Brutus and Cassius at the funeral of Junia, doubly conspicuous by his absence\u2014This is one among many signs of the times. His Book has much information too about the Classic land of Greece, and he thinks that he has discovered the ruins of Sparta\u2014Of this there may be some doubt, but of ruins in such a state of total decay, it matters little whether they bear the name of Sparta or not.\u2014The remains of Athens are more considerable\u2014But Greece as well as Palestine, in the hands of the Turks is at best a land of desolation\u2014\nI am still waiting for definitive orders from home\u2014I have nothing from Quincy later than your letter of 24. July; and nothing from Washington so late by two or three months\u2014My duty to my father\u2014love to my children, and affectionate remembrances as usual\u2014Ever your\u2019s\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2066", "content": "Title: From James Monroe to Abigail Smith Adams, 3 December 1811\nFrom: Monroe, James\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nMadam\nDept of State 3d Decr 1811\u2014\nI have had the Honor to receive your Letter of the 28th ult. covering one to your Son the American Minister at St Petersburg. I fear it will be too late for the \u201cHornet\u201d sloop of war: but I have had it put under cover to Mr Barlow and sent to the Collector of the Customs at Newyork, requesting him to forward it by the first safe conveyance\nWith great Respect / I have the Honor to be / Madam / your Mo: Obt Sert\nJas Monroe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2067", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to John Adams, 8 December 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Adams, John\nmy dear John\nQuincy december 8th 1811\nI have not written you a Letter yet, but I promissed you one, and I now have the pleasure of inclosing a Letter from your Brother Charles to you. I had a Letter from your Father dated in Sepbr th 11: the day after your Sister was Baptized. she was call\u2019d Louisa Catharine, the Rev\u2019d Dr Pitt, Chaplain to the English Church in St Petersburgh performed the Service, and mr Harris our Consul there was Godfather, and the Lady of the Portuguese Minister and Madam Kreham an English Lady, were the two Godmothers. The Flag of the united States was extended from a pier in the garden from the House in which your Father Resides.upon this occasion The Saxon minister & the Minister from westphalia attended the service, and Many American who were at st petersburgh, So that the young Ladies Christning will be rememberd by many Nations\u2014George and his sister have something uncommon to remember, with respect to their Birthplace; one Born in Berlin, the Capital of the King of Prussia, and the other in St Petersburgh the Capital of the Emperor Alexander. they must never forget, that they are Americans, for tho born in foreign Countries, where ever a Minister resides that spot is considerd, as the Territory of the Nation to which he belongs. I hope they will both be good Citizens.\nI miss you and your Brother not a little, especially upon the Sunday, as you seldom faild of being with me upon that day ever since your Father & Mother left us\u2014but I consider you are for yourselfve much better situated. when you grow older, you will be convinced that it is so\u2014\nit will always give me pleasure to hear that you are obedient and Studious, that you are kind, and obligeing to your school mates, and that you love your uncle and Aunt and always believe that they know better than you do what is best for you. never be possitive . Remember the broken jug the day you went away.\nI beleived it too heavey for you to carry. O No Grandmamma it is not. you will break it child. o No I Shall not. I gave it up, contrary to my own judgment. what became of the jug, John?\nPoor fellow you looked so mortified that I had not the Heart to find fault with you; I only chid myself for yealding to importunity against my better knowledge. now I do not mention this, only to remind you that those who have lived longer in the world than you have; and have more experience ought to be minded, and their judgment submitted to without murmuring. attend my dear Boy to your hand writing. Your Father expects to find you improved\u2014and you must write him a Letter Your Aunt or cousin, Abbe will assist you.\nI inclose to you, your Fathers Letter which you left with me. get your Aunt to take care of it for you, that it may be preserved\nThe printer of that vile Paper which gave you so much offence, calld the Scourge, has been indited for four different Libels, and sentenced to pay a fine & be imprisoned Six Months. So you see that the wicked will not go unpunished\u2014but private Revenge is not lawfull.\u2014\ngive my Love to your Brother and tell him his Father is very anxious about his Education; but more so that his Morals shoud be pure; that he should pay a sacred regard to truth and upon no account ever deviate from it\u2014\nRemember to the Young Cranch\u2019s & to Thomas Norten\u2014to your Cousin Abbe to whom I charge you always to be obligeing, and Good Lydia allways respect & love\nI am dear John most / affectionatly your / Grandmother\nAbigail Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2069", "content": "Title: From Mercy Otis Warren to Abigail Smith Adams, 8 December 1811\nFrom: Warren, Mercy Otis\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nMadam,\nPlymouth Decemr. 8th. 1811.\u2014\nThough I have felt the complicated affliction that has recently assailed my friends at Quincy, I have been silent;\u2014nor should I now interrupt you from this unexpected Quarter, but from the interest I feel in her happiness, and the desire I have to know the situation of your amiable daughter.\u2014\nI have never heard a word from her since her Brother was here,\u2014the day after she passed through a painful operation.\u2014Has Mrs Smith wholly or partially recovered from her dangerous wound,\u2014and what is the present prospect, judging according to our scanty knowledge of human events?\u2014 I pray for her perfect recovery, both for her own sake and that of her friends.\u2014The commonplace expression, of love to her is needless\u2014she knows how to appreciate this wherever it is felt.\u2014\nWith all the amities of Christian affection and remembered friendships, / I am, as ever,\nMrs. Mercy Warren", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2071", "content": "Title: From Grand Master of Ceremonies of the Russian Court to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 11 December 1811\nFrom: Grand Master of Ceremonies of the Russian Court\nTo: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson,Smith, Catherine Maria Frances Johnson\nLundi 11. D\u00e9cembre 1811.\u2014\nLe D\u00e9partement des C\u00e9r\u00e9monies a l\u2019honneur d\u2019annoncer \u00e0 Madam Adams qu\u2019Elle est invit\u00e9e, ainsi que Mademoiselle Johnson, sa soeur, au Bal de Sa Majest\u00e9 l\u2019Imp\u00e9ratrice M\u00e8re, le 12. de ce mois, \u00e0 huit heures du soir.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2072", "content": "Title: To John Adams from John Quincy Adams, 13 December 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Adams, John\nMy Dear Sir.\nSt: Petersburg 13. December 1811.\nThe extract contained in one of your last Winter\u2019s letters to me from the Astronomics of Manilius, excited my attention to that writer, of whom I had previously known nothing more than the name\u2014I have not been able to purchase it here, but General Pardo da Figueroa the Spanish Minister at this Court, one of the most learned classical scholars in Europe has had the goodness to lend me this Poem, with the French Translation, and Notes of Pingr\u00e9, both of which were absolutely necessary to me to make it intelligible\u2014Perhaps you will judge this in some sort excusable when I tell you that the Poem of Manilius, notwithstanding its title, is in fact a system of Judicial Astrology\u2014a Science which I had so totally neglected, that without Mr Pingr\u00e9\u2019s assistance I could not have understood perhaps a third part of the words, and a far greater proportion of the mysterious beauties in which this work abounds\u2014Pingr\u00e9 was himself a very good Astronomer, and sufficiently versed in Astrology to explain and comment upon Manilius\u2014His translation is, according to the French manner, facing the original, page for page.\nThe Poem as now existing is in five Books, but unfortunately incomplete\u2014It does not appear that it ever was finished\u2014The translator is of opinion that the author did not live to finish it. There seem to be some doubts whether he really lived in the Augustan age\u2014At least it was not then published; but remained unknown upwards of three Centuries, untill the reign of Constantine\u2014It was then turned into prose by Julius-Firmicus Maternus, who does not acknowledge what he took from him\u2014Then comes another slumber of six or seven hundred years; and the first acknowledged appearance of the manuscript is in the tenth Century\u2014The Genealogy of Manilius therefore is not altogether untainted with suspicion\u2014But at the revival of letters the first manuscript was discovered by that great pioneer of antient Literature, Poggio, and the first Edition was published by his Son Francis Poggio at Bologna in 1474\u2014Since then Manilius had been edited and commented by Joseph Justus-Scaliger\u2014by Francis Junius\u2014by Richard Bentley, and by a tribe of minor critics; but had not been translated into English; nor into French untill 1784. when this translation of Pingr\u00e9 was published with a recommendation from the French Academy of Sciences, signed by Messrs: De la Lande and La Monmer, and attested by the Marquis de Condorcet.\nReason, as may naturally be supposed is the principal agent in the Poem of Manilius\u2014The extract sent you by Mr Van der Kemp gives you only a very small and comparatively insignificant portion of her labours and atchievments\u2014Almost at the beginning of the Poem we are assured, that the first discoveries of Reason were made to kings\nRegalis animos primum dignata mouere\nHer next Communications were to Priests.\n\u201cTum qui templa sacris coluerunt omne peraeuum\nDelactique sacerdotes in publica vota\nOfficio vinxere Deum; quibus ipsa potentis\nNumines accendit castam praesentia mentem\nInque Deum Deus ipse tulit patuitque ministris.\nThe consequence was that they soon perceived the inseparable connection between the revolutions of the Stars, and the destinies of mankind.\n\u201cHi tantum mouere decus; primique per artem\nSideribus videre vagis pendentia fata.\nSingula nam proprio signarunt tempora casu,\nLonga per assiduas complexi secula curas;\nNascendi quae cuique dies, quae vita suisset;\nIn quas fortunae leges quaeque hora valeret;\nQuantaque quam parvi facerent discrimina motus.\nTheir progress to perfection in the Art of consulting the Stars, and in the other Arts of War and Peace, is related in verses, almost equal to those of Virgil\u2014But Manilius disdains to celebrate ordinary accomplishments\n\u201cNe vulgata canam; linguas didicere voluerum,\nConsultare fibres et rumpere vocibus angues,\nSollicitare umbras, imumque Acheronta mouere,\nIn noctemque dies, in lucem vertere noctes.\nOmnie conando docilis solertia vicit:\nThese lines immediately precede those of Mr: Van der Kemp\u2019s extract.\u2014After which comes the result of the whole matter.\n\u201cQuae post quam in proprias deuxit singula causas,\nVicinam exalto mundi cognoscere molem\nIntendit, totumque animo comprendere coelum:\nAttribuitque suas formas, sua nomina signis;\nQuasque vices agerent, certa sub forte notavit:\nOmniaque ad numen mundi faciemque moveri,\nSideribus vario mutantibus ordine fata.\u2014\nAnd then\n\u201cHoc mihi surgit opus, non ullis ante sacratum\nCarmenibus. Faveat magno fortuna labori,\nAnnosa et molli contingat vita senecta;\nUt possim rerum tantas evincere moles,\nMagnaque cum parvis simili percurrere cur\u00e2.\nYou perceive then that the Astronomics of Manilius, are entirely subordinate to his Astrology\u2014He describes the Constellations, and divides them into Decanics and Dodecatemories, in order to shew how they govern the destinies and inspire the passions of men\u2014He tells you how the signs of the Zodiac are affected toward one another\u2014Their aspects and oppositions\u2014Their trines tetragons and Sextiles.\u2014He demonstrates with all the power of Reason, that the friendships and animosities of mankind all depend upon the conjunctions and oppositions of the Stars; that if such a man had not been born under the ship there would have been no Trojan War\u2014That the truly just and honest man must be born under Aquarius\u2014that the fishes produce nothing but tale-bearers and scandal-mongers; and that the Hyades preside over the nativity of all popular demagogues and Swine-herds.\nAs to Mr: Turgot\u2019s Eripuit coelo fulmen, I do believe with Mr Van der Kemp, that the words, at least, and perhaps the seminal principle of the thought were borrowed from the passage in Manilius\u2014but I do not altogether consider it as a plagiarism\u2014but rather as an ingenious application of old expressions to a new idea\u2014Manilius intends only to substitute in poetical language a philosophical for a fabulous explanation of the causes of thunder and lightening\u2014It is the direct counterpart of Boileau\u2019s lines\nC\u00e9 n\u2019est plus la vapeur qui produit la tonnerre,\nC\u2019est Jupiter arm\u00e9 pour effrayer la terre.\nNo! Says Manilius\u2014Reason has snatched the weapon from Jupiter and restored it to la vapeur.\u2014Now there is not a trace of analogy between this way of managing thunder and lightening, and Franklin\u2019s discovery\u2014Boileau\u2019s verses might be charged as a plagiarism from Manilius, with more Justice than Turgot\u2019s Hemistich\u2014The image seems to me much improved by Turgot\u2014for Manilius\u2019s Reason is a mere abstraction\u2014The sublimity of the conception is darkened by the shadowy Nature of the Agent\u2014In the compliment to the Doctor, he is the agent; but as he takes the thunderbolt, not from Jupiter, but only from the Sky, the action loses a little of its boldness on one side, of what it gains on the other.\nAt all Events I have to thank you for the pleasure of having read Manilius\u2019s poem, in which there is a great deal of charming poetry, and which has initiated me into the occult Science of Astrology\u2014I have indeed found, as happens in the pursuit of other Sciences, that it is deeper than I had imagined, and would require a long life of leisure, to be acquired in its highest perfect\u2014This was what Manilius prayed for that he might suitable unfold all its important secrets\u2014and as he was disappointed in his wish, and his work remains imperfect, I am afraid I shall never resort to other teachers, to become an adept in this science of wonders\u2014If however as the French Astronomers are telling the world, we have not only two Comets hanging over our heads at once, but the Dog-Star changing his place in the firmament, we may yet come to the proof that we have more concern in the affairs of the Stars than our philosophers of late have been willing to acknowledge.\nThe last Letter I have had the pleasure of receiving from you, is that of 28. April\u2014The last from my Mother is of 24 July\u2014It is nearly two months since we have had a line from America\u2014We are all well; with the exception of Colds and Nursing-complaints\u2014My daughter has got happily through the Vaccine\u2014Politics are stiff and congealed like the Neva\u2014They are in hourly expectation of a Peace with Turkey; but if the fire is smothered in one quarter it will break out in another\u2014\nAccept my duty\nA.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2073", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Mercy Otis Warren, 14 December 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Warren, Mercy Otis\nmy dear Madam\nQuincy December 14th 1811\nI thank you for your kind inquiries after my Daughter Smith. She is, and has been as well, the Physicians Say, as any one could expect, after Such an Operation, as She has endured\u2014to me it was agonizing\u2014She Sustaind it with firmness, and fortitude\nThe wound has been intirely healed for this month, but the mussels from the Arm, which communicate with the part affected, were necessarily laid So bare, and Sufferd So much, that it will be a long time before the use of the Arm can be restored. it is a misfortune to her, that She cannot bear the motion of a carriage nor write a line herself, but we are encouraged to hope, for a perfect restoration from time.\nMy dear Madam, I know you have often thought of me, and your feeling heart has Sympathized with me under the various, and uncommon trials, I have been call\u2019d to pass through the year past, but mercies have been blended with my afflictions.\nKnowing the regard you ever entertaind for my dear departed Brother & Sister, I had determined to write to you, previous to the receipt of your Letter, and to offer to your acceptance the tribute of Respect, paid to their memory by our Benevolent Pastor which I now do\u2014\nIf we live untill the Spring of the year, and my Daughter so far recovers, as to be able to ride, She will not return home untill She has paid her Respects to one of her most ancient Friends\u2014and if health permits, I will once more embrace in this world, the Friend I hope to meet in that world, where all Sorrow is to be wiped from all Eyes.\u2014\nI am Dear Madam as Ever your\nA Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2074", "content": "Title: From Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody to Abigail Smith Adams, 18 December 1811\nFrom: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nTo: Adams, Abigail Smith\nAtkinson December 18th. 1811\u2014\nAt the arrival of the last Mail, I thought I could hear my dear Sister say, \u201cIs there no Letters from Atkinson? I fear some of her Family are sick.\u201d\u2014\nIt has been really so\u2014I have had one of my silent Colds\u2014& my dear Abby, was confined a week after her return from Boston\u2014But we are now both of us much better\u2014I believe, I have what may be called the Rheumatism, or the Creek at the pit of my Breast, for I am not sick now, that I cannot help groaning when I move quick\u2014I have red Bane up to my throat too\u2014I feel very anxious for my dear Son, I pray, he may not be sick again at Mrs Carters\u2014for nobody else will pity him\u2014He is more careful, & concerned for every one, than for himself\u2014I wish I could know by some means, whether it would be agreeable for Mr Foster to have Mr Shaw board with him\u2014If it could be made agreeable upon both sides I should feel perfectly easy\u2014Mrs Foster has a great family, but there he would pay her\u2014She has many little Children\u2014but then he is remarkably fond of those who are good\u2014If it could be convenient, & suit both parties I should rejoice\u2014I did not say anything to either, when I was in Town, nor should have thought so much about it now, if little Elizabeth had not said so much in favour of it\u2014how she, & Charles would love to do anything for him\u2014&cc\u2014I know every addition to a number adds to the Care\u2014But then he would make Compensation,\nPerhaps, you have heard something said, upon this Subject, & can inform me, before I write to either of them\u2014\nI am very glad to hear that  your Mrs Smith can help herself\u2014Her mind must feel consoled under her late state of debility, when she considers how much worse state she might have been in, & from what an Evil she is relieved\u2014May her gratitude to her heavenly Parent & Preserver, be as preeminent, as her Fortitude, & Patience, has been under severe Sufferings\u2014& delight the Heart of her good Parents, by her cheerful conversation, & the sweatness of her Disposition\u2014joined by her lovely Daughter, & Cousins\u2014\nI hope you have had letters from Col. Smith & know how Mrs Adams bore the journey\u2014may it prove beneficial to her health\u2014& the bosom of her Friends an exhilirating Cordial\u2014\nI have repeatedly read the Letters you were so good as to enclose\u2014In that of Judge Cranch\u2019s to you, I was pleased to see how the good Spirit of Elijah, rested upon his Elisha\u2014The whole Letter was an effusion of a most grateful, pious, & affectionate Heart\u2014I think his Children here inherit much of the Temper, & genius of the Family\u2014William loves to study, & Richard much better than I feared, by what his Parents wrote upon the Subject\u2014They are poor Readers, & I mentioned to their Father, that the appearance of Principle, their habits of regularity, & moral Rectitude, modesty, respectful manners, & sweetness of temper, did their Parents, & themselves more honour than their literary attainments\u2014But they are quite Favourites in our Family\u2014& are kind to George, & John\u2014They say, they have answered all the Letters of their Fathers, only what I call the Bible Letter\u2014& poor George, had I suppose, so much to say, that he could not arrange his Ideas upon paper\u2014for I wished them to write, & then let me correct it for them\u2014John did not feel so much difficulty, & has expressed himself, with ease\u2014every word himself\u2014& George has written at last, though he was loth to try\u2014I am sorry his hand writing is so poor\u2014he is ashamed of it\u2014& I hope will endeavour to do better\u2014I have gotten good writing Books, & Copy Slips & every necessary for the purpose\u2014They are fine Boys\u2014but want constant attention\u2014& more Lines, & Precepts than I fear I shall be able to give\u2014His Cousin said, I fear George, you will not love me, I tell you of so many of your faults\u2014or odd ways of standing, or rather not standing\u2014I was pleased with his reply\u2014\u201cyes Cousin I do love you dearly\u2014I know you do it, all out of kindness, & for my good\u201d\u2014\u201cI am sure I ought to thank you because you speak so pleasant\u201d\u2014I never saw any Child more affectionate, or discover a better temper, than they both do\u2014& Mr Peabody is exceeding fond of them both\u2014But it will take some time to get them to regular habits of Study, & puting their things in place to do it themselves\u2014\nI have gotten them some mittens, I knew they would want more than one pair\u2014those you may send, must be kept for the Sabbath\u2014They must have new flats soon, & if their Uncle Thomas, could forward safely a few Dollars for their service, I should be glad\u2014The thirty Dollars Mr Cranch expected would supply his Childrens present wants, is now stoped\u2014it is unfortunate, for us\u2014for they must have Boots, Shoes, &ccc Abby A\u2014\u2014 Shaw begs to be remembered to her dear & beloved uncle & Aunt in the most respectful manner\u2014& to her Cousins, most affectionately\u2014\nI have a strange hot, dry humour in my hands, which is very troublesome\u2014& makes them swell, & crack open in every direction even above my wrists\u2014I can scarcely hold my pen\u2014I hope it will not seize my Stomach\u2014This must be my appology for not writing before, & better now\u2014Abby tells me, our Brother Cranch\u2019s property will be more than what his friends expected\u2014for which I am very glad\u2014& to hear by you that the Judge, & Mr Quincy will unite in purchasing the Property of the Virchills\u2014The Library is very valuable\u2014If it is sold, I wish I could purchase Popes works\u2014I am almost sometimes mentally starved\u2014I long to gratify my thirst\u2014but I do not believe I could get more than one Volume of his works within twenty miles\u2014\nMr Peabody unites in the warmest wishes for the Life & health of the President, & my Sisters Happiness, with your affectionate\nE PeabodyI forgot to tell you, we were much diverted by your account of poor John\u2019s unfortunate Jug\u2014When I read it, the dear conscious little fellow, put up both his hands to cover his Face\u2014I fancy the fate of it, will be impressed upon his young mind\u2014& the effect much better, than what is generally experienced from common Jugs, or their contents\u2014\nIf you think best, to Send on Georges letter you will please to enclose, & appologise for them to Mr J\u2014\u2014 Q A\u2014\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2075", "content": "Title: From John Adams to William Cranch, 20 December 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Cranch, William\nMy dear Nephew\nQuincy December 20. 1811\nWill you be kind enough to advance five Dollars for me to Mr Gales for a Second years Subscription for his National Intelligencer, and let me pay it to Mr Peabody or any other on your account. I have desired him to ask the favour of Mr Quincy or you, hoping I might take such a Liberty with either. Your Friends are all well and with Health Wealth and long Life to you and yours.\nJohn Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2076", "content": "Title: From John Adams to John Adams Smith, 22 December 1811\nFrom: Adams, John\nTo: Smith, John Adams\nDear Sir\nQuincy December 22, 1811\nYour kind letter of Nov, might have been sooner acknowledged, if I had been younger, my eyes brighter, my fingers steadier, and if I had less writing to do, and fewer letters to answer.\nI have the honor to coalesse in the \u201cconsolidated\u201d opinion of your neighbourhood, that the Presidents Message and the documents attending it do honor to the Government to the President his Ministers and Ambassadors, and in your words \u201cif a Course of Counduct conformable to the Spirit of the Message be strenuously pursued, Mr Madison will receive all American Support\u201d\nthat there is a faction too much attached to the French and another too much devoted to the English, is as certain as that France and England exist. such Factions have existed from 1776 to this hour, they are more noisy than powerful, they sometimes carry points in elections, and sometimes obtain offices by their prejudices and partialities, but whenever the times become serious these Factions loose their consequence, and when War comes either with France or England their partizans hide their diminished heads. They must call on the mountains to cover them. I mean the American Mountains. The American character then appears undisguised, brave as honesty herself, prudent as reflection, humane and tender as a woman, persevering as a christian. Oh my God! I humbly and devoutly pray that this character may be preserved\u2014That neither mercantile or military or priestly or Juridical ambition or Avarice may be permitted to corrupt or debase it.\nThe important subject of a Navy has for six and thirty years appeared to me so important that I have lived in uninterrupted Astonishment at the coldness, the indifference the appathy of my fellow citizens upon this subject.\nIn 1775 I supported a motion, and believe made it for authourising General Washington to fit out an armed vessell. That vessel took the Congress mortar. I was upon a Committe with Governor Hopkins, R H. Lee, Gov Langdon and Christopher Galsdon to fit out a Fleet. We armed the Columbus, Cabot, Daxia, Providence &c\nWhen I was President I hazarded and sacrificed my popularity to a Navy. In all my Public writings and private conversations, a Navy has been my constant theme. The wooden walls\u2014the floating castles the swiming Batteries the floating Citadels of the US United States have been my Constant toast: how then can it be necessary or proper for me to produce myself before the public\nremember my Situation. Delicacy Decency require that I should avoid every appearance of dictating prompting or even advising the Government. Long experience may have suggested to me Ideas, that might be useful to you.\nI have seen and read in France the true causes which always have prevented and always will prevent France from being a first rate Maratime commerical, or Manufactoring power, Viz the immense preponderance of the Landed over the Commercial Interest\nI fear the same cause here the Landed Nobles, for we have landed as well as monied Nobles in this Country as there are in France, will stand in the way\nThese landed gentlemen will have no objection to holding commissions in an army, even a standing army, but will oppose a Navy with all their might. Because no Country can afford to be omnipotent by Land and Sea at once. No Nation, No people can bear such a burthen of Taxes, Colbert Neckar all ministers in France who have encouraged a Navy have been unpopular\nYour State of New York has become of great importance in this union. You have a great stage to tread, I think as a state it has taken a wrong turn and mistaken its true interest for a dozen years past. I hope it is now returning to its right path.\nHave you a good map of New York? I advise you to make yourself Master of it Geography, and history\nyour Mother and Sister and all are well. Remember me to all.\nYour Grandsire,", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2079", "content": "Title: To John Adams from Josiah, III Quincy, 27 December 1811\nFrom: Quincy, Josiah, III\nTo: Adams, John\nSir.\nWashington. 27. Dec. 1811\nI received your very acceptable letter of the 20th. and I shall attend to its request with great pleasure.\nI neither believe that our \u201csouls\u201d or our \u201cmarrow\u201d are to be tried. The only thing to be put to risque is our \u201cwind\u201d. \u201cArmour & attitude\u201d, now-a-days mean only what they did in the days of \u00c6olus.\u2014Qu\u00e2 data porta ruunt\u2014The seas are upturned and the shipping interest annihilated\u2014But fighting spirit there is none in this cave of words & vapour.\u2014\nHowever I do neither vapour nor exaggerate, when I assure you of the very great respect, with which I am your lady\u2019s and your very hl St\nJosiah Quincy", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2080", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Elizabeth Smith Shaw Peabody, 29 December 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Peabody, Elizabeth Smith Shaw\nmy dear Sister\nQuincy december 29th 1811\nA very droll accident happend to the inclosed Letter, as you will See by the address; I wrote two Letters yesterday, one to you, and one to the Select Men of the Town of Quincy in behalf of a poor woman who I thought Stood in need of assistance. the Letters were folded, and being call\u2019d Suddenly down Stairs, I handed the wrong Letter to Susan desiring her to address it, the Letter was Sent before I discoverd the mistake, and the poor Select Man applied to day, to mr Adams to know if he could tell the meaning of it, for he could not see for his Life why the Letter was Sent to him. Mr Adams soon unraveld the mistery, and Supposed that you had got the Letter designd for him, but as it was not to go untill tomorrow, I had the pleasure of making the exchange. it was fortunate that the Letter did not contain anything of concequence, mere family Matters\u2014I Send it, in its mutilated State. I begin to day to recover my voice a little. I believe I must take some blame to myself. the weather you know, was cold and Stormy last Week, and we had invited all the Quincy Gentlemen to dine with us, the fryday after Christmass. I had too much to attend to in my Kitchin, and making paste was cold work\u2014and I am really So Self-Sufficient as to believe that I can do it better than any of my Family\u2014So I am punished for my Self conceit & vanity; I have been obliged to confine myself to day and instead of going to meeting Stay at home and nurse myself Mrs Smith has been out to meeting to day for the first time Since her confinement, now near three months. She has recoverd her Strength & health, and looks much better than when She came her Arm is yet lame, but what a blessing to have extirpated So terrible an Enemy. Can we be sufficiently thankfull to that all gracious Being who gave her fortitude to undergo the operation, Supported through it; and blessed the means, has many events mark the year 1811 to me as one of the most trying to me, which I have ever past through\u2014the death of mrs Norten mrs Hellen, William Smith Mrs Johnson, and our Ever dear Brother and Sister, who lie down & rise up in my thoughts daily. I may say they are ever present with me\u2014I can dwell with delight upon their Lives, reflect upon their virtues and call up to remembrance a thousand kind and benevolent deeds. verily they have their Reward\nMr Smiths family have some consolation in their affliction. they have a prospect of connecting their daughter Hannah very agreably, much to their minds, and that very unexpectly. Hannah is young, but She is Solid well Educated well  with mind and Manner; \u201cmade to engage all Hearts\u201d\nit has roused mr Smith and dispelld that coroding greif which was Sapping his constitution, and producing a premature old Age\u2014it has in some measure dispelld the gloom which overspread the mind of Hannah for the loss of a dear Brother, and threatned her with Melancholy\u2014Mrs Smith is made quite happy, and tranquility appears to be again returning to a Family who have in a few years witness\u2019d cruel reverses of fortune and domestic affliction\u2014I rejoice with them\u2014altho it would better have comported with my Ideas If Love had been grafted upon a Friendship and acquaintance of longer duration, an affection deep rooted\u2014\nBut I am one of the old School\u2014I know you will unite in sentiment with your truly / affectionate Sister\nAbigail Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2081", "content": "Title: From Grand Master of Ceremonies of the Russian Court to Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams, 31 December 1811\nFrom: Grand Master of Ceremonies of the Russian Court\nTo: Adams, Louisa Catherine Johnson,Smith, Catherine Maria Frances Johnson\nDimanche 31. D\u00e9cembre 1811.\nLe D\u00e9partement des C\u00e9r\u00e9monies a l\u2019honneur d\u2019annoncer \u00e0 Madame Adams et \u00e0 Mademoiselle Johnson, sa s\u0153ur,  qu\u2019Elles sont invit\u00e9es au Bal masqu\u00e9 de la Cour, Lundi 1er Janvier 1812.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2082", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Greenleaf, Lucy Cranch\nMy dear Mrs Greenleaf\nI Send Some old Maderia & Sherry, the & the Curtains. I grieve that I cannot personally assist in nursing my dear Sister whom I pray God to comfort Sustain & Support under weakness her weakness, and trying afflictions. what I ever I have or can procure for her, I beg I may be calld upon for inclosed is a Small pecuniary aid. Sickness is chargeable in all families\u2014I Send you a cheese and a peice of Beaf\u2014the cheese I fear is not so good as I wish it. let me know if you have heard from weymouth\nYour truly afflicted / Aunt\nA Adams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2083", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Greenleaf, Lucy Cranch\nmy dear mrs Greenleaf\nHow is your Mother to day. what night had She & how is miss Katy & Ruthey? have you procured a Nurse for her yet? have you heard from Weymouth I hoped to have ventured out to day to have Seen my dear Sister, but the weather is such that I dare not. tomorrow is a fortnight Since I was out of doors\u2014Jackson has the same fever, tho I hope he will not be worse. he has kept his Bed this week\u2014have I any thing you want? if you have not got a Nurse I believe Nancy Howard would go to you. I have not askd her, but will if you desire it\u2014\nyour ever affectionate / Sister A\nA AI Shall want to send to Boston tomorrow by mr Greenleaf If George cannot go, Shipley would drive him in\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2084", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Greenleaf, Lucy Cranch\nmy dear Mrs Greenleaf\nI Send you some oranges and Lemmons. the last night was a trying one to those who were not very Sick: I was myself so faint as Scarcly to feel able to draw my Breath\u2014I think it equally relaxing to dog days\u2014I hope it will clear up for the benifit of the Sick. does the Dr think your mothers fever came to the height Mrs Smith is very well unwell. I hope it is only a bad cold, but She has been much opprest at her Breast\u2014Jackson remains very Sick. he has most voilent Sweats\u2014Shipley will go to town with Mr Greenleaf this morning if you wish it. it was so very Stormy that he did not get from hence so soon as I intended\u2014I have oatmeal and raisins and Sage at your Service", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2086", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Greenleaf, Lucy Cranch\nMy dear Neice\nHow are your dear Parents your Father I learnt when I returnd from Boston was very Sick. I have feard it for more than a week. is he as he used to be, or more lost? this terrible hot weather I fear will be too much for my dear Sister, and your Fathers illness added. your call is great for firmness and fortitude, as your day is So may your Strength be, and God knows what is best for us. to him we must commit ourselves & our dear Relatives. I Send two oranges which Mrs Welch Sent to your Mother the best she had, and a bottle of red wine Sent her by Mrs Crufts\u2014please to Send Georges Gingham coat yellow Nanken pantaloons and a thin waist coat. if you want Lemmons I have them\nI have a Shirt for John but find he did not bring his Sunday cloaths", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2087", "content": "Title: From Abigail Smith Adams to Lucy Cranch Greenleaf, 1811\nFrom: Adams, Abigail Smith\nTo: Greenleaf, Lucy Cranch\nDear Mrs Greenleaf\nIf you will Send Lucy & Johny here to day we will take care of them. Betsy Says She knows her Mother will watch to night if you want her, and I will try to get an other for you.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-18-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Adams/99-03-02-2089", "content": "Title: Thomas Boylston Adams, anecdotes, 1811\nFrom: Adams, Thomas Boylston\nTo: \npost 1811\nThomas Adams, brother of John Quincy Adams, was one of the Circuit Judges of Masstts Court very able Man & learned lawyer\u2014but very intemperate.\u2014He was obliged to resign his office\u2014being threatened with Impeachment.\nUpon one occasion, there was an action of Trover on trial before him for a gun which had been borrowed, but which the borrower refused to return. Adams\u2014in Charging the Jury, addressed them in Somewhat this way\u2014with gesture, tone & Manner of one full more than half  over\u2014Gentlemen of the\u2014Jury\u2014 This is an action of Trover\u2014The Defendant here\u2014borrowed a gun of the plaintiff a gun! Now, Gentlemen, I tell you, arms must be returned. necessary for defence\u2014besides didnt belong to him\u2014 I\u2019ve been a soldier myself\u2014I\u2019ve carried a gun (with proper Motion) Ive worn a sword too, Gentlemen\u2014(with hand to his side) & Gentlemen, I tell you, arms must be returned.\nUpon another occasion, he had  been More intemperate than usual during the Session of Court, & was returning home in Company with another Gentleman, who informed him that he had Something of quite an unpleasant nature to communicate to him\u2014Adams, with the appearance of the most lively apprehension inquired what it was! His companion answerd, that it was in reference to Some Scandalous lies which certain people had been telling about him\u2014\u201cOh God,\u201d interrupted Adams, as if perfectly Satisfied\u2014& joyfully surprised, \u201cis that all? I was afraid they had been telling the truth about me\nJudge Cummings\u2014Riot Charge\u2014\nSome young men had been indicted for a Riot on the 4th of July\u2014The Judge Sat in his Chair\u2014at times quite Excited, but endeavoring to restrain himself\u2014hitching his chair forward & back every half minute by knitting his hands under his Chair\u2014Gent. of the Jury\u2014The Prisoners are indicted for a Riot\u2014What is a Riot? A riot, Gentlemen, is the doing of some unlawful act of a private nature by three or more persons, jointly of their own authority in a violent & turbulent manner or of some lawful act by unlawful means. There must be three or more\u2014\nBut when was this done\u2014where, Gent. that is the question\u2014on the 4th of July, in the hilarity of that joyous occasion\u2014Gent. the innocent & patriotic hilarity of youthful Spirits\u2014their respondents\u2014in sportive\u2014mood\u2014demolished this building\u2014But, Gent. What\u2014is this a Riot\u2014Gentlemen! Gentr.! Is this a land of liberty or is it not.? Gent. that\u2019s the question\u2014Is this a land of Liberty or is it not?\nYour case\u2014But Gent. Did the prisoner Steal the Spoons\u2014Gent. that\u2019s the question\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0108", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Tatham, 1 January 1811\nFrom: Tatham, William\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nJanuary 1st. 1811.\nObserving that Government are now occupied on the claim of the United States to West Florida, & having some idea of that subject through my researches in London, at the instance of our late Minister Mr. Monroe, I shall be pardoned for offering to the executive aid certain evidences tending to strengthen our pretensions\u2014viz.\n1st. An old Map (heretofore mentioned to you) procured by me at the request of Mr. Monroe, and most probably deposited in the London office of our legation.\n2dly. An old Map published by Emanuel Bowen Geographer in London, in political reference to European claims, wherein the French claim to \u201cNew France,\u201d or Louisanie, is distinctly coloured\u2014from Rio Perdido to the river Guardalope; which is the river eastwardly of the river St. Mark, in the bay of St. Louis, Mexico, comprehending the 29th. degree of lattitude\u2014north.\nThis map will be put into my hands by a friend, when he is assured that you want it.\n3dly. An official Copy, by one of the French Engineers employed at New Orleans in the national transactions of France and Spain. This document fell into my hands in the official collection of General Montresor, Engineer general of the British forces in America; and corresponds with the two former.\nYou will, I doubt not Sir, recollect the valuable collection of Florida Charts & Surveys which you have seen in my library; and the value a Report in Congress (1806) has stamped on them: may I also hope that while a suffering Soldier of the Revolution is entering his sixtieth year under misfortunes which that revolution has heaped on his eve of life, (and wishes you many happy returns of the season) that you may recognize in his services, or acquisitions, enough to keep him & his infants from Starving?\nIt will only remain to address your commands, through the Post office, Norfolk, to your well known friend & H: Servt.\nWm Tatham", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0110", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Levi Lincoln, [ca. 2 January] 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Lincoln, Levi\n[ca. 2 January] 1811\n\u2026 You will see by the commission which will be forwarded from the Department of State, that I have taken the liberty of nominating you to the Senate as successor to Judge Cushing, notwithstanding your remonstrances against a recall into the national service. I was induced to this step, not only by my personal wishes, but by those of others, between whom and yourself exists all the reciprocal respect that can add weight to them, and particularly by their persuading themselves, that your patriotism would acquiesce in an appointment, however contrary it might be to your previous inclinations. I venture to flatter myself that in this we may not be disappointed; and that, in every event, you will regard the liberty I have taken in imposing the dilemma upon you, with the indulgence due to my motives, and to the great esteem and sincere friendship of which I pray you to accept my renewed assurances.\u2026", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0111", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Jonathan Russell, 2 January 1811\nFrom: Russell, Jonathan\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nParis 2nd January 1811.\nThe inclosed is a sketch of a treaty and convention which, after much conversation between the Marquis of Almanara his agents and myself, was drawn up & contains in my opinion the most favourable terms on which can be obtained an extinguishment of the title claimed by the actual king of spain to the whole of the territory therein mentioned. The Marquis of Almanara appeared in this business to act from a conviction that this territory was beyond the reach of his master & that it was no longer in his power to maintain its dependence on the Spanish throne. Pride & perhaps poverty, forbid him however to abandon it without a valuable consideration & the end of his conferences with me was evidently to ascertain what in my opinion was the maximum which the United States would be willing in existing circumstances to allow for it. On my part I endeavoured to depreciate its value\u2014& the title which King Joseph could give to it. From the first I adhered to two leading principles\u2014vizt\u2014that the right of the United States to the territory between the Perdido & the Sabine should not be called in question & that for the cession of Florida to the Eastward of the Perdido an equivalent should be found in the vacant lands of the territory thus ceded and in the vacant lands of the disputed territory laying between the Sabine & the Rio Bravo. This basis being settled the quantity & location of the land to be reserved by the King of Spain formed the principal subject to be discussed. The result of this discussion will appear in the plan of the convention herein inclosed.\nI have reason to beleive that the Marquis of Almanara proceeded in this business with the knowledge of the Emperor. In the course of it I was sorry however to perceive the agency of two men whose established character for extensive speculation might render suspicious the fairest negociation. These two men were David Parish & Daniel Parker. The reputation of the first I beleive to be unblemished but it is said the second has sometimes made those sacrifices to interest which honest men avoid. This man had the indiscretion to observe to me one day that he expected a handsome share in the transaction & looking at me significantly \u201cI intend\u201d says he \u201cthat all my friends who aid in the operation shall be provided for.\u201d I felt too well his meaning but passing coldly to another part of the subject I endeavoured to appear to disregard it. I am however to this moment puzzled to decide whether the Marquis of Almanara originated at this time the discussion and sought these men for agents to raise funds out of the reserved lands\u2014or whether they originated it & brought him forward merely to aid in their purposes of speculation. To decide this however cannot be important as far as it does not affect the terms of the bargain. I satisfied myself that the twenty-five millions of acres were to be converted into money for the Spanish Government but that the seven millions were to be used as a bonus for Almanara & his coadjutors at court in obtaining the ratification of the treaty & for the Gentlemen above mentioned. The loan was partly also to be distributed in this way & partly to be appropriated to surveying the lands. I have no doubt that two millions of dollars down would procure all the title which King Joseph can give to the Floridas & run our boundary line from the mouth of the Bravo to the mouth of the Cumberland.\nIt does not become me to give an opinion upon the propriety of treating with him & thereby recognizing him as king of Spain & in doing so provoke perhaps hostilities with the Regency & its allies but I have felt it my duty to lay before you either directly or indirectly all that I may learn or in which I may be concerned while I am charged with the affairs of the American legation here. In my conversations with the Marquis of Almanara I distinctly & repeatedly declared to him that I was without the shadow of authority to treat for the Floridas or any other territory & that whatever I might agree to would not even be entitled to the notice much less to the sanction of my government. On his part also he avowed that he was without authority but he said that he would take the project of the treaty & convention to Madrid and lay it before his King. He left here a few weeks since & we have already heard of his arrival at Valadolid.\nI should have written on this subject by the Commodore Rogers but I feared, should she fall into the hands of the English, that the discovery of my conversations with Almanara might lead to unpleasant consequences. I do not address myself to the secretary of state as I do not wish to give to what I have done an official character\u2014but I communicate it to you, & to you only, knowing it to be my duty during my brief residence here to reveal every circumstance of my conduct & hoping, if I be guilty of any indiscretion, that I shall be judged with indulgence. I am Sir with the highest respect Your faithful & Obt Servt.\nJona Russell\nN.B. I ought to have said to you that the marquis of Almanara is Minister of Interior to King Joseph.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0113", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 3 January 1811\nFrom: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nWashington January 3d. 1811\nIn obedience to your directions that I should furnish to You all the information on the subject of the expenditure of the appropriation of May 1t. 1810, in my possession, I have to report to you as follows:\nIn my report d. Decr. 11th. 1809, I stated, that although the estimate submitted by me on Decr. 1st. 1808, of the sum requisite for the court room and Library has not been considered in the appropriation, it had been absolutely necessary to carry up the court room & offices on the East side of the North wing of the Capitol in order to support the Senate chamber & committee rooms which are immediately over them. This expenditure is stated to have been taken into consideration in the estimate\n   In my report d. Decr. 11h. 1809\n of 40.000$ necessary for defraying the expense of completing the courtroom and the Offices of the Judiciary on the East side of the North wing, completing the Senate chamber, & for the Library. The Courtroom & the offices of the Judiciary on the East side, were then completed, the Senate chamber required to its completion a sum not exceeding, 2.500$.\u2014and the Library was not begun. I hoped to have carried up the solid work under cover of the present roof during the Season of 1810. 20.000$ however only were granted, and the whole appropriation for the public buildings was made liable to the expenses already incurred. The principal part of these expenses were created by the necessity of constructing the Courtroom & Offices under the Senate chamber.\nThe expense of fitting up, & furnishing the court Room having never been estimated by me, or contemplated by the words of any Law making appropriation for the public buildings, I took no steps whatever to fit up & furnish the room, untill the propriety of so doing was urged by the Judges of the courts who had been obliged to hold their sittings at a Tavern. I then understood that the contingent fund of the Judiciary was liable to this expense, the accounts being properly certified by the Judges.\nUnder these impressions the Courtroom was fitted up & furnished, & the accounts being made up were submitted to the Chief Justice of the U. States, whose letter & certificate is enclosed. On submission however to the Officers of the Treasury it was decided that these accounts should be paid out of the appropriation of May 1st. 1810, and their amount as appears by the books of the Superintendant of the city has accordingly been paid out of that fund.\nThis decision wholly unexpected by me, reduced the sum applicable to the public works so much that I immediately discharged all the workmen and Laborers excepting those that were necessary to render the Hall of Representatives and the Senate Chamber\u2014which had been dismantled, capable of being occupied by the Legislature during their present session, and excepting the Artists, who being engaged under special contracts, could not be discharged by me, but who were fully apprized of the State of the funds of the public buildings. These persons therefore continue to be employed.\nTo these circumstances it is owing that the expenditures on the public buildings have been confined to the objects stated in my detailed report of the 28h. of Decr. 1810. I am very respectfully &c\nB Henry Latrobe, surveyor of the public Buildings.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0115", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Kilty, 4 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Kilty, John\nTo: Madison, James\n4 January 1811, Adjutant General\u2019s Office, Annapolis. Transmits a return of the Maryland militia for 1810 as required by the uniform militia act.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0116", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Ebenezer Cooley, 5 January 1811\nFrom: Cooley, Ebenezer\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nparish of pointe Coup\u00e9e, Jan. 5 1811.\nI have been informed that you are the Agent of Major General la Fayette in the U. States & that you have appointed Mr. Duplanty to conduct the location of the land that was assigned to him for his services in the U. States during the revolutionary war.\nMy object therefore in writing to you is to let you know that I have been for a considerable time in actual possession of a tract of land which has been lately located by Mr. Duplanty in behalf of Major General la Fayette & that as my claim to it has always been considered as good as any in the country if it Should appear in the same light to you, any unnecessary trouble or expence relative to that location, may be saved.\nI am not willing to believe that you have directed or incouraged Mr. Duplanty or any other person to indeavour to remove from thier [sic] plantations any of the old inhabitants who have with great difficulty & indefatigable industry improved wild lands under a full belief of having good titles.\nIt appears however that no exertions is wanting on the part of Mr. Duplanty to accomplish this purpose. His first attempt was to procure a rejection of my claim by the commissioners. In this he has proved successful & that too before any legal evidence of my claim was received & before any other claims of the same or a simular nature had been acted on by them.\nI now beg leave to lay before you a brief account of the origin and nature of my claim.\nThe plantation or tract of land that I live on was rejected by the commissioners on the 16th. of April last without my being present or assigning me any reasons, & since that period Surveyed by Mr. Duplanty. This plantation I purchased on the 15th day of April 1806. of Margaret Bourgeat of the parish of pointe Coup\u00e9e Widow of Doct. Joseph Bourgeat to whom it is said to have been conceded about the year 1767.\nThis tract of land is situated ten miles below the chafiliate fronting the Mississippi and containing 677. Acres. In the above mentioned year Docr. Bourgeat Settled and improved the said tract of land and cultivated it for five years, afterwards as an Indigo plantation then he left his Overseer on it who continued to cultivate it for Seven years afterwards; then in consequence of the unusual hight of the spring floods he was entirely driven off. The same reasons prevented him from returning for Several years and he finally concluded that it would be in vain to return untill he could procure more help to make the lev\u00e9e. He therefore continued on a Small plantation that belonged to his wife, in pointe Coup\u00e9e untill he died, but he uniformly declared an intention of returning as soon as he could get more help to keep up the lev\u00e9es and open the roads above & below him.\nThis 677 Acres with a cypress swamp adjoining to furnish it with timber, is all the land that was ever conceded to that family consisting of the first proprieter his wife & nine children.\nThat this plantation always was considered and known under the former government to be the property of the said Doct. Bourgeat and his wife & that his right to it was acquired agreeable to the customs of the country & likewise that the above statement with respect to it is correct, I beg leave to refer you to Mr. Julian Poydras the delegate in congress from this Territory.\nI settled on this place on the 7th. of july 1806. with full confidence of having as good a title as any in Louisiana and have cultivated it ever since as a cotton plantation and besides a clearing made by the first proprieter of Sixty acres I have added about a hundred more and have built about twenty different houses all of which are now in good repair.\nIf the above statements should be confirmed to your sattisfaction I am confident you would not wish to have any troublesome exertions made to deprive an individual with a young and growing family of his principle support. If however they should be persisted in by Mr. Duplanty, I beg to inform you that an attention to the interest of my family & a firm belief that my claim is such a one as aught to be confirmed agreeable to the antient customs of the country & to the acts of congress will urge me to use all the exertions in my power to retain it.\nWhat induced the commissioner\u27e8s\u27e9 to act on & reject my claim so long ago as last April and before such evidence had been received as I had repeatedly informed them that the confirmation of my claim depended on, I am not able to say, but the general report is that it was done because I had writen unfavourably of thier proceedings to some of the officers of the general government.\nI shall not trouble you with any remarks on the proceedings of the commissioners of the E. District but shall only observe that thier decision in ma[n]y cases & perticularly such as one founded on a possession of ten consecutive years (which were always thought to constitute as good a claim as any that could issue from the crown) have been so notoriously contrary to the antient laws General usages and customs of the former governments that it is generally believed that the assembly will at thier next meeting give some information to the general government of thier proceedings. I have the honour to be very respectfully\u2014Sir, your most Obedient & very humble Servant\nEbenr. Cooley", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0118", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Neilson, 5 January 1811\nFrom: Neilson, James\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nBaton Rouge 5th. Janry. 1811\nIn complyance with the duties which are incumbent on me, having been chosen a guardian of the rights of the People in the late State of West Florida; I deem it my duty to address you as the chief M[a]gistrate of a Great and Prosperous Nation, and who was pleased to extend the hand of friendship to a People Strugling for Liberty. That being gained and Secured to us. You will please be so good as to use your Influance in Secureing to Us the rights of our lands which has been created Since the year 1803 for I can assure you that at least two thirds of the People of this Territory is concerned in what is called Grand Pr\u00e9\u2019s Titles (not Moraleses Titles) for land, those Titles has been created Since the year 1803 most of them in the year 1806 and 1807 by Governor Grand Pr\u00e9\u2019s who was then the acting Governor, and the good Subjects had the fullest confidence in all his acts, and I do not recollect that he ever granted any but to the Subjects, and many of them have been Sold from one to another Several times for a valuable consideration Some of the original owners dead, and Some of them gone away, Some of those lands which was Sold was emproved, others were not, the People were in the habit of buying and Selling, to Suit each others convenience, as they do in all other parts of the Country. The Title was simply a r\u00e9quit\u00e9 or order of Survey Some of them Specifying the Spot of land where the warrant was to be layed\u2014others where ever they could get vacant land; the Surveyor\u2014Surveyed the land and put the Man in Peacable Possession\u2014many made emprovements, and perhaps the one third or near the one half of the People of this Territory are Settled on lands of this description.\nNow the Country is taken Under the purchase of Louisiana which Sweeps all those Title\u27e8s\u27e9 off at once and leaves the poor People of the country without a home or Place of refuge\u2014or in other words destroy those Titles and you destroy the happiness of they [sic] People.\nSecondly Public Faith and Public contracts was all destroyed by the taking of the Country, and there is upwards of Twenty thousand Dollars due from the Government to the different Individuals of the country in this Place exclusive of what is due at two or three other Places many of the crediters are Poor and actually Stands in need of the Money\u2014but in this case the United States will be Just for the Public Property put into their hands is worth much more than all the State Debt.\nAnd although the Inhabitants of Florida are Generally warm friends to the Government of the United States\u2014it can not be expected but they will look to be Secured in their Just rights and Property\u2014let that be done, then there may be as much confidence placed in them as in any Such numerous branch of the United States. Believe me Sir to be a sincere friend and Huml. St.\nJames Neils\u27e8on\u27e9", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0119", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 6 January 1811\nFrom: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nWashington, Jany. 6h. 1811\nI herein enclose the letter you did me the favor to write on the 29h. septr. 1809. The point which I wished to impress by quoting it is only that of the Jury boxes, to preoccupy the ground of objection to the manner of fitting up the court room. With high respect\nB Henry Latrobe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0120", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Sinclair, 6 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Sinclair, William\nTo: Madison, James\n6 January 1811, Baltimore. \u201cYou will be surprised that a stranger in a strange land presumes to address you.\u2026 The object of my letter is the case of Mr. [David Bailie] Warden late consul General in Paris.\u2026 The private history of his life, manners and character previous and subsequent to his arrival in this Country, may not have Come accurately within the sphere of your knowledge.\u2026 He & myself were banished together from the Country of our birth.\u201d Describes Warden\u2019s educational attainments, his study of maritime law, his acceptance into leading literary circles in France, and his authorship of several essays. States that Warden has been a U.S. citizen above five years and that his being an alien cannot be an obstacle. \u201cRepublican freedom is a charter from Nature not a boon of municipal law or National prejudice.\u2026 But what is his present situation\u2014degraded from a high appointment without any alledged charge or even the suspicion of criminality.\u201d Requests that Warden\u2019s claims be fairly investigated \u201c& if pure, to be supported.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0121", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Quincy Adams, 7 January 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nSt: Petersburg 7. January 1811.\nI have received from the Secretary of State a letter, dated 15. October last, enclosing a letter of leave for the Emperor of Russia, with an optional power to me to present it immediately, and suggesting your obliging permission to me to return to the United States, to avoid the ruinous expences to which it had been intimated to you by a person particularly attentive to my interest, a longer continuance here must necessarily subject me.\nAs I have determined to avail myself of the discretionary power contained in the Secretary of State\u2019s letter, to postpone the delivery of the letter to the Emperor, untill I shall be honoured further with your orders on the subject, and as the motives for your acquiescence in what you understood to be my wish, are entitled to all my acknowledgments and gratitude, I consider it incumbent in duty upon me to state explicitly to you the grounds upon which I shall reserve the letter of leave, untill your definitive Instructions in regard to it shall come to my hands.\nPreviously to my departure from the United States, I had understood from you that the time destined to the mission to Russia would probably be three or four years; a period which the more readily engaged my acceptance of the trust which you was pleased to confide to me, as a shorter term seemed scarcely the suitable object of so long and distant a voyage, and as a longer one would have been a contemplation too painful of separation from my Country and from the objects of my particular affections whom I was to leave behind.\nOn my first arrival here, I had reason to suppose that the expences of absolute necessity to the station which I held would require a sacrifice of a considerable portion of my own property and I made the arrangements necessary for rendering it disposable at my order; but it was never my intention to trouble you or the Secretary of State on a subject which was merely my private concern. I considered myself bound in duty to my Country on one side, and to my family on the other to proportion if possible my establishment to the legal allowance and to limit my expenditure by the bounds which the Government of the United States have judged sufficient for the compensation of their Ministers abroad. Circumstances upon which I had not calculated have contributed to assist me in the execution of this Resolution, and although it has forbidden me the exhibition of magnificence which the example of other foreign Ministers here has made customary, it has allowed every arrangement of a domestic nature which decency requires, and which from the representative of a frugal Republic, ought to be expected. After an experience of fifteen months, and a full knowledge of the expences incident to my situation I have ascertained that whatever my continuance here may be, my expences will not exceed the compensation allowed me by law, provided it shall be possible for me to embark for the United States immediately upon the cessation of my public character. But if after taking leave here, for one Quarter\u2019s compensation which the usage allows, I have to remain here without occupation or character, at my own cost, six, nine, or even fifteen months as might be the case should I now take leave, I should indeed find it ruinous, and must make a sacrifice as impossible to avoid as it was to foresee.\nFor more than four months to come, and probably for more than five the Season of this Latitude has interposed a barrier, which makes it impossible for me to embark; and from the peculiar situation of my family it is very uncertain whether it will not be equally impracticable to embark for such a voyage, during the next Summer. Should I take leave in my Official character, I should in the present state of things be compelled to stay here the remainder of the present Winter and the whole of the next. The question is only between remaining in my public character, and remaining as a private individual; and although I should not hesitate a moment to divest myself of my official station, if your instructions had hinted at such an intention in you, I flatter myself that the very inducements upon which you had the goodness to furnish me the letter of leave will operate as a justification to me for keeping it untill its presentation can be speedily followed by my actual departure, or untill your express instructions shall make its immediate delivery my duty.\nAs the letter to the Emperor itself mentions considerations of a private nature as the motives for my departure, there would be obviously an inconsistency in my presenting it, and still remaining here without character\u2014Nor would any explanation which I could give probably remove an unfavourable impression which would result from it at this Court.\nI have been the more particular in these observations, because it has occurr\u2019d to me that there may have been motives of a public nature which concurred in leading you to the adoption of this measure. In that case I would intreat that all reference to my convenience or advantage may be put entirely out of the question. From the Communications which you must before this have received from me you will perceive that the emperor and his principal minister are not only particularly attached to the idea of regular and permanent diplomatic intercourse of ministers between United States and Russia but that repeated indirect intimations have been given to me of a wish to cement the relations between the two countries by a commercial treaty. On the 5th: of September last I had the honour of writing on this subject to the Secretary of State, and I hope soon to be favoured with your Instructions in answer to that letter. Should the proposition for a treaty meet your approbation it may furnish the means of securing a protection and favour to our Commerce which it will be difficult to obtain without it. Should you \u27e8deem\u27e9 it inexpedient to enter into any con\u27e8tractu\u27e9al stipulations with Russia as my continuance here in a public character is constitutionally dependent upon the pleasure of the President, I shall in all Events cheerfully acquiesce in your dispositions concerning it, as founded upon considerations of the public interest alone; and in repeating my thanks to you Sir, for the regard to my personal convenience which has on this occasion influenced you, I beg you to be assured of the Sentiments of sincere respect and attachment with which I have the honour to be, your very humble and obedt: Servt:\nJohn Quincy Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0122", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Horatio Gates Spafford, 7 January 1811\nFrom: Spafford, Horatio Gates\nTo: Madison, James\nHond. & Esteemed Friend\u2014\nI ought, perhaps, to apologize, for troubling thee with a subject of so little direct concern to thyself, as that I am now about to propose, for thy consideration.\nThe details, which the 3rd Census will afford, aught to be embodied, in a Volume of convenient size, & published for general use; & unless some other person shall have effected this previous to next 6 Mo., (June,) I contemplate proposing to do it. At about that time, I can repair to Washington for that purpose; & if the public officers encourage my doing so, I shall certainly do it, unless it be likely to interfere with the intentions of some other person.\nHad I not thoughts of removing to Washington, I should certainly not contemplate a journey thither, solely on account of gaining access to the public records & papers collected by the late Census. But I have in contemplation to fix my residence there, after I shall have published the Gazetteer of this State; & to prosecute my plan of authentick Gazetteers of the several States, & of the United States.\nIf thou canst find time to favor me with thy advice on these subjects, thou wilt confer a great favor. And I should be gratified if my friend Dr. S. L. Mitchill, were also consulted; & to whom I refer thee for any information relative to myself, on which to ground thy advice. With sentiments of gratitude & esteem, thy friend,\nH. G. Spafford.\nOf whom am I to get permission, to send a small packet to some Correspondents in France & England, in the next Vessel that sails under the protection of Government? Or can I get such permission?\nH. G. Spafford.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0123", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Tyler, 7 January 1811\nFrom: Tyler, John\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir;\nIn Council Chamber Jany 7th. 1811\nYour confidential communication has been duly receiv\u2019d and attended to, and all the papers we have I beg leave to send you by Consent of the Cou[n]cil. It is believ\u2019d there is a mistake as to the Name, Logwood being the only person who has made any discoveries on the Subject you mention. Nothing was put on the journals, but the papers put away under the necessary caution. Longcocke\u2019s name is nowhere to be found at present. There shall still be further examination made, and the result will be made known if it shall be such as to be worthy of your Attention.\nYou will not be able to discover any thing in the papers sent I believe wh. can lead to detection. In the state of Tennessee severy [sic] Culprits have been apprehended for forging the Bank Paper of this City. This has been produced by the vigilance of the Govr: of that State & many other Citizens in consequence of several communications made by me and the cashier of the Bank of Richmond requesting his aid. I am with considerations of high Respect and esteem Yr very obt. Servt.\nJno: Tyler", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0125", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Bossange & Masson, 7 January 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Bossange & Masson\nLetter not found. 7 January 1811. Acknowledged in Bossange & Masson to JM, 5 July 1811. Accepts the offer of a translation of the Iliad (see PJM-PSRobert A. Rutland et al., eds., The Papers of James Madison: Presidential Series (3 vols. to date; Charlottesville, Va., 1984\u2014)., 2:474).", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0126", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Gideon Granger, 8 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Granger, Gideon\nTo: Madison, James\n8 January 1811. \u201cHe does not interfere as to the appointment of Marshall but he feels it due to his kinsman, Ebenezer Granger, to submit the enclosed letter to the Presidents perusal.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0128", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Charles Jared Ingersoll, 10 January 1811\nFrom: Ingersoll, Charles Jared\nTo: Madison, James\nPhiladelphia 10 January 1811\nThe author of Inchiquins Letters on the United States, who has the honor of being known to the President, begs his acceptance of one of the earliest published copies of that work; which, as it was undertaken with a view of putting this country in good humour with itself, by endeavouring to expose the prejudices that prevent its proper estimation, the author hopes will not be unacceptable, in design, however imperfect the execution may be thought, to the person, who, with so much credit to himself and advantage to the community, fills the chief magistracy.\nAs for the present, at least, the author\u2019s name is not to be made known, if ever, he requests the President not to communicate his knowledge that the Letters were written here, and not, as they purport, abroad.\nThe copy for the President will be forwarded by the same mail that carries this note.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0129", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Taylor, 10 January 1811\nFrom: Taylor, James\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nZainesville, Ohio Jany. 10th. 1811.\nI promised to drop you a line on the subject of the petition &c. I did my self the pleasure to address to you some time since. I am happy to inform you that I am of opin[i]on there is nothing to be apprehended from this association. Indeed I am informed it is very unpopular among the land holders in that quarter of the state where it has met with the most countenance.\nThe Legislature of this state have done nothing of importance as yet except to elect a senator to the U:States. I do imagine they could not have done better out of those they had to make choice out of.\nThe question of a Spot for the permanent Seat of Govement is to come on tomorrow. I think the report of the Commissione[r]s will be confirmed. They reported in favor of a Spot on the bank of the Sciota about 55 Miles above the Town of Chillicothe. There will be great exertions made to remove the seat of Goverment back to Chillicothe until the buildings are completed for the reception of the Legislature & Officers of Govrment & I think it will be done.\nI am at this place attending to my land business & expect to return home or rather set out in about two days. I have the honor [to] be with great respect sir Your Obedt servt.\nJames Taylor", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0131", "content": "Title: From James Madison to William Madison, 11 January 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Madison, William\nDear brother\nWashington Jany. 11. 1811.\nI observe that a parcel of Merinoes are to be sold at Amphill on the 17th. inst. From the numbers latte\u27e8r\u27e9ly imported, & the little demand as yet excited in Virga. it is not unlikely they may go off at very low prices, say 20. 30. or 40 dollars for Ewes. In this case I shd. wish you to have 8 or 10 of the younger ones bought for me, & sent up to Orange, taking for granted that their pedigree is well authenticated, or evinced by their external characters. Having eno\u2019 already to require a separate estabt. such an addition wd. not be felt in the trouble &c. I should even be willing to buy a greater than the above number, in case the price shd. not exceed 20 or 25 dollrs. If the Rams shd. be good, & sell for less than $100 dollars I advise you to purchase one for yourself. This with mine wd. be an ensurance for both of us. I hear nothing from Philada. since my last. Yrs. affey\nJ. Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0132", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 11 January 1811\nFrom: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nI herewith transmit to you two reports. The first my annual report of the public Building the other that called for by a resolution of the House of representatives. I am sorry that I have not found it possible to send them sooner, especially as the friends to the completion of the buildings, in congress have pressed me on the subject. With high respect Yrs.\nB Henry Latrobe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0133", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Congress, 12 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Congress\n12 January 1811. Transmits a copy of a letter from the U.S. minister in London to the secretary of state and a copy of a letter from the same to the British secretary of state for foreign affairs.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0134", "content": "Title: From James Madison to the Chiefs of the Creek Nation, [14 January] 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Chiefs of the Creek Nation\nMy Children,\n[14 January 1811]\nYour father the President of the United States takes you by the hand. He has received from Colo: Hawkins your Talk of the last Autumn. Either you have not been sufficiently informed, or you have not rightly understood his design in sending out the two parties from Fort Stoddert. Good path ways and roads are equally useful to his White and to his Red Children. Rivers & Water courses are made by the Great Spirit, to be used by the Nations to and thro\u2019 which they run. If his Red Children want to use the roads and rivers on which his White Children live they are open to them.\nHis white Children, particularly those in Tennessee, have to go a great way to carry their produce and to bring home necessaries from the sea. Now, if a shorter way by land, and good passage ways by the waters from Highwassee to the Mobile can be found for them, they ought to have them. The way lies thro\u2019 your nation. When his White Children want to go by the roads & rivers thro\u2019 the seventeen fires, the roads and rivers are all common. They pass without enquiry being made to what tribe they belong. His red Children have never been refused the same privilege. Colo: Hawkins will attend at your Council. He will explain to you that the two parties were sent to measure the distances and to go down the Alibama in order to find out the shortest way by land and the best way by Water. He would have done it before but Capt: Gaines\u2019s letter to him was delayed by the freshes or by some other accident. He will inform you that the object of the President was not to take away your lands, or any of your rights but to prepare the way for opening a road and using the rivers, which will be good for his red as well as his white Children.\nHe will satisfy you of this, and then he will acquaint you that next Summer Capt. Gaines & Lieut. Luckett will begin the survey anew.\nAs the purpose is both just and reasonable, so your father the President will expect that his Officers and Men will be treated with the hospitality and kindness which he has always manifested towards your Nations, and which he hopes will forever distinguish the friendship subsisting between the United States and the Creek Nation. Done at the City of Washington this fourteenth day of January 1811.\n(signed) \u2003 James Madison.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0135", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Thomas Leiper, 14 January 1811\nFrom: Leiper, Thomas\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir\nPhilada. Janry. 14th. 1811\nThis evening I was informed by John Smith the Mar[s]hall of this district that their has been a charge brought against him for not acting properly in the line of his Office in the Case of Olmstead. I beg leave to relate what has come within my own knowledge in that case. I was One of the Grand Jury and heard the Marshalls Testimony and his Two deputies against General Bright and his men who opposed them in the serving of the process. The Marshall certainly did not desert \u2019till the Guns & Bayonets were at their breast and were given to under[s]tand if the[y] advanced they would be run through. Now Sir the Grand Jury found a Bill against Bright & Co the Petty Jury found them guilty and the Judge sent them to Prison. I am of the opinion had their been any thing improper in the Marshall\u2019s conduct it would have made its appearence on the Trial. If this is the only charge I have no doubt but the marshall will clear it up to your satisfaction indeed he says himself and I can believe him if he ever had any Merit in the line of his Office he had it in the case of Olmstead. My opinion of Pennsylvania at present is not the most favorable. To speak in a General sense we all want office or if you like it better Office hunters and if the truth was known the person who is at the bottom of this charge wants the Office himself. Bright got a fat Office from Snyder for opposing the Laws of the United in Smith the Marshall and Smith is to be Turned out of Office for doing his duty. Wilkinson is to be persecuted for preventing Burr Treason where will this end you who sit higher may see further. I saw Wilkinson at his post on Plouden Hill when the British were on Bunkers hill. These men and these only are to be Trusted to command a Republican Army. The United States are in a State of Fermentation and it requires some Skill to prevent the Scum getting uppermost. It has already get uppermost in Pennsylvania and if I am correctly informed they would put you undermost. But I think it is impossible we should remain long in our present State. I am with esteem & respect Your most Obedient St.\nThomas Leiper", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0137", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Congress, 14 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Congress\n14 January 1811. Transmits a report from the surveyor of the public buildings \u201crelative to the progress and present State of them.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0138", "content": "Title: From James Madison to the House of Representatives, 14 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: House of Representatives\n14 January 1811. Transmits reports of the superintendent of the city and the surveyor of the public buildings on the subject of the House resolution of 28 Dec. 1810.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0140", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Ezekiel Pattee, 14 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Pattee, Ezekiel\nTo: Madison, James\n14 January 1811, Winslow, District of Maine. As an officer who served in the American Revolution and is now \u201cadvanced in age,\u201d solicits an appointment to command one of the forts in the District of Maine.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0141", "content": "Title: To James Madison from David Holmes, 15 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Holmes, David\nTo: Madison, James\n15 January 1811, Washington, Mississippi Territory. \u201cThe inclosed letter from Mr. Joseph Robert resigning his Commission as a Member of the Legislative Council was received while the Legislature of the Territory was in session. I thought it proper therefore to communicate the information to the House of representatives in order that they might proceed to nominate Conformable to the ordinance.\u201d Is aware it would have been \u201cmore regular\u201d to have submitted the matter to JM before sending it to the House, but \u201cthis course in all probability would have occasioned a delay of near twelve months.\u201d Encloses the nomination made by the House and recommends \u201cthe Gentln. first named,\u201d Edward Ward of Madison County, a respectable man from a county that had no voice in the appointment of the legislative council.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0143", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Paul Hamilton, 17 January 1811\nFrom: Hamilton, Paul\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nNavy Departt. Jany. 17th. 1811\nI beg leave to submit to your perusal the papers sent herewith, which detail the loss of the U. S. schooner Revenge, which was on her way from Newport to New London, the harbour chosen for it\u2019s superior security as a Rendezvous, during the winter and equinoctial gales.\nHowever unpleasant this occurrence, at first sight may appear, as the crew, the arms and furniture are saved, I do not think that the loss of the mere hull of the vessel is much to be regretted, as it was very unsound, and but for this accident, might at some other time have foundered under circumstances much more calamitous. I have the honor to be, Sir, with the greatest respect yrs.\nPaul Hamilton", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0144", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Robert Smith, [17 January] 1811\nFrom: Smith, Robert\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nThursday. [17 January 1811]\nI have this moment seen Col McKee. He says he will immediately proceed to the Country in question and will be happy in affording to his Country any services in his power but that he cannot go thither in the Character of a Secretary. I hasten to give you this information in order that arrangements may be made for fixing upon a proper person as Secretary to Matthews. Respctfy\nR Smith", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0146", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 18 January 1811\nFrom: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nWashington, January 18h. 1811\nIn obedience to your directions conveyed to me by Mr Munroe, & contained in the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 14h. of January transmitted to me, I shall without Loss of time comply with that part of it which relates to the outstanding Claims.\nBut to make an estimate of the sum necessary to finish the Capitol, it is impossible for me to proceed without Assistance especially as the time remaining of the Session is so short, and the Clerk of the works is absent. I therefore solicit leave to employ, one or more Clerks to assist me in so extensive & laborious a task it being understood that the Salary of the Clerk of the works during the time be appropriated towards payment for this assistance. As the parts of the work cannot be estimated without being drawn, it is evident that I cannot possibly go thro\u2019 this labor myself, even if [I] had not any other business to do. But having at present more work to design; & direct at the Navy Yard than my whole time will easily accomplish, the resolution of the House cannot possibly be complied with unless I can obtain the assistance asked, of which, I beg leave to assure you, I will not employ any more than is indispensibly necessary. I have already made some Years ago all the general drawings, but the details which are essential necessary are untouched.\nI solicit your attention to this request as early as possible, and am with high respect Yours\nB H LatrobeSurv. p Bldgs UStates\nP.S. I presume there cannot be any doubt of the appropriation necessary to carry the resolution of the house into effect.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0147", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Thomas Munroe, 19 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Munroe, Thomas\nTo: Madison, James\n19 January 1811, Superintendent\u2019s Office, Washington. Gives an account of the moneys expended under the act of 28 Apr. 1810 for the better accommodation of the Post Office and the Patent Office. Reports that on 28 May 1810 the building \u201ccommonly called the Hotel\u201d and several accompanying lots were purchased for $10,000 and that the attorney general duly executed the deed of conveyance to the U.S. Since the purchase, the sum of $3,268.26 has been expended on the said building; a further sum of $1,360.82 has been spent on the office west of the President\u2019s House. Of the sum of $20,000 appropriated by Congress, there remains unexpended $5,370.92.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0148", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Thomas Munroe, 19 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Munroe, Thomas\nTo: Madison, James\n19 January 1811, Superintendent\u2019s Office, Washington. Transmits an account of the moneys expended on the Capitol from its commencement until 14 Jan. 1811 as required by the resolution of the House of Representatives of that date.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0149", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Levi Lincoln, 20 January 1811\nFrom: Lincoln, Levi\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirWorcester Jany. 20. 1811\nI feel myself much honored by your favor & the Commission accompanying it, appointing me a successor to the late Judge Cushing. Among the various sensibilities, awakened on this occasion, I should express to you my anxiety, gratitude & encreased public devotedness, were it in my power to make the return called for by my sense of the obligation conferred. Yourself & my other friends did me but justice in believing, that, under the existing political circumstances of our country, a selfish & obstinate adherence to favorite private arrangements was not the most prominent feature of my character. The recollection of many of my friends can vouch for my yielding compliances. Be assured that such are now my sentiments that your wishes for the services of a citizen ought to influence with the authority of a public command where there is the ability to obey & that if my situation would permit the discharging the duties of a Judge I would hold the office at least for one or two years, untill, by looking around, you should be enabled to make a more permanent & satisfactory appointment. The difficulty of my sight although it has latterly so encreased as to compel me to abandon the use of pen & the examination of books & papers, which is indispensable to the office of a Judge yet it has become less formidable than I had apprehended & promises to yield to the hand of the skilful oculist when it shall have sufficiently progressed. Notwithstanding promptly declining or resigning (whichever term may be deemed most proper & respectful,) the office with which you have been pleased to honor me, was, in my own mind a matter of duty & necessity; yet from a possi[bi]lity that a second consultation with Dr. Smith, a Professor at Darthmouth Colledge [sic] & a successful & celebrated operator in cases of cataracts, might have changed my opinion if not the state of my sight I defered this answer. He was to have been in the Town of Boston last week, but failed. It \u27e8wo\u27e9uld have been my pride to have shared with my political friends, the labors, troubles & even the odium which the firm & decisive measures called for by the present crisis may subject them to. It is mortifying to be separated from them when the situation of our country is peculiarly trying, difficult if not dangerous, calling for personal sacrifices, & the utmost efforts of all its friends. I feel a further regret lest the partiality expressed by the present appointment shall embarrass a subsequent selection.\nI have been thus particular from a solicitude to satisfy those of the correctness of my conduct whose esteem & confidence I cannot too highly appreciate. With the highest Consideration Esteem & Friendship, I am most respectfully Your most Obdt.\nLevi Lincoln", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0151", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Elizabeth Parke Custis, ca. 22 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Custis, Elizabeth Parke\nTo: Madison, James\nCa. 22 January 1811. Wishes to be \u201cthe humble instrument to serve my country; and you, Sir, by telling you the claims of a good Man, and securing to you an honourable Agent in a foreign land.\u201d Is not \u201cso vain as to imagine that the President of the United States will let me dictate who he shall depute to serve him\u201d but wishes to seek his \u201cprotection and patronage\u201d for David Bailie Warden. Observed Warden as a stranger in JM\u2019s drawing room and believed that his \u201ccountenance denoted a man of Sorrow.\u201d Learned that he had been displaced from his post by Armstrong in favor of Alexander McRae and resolved to obtain information from those who had known him in France. Wrote to Captain Fenwick for this purpose and encloses his reply [not found]. \u201cHis letter speaks for itself. I fervently pray that it may influence you in favour of his friend.\u201d Praises Fenwick as a man of truth and honor and begs JM to hear the voice of \u201cthe adopted Child of Washington who knows and esteems you\u2014who prays that you may live long possesed of the love and gratitude of our Country. When my voice ascends to the throne of God, this is one of its most fervent prayers.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0152", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Armstrong, 23 January 1811\nFrom: Armstrong, John\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,Washington 23d January 1811\nUnderstanding that Mr. James Bowdoin while residing in France, had transmitted to the President of the United States a deposition made in Paris, in the Year 1807, by Chs. M. Somers of that City, and being possessed of a second Deposition, made by the said Somers on the subject of the former, I have conceived it to be my duty to forward to You this last & with it sundry other papers numbered, on their margins, 1, 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.\nOn these communications I forbear all remark, excepting to express a degree of surprize, that Mr. Bowdoin should have placed any confidence in the declarations of a man so entirely destitute of principle & character as Chs. M. Somers who had been ejected from the Office of Sworn Interpreter to the Council of liquidation, for a false & fraudulent exercise of his public functions. I have the honor to be Sir with very high consideration Your most obedient & very huml Sert.\nJohn Armstrong", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0154", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Eustis, 23 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Eustis, William\nTo: Madison, James\n23 January 1811, War Department. Transmits a return of the army with a letter from the adjutant and inspector general containing the information requested by the House of Representatives in the resolution of 21 Jan. 1811.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0155", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Albert Gallatin, 24 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Gallatin, Albert\nTo: Madison, James\n24 January 1811, Treasury Department. On the subject of the Senate resolution of 21 Jan. 1811, reports that the treasury has no documents showing the amount of British or French property confiscated under the Nonintercourse Act of 1809 and the act of 1 May 1810. A circular letter was written on 22 Jan. to the several district attorneys to obtain this information. Encloses a letter from the register of the treasury to show that the information requested on imports for 1810 cannot be prepared during the present session of Congress. Will prepare and transmit the information for the last three quarters of 1809.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0156", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Fontaine Maury, 24 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Maury, Fontaine\nTo: Madison, James\n24 January 1811, Georgetown. Called on JM \u201cthis Morning\u201d but found him engaged with Secretary of State Smith. Offers himself as a candidate for the collectorship vacated by the removal of Laurence Muse. Has no testimonials ready; \u201cI presume however that your own knowledge of me may be Sufficient to Judge in that respect.\u201d If documents are needed he can have them in four or five days.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0157", "content": "Title: From James Madison to the House of Representatives, 25 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: House of Representatives\n25 January 1811. Transmits a report of the superintendent of the city stating the expenditures under the act of 28 Apr. 1810 for the better accommodation of the Post Office and Patent Office and for other purposes.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0159", "content": "Title: Account of a Conversation with David Bailie Warden, [26 January] 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: \nWashington [26 January 1811]\nConversation with the President observed respecting My appointement that he would be as open to my [sic] as I had been to him that the place was given to my [sic] by general A[r]mstrong\u2014that it was only \u27e8precarious?\u27e9 that he had appointed another\u2014that by reappointing Me he might offend G. as a friend\u2014Besides the place was destined for Mr. Russel who May wish to occupy it when appointed by a Minister\u2014that he could not decide for the moment\u2014that he would wait for further information that he had personal feelings toward me that he was pleased with the discharge of my official duties.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0160", "content": "Title: From James Madison to the Senate, 26 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Senate\n26 January 1811. \u201cI transmit to the Senate a Report from the Secretary of the Treasury on the subject of their Resolution of the 21st. instant.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0161", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Thomas Hazard, Jr., 26 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Hazard, Thomas\nTo: Madison, James\n26 January 1811, Boston. Informs JM that his son Samuel is now in Russia where he intends to remain for several years on business. Requests he be appointed consul at Archangel, \u201ca place of Considerable trade with the United States, Several hundred American vessels it is said, loaded there the last summer, and \u2026 the probability I presume is, that our trade will increase to that Country.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0162", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Mariano Velazquez de la Cadena, 26 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Cadena, Mariano Velazquez de la\nTo: Madison, James\n26 January 1811, New York. Encloses a copy of his Elements of the English Language, written during his residence in the U.S. \u201cfor the benefit of my countrymen, who are desirous of acquiring that language.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0165", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Vincent Bramham, 28 January 1811\nFrom: Bramham, Vincent\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,Monday Evening January 28th. 1811\nNot until last night did I receive your letter owing to my absence from home. Few can lament your Ill health more than I do, and few very few wou\u2019d rejoice more were your health perfectly restored.\nThe Collectors office to which your friendly confidence calls my attention occasioned me to day to make some enquiries as to the duties and lucre thereto attached. Poor Muse (who seems extremely unhappy at the distracted state of his affairs) gives me no information calculated greatly to rouse my Anxiety: he says the profits at present, after deducting incidental and unavoidable expences, are very inconsiderable; And I think the lowering appearences of the Multiform restrictions on neutral commerce betoken no hope of a Speedy change. The Sacrifice of my accustomed habits for a Town residence cou\u2019d not be prudently warranted for a much less sum than $1.000 \u214c Annum.\nYou my dear Sir are contiguous to that department of State where a correct knowledge as to the profit can be satisfactorily obtaind; and your Superior discernment in the probable state of our future commerce whereby the Emoluments of the office may be encreased render you more competent than I am to decide, therefore I most willingly confide to your better Judgment to propose me or not: and in the event of my appointment be well assured your friendship and preference of me Shall not be abused.\nI have not been inattentive to your request as it respects your little Kentuckey friend, and am informed by Thompson he certainly will not start earlier than about the 1st. of April. At any time to hear from you will afford the sincerest pleasure to Dr Sir yours very truly\nVin Bramham", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0166", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Samuel Carswell, 28 January 1811\nFrom: Carswell, Samuel\nTo: Madison, James\nDear sir,Philada. Jany. 28th. 1811\nI last had the pleasure to address you in March 1810, since which time I have had nothing interesting to communicate. I beg leave to congratulate you, on the decision of the US Bank question, as it is so favorable to the future welfare of this Country, & is another triumph of American Virtue, over British corruption & intrigue. It must be obvious to every one, who has the least knowledge of that Bank & is not wilfully blind, that it has always been under the influence of those who are inimical to the Republican principles of this Government\u2014that it has been partial in the distribution of its favors & more disposed to withold, than to bestow them, on such persons, as were active to diffuse those principles. An Institution that can receive into it\u2019s bosom, a friend & fellow conspirator of Burr, & in favor of which, another notorious traitor, openly & impudently appears, cannot, in it\u2019s operation be friendly to this Republic.\nI am glad, since the majority opposed to it, was so small, that the decision took place early enough to prevent the effect, which the uncommon exertions of it\u2019s friends here, might have had. They had two public meetings in this place last week. One, of the Merchants: The other, of the Mechanics. At those meetings many appeared & approved of their object, who hitherto stood in the Republican ranks, some through ignorance, some thro apostacy, but more from motives of fear. This last reason, is a strong argument, in favor of it\u2019s dissolution. No institution, capable of extending it\u2019s influence so greatly, as the US Bank was & of establishing that influence, by so powerful a motive, as a sense of dependence in those connected with it, should be suffered to exist in this Country. If we must have monied institutions, Congress cannot use too much care to render them harmless; that the people may enjoy the benefits arising from them, without having their independence shackled & this can be effected in no other way, than by preventing any one, from having a superiority to the rest, in point of privelege & power. It is to the advantage which the US Bank possessed in this respect, that the distress of our Citizens ought to be attributed, & not to a great scarcity of money, for the defered 6 \u214c Ct. Stock cannot be had under 104 & the 3 \u214c Ct. Stock is from 62\u00bd to 65. It is true, the Bank paid on the first of the Month, $1.700.000 Dolls. on Acct. of Government, but that did not throw much money into circulation, as $1.100.000, was due to her. It is, her almost unbounded influence, then that has occasioned the great cry of distress, you have heard.\nI understand that Doctor Bache will be removed from the Office of Surveyor of this Port. In prospect of such an event, I take the liberty, to submit to your consideration for that Office, William J. Duane. You are, doubtless, acquainted with his public character; with his integrity & correctness as a politician & the ability with which he discharged his Duty, as a Representative of this District, in our Legislature. I believe, his private character, stands equally fair, at least, I have never heard any thing alleged against it. I do not know any person, better calculated, to fill that Office & as he is Brother-in-Law to the Doctor, it will be keeping the Office in the family. With Sentiments of Respect I have the honor to be Your Obdt. Hble. Sert.\nSaml Carswell", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0167", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Benjamin Henry Latrobe and George Murray, 28 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry,Murray, George\n28 January 1811, Washington. Accepts their invitation of 27 Jan. to serve as patron of the Society of Artists in Philadelphia. Supports the \u201claudable objects\u201d of the society but regrets that his services \u201cwill consist more in favorable inclinations, than in the usefulness, which would be the best title to the distinction.\u201d Conveys his thanks and an assurance to the society that \u201cregarding the Arts which it cherishes, as among the endowments & enjoyments, which characterize human Society, under its highest & happiest destinies; it is one of my ardent wishes, that the tendency of our free system of Govt. may be pourtrayed as well in what may contribute to embellish the mind & refine the manners, as in those primary blessings, of which it already affords so many grateful proofs & presages.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0168", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Joseph Woodman and Others, 28 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Woodman, Joseph\nTo: Madison, James\n28 January 1811, Boston. The subscribers, members of the legislature of Massachusetts, \u201chaving Understood that there would probably be a District Attorney soon Appointed for the District of Maine in room of the Hon. Silas Lee, \u2026 recommend Benjamin Green Esquire of Berwick in the County of York as \u2026 well Qualified to discharge the Duties of that Office.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0169", "content": "Title: To James Madison from George W. Erving, 29 January 1811\nFrom: Erving, George W.\nTo: Madison, James\nPrivate\nDear SirBoston Jany 29. 1811\nI was in hopes that I shoud have learnt in my communications with Senr Onis, on my passage thro\u2019 Phila something of sufficient importance to have been communicated to you; but his conversation on every point of interest, was so extremely, & even more than usually Extravagant, that I coud not presume to trouble you by any mention of it, the less necessary since (as I presumed) the then actual state of affairs with regard to the Floridas, rendered whatever utility I had hoped to derive from him (in your view always questionable) of less importance: a friend there furnished me with a copy of his secret instructions to the captain of the schooner \u201cRamona\u201d; (the vessel which was taken by the english) tho\u2019 these do not contain any thing of political consequence, they are interesting as they shew his mode of operating, & therefore I take the liberty of inclosing them herewith: the loss of that vessel has not failed to irritate him; but the landing of Miranda, a proceeding so wholly unequivocal in its character, & so utterly without palliation, this has completed his disgust with his former friends, & he begins to express himself openly in this new sense.\nAs relates to the character of Mr Skipwith, & those late proceedings of his which have so surprized & disappointed his friends, I cannot refrain from taking the liberty of inclosing herewith, an extract of a letter from him to Col Skipwith which has fallen in my way; it seems to afford room to hope that he has been directed in his late extraordinary conduct, by causes which may be susceptible of an explanation, in some sort satisfactory.\nI wrote to Mr Smith from Phila suggesting a wish that something may be added to my instructions as to the conclusion of my mission; stating that unless I shoud completely succeed in the object of it, it woud be impossible for me (according to the present form of the instructions) to quit Copenhagen without your express order, & adverting to the obvious objections to my being left on that footing: I hope Sir that he has submitted to you this matter, which I was the more encouraged to mention to him, knowing from himself that it had also occurred to you. Dear Sir with the most sincere Respect & attachment Your most obt & obliged Servt\nGeorge W Erving\nPS.\nHaving accidentally heard at N. York that a person whom I have had an opportunity of becoming sufficiently acquainted with to know that he is unfit for, has hopes of obtaining the Consulate of Gibraltar, I think it a duty to mention with respect to the present occupant Mr Gavino, who personally & officially I am particularly well acquainted with, that I have not seen any thing exceptionable in his conduct, but on the contrary beleive him to be a very faithful & useful public officer.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0170", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Rush, 30 January 1811\nFrom: Rush, Benjamin\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,Philadelphia Jany 30. 1811.\nWith sincere Sympathy I sit down to inform you that this evening your amiable nephew expired. His Sufferings from the last Symptoms of his disease were much less than is common in similar Cases. I write this note in great haste, as the post office will close in a few minutes, and with a View that your brother may be stopped on his Way to Philadelphia. From Dear Sir yours truly and respectfully\nBenjn: Rush", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0171", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Congress, 30 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Congress\n30 January 1811. \u201cI transmit to Congress Copies of a letter from the Secretary of the Treasury accompanied by copies of the \u2018Laws, Treaties and other documents relative to the public lands\u2019 as collected and arranged pursuant to the Act passed April 27th 1810.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0172", "content": "Title: To James Madison from J. A. P. Poutingon, 30 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Poutingon, J. A. P.\nTo: Madison, James\n30 January 1811, Philadelphia. Submits to JM several \u201creflexions\u201d originally published in the Philadelphia Tickler, the Boston Columbian Centinel, and the Boston Democrat, the last two dealing with coastal fortifications and flying artillery. Asserts that no one can prove that a successful invasion of Great Britain is impossible or that invasion forces prepared by Napoleon might not be used against the U.S. Argues that the U.S. has no reason to believe that it will be treated differently from any other nation and that no one has ever proved that harbor fortifications are a waste of money. Points out that these publications show his desire to serve the U.S. and suggests that it is customary to reward such services. Asks JM to take into consideration that he is a foreigner, blind in one eye, without property, \u201cand without any other capacity, than my professional of a military man of Cavalry.\u201d Seeks JM\u2019s support for his scheme to establish a military academy in Boston, for which he encloses a prospectus requesting payment of $10.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0173", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Wayles Eppes, [31 January] 1811\nFrom: Eppes, John Wayles\nTo: Madison, James\nThursday. [31 January 1811]\nJno W Eppes presents his respects to the President. He considers the subject on which he conversed with him today as of so much importance as to merit a deliberate decision of the question whether it is better for the public interest that the non importation law should be at present pushed in the House of Representatives or whether it should be suffered to lie until we asscertain with more certainty the actual situation of our relations with France. A discussion of the Bill at the present time \u201cclogged with the official communication of General Turreau that Tobo. and cotton are excluded[\u201d] \u201cwith the official opinion of the Secretary of State that France has not executed with good faith her agreement\u201d\u2014\u201cwith information from private sources that American vessels have been seized and condemned under the Berlin and Milan decrees since the first of November\u201d\u2014will afford to our adversaries powerful weapons. Under such circumstances the Bill like the Sloath will drag through the house with groans at every step & be opposed by many of our own friends. If passed at all it will be with a feeble majority & connected with a discussion calculated to give to France a very erroneous view of the standing of our Government.\nIf any provisions for the relief of our own citizens shall be considered necessary\u2014Que\u2014if it would not be better to continue for the present our legal provisions to that object & leave the provisions necessary for the Execution of the Measure until it shall be asscertained, whether such provisions are absolutely necessary.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0177", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Coburn, 31 January 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Coburn, John\nTo: Madison, James\n31 January 1811, Mason, Kentucky. Reminds JM that he accepted a judgeship in the Louisiana Territory and claims that he has faithfully performed his duties, despite the fact that he has not yet moved to the territory because of \u201cthe reluctance of my family to abandon their relatives and connexions in Kentucky.\u201d Since he has been employed in judicial positions for about twenty years and therefore lacks \u201cthe ordinary means of acquiring that competency sought for by most men,\u201d he is willing to serve for a further four years if JM approves. Points out that his commission will expire during the next recess of Congress and therefore suggests the propriety of renewing his commission during the current session.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0180", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Alexandre DuVernet, 1 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: DuVernet, Alexandre\nTo: Madison, James\n1 February 1811, Castries, Saint Lucia, West Indies. Mentions having sent copies [not found] of his complaints to the authorities on Guadeloupe to JM under cover of the minister at London two years ago and having omitted his last protestation. Taking the secure opportunity he finds here for this letter under the cover of Judge Bertholio, he adds to it a copy of the letter that he requested Judge Bertholio to send to General Ernouf on 1 Jan. 1809. The response of 9 Jan. was flattering to the energy with which he claims the rights of an American citizen. The English translation, intended for a lawyer, conforms perfectly to the French original. Has learned that there is an American agent at Martinique, and he hastens there to make the acquaintance of this Mr. Cock. Claims JM\u2019s protection for justice from General Ernouf, who has completely ruined him, from whom he demands 80,000 gourdes, and who is presently a prisoner in England.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0181", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Albert Gallatin, 1 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Gallatin, Albert\nTo: Madison, James\n1 February 1811, Treasury Department. Encloses a copy of the departmental correspondence respecting the act to provide for a survey of the coasts of the U.S. Reports that Mr. Hassler, \u201cwho has been designated to proceed to England in order to have the necessary instruments executed under his immediate care,\u201d is still willing to perform the service.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0182", "content": "Title: Receipt from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 1 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry\nTo: \n1 February 1811. \u201cRecd. of the President of the U. States his letter to the Secretary of the Treasury U.S. [not found] directing a Warrant for 1.000 on account of the fund for furnishing the President house to be issued in my favor.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0183", "content": "Title: From James Madison to George W. Erving, 1 February 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Erving, George W.\nLetter not found. 1 February 1811. Acknowledged in Erving to JM, 10 Mar. 1811. Discusses events in Florida and the policy of France toward the U.S. Also encloses five letters.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0184", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Samuel Smith, [ca. 4 February] 1811\nFrom: Smith, Samuel\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,[ca. 4 February 1811]\nI have the honor to send you herewith information recieved by the Schooner mentioned in Mr. Russell\u2019s letter\u2014which will Shew that Mr. R. has been misinformed. I have the honor to be your Obedt. servt.\nS. Smith\n[Enclosure]\nBalte. 4th. Feby. 1811.\nThe Supercargo of the Schooner Friendship, Captn. Snow of Baltimore, writes his owners under date of the 13th. Decemr. of his arrival at Bordeaux on the  and that the vessel was obliged to perform quarantine. In a postscript to this letter of the 14th. he states, that he had received an order to land his Cargo on the first fair day and deposit it in the public stores\u2014at this he felt much alarmed, apprehensive it amounted to a seizure, but adds, that on enquiry his fears abated as he was informed it was the customary mode and practised in all cases\u2014he says nothing about the vessel\u2019s being sequestered as reported. The friendship sailed from this port on the 15th. Octr. & left the Capes on the 17th. She had cleared out for Gottenburgh (to elude detention from British Cruisers) but was bound to port in France in the Bay of Biscay\u2014her cargo was principally Coffee & a little logwood\u2014she had no licence. Her papers were sent on to Paris, his expectations of a favorable result were sanguine.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0185", "content": "Title: From James Madison to the Senate, 4 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Senate\n4 February 1811. Transmits a report from the secretary of the treasury in compliance with a Senate resolution of 20 Dec. 1810.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0187", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Benjamin Rush, 4 February 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\nLetter not found. 4 February 1811. Offered for sale in Parke-Bernet Catalogue No. 499, \u201cThe Alexander Biddle Papers\u201d (1943), pt. 2, item 169, which notes that the one-page letter of about seventy-five words reads in part: \u201cI have just recd. your favor of the 7th inst. [not found] as I had before that communicating the death of my nephew [Rush to JM, 30 Jan. 1811]. In thanking you for your kind attention, which followed him to his grave, I express the grateful feelings of his parents as well as myself.\u201d Apparently, either the date of JM\u2019s letter or the date \u201c7th inst.\u201d is rendered incorrectly in the catalogue.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0188", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Armstrong, 5 February 1811\nFrom: Armstrong, John\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,New York 5 feb. 1811.\nI yesterday, on my return to this city, received from M. Russel a letter, from which I make the following extract. It\u2019s enclosures are sent entire. It would be injustice, as well to M. Russel, as to a suggestion which fell from you when I had lately the honor of seeing you, were I to withold a testimony of his very respectable standing in the place which he now fills, & which removes every doubt of his future usefulness in a higher office, were it conferred upon him. This testimony comes from one of the oldest and ablest diaplomatists in France, and is sub-joined to one of the annexed papers. Permit me to assure you of the very great respect & attachment of, dear Sir, Your most Obedient, & very humble Servant,\nJohn Armstrong.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0189", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Henry Dearborn, 5 February 1811\nFrom: Dearborn, Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,Boston Febrry. 5th. 1811\nI consider it my duty to give you the following information in relation to the conduct of our Consul Dabney at Fayal. I have received Mr. Dabneys official certificates to two facts which are contradicted by two witnesses on oath, one certificate is to verify the landing of a cargo at that Island, the other, certifying that the crew of the vessel from which the said cargo was landed, were there discharged and paid of[f] according to the law of the U. S. The vessel, was the Brig Mount Etna from this port, cleared out for the Brazils, under bonds not to violate the nonintercourse laws, but by the testimony of two of her crew and the declaration of a third, whose testimony on oath has not yet been ta\u27e8ken\u27e9 by reason of his absence, is to the following purport, that the Brig, with one of the owners on board, went direct to Fayal, and there changed her na\u27e8me\u27e9 & Flag, and took on board a young Portugese lad as a nominal Master, and by threats & force compeled the crew to continue the voyage to the coast of africa, without discharges or pay, as the law directs, that at Goree, a British establishment near the mouth of the River Gambia, the cargo was principally sold and discharged, and measures were then pursued for procuring a cargo of Slave\u27e8s\u27e9 and that after having obtained from twenty to thirty, the Brig was taken and condemned. What gives weight to the testimony of those men, is their having found their way home by different vessels at different times, and were examined seperately without any means of making up their story here together, and if their testimony is to be credited, the certificates of Mr. Dabney must be incorrect, at least, and from my own examination of two of the witnesses, I am strongly inclined to believe that their stories are substantially true. I am Sir with the highest respect Your Humbe. Servt.\nH. Dearborn", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0190", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Samuel Smith, [ca. 5 February] 1811\nFrom: Smith, Samuel\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,[ca. 5 February 1811]\nI do myself the honor to send you a Copy of the letter of the supercargo of the Schooner Friendship to his Owners & am your Obedt. servt.\nS. Smith\n[Enclosure]\nDear SirBaltimore 5th Feby. 1811\nApprehensive that the statement I hastily furnished you last evening, respecting the Schooner Friendship, Captn. Snow, might be incorrect in some particulars, I this day procured from Mr. Wilmott\n   Mr. Wilmot is one of the owners of the Schr. Friendship.\n the Supercargo\u2019s letter to him, dated Bourdeaux December 13. 1810. The following are extracts, which I presume will not be found to differ materially, if at all, from the hasty sketch already in your possession.\nExtracts.\n\u201cWe arrived here on the 29th November, all in good health, and had to perform a quarantine of 7 days, in which time, two American vessels which had been here with a Cargo of fish, from the Banks, passed us, it was not possible to write, and it was with difficulty that we only could tell them to report the vessel. The strictest examinations have been made, and all, so far as I can inform myself, is in our favor. Some of the first and best informed merchants have no doubt, that after the papers have been sent to Paris, that we will get permission to sell the Cargo, and to take one in return. It will take about 4 or 6 weeks, and in this time nothing can be done than to wait patiently the decision of the Emperor.\u201d In a post[s]crip[t] of the 14th Decr. he adds, \u201cAn order from the director of the custom house has been given to land the cargo the first fair day, and to put it in the public stores; I felt rather a little alarmed, but I understand that it is the usual way in which all those Americans [who] had obtained permission to sell have been treated.\u201d\nThe foregoing are extracted verbatim from the letter now before me, and from which it would appear that altho the cargo was ordered to be landed, and placed in the public stores, yet that the vessel remained free from seizure or sequestration.\nThere is nothing new to day. Flour 8\u00be to 9$. Very truly Yr. friend & He. Servt.\nJere: Sullivan\nSolomon Etting Esqr.\nMr Sullivan the writer of this extract, is another of the owners. Mr. Eppes will notice that in the sketch delivered him yesterday, Mr Sullivan says the vessel was laden with colonial produce, and that she had no licence. That circumstance is omitted in the foregoing extract, but may notwithstanding be relied on.\nA. McKim", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0193", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Albert Gallatin, 6 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Gallatin, Albert\nTo: Madison, James\n6 February 1811, Treasury Department. Transmits a statement of importations in American and foreign vessels from 1 Apr. to 31 Dec. 1809, prepared by the register of the treasury, in compliance with a Senate resolution of 21 Jan. 1811.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0194", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Harry Toulmin, 6 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Toulmin, Harry\nTo: Madison, James\n6 February 1811, Fort Stoddert. Writes that \u201cnothing material has occurred\u201d since his last letter other than the failure of the judge sent by Claiborne to establish civil government in the settlement on the Pascagoula River. Quotes from a 27 Jan. letter written to him by Judge Cumming describing \u201c\u2018the state of anarchy and confusion\u2019\u201d on the Pascagoula and the refusal of Dupree to permit the rule of law. Cumming \u201cseems fearful that a number of slaves taken by Dupree, might be carried off, and wishes me to have any answering to the description he gives, stopped in this country, if carried this way.\u201d The individual who owns the slaves has reportedly \u201cbeen plundered to the amount of 30,000 dollars,\u201d and Dupree has harassed smaller property owners as well, alleging that he has been directed by Col. James Caller \u201cto maintain his authority.\u201d Chief Justice John Caller of Washington County \u201chas gone, I am told to pay him a visit,\u201d which Toulmin trusts will produce \u201csubmission to the laws.\u201d\n\u201cAs to the Spaniards, it is said that a talk has lately been given to the Indians at Pensacola, creating an expectation of a war with the U. States. I cannot satisfy myself of the truth of the report.\u201d Nor does he give much credit to rumors that a British force is expected at Pensacola. Declares that the U.S. has lost standing with Spanish officials, who believe that the U.S. \u201ccountenanced and abetted\u201d the revolt of their subjects. \u201cHence it is probable that difficulties may arise in the arrangements with the Governor of Florida, which there was not the smallest reason to apprehend when Col. M\u2019Kee left this place.\u201d Gives credit, however, to JM\u2019s proclamation for effecting some \u201creleasement from revolutionary dangers.\u201d Adds in a postscript that a letter just received from Cushing states that Hampton has ordered the troops to be removed from Mobile and sent to Fort Stoddert. \u201cI regret this step, as I fear that many of the citizens at Mobile have so far committed themselves with the Spanish officers, that they may now feel their displeasure.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0195", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Michael Leib, 7 February 1811\nFrom: Leib, Michael\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,Washington February 7th. 1811\nA gross and calumnious attack has been made upon me in a Philadelphia print, for having, under an impression of duty, submitted objections to you, against the nomination of Mr. John Smith as Marshal for the district of Pennsylvania; and it is alledged, that I was an applicant for that office. Allow me to request of you to say, whether I, or any of my friends in my behalf, made any application to you for that office. I am Sir Your obedient Servant\nM Leib", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0197", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Melish, 7 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Melish, John\nTo: Madison, James\n7 February 1811, New York. Offers JM his opinions on trade and political economy, prompted by a consideration of the \u201cPecul[i]ar manner in which the Government of the United States is situated regarding the Bank Charter.\u201d Summarizes the state of U.S. trade with Europe, which has been interrupted for a number of years by the injustices of the belligerent powers. The continent is \u201calmost compleatly sealed up\u201d and the British market is glutted with American produce, creating a decline in revenue \u201cwhich has afforded matter of triumph to the political oponents of the Government; and these oponents, in conjunction with a foreign faction, have unceasingly villified the party in power as the cause of evils which they have laboured incessantly to prevent.\u201d Manufactures have sprung up, but they have not advanced since the country cannot actively support them.\nBelieves America\u2019s foreign trade will not soon improve and claims \u201cthe chief cause is to be found in the rapacity of the British Fleet, and the Violent hatred which the British Court bear to Republican principles.\u201d Surmises that \u201cin the course of this spring a change of councils may take place in Britain\u201d and that this could \u201cbring about a General peace.\u201d But this is uncertain. The \u201cRevolution of Commerce\u201d will continue, and the American government \u201cwill render an essential service to their Country, by making it really independant; and to Republican principles, by fixing them upon a Rock never to be shaken.\u201d\nAdvocates that the American government pursue the following course of action. First, free the revenue from dependence on foreign commerce; second, reorder \u201cmonied institutions\u201d so they do not harm Republican principles and establish a bank that will benefit commerce generally; and third, organize the \u201cNational property\u201d to create a fund for internal improvements. Discusses each proposal in detail, particularly the plan for \u201ca new National Bank; calculated to Consolidate and strengthen Republican principles; to encourage and support Manufactures, and internal Commerce; and to bring a large revenue to the public, to whom the profits of a paper circulation should exclusively belong.\u201d Also notes \u201ca few objections which may be urged against establishing such a Bank.\u201d The \u201cpopular\u201d argument\u2014that \u201c\u2018the Bank should be unconnected with the Government\u2019\u201d\u2014is applicable to Great Britain but not to the U.S. The plan to establish banks independent of the government is \u201cdangerous to Republican principles, as it has an evident tendency to raise up a monied Aristocracy.\u201d Believes also that state governments should establish state banks and not grant charters and \u201cpeculiar priviledges\u201d to \u201cmonied Men.\u201d \u201cThe Constitutional objection of the right of the United States to establish branches, is done away by the plan of establishing them with Consent of the State Governments.\u201d The next objection, \u201cthe want of Capital,\u201d is \u201ca very weak one\u201d and can be met by issuing paper money. \u201cNo paper Currency, in this Country, could be so Substantially backed as that issued by a Bank belonging to the United States; for it would actually be the representative of the whole property in the Country.\u2026 A very small sum of the precious Metals is sufficient as a basis.\u201d Admits there may be danger in changing an existing system for a new one, but these arguments have their limits and can be \u201cset up as mere bug-bears \u2026 to put a stop to all improvement in the State of Society. The Arguments against renewing the old Charter are insuperable.\u201d Asserts that the old bank can easily \u201cwind up its affairs\u201d and that the new bank, established at Washington, could realize annual profits in excess of $2 million. The revenue from import and tonnage duties will probably exceed $10 million, and this revenue, augmented by \u201ca judicious application of the Public Lands,\u201d will create an \u201cample fund\u201d for internal improvements. Mentions that he has seen and conversed with Jefferson, to whom he has sent a copy of this letter. Adds in a postscript that his address is \u201cJohn Melish New york.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0198", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Quincy Adams, 8 February 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Madison, James\nSir.St: Petersburg 8. February 1811.\nI had the honour of writing you, on the 7th: of last Month, immediately after I received a letter from the Secretary of State of 15. October, with the letter of leave to His Majesty the Emperor of Russia; and of informing you that I should not deliver that letter, untill the receipt of further Instructions from you. It was not untill last Evening that I had the pleasure of receiving your very obliging private letter of 16. October; which has relieved me from some concern which I felt, lest in withholding the letter for the Emperor, I should have incurred a delay in the execution of your intentions, and has at the same time explained to me, what the general terms of the Secretary of State\u2019s letter had left me to conjecture; the Source, of the application to you, for your permission to me to return home.\nMy Mother, who during the whole course of my life, has been as much my guardian Angel, as my earthly Parent, had probably been informed of dispositions, which on my first arrival here, I had thought it necessary to make, to draw upon my property in America, to meet the expenditures which I expected to find indispensible. Alarmed at the prospect which these arrangements might open to futurity, for my rising family, she must have concluded that delicacy alone had restrained me from asking an immediate recall, and that in expressing this wish to you, without my knowledge, she was sparing that delicacy, and at the same time saving me from a sacrifice which might reach beyond the extent of my means.\nI have already had the honour to inform you, that my experience here, has proved much less burdensome than my Expectations\u2014and that whatever my continuance here may be, my expenditures will be adapted with sufficient accuracy to the allowance made me by my Country\u2014That the Season for some months, and the Circumstances of my family, for the remainder of this year, will in all probability, make it impracticable for me to embark for such a voyage as that to the United States, and that I shall thus have ample time to receive your definitive Instructions, with respect to the letter of leave to the Emperor. And I have expressed the wish, which I now beg leave to repeat, that in the exercise of your pleasure with regard to my continuance here, or to my recall, you would have the goodness to consult considerations of a public Nature, alone; with the most explicit assurance, that I shall not only cheerfully acquiesce, but shall find my strongest gratification, either in remaining here, or in returning to the United States, as you shall deem either alternative most conducive to the public interest. If indeed I should receive my recall at a time, when I could not immediately embark, it would subject me to some inconvenience, to which however I should willingly submit under the consideration that it would be compensated by an equivalent benefit to the public.\nThough I have not delivered to the Emperor the letter of leave, I thought it most respectful and proper to give notice to the Chancellor Count Romanzoff that I had received it; with an intimation that as it had been prompted by considerations relating altogether to my personal affairs, and as they would for some time prevent my departure, I should with His Majesty\u2019s Approbation reserve the letter for the present, and probably untill I should receive your further orders. The Count not only approved of this course, but was pleased to express in flattering terms, his own regret and that of His Majesty\u2019s Government in general at the prospect of my departure. The Emperor himself, whom I have had the honour of seeing twice since the receipt of the despatches, and who had doubtless been informed by Count Pahlen, of my probable return, was pleased both times to express himself in the most gracious manner to the same effect. I have indeed during the whole course of my residence here, both in respect to myself and to my family, received from the Emperor, as well as from Count Romanzoff, marks of distinction, and of attention, calculated to render my situation as agreeable as the nature of things will admit; but which in my public Correspondence with the Secretary of State, I have not noticed in detail; to avoid deriving a self-importance which might be ridiculous, from Courtesies altogether personal.\nI am conscious, Sir, that an apology is due from me, for occupying so much of your time, with an object which belongs so essentially to my particular affairs\u2014And I cannot but regret, although it was from motives of the most affectionate concern for me, that the subject was brought before you for consideration at all. Yet, as it has given the occasion upon which you have the goodness to express the sentiments relating to me, contained in your favour of 16 October, I ought perhaps rather to consider it as fortunate. The reasons which you suggest against my immediate departure are so entirely in unison with my own opinions, that had my continuance here been as inconvenient even as my first expectations had anticipated, I should have considered it my duty to remain untill your further pleasure should be known: but under the present Circumstances when I could not without more than inconvenience embark for America, with my family, your perswasion that my remaining here some time longer will be of public advantage is the more gratifying to me, as, however inconvenient it might prove to myself to go, I should be unwilling to stay here an hour, after you should judge that the public expediency would advise my recall. With great respect and attachment, I am, Sir, your very humble & obedt: Servt:\nJohn Quincy Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0199", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Lafayette, 8 February 1811\nFrom: Lafayette, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de\nTo: Madison, James\nMy dear SirParis 8 february 1811\nIt is to me a particular Gratification, in Remembrance of old times, and in Justice to a Very Respectable Gentleman, to Recommend the Concerns of M. de Rayneval. He Has Been the first European diplomate Whose Negociations Have Met American independance, and None of them Has Been, in personal Exertions, More zealous and Useful. These Considerations Join With the Very Great Regard due to His private Character, and While the Merits of His Claim are laid Before You, I think it Both a duty and a pleasure to Express My Wishes in His Behalf. With Most affectionate Respect I am, My dear friend Yours\nLafayette", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0200", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Landon Carter, 8 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Carter, Landon\nTo: Madison, James\n8 February 1811, Cleve, Virginia. Apologizes for the intrusion but assumes JM has clerks \u201cwho can, by your direction, give me the information which I ask.\u201d Has invented a machine that \u201cin practice promises to gather wheat from the field in such a manner as to save all the waste attendant upon the usual modes used in harvest.\u201d Wishes to know the probable quantity of wheat sown annually in the U.S. in order to estimate the machine\u2019s value.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0201", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Albert Gallatin, 8 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Gallatin, Albert\nTo: Madison, James\n8 February 1811, Treasury Department. Transmits in compliance with the Senate resolution of 7 Feb. a copy of George W. Erving\u2019s account in relation to awards under article 7 of the British treaty. A commission of 2\u00bd percent is being charged on \u00a3217,009 3s. 9d., this being the amount Erving received for claimants who had not appointed agents to prosecute their claims and receive the awards. The accounts, which have passed the offices of the auditor and comptroller, are voluminous and \u201ccorrect in every respect.\u201d Another account of Erving\u2019s for over \u00a355,000 is not sent as it is not finalized and no commission is being charged on it. That sum consists of deductions the commissioners made from the awards in order to reimburse the U.S. for expenses incurred in prosecuting the claims. Part of this was applied by Erving to discharge proctors\u2019 accounts for which the U.S. had become responsible, and the balance (over $160,000) was paid by him into the treasury. The president should have deducted Erving\u2019s compensation from this fund, but instead the unexpended balance was applied to the surplus fund, making a new appropriation necessary to settle the account and repay the award fund. Adds that the Treasury Department has no information respecting Erving\u2019s services other than what is in the accounts and enclosed letter and that the services were performed in accordance with instructions.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0202", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Josiah Smith and Levi Smith, 8 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Smith, Josiah,Smith, Levi\nTo: Madison, James\n8 February 1811, Stanstead. The petitioners, brothers now in Stanstead, Lower Canada, state that Josiah Smith, aged thirty-two, has a wife and five children in Chichester, New Hampshire, who are unable to support themselves. He enlisted in the U.S. Army for five years at Fort Constitution, served about eighteen months there, and then deserted. Levi Smith, aged twenty-four, enlisted for five years at Fort Constitution in May 1810 and deserted after two months. \u201cWe are now Both of us in the Province aforesaid \u2026 and we feel Anxious and a Desire to return to our Native Country and becoming your Royal [sic] Subjects and Citizens of the United States of America.\u201d They request JM to grant them discharges and in a postscript ask JM to direct his response to Capt. John Masson of Stanstead, \u201cto be left at Derby Post office Vermont.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0204", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Samuel Latham Mitchill, 9 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Mitchill, Samuel Latham\nTo: Madison, James\n9 February 1811, Washington. \u201cAt the request of Mr. Charles Sherry, one of my constituents,\u2026 I inclose for the President\u2019s consideration a letter from him to me, and a letter from Mr. Dabney, our Consul in the Azores.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0206", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 11 February 1811\nFrom: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nSirWashington Feby. 11h. 1811\nI saw Mr. Bacon this morning who informed me that the letter I mentioned to you is now in possession of the Committee. I entreated him to transmit it to You, which he appeared to think would not be improper as one or two expressions might be considered as equivocal and authorize a communication to You by the members as individual members of the Legislature. Whatever those expressions may be, as it is utterly impossible that a Knowledge of facts can be indicated of which facts the writer was wholly ignorant, not the most distant apprehension is felt on that point, however he may regret the exposure of his weakness, & indiscretion. With the highest respect I am &c\nB Henry Latrobe.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0207", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Lee, 11 February 1811\nFrom: Lee, William\nTo: Madison, James\nSirNew York Feby 11: 1811\nA friend of mine writes me, it has been represented at Washington, that I brought with me from France \u201ca number of licenses, under which I have been expediting a number of Vessels.\u201d As I have pointedly, and uniformly, refused to have anything to do with the French & English system of licenses, and as this insinuation is calculated to make impressions injurious to me, I hope Sir, you will not think it improper in me to declare to you in this formal manner, that I never owned, or made use of a French, or English license, in my life, and that all the Vessels, which have been sent to the address of my house, at Bordeaux by the merchants of this City, have been sent without licenses. With great respect & attachment I have the honor to remain the Presidents obedient Servant.\nWm Lee", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0208", "content": "Title: From James Madison to the Senate, 11 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Senate\n11 February 1811. Transmits a report from the secretary of the treasury in compliance with a Senate resolution of 7 Feb. 1811.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0209", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Junta of the Provinces of the R\u00edo de la Plata, 11 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Junta of the Provinces of the R\u00edo de la Plata\nTo: Madison, James\n11 February 1811, Buenos Aires. The members of the junta recall JM\u2019s magnanimous conduct toward the province of Caracas as proof of his interest in the rights of humanity. As their situation and its causes are the same as those of the \u201cNoble Caraquans,\u201d they have an equal right to hope that the U.S. will express a cordial friendship for the provinces on the R\u00edo de la Plata. The people of these provinces, though long oppressed, have loyally performed their duties and were persuaded that \u201cthe Re-union of the whole Spanish monarchy was the only thing that could save it from Ruin.\u201d \u201cEvery thing was put in contribution\u201d to save these dominions and the kingdom from \u201cthis assassinating orde which now crams itself with the carcass of Europe.\u201d But matters have changed. \u201cAlmost the whole of the Peninsula fell under the Dominion of the common oppressor and that Body of Ambitious Egotists, of which was composed the Central Junta, was dissolved.\u2026 The same Principles of Loyalty which had until then retained us in Union with Spain authorised our separation. Our security being threatened, there was no obligation to prostitute ourselves to the ephemeral authorities which had lost the Character of Dignity & Independence.\u201d\nThe viceroy and the \u201cClub of proud oligarchists composing this \u2018audiencia,\u2019\u201d moreover, \u201cendeavor\u2019d to keep us in a torpid state.\u201d \u201cTheir re-iterated attempts to subvert the state \u2026 obliged us to depose them.\u201d Such are the reasons that have led to the installation of the junta now ruling these provinces. Towns in the interior are freed from their ancient tyrants and have reestablished the rights with which nature endowed them. The junta, wishing to comply with the wishes of the provinces for a national congress, redoubles its efforts, and the assembly will meet shortly. Some will oppose these proceedings, but the junta appeals to \u201cthe Tribunal of Reason\u201d for the \u201cpurity of [its] Intentions.\u201d The junta does not doubt the equity of the decisions of the U.S., believes that JM is friendly to its cause, and believes that he will receive with pleasure these statements of friendship.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0210", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 11 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry\nTo: Madison, James\n11 February 1811, Washington. Submits at JM\u2019s direction a list of outstanding claims against the public buildings. \u201cThe two first items arise from engagements which have subsisted for some years, and have not been closed. The latter exhibits the amount of the demands against the public for Labor & for materials delivered: the certified vouchers of which are deposited with the Superintendent of the city.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0212", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Jonathan Jennings, 13 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Jennings, Jonathan\nTo: Madison, James\n13 February 1811, Representatives Chamber. \u201cI have again to lay before your Excellency testimony additional to the former [not found], relative to the Governor of the Indiana Territory.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0213", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Junta of the Provinces of the R\u00edo de la Plata, 13 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Junta of the Provinces of the R\u00edo de la Plata\nTo: Madison, James\n13 February 1811, Buenos Aires. Declares that \u201cDon Josef R Poinsetts has just presented himself to this Junta\u201d with his credentials as commercial agent of the U.S. and that \u201cthis Government conformably to the cordial and friendly intentions which it made known to Y E in its official Letter dated yesterday,\u201d has admitted him to the full exercise of the powers of his agency. Regards this agency as \u201ca preliminary to the Treaties between Nation and Nation which will be formed to point out the Rules of a permanent Commerce and of the greatest amity and Union between the two States.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0216", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Timothy Pickering, 16 February 1811\nFrom: Pickering, Timothy\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,Washington Feby. 16. 1811\nThe two nominations of an associate judge of the supreme court to fill the seat vacated by the death of Judge Cushing, having failed; will you permit me to bring to your recollection a man whom you knew in the House of Representatives, in Philadelphia\u2014Jeremiah Smith of New Hampshire? He is a federalist; but one of great distinction as a lawyer; at the same time, amiable, moderate & conciliatory as one of a political party. Since he left Congress (fourteen years ago) he resumed the study of the law, with increased and indefatigable application, and practised it successfully. The state of New-Hampshire, desirous of availing itself of his superiour endowments, appointed him its chief-justice of the supreme court; in which he presided with such ability and impartiality, that the legislature, all parties (as I have been informed) concurring, made an addition of five hundred dollars to his salary, to continue so long as He should hold the office of chief Justice: it was appropriate to him, and not to the Office.\nMr. Smith is, confessedly, one of the most distinguished lawyers in New-England. In questions merely political, parties will prefer those of their own sect: but all are equally concerned in the able and upright administration of justice. If the want of suitable qualifications cause erroneous judgements, it will be no consolation to a man that he suffers by the hand of a political brother.\nIn one word, the dignity of the supreme court of the United States (hitherto maintained in the appointments of Judge Johnson & Judge Livingston)\u2014the confidence of the citizens in the wisdom and rectitude of its decisions\u2014and the welfare of the Union, require such an appointment: and allow me to add, that it is not a matter of indifference to your own reputation.\nMr. Gilman, senator from New-Hampshire, perfectly well knows Judge Smith; and I am persuaded his candour will confirm all I have said of his character & merits. I verily believe that New-Hampshire, without distinction of parties, with the exception, perhaps, of a few individuals, will feel herself honoured by the preference of a citizen of whom she has reason to be proud. While the whole circuit, containing near a million of freemen, will be, to say the least, greatly dissatisfied, should a candidate be selected from a state not comprehended within its limits. It will be saying to the whole body of the people, Republicans as well as federalists, \u201cYou have not a man among you, qualified for this high Office.\u201d I am respectfully, sir, Your obedt. servt.\nTimothy Pickering", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0217", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Congress, 16 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Congress\n16 February 1811. Transmits \u201cthe Treaty concluded on the 10th of November 1808 on the part of the United States with the Great and Little Osage Tribes of Indians; with a view to such legal provisions as may be deemed proper for fulfilling its stipulations.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0219", "content": "Title: Louis-Barb\u00e9-Charles S\u00e9rurier to Robert Smith, 17 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: S\u00e9rurier, Louis-Barb\u00e9-Charles\nTo: Smith, Robert\n17 February 1811, Washington. The effort of being presented yesterday to the president and at the State Department has worsened his indisposition to the extent that he cannot pay his respects to Mmes Madison and Smith and to others as he had proposed. Offers his apologies; will make the visits his first duty and he is eager to fulfill it. Still hopes to be able to come to the State Department tomorrow morning; if he is too indisposed to do so, M. de Caraman will advise Smith.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0222", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Nathaniel G. Ingraham, 18 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Ingraham, Nathaniel G.\nTo: Madison, James\n18 February 1811, New York. \u201cIt would be highly gratifying to me if my son Nathl. G Ingraham Jr who resides in England could be honor\u2019d with a Consular appointment in that Country. My friend Mr Phoenix informs me that he made an application to your Excellency thro the Secretary of State for an appointment at Plymouth at which place the Interest of the United States would be much promoted by having an American, in the place of the present consul Mr Hawker, who is not only an Englishman but is agent for British men of war & privateers.\u201d Forwards letters from Mr. Shaler to the secretary of state. \u201cIn my letters by the same arrival Mr Shaler mentions that all is quiet at the Havanna, and likely to continue so.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0223", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Henry J. Knox, 18 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Knox, Henry J.\nTo: Madison, James\n18 February 1811, Windsor, Connecticut. Seeks reappointment to the navy. Received a midshipman\u2019s warrant in April 1798 and was promoted to lieutenant in June 1799, but the nomination was rejected in Senate \u201cin consequence of a fracas, in which I was concerned at Boston.\u201d He then left the service. These circumstances are well known to the secretary of war, who will present this letter. Wishes to serve his country again and \u201cwould immediately accept of a Commission as after the first of September next, I shall be at perfect liberty to act, wherever I may be ordered.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0224", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Armstrong, 19 February 1811\nFrom: Armstrong, John\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,New York 19 Feb. 1811.\nThe enclosed letters having some relation to public business & one of them solliciting for its object a direct reference to you, I have thought it proper to transmit them & to request, that M. Coles may be instructed to acknowledge their receipt. Permit me to enquire, whether two other letters which I have had the honor of writing to you, since my return to this City, have been received? One of these related to M. Warden, the other, to Mr. Mc.Crae. I am, Sir, with very great respect, Your faithful & Obedient Servant,\nJohn Armstrong", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0225", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 19 February 1811\nFrom: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nSirWashington Feby 19h. 1811\nIn order to furnish some apology for the writer of the anonymous letter, I enclose a letter [illegible] written in 1797.\nA Member of the committee informs me that all the equivocal passages are underlined, \u27e8& that\u27e9 if they were not so that they could make no impression. With high respect I am &c\nB H Latrobe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0227", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Robert Smith, 19 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Smith, Robert\nTo: Madison, James\n19 February 1811, State Department. Transmits in accordance with the House of Representatives resolution of 18 Feb. 1811 the papers marked A and B, which contain all the information, not heretofore communicated, concerning the \u201crepeal or modification as well as the practical operation of the orders and decrees affecting our neutral commerce\u201d since 1 Nov. 1810.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0228", "content": "Title: From James Madison to the House of Representatives, 19 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: House of Representatives\n19 February 1811. Transmits a report of the secretary of state in compliance with the resolution of 18 Feb. 1811.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0229", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Christopher Greene, Jr., 19 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Greene, Christopher\nTo: Madison, James\n19 February 1811, Warwick, Rhode Island. Introduces himself as a nephew of Nathanael Greene and solicits the consular position at Marseilles held by Stephen Cathalan. Knows that Jefferson was partial to Cathalan; \u201cbut Sir, has not the debt of gratitude that was due the Father of Mr Cathalan for his Services to this Country during the Revolution, been fully cancelled in the person of his Son?\u201d Declares that American consuls in France should be citizens of the U.S.; otherwise, they \u201ccannot at all times act with boldness and impartiality in defending the rights and privileges of those, who have a claim to Consular protection.\u201d States that Cathalan is incapable of performing the duties of the office. Refers JM to Jacob Morgan for confirmation of this claim. Notes that this is the first request his family has made to the government since the death of his uncle.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0230", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Taylor, 20 February 1811\nFrom: Taylor, James\nTo: Madison, James\nDear sirNew Port Ky February 20th. 1811.\nJudge Coburn informs me his commission as Judge of Louisiana expires in November next during the recess of Congress; that under similar circumstances a Commission was renued (before it had expired) so as to prevent a failure of an important term of that Court. I expect the Judge will write to you on this subject and state to you the reason why it would be proper to renew his commission during the present session.\nI am assured that Judge Coburn has performed his duty to the utmost extent, and I am sure he will continue to do so as long as he may be honored with the Confidence of his goverment.\nHis removal to that country is as yet uncertain, but I am well informed his want of residence is no Objection by the people of the Territory. I am convinced they are perfectly satisfied that he should hold the Office under the Circumstances he now holds it. Of this I am sure abundant proof could be produced.\nI know of my own knowledge that he has not missed a meeting of the Legislature or a Term of the Court since his appointment.\nMr Coburns want of residence may by some who wish to get him out of Office, be made use of, but it is really a doubt with me whether in the agitated state of a New Territory: a Judge who is far removed from popular influence is not to be prefered to a resident, on whom the local impressions are sure to produce unpleasant effects.\nBut should you have any doubts on this subject I am well informed you can be furnished with abundant evidence of his standing in that Country; and if you would be so good in such case to signify your wish of such evidence I will venture to say it shall be furnished you. The Judges politics has been the same since my first acquaintance with him which has been for eighteen years.\nHe has been always popular as a Judge without ever appearing to take any pains to be so. He is firm and dignified, and I declare that I think he commands as much respect and presides with as much dignity as any Judge I ever saw.\nI am sure Govr. Howard thinks well of him and no doubt but you & him have had some conversation on this subject.\nOn the subject I took the liberty of saying some thing some time since, I have now to Observe, that I have lately been informed that the Petition has been industr[i]ously circulated & a number of signatures procured. I am informed that great numbers of signatures were procured at the Market at Cincinnati a few days ago. I confess I do not for my own part apprehend much danger, but I submit it to your super[i]or judgment, the propriety of convincing the people the injury that the leaders of this improper course may do to those people who may be in arrear to the Goverment for lands purchased in the state of Ohio.\nThis arrangment perhaps could be made thro\u2019 the representation of that state when they return. This business has been set on foot by some designing persons to answer some design. It is possible you may be much better informed on this subject than I can do it, but feeling an interest in every thing that concerns my Country & particularly your administration, I think it my duty to give you information from time to time of every occurrence that I may think may effect my beloved Country. If the information should be unimportant I am convinced yourself and all composing the Administration will appr[e]ciate my intentions. My family, my property, my all, is in this country. I am therefore deeply interested in every thing that concerns the Western country, and I think all of us who have it in our power ought to set our faces against any act or measure that may have a tendency to create jealousies in the Eastern states. I have the honor to be with the greatest respect Sir Your Obedt. Hble servt\nJames Taylor", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0231", "content": "Title: Draft of Robert Smith to Louis-Barb\u00e9-Charles S\u00e9rurier, 20 February 1811\nFrom: Smith, Robert\nTo: S\u00e9rurier, Louis-Charles-Barb\u00e9\nSir,Department of State February 20th. 1811.\nDesirous of laying before the President, with the utmost precision, the substance of our conference of this day, and knowing that verbal communications are not unfrequently misunderstood, I consider it proper to propose to you in a written form the questions, which I have had the honor of submitting to you in conversation, namely;\n1st \u2003 Were the Berlin and Milan Decrees revoked in whole or in part on the first day of last November? Or have they at any time posterior to that day been so revoked? Or have you instructions from your Government to give to this Government any assurance or explanation in relation to the revocation or modification of these Decrees?\n2d \u2003 Do the existing Decrees of France admit into French ports, with or without licences, American vessels laden with the produce of the United States? and under what regulations and conditions?\n3 \u2003 Do they admit into French ports with or without licences, American vessels laden with Articles not the produce of the United States, and under what regulations and conditions?\n4 \u2003 Do they permit American vessels, with or without licences, to return from France to the United States, and upon what terms and conditions?\n5 \u2003 Is the importation into France of any articles the produce of the United States absolutely prohibited? and if so, what are the articles so prohibited, and especially are Tobacco and Cotton.\n6 \u2003 Have you instructions from your Government to give to this Government any assurance or explanation in relation to the American vessels and cargoes seized under the Rambuillet Decree?", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0232", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Matthew Lyon and Others, 20 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Lyon, Matthew\nTo: Madison, James\n20 February 1811, Washington. Encloses a resolution of the General Assembly of Kentucky \u201crespecting the extinguishment of the Indian claim to the Territory lying South of River Tennessee, & within the limits of the Southern boundary of Kentucky.\u201d Expresses confidence that the executive will make \u201creasonable exertions\u201d to extinguish the claim.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0233", "content": "Title: From James Madison to the House of Representatives, 21 February 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: House of Representatives\nFebruary 21st 1811\nHaving examined and considered the Bill, entitled \u201cAn Act incorporating the protestant Episcopal Church in the Town of Alexandria in the District of Columbia,\u201d I now return the Bill to the House of Representatives, in which it originated, with the following objections:\nBecause the Bill exceeds the rightful authority, to which Governments are limited by the essential distinction between Civil and Religious functions, and violates, in particular, the Article of the Constitution of the United States which declares, that \u201cCongress shall make no law respecting a Religious establishment.\u201d The Bill enacts into, and establishes by law, sundry rules and proceedings relative purely to the organization and polity of the Church incorporated, and comprehending even the election and removal of the Minister of the same; so that no change could be made therein, by the particular Society, or by the General Church of which it is a member, and whose authority it recognizes. This particular Church, therefore, would so far be a religious establishment by law; a legal force and sanction being given to certain articles in its constitution and administration. Nor can it be considered that the articles thus established, are to be taken as the descriptive criteria only, of the corporate identity of the Society; in as much as this identity, must depend on other characteristics; as the regulations established are generally unessential and alterable, according to the principles and cannons, by which Churches of that denomination govern themselves; and as the injunctions & prohibitions contained in the regulat\u27e8ions\u27e9 would be enforced by the penal consequences applicable to a violation of them according to the local law.\nBecause the Bill vests in the said incorporated Church, an authority to provide for the support of the poor, and the education of poor children of the same; an authority, which being altogether superfluous if the provision is to be the result of pious charity, would be a precident for giving to religious Societies as such, a legal agency in carrying into effect a public and civil duty.\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0235", "content": "Title: To James Madison from David Bailie Warden, 21 February 1811\nFrom: Warden, David Bailie\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,Washington 21 february, 1811.\nIn consequence of the enquiry which you were pleased to make last evening, with respect to my conduct in a certain affair, I beg leave to present you the following statement of facts. A french vessel, by the particular permission, or instruction of General Armstrong was purchased by Captain Haley, in the name of Captain Banks, an american, to sail as a Parlementaire or flag vessel for the United States, with passengers, and was advertised as such in the commercial journal of Paris. Haleys\u2019 presence was required at Dieppe, and he, for certain reasons, not wishing to be known as the real agent in this affair, with regard to the receipt of monies for the passage, requested me to act in this capacity, and I permitted my name to appear, agreeably to General Armstrongs\u2019 wishes, in the newspaper advertisement. A Mr. Auguste, who had been watchmaker to the Emperor, was recommended to me, by Mr. Bonpland, the fellow-traveller of Humboldt, as an able artist, or mechanician who proposed to embark for the United States, with a large collection of mathematical, and other Instruments, and machines for making them; and he\u2014Auguste\u2014stated to me that he had obtained a passport to enable him to embark with the said articles, and this thro the medium of a distinguished personage, the Governor of the Palace. I, at once offered to favor his project, believing with Baron Humboldt, Bonpland and several americans, that the machines would be infinitely useful to the United States, and that the President would grant permission for their entry. I mentioned this to Captain Haley, who had returned to Paris, and who proposed to put them in the hold of the said vessel as ballast; and he requested me to write a note to his friend Mr De La Rue, at Dieppe, whom I never saw, to receive the cases containing them, which I did, according to a written statement, furnished by Auguste, indicating their weight. He, for some reason, of which I did not ask an explanation, requested me not to mention, in my note, that they were his property, or that he was to embark, which I observed. Auguste, by my advice, was to make his arrangement with Captain Haley, at Dieppe, for the amount of his passage and freight of the machines which I refused to arrange not knowing Haleys\u2019 terms with respect to the latter. I sent him, by Capt Haley, a note of introduction to Mr Bullus, navy agent, at New York, in which I mentioned the machines, and asked his intercession with the President for their free entry. I heard no more of Auguste untill after the departure of the vessel, and the return of Captain Haley to Paris, who informed me that the cases forwarded to Dieppe by Auguste had been seized by his Creditors, and that they contained not only machines but silks and other articles of merchandise. I was deeply mortified at this deception, tho, I never, for a moment, suspected, that I would be accused, even by an enemy, of connivance in this Affair, as I had no interest whatever in the vessel, which was under the particular direction of General Armstrong and Captain Haley with respect to what might be taken on board. It was during the embargo, and it was impossible that I could be employed in evading its execution. My letter to Mr. Bullus was the best proof of this. Besides, there was no invoice, no letter of instruction, or of consignment to shew that I had any interest therein. When every means had failed to injure me, which art and wickedness could contrive, this was resorted to after the annulment of my appointment, and being apprised of it, I communicated all the circumstances of the case to several americans to Baron Humboldt, Mr. Bonpland, and Mr. Gay Lussac of the Polytechnic school, who had been long acquainted with the project of Auguste to export the machines &c which were considered by them as of great value. All of them, knowing my innocence, said that it was impossible to represent this affair to my disadvantage. Colonel Taite, who is now in this Country, had often spoken of the said machines to General Armstrong; and had proposed several times, when at Paris, to aid Auguste in transporting them to this Country. Permit me, Sir, to declare to you, in the most sacred manner, that the above statement is correct and true\u2014that I knew nothing directly, or indirectly, of the purchase of the said silks, or other merchandise, or of their transportation, before it was communicated to me by Captain Haley after the departure of the vessel; and that I had neither interest, nor profit, nor concern therein\u2014nor in the said vessel\u2014that I acted merely as agent to receive monies from Individuals, permitted by General Armstrong to embark as passengers, of which I gave him a list as he had instructed me. It is well known to all the american consuls in France, to the Bankers and merchants of Paris, and to the americans who resided there that I never was concerned in any mercantile speculation, the whole time that I acted as Secretary and as Consul.\nGeneral Armstrong told me, several months before he made known Mr. Russels\u2019 appointment, that there was a person on the European continent, who was destined to take my place. I asked his name, which he refused to reveal; but observed that it was an arrangement made thro the influence of General Smith, with which he had nothing to do. He spoke to me with the appearance of friendship on the subject, and offered me the Consulship of Nantes, or of Havre, which I refused for two reasons, viz 1e. Because the acceptance of a place inferior to that which I held would be considered as a degradation; and, 2e. That as there was no commercial business in either of these ports, and as I had no fortune, I could not there find means of existence corresponding to my education, and situation in life. He afterwards offered me his influence to procure me an appointment in South america, and as I placed entire confidence in his friendship, I accepted this offer, and resolved to accompany him home, convinced that Mr. Russel was to take my place. In the mean time, he arrived at Paris, and refused to accept it; and some days afterwards my letters from Doctors Bullus, Mitchill and others, received by the Hornet Brig of War, informed me that there was no question of the Government annulling my appointment but, on the contrary, that there was every reason to believe, that the President of the United States would continue me in office. I then called on general Armstrong, and requested him to allow me to remain in office for some short time to enable me to arrange my affairs, and to aid americans in the prosecution of claims which they had committed to my care. He replied, that he would speak to Mr. Russel on the subject; and the next day, the Minister informed me, as well as Mr. Parker, that I was to remain in my situation till the ensuing spring. A day, or two afterwards I was informed by a friend that he proposed to nominate Mr. McCrae as Consul. In the mean time he sought a pretext for this conduct; and the correspondence took place of which I had the honor to present you a Copy: and three days after the date of my second note he annulled my powers because I refused to give him the certificate, or declaration respecting him which he demanded and mr. Deverux informed me that if I gave the declaration he expected General Armstrong would continue me in office, and would write me a friendly letter from Bordeaux. I never gave him any reasonable cause of displeasure. General La Fayette, Colonel de T\u27e8orn?\u27e9ant, General O Conner, Mr. Parker and other Gentlemen assured him that during several years acquaintance they never heard me speak of him but with respect, and that the whispers of enemies were false. He gave me an opportunity of declaring the same. My disposition was best manifested by my daily visits to him, by my prompt attendance at his cabinet when asked, and my constant readiness to do him every possible service. Captain Haleys rage against me was owing to the circumstance of my refusing to associate intimately with him. On account of his employment from General Armstrong, I always treated him in a civil manner. I have, Sir, offered this statement of facts for your satisfaction, and regret that I am obliged to trouble you with it at a moment when you are occupied with such important affairs. It is mortifying to my feelings of self-respect to be reduced to the necessity of noticing the calumnies and insinuations of slanderers, but I know what is due to the high station and eminent character of the chief magistrate of the United States, whom I have the honor to address. I am willing that every act of my life be examined with the strictest scrutiny, for I am convinced that I can bid defiance to the malice of my greatest enemy. I have the honor to be, Sir, with profound respect, Your very obedt and very humbe Sert\nDavid Bailie Warden", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0236", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John H. Hall, 21 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Hall, John H.\nTo: Madison, James\n21 February 1811, Portland. Claims to have made an improvement in the construction of firearms which will increase the strength of the militia. \u201cThis improvement I wish to introduce to the notice of the American Government & that those to whose cognizance it more particularly belongs may properly investigate & ascertain its value.\u2026 Presuming upon the interest which you appear to take in every thing tending to promote the improvement of the militia I have address\u2019d this letter to you requesting your assistance.\u201d Requests a response.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0237", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 23 February 1811\nFrom: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,Washington Feby. 23d 1811\nNotwithstanding the exertions I have made to complete the estimates required by the resolution of the House of Representatives of the 14h. of January, devoting a considerable part of every night to that object I have only been able to accomplish it now. At the same time I submit a list of outstanding claims.\nThe drawings to which I allude in my letter are upon such large & heavy boards that I cannot, I fear, bring them to the President\u2019s house before tomorrow morning. But as the view alluded to is very nearly a copy of that which you have seen, if you could dispense with its being brought to You & permit it to be hung up in the house of Rep., I would place it there tomorrow or Monday morning, provided it may be convenient to send in your Message on that day, which owing to the late period of the session, & the dependence of the appropriation on this report, I should with great deference to you, solicit.\nThe Estimates for the Wings are so correct that I am very confident they will not be exceeded. That for the Center appears to me to be ample. It has been made with great care. I am with high respect Yrs &c\nB Henry Latrobe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0238", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 23 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry\nTo: Madison, James\n23 February 1811, Washington. Makes the following statement in compliance with JM\u2019s direction that he submit information required by the House of Representatives resolution of 14 Jan. \u201cOf the Center of the Capitol, no estimate can be presented without a more definite plan than I possess of that part of the building. I have therefore transmitted only an estimate of the Wings.\u201d Provides estimates for the expense of completing the north wing totaling $85,000 and for the south wing totaling $61,000. \u201cThe Work may be compleated in two Years from the 1st. of Augt. next, the intermediate time being required for preparatory arrangements.\u201d To these figures he adds an estimate of $17,000 for the platforms for the north and south fronts.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0239", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Nicholson, 24 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Nicholson, John\nTo: Madison, James\n24 February 1811. Seeks employment in the \u201ccontemplated new territory of Mobile.\u201d Would request the position of secretary but does not wish to stand in the way of his friend Thomas Gales, who is already a candidate. Considers himself qualified for a judgeship but would accept a position inferior to that. \u201cI have for several years past been troubled with a pulmonary complaint, and I find it gains ground on me so fast that I am convinced I never shall get rid of it unless in a southern climate.\u2026 Prudence requires my keeping within doors more than is compatible with the duties of a representative.\u201d Has some knowledge of the law but his health has prevented him from practicing much over the last three years. Promises to call on JM in a day or two for information.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0243", "content": "Title: From James Madison to the House of Representatives, 25 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: House of Representatives\n25 February 1811. Transmits reports from the superintendent of the city and the surveyor of the public buildings in compliance with the resolution of 14 Jan. 1811.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0245", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Thomas Lightfoot Griffin, 26 February 1811\nFrom: Griffin, Thomas Lightfoot\nTo: Madison, James\nCity of Washington Feby. 26. 1811\nMr. Thomas Lightfoot Griffin by way of subjunction to his Letter of the 20th. Inst. addressed to His Excellency James Madison President of the United States of America presents his most respectful compliments and respectfully solicits an answer in regard to the subject matter contained therein; and is ready & willing now and at all times hereafter to make reply to any Interrogatories that may be propounded him by the President himself should such a measure be adopted or deemed in the least degree necessary. He has other Letters in his possession at the service of the President which he will transmit him at any time. With the most profound respect He subscribes himself\nTho: L: Griffin", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0246", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Charles Jared Ingersoll, 26 February 1811\nFrom: Ingersoll, Charles Jared\nTo: Madison, James\nSirPhiladelphia 26 February 1811\nSome weeks ago I took the liberty to trouble you with a pamphlet lately published, without communicating my name as the writer. But as this concealment will soon be no longer necessary, and I am very desirous of ascertaining your sentiments on the subject, I beg leave to make it known to you, that with a design, which I am confident ought to be approved, whatever imperfections may appear in the performance, I published the Jesuits Letters, in defence and vindication of this happy and great republic, against the detraction and insidious hostility of the nations of Europe, particularly France and England, the two with which it is our misfortune to be most intimately connected. As my object was patriotic, much minor matter was cast aside in the course of preparation for the press, in order that nothing might be published which would be objectionable as personal or political\u2014so that the work, at best but a skeleton, came forth mutilated and imperfect. I presume however that enough remains to exhibit the moral intended\u2014an epitome of the miseries and prejudices of France and England, their detestation of each other and coincidence in contempt jealousy, and hostility toward us, contrasted with a sketch of our prosperity, national character, resources and virtue, with a transient outline of our policy. Want of selfrespect, an unjust self appreciation has always struck me, since my return from Europe, as a defect in the American people\u2014and tho I felt my own want of capacity and of time for the task, yet, as no one else seemed disposed to undertake it, I determined to make such an essay as might perhaps excite abler pens, and tend, however faintly, to shew our inestimable advantages.\nYour approbation, not only as chief magistrate of the country, to which I am grateful and proud to belong, but likewise as a man of letters and extraordinary attainments in the provinces I have ventured to explore, would be one of the highest gratifications I could flatter myself with\u2014and I presume, with much anxiety for the result, to ask your opinion. I remain with the greatest respect and consideration your most obedient servant\nC. J. Ingersoll", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0247", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Samuel Latham Mitchill, 26 February 1811\nFrom: Mitchill, Samuel Latham\nTo: Madison, James\nCapitol hill 26th. feby. 1811\nSaml L Mitchill ventures to submit to the President, the petition of Capt John OBrien who is now charged in execution for a penalty incurred in consequence of a violation of the embargo-laws; and therewith to express his own wishes, that the President would extend to the petitioner, all the clemency that he can.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0248", "content": "Title: To James Madison from David Bailie Warden, 26 February 1811\nFrom: Warden, David Bailie\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,Washington, 26 february, 1811.\nI beg leave to offer you the following explanation concerning my conduct as Agent of Prize Causes, which has been, as you are pleased to inform me, represented to you, in an unfavorable manner. It gratifies me much to be permitted to expose the false charges secretly made for the purpose of disappointing my views. Without this favor, I could find no security against the shafts of malice. If I were acquainted with the particular case, for which I have been accused of receiving improperly a sum of thirty, or forty Louis for its defence, I could give the most satisfactory proofs of my innocence, by an exposition of documents and particular facts. It is fortunate for me, that my conduct, in this business, was never influenced by pecuniary motives. It was the custom of my predecessor, (as it is that of all Bankers, merchants, and agents), to charge a regular commission on claims specially committed to his care. Contrary to this usage, I commenced my agency by writing a circular, which stated, that I claimed no commission: and this engagement I faithfully observed. I was accused by my friends, and laughed at by merchants and agents, for this act, which, they observed, would procure me no thanks. I found an ample recompence in the friendship and confidence of americans, which it contributed to inspire. It may be useful to remark, that the usual sum of money given to a lawyer for defending a Prize Cause, is fifty Louis, and sometimes he receives a hundred and upwards. The Captains, or supercargoes of american vessels are usually instructed to commit their case to the particular direction of some Banker, or merchant, who is authorised to pay the necessary fees and expences for its prosecution. General Armstrong, by whose advice, or suggestion, I was guided in all this business, recommended Mr. Pichon as a lawyer to be employed by me in cases specially committed to my Management. I made an agreement with him, on the part of the americans, by which he was to receive no more than thirty Louis, instead of fifty, for the defence of each case, of which I had the particular direction. I was instructed to pay him this sum, for which I took his receipt, a duplicate of which I retained; and the americans were pleased with this arrangement. He complained to General Armstrong and to myself that the sum was too little, and he demanded more, with which demand I could not comply, as it was contrary to the above mentioned engagement. After Mr Pichons\u2019 departure from Paris, I was permitted to go daily to the Prize Court, where I became intimately acquainted with its proceedings, and I was authorised, in virtue of instructions and special procurations, by Mesrs Willink and van Staphorst, by Hope & Co, and by Crommelin & Sons, Bankers, at amsterdam, and by Messrs Hottinguer and other Bankers, at Paris, to make defences in certain cases. The memoirs, written by myself, in a style and manner, which none but a public Agent could dare to assume, were presented with those of the Lawyers I employed, who co-operated with me in the prosecution of the Claim. In all these cases, they voluntarily furnished me with the sum of thirty, or forty Louis to pay the Lawyers\u2019 fee, the printing of the memoir & legal fees of the Council of Prizes, for which I transmitted them regular receipts. Every thing executed by me, was in virtue of their instructions, or of those of the Agent of the vessel and Cargo. In no case did I receive a Commission. This fact is well-known to all who are acquainted with my agency in this business. I could easily prove, that I have lost upwards of two hundred Louis advanced to Lawyers for defending cases before the Prize Court, which, not being represented by any Agent, I thought it a duty not to permit them to be adjudged without a defence. The cases were insured, and the underwriters despairing of the restoration of their property, refuse to reimburse the sums advanced. I regret to be under the necessity of saying so much in my own behalf. All the acts of my public conduct were intimately known to General Armstrong and to the american Captains and agents who visited me daily. Federalists and Republicans, of this description, have certified that I acted according to my duty. If necessary, I could furnish a particular account of every case of which I had the management. I defy any Individual to prove that I ever asked, or received a Commission, or improper compensation. I felt an enthusiasm to act so as to be worthy of the trust confided to me.\nI was induced, Sir, by a certain circumstance, to write, in great haste, the letter which I last had the honor of addressing to you: and I forgot to state, that the vessel, to which I alluded, named the Happy Return, sailed from Dieppe, for the united States, in the month of October, 1809. The art, employed by Auguste, was made known to General Armstrong, and to several americans; and so particular were its circumstances, that suspicion herself could not accuse my motives and conduct. To be useful to the united States, to M. Auguste, and to his friends was all that I had in view. If there had been any room for accusation against me, it would have been circulated by enemies, or mentioned by friends in the course of the year which elapsed between the sailing of the said vessel, and the annulment of my powers as Consul. M. Auguste had been introduced to me as an excellent artist: I saw him often at my office, and at the house of a friend, and he never failed to introduce into conversation his favorite project of transporting himself, his machines and machinery to the united States, of whose Government he expressed great admiration. I was quite ignorant that his affairs were in a deranged state: on the contrary, I was led to believe, that he was very independent. Having no suspicion concerning articles of merchandise, the positive prohibition of which I mentioned to him and to all other passengers, I did not reflect on the weight of the cases, owing perhaps to the hurry of business, and to the circumstance of his stating, that he proposed to embark models of brass cannon, and machinery of great weight. He had invited me to see the said articles, but I was prevented by the business of my office. I am conscious that my motives were just, and my intentions good in every act of my public conduct. If I am reinstated, as I fondly hope, in the situation I filled at Paris, I will labor, with all possible zeal and industry, to discharge faithfully the duties of my office, and to promote the views of the administration of the United States to which I feel sincerely attached. I regret, Sir, to give you so much trouble, at a moment, when your labors are more than usually great. I have the honor to be, Sir, with the greatest respect, Your most obedient & very humble Servt.\nDavid Bailie Warden", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0250", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Jonathan Williams, 27 February 1811\nFrom: Williams, Jonathan\nTo: Madison, James\nSirWednesday morning Feb. 27. 1811\nThe momentary, although faint, hope that the Military Academy Bill will be called up, induces me to attend in the House all day, and prevents me from stating to you verbally its almost forlorn situation. I am convinced that there is a sufficient Majority in the House to pass the Bill without Amendment, which is now the only way it can pass, for should it go back to the Senate the session would close before it could be acted upon. The only thing wanting is sufficient zeal to get it up, and here I find the weakness of my influence, although I keep the little I have in constant action.\nI should be sorry to appear too officious, but my motives cannot be condemned, for although it may be found that I seek for additional care, anxiety & responsibility in the new organization, it will not be seen that I can enjoy any additional rank or emolument; I therefore hope you will pardon my suggesting to you the expediency of impressing upon the minds of a few leading members of the House, as you occasionally see them, the same sentiments as to the public importance of this Institution that you have been pleased to express to me. This coming from you will produce a call for the Bill from various Quarters and so force it up; The amendment as to site will doubtless fail, and the friends to the Bill had better let the other as to increase of appropriation fail also, then the vote on its passage would be conclusive. I have the honour to be with the most perfect respect Sir Your devoted servant\nJona Williams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0252", "content": "Title: From James Madison to the House of Representatives, 28 February 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: House of Representatives\nFebruary 28th 1811\nHaving examined and considered the Bill entitled \u201cAn act for the relief of Richard Turvin, William Coleman, Edwin Lewis, Samuel Mims, Joseph Wilson, and the Baptist Church at Salem Meeting House, in the Mississippi Territory\u201d I now return the same to the House of Representatives in which it originated, with the following objection:\nBecause the Bill, in reserving a certain parcel of land of the United States for the use of said Baptist Church, comprizes a principle and precedent for the appropriation of funds of the United States, for the use and support of Religious Societies; contrary to the Article of the Constitution which declares that Congress shall make no law respecting a Religious Establishment.\nJames Madison.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0253", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Congress, 28 February 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Congress\n28 February 1811. Transmits a report of the secretary of state relative to deficiencies in the returns of the census.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0254", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Charles Jared Ingersoll, 2 March 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Ingersoll, Charles Jared\nSirWashington Mar. 2. 1811\nI have recd your letter of the 26. Ult: referring to a pamphlet previously sent me; and for which now that I know to whom I am indebted, I return my thanks.\nHaving recd. the pamphlet at a moment, which permitted a very hasty perusal only, my judgment of it ought to have the less value even with those most partial to it. I am able to say, however, without compliment, that the perusal of the work afforded me pleasure, as being a seasonable antidote to t\u27e8he\u27e9 misconceptions & perversions which prevail agst. the true character of our nation & its Republican polity; and as presenting features of lear[n]ing, reflection & discrimination, doing credit to the Author; a credit which seems to be the greater when it is known that he is a young one. In expressing this opinion, I must at the same time do it with a reserve as to some views of characters & things, which I can not but ascribe to errors which time will remove from all candid & discerning minds. Accept my esteem & friendly respects\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0255", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Richard Forrest, [2 March] 1811\nFrom: Forrest, Richard\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,Capitol Hill Saturday Night. [2 March 1811]\nJudge Anderson seems to think that, some doubts exist respecting the situation of my nomination. Some of the Members think it still in the possession of the Senate, and others that a new one must be made, and as tomorrow is the last day, he conceives it would be well to have it ready in case it should become a question, for the new one to be used only in case of need. I think there is no doubt of the result.\nI have sent my Son up to inform \u27e8you\u27e9 of the real state of the case, and beg you to stand by me in this last extremety. I remain most sincerely Your obt. Servt.\nRichd. Forrest", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0257", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Joseph Anderson, [3 March] 1811\nFrom: Anderson, Joseph\nTo: Madison, James\nSirSenate Chamber 5 OClock PM [3 March 1811]\nThe nominations you Sent in to day\u2014will not be finally acted on for want of time. By a rule of Senate, they must lie one day for consideration\u2014an attempt has been made to Suspend the rule but without Success. If therefore\u2014you consider those nominations of Suffic[i]ent importance\u2014to require the attendance of Senate to morrow\u2014we meet again at Six OClock\u2014and I have taken leave to give you this information. With verry high respect\nJos: Anderson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0258", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Armstrong, 3 March 1811\nFrom: Armstrong, John\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,New York 3d. March 1811.\nThe first paragraph of your letter of the 24th. Ult. on the subject of Warden\u2019s character & conduct, makes it a duty on my part to speak fully and freely to you with regard to this Adventurer. He is an impostor in every thing, and as deficient in capacity, as he is in fidelity. He has not written a single page of those memoirs, which have been so ostentatiously published as his, and on which is founded, whatever degree of reputation may be imputed to him, for zeal\u2014for industry and for talent. They are by his own acknowledgment & without exception, the productions of French lawyers, & particularly of a Mr. Darchey an indigent man of letters & of law, to whom Warden gave five louis for each Memoir, while for each, his regular charge against the American Sufferer, was thirty louis. Like other traders however of small capital and bad morals, he had more than one price for his wares. Their value rose, or fell, according to the temper, or the means of the person employing him. Hence it was, that in the case mentioned by Mr. Russel, he actually charged and received fifty Louis for doing nothing; while in that of Capt. Merrihew, he brought himself down to accept a doceur of five, (over and above the expences of the process) for doing all, that it was in his power to do for any man. The truth is, that taking one case with another, ten louis may be regarded as the Amt. necessarily expended for copying and printing &c. &c. and when it shall rise above this sum there is room to suspect the existence of extortion. To this therefore M. Warden was fairly entitled, but not to a single shilling beyond it. His personal services, as agent of Prize Causes, were compensated by the public, and for these he received a sallary of 2000$ per An. from the Diaplomatic fund, as you know.\nIn the case mentioned by M. Russel, Warden has pledged himself, as you inform me, that he will give an explanation which shall be satisfactory. Does this also turn on mere inexperience and want of caution? With what propriety can a man of his age, who has been six years in public Service, set up a defense like this? The apology itself is an admission of incompetency, as well as of wrong-doing; and in what country on earth, are the claims of either, deemed a sufficient pass-port to public confidence and public office? But, Sir, permit to say, that any explanation of the case of the meditated shipment, which shall have the effect of leaving him subject only to imputations of inexperience and want of caution, is a false one. Did he know that the non-intercourse law existed? Did he know that the introduction of French merchandise into the United States, was forbidden by this law? Did he know that Capt. Freeman was specially prohibited from carrying with him such merchandise? He knew all these circumstances, yet in defiance of all, he presses his friend Haley (Who was part owner of the vessel) to take on board twenty thousand pounds weight of merchandise, to which he gives the name of machines, and which turns out to be silk stockings, millenery, Clocks and their Ornaments, house-hold furniture Chymical & surgical instruments &c. &c. and all destined for the Philadelphia market. And how does this up-right servant of the public, propose to get over the inhibitions of the law? \u201cWhy\u201d says he \u201cyou may take them as private property\u201d\u2014not as merchandise. And what temptation does he offer to the ship owner to bring about his concurrence in the business? One, not badly calculated to produce the effect. \u201cHe (the Shipper)\u201d says Warden \u201cwill pay you well for it.\u201d That this carries with it abundant proof of a want of caution, will be readily admitted. But does it prove nothing else? Does it look like the blunder of mere inexperience? Is it not evident that he knew what he was doing? that he labored both corruptly and cunningly? that he not only saw that a law was to be violated, but that the risk of that violation was to be compensated also, and that his measures must be adapted to both purposes?\nIt is your opinion in the case of Mc.Rae, that the single fact of his bringing with him from England, two British licences, would be sufficient ground to dismiss him from office, provided, the proof of the fact, could be clearly made out. But between this offense, taking the fact for granted, and that of Warden, how substantial is the difference? At the time of taking these licences, Mc.Rae was not in any public office, and there is neither proof of his using, nor of his attempting to use them, after his arrival in France\u2014Nay the very reverse is the regular conclusion from M. Russel\u2019s letter, for he says, (somewhere about the middle of November) that Mc.Rae still had these licenses in his pocket. Warden, on the other hand, a consul of the U. S. deliberately and in writing, proposes to another citizen of the said states, a violation of a known and acknowledged law of his Sovereign and employer, and offers a mercenary motive, to draw him into the commission of the offense. Nor is there in this case, as in the other, any deficiency of proof\u2014the fact is established by Warden\u2019s own hand-writing. It is found in a letter from himself to Nathan Haley\u2014the genuiness of which, is admitted by you. Between these cases then, there is certainly a very wide difference, and if Mc.Rae\u2019s conduct merits dismissal from office, Warden\u2019s is not such, as will entitle him to a new, & perhaps to higher appointment.\nWith regard to his general character and habits, (of which you appear to think favorably) were they much better than they are, they cannot outweigh conclusions drawn from a specific Charge, clearly and distinctly made out against him. Mal-conduct in office, like other things, has it\u2019s beginnings, and I know not that the best method to check these, is to bestow upon the person guilty of it, new marks of confidence & favor. Amendment, if it ever come, will be preceeded by repentance, and this is not a fruit likely to be produced by fresh hopes & encreasing patronage.\nThat some respectable men may favor his re-appointment, is no doubt true, since you assert it\u2014but do these Men know, what has been Mr. Warden\u2019s conduct in France? If they do not, their warmth and their wishes ought to go for nothing, because the regular presumption is, that their opinions of him would change, as mine have done, on a nearer view of him and of his conduct. But who Sir, of these respectable men, can know his Character and habits better than myself? With me he has lived nearly eight years in an intercourse of daily business\u2014six of these under my roof and at my table, and I scruple not to declare it as my solemn conviction, that he is unworthy of both public and private trust. Of this fact I have proofs, not yet submitted, but which shall be submitted, the moment they can be copied. I shall then shew (in his own hand-writing) an insinuation that he was the depositary of a secret which gave him a powerful hold of Me & which he must retain for the purposes of self-defense. Exonerating as he does my private morals, it follows that the offense he would impute to me, has been of a public or official character\u2014but when pressed to come out with a direct charge, he makes to me substantially the following infamous proposition: \u201cKeep me in place\u2014& I will keep your secret. I will do more\u2014I & my friends will strain every nerve to promote your views, whatever they may be.\u201d What, I ask, ought to have been my answer? What was my answer? I instantly dismissed him from office: \u201cgo Sir, and carry your secret to the best market you can find. You may get bidders for it, but their deception will be that of a moment. If you tell truth, you will do me honor, and if you lie, I will certainly detest you.\u201d Such was our parting, and I have not seen him since. When I went to Washington he had disappeared from that place. When I returned to the North, he was no longer there. Traces of him I did find, that is, abundance of falsehoods scattered up and down, and all communicated under the severest injunctions of secrecy. But I will not trouble you with a detail of these\u2014nor will I do more at present than merely state, that to this Country he has not, he cannot have, a Shadow of Attachment. He was neither born nor bred in it\u2014nor has he a shilling of property nor a single connexion either of blood or of affinity within it\u2019s limits. He is not even a resident of it by election, for he was deported hither against his will & in commutation of a punishment of a different kind\u2014nor did he seek to be naturalised amongst us untill the eve of his departure for France and as a protection on his passage thither. What tie then can bind him to us? not a sense of duty, for we have proof before us, of his want of reverence for the laws; not pecunary interest, for he has none of it; not natural affections, for they have no object here. According to his own account, it is the civil & political liberty to be found in the U. S. and if so, why not stay & enjoy them? Why such eagerness\u2014such anxiety to be gone?\u2014to get back to Europe & to an empire of Europe, certainly not much distinguished by the resemblance between it\u2019s institutions & those of our own Country? Truth does not in this case lie at the bottom of the well: though without a single grain of attachment to the U. S. M. Warden has a most sincere & affectionate regard for their public offices & for the honors & emoluments they confer. And well he may, for they have already enabled him to live longer in France, then he ever lived in America. But Sir, are these circumstances of a nature to favor new claims upon us? Are they not dissuasion against such claims? Does our own country furnish no native citizen willing & able to fill the consulate at Paris? Does it furnish none such of at least equal pretensions with this Mr. D. B. Warden? If it does not, God help us, for our national intellect must, in that case, be smitten with barrenness. But I have done. I have written thus far in the frankness which has characterised all my intercourse with you, public and private, and which I cannot lay aside without remarking, that if M. Warden be reinstated, you pass an indirect censure on my conduct in removing him, and, of course, impose upon me the necessity of shewing the grounds on which I acted. At whatever time, or in whatever way I may do this, I shall not cease to remember the very high respect, with which I have the honor to be, Sir, Your most Obedient & very humble servant\nJ Armstrong.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0259", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Samuel Smith, 4 March 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Smith, Samuel\nTo: Madison, James\n4 March 1811, Washington. \u201cMy excellent young friend Mr. John Skinner of Annapolis, (who I believe was presented to you by Mr. Duvall) intends going to the Western Country. He wishes to commence his Career there in Some public Employ.\u201d Skinner\u2019s legal studies and service as a clerk in the state legislature qualify him for a secretary\u2019s position, and his \u201cconnections & family are among the most respectable in Calvert County.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0261", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Bryan McDonogh, 5 March 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: McDonogh, Bryan\nTo: Madison, James\n5 March 1811, Malta. \u201cFrom many years residence in Tripoli, and the knowledge that Mr. Davis and Mr. Payne have of my acquaintance with all the affairs of that Regency, I am in consequence of which left by the latter Gentleman (who is obliged by ill health to go from hence to his Native Air) as charged with the affairs of America, untill the pleasure of the Government of the U. S. is known.\u201d Recalls that he has performed similar duties in the past at Tripoli and received a letter of approval from Mr. Pickering for doing so. Refers JM to Davis and Payne to counter the \u201cmalicious insinuations\u201d made on his character by a former American consul.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0262", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Joseph Thomas, 5 March 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Thomas, Joseph\nTo: Madison, James\n5 March 1811, Malta. \u201cDuring a residence of ten Years, in this Island, as Garrison Surgeon I have had frequent opportunities of knowing & attending professionally, many of your Excellencys Countrymen.\u2026 The purport of my writing to your Excellency, at this time is to acquaint of Mr. Payne\u2019s state of health.\u201d For some time Payne has been in \u201ca most dangerous state, of nervous instability, attended with great general debility.\u201d Mr. Moore, in whose house Payne has resided, has done all he could, and \u201cthe only alternative left, was the sending him home to his native Country, & air, for a change.\u201d Makes this statement in justice to Payne and to explain why he leaves his public post without first communicating with his government, \u201ca delay which in this instance might be attended with fatal consequences.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0263", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Harry Toulmin, 6 March 1811\nFrom: Toulmin, Harry\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirFort Stoddert, March 6. 1811\nWhen I had last the honour of addressing you, I did not think it probable that any event would speedily occur which would render it proper for me again to intrude upon your attention: nor am I certain at the present moment that any will occur which will absolutely require the interference of the chief magistrate of the Union: but so great is our distance from the seat of government, and so impracticable is it that any measures should be taken by the Executive authority to restore the public peace after it is actually violated, that even distant and incipient symtoms of disease ought probably to be noticed, as no effectual remedies can possibly be applied after it is actually formed.\nIntimations have been given to me that a new plan is actually forming for the purpose of making war on the Spanish possessions, and although I know but little of the character of my informant who has been applied to, to join in it, yet the information which he gave me is strengthened by a declaration which I understand on good authority, has been made by a leader in the business, that they will now have ten men to support them in the expedition to one that they had before. Other promoters of the late enterprize have also, as it is said, been lately making purchases of all descriptions of land claims on the Pascagola, and have been industriously encouraging the new settlers in this district who served under Kemper, to go to that river and take possession of their 640 acres of land guarranteed to them by the convention: and I must confess that I can see nothing in this step but an attempt to form a party who may be bound by a community of interests to carry into operation any new projects of unlawful ambition.\nA neighbour, also, who has just returned from the settlements near Baton Rouge, gives me no very favourable picture of the temper of mind prevailing in that part of the Country.\nA general spirit of murmuring and discontent he represents as predominant. They regret extremely that they gave up the country so readily to the United States, talk of a dissolution of the Union and a new western Confederation, and (tho\u2019 to[t]ally inconcerned in the affairs of this part of Florida, and tho\u2019 never before taking any part in them) declare that if the United States do not take possession of the country in the hands of the Spaniards, they will again assert their independence and maintain it at every risque.\nThey propose, however, to wait till Congress adjourns, and if they then find that no effective steps have been taken; they are determined to make war both upon West & East Florida. It is possible that my informant may have attached more importance and more prevalence to these sentiments, than sober observation and a more minute acquaintance with the characters of the men would warrant: but he represents them to me as being the sentiments both of the many and of the great. As to any co-operation which may in the event of an insurrection, be expected from this district, I have no doubt but that many are sufficiently disgusted with the issue of their late expedition, and none are now aggrieved by Spanish oppression: but a combination of leading men and public officers (who have probably flattering prospects of personal agrandizement) must have a formidable influence on such a population as ours, and I cannot but deem it highly expedient that every precautionary step should be taken by the national Executive which is suggested by the \u201cact in addition to the act for the punishment of certain crimes against the U. S.\u201d or by any other law which is applicable to the occasion.\nI do not look forward, however, without considerable anxiety to the conduct of the military department in this part of the national territory: I have seen too much of the imminent danger to which the public interests have been exposed, by the command being placed, (not in vitious but) in feeble hands, and I have flattered myself that the military power being now under the controul of the upright and intelligent mind of Col. Cushing, would no longer become subservient to the purposes of base intrigue, but be directed sole[l]y to the honour and interests of the nation.\nI grieve, therefore, to hear, that there is a probability of his been [sic] compelled to appear at Washington on the Mississippi to answer, as it is suggested or supposed to some charge exhibited against him there by an inferior officer. I speak, however, on little more than rumour, for I have expressed no wish for accurate information as to the cause of the order: but I tremble for the fate of this country, should a post so important be placed at a critical juncture, in the hands of a man incompetent either as to understanding or as to experience.\nOur greatest security perhaps lies in the want of funds among those who may be disposed to interrupt the public peace, and to loosen the bands which unite together the American family.\nBut we cannot on the other hand be sure that funds may not find their way from distant countries, and the open anxiety which, it is said, is discovered on the Mississippi part of Florida, to exercise the attributes of sovreignty, (if it be really any thing more than the blustering talk of self conceited politicians) may derive its stimulus and its support from the promise of foreign aid. It may be French or British, or both, operating on different minds.\nOn Monday last I began to hold a court in this County. It should have set 12 days: but the clerk (a very drunken man lately appointed) had absented himself, & left no deputy, & had been seen sixty miles off on the road to Orleans the preceeding day.\nI appointed one pro tempero, amidst much opposition, and loud charges from Major Buford a justice of the county court of tyranny & oppression, and of assuming by this act of appointing a clerk pro-temp the legislative functions. I persevered however, without remark on his observations, in doing what little business could be done, viz. receiving returns, swearing attornies, & adopting rules for the governt. of the new court, (for the absent clerk had all the papers) and then adjourned to the next term.\nBufford, Kennedy, M\u2019Farland and others, leaders in the late expedition, as well as many of their adherents were armed with clubs, and several of them with dirks, and as soon as the court was adjourned, Kennedy stepped forward (the whole being in the open woods\u2014for we have no Courthouse) & stated that he was upon his own dung hill and proclaimed Cap. E. P. Gaines a dam\u2014d scoundrel & a coward &c. &c.\u2014but after I came away, as I am told, observed that he now found him to be a gentleman, that tho\u2019 he (Ky) was on his own ground & could do what he pleased, & have Gaines assassinated in a moment if he thought proper, yet that no man should touch him, & upon this threw down his cudgel. From this & from the abusive language given to me by Buford, after I had mounted my horse; I am satisfied that the object was to raise a riot and to assassinate some of those who are dreaded by the violators of the law. I fear however that I am intruding too much upon you in detailing such disgraceful anecdotes: but possibly to some future American antiquary they would prove an interesting though mortifying memorial of the barbarism of the 19th. century. I have the honour to be dear sir very respectfully your most obedt sert\nH. Toulmin.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0264", "content": "Title: From James Madison to John G. Jackson, 7 March 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Jackson, John G.\nMy dear SirWashington Mar. 7. 1811\nI should feel my own reproach, in acknowledging at this date yours of Decr. 4. if I did not feel at the same time an apology, which I am sure your friendly candor will admit, in the peculiar pressure of public duties, during the interval. I have not however been unmindful of the object of your letter, and should have even have [sic] taken steps towards it, but for my ignorance of the standard by which you measure the cheapness & dearness of Merinoes, and for the consideration of the distance of the season when a ram could be employed, whilst in the mean time the risk & expence would both be avoided by delay. A further consideration was, that the continued importations, promised a reduction of prices, as well as a larger field of choice. I believe I may now say, that Rams may be had at about $200, and Ewes at about $100. If you chuse to make an experiment at these prices, and I can be useful in procuring the means, you well know how freely you may make use of me. I ought to observe at the same time, that as the Merino\u2014I will not say mania, but ardor\u2014is lower Southward, than Northward, it is probable that if you can avail yourself of a friend any where on James River, you may be supplied on better terms than at places within my sphere.\nYou will see the ground on which our affairs with F. & G. B. are placed by Congs.: The ground taken by those powers will be made known, I presume, by communications from the former subsequent to Feby. 2. & from the latter subsequent to the change in the Executive Govt. which must have taken place in January. After the multiplied proofs of wickedness, folly & instability which we have experienced, it would be weakness to flatter ourselves much; but I think the chances before us are less adverse than they have heretofore been, with the exception of Erskine\u2019s arrangement, which ought, on every reasonable calculation to have had a very different issue. For the news from our S. W. Quarter, I refer you to the inclosed Speech of Govr. Claiborne, to which may be added the information direct from Mobille, that altho\u2019 the Spaniards hold the fort, they maintain a friendly intercourse with the Amn. troops near it; the adjacent country, & the use of the River, being in the mean time, undisturbed. Whilst actual hostilities are foreborne on our part, the remnant of the Spanish authorities, will not be disposed to begin them. And there is ground for believing that the higher Authorities, at the Havanna at least are as much gratified with the respect mingled with our interposition of force, as they are offended with the latter.\nAmong the difficulties which crowd on us from abroad, and from the implacable spirit, which continues to sway the opposition party, are added others which flow from much nearer sources. These I reserve for the disclosures of time, or of more leisure. Accept my affece. respects\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0265", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Joseph Anderson, 7 March 1811\nFrom: Anderson, Joseph\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirWashington City March 7th 1811.\nI do myself the honor to inclose you a letter which has been Signd by four of the delegation from Tennessee. In explanation of the introductory part of the letter, it may perhaps be necessary to inform you\u2014that Under the two preceeding Administrations\u2014I had Several Occasions in Conjunction with my Colleagues\u2014to adress the Presidents, Under instructions, from the State Legislature of Tennessee, and in every instance\u2014answers were given in Writeing, either by the Presidents themselves\u2014or by One of the Departments, which Seemd to have the most immediate connection with the business, upon which the adress to the President was predicated. I therefore (for reasons Which will readily present themselves) have thought proper to explain the ground of the introductory part of the letter.\nThe answers which were recd. from the Presidents or the Departments, were regularly reported to the Legislature of our State. And upon the present Occasion It woud certainly be highly gratifying to the Undersignd\u2014and not less Satisfactory to our State\u2014to Observe that the adress presented in March last\u2014had recd. that mark\u2019d attention from the Executive which our Legislature expect, and which its importance in our Judgment requires. Far be it from me, to presume to Suggest to you, the Course which it wou\u2019d be proper to pursue. But impress\u2019d as I am, with the deep interest all my fellow Citizens take in the Object to be Obtaind\u2014I am Sure you will duely appreciate the motives that actuate me, in thus presumeing to adress you. Th\u27e8erefore\u27e9 permit me to assure you, of the most friendly Character\u2014relying on your disposition to afford us, every benefit, which your Executive functions will authorise\u2014I beg you to accept\u2014assurance of my most Sincere Esteem and high respect\u2014\nJos: Anderson\n[Enclosure]\u00a7 From Joseph Anderson and Others\n1 March 1811. \u201cThe undersignd not haveing received any answer either from yourself, or from either of the departments, to the adress presented to you in the course of the last Session of Congress \u2026 feel themselves impell\u2019d again to adress you.\u201d They will not make a detailed statement of the objects of that address but only note that \u201cone of the difficulties \u2026 in relation to the communication by the way of Mobile, and which they had understood, had measureably impeded the other Objects, in relation to that communication, has been so far removed as to afford a free passage to our vessels.\u201d They request that JM review the representation they had made in conformity with the instructions they had received from the state legislature, which they now enclose. \u201cYou will please to Observe, that the Resolutions of our Legislature \u2026 have been passed Unanimously, and may be truely said, to be only a faithful expression of the Voice of the Whole people. We are unwilling to be thought importunate. But \u2026 we must be excused, for earnestly pressing the Several matters of our former adress upon your most Serious and deliberate consideration.\u201d They request that JM communicate the results of his deliberations to the governor of Tennessee \u201cin order that he may be enabled to lay before our Legislature, at their next meeting in September\u2014the result of our application.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0266", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Albert Gallatin, [ca. 7 March] 1811\nFrom: Gallatin, Albert\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir[ca. 7 March 1811]\nI have long & seriously reflected on the present state of things, and on my personal situation. This has for some time been sufficiently unpleasant; and nothing but a sense of public duty and attachment to yourself could have induced me to retain it to this day. But I am convinced that in neither respect can I be any longer useful under existing circumstances.\nIn a government organised like that of the United States, a government not too strong for effecting its principal object\u2014the protection of national rights against foreign aggressions; and particularly under circumstances as adverse and embarrassing as those under which the United States are now placed; it appears to me that not only capacity & talents in the administration, but also a perfect heart-felt cordiality amongst its members are essentially necessary to command the public confidence, & to produce the requisite union of views and action between the several branches of Government. In at least one of those points your present administration is defective; and the effects already sensibly felt become every day more extensive and fatal. New subdivisions, & personal factions equally hostile to yourself & to the general welfare daily acquire additional strength. Measures of vital importance have been and are defeated: every operation even of the most simple and ordinary nature is prevented or impeded: the embarrassments of Government, great as from foreign causes they already are, are unnecessarily encreased: public confidence in the public councils and in the executive is impaired; and every day seems to encrease every one of those evils. Such state of things cannot last: a radical & speedy remedy has become absolutely necessary. What that ought to be, what change would best promote the success of your administration and the welfare of the U. States, is not for me to say. I can only judge for myself; and I clearly perceive that my continuing a member of the present administration is no longer of any public utility, invigorates the opposition against yourself and must necessarily be attended with an increased loss of reputation to myself. Under these impressions, not without reluctance and after having perhaps hesitated too long in hopes of a favorable change, I beg leave to tender you my resignation, to take place at such day, within a reasonable time, as you will think most consistent with the public service. I hope that I hardly need add any expressions of my respect and sincere personal attachment to you, of the regret I will feel on leaving you at this critical time, & of the grateful sense I ever will retain of your kindness to me;", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0267", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Morrow, Jr., 7 March 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Morrow, John, Jr.\nTo: Madison, James\n7 March 1811, Pittsburgh. \u201cI am an unfortunate pilgrim hunted from one part of the U S to the other.\u2026 Every person appear[s] to know me, yet no person will confess it.\u2026 My nearest blood connections treat me as a slave, and \u2026 the[y] say I am disordered in my mind.\u201d This has been the case for more than four years. Has been told there is an \u201cenormous sum of money\u201d offered for him but cannot find out by whom. Was born in \u201cthis land of liberty\u201d and trusts that freedom \u201cthe meanest citizen enjoys, will not be denied me.\u201d If his actions are ever considered disgraceful, he is \u201cwilling to go to any of the Territories, and live secluded,\u201d but hopes for mercy from the \u201cfirst magistrate of a free and enlightened people.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0269", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William C. C. Claiborne, 8 March 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Claiborne, William C. C.\nTo: Madison, James\n8 March 1811, New Orleans. Forwards a memorial from the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Orleans Territory.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0270", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Andrew Ellicott, 9 March 1811\nFrom: Ellicott, Andrew\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,Lancaster March 9th. 1811.\nIf a messenger should be wanted to carry despatches to France, after my friend, and connexion Mr. Barlow goes to that country, I take the liberty of offering myself for that service. I have several reasons, independent of mere curiosity for making this application.\nOn my return to this place, I found a considerable degree of sensibility excited by the appointment of Mr. Barlow; nothing has been left undone on my part to shew that in the present situation of our affairs, it was the best thing that could be done. The federalists will be more easily reconciled to the measure than another section of our citizens, who are, perhaps from the want of proper information attached to an ambitious, and artful faction. If I should in a future communication be more lengthy, and explicit on the ambitious views of the party just mentioned, I wish you to attribute it to two motives, first friendship for yourself, and secondly, a desire to serve our common country which is the only ambition I have ever felt.\nSo long as I believe, as now do, that your views are patriotic, you will receive the feeble support of myself and pen, but affected patriotism has so often been used as the most certain road to power, that I am sometimes almost induced to suspect myself.\nMy best compliments to Mrs. Madison, and believe me to be with due regard, and esteem, Your sincere friend, and Hbl. servt.\nAndw. Ellicott.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0271", "content": "Title: To James Madison from George W. Erving, 10 March 1811\nFrom: Erving, George W.\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirNewport March 10t 1811.\nI arrived here on the evening of the 8t, & yesterday received from Mr Hamilton your letter of Feby 1st; to the five letters which it inclosed the most exact attention shall be paid.\nIf affairs in Florida have not progressed according to the reasonable views & expectations of government, this may be owing in part or principally to the encouragement which Folch has received to deviate from his first intentions, by the violent opposition which has been made to the act of the Executive, & by the grounds on which that opposition was maintained in congress; for on whatever motives his first project was founded, he undoubtedly meant to reserve to himself a complete justification before his own government & fellow-citizens, on pleas which the discussions referred to went to deprive him of: I say this however without any precise idea of what has passed, or of the order of occurrences in that quarter, for I have endeavoured in vain to collect it from the public papers: I know only that the spirit of opposition displaying itself with the utmost rancour on all great questions, where we come into contact with other governments, naturally enough begets an opinion, that we are really a \u201cdivided people\u201d; and that this opinion prevails; its deleterious influence on our foreign concerns stands most completely exemplified in the conduct of England, because the government of that country is more fully possessed of this prejudice than any other; but I have had occasion to see also that even the old government of spain encouraged it, the new one, innoculated with english sentiments & feelings, cannot therefore be exempt from it.\nSince the date of your letter, the expectation of a correct & consistent course on the part of France in the view to which you are pleased to refer, is as I presume from the documents which have been lately published, very much strengthened: I never did for one single moment beleive that the emperor was insincere in, or that he covered any of the designs with which he has been charged under the great measure in question; therefore coud not attribute whatever equivocal appearances presented themselves, but to doubts respecting the perseverance of the United States in the determination which they had avowed; doubts which perhaps naturally enough arose, & which due diligence & means were not employed to tranquillize by those whose business it shoud have been to have inspired confidence: Indeed without first supposing that the french government was buried in \u0152gyptian darkness as to any views of its true policy, as well as totally lost to all sense of honor & probity, it coud not be conceived that precisely at the moment when the course of event offerred to her the most eligible of all positions, she shoud not only let the occasion pass by, but so act as to terminate her friendly relations with this country, in the worst conceivable mode.\nThe \u201cJohn Adams\u201d has been ready for sea since the 7t inst; I wait in conformity to your order communicated by the secretary of state, to receive such instructions & communications as it may be thought proper to furnish me with subsequent to the 4t March: I wrote from Boston to both Mr Hamilton & Mr Smith respecting the narrowness of the accommodations on board the vessel, & the number of passengers; I shoud not have taken the liberty of mentioning this subject to you, but that from Captn Dents conversation I fear that some difficulties of a more serious nature may arise out of it: it seems that an extraordinary number of officers have been sent to join the vessel, this is I beleive an usual practice, at least it is beneficial to the service; but then the officers become very much crowded: two persons\u2014viz a Mr Springer a german merchant, & a Captn Dickinson agent for an insurance company have permission from the secretary to go passengers, they are ordered into the ward room, I am told that the lieutenants refuse to receive them, & some threaten to resign: Mr Benson who had your permission to go whilst I was at Washington has brought his wife with him, there are not accommodations for her in the captains cabbin, unless I am turned out of my birth; the Captn is very much disgusted that no discretion upon the matter has been left to himself & hints at quitting the service on his return home; the order in favor of Mr & Mrs Benson is very positive & was given to Mr Benson open; it may be, presuming on that his manner & proceedings have not been calculated to reconcile the captain to subsisting difficulties; If finally in consequence of these, either the officers in the ward room shoud refuse to comply with the orders given in favor of the passengers, or any of them shoud resign, the embarrassment will be sufficiently distressing. With sentiments of the most respectfull attachment Dear Sir Your most obliged & obt St\nGeorge W Erving", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0273", "content": "Title: From James Madison to David Bailie Warden, 11 March 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Warden, David Bailie\nSirWashington Mar. 11. 1811\nCircumstances have occurred which make it proper that you should suspend your departure for France; till you receive further instructions on that point. Accept my respects.\nJ. Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0274", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Hawkins, 11 March 1811\nFrom: Hawkins, Benjamin\nTo: Madison, James\nCreek agency 11 March 1811.\nGeneral Mathews and the gentleman with him arrived here on the 9th. spent yesterday with me and set out this morning for Fort stoddert. They are in good health and well fixed for traveling. He revealed to me the object of his mission, and seems pretty confident of success. I told him to call on me, and all under my authority, to aid and assist him if necessary. He was sincerely impressed with the reception you gave him and the confidence you reposed in him as well as of all the heads of departments. In the course of the unreserved conversations we had together he told me he was apprehensive a party was forming against you; and that one of your Confidential officers was of it. R. S. He had no authority for insinuating so much of his own knowledge or he would have mentioned it to you, but from others who mentioned it to him. We agreed if such was the fact and it should come to your knowledge that any of the heads of departments substituted their own Judgment to that of the President they should without reserve be dismissed. As the President was the man of the people and the secretaries the men of his choice. Of the great crould [sic] of visitors thro the agency I have never heared a single one express a sentiment unfavourable to your public standing.\nLast year the General visited and remained some time with me on his first mission at a time unfavourable for traveling. He then seemed to think he would not on the score of his being called a Federalist receive the confidence of the Government which he was desirous of obtaining altho not desirous of obtaining an office. He was communicative and unreserved to me and in return as I always had an esteem for him, I was not reserved to him. I told him he was about as much a Federalist as we were, that all who knew him, knew he was a plain, blunt, honest man and at the time of our revolutionary contest had executed with zeal fidelity and consummate bravery the post assigned him. He certainly was a patriot from principle and having spent half a century in acts of usefulness if occasion should require, being healthy and of strong constitution, there was no doubt he would be called into service again, and perhaps his present mission would lead to it.\nHe told me you were healthy and seemed deeply impressd with the duties of your office, which I told him was to be expected, from the eventful period in which your lot was cast. Mrs. Hawkins who only knows you from your public life requests me to inform you her only son two years old in June is named James Madison that he is very healthy very active and promising and she hopes as he has the means he will one day have the opportunity by his acquirements and Patriotizm to render himself worthy of the name he bears. I am with unalterable attachment My dear friend your obedt servt\nBenjamin Hawkins", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0275", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Inhabitants of New Haven, 11 March 1811\nFrom: New Haven Inhabitants\nTo: Madison, James\nNew Haven March 11 1811\nThe petition of the Inhabitants of the Town of New Haven in Connecticut, in legal Town meeting convened. Respectfully sheweth\nThat your petitioners are in general, either directly engaged in mercantile pursuits, or in the occupations connected with them; in those pursuits, they have embarked their fortunes, and from them, they have not only derived a subsistence for themselves, and their families, but have furnished employment, for great numbers of persons; to the mechanic, they have opened a market, for the productions of his labour and skill; to the Farmer for the products of his fields; and at the same time, they have essentially aided the public revenue, by duties paid on their importations.\nThe foreign commerce, in which your petitioners are engaged, is principally with the British West India islands. In conformity to the Laws of their Country, by which that trade was sanctioned, and without any suspicion, that it would suddenly be prohibited, they shipped, during the last summer and autumn, as they have always been accustomed to do, numerous Cargoes, which have been sold on credit in the Islands, on an engagement to receive payment in produce, when the Crops come in, which they usually do in the months of March & April. The property thus received, they have been, in consequence of the Non-importation Law, prevented from bringing home; and your petitioners have now, from this and other causes, a large amount of property, in the British West India Islands: which must remain there greatly to their loss and disadvantage, untill that Law is repealed; in the mean time their Vessels will be useless to them, their seamen unemployed, and a Commerce once profitable & flourishing abandoned.\nYour petitioners while engaged in a lawful commerce, have thus suddenly, without time being allowed them to escape, been overtaken by these Calamities. Under such circumstances of suffering, they very naturally enquire, from whence they proceeded, and whether they were inflicted by a Constitutional authority. In making this enquiry they cannot forget, that one important grievance, Complained of in the declaration of Independance, was, \u201cCutting off our trade\u201d and that to, \u201cestablish Commerce,\u201d was one of the great objects, proposed in that memorable instrument; nor can they bring themselves to beleive that in the National Compact, by the power \u201cto regulate Commerce\u201d the States intended to grant a power to destroy it.\nYour petitioners, are far from imputing to the general Legislature, any but the most correct motives, in passing the non-importation Law: but the consequences of that law, are peculiarly destructive to their Interests: it places them in a state of uncommon embarrassment; it ruins their property; it dries up the sources of their prosperity; and they perceive no relief except from its repeal.\nIf the operations of the Non-Importation Law, thus severe and oppressive, not only to your petitioners, but to all persons Concerned in Foreign Commerce; does not present one of those \u201cextraordinary occasions\u201d which authorize the President to convene Congress, your petitioners respectfully suggest that such \u201coccasion\u201d may be found in the change which has taken place in our Foreign relations. The presidents proclamation, and the Law in question, was founded on an engagement of the French Government, to revoke the Berlin & Milan Decrees. Those Decrees it now appears have in fact not been revoked\u2014that Power has not ceased to violate our neutral rights, she sequesters our property in her ports; she burns & sinks our Vessels on the Ocean; and what is still more difficult to comprehend, after such acts, the authors of those injuries and insults receive by Law, a hospitable reception in our harbours.\nYour petitioners therefore, respectfully, solicit the President of the United States, to convene Congress as speedily as his powers will constitutionally allow: in order to enable them, to take the subject of this petition into consideration and of granting to your petitioners such relief as the nature of the case requires. And your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray\nSign\u2019d by order and in behalf of the Town of New Haven\nJames Hillhouse\nWilliam W Woolsey\nElias Shipman\nNoah Webster Jr:\nIsaac Mills\nWm. Leffingwell\nHenry Daggett Junr.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0277", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Lafayette, 12 March 1811\nFrom: Lafayette, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de\nTo: Madison, James\nMy dear SirLa grange 12h March 1811\nI Gratefully thank You for Your Letter Novr the 1st., and for the incessant Attention You are pleased to give, Amidst Your public Avocations, to My private Concerns. It is a Misfortune Attached to the Vicissitudes of My Life that the Munificence of Congress and the Exertions of My friends, intended to Make me Rich again, Must Be Employed to prevent My Being Utterly Ruined. But Here also I find as Great if not Greater a field for Respectful and Affectionate Aknowledgements.\nYour kind informations Authorise me to Expect Every day the two Remaining patents to Complete the titles for Eleven thousand Acres in the Vicinity of pointe Coupee. It Seems that the Location Near the town Upon which Golden Expectations Had Been Raised is Now Become Very doubtful. M. duplantier writes, 12h July, that the Cession to the town Has Left much Less than 500 Acres, which, altho Under Water, may be Reckoned at drs. 20, or 25000. It is Still, Says He, the Best Spot to Be Had. But You know Better What it is proper to do, and as I am Sure You Will act for the Best, Every Circumstances Considered, permit me to Anticipate My fullest and Very thankful Assent to Any thing which Either in doing, or in forbearing to do, You Will Have thought Most Adviseable. I Cannot Help Wishing, Since My Liberation Has Been So generously Undertaken, that it May Be Completed. The Remainder, if there Was Any Hereafter, Would Have Been divided Between my fourteen children and Grand children. But it Requires to liberate me, owing to the Uncommon Circumstances I Have Related, and to the Accumulation of interest and Expedients these ten Years, a Sum So Enormous, that to Effect it, is an act of Munificence and Kindness Beyond Which My Calculations ought not to proceed.\nI Have Mentionned to You, 15h November, the proposal Made By Mr. david parish to part with a portion of the pointe Coupee Lands, and the Motives Which, Notwi[th]standing My Extreme Reluctance, obliged me to Y[i]eld to Necessity. 5000 acres, drawn By Lots, in presence of M. Russel, Have Been delivered to M. Alex. Baring who Undertaking to pay Himself for 300000 fr Leaving 20000 fr for future time, and to liquidate the claims of M. John parish for 47000 fr, and of my Brother in Law Grammont for 28000 Has Given Up His Mortgage on the totality of My property. This Measure Has Been Approved But Not imitated By Mm. parker and preble Who own two thirds of a Joint Mortgage With Mr. Ridgeway Amounting to 188500 fr. But as the Later is absent, and as it is inconvenient for the two others to take Land, it Has Been determined not to go farther in the Sale Which leaves me possessor of Six thousand Acres in the Vicinity of pointe Coupee.\nWhile I Consider Your Letters 18. and 19 May and that of M. duplantier 12h July I flatter myself that You Will not disapprove My Having Accepted the Cancelling of debts So Considerable and the Release of the Mortgage at the Rate of 75 francs about 15 dollars an Acre. But I am Sorry and Much Alarmed to See that not only at that price, But on Any Account Whatsoever No Loan Can Be Made, No Monney Can Be Had Connected With American Lands. It Had Been the Opinion of Mr. david parish Which I Have tried down to the Most trifling Sums. Several other Attempts Have Met the Same Repulse. The inexpressible But Not Unaccountable pressure and terror which Has Ruined or Stopped the General Course of Business ought to invite Capitals to the other Continent. It is far from Being the Case. The only Speculation Attended to, that Upon the discount of Bills to England or America, Engrosses what little Monney is not kept dormant, and on the European Continent, for now what passes Here, Good or Bad, Has that Extent, no offer Can Balance the advantages on change, or those of short Loans to threatened Merchants. I Have However Made a last and desperate Attempt in Holland. But I Have little Hopes, and do not know what then I shall do. Mr. parish, M. Le Ray, and others tell me the Monney Might Be obtained in America. Permit me, My dear friend, pressed as I am of a liberation, and much alarmed at My present danger, to Entreat Your kind Exertions in favor of that plan the only one, which Circumstanced as I am in Every Respect, Can Save me. And Since, owing to the Liberality of Congress and the Care of My friends there Will Exist a provision Equal to the purpose, it Would Be a pity Not to Avail Myself, to effect it, of the only Means to Which it Would Have Suited me to Be Under that obligation.\nI Will not dwell on politics. Not only Because You Easily Anticipate Every thing I Might Say, Wish, or Even Hope, But also on Account of My Having not Had Lately Any Confidential Communications. This Letter goes With the dispatches of Mr. Russel who Can Give You Late intelligences. We Expect to Hear from You By Mr. Irwine who is said to Be Sent to danemark. Gnl Armstrong Will Have Mentionned and I Have Myself Expressed to You the good dispositions I found in the Actual prince of Sweden. He was desirous of a Commercial, diplomatic, Confidential intercourse With the U. S., and whatever He is obliged to put forth, I am Convinced His inward Good will may Be turned to Some advantage.\nWas I to Enter into Apologies With You, My dear Sir, I Would Have too Much to Say. I shall only Request My Best Compliments to our friends and offer You the Cordial tribute of My Gratitude, Respect and Most Affectionate friendship\nLafayette\nPermit me to inclose a letter to M. duplantier. Be pleased Also to forward that to our friend who, Since He is at Monticelo, Has Become a Very Bad Correspondent.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0279", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Harry Toulmin, 14 March 1811\nFrom: Toulmin, Harry\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirFort Stoddert, 14th March 1811\nOn monday last a report was brought to this place from Pensacola; that a fleet of 30 sail of British were off the Barancas, at the mouth of the bay. I felt extremely anxious to ascertain both the fact, and the sentiments with which such an event would be viewed by Govr. Folch: for altho\u2019 it might prima facie, be presumed that it would be very grateful to him as a Spaniard, yet without a minute knowledge of the state of Spanish parties and his relation to them, it could not be concluded with certainty but that he might still prefer an occupation of the country by the American government.\nCol. Cushing, however, reasoning upon general principles as to the policy of the British administration gave no credit to the account.\nToday I have seen a person who left Pensacola a few days since. He says that it was generally believed at Pensacola that a British fleet was at the Barancas, and that they were coming up to take possession of the town and to prevent the Americans from taking possession of Mobile. He moreover saw a very considerable quantity of balls of all sizes, landed from on board two small vessels, with a number of boxes supposed to contain musketts, all of which had been, \u27e8as w\u27e9as said, taken from on board the vessels at the mouth of the bay, which could not then come up. Considerable firing was heard from the same quarter. This evening we have heard the report of several large guns, apparently in or near the bay of Mobile. I mention these things, without having any clear opinion upon the subject: under the impression that facts may be within your own knowledge which will enable you to appreciate these accounts more accurately than we can do it.\nCapn. Gaines went yesterday to Mobile, in consequence of an application from Governor Claiborne to Genl Hampton, \u201cto continue at or near the mouth of Dog river\u201d (now included in the Parish of Pascagola) \u201cas long as any opposition to the laws shd be manifested\u201d: but I suppose he will return, after having viewed the scite, as there are no people there, and the opposition which I suppose must have been alluded to, was on the Pascagola river 60 miles from that place. A predatory party it was said last week, was going thither from this county: but I have not heard that they have gone.\nJohn Callier who had been on that river buying up land claims, it is rumoured, is taken prisoner, but by whom and on what account I cannot learn.\nIt is certain I believe that some other persons, connected with the conventional party had been taken by their opponents.\nCol. Hawkins in a letter to me dated March 6th says \u201cCol. M\u2019Kee is at Fort Hawkins, & I expect he and Genl. Matthews will be soon your way.\u201d I have the honour to be very respectfully, dear Sir, your faithful & most obedt servt\nH. Toulmin", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0281", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Nathaniel Irwin, 15 March 1811\nFrom: Irwin, Nathaniel\nTo: Madison, James\nSirBucks County near Newville Penna. March 15th. 1811\nNot having the honour of being known to Mr Granger, I have presumed to transmit the inclosed through your hands; & to beg you will let him know how far the writer is entitled to credit. In such a case, I know, that simple justice is all that even a friend could expect of you. Happily, in the present instance, I have no occasion to draw on your friendship, having no more interest in the object, than another Citizen who sends & receives as much by Mail. With increasing respect, I have the honour to be, Sir, your quondam friend, & present hble servt\nNathl Irwin\nP. S. A Bal[t]imore paper announces, that the president has been heard to say, that a summer session of Congress would be necessary, to commence about the 20th: May. Should this be the case, & health permit, I will visit the City of Washington at that period, and (among other gratifications) will have the pleasure once more before I die, of seeing the man I once called my friend, supporting with dignity, the first Office in the U. States. If, Sir, your mind is nearly made up on the subject, perhaps it is not too much to expect a confidential line of information.\nN. I.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0282", "content": "Title: Presidential Proclamation, 16 March 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: \n16 March 1811. Declares and makes known, in conformity with the provisions of section 12 of \u201cAn Act regulating the grants of land and providing for the disposal of the Lands of the United States, South of the State of Tennessee\u201d (3 Mar. 1803), of the act attaching lands ceded by the Choctaw Nation in 1805 to the land district east of the Pearl River (31 Mar. 1808), and section 1 of \u201cAn Act concerning the Sale of the Lands of the United States and for other purposes,\u201d that \u201cthe sales for the disposal of all the public lands contained in the District East of Pearl River, not otherwise disposed of or excepted by law, and the survey whereof, shall have been completed and returned to the Register of the Land Office, prior to the first day of September 1811, shall be held at Fort St Stephens on the Mobile, Mississippi Territory, on the first Monday of September One thousand eight hundred and eleven.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0283", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 18 March 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\nDear SirWashington Mar. 18. 1811\nI have recd. yours inclosing two letters improperly addressed to you.\nA sketch in manuscript was brought by yesterday\u2019s Mail from N. York, saying that a vessel just arrived, stated that the Prince Regent had appointed his Cabinet; that Lord Holland was prime Minister, Grenville Secretary of State, Moira Commander in Chief &c. and that a new Parliament was to be called. Whether these details be correct or not, it is highly probable that some material change in the general policy of the Government, in relation to this Country as well as in other respects, will result from the change of the Men in power. Nor is it improbable that a repeal of the orders in Council, will be accompanied by a removal in some form or other, of the other condition required by the Act of May last. Still the attachment to maritime usurpations on public law, and the jealousy of our growing commerce, are sources from which serious difficulties must continue to flow, unless controuled by the distress of the Nation, or by a magnanimity not to be expected even from the personification of Fox in Lord Holland. Grenville is known to be very high in his notions of British rights on the Ocean; but he has never contended for more, on the subject of blockades, than that cruising squadrons, creating a manifest danger in entering particular ports, was equivalent to a stationary force, having the same effect. His principle however tho\u2019 construable into an important restriction of the modern practice, may be expanded so as to cover this abuse. It is, as you remark difficult to understand the meaning of Bonaparte towards us. There is little doubt, that his want of money, and his ignorance of commerce, have had a material influence. He has also distrusted the stability & efficacy of our pledge to renew the non-intercourse agst. G. B. and has wished to execute his in a manner that would keep pace only with the execution of ours; and at the same time leave no interval for the operation of the British orders, without a counter operation in either his or our measures. In all this, his folly is obvious. Distrust on one side produces & authorizes it on the other; and must defeat every arrangement between parties at a distance from each other or which is to have a future or a continued execution. On the whole our prospects are far from being very flattering; yet a better chance seems to exist than, with the exception of the adjustment with Erskine, has presented itself, for closing the scene of rivalship in plundering & insulting us, & turning it into a competition for our commerce & friendship.\nIn the midst of other preplexities [sic], foreign & internal, a source has been opened very near me, and where co-operation agst. them was to have been rightfully expected, from personal obligations, as well as public duty. I find also that the appointment of Warden, is to draw forth the keenest resentments of Armstrong. I have no doubt however that the ground on which we stand is sufficiently firm to support us with the Nation, agst. individual efforts of any sort or from any quarter. Be assured always of my highest esteem and sincerest attachment\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0284", "content": "Title: To James Madison from David Bailie Warden, 18 March 1811\nFrom: Warden, David Bailie\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,New york, 18 march, 1811.\nI had the honor of receiving your letter, of the 11th Instant, the evening before the John Adams sailed from Newport: I have returned to this City to wait your instructions concerning my departure for France. I am, Sir, with great respect, your most obedient, and very humble Servt.\nDavid Bailie Warden", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0285", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Robert Lewis Madison, 19 March 1811\nFrom: Madison, Robert Lewis\nTo: Madison, James\nLetter not found. 19 March 1811. Described as a two-page letter in the lists probably made by Peter Force (DLC, series 7, container 2). Robert Lewis Madison (1794\u20131828) was JM\u2019s nephew, William Madison\u2019s son. JM may have been contributing money toward his education at this time (WMQWilliam and Mary Quarterly., 1st ser., 6 [1897\u201398]: 116; statement of the Reverend James Laurie, 29 Apr. 1846 [DLC: Dolley Madison Papers]).", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0286", "content": "Title: From James Madison to James Monroe, 20 March 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Monroe, James\nprivate & confidential\nDear SirWashington Mar. 20. 1811\nI may perhaps consult too much my own wishes public & personal, and too little a proper estimate of yours, in intimating the near approach of a vacancy in the Department of State, which will present to your comparison, as far as lies with me, that sphere for your patriotic services, with the one in which they are now rendered. Should such a transfer of them be inadmissible or ineligible, on whatever considerations, this communication, will I am sure be viewed in the light, to which its motives entitle it, and may rest in confidence between us. In a contrary result, be so good as to let me have your agreeable determination as soon as possible. Permit me to add that even in this result, it will be best for reasons reserved for personal explanation, that the precise turn of the communication, may be confidential.\nI am the more anxious to hear from you as soon as possible, since besides the more obvious calls for it, the business of that Dept. is rendered by the present conjuncture, peculiarly urgent as well as important. It would be of the greatest advantage, if it could be in the hands which are to dispose of it, in about two weeks from this date, and receive a close attention for a short period thence ensuing. It is probable that an interval of relaxation would thereby be rendered consistent with the public interest. Accept assurances of my great esteem and sincere friendship\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0287", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Albert Gallatin, 22 March 1811\nFrom: Gallatin, Albert\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,Treasury Department Mar. 22d. 1811.\nThe public business heretofore transacted by the Branch Bank at Washington will, at the end of this month be transferred to the Banks of Columbia and Washington. In order to have a general view of the subject, it is necessary to take into consideration not only the Treasury deposits, but also those made by those officers belonging to the War & Navy Departments who, by the 4th. sect. of the act of Mar. 3d. 1809 (9th. vol. page 265) are directed to keep the public monies in their hands, in some incorporated bank, to be designated for the purpose, by the President of the U. States. And the following plan appearing to me to combine public convenience with that of the officers of government and of individuals, is respectfully submitted to your consideration. If, so far as relates to the officers above-mentioned, it meets with the approbation of the Secretaries of the War and Navy Departments and your own, I beg leave to request that the approbation may be communicated to the officers concerned, and to myself, in the beginning of next week, in order that I may proceed with the arrangement and place the necessary funds in the two Banks.\n1. The purser, navy-agent, superintendent of the navy-yard, paymaster of the marine corps, and generally the officers pertaining to the navy department, whose permanent residence is at the seat of government, to keep their public monies in the Bank of Washington.\n2. The Pay Master of the Army to keep his, in the Bank of Columbia.\n3. The accounts of dividends on the public debt payable at the seat of government, to be kept at the Bank of Columbia, from where they were taken when the Branch was established here, and who have agreed to keep an office for that purpose in or near the Treasury.\n4. Payments by the Treasurer of all Warrants payable at the seat of government, and other than those drawn for the objects mentioned under the three preceding heads, to be made by drafts on either Bank, at the option of the person to whom the payment is made.\n5. Payments by individuals into the Treasury to be made indiscriminately in either Bank, as may suit the convenience of such individuals.\nThe proportion of current business and of public deposits in each Bank, will therefore, be in a great degree, regulated by the convenience of the parties who have monies to pay in or to receive from the Treasury. I have the honor to be with the highest respect Sir, Your obedt. servant.\nAlbert Gallatin", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0288", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Mathew Arnold H\u0153vel, 22 March 1811\nFrom: H\u0153vel, Mathew Arnold\nTo: Madison, James\nMay it please Your Excellency.Santiago March 22d. 1811.\nBy special request of the present board of Government in the Kingdom of Chile, I have the honor to transmit to Your Excell & Government of the United States the enclosed Official letter, & am happy to add that the sentiments therein expressed are truly those which now in the highest degree animate this Board & the good people of Chile\u2014and which sentiments I venture to assert will last with them towards the United States & its Citizens with preference to what any European Power may expect.\nI beg leave to suggest to the Wisdom of Your Excellency, weither it would no\u27e8t be\u27e9 of moment to meet the wish of this Board in soon appointing an Agent here with \u27e8whom\u27e9 they might treat on subjects highly interesting & advantageous to both nations.\nThe representatives of the people will meet in Congress next month for the first time, and a new Constitution is to be formed. I have the honor to remain with great regard Sir Your Excellencys most obedient & very hble Servt.\nMathw. Arnd. H\u0153vela Citizen of the U: S: of A. late of New York now residing at Santiago.\n[First Enclosure]\u00a7 From Fernando M\u00e1rquez de la Plata and Others\n22 March 1811, Santiago. Extends the hand of friendship from Chile to the people of the U.S. Encloses a \u201cDeclaration of Commerce\u201d by which \u201cthe productions of our Soil and of our Industry will be common.\u201d Adds that since \u201cevery description of Arms are to us objects of the most urgent necessity and especially Guns and Pistols,\u2026 the obligation would be immense if you would send us\u2014as we earnestly beg of you to do, some artisans who know how to make them.\u201d Advises that \u201cthose of your fellow Citizens who navigate these Seas\u201d have been asked to \u201cpermit the recent orders of this Govt.\u2026 to blot out from their Minds, the unfriendly ideas with which those who formerly governed here had doubtless inspired them.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0289", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Laird, 22 March 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Laird, John\nTo: Madison, James\n22 March 1811, Georgetown. Encloses $220 at the direction of Robert Patton of Fredericksburg, to whom he asks JM to acknowledge receipt of the sum.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0290", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Monroe, 23 March 1811\nFrom: Monroe, James\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirRichmond march 23. 1811\nYour letter of the 20th. instant reached me yesterday morning. The subject which it presents to my view is highly interesting, and has received all the consideration which so short a time has enabled me to bestow on it. My wish to give you an early answer, in complyance with your request, has induc\u2019d me to use all the dispatch which the delicacy & importance of the subject would permit.\nThe proof of your confidence which the proposition communicated by your letter affords, is very gratifying to me, and will always be remember\u2019d with great satisfaction.\nI have no hesitation in saying that I have every disposition to accept your invitation, to enter into the department of State. But in deciding this question, on your part as well as on mine, some considerations occur which claim attention from us both, & which candour requires to be brought into view, & weigh\u2019d, at this time.\nMy views of policy towards the European powers are not unknown. They were adopted on great consideration, and are founded in the utmost devotion to the publick welfare. I was sincerely of opinion, after the failure of the negotiation with Spain, or rather France, that it was for the interest of our country, to make an accomodation with England, the great maritime power, even on moderate terms, rather than hazard war, or any other alternative. On that opinion I acted afterwards, while I remain\u2019d in office, and I own that I have since seen no cause to doubt its soundness. Circumstances have in some respects changed, but still my general views of policy are the same.\nIf I come into the government my object will be to render to my country & to you, all the service in my power, according to the light, such as it is, of my knowledge & experience, faithfully & without reserve. It would not become me to accept a station, & to act a part in it, which my judgment and conscience did not approve, and which I did not beleive would promote the publick welfare and happiness. I could not do this, nor would you wish me to do it.\nIf you are disposed to accept my services under these circumstances, and with this explanation, I shall be ready to render them, whenever it may suit you to require them. In that event, a circumstance of importance and delicacy will require attention from you as well as from me. It relates to the office which I now hold. I feel much difficulty in withdrawing from it, nor could I do so, but on considerations which it is fair to presume would be satisfactory to my constituents. I am persuaded that my fellow citizens would have no objection to my leaving this station, to go into the general government, at a crisis so important to the publick welfare, and to the republican cause, from an opinion, as the security of those great interests depends, in the present conjuncture, more on the councils and measures of the general than of the State government, that I might be able to render more service there than here. They would I am satisfied be reconciled to the act, if I received an invitation from you, suggesting a motive for it, arising out of the present state of publick affairs, which I might lay before the council when I communicated to it my acceptance of an appointment under the general government. I am dear Sir with great respect & esteem your friend & servant\nJas. Monroe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0291", "content": "Title: To James Madison from David Ross, 23 March 1811\nFrom: Ross, David\nTo: Madison, James\nSirDavis\u2019s City of Washington March 23. 1811.\nI arrived here last evening. The principal object which brought me to this City, is to attempt a settlement at the Treasury of the Accounts of George Webb decd who was the Agent in the State of Virginia and the Receiver of her Quota of Revenue for the General Goverment\u2014altho not a nominal party I am deeply interested as the Creditor of Mr Webb, and his assignment upon Harvie for the deposites in his hands when the Claims of the United States against him are satisfied, those deposites have been in the hands of Mr. Harvie & his family for twenty four years. I have addressed the Secretary of the Treasury upon the Subject who will no doubt do what is right & proper.\n\u2019Tis with Reluctance, and great diffidence that I have prevaild on my self to intrude upon your Excellencey a matter of considerable importance to my private Concerns.\nThe subject I alude to, is the Award made by your self Joseph Jones, and Henry Tazwell, at the City of Richmond 15th. June 1783.\nI took the liberty of mentioning this subject to you, the last time I had the honor of seeing you, at the department of State, some years ago, when you were pleased to observe, that if you could see the papers to refresh your memory, every thing on your part to promote Justice should chearfully be done.\nI never mentioned the subject to either of the other arbitrators, as they soon afterwards became Judges in our Circuit Courts of law; Mr. Tazwell of his own accord mentioned to me the subject with very vivid sensations, and observed that the Award had given him vast uneasiness being Convinced upon mature Reflection that it was erroneous & might be the instrument of injustice, and he hoped and trusted the Courts would Correct it, as the Arbitrators had been misled by some case in the English books at that time, considered to be in point, but found afterwards not such authority as to be relyd upon, this conversation happened a short time before his death.\nI was very little acquainted with the Law respecting awards, and felt confidence in the justice of the case, and sanguine that the finall decision would be favourable\u2014indeed about this time the Venerable Mr Wythe the judge of our high Court of Chancery decreed a perpetual injunction against the Judgement at Law and published a short pamphlet on the subject, and an appeal was taken and since his death the decree has been Reversed, subjecting me to the payment of about twenty four thousand dollars & Costs.\nThe Statement and Copy of the Court papers will Convey the necessary information. I could not procure the Original papers as the rule of the Court prohibits their being taken out of the Office.\nThe amount of the decree altho\u2019 sufficiently distressing, especially as no valuable consideration had been received\u2014nevertheless \u2019tis rendered doubly distressing and vexatious from the following circumstance\nI realy believe the plaintiff was so concious of the inquiry [sic] of the decree that he was ashamed to demand payment in person and said nothing on the subject for twelve months, and then thro\u2019 his friends proposing a compromise and an adjustment of convenient payments, which I believe would have taken place in a short time, without farther trouble. About this time a cause which had been long depending was decided in our Court of Appeals by which I was entitled to a division of a Considerable estate in the upper Counties of Virginia two thirds of Considerable tracts of Land, about Twenty Slaves & Considerable sums of Money\u2014the Administrator upon this estate hearing of this celebrated decree upon the Award, Contemplated a speculation on the decree & a fraudulent use of it, upon the estate and purchased it up privately at a low rate & four years Credit the decree, without any recourse on the plaintiff, he procured an Execo. & levied it upon the slaves and purchased them for a triffle as no other person could purchase with safety no one slave was sold but two thirds of each slave was sold, the other third vested in the Admr. and other Legatees. I have troubled you with this detail to shew how much the original injury has been aggrevated, tho tis believed that the sale will be sett aside.\nI may reasonably imagine that at this point you are disposed to ask what can you do? what do I ask or expect? and must confess I\u2019m at a loss for an answer; you\u2019ll readily imagine that under such Complicated & aggrevated injustice tis natural for me to seek for Legal relieff\u2014that can only be found before a competent Court of Justice\u2014\u2019tis rather more than doubtfull if it can be again brot. forward, yet there are some circumstances which render it not altogether impracticable, especially if I can clearly shew that the Arbitrators were led into an error as to the law, by applying to this case some English Authorities which in fact was not sufficient legal authority. This brings me to the point, as to all I can ask, all that I can expect, and all I can hope for\u2014which is simply this that your Excellencey would have the goodness to peruse the papers. This will convince you of the principles upon which you acted, & the other Arbitrators. You could not possibly found your Judgement upon the merits or the equity of the Case. I conceive the Arbitrators yielded up their own opinions, to what they conceived the imperious dictates of the Law; Now if the Arbitrators considered that to be Law, which was not, \u2019twas an unin[ten]tional and innocent mistake and an erroneous award or in other words not the real Judgement of the Arbitrators as to the merits of the case. But I believe no Court Can Compell Arbitrators to disclose the reasons and principles which governd them in making up their award. They may or may not disclose it at their own discretion.\nYour superior Judgement will dictate whether you can do any thing in this case and what.\nI can venture to say from what I have been informed that there is but one opinion prevails with the professional Genl: in Richmond that the Arbitrators were perfectly pure in their intentions altho\u2019 mistaken as to the law.\nI am well aware that this address, would not only be considered exceptionable but offenceive to many respectable characters; who might think it a degradation to be thot. they had comitted an error however innocently done. Upon this occaision, altho\u2019 I not only feel serious regret, but also shame, at giving you so much trouble\u2014I am under no apprehensions of giving offence, from a conviction, that such illiberal sentiments have no place in your mind. On the Contrary, that you would feel indignant, if your character was so much mistaken\u2014as from motives of false delicacey you were deprived of the pleasure of being instrumental in facilitating Justice in any thing depending on your self.\nIf I do not find an appology in your goodness for this intrusion, I cannot expect to find it any where else. Be pleased to accept assurances of my sincere regard and esteem. Most Respectfully\nDavid Ross", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0293", "content": "Title: To James Madison from David Ross, 25 March 1811\nFrom: Ross, David\nTo: Madison, James\nSirWashington 25 March 1811.\nI am this moment favourd with your letter of this date, relative to the Award of 1783. Your comunications upon the subject are in Unison with Mr. Tazwell\u2019s, as to the governing principles upon which the Arbitrators founded their award. I always considered the subject in the same view. You have given me all the information I could ask, or expect.\nAs the Law Statement & Reccord will be mere lumber in your office\u2014I will withdraw them for the present, to save the trouble of copies.\nI pray you to accept the sincere offerings of Gratefull thanks, for your condecension & trouble in this antient business. Most Respectfully\nDavid Ross", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0294", "content": "Title: From James Madison to James Monroe, 26 March 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Monroe, James\nprivate\nDear SirWashington March 26. 1811\nI have recd. your letter of the 23d. and learn with much pleasure that you are not disinclined to the Station wch. the one answered by it, presented to your consideration. In discharging the duties of this Station, I am aware that the Functionary must carry into it, a just respect for his own principles, and above all for the dictates of his Conscience. But with the mutual knowledge of our respective views of the foreign as well as domestic interests of our Country, I see no serious obstacle on either side, to an association of our labors in promoting them. In the general policy of avoiding war, by a strict & fair neutrality towards the Belligerents, and of settling amicably, our differences with both; or with either, as leading to a settlement with the other; or that failing, as putting us on better ground against him, there is & has been an entire concurrence among the most enlightened who have shared in the public Councils since the year 1800. A like concurrence has prevailed in the opinion, that whilst on one hand, it is of great importance to the interests of the U. S. that peace should be preserved, and commerce obtained with the Continent of Europe, there are on the other hand, powerful reasons in favor of an adjustment with the great Maritime power, who, tho\u2019 liable to suffer much from our enmity, is capable also of doing us much harm or good, according to her disposition towards us. In favor of a cordial accomodation with G. Britain, there has certainly never ceased to be a prevailing disposition in the Executive Councils, since I became connected with them. In the terms of accomodation, with that as with other powers, differences of opinion must be looked for, even among those most agreed in the same general views. These differences however lie fairly within the compass of free consultation and mutual concession, as subordinate to the necessary Unity belonging to the Executive Dept. I will add that I perceive not, any commitments even in the case of the abortive adjustment with that power, that could necessarily embarrass deliberations on a renewal of negociations; inasmuch as the variance of opinion turned not a little on different understandings of certain facts & constructive intentions, rather than on the merits of the questions decided; and as the questions more immediately interesting to the harmony of the two Countries, namely as to the Chesapeake, the orders in Council, and Blockades, are either of subsequent date, or left without any positive decision.\nThe strong ties which bind you to your present Station did not fail to occur, but having no doubt myself that the range & scope of the business in the Dept. of State, in times like the present at least, give to talents & services there, more importance than belongs to a local sphere, I readily concluded that the delicacy of the exchange proposed to you, was superseded not only by that consideration, but by the fair presumption, that it would equally accord with the patriotic views of your Constituents. I shall of course accompany the commission to be forwarded with a line referring to it. But it deserves our joint consideration whether remarks for a public use not usual, & connecting the magnitude of the Crisis, with a particular selection of services, might not afford to local or personal feelings elsewhere, an occasion for disadvantageous misconstructions or perversions. The Commission will bear date the 1st. of Apl. the date of the vacancy to be filled. Would it be possible for you to be here within a day or two after? You will find it convenient on every acct. to come in the first instance without your family; and there is important business that claims the earliest attention. Favor me with a line on the Subject, and be assured of my great esteem & sincere friendship.\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0295", "content": "Title: To James Madison from M. Ruelle, 26 March 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Ruelle, M.\nTo: Madison, James\n26 March 1811, Rue d\u2019Argente\u00fcil, No. 38, Paris. Observes that when he wrote on 18 Sept. 1810 [not found], it was not known in France that a party for the emancipation of Mexico had appeared, but his letter had predicted it. Regardless of the consequences of this endeavor, it will always be in the interest of the U.S. that Mexico and the other regions of Spanish America constitute themselves as republics and that the U.S. give them aid. It is no longer a matter of waiting for the outcome of the war in Spain that Great Britain wages against France, as it is clear that the king [of Spain] will never be restored to his throne and that the struggle can have no other outcome than the dismemberment of his dominions, the effect of which will be to place the colonies under a royalist yoke and the U.S. in an equally unsympathetic situation. Advises the U.S. to form a coalition with the Spanish colonies against the war France and Great Britain wage on their commerce. Such a coalition could not be withstood by any power and would secure the revolution in question. Declares that the salvation of the new world is in JM\u2019s hands. Mentions in a postscript an enclosed packet for Mr. Warden.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0296", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Alexander Hamilton, 28 March 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Hamilton, Alexander Jr.\nTo: Madison, James\n28 March 1811, New York. \u201cOn the fourth of April, I expect to sail for Lisbon, from thence, I shall proceed to London & Paris. If you will introduce me, to some of your friends or my father\u2019s, you will much oblige me.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0298", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Rush, 30 March 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Rush, Benjamin\nTo: Madison, James\n30 March 1811, Philadelphia. Introduces the bearers, Mr. Caldwell and Major Plenderleath, who were introduced to him as gentlemen of \u201cuncommon worth\u201d by his son-in-law in Quebec. They hold, respectively, civil and military commissions under the British government. On their travels in the U.S. they wish \u201cto do homage to the person and Character of the President of the United States.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0299", "content": "Title: From James Madison to James Monroe, 31 March 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Monroe, James\nDear SirWashington Mar. 31. 1811\nI have the pleasure this moment of receiving yours of the 29th. inst: I am particularly glad to find that you will be able to set out at so early a day for Washington. To the advantage of preventing an inconvenient chasm in the public business, will be added the opportunity of a provident attention to the accomodations required by your establishment here. The House occupied by Mr. Smith is the best in the place, and I believe is not yet out of reach. He means also to dispose of certain portions of his furniture which might suit your purposes. These considerations taken together strongly recommend that you should not wait for the receipt of your Commission in Richmond, but consider what has passed between us sufficient ground for a communication to the Council. The actual receipt of the Commission cannot be a necessary preliminary. As well as I recollect, I did not receive mine as Secretary of State, till it was handed me on the spot, by Mr. Jefferson. In case of appointments at a great distance, it might be extremely inconvenient for any other course to be observed. It is the more desireable that you should not wait for your Commission, as I find that it will be tuesday morning before its date will be consistent with the understanding & arrangement here, & that your arrival would of consequence be thrown forward till the beginning of the next week. I might indeed, as the law authorizes, provide an Interim Functionary, for the current business requiring his signature, & not admitting delay; but, even for this limited purpose, there are objections to this resort where it can be avoided. I hope therefore you will find no difficulty in the mode of anticipation recommended, the more especially as your communication to the Council, may be delayed till tuesday morning, the time proposed for your setting out, and at which time your Commission will have been formally consummated & ready for delivery. Accept assurances of my sincere esteem & friendship\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0300", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 1 April 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\nDear SirWashington Apl. 1. 1811\nI intimated to you the offence taken by Armstrong at the re-enstatement of Warden. It is not improbable that it will be the ground of an open hostility. This will call into view his present denunciations of W. which are pointed agst. him as an Adventurer & Impostor from the commencement to the end of his career, in comparison with the patronage so long continued to him, and the sentiments heretofore expressed of him. Will you be so good as to send me the extract from A\u2019s letter written in the summer or Fall of 1808, which notifies the appt. of W. as Consul, and gives the favorable side of his character, as well as the objections to a confirmation of the appt. That letter was the only communication made on the subject.\nYou will have inferred the change which is taking place in the Dept. of State. Col. Monroe agrees to succeed Mr. Smith, who declines however the mission to Russia, at first not unfavorably looked at. I was willing, notwithstanding many trying circumstances, to have smoothed the transaction as much as possible, but it will be pretty sure to end in secret hostility, if not open warfare. On account of my great esteem & regard for common friends such a result is truly painful to me. For the rest, I feel myself on firm ground, as well in the public opinion, as in my own consciousness.\nWilkinson I find has lately recd. a letter from you, wch. he has shewn to his friends, with much apparent gratification. I understand at the same time, that the letter is cautious, and limited to the charge of privity with Burr. Did he disown to you the anonymous letter printed in Clark\u2019s Book, or say any thing relative to that subject?\nThe latest information from Europe will be found in the inclosed papers. The indications from France are rather favorable. Should the Old King displace the Regent in England, little is to be hoped from that quarter; unless forced on the Cabinet by national distress. In the last correspondence of Pinkney with Wellesley, the latter sufficiently shewed his teeth; and recd. the severest scourging that was ever diplomatically inflicted. Be assured always of my great esteem & affection\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0301", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Charles P. Howard, 1 April 1811\nFrom: Howard, Charles P.\nTo: Madison, James\nDr. Sir,Woodly. April 1 1811\nDocr. Willis particularly requested that so soon as he was no more you should be informd of it. I have now to inform you that the melancholy event took place about noon this day. He was 36 years & about 6 Months Old; as Docr. Willis was well known in your City & has many friends there, perhaps it may be well to have it announced in Gales, paper and as he was personally known to the Editor it may be sufficient to leave the form to him, but of which you will be the best Judge yourself. All friends are well. With Esteem\nC. P. Howard", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0302", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John G. Jackson, 1 April 1811\nFrom: Jackson, John G.\nTo: Madison, James\nMy dear Sir.Clarksburg April 1st 1811\nI often resist the desire to write you from a consciousness that the labors of your station make the task of reading letters irksome; & render any thing like a regular correspondence impossible. But as our meeting again is doubtful, or at best remote; I venture sometimes to obtrude myself upon you as the only mode in which I can have the pleasure of communing with you. A conjecture has reached me that Mr. Monroe was to fill the Office vacated by Mr. Smith & no doubt its truth or fallacy has been already established. As I heretofore conversed freely with you on that subject I think it not amiss to take the liberty of writing on it now. I am perfectly satisfied that his appointment then would have been beneficial at home & abroad. Here, because there are some who cling to him as a leader in opposition; whose insincerity would long since have been exposed. And elsewhere because the B Ministry consider him as feeling more cordiality towards their nation than you do because of the rejected Treaty and buoyed up by the supposed schisms amongst us imagine that Mr. M is an host in their favor. Perhaps I thought differently at your installation but of that I am not certain, as I was urged to mention the opinions of Others more than to suggest any of my own impressions.\nMrs. J as my letter to Mrs. M communicates has presented me with a Daughter; they are like to do well. So you see I am in better employment than quarrelling & fighting in Congress\u2014Hercules threw by his club for the distaff\u2014And well might I when it neither annoyed my enemies or benefitted my friends. I feel much doubt of the reelection of McKinley & so do our opponents it will be a drawn battle if such a result can be produced by a contest of almost equal strength. I salute you my Dr Sir With sincerest friendship your Mo Obt\nJ G Jackson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0304", "content": "Title: From James Madison to James Monroe, 2 April 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Monroe, James\nDear SirWashington April 2, 1811\nAltho\u2019 I have expressed a hope that you would leave Richmond before a Commission of Secretary of State, could reach it, yet as it may have happened otherwise, & as it may be agreeable to you to have it previously in your hands, I now inclose the document as just compleated. There is the less objection to this step, as in case it should pass you on the road, another can readily be made out on your arrival here, preparatory to your taking the oath and commencing the functions of Office. Accept my affece. respects\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0305", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Clement Caines, 2 April 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Caines, Clement\nTo: Madison, James\n2 April 1811, St. Kitts. Declares that JM\u2019s name has reached the West Indies and \u201cis celebrated throughout the World.\u201d Conveys his \u201crespect and high esteem\u201d and encloses his \u201cliterary compositions.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0306", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Drayton, 3 April 1811\nFrom: Drayton, John\nTo: Madison, James\nSir.HopeLand (So: Carolina) April 3d: 1811.\nI have the honor of addressing you, from my plantation; having been resident here, since the close of my late administration.\nBy information received from Charleston yesterday, from respectable Authority, I am informed Judge Bee\u2019s State of Health is extremely critical at this time; and it is proposed to me, to apply for the office, when the Vacancy takes place. I have accordingly taken the same into consideration; and, more on account of my family than myself, have determined to apply to you for the same. What my pretensions to it may be, is with you to Judge. I have been regularly educated to the Law; & practised the same several years in this State: but since Marriage, I have relinquished it.\nMy reason for thus applying immediately to you sir, is this: should I be honored with the appointment, I will be satisfied you have done it more from your own good wishes & opinions, than from any impressions which you might have received from applications in my behalf. This, I hope sir, will excuse my thus intruding myself upon you: while I avail myself of the occasion to repeat to you my assurances of great consideration & respect, with which I have now the honor to subscribe myself sir Your most obedient Servant\nJohn Drayton", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0307", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William O. Allen, 4 April 1811\nFrom: Allen, William O.\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,Saint Louis (Lous.) 4th Apl. 1811.\nBy the last mail, I received a letter, from H. Marshall Esqr. of Kentucky\u2014The following is a Copy Vizt.\n\u201cFrankford Feby 27th 1811.\u201d\n\u201cSir Having heard that in consequence of your getting into your possession the papers of the late Mr Lockasangne you are possessed of information important to me, as a party to a suit which Harry Innes has brought against me for alledging him to be a party in the old Spanish conspiracy I have taken the Liberty of addressing you, and most earnestly request you if you have any papers which throws light on that intrigue, and which in any way connects Innes with the parties concerned you would be so obliging as to state to by mail, the amount of that information, should there be any letter from Innes, please to transmit the original, or a Copy, Further if you do know any thing be so good as to state to me the substance\u2014should it not be evidence for me in the suit it may aid me in writing the history of Kentucky which I am engaged in and which will be imperfect without a developement of that intrigue.\nPray let me hear from you even if you have no information to give; in as much as, untill I hear I shall not know but you might be the most material witness.\u201d Yours respectfully\n\u201cH. Marshall\u201d\naddressed\u2014\n\u201cWilliam O Allen Esquire\nCape Jerado\nPostmarked\nMississippi\u201d\n\u201cFrankfort K\npaid 20\u2007\n\u201cMarch 2d\u201d\nunpaid\u2007\n\u201cCape Gerardeau\n\u201cthe 22d March 1811\nforwarded\u201d \u2003 The principal of those papers were delivered to Governor Howard, in compliance with a request contained in a letter, from the Secretary of War, to me of date, the 4th of May 1810.\nI wish Sir, to enquirer [sic], whither, I am now at liberty to state, that those documents are in the possession of Government? Whether, it is compatible with your Views, that I should surrender, some few, that are yet in my possession, and that are immaterial as to Genl. Wilkinson, into the hands of Mr. Marshall? And, in fact, I very much desire to know the course, that may be pointed out by your Wisdom.\nIn a government so just, and so much connected with the interest of All\u2014I hold it, as an axiom, that the public good, should always, control the actions of every individual. But, beyond that consideration, there are other, powerful inducements, that tend to keep many of Mr M.\u2019s political views at a distance\u2014I know, that he is a federalist\u2014That he was the apponant of the late, as I believe, he is of the present Administration. I am a Virginian, by burth a republican, and by education & conviction a friend to those, that he has been in the constant habit of opposing.\nGovernor Howard requested of me secrecy\u2014I have complied.\nIf Sir, you should wish to know more of me than my name, I refer you to many papers now of file in the War Department\u2014To 2 or 3 letters delivered in person to you, in the Winter 1806/7\u2014To others transmitted since\u2014To my former Townsman The Hble: B. Bassett\u2014Mr. H. Clay, late of the Senate\u2014Capt. I. A. Coles &c. &c. With profound respect & consideration, I tender my best wishes, and am Dr. Sir your Obedient Humble Servant\nWm. O Allen", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0308", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John G. Jackson, 5 April 1811\nFrom: Jackson, John G.\nTo: Madison, James\nDr. Sir.Clarksburg April 5th 1811\nJudge Nelson has resigned his judicial office & the Executive of Virginia will soon appoint a successor. The Law requires that he shall reside within the Circuit & the probability is that the preference will be given to a Candidate already here rather than incur the risque of offending by sending a stranger to us. My Friends have solicited my consent to be a Candidate & some of them have written to the Executive in my favor. If you can consistently with your judgment, & with perfect propriety (otherwise believe me I do not request it) it will afford me pleasure to be named by you to some friend at Richmond who would favor my views. Dr. Sir your Most Obt\nJ G Jackson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0309", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Richard Peters, 6 April 1811\nFrom: Peters, Richard\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirBelmont April. 6. 1811.\nI recieved your Letter & the Grains of sweet Corn; for which I return you Thanks. We have, here, that Species of Corn; but I always find that Change of Sied [sic] ameliorates. I am much obliged by your Attention to my Request as to the Big-Rye. I hope it will be successful; & that a most valuable Grain will be added to our Stock. I have hoed & cleaned my small Patch, planted last Autumn. I have never known any Plant exhibit such Appearances, in its early Stages, of Vigour & profitable Promise. I think I shall have more than a Bushell from my half Pint planted. I could encrease the Number of Plants by a Repitition of transplanting, by separating the Roots, but as I am now well, I do not care to venture being made worse, by an Attempt at being better. This is the Mistake of all Theorists.\nYour Sheep I think must be the Barbary Coast Sheep. They are of the same Race, but not so good as the Mountain Sheep. I send to you a Specimen of the Wool of my Sheep; & a Sample of Home-spun Cloth, made from the original Ewe Selima & her Daughter, No. 2 in the Plate. It might have been manufactured better at one of our Factories. But I chose the whole Operation should be domestic & countryfied. I therefore had it woven & dressed by a common good Country Weaver & Fuller. Being a good Republican, I have a Coat made for my own wearing. I could not get it dyed in the Wool, without more Trouble than I chose to take, or I would have had it black; & would have worn it for my Costume. It would have then been on a Par with my Office; which is happily situated\u2014below Envy & above Contempt. You see I am qualis \u27e8eram?\u27e9; neither ambitious nor vulgar.\nI forgot to mention, in my Account of the Sheep, a curious Difference between the Structure of the Nostril of the Tunis, & that of any other Sheep. No Doubt all the broad tailed Race are similar; but this I do not know. The Tunis Sheep do not emit, from the Nostril, the Mucus in such Quantity, as to form a Nidus for the Progeny of the Sheep Bee, or Fly, which, in common Sheep (& in the Merino also) deposits its Nit, producing Worms in the Head of almost every other Sheep. The Interior of the Tunis Nostril is formed like that of the Camel; & calculated to exclude, at Pleasure, any Annoyances, or dangerous Air or Vapour, which in the sandy Deserts of African or Asiatick Climates, are frequently fatal to the human Race.\nI have had, on the Landsdown Farm (adjacent to mine) a full Proof of the Fact I mention\u2014to wit\u2014that the Tunis are exempt from the Diseases common to other Sheep; to which, of all others, the Merino is the most obnoxious. Mr C. Hare caught the Merino-Mania; & purchased 80 Sheep\u2014many Mongrels\u2014but many true Merinos. He placed them on the Lansdown Farm for a few Weeks. I warned the Tenant against the Danger of infecting with their Diseases his fine Flock of Tunis Crosses, some high blooded Tunis & others English & Irish Sheep. But, like the Prophecies of Cassandra, my Prognosticks were disregarded. Yet Bones (the Tenant) took great Care to keep the Flocks apart. He, however, admitted a few Merinos into his Sheep House, for a few Nights. Two Months after the Departure of Hare\u2019s Sheep, & after several Frosts, he housed his Farm Flock. The Consequence was, that most of them caught the Scab, from the Infection left behind by the Merinos. The common Sheep were the worst, the English & Irish Breed (fine Sheep) a Grade better; but bad enough; the quarter blooded Tunis slightly affected; but the high blooded Sheep of this Race not in the smallest Degree infected. Even in the lowest blooded Tunis Sheep, there was no Excoriation; or Injury to the Fleece. But many of the Fleeces of the other Sheep became ragged; & of some, the greater Part of the Fleeces fell off. He has chiefly banished the Disease, by strong Infusions of Tobacco. All of the Tunis Blood recovered, by a few Washings. But the common Sheep are as bare in Spots, as is the Head of our national Eagle. Some of them have lost their Forelocks; & imitate, too exactly, the Head of our national Emblem. This is well enough for a sheepish Exhibition of Humility. It is, however, illiberal, tho\u2019 not surprising, that our Eagle should be so continually pecked by the great Bullies of the Earth; when it remains always bareheaded & uncovered before them. Retournons a nos Moutons: I have had a Plan for importing some Sheep, from Tunis, in Contemplation for a long time past. I cannot obtain from Genl Eaton, the Information I have repeatedly required, of the exact Place from whence he procured my original Pair. He is un homme perdu; but I have taken Measures to get the necessary Information, & will prosecute my Plan. Mine must be a peculiar Species of the Breed. Yours very truly\nRichard Peters", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0310", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 7 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirMonticello Apr. 7. 11.\nYour favors of Mar. 18. and Apr. 1. have been duly recieved. The extract from Armstrong\u2019s letter of July 28. 08. which you desire is in these words. \u2018My poor friend Warden writes to you, & asks from you the appointment of Consul for this place. I could not promise to do more than send his letter. He is an honest and amiable man, with as much Greek & Latin, & chemistry & theology, as would do for the whole corps of Consuls. But, after all, not well qualified for business. You have seen an order of S\u00e7avans, really well informed, who, notwithstanding, scarcely knew how to escape from a shower of rain when it happened to beset them. He is of that family. No\u2014the man for this place, ought to be a man of business, as well as a gentleman.\u2019 He then goes on to put Leavenworth\u2019s pretensions out of the way, should he have proposed himself. The letter is headed \u2018private,\u2019 altho relating as much to public as private transactions. What I saw of Warden, during the ten days or fortnight he staid here, satisfied me that he merited all the good which Armstrong says of him, & that he was by no means the helpless & ineffective man in business which he represents him to be. I knew, when I recieved the letter that Armstrong\u2019s fondness for point, and pith, rendered it unsafe to take what he said literally. He is cynical & irritable, & implacable. Whether his temper or his views induced his dismission of Warden, his persecution of him now, will render public benefit by the developement of his character. I have never heard a single person speak of Warden who did not rejoice in his appointment, and express disapprobation of Armstrong\u2019s conduct respecting him: and I am perfectly satisfied that, if the appointment is made to attract public attention, it will be approved. The other subject of uneasiness which you express must, I know, be afflicting. You will probably see it\u2019s effect in the secret workings of an insatiable family. They may sow discontent, but will neither benefit themselves nor injure you by it. The confidence of the public is too solid to be shaken by personal incidents. I do sincerely rejoice that Monroe is added to your councils. He will need only to percieve that you are without reserve towards him, to meet it with the cordiality of earlier times. He will feel himself to be again at home in our bosoms, and happy in a separation from those who led him astray. I learn that John Randolph is now open-mouthed against him & Hay. The letter which I wrote lately to Wilkinson was one of necessity written to thank him for his book which he sent me. He says nothing in his letter of the anonymous letter in Clarke\u2019s book to which you allude. I have never seen Clarke\u2019s book, & know nothing of it\u2019s contents. The only part of my letter which regards Wilkinson himself is in these words, \u2018I look back with commiseration on those still buffeting the storm, & sincerely wish your Argosy may ride out, unhurt, that in which it is engaged. My belief is that it will; & I found that belief on my own knolege of Burr\u2019s transactions, on my view of your conduct in encountering them, and on the candour of your judges.\u2019 These are truths which I express without reserve, whenever any occasion calls for them. Whatever previous communications might have passed between Burr & Wilkinson on the subject of Mexico, I believe, that on the part of the latter it was on the hypothesis of the approbation of the government. I never believed W. would give up a dependance on the government under whom he was the first, to become a secondary & dependant on Burr. I inclose you a letter from Pere Gabriel. In a Note of unfinished business which I left with you, you will see exactly how far he had a right to expect the government would go in aid of his establishment. I fear the glimmering of hope that England might return to reason has past off with the return of her mad king to power. Present me affectionately to mrs. Madison, and be assured of my best wishes for your health & happiness, and that your labours for the public may be crowned with their love.\nTh: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0311", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Morgan Lewis, 8 April 1811\nFrom: Lewis, Morgan\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirAlbany 8th. April 1811\nAccident has recently put me in possession of some facts which may possibly be interesting to you, and which I shall therefore in confidence communicate. A plan is formed, of which the outlines are, that at the ensuing Election George Clinton is to be your Opponent for the presidency and General Armstrong the Candidate for the vice presidency. An Appointment under the general government is to be procured, if possible, for Govr. Tompkins, for the purpose of enabling D. W. Clinton (should he succeed at the next Election, of which there is little prospect) to Administer the Government of the State. Genl. Armstrong has within a few days received a Letter from Washington, the writer of which informs him, that it is the Opinion of his friends there, which Mr. Secretary Smith assured him of and requested him to advertise the General of, that he should decline accepting any Office under your Administration, and that he should immediately acquire a residence in Pensylva.\nGeneral A\u2014\u2014g immediately repaired to this place, where he has been a Week at the House of Judge Spencer, with whom Mr. Clinton also lodges. There, measures were taken to bring this State into the plan, which I trust will not be successful. This information may be relied on\u2014I have it from a Source not to be questioned.\nMr. German the Senator from this State, it is said, has already taken the field, and declares your Administration merits not the Confidence of the people.\nMr. W. P. Van Ness, a Man of considerable intrigue, has lately attached himself to the Clinton party, and it is understood is to be rewarded with an Appointment under the general Government.\nWhen I assure you sir there is not an Office in the Gift of any Government on Earth that I would accept, you will duly appreciate the motives of this Communication.\nThe Legislature of this State being on the Eve of Adjournment I am too much occupied to enlarge. I am sir your\u2019s respectfully\nMorgan Lewis.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0312", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Jonathan Bull and Others, 9 April 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Bull, Jonathan\nTo: Madison, James\n9 April 1811, Hartford, Connecticut. \u201cThe friends of the government have for some time past, contemplated with deep regret, the unhappy situation of the federal courts in this district\u201d; they believe that some gentlemen, not friendly to the district attorney, have attempted a remedy by seeking his removal. Such a step would cause pain to the friends of Mr. Huntington, especially at a time when the reasons that are advanced for his removal are beyond his control. \u201cWe are however assured \u2026 that it is Mr. Huntingtons wish to retire from the turmoil in which he has long been unpleasantly involved, and that it is his determination to resign his office \u2026 as soon as he can do so, without its appearing to his enemies, to be the result of their intrigues.\u201d The signatories request JM to suspend any decision about Huntington\u2019s removal until such time as Huntington has an opportunity for \u201can honorable retreat\u201d and JM can select a suitable successor.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0315", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Pasquale Navarro, 10 April 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Navarro, Pasquale\nTo: Madison, James\n10 April 1811, Naples. Has produced a mathematical work that will astonish the geometers, as it deals with the resolution of the problem of the trisection of the angle, which has occupied the most renowned talents in the world for nearly twenty centuries. Sends JM a copy of his work so that it might be made public in the U.S., where science, letters, and the fine arts are cultivated.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0316", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Maury, 11 April 1811\nFrom: Maury, James\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirLiverpool 11th. April 1811\nWith this is a Copy of the letter I had the honour to write to you on the 14th November, since which I have not received any instructions about your Tobacco \u214c Adeline. No part of it has been sold.\nIt now is more than twelve months since the commencement of the Unparalleled distresses to which the Trading Interest of this Country has been subjected. They still are so great that Government offer a Loan of Six millions to the sufferers; but, as the Act is but just passed and the Money not yet diffused, one cannot speak as to it\u2019s effects. It may produce relief, tho\u2019, probably, but temporary; because those distresses are more to be attributed to the difficulty of introducing goods from this Country into the ports of the Continent than to any other Cause.\nUnder these circumstances foreign produce in general is greatly depressed and very unsaleable. The Stocks of Tobacco in this port and London only now are about 36.000 Hhds, of which 15.000 are here; about double the quantity at any past period. With great respect & esteem I have the honor to be your obliged friend and servant\nJames Maury", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0318", "content": "Title: From James Madison to John G. Jackson, 12 April 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Jackson, John G.\nDear SirWashington Apl. 12. 1811\nI recd. at the same time your two letters of the 1st. & 5th. It was found that the appt. of a Judge to succeed Mr. Nelson, had taken place a week or two before. Your name had been brought into view under high auspices, but it does not appear that your willingness to accept the office (or the sufficiency perhaps of your health) was counted on. You say nothing on the subject of Merinoes; which was taken up in my late letter answering yours expressing a wish to acquire some of that breed of sheep. I can add nothing to the information therein submitted to you. You will see that very late accts. have been recd. from Europe, particularly England. I inclose papers containing all the particulars which have appeared in reference to our Affairs. The proper comments will occur to your own judgment. Accept my congratulations on the event which adds to your domestic happiness, with assurances of my esteem & friendship.\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0319", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Andrew Ellicott, 12 April 1811\nFrom: Ellicott, Andrew\nTo: Madison, James\nDear sir,\nLancaster April 12th. 1811.\nThe zenith Sector which I used on the southern boundary of the United States, is principally owned by this commonwealth: the claim of the U. S. amounts to about 25 guineas. On my return home in the year 1800, I had it deposited in one of the public stores, but do not recollect which. Being lately appointed to determine the boundary between the States of Georgia, and N. Carolina, on which the instrument before mentioned will be wanted, I must request the loan of it, so far as the U. S. are interested. I presume an order from you, or one of the departments will be necessary to enable me to obtain it from the person who has it in possession. As the instrument will probably want some repairing, the sooner I receive your answer the better.\nMy compliments to Mrs. Madison, and believe me to be with great esteem, Your sincere friend, and hbl. servt.\nAndw. Ellicott.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0320", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Simon Snyder, 12 April 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Snyder, Simon\nTo: Madison, James\n12 April 1811, Lancaster. Transmits \u201can exemplified copy of an Act of the General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, entitled, \u2018An Act to cede the occupancy and use of certain lands near Presque Isle, to the United States, for the purpose therein mentioned.\u2019\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0321", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Caspar Wistar, Jr., 13 April 1811\nFrom: Wistar, Caspar, Jr.\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir\nPhilada. Apl. 13. 1811\nIt is with great reluctance that I intrude upon your valuable time, but the occasion seems to demand it of me. The Patriotism of Mr. B. McClenachan during the revolution is I believe well known to you, & you are probably as well acquainted with his history since that period. He wishes me to state to you my opinion respecting his health, & capability of attention to the office which he solicits of you. It is with great pleasure I say that the powers of his mind appear to me perfectly unimpaired by age, & his health is equal to the undertaking. He is some times afflicted with the Gout but is free from all other complaints & is very temperate.\nThe Ladies of this family join me in offering their best respects to Mrs. Maddison, who is I believe the only person connected with any of the Governments in the United States that enjoys the perfect approbation of all parties. With sincere respect I beg leave to subscribe Your friend & servant\nCaspar Wistar Jr.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0322", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James G. Forbes, 13 April 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Forbes, James G.\nTo: Madison, James\n13 April 1811, New York. \u201cAs the annexation of the hanseatic towns to the French Empire may have given the finishing stroke to the official duties of my Brother John M. Forbes, the Consul at Hamburg during a period of nine fruitless Years of unprecedented interruption to neutral Commerce\u2014may I hope, that the President \u2026 will Consider my Brothers Conduct and afford him such continued marks of his approbation as he ever strived to merit.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0323", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Lemuel Sawyer, 15 April 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Sawyer, Lemuel\nTo: Madison, James\n15 April 1811, Jonesborough, North Carolina. \u201cMy health is so precarious that it is with great difficulty I can continue in the land of the living, & that must be done by the greater part of my time travelling about in search of health,\u2026 & it takes more than the profits of my little estate to defray these expences.\u201d Seeks a post in the Mediterranean that would \u201cbarely afford a sustenance.\u201d Believes there is a vacancy in Tunis or, if there is one in Italy \u201cwhere the emoluments would cover expences,\u201d he would happily accept it. If no vacancies exist, he would be glad to accept a post in Philadelphia or Baltimore. Addresses JM with \u201cthe frankness of a friend\u201d and requests \u201ca line in answer to this.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0324", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Charles Hall, 16 April 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Hall, Charles\nTo: Madison, James\n16 April 1811, Long\u2019s Hotel, Washington. \u201cI have this moment arrived here and request the favor of an interview with you that I may communicate some matters of importance. I however particularly request the favor of its being in private with you only, and that you will not let any person know of this letter or of my being here, until you see me.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0325", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Samuel Hanson of Samuel, 16 April 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Hanson, Samuel (of Samuel)\nTo: Madison, James\n16 April 1811, Washington. \u201cThe Memorial of S. Hanson of Saml, Purser, begs leave respectfully to represent That, for the last 7 years past, he has been uniformly oppressed by the official conduct of Thomas Turner, the Accountant of the Navy,\u2026 [who] has prevented the settlement of his Accounts to this moment.\u201d Finds himself constrained to trouble the president, since there is no other officer to whom the accountant is \u201clegally amenable.\u201d Believes that the accountant is not under the control of the secretary of the navy and that \u201cbeing appointed, not by the Secretary, but by the President, he was meant to be independent of, and, perhaps, a check upon, that Officer.\u201d Concedes that he can appeal the adjustment of his accounts from the accountant to the comptroller and he has done so, \u201cbut the Comptroller possesses no power to enforce the adjustment of my Accounts by the Accountant; nor procure my access to the documents and vouchers rendered by me to the Accountant in support of my claims.\u201d Is ready to prove \u201cbefore any impartial tribunal, the truth of these Allegations\u201d and asks the president to cause \u201can Examination into the conduct of the Accountant\u201d to end his \u201cpersecution & oppression.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0327", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Michael Leib, 18 April 1811\nFrom: Leib, Michael\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nPhiladelphia April 18th. 1811\nI just learned, that a vacancy has occurred in the office of Commissioner of loans, by the death of General Moylan, and take the liberty to suggest to you, that the office would be acceptable to me.\nMy political pursuits, at the expence of my profession, as you will readily imagine, have not improved my fortune; and after a long time spent in the public service, I am compelled to look about me, to provide for an increasing family. The emoluments of this office are small; but to a man who can content himself with a sufficiency to render him comfortable, and whose ambition is limited to narrow bounds, they may afford him some solace for long and uninterrupted service.\nAllow me to request that this letter may be considered as confidential. Accept, Sir, the assurance of my respect and regard\nM Leib", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0329", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Quincy Adams, 19 April 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Madison, James\nPrivate\nSince I had the honor of writing you last on the 8th February I have been informed that a commission has been sent to Count Pahlen for a temporary mission to the court of Brazil and that an optional authority is given him to go there immediately if he thinks proper. He is not however recalled from his mission to the United States and during his absence he is to leave Mr. Politico as charg\u00e9 des affaires.\nThe minister plenipotentiary from the Court of Brezil whose destination to this place was announced last October has not yet arrived but is expected as soon as the navigation will be free. In the mean time the Treaty between the two Governments rests suspended. I informed the Secretary of State of the arrangement which was concluded about this time last year and which was to continue in force untill the 11th: of March last. The continuance of this arrangement for another year was agreed upon by Count Romanzoff with the Portugueze Charg\u00e9 des Affairs\u2014but is left unfinished owing to some recent incidents, untill the arrival of the Minister.\nThese incidents probably arose from the situation of the relations between Russia and France which threaten an immediate war. The preparations for this event on the part of Russia have been great and incessant during the whole winter. I have not however until very recently expected that it would commence this spring nor do I yet consider it as inevitable but as at least extremely probable. There are perhaps secret negotiations already in train with England and the Spanish Cortes government have offered assistance in money to Russia to maintain the war. Should it break out Count Romanzoff will retire from the administration. The war will effect a great commercial revolution in the north of Europe. Of its probable issue it would not become me now to speak. At this moment Russia is undoubtedly of the two parties the best prepared but the power of France and the manner in which the French emperor always makes war lead to the expectation that his movements will be rapid and his efforts powerful. The war may not be long.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0331", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John G. Jackson, 19 April 1811\nFrom: Jackson, John G.\nTo: Madison, James\nMy dear Sir.\nClarksburg April 19th. 1811.\nYour favor of the 12th. reached me on the 16th. The preceding day was that of our Election, on which the District turned & I am sorry to say the Federal Candidate obtained a majority of 102 votes\u2014he is elected. Mr. McKinley never was here before & his coming ruined our hopes, as his manners &c are unpopular, & here the People vote for men more than principles. On the morning of the election I was taken up for the Assembly & voted in, which I truly regret as my old friend Prunty was dropped, I can scarcely tell how it happened I was taken by surprise, yielding to the wishes of the People I forgot my condition & every thing that forbade my going to the Assembly. I was in hopes that the Office vacated by Mr. Nelson would have been tendered me And thereby I should have been extricated from the dilemma. Your letter disappoints that hope\u2014it is all we have heard on the subject, & do not even conjecture who is sent from the land of Talents & illumination to enlighten us miserable backwoodsmen, who cannot furnish one Man to fill a local office amongst us. I care not who he is I will oppose his being confirmed by the Legislature, And if we are conquered\u2014for in this at least we are united. We will make an effort to break the chains of servitude rivetted by the wise men of the East. Thank God they can not deprive me of popularity here and while my tongue & pen can urge any thing in the cause of our poor despised country, I will pourtray the condition we are reduced to: & risque every thing to vindicate our rights. Forgive me my friend for my warmth; it is monstrous injustice to reduce a district of 50,000 inhabitants abounding as all admit in eminent Lawyers: to the degradation of sending a Judge to us over our heads; of mediocre talents & totally ignorant of the great principles involved in our litigations: as much so, as to send a mere land Lawyer to plead Admiralty causes in the maritime districts. I write somewhat at hazard perhaps some one of our Lawyers is appointed; if so I acquiesce\u2014we have several in whose judgment I can confide & I agree to the appointment of either. But if he is selected from abroad all I have written I persist in; and should it lead to an open rupture be it so, the Backwoodsmen are not in fault, they feel the wrongs heaped upon them & want only a rallying point to redress them.\nThe information you gave me concerning Merinos was satisfactory & I only forbore to write you because I would not presume to trouble you further on that subject. I bid fair to succeed with my sheep beyond any calculation\u2014upwards of 100 ewes have Lambs & the encrease of the old stock is 33\u2153 per cent\u2014this autumn I shall procure a Merino Ram & enlarge the stock several hundreds. Our Crops have a finer prospect than ever hitherto, I am farming much more largely than heretofore having taken in five tenements & discharged the tenants\u2014rely on it your Eastern planters & farmers will find us entering your accustomed markets in competition with you, & a new direction must be given to your industry. Were it not for the vexation I indulge in concerning the neglect I complain of, you would be pleased with the industry that surrounds me. I have four mills continually running & am building two others, beside mechanic shops, domestic manufactures &c giving employment to a large number of persons. I am vexed that I have a wish beyond it, but dame nature is to blame not I she infused the fire &c &c & death alone can extinguish them. In whatever else I may change my heart assures me I shall be stedfastly & unalterably your friend. Dr. Sir your Mo Obt\nJ G Jackson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0332", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Wilkinson, 20 April 1811\nFrom: Wilkinson, James\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nWashington April 20th. 1811\nThe singular hardship of my situation, & the great Interests which I have at Stake, will I flatter myself excuse this deviation from the regular course of my communications to you, which considerations of delicacy towards the Secretary of War imposes on me; for it would be as indecorous to wound his feelings, as it would be unjust to myself, to leave you in the dark, touching the result of the report of the Committee of the House of Representatives, appointed to examine into the causes of the mortality among the Troops on the Mississippi; with the professed object indeed to ascertain truths for the information of Government, but in Fact to criminate me, which the whole Conduct of the two Committees & the Tenor of their Reports make manifest.\nYou have observed Sir that the proceedings of the Committee of 1809\u201310 were published by order of the House; and that the late Committee, composed of the same chairman & several of the Members, true to their purpose, after they had actually called for & examined my orderly Books, & the testimony contained in the appendix to the 4th. Vol. of my Memoirs, deemed it candid & wise to adopt the same Report, in the face of a Mass of Testimony which nought but the blindest prejudice could have resisted.\nWhen the last Report was handed to the House, a motion was made to transmit the Documents to you which failed, because certain Members, friends to truth & Justice, had determined to call it up & stigmatise it; which the lateness of the Season & the pressure of more important business alone prevented; I hazard nothing sir in this observation, as a Majority of the Members of the House, personally acquited me of all blame in my Command on the Mis[sis]sippi, and with great frankness reprobated this report of the Committee.\nBut you will perceive under cover unquestionable testimony of this intention, in the Speech & Resolution of the Honble. Mr. Crawford of Pensylvania, a Member of the Committee, which he committed to paper; and having made several fruitless attempts to command the attention of the House, He generously called on me after the adjournment, accompanied by Doctor Sage & Mr. White Hill, altho I had no acquaintance with Him, and furnished me his intended Speech & Resolution, with permission to publish them which I shall do: In the preliminary illustrations of the Testimony contained in the appendix, before referred to, which are nearly ready for the press. And in verification of these Facts, I take the Liberty to tresspass on your attention the original Letter of Doctr. Crawford on this Subject, which together with the Speech, I shall thank you to return after perusal.\nI trust Sir that in thus addressing you, I violate no essential Rule of propriety or expediency\u2014if I do, I shall sincerely deplore it, and the best Apology I can offer in extenuation of the tresspass, will be the indulgence I have experienced on similar occasions from your Predecessors respectively; without pretending to your Confidence, I can say that I have endeavoured to deserve it; but I make strong claims to the Justice, of the Chief Magistrate of a Nation of Freemen, and am persuaded my expectations will not be disappointed. With perfect respect, I have the Honor to be sir Your most Humble & obedient Servant\nJa: Wilkinson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0333", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Charles Hall, 22 April 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Hall, Charles\nTo: Madison, James\n22 April 1811, Washington. Encloses a printed copy of the treaty between Great Britain and Portugal \u201cof which we were speaking this morning.\u201d \u201cThis Copy contains the full Treaty, namely 34 Articles, which circumstance I mention because a spurious, or rather a mutilated, Copy was published in many papers containing only 19 Articles.\u2026 The 10th., 14th., 15th., 19th. & 28th. Articles deserve notice & shew that the Portuguese have been egregiously taken in.\u201d Also sends \u201ca paper of Salt\u201d made near Wilmington, North Carolina, \u201cwhich is equal in quality to any Salt I have ever seen.\u201d Includes as well \u201ca piece of Magnesia\u201d which the seawater deposits in the salt vats; claims that this salt \u201cmust be more pure than Salt that is made from boiling because there is not any deposit, and this magnesia is boiled up with the Salt so made.\u201d The salt was made by a Mr. Gamier, who assured him that it \u201cweighs over eighty pounds the Bushell, and that notwithstanding its good quality he cannot continue the competition with Foreign Salt unless a Duty is laid on that or a Bounty given to home made Salt.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0334", "content": "Title: To James Madison from David Bailie Warden, 23 April 1811\nFrom: Warden, David Bailie\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nWashington, 23 April 1811.\nMy delicate situation renders it an incumbent duty to reply to all the insinuations made against me, which you are pleased to notice, otherwise, I would not dare to renew a subject, which has already, to my regret, occupied you too much.\nIt has been stated to you, Sir, that ten guineas will cover all expences in the prosecution, and defence of an american Prize case, before the Prize Court, at Paris. It is surprizing, that any person, who is the least acquainted with this business, and who values truth, would venture to make this assertion. In some cases, the expences of printing memoirs alone will amount to that sum; and in all, not less is necessary for registering the papers at the Council of Prizes, copying extracts for a defence, and translating documents, to be filed, which, by a rule of the court, must be executed by one of its sworn translators. I never knew that any lawyer at Paris, took less than thirty Louis, for the defence of a Prize-case, and I have heard of some who received from one to two hundred as a recompense. It is an incontestible fact, that fifty, or sixty Louis is the sum usually paid. If the person, who levelled this report against me, ever resided at Paris, he must have known that the lawyers of that City do not give their labors for nothing. It will be sufficient to mention, that Mr. Russel, charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaire, at Paris, several months before his appointment, requested me to accompany him to his lawyer, to serve as interpreter, concerning a Prize case, of which he engaged him to prepare the defence, and he refused to take less than fifty Louis, for his labors and expences, altho\u2019 he would not consent to print his memoir in the case. Captain Prendergast, of the Ship Anne of new york, paid fifty Louis for the defence of that vessel\u2014a fact well known to Mr. Mumford, Member of Congress. Were it not tedious, I could adduce many other similar proofs. I had the honor of stating, in a former letter, that Mr. Pichon found that thirty Louis was too small a sum for the defence of a Prize Case; and he insisted on my demanding more from the Captains, or Agents, who had given me powers to superintend their business. This I refused, as it was contrary to our agreement, unless the property were restored. In that event, some recompence was promised him (as is stated on his receipts) which was to be left to the discretion of the Captain, or Agent. I have his letters on this subject. In a case of compromise, which gave him much trouble, he demanded, and received one hundred Louis, but with this I had nothing to do. But how can it be believed, that any American would offer more for the defence of his claim than was usual or just. The more rigid his economy was, the better was his prospect of recompence from the owners of the vessel and cargo. If there were blame, it must attach to the Agents, or to the lawyers, and not to me. The charge is the more unjust (I might with propriety say absurd) as I believe that I am the only Consul, or Commercial Agent, who, in all cases, had refused to accept a Commission. It is known to many persons, now in this Country, whom I could name, how much this subject was discussed, and how well it was understood. The annexed copy of a certificate, from those who employed me in a general, and special manner, in defence of their claims; many of whom visited my Bureau almost daily, who were acquainted with every circumstance concerning every case, and who knew me long and well, will be my defence against malicious insinuations, or false misrepresentations. It cannot be supposed, that it originated from political partiality, for two thirds of the subscribers are federalists, all are men of information and of business, of character and respectability. They were pleased with my labors\u2014that I asked no commission, and that I saved them twenty, or thirty Louis in the prosecution of each case. Let my enemy, if he can, exhibit proofs of my having acted improperly, and, I will furnish a prompt, and I trust, a satisfactory reply. I do not find that I am arraigned by any Individual, who committed his business to my care\u2014nihil veri dicere, nihil falsi omittere, seems to be the motto of the secret enemy who seeks my ruin. I feel secure in point of character. I am not at his mercy: I will meet him in any shape he pleases; I fear him not.\nI thought it necessary to leave Mr. Pichon\u2019s certificates, and those of other lawyers, for the sums paid them for defending prize causes, with my agent, at Paris; but, I pledge myself, if required, to deliver them to Mr. Barlow, the American Minister, or to transmit them to the President, or to the Secretary of State of the United States. When I consider my zeal and industry in the prosecution of Prize Causes, my devotion to it during nine, or ten hours per day; the advantages which Americans enjoyed from the facility and privileges granted me by the Attorney General of that Court, and the numerous letters and memoirs which I wrote, I feel deeply injured by any imputation of blame. In some instances I may have been deceived by artful, and corrupt men: I may have erred from ignorance, or from mistake, but never from intention. I have ever felt an abhorrence of every thing mean, illegal, and dishonorable, & I could not willingly betray the trust reposed in me. If I could, for a bribe, have bartered my honesty, and the dignity of my office, there was a time, and opportunity, when I was supposed to have influence as the Secretary of the Minister\u2014when I filled up the Bills, under the Louisiana Convention, and delivered them to the owners, who were ready to make sacrifices in the form of a Commission. Here, there was something worth buying if I had been mean enough to sell myself. The sanction which my conduct received by my appointment, induces me to believe that it is unnecessary to say more concerning the insinuation with regard to the vessel expedited by captain Haley. In a former communication it has, I think, been satisfactorily refuted. To corroborate my statement, I engage to procure certificates after my arrival at Paris. No article could have been shipped without Haleys\u2019 permission, and I challenge him, or any other Individual to prove any collusion on my part, or that I had any interest in the said vessel, or articles intended for embarkation. More than a year elapsed from the time of her departure from France till the annulment of my Consular powers, during which, my conduct was never questioned in relation to this affair, which circumstance, of itself, is a proof of my innocence, for all the particulars of the case were publickly known. If any charge could have been brought against me, the blackest art would not have been practised, and a purse offered, to induce a very promising young man, whom I occasionally employed in my bureau, and whose mother and sister whom he loves, are reduced from affluence to indigence, to perjure himself for the purpose of falsely criminating me. The youth spurned the offer, and preserved his Virtue. This I can prove. The circumstance occurred when I was no longer Consul.\nIt is not, Sir, to revive painful recollections, or to indulge invidious sentiments, or expressions that I beg leave to make the following observations. If General Armstrong had believed, or even suspected, that I had acted improperly as a man, or as a public officer, would he, after declaring that he had instructions to give the Consulship to mr. Russel, have employed much friendly argument to induce me to accept of the Consulship, of Nantes, or of Havre? Would he, thro Captain Haley, have offered me that of Bordeaux? and after my refusal of all these places, believing me unworthy of public trust, would he have invited me to accompany him home, and offered me his influence to procure from the Government a respectable employment in South America? After Mr. Russel refused to accept my place, do not his letters shew the condition, on which he proposed to continue me in it; and if these do not afford sufficient proof, mr. Devereux, of Baltimore, whom he employed as a mediator, and other individuals to whom I can appeal, will give testimony to this fact. If, in his opinion, I was unworthy of my public situation, of what use to him could have been the certificate, or declaration which he so artfully, and eagerly demanded? for if my conduct, or principles were bad, my written opinion of him would have been of no value? His open note to me, delivered by Mr. McCrae, of which I annex a copy, does not intimate any charge against me: as it states, for some reason, that the appointment was provisional, I adjoin a copy of another Note.\nGeneral La Fayette, who was grieved at my fate, wrote to him, at Bordeaux, that the object of my sudden departure for the United States was for the purpose of seeking employment from the government\u2014after his return to this country, he knew that my friends were actively occupied to have me reappointed as Consul at Paris. He knew that for this purpose only I remained at Washington. He declared to Mr. Bullus, Navy Agent, at new york, to Mr. Duane, Mr. Irvine, and Mr Holmes, his relation, and to others, that he would not oppose me in any appointment which I had influence to procure, that he had no charges against me except that I \u201cwanted nerve,\u201d of which I may have occasion to give an explanation. Mr. Duane, to whom I wrote on this subject, thus replies, in his letter of the 6th Instant.\n\u201cI never had any conversation with General Armstrong but in the presence of several other persons; once at a dinner given by Mr. Leiper, to many influential men here; and three, or four other interviews, at which there were no less than from three, to twelve persons: on those occasions our discourse concerning you was sometimes general, and sometimes apart to me, and, I declare, that I never heard him say a word to your prejudice, further than that you \u2018wanted nerve,\u2019 by which I understood, that your sensibility was constitutional, and that you were more liable to be affected by the collisions of the world, than political men usually are, or than they ought to be for their own comfort\u2014a sentiment which I never thought disparaging to you; but, on the contrary, to be as likely to be the effect of a refined sense of honor, as of any other cause.\u201d\nMr Irvine, Editor of the Whig, at Baltimore, in his letter of the 14th Inst., in reply to mine on this subject, contains the following statement \u201cIn speaking of your dispute with General Armstrong, I mentioned to him some conversation I held with you also, that Mr. Duane informed me of his (A\u2019s) having assured him (Duane) that he had nothing to alledge against you, except a want of nerve; and he assured me from Washington that he neither had said, or should profer ought against you to balk your appointment.\u201d\nI was recommended, in the warmest manner, to certain Senators by some of Genl. Armstrongs\u2019 acquaintances. If he had charges, or accusations against me, why did he not communicate them to these Gentlemen, or to the government? My public, and private conduct was exposed to public, and private scrutiny during Six months before my appointment. I presented letters of recommendation to Senators from some of the first men in almost every state in this Country. Members of the Philosophical, and literary Societies, of different Cities, employed an active interest in my favor. The letters, which I brought to this Country, from Baron Humboldt, Bishop Gregoire, Michaux, Delile, and twenty other gentlemen, friends to the United States, and distinguished by their scientific labors, and moral character, prove my standing at Paris. Need I mention, Sir, your nomination of me to the Senate, and the unanimous vote of that body in my favor, which was honorably noticed in newspapers of every description, all which are signal proofs of the confidence placed in my character\u2014I might add another, the management of claims, at Paris, to an immence amount for which I have lately received instructions & procurations. Under such circumstances, I trust, Sir, that you will relieve me from suspence, and painful anxiety. Having full confidence in your justice, I know that you will not suffer my fortunes to be injured by vague insinuations which were perhaps intended, after my departure, to operate more against the government than against me. A sense of duty induced me to institute a prosecution for a libel which stated, that I was employed in vending french Licences. The Editors of the Evening Post, of new york, in which it appeared, refused to reveal the name of the author of this Calumny, but they have proclaimed my innocence, by publishing, in the same paper, of the 10th Inst, that the two charges of the libel, furnished by my secret enemy, were equally false. If General Armstrong had charges against me, it is to be presumed that he would have forwarded them when he remonstrated against my appointment.\nMy Counsellors and friends, at New york, write to me thus on this subject\u2014\u201cyour fate depends on the government, and when we know the justice and Magnanimity which preside in that quarter, we are convinced, that if it be thought necessary, General Armstrong will be called upon to give proof of his accusations: if they be frivolous, of which we have no doubt, you will be forwarded on your mission without further delay. If he has insinuated charges, which are not substantiated, he is not entitled to credit.\u201d\nIt may not be improper, Sir, to seize this occasion to observe, that the expression, in my last letter to General armstrong, before he annulled my powers, which has attracted particular notice, was dictated with candor, & sensibility. I had often felt neglected, & wronged. Yet I declared, \u201cthat unless he became my enemy, I could not be his\u201d that I was willing to forget the past, and that my friends, who interceded with him, for my continuance in office, would not be unmindful of the favor. I wrote what I felt at the moment\u2014the plain and undisguised truth. I shunned artifice, which I might have employed, for I had then received, by the Hornet, communications from officers of the Government, and letters from Mr. Bullus, Dr Mitchill, and others assuring me, that I would be continued in office. Mr. Duane, gave the same information, in a letter, which was suppressed. Lieutenant Millar bearer of dispatches by the Hornet was addressed to me, in official capacity, from a supposition, that General Armstrong had left Paris. All this I concealed from a desire of shewing, what I more than once expressed, that he might exercise the same authority over me, as over other Consuls, and continue, or suspend my Consular functions. I have thus, Sir, given a statement of particular facts which will enable you to form a judgement concerning my conduct in those affairs, in which it has been secretly attacked. The injury to my character and fortunes which the insinuations against me were intended to operate, and the poignant feelings which they have naturally roused, will, I trust, serve as an apology for the length of this communication, and the self applause it contains, which, coming from me, in conjunction with almost any other subject, would be egotism itself. My plea is that of necessity. I am, Sir, with profound respect, your most obedient and very humble Servant\nDavid Bailie Warden", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0335", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 24 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir\nMonticello Apr. 24. 11.\nYours of the 19th. is recieved. I have carefully examined my letter files from July 1808. to this day, & find among them no such Anonymous letter as you mention. Indeed the strong impression on my memory is that I never recieved an Anonymous letter from England, or from any other country than our own.\nCertain newspapers are taking a turn which gives me uneasiness. Before I was aware of it, I was led to an interference, which tho\u2019 from just motives, I should not, at a later moment, have shaped exactly as I did. I cannot therefore repress the desire to communicate it fully to you. On the 24th. of March I recieved a friendly letter from Duane, informing me of the distress into which he had been thrown by his former friends, Lieper & Clay, withdrawing their endorsements for him at the banks; the latter expressly for his attacks on John Randolph, the former without assigning any particular cause: & he concluded by asking whether, in Virginia, where he had been flattered by the support of his paper, 80. gentlemen could not be found, who would advance him their hundred Dollars apiece, to be repaid at short periods. I immediately engaged mr. Peter Carr here, & mr. Wirt in Richmond to set the experiment afoot, & one of these engaged a friend in Baltimore to do the same. But I mentioned to these gentlemen that, to apprise Duane of the grounds on which we interested ourselves for him, to wit, his past services to the cause of republicanism, & that he might not mistake it as an approbation of his late attacks on mr. Gallatin, of which we unequivocally disapproved, I would write him a letter. I accordingly wrote him the one now inclosed, which I previously communicated to messrs. Carr & Wirt. It did not leave this till the 1st. of April. The thing was going on hopefully enough, when his papers of the 4th. & 8th. arrived here, the latter written probably after he had recieved my letter. The effect at Baltimore I have not learned. But every person who had offered, here or at Richmond to join in aiding him, immediately withdrew, considering him as unequivocally joining the banners of the opposition, federal or factious. I have to give an account of this to Duane, but am waiting, in expectation of an answer to mine of March 26. In that I shall make one effort more to reclaim him from the dominion of his passions, but I expect it will be the last, and as unavailing as the former.\nI could not be satisfied until I informed you of this transaction, and must even request you to communicate it to mr. Gallatin: for altho the just tribute rendered him in the letter was certainly never meant to meet his eye, yet as it is there, among other things, it must go to him. Ritchie has been under hesitation. His paper of the 16th. decides his course as to yourself. And I propose to set him to rights, as to mr. Gallatin, through a letter to Wirt in which I shall expose the falsehood or futility of the facts they have harped upon. All this however is confidential to yourself & mr. Gallatin; because, while I wish to do justice to truth, I wish also to avoid newspaper observation.\nWith respect to the opposition threatened, altho it may give some pain, no injury of consequence is to be apprehended. Duane flying off from the government, may, for a little while, throw confusion into our ranks, as John Randolph did. But, after a moment of time to reflect & rally, & to see where he is, we shall stand our ground with firmness. A few malcontents will follow him, as they did John Randolph, & perhaps he may carry off some well meaning Anti-Snyderites of Pensylvania. The federalists will sing Hosannas, & the world will thus know of a truth what they are. This new minority will perhaps bring forward their new favorite, who seems already to have betrayed symptoms of consent. They will blast him in the bud, which will be no misfortune. They will sound the tocsin against the antient dominion, and anti-dominionism may become their rallying point. And it is better that all this should happen two, than six years hence.\nDisregarding all this, I am sure you will pursue steadily your own wise plans, that peace, with the great belligerents at least, will be preserved, until it becomes more losing than war, & that the total extinction of the national debt, & liberation of our revenues, for defence in war, and improvement in peace, will seal your retirement with the blessings of your country. For all this, & for your health & happiness I pray to god fervently.\nTh: Jefferson\nP. S. Be so good as to return the inclosed as I have no other copy.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0336", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Robert Brent, 25 April 1811\nFrom: Brent, Robert\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nCity of Washington April 25th 1811\nI have ever been and am unwilling to trouble you in relation to any matters appertaining to my office, as paymaster, and the harmony of Intercourse that subsists between the head of the department, to which I belong, and myself has indeed rendered a recourse of this sort altogether unnecessary but on the present occasion, I trust that it will not be deem\u2019d improper or indelicate by yourself or the Secretary of War that I should address myself immedeately to you.\nI am desirous of having the liberty of depositing the public funds, which are placed in my hands, in the Bank of Washington, where they can be applied to the public purposes as conveniently and safely as in the Bank of Columbia in which last Bank I am advised that it is in contemplation of ordering them to be placed to the exclusion of the Bank of Washington and it is with a view to obtain this indulgence that I take the liberty of troubling you with this letter. I have the honor to be with sentiments of great respect Sir Your Obt Servnt\nRobert Brent", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0338", "content": "Title: To James Madison from an Unidentified Correspondent, 25 April 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: \nTo: Madison, James\n25 April 1811. \u201cThe Subject of this letter has given me much pain. It induces me to trespass on You for the 3d & last time.\u2026 No Benefit can result to me by this act; On the contrary I might draw upon myself, an host of Enemies, with the Secretary of War at their head.\u2026 The present letter is on the existing state of our Military Establishment & the arms & implements of War.\u2026 In adverting to our actual situation, the picture is gloomy.\u201d\nHas some knowledge of the army and its officers, having lived two and a half years in a garrison where men did not know how to handle cannon and where the guns rusted. At Fort St. Charles at New Orleans the guns were only fired for salutes. \u201cAt fort St. Philip below New Orleans,\u2026 a work, now called complete, could not hold out 4 hours against six 20 Gun Ships, & a battery of 5 or 6 Eight Inch Howitzers, or Mortars, on the opposite side of the Missisippi.\u201d Fort Nelson in Norfolk harbor \u201cis unworthy of the name of a fort.\u201d The works could be easily overrun, the guns have not been scaled in years, and the carriages are rotting. The guns at Fort Norfolk are better but also deteriorating. \u201cThere is said to be not even a Cannon Wad at either fort.\u2026 I would pledge my life that two Brittish 30-Gun Ships in open day would pass in silence both Forts.\u201d The caliber of the cannon varies greatly from twelve to thirty-two pounds. It is impossible to find shot to fit such a range; therefore accuracy in firing cannot be depended upon.\nArmy muskets are bad, especially the locks. Rifles are often damaged and the sights inaccurate, even those made at \u201cthe Harpers Ferry Manufacture, reputed the best in the Army.\u201d Has no knowledge of the pistols and sabers. Describes inspection methods for cannon and shot and refers JM to Toussard\u2019s Artillery, volume 2, pages 551 through 566, for \u201cthe very critical inspections & proofs which cannon undergo in other Countries,\u201d and to volume 1, pages 352 through 356, for the \u201crequisites & proofs of Shot.\u201d Other nations understand the importance of these matters. If the U.S. were at war with Great Britain and campaigning in Canada, and even if it were able to drive the enemy into its strongholds, many of the fieldpieces, muskets, and rifles would be unfit for further use. \u201cWe must either drag after us a large Quantity of spare arms at a great expence & inconvenience or numbers would be unarmed.\u201d If Great Britain were besieged in Quebec, for instance, heavy guns would be needed to batter the walls and to control the river. Quebec could not be taken, but Great Britain could raise the siege and drive the U.S. from Canada at immense cost and bloodshed, as was the case in 1777. Advocates therefore the thorough inspection of every implement of war, stressing that \u201cin War, the best materials altho\u2019 at the most exorbitant prices are infinitely the Cheapest.\u201d\nDeplores the want of a proper system and the low state of the \u201cScience of Artillery.\u201d \u201cBut What can be expected when such men as B\u2014\u2014 F\u2014\u2014 McR\u2014\u2014 S\u2014\u2014 &c are at the Head of that important branch of War. Not a solitary ray of Military Science ever illumined their Minds. Nor have they genius or Industry to become in their Stations even useful officers.\u201d Also criticizes the \u201cPitiful System of Artillery in the work laid before the Senate last winter.\u201d His personal acquaintance with the officers in question, and their ignorance of a proper system, prompt him to make these observations. \u201cUniformity is the basis of War. It is also the Strictest \u0152conomy.\u201d Such a system was introduced in the French artillery by General Gribeauval under Louis XV which cost \u201cimmense difficulty\u201d; however, \u201cthis System has triumphed over Europe.\u201d Describes at length Napoleon\u2019s use of artillery, especially in his Italian campaigns.\nOffers eight regulations pertaining to ordnance that should \u201cbe framed by the Government,\u201d including: (1) designate the caliber for all fieldpieces; (2) establish specifications for their quality and construction; (3) establish specifications for quality and construction of gun carriages; (4) establish a \u201cStandard Proof for all the Rifle musqet & Cannon Powder, according to which all cartridges shall be made\u201d; (5) specify the dimensions for cannonballs and shells; (6) lay down the forms and dimensions for all caissons, ammunition wagons, and boxes; (7) determine the weight and length of all musket, rifle, and pistol barrels and establish the \u201cqualities & proofs of all swords & other arms received into service\u201d; and (8) organize an inspection system for all army equipment. Concedes this would require a general or inspector general of artillery of \u201cgreat Talents, Industry & devotion to the Service,\u201d but such a man would save much money and preserve lives and even the honor of the country.\nBegins a discussion of the army. The only regulations respecting a discipline were adopted in 1779 from Baron von Steuben\u2019s treatise, \u201ca trifling & unworthy abridgement of the Prussian System which has lately sunk under more recent improvements.\u201d And Steuben dealt only with infantry, neglecting the artillery, cavalry, and riflemen, \u201csuch potent instruments in Modern War.\u201d Points out that French \u201cconscripts are picked for these Corps before, draughted into the Infantry regiments.\u201d Makes several observations about the requirements of an army. First, it needs a \u201cproper Organization & System of discipline & man\u0153uvre\u201d and a better staff system. \u201cWhat is there called Staff is unworthy of the name.\u201d This is a fundamental organizational flaw, rooted in the defects of the laws which themselves must be corrected. Secondly, the army is dispersed over \u201can immense extent of Country in numerous detachments\u201d; thus there are as many systems as there are detachments. If each detachment adhered to Steuben\u2019s system there would at least be \u201cuniformity in ignorance\u201d and there \u201cwould be no bad Habits to unlearn.\u201d Dispersal of the army also ensures that officers of inferior rank, captains and lieutenants, spend too many years in command at separate posts and \u201csoon forget what they owe to their Superiors or Inferiors: They assume a certain license; become remiss in their duties & often degenerate into a State of Petty Tyranny.\u201d Thirdly, superior officers are \u201cgenerally ignorant & conceited.\u201d Some have held office for a number of years; \u201cothers have seen a little Service, having held subordinate Stations in the Revolution\u201d; and others have been elevated by \u201cthe blind Caprice of Fortune.\u201d The first two classes of officers believe there is no need for improvement and \u201care wise from absolute ignorance;\u2026 prejudice or want of talent.\u201d The third class is influenced by the example of the first two or is \u201crestrained by their mean Jealousy,\u201d but from different causes they all reach \u201cthe same level of ignorance.\u201d Concedes, however, that some officers have the promise \u201cto become ornaments to their profession & Country\u201d and that many in the subordinate grades have the potential to become \u201chighly useful.\u201d \u201cBut these want example \u2026 & a certain direction from their Superiors.\u201d Could verify these observations on the basis of his personal experience with those who composed the army at New Orleans in 1809, but \u201cthis is a subject too delicate for even an anonymous Guise & a certain conviction that this paper never meets eye, but yours.\u201d Begs JM to make inquiries about the military character of the officer corps; \u201cmake it of men who have some knowledge of modern military science\u201d and who have \u201cHonesty & Candor enough, to tell you the naked truth.\u201d\nThe need for \u201ca total reform\u201d of the military system is obvious. This is \u201cthe moment for Reform\u201d and the moment to introduce a system based on the experience of modern warfare, \u201cadapting it to our local situation & the Genius of our nation.\u201d Uniformity of system is essential for the efficiency of the military establishment. It is axiomatic that \u201call great changes should be effected in peace, & that they are absolutely dangerous in time of War.\u201d History proves that a superior enemy can only be combated by going beyond the state of improvement in the adversary for which he provides examples. Changes made in peace can also be tested by experiment and error would not prove fatal. Makes a few observations on reform, by which he means not a \u201cpartial or Pitiful Change such as was offered last winter under the name of an addition to the Baron de Steuben.\u201d Wants a \u201ctotal & radical change,\u201d which will both perfect the armies of the nation and serve as a model to the militia. The secretary of war could make these changes, make a report, and the government would receive all the credit. And \u201ccertain ignorant men who now adhere to the army would be exposed & forced to quit it, ridding it of a load which Hangs heavy about its neck & which tends to suffocate every thing like improvement.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0339", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John G. Jackson, 26 April 1811\nFrom: Jackson, John G.\nTo: Madison, James\nMy dear Sir.\nClarksburg April 26th 1811\nHaving commenced my sheep Shearing I cannot resist the desire to send you a sample of a singular fleece produced by a species of sheep purchased in this Country by me. The Animal is entirely covered with similar wool & has a curious appearance tho it differs from the ordinary sheep only in its wool. I presume it would be valuable in the manufacture of shawls &c. If you obtain any information of the use & value of such wool please advise me of it that I may encourage the growth of the sheep.\nYour friends observe with concern the efforts of a faction, & of disappointed expectants to reduce you to their level. But they observe it undismayed as to its effects upon you, or upon the nation. The language of Parson Horne to Junius may with great truth be applied to them \u201cYou bite against a file cease Viper.\u201d Such licentiousness & such collisions grow naturally out of our form of Government, their great corrective is public opinion, & the complete safeguard against them is conscious rectitude. You my dear Sir have both on your side. With affectionate regards to Mrs M yours truly\nJ G Jackson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0340", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Barton, 26 April 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Barton, William\nTo: Madison, James\n26 April 1811, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. \u201cHaving the honour of being known to You, and being altogether unacquainted with the Secretary of War (to whom, in ordinary cases, applications of this kind ought regularly to be made),\u201d seeks a discharge for Jacob Hoff, who enlisted \u201cabout fifteen months since\u201d in Captain Johnson\u2019s company of the Fifth U.S. Light Infantry Regiment. Hoff, who is a watchmaker and native of Lancaster, was induced to enlist by some \u201cuntoward circumstances in [his] affairs\u2014altogether of a pecuniary nature.\u201d Before his enlistment he was a \u201creputable, intelligent and industrious man; and is said to be now wholly cured of a disposition to inebriety.\u201d Solicits JM\u2019s assistance at the request of Mrs. Hoff to obtain a discharge from the army for her husband, if possible before the regiment leaves Pittsburgh for New Orleans. Thanks JM for \u201cthe appointment you were pleased to confer on my son, Dr. Barton the younger, of a Surgeoncy in the Navy.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0341", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Nathaniel Searle, Jr., 26 April 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Searle, Nathaniel\nTo: Madison, James\n26 April 1811, Adjutant General\u2019s Office, Providence, Rhode Island. Encloses a return of the state militia for 1810.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0342", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Jesse Jones and Others, 27 April 1811\nFrom: Jones, Jesse\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nThe Baptist Church on Neels Creek in Cumberland County in the State of North Carolina having Received intelligence Respecting the Affair of the Baptist Church at Salem meeting house in the mississippi Territorry Considering the said affair as proceeding from Some of our Religious Connections and that the Same is not Consistent with the Spiritual Interest of Religion and that the tendency of Such a procedure if perpetuated would inevitably give to Religious Societies an undue weight and Corrupt influence in public affairs at large and diminish Religious enlargement impairing our Civil and Religious liberties and in fine Contaminate our national morals we therefore desire to assure you that we entertain a high Sense of and Confidence in Your Illustrious objection against the Bill wherein we humbly conceive as eminent an Instance of patriotism have displayed as in any occurrence of the kind.\nSigned by order and in behalf of Conference\nJesse Jones[and five others]\nThe Baptist Church on Black Creek in Johnston County in the State of north Carolina having heard the above Read and approbated the Same. Signed by order and in behalf of Conference.\nMay the 4\u20141811\nJames Whitenton[and five others]", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0344", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Robert S. Marache, 29 April 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Marache, Robert S.\nTo: Madison, James\n29 April 1811, Philadelphia. Has resided the last six years in Trinidad where he has a \u201crespectable Commercial Establishment.\u201d As the commerce with the U.S. is \u201crapidly increasing,\u201d solicits position of commercial agent for the U.S. \u201cshould it appear to you expedient to have an agent there.\u201d Encloses a recommendation.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0347", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 3 May 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\nDear Sir\nI have recd. yours of the 24 Apl. and return the letter inclosed in it; after having made the communication intended for Mr Gallatin. Your expostulations with Duane could not be improved; but he gives proofs of a want of candor, as well as of temperance, that will probably repel advice however rational or friendly. The great fulcrum of his attacks on Mr. Gallatin, is Erskine\u2019s statement of his favorable dispositions toward England; and these attacks he obstinately reiterates and amplifies, notwithstanding the public & solemn denial of Mr. G; whilst Mr. Smith & myself, tho\u2019 included in a like statement, under which we have both remained silent, have not been reproached on that account, and Mr. S. is become an object even of favor. A like want of candor is seen in the Comments of the Aurora, on the putative explanation of the rupture between Mr. S. & myself. Of the alledged points of difference, the main one, viz, the non-intercourse, it appears as his opinion on my side; yet he takes the other side generally without even alluding to the exception; and of late, restricts his comments to Macon\u2019s bills, or smothers the \u201cnon-intercourse\u201d under an &c\u2014or confounds the measure with the manner of its execution. Again, Whilst he admits, occasionally that the non-intercourse or rather non-importation now in force, is the best and the only adequate resort agst. the aggressions of G. B. he continues his abuse on the Government, for abandoning the interests & rights of the Nation. I have always regarded Duane, & still regard him as a sincere friend of liberty, and as ready to make every sacrifice to its cause, but that of his passions. Of these he appears to be compleatly a slave.\nOur expected frigate is not yet arrived from Europe; nor is there any acct. of the departure either of Pinkney or Foster from G. B. The last acct. from P. was of Mar. 13. when he was packing up for his passage in the Frigate. Whether the delays, proceed from the approach of the Equinox, the posture of the Regency, or a wish to learn the result of things in Congress, or from some other cause, is unknown. From the jumble of accts. from France, it is probable, that the repeal of the Decrees is professedly adhered to; and that an exchange of the productions of U. S. & F. with an exception of certain articles, is permitted by the Municipal laws, under vexatious precautions agst. British forgeries & American collusions; and perhaps under some distrust of the views of this Government. Accept my high esteem & best affections\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0348", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Paul Hamilton, 3 May 1811\nFrom: Hamilton, Paul\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir\nBelieving it to comport with the fidelity I owe you, I offer for your perusal the enclosed. Colo Butler is a native of So. Carolina, served with credit many years in the legislature of that State, and was much respected in private life for his probity. He removed a few years since into Kentucky, and I have been informed by Gentlemen from that State, that he is there held in the highest estimation. I know him well. He is a most worthy man. I am respectfully & sincerely yrs.\nPaul Hamilton", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0349", "content": "Title: Presidential Proclamation, 3 May 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: \n3 May 1811. Declares, under the terms of the 30 Apr. 1810 act providing for the sale of certain lands in the Indiana Territory, that the tract of land to which the Indian title was extinguished under the 1809 Treaty of Fort Wayne and which adjoins the boundary line established by the Treaty of Greenville and was made part of the district of Cincinnati, \u201cwith the exception of such [lands] as are reserved by law,\u201d shall be sold at Cincinnati on the third Monday in October 1811.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0350", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Bullus, 4 May 1811\nFrom: Bullus, John\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nNew York 4th. May 1811.\nI have the honour of forwarding to you a Map of the western part of the State of New York, shewing the route of a proposed Canal from Lake Erie to Hudson\u2019s River\u2014together, with the report of the Commissioners appointed to explore the route of an inland navigation from Hudson\u2019s River to Lake Ontario, and Lake Erie\u2014which may not be altogether uninteresting. With great consideration Your Most Ob: Serv:\nJohn Bullus.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0351", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Jorge Tadeo Lozano, 9 May 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Lozano, Jorge Tadeo\nTo: Madison, James\n9 May 1811, Santa Fe de Bogot\u00e1. Announces the repudiation of the Spanish government as a consequence of the French occupation of Spain and seizure of the person of the king. In order to preserve their independence and to provide for their security, the people have written a constitution of fundamental laws and created the state of Cundinamarca, of which he has the honor to be president. Requests independent governments to recognize its political existence and establish relations with appropriate firmness in order to influence the government of the colonial despot whose system they always renounce.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0353", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Caesar A. Rodney, 10 May 1811\nFrom: Rodney, Caesar A.\nTo: Madison, James\nMy Dear Sir,\nWilmington May 10th. 1811.\nThe enclosed you will perceive embraces delicate subjects. In the present posture of our affairs, it may be a question of some importance to decide whether, if indictments should be found, they should be prosecuted. The motives of those concerned in pressing them, are no doubt pure & laudable, but they may be too zealous. Any answer I can give, will be gratuitous & informal, as there exists no right to ask my opinion on the subject. I shall therefore decline a reply until I know whether your judgment coincides with mine.\nA cloud, I would fain hope, momentary again overcasts our prospects of reconciliation with France. The late intelligence ought not to be implicitly credited. Very far from it. The news must be taken with many grains of allowance. The sources from which it flows are not of the purest kind. Your sea-faring men are prone to the marvellous, & often circulate unfounded reports. The merchants are interested in spreading such tales to sell a few pipes of brandy at an exorbitant price. The very arrival of a number of vessels with full & valuable cargoes in some measure contradicts the story. I saw, when lately in Philadelphia, an old client Mr. A. \u27e8Reisch?\u27e9 who owns the two last vessels which arrived, & which I beleive he is about to send back to France, tho\u2019 he would not positively say so. I interrogated him closely on the subject of the various rumours afloat. The substance of his reply was that the prospect was rather unfavorable. Tho\u2019 he is attached to the administration, he is still a merchant, & owns more tonnage than even Girard.\nAfter all, this state of doubt & suspence is unpleasant & painful. The Essix will dispel all uncertainty. I really wish Mr. Barlow had sailed the moment he was appointed, but the importance of his immediate departure did not strike me so forcibly at that time.\nThere seems to be a decided opposition to us, forming, if it be not organised already, in Philada. But it will not affect the general sum of the state, which I now beleive will be more unanimous than on a former occasion. I also indulge hopes that the correct & upright course of the administration will remove the films from the eyes of those who are literally blind, or who see at least every thing inverted.\nAmidst all our troubles how rapidly are we progressing as a nation. From the number of vessels passing daily in reveiw before me, on their way up the Delaware to Philada. a person would almost conclude our commerce was as free as the air.\nI shall leave this for Washington as soon as I hear of the arrival of the Essix, or sooner if necessary. Yours Truly & Affectionatey.\nC. A. Rodney", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0354", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Morgan Lewis, 12 May 1811\nFrom: Lewis, Morgan\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,\nNew York 12th: May 1811\nThe most singular election we have ever had in this State is closed; and the result, though unknown, is, I fear, favorable to the views of Mr. Clinton; notwithstanding the large and unprecedented majority against him in the district where he resides. This latter circumstance, though insufficient to prevent the attainment of his present Object, I consider as affording an assurance of future disappointment to him. It must convince the Inhabitants of the interior, that Mr. C. has really forfeited the confidence of those who have the best means of knowing his true character\u2014a fact which no assurances could induce a belief of. The circumstance too, of his having received a powerful support from that section of federalists who, to use their own language, would support the Devil, were he hostile to your administration, must open the eyes of many; for the fact is too notorious to be concealed. It is admitted, and regreted by that portion, whose federalism has not taught them to forget that they are Americans.\nThere is very little diversity of Opinion as to Mr. C.\u2019s ulterior Objects. The Office of Lieut. Governor is too insignificant to attract his Attention, but as a mean of placing him in the Government of the State, and thus assist his views toward that of the United States. To facilitate the accomplishment of these projects, it is believed Mr. Tompkins is prepared (if other provision can be made for himself) to cast the executive functions on Mr C. immediately, by a resignation.\nSince I have been in this City, I have found among your friends here, considerable dissatisfaction at seeing, as they say, all the Offices of Government, with but one exception, in the Hands of Clintonians. The emoluments of whose appointments, they alledge, aid the elections against them. One of those Officers, the Marshall of this district, it is asserted has committed repeated Acts of extortion and Oppression, which, if true, certainly ought not to pass unnoticed. In the post Office Department also, I have no doubt, though I cannot designate the Man, much improper Conduct has taken place. Previous to your Election, every News paper containing any thing friendly to it, and every Letter addressed to Individuals suspected of favoring it, were sure to be delayed, while those of a contrary description were regularly forwarded. The same game was played this Spring.\nGeneral A\u2014\u2014g is writing. I do not know the subject, though from an Observation which fell from his Copyist, I fear he is about to expose, what the Government has thought proper to conceal. Time will disclose. I am most truly Dr sir your friend & Servt.\nMorgan Lewis.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0355", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Harry Toulmin, 14 May 1811\nFrom: Toulmin, Harry\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir\nFort Stoddert 14th. May 1811\nThe reports which I some time since communicated to you relative to the dispositions towards the government of the United States existing in a part of the country lately taken possession of, adjacent to the Mississippi, render it proper that I should state to you the impressions which have resulted from personal observation. I have lately been attending at Baton Rouge as a witness in the case of Col. Cushing: and as I travelled up the coast from New Orleans to that place, and returned eastwardly direct to Fort Stoddert, I endeavoured to ascertain the real feelings of the inhabitants. The result has been, that although I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the statements made by my informant so far as they related to the temper of mind existing among the people residing near the Mouth of the Bayou Sara, yet that I do not believe that a similar state of mind exists in any part which I have visited, and that whatever degree of intemperate and unreasonable sentiments may have been entertaind in a particular settlement, there is no reason to fear that they have ever been so diffused thro\u2019 the country as to endanger the public tranquility. In those parts of the territory which I have visited, I think that there is an unfeigned satisfaction prevailing among a majority of the people in the general course pursued by the United States: and the very impolitic and unfriendly secret project of a junto in the late convention, of organizing thro\u2019 the agency of Reuben Kemper, a party in the Mississippi Territory who should make a common cause with the revolted subjects of the Spanish monarchy, seems to have met with universal reprobation in that part of West Florida which I have lately visited. The agent himself seems to be but little known and less respected.\nThe population of the country, encouraged by the prospect of the permanent establishment of the American government, seems to be rapidly increasing. As we passed thro\u2019 it on our way home, in places out of the usual channel of intercourse with the United States, much solicitude was discovered to know what congress had done for them or about them, what kind of government they were to be subjected to, what territory they were to make a part of, and, above all, how far the warrants of survey under the Spanish goverment, & permissions to settle, and the bare fact of settlement would become a foundation for estates in land under the new order of things. As to the large surveys, we saw none of the proprietors, and the mass of settlers certainly feel no interest in their establishment.\nThe progress of population is truly encouraging. There is now a path made by the footsteps of man all the way from Baton Rouge to Fort Stoddert, and thro\u2019 the whole way, consisting of 240 miles, there is no occasion to sleep out of a house more than one night. I am told that there are probably 100 families, all settled since I was last there, on the Pearl river and the main branch tributary to it, the Bogue Chitto, but the unsettled state of things and the want of a government properly organized, has exposed the people there as well as on the Pascagola, too much to impostors & pretenders to authority, mere disorganizers & plunderers, attached to no principles and to no nation. But little evil however has resulted to the People on Pearl, as they had the resolution to send the main man pretending to authority, a prisoner to N. Orleans: but on the Pascagola, the want of any exhibition of the power of the United States thro\u2019 any civil or military officer, except a justice of the peace at the mouth of the river, has I am informed, created a doubt respecting the intentions of the United States to retain the possession of the country, and led to a scheme among a few, of tendering again their allegiance to the Spanish government.\nI have written to them to assure them of the intention of the United States to provide for their protection and the maintenance of justice among them, and to warn them of the dangers and calamities which will be the consequence of their taking any steps which will produce in their country a new conflict of authorities. Though it is out of my province (if any thing indeed can be out of the province of a public officer when the vital interests of his country are so materially concerned) I shall, if necessary, go to the Pascagola settlement to strengthen the people in their allegiance. I hope however to see Govr. Claiborne here in a few days, as he assured me that he would speedily make a tour to a country so urgently demanding his presence. I took the liberty of suggesting to him the propriety of extending the jurisdiction of the territorial government and appointing the necessary officers, as far as the Perdido, leaving to Mobile (the only place occupied by a Spanish force) so much of the country only as that force may reasonably be supposed to be capable of controuling. Were this done, the east channel of the Mobile river, which is better than the west channel, & falls into the bay 7 miles from the town, might be navigated perfectly independent of Spanish jealousy, and if a few troops & a gun boat or two were stationed on the eastern bank, or at the mouth of Dog river, below Mobile (which latter would probably afford some protection to the people west of the river) no American vessel would feel itself obliged to pass Mobile, in acknowledgement of Spanish sovreignty. The governor acquiesced in the statement which I made to him, & requested a memorandm. of the proper lines, which I gave him, and which will probably include a tract of country of nearly 50 miles square, (poor indeed & very thinly settled) where we do not at present pretend to exercise any jurisdiction. I have the honour to be very respectfully, dear Sir, your most obedt. and most humb sert\nHarry Toulmin\nP. S. Nothing of importance has occurred either in Mobile or Pensacola. In our own settlement I believe that all ideas of new enterprizes have been abandoned.\nRevenge on those who have frustrated former ones will be the only solace of disappointed ambition.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0356", "content": "Title: From James Madison to John Langdon, 15 May 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Langdon, John\nDear Sir:\nWashington, May 15, 1811.\nMr. Edward Coles, of my family, with an Elder brother proposing to visit Portsmouth, in a Northern ramble, I take the liberty of asking in their behalf, the kind reception which you are always ready to give to those who are as worthy of it, as I know these young gentlemen to be.\nI cannot lose this occasion of expressing the pleasure I have felt in learning that your country continues to be mindful of your long and distinguished services, and that your health enables your patriotism, to add new titles to their gratitude. Be assured always of my highest esteem & most friendly wishes.\nJames Madison.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0357", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Hobohoilthle, 15 May 1811\nFrom: Hobohoilthle\nTo: Madison, James\nChat,tuck,chu,fau,lee 15th. May 1811\nI have received your talk laid it before the Chiefs of my Nation and now give your their Answer. It is harmless. Your speach was delivered to Colo. Hawkins and he to us, he is like an old Chief, and when things are rong he is to look into for both sides. You ask for a path and I say no, when the President sees my talk, he will Know I have Answered in full, I have examined it myself, my Chiefs and Warriors have examined it, they tell you I must not allow it and must say no. When the President sees my talk, he must know my people do not want to have such road. I am glad the President has Asked us without doing it first. He must know and I know we have some young people and they will mix to the disadvantage of each other. I have a little path here that the white people makes use of and my people are so mischievous that I have continued complaints of my people interrupting of them. You ask in addition a water path and road to the right of this. If we give it it will be much worse that way than this. I have a large family of people in the Country and cannot govern all so as to preserve a good understanding. What land we have left is but large enough to live and walk on. The Officers must not be going through our lands to hunt paths. I spoke last summer to you Colo. Hawkins and to the President about paths through our Country I told you no, and the President no, it would bring trouble on our Country. I am an old man and Speaker for our Warriors when we find a thing will not be good for us, we must say it will not do. I altho\u2019 an Indian have a little sense yet. The great god made us and the lands for us to walk on. I hope the great father our president will feel for us and pay attention, we hope he will pity us and not take from us our rights. When friends ask for property we must tell him straight words, if he Asks for the waters of Coosau or by land, my Chiefs and warriors now present never will say yes. I hope it will never be mentioned to us again. I am speaking to our great father the President of the United States. When he sees my talks in his great house of talks I hope he will take notice and give me an Answer. When his Answer returns to me if I am alive I shall See his Answer and be contented. I want to inform you of one of our own brothers the Choctaws. They sold you some land our property the land to the dividing ridge of Allabama & Tombigbee, they say they have not received any money for it and we have not yet settled it with them, as you have officers in that quarter, they ought to see to it. The Creeks are the oldest and the Choctaws the youngest brothers, it is the Creeks property, Coosau Micco Hummastaubeco, Pooor Mattauhau Aupuarumnubba, they stole it from us. They stole our rights and Sold them to the United states. The lands sold were to the ridge but the whites come over and take other waters, and are settled on them. On a Creek above Cedar Creek called sil\u27e8ivan?\u27e9 both of which run into Allabamo there are settlements of White people. A path very large from the edge of the swamp on Tombigbee crosses these two Creeks. The path by James Cornells crosses allabamo about two miles below Cedar Creek above is Billosee. These lands were the hunting grounds of the Alabamo. Our own Colour are playing tricks with us about our lands and the white people encourage them is the reason why we say no about the path. The white people are as difficult to be restrained as the red, and are constant habitual intruders on indian lands. I shall look for an Answer to this Speach towards the fall. The two nations will meet put their heads together and settle about their property. And when we have settled About our Claims the President will know all about it.\nAfter this notice if there should be any more encroachments on our lands I hope you will call on the officers and Soldiers to prevent it. This I suppose is the business of you Colo. Hawkins by order of the President. Cattle hogs and horses are put over & stray on our lands, some will be marking trees roads, paths my young people being about and seeing them will be killing and doing mischief and our young people will say our old people are crazy and do not look into our rights. The masters of the Stocks will be vexed with us. I hope you will see justice done to both sides that we may live in peace and be friendly. I have one article to mention to the President. The trading Store, you told us there would be a house & store on your land, that goods should be cheaper than any other merchants, that they should be exchanged for small furs and deer skins, we are distressed about the trade at our United states factory, want to know what is the reason at the factory there is no trade, my people trades at the Country stores. Lead and powder is very high, I understood by the treaties there was a house to keep goods for the trade, we are told that the goods were to come by way of savannah, and were to be reasonable but our people cannot get any, and we are really distressed, our poverty arises from a want of a Market for what we have we are a poor people in distress. I am  my father the President know the truth and hope he will pay attention to it.\nhis\nHoboheilthlee\nMicco\nmark", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0358", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Thomas A. Patteson, 16 May 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Patteson, Thomas A.\nTo: Madison, James\n16 May 1811, Fort Hampton, North Carolina. Informs JM of certain facts \u201crelative to the situation of this place, and the consequent situation of its Commanding Officer.\u201d The fort is located on an island \u201cwithin five hundred feet of the Sea shore\u201d and is a popular resort, particularly during summer and early autumn. These facts \u201cpreclude the possibility of preserving the Dignity of ordinary hospitality or of a Commanding Officer with the rations Drawn by a Subaltern.\u201d In order to prevent \u201cany material sacrifice, and for the preservation of a respectable Standing,\u201d requests an additional allowance for the commanding officer.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0361", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Samuel Overton, 18 May 1811\nFrom: Overton, Samuel\nTo: Madison, James\nDr Sir\nNashvill Tennessee 18th of May. 1811\nShall I be permited to correspond with you as a man fair removed from my one native Country. What was the reson that the Minister from the Spanish Dominions in South America could not be duly received and accredited at the City of Washington. I do not now wright to you for an Office not being authorised to do so\u2014th\u27e8o:\u27e9 as a \u27e8former?\u27e9 Nieghbour you will not think me presuming & suffice it to say that you were first ellected to Congress from the District we were both born in and rased to what we all is. You are presidant\u2014and myself a priviate citizen let it be remember that this communication is not intended to Test for an office. With due respect I am your obedient St.\nSamuel Overton", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0362", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 19 May 1811\nFrom: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nLetter not found. 19 May 1811, Philadelphia. Calendared by Latrobe in a list of \u201cLetters written at Philadelphia May 1811\u201d as forwarding a copy of his \u201c\u27e8ann\u27e9iversary oration\u201d (MdHi: Latrobe Letterbooks). Latrobe\u2019s Anniversary Oration, Pronounced before the Society of Artists of the United States,\u2026 on the Eighth of May, 1811 (Philadelphia, 1811; Shaw and ShoemakerR. R. Shaw and R. H. Shoemaker, comps., American Bibliography: A Preliminary Checklist for 1801\u20131819 (22 vols. to date; New York, 1958\u2014). 23189) is reprinted in Van Horne, Papers of LatrobeJohn C. Van Horne and Lee W. Formwalt, eds., The Correspondence and Miscellaneous Papers of Benjamin Henry Latrobe (3 vols.; New Haven, 1984\u201388)., 3:67\u201384. It was also reprinted in the National Intelligencer on 20 July 1811, possibly from the copy Latrobe forwarded to JM.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0363", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Merchants of Hartford, 20 May 1811\nFrom: Hartford Merchants\nTo: Madison, James\nHartford, Connecticut May 20. 1811.\nThe Memorial of the subscribers would respectfully represent, that,\nThey are deputed, in behalf of their fellow citizens, who are merchants in trade in the City of Hartford, and State of Connecticut, respectfully to present to the view of the President, the peculiar hardships, and embarrassments of their situation, arising from the severe operation of the \u201cNon Intercourse Law\u201d of March 2. 1811, in the hope that the Wisdom of the President, and his perfect knowledge of the relative situation of our country with foreign nations, may enable him to adopt such proper measures, as will, at least alleviate if not, remove the great hardships they suffer.\nYour memorialists are engaged in commerce chiefly with, the islands of the West Indies, that part of the Continent which is adjacent, Great Britain, and such parts of Europe as are in alliance with Great Britain. They are, also, considerably engaged, in that important branch of manufactures, Ship-building, and thereby afford employment to the various mechanical arts connected therewith. Your memorialists would state, that, they have been educated to the occupations of commerce: that, their habits have become conformed to their employment: that, it is impossible for many of them, particularly those advanced in years, to change their profession, and become, suddenly, either manufacturers, or agriculturalists: that, hitherto they have been enabled to obtain a comfortable, and an honest, living, from their lawful occupations: that, any Law, preventing them from pursuing their accustomed commerce, takes from them their means of subsistence: That, the exports of their trade have consisted, almost entirely, of the produce, of their native soil, and the industry of its inhabitants: that, the imports have consisted of commodities, which, almost without exception, have been consumed in the country\u2014thus, on the one hand, encouraging industry, by exporting it\u2019s surplus products, and, on the other, contributing to the expenses of their Government, a proportion of their earnings, in impost duties, which have been paid without drawback: that, by far the greater part of those ports in Europe, and the West Indies, to which they have been accustomed to trade, being in possession of the British, and the Non Intercourse Law allowing them to export a Cargo but not allowing them to bring one back, their trade, burthen\u2019d as it is with double freight, and double insurance, and an exportation already overloaded, is really not worth pursuing: that, exportation is, therefore, gradually diminishing, in consequence of which many important products of the Country have greatly diminished in value, and now lie, unsaleable, on the hands of the farmer, who, on the other hand, is compell\u2019d to pay a greatly increas\u2019d price for most of those foreign commodities, which are imported chiefly for home consumption: that, such of their vessels as are commonly engaged in foreign trade, are, many of them, unemployed, and those which are not, are employed to great disadvantage, there being few ports, to which they can go, not in the occupation of the British, and these so overstocked that it is no longer advantageous to go there: that, they are compell\u2019d, therefore, in order to find employment, to pursue a circuitous trade from one foreign port to another, and, in this way, their property is detained from their possession, as well as the seamen from their homes, much longer than is advantageous for either: that, the business of ship building is carried on, in the river Connecticut, to very considerable extent, a manufacture, highly advantageous, consuming chiefly a material which if not so consumed would be of little value to the country, and giving employment to great numbers of labourers and artisans: that, this manufacture, if the Non Intercourse Law continue in operation, must soon be suspended, as the demand for ships has, in a great measure, ceased, and they cannot now be sold, but with loss, whereby many industrious citizens will be, either, thrown out of employment, or compell\u2019d to labour for the reduced compensation their employers can afford to pay them: that, some of your memorialists, who are engaged in trade to Great Britain, have, at this time, merchandize, to great amount lying in different ports of Great Britain, which the Non-Intercourse Law prohibits their bringing home: that, this merchandize is lying at the risque of the memorialists, incurring considerable expense, and depreciating in value in consequence of a loss of sale at the proper season: that, the capital of your memorialists is thus taken out of their hands, and transfer\u2019d to a foreign country whence the Law makes it a crime in them to attempt to regain it: that, some of your memorialists have sustained great inconvenience and injury from having their vessels and property, coming from foreign ports, which sail\u2019d from thence, not only long before the enacting of this Law could be known in foreign ports, but even before the existence of the law in their own Country: that, they have had their vessels libelled, the property seized, and detained from their possession, without a possibility of recovering it, but by incurring great trouble and expense, by submitting to the extortion of unreasonable fees, the demand of unreasonable bonds, and expensive litigation. These are the hardships and embarrassments, of which your memorialists complain, arising from the operation of the Non Intercourse Law, and affecting them personally. The destructive effects of this Law to the Country at large, though less within the actual knowledge of your memorialists, are not less real. Agriculture is impoverished, by the inability of the merchant to export to advantage the surplus produce of the Country. Our vessels come back empty from foreign ports, instead of returning laden with valuable cargoes, and paying, as formerly, rich tribute to the treasury of the United States. Numbers of our seamen have disappeared, either, having voluntarily entered into foreign service, or remaining abroad in the hope of employment. There is reason to fear, the difficulties and embarrassments attending the pursuit of the circumscribed commerce, yet lawful, may encourage a disposition, in all classes of citizens, to evade the laws, to defraud the revenue, to disregard the sanctity of oaths, to engage in practices of fraud and deception, or in open violence and resistance against the laws of the land: which evils are the more to be deprecated, as formerly, not a country on earth, we proudly believe, exhibited fewer instances of deception of this kind, than our own. And, finally, the neighbouring provinces of Great Britain will be made a common thorough-fare for the exportation and importation of all those commodities which our own Country either spares, or needs\u2014thereby, transferring to our neighbours all the advantages arising from receiving, collecting, and transporting the former, and the profits attending the sale, and distribution of the latter. It is already seen, that our enterprizing merchants, and industrious mechanics quit their native homes, to seek security, and the means of subsistence undisturbed, in the provinces of Canada. It is also seen, that those provinces thrive, and fatten, on the commercial prosperity, we, unhappily, banish from our shores. And that the commerce, in the useful and necessary manufactures of Great Britain, has, in these provinces, increased in an unexampled degree; while it is notorious these commodities are distributed, at high prices, over the contiguous states, without paying to the Government of the United States, any part of that impost, which, heretofore, has been paid to the Government with ease, punctuality, and honour, by the merchants of the large commercial cities, on the seacoast. And the injury to the public revenue is infinitely less afflicting than the injury to the public morality, which thus yields to the temptation of fraudulent gain, with less reluctance, when necessity goads to desperate exertion.\nYour memorialists think their prayer, for some mitigation of the evils they complain of, to be the more reasonable, from this fact. The Law of Non-Intercourse, the evil effects and embarrassments arising from which they so sensibly feel, was predicated on the belief that the Government of France had really repealed their decrees violating our neutral commerce. The fact is too notorious to require proof, that these decrees, so justly complained of, have, as yet, not been repealed in fact, even admitting they have been in name. This Law, operating so severely to their injury, has been enacted on a presumed fact, which, it is now apparent, did not exist. Common justice, therefore, they conceive, authorizes them to claim of their Government, if not to repair the injury consequent on such law, at least to replace the memorialists in the situation in which the law found them, by the repeal of the Act which occasions their embarrassment.\nYour memorialists, therefore, with a deep sense, not only of their own sufferings but of those of their Country also, now apply to the President of the United States, under the conviction that he will hear their case with patience, and relieve them, if practicable, from the continuance of the evils they complain of; and if no other means present themselves to his view, they earnestly entreat him to consider the propriety of Convening Congress, at a much earlier period than usual, to take into consideration the necessity of removing from our commerce, all those unfortunate restraints, the operation of which, in aiming a blow at the interests of another nation, unhappily, has inflicted a severer wound on our own. And as in duty bound shall ever pray,\nJohn Caldwell[and thirteen others]", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0364", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Richard Cutts, 23 May 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Cutts, Richard\nDear Sir\nI have recd. your favor of the 16th. by the mail which brought the result of the Election at Salem. The general result I infer will fulfill your wishes. The atmosphere has for several days been filled with reports of an engagement between the Frigate commanded by Rogers and a British frigate. You will estimate the testimony by the Contents of the inclosed papers. The occurrence is in itself so little probable that it will be doubted till regularly confirmed.\nWe are still looking out for the Essex; and may be disappointed when she arrives of any final decision of the prospects from France, as she cannot well bring dispatches from Russel subsequent to the knowledge of the Act putting the non-importation in force. The accts. hitherto recd. create perplexity rather than certainty with respect to the conduct of that Govt. Our Official intelligence does not justify the prevailing impression that no regard will be paid to the pledge given on the subject of the Decrees; but besides the ignorance & instability on the subject of commerce, it may happen, that on some pretext of inadequacy in the Act of Congs. new evasions or delays may be introduced. Certain it is that whilst the trade with this Country, is made subordinate to the grand object of destroying that of G. B. & apprehensions remain that the former will be a vehicle for the latter, obstructions & vexations will be more or less continued. And it seems extremely difficult to keep the public mind awake to the distinction between the Decrees relating to the trade of the U. S. with England, & those relating simply to the trade with F. herself. Of this confusion of ideas, England & her partizans take advantage, in order to divert attention from the British Orders, to French Municipal irregularities, and to turn the latter agst. the Govt. of the U. S. It seems also that this strategem is abetted by the inconveniences, particularly along the N. E. Coast, resulting from the clog put on the trade, particularly with the W. Indies. You will have noticed the renewal instituted at N. Haven, of addreses to the Ex. on this subject. It is kept out of sight that with the exception perhaps of the W. Indies, there could be no inducement at present to continue the intercourse with the B. Dominions, this Country being sufficiently stocked with merchandize, & the British Market being glutted with our productions. The latest accts. from England are to be found in the Newspapers. It is doubted by many whether Foster\u2019s mission will not be suspended, notwithstanding the arrival of his baggage; and whether something like retaliation on the Act of Congs. may not be attempted. It would have been a provident security agst. such a project, if exports even in our vessels, had been prohibited to Nova Scotia, & E. Florida.\nWe are happy to hear that you all continue well, and offer affectionate remembrances. Yrs. Affecly.\nJ. Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0365", "content": "Title: From James Madison to the Inhabitants of New Haven, 24 May 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: New Haven Inhabitants\nWashington May 24th. 1811.\nI have received, fellow Citizens, the petition which you have addressed to me, representing the inconveniences experienced from the existing non-importation law, and soliciting that the National Legislature may be speedily convened.\nIt is known to all, that the Commerce of the United States has, for a considerable period, been greatly abridged and annoyed, by Edicts of the belligerent powers; each professing retaliation only on the other; but both violating the clearest rights of the United States as a neutral nation. In this extraordinary state of things, the Legislature, willing to avoid a resort to war, more especially during the concurrent aggressions of two great powers, themselves at war, the one with the other, and determined on the other hand against an unqualified acquiescence, have endeavored by successive and varied regulations affecting the commerce of the parties, to make it their interest to be just.\nIn the Act of Congress out of which the existing non-importation has grown, the state of commerce was no otherwise qualified than by a provision, that in case either of the belligerents should revoke its unlawful Edicts, and the other should fail to do the same, our ports should be shut to the vessels and merchandize of the latter. This provision which, like our previous offers, repelled the very pretext set up by each, that its Edicts against our trade with the other, was required by an acquiescence in like Edicts of the other, was equally presented to the attention of both. In consequence of the communication, the French Government declared that its Decrees were revoked. As the British Government had expressed reluctance in issuing its orders, and repeatedly signified a wish to find in the example of its adversary, an occasion for putting an end to them, the expectation was the more confident, that the occasion would be promptly embraced. This was not done; and the period allowed for the purpose having elapsed, our ports became shut to British ships and merchandize. Whether the conduct of the French Government has been, and will be such as to satisfy the authorized expectations of the United States; or whether the British Government may have opened, or will open the way, for the Executive removal of the restrictions on British commerce with the United States, which it continues in its power to do, by revoking its own unlawful restrictions on our commerce, is to be ascertained by further information; which will be received and employed by the Executive, with that strict impartiality, which has been invariably maintained towards the two belligerents.\nWhatever may be the inconveniences resulting in the mean time, from the non-importation Act, it was not to have been supposed, that whilst it falls within the necessary power and practice of regulating our commercial intercourse with foreign Countries, according to circumstances, the Act would be regarded as not warranted by the Constitution; or that whilst it was a partial restriction only, and had for its object, an entire freedom of our commerce, by a liberation of it from foreign restrictions unlawfully imposed, it could be viewed as destroying commerce; and least of all, that a likeness could be seen between a law enacted by the representatives of the Country, with a view to the interest of the Country; and Acts of a Government in which the Country was not represented, framed with a view to the interest of another Country, at the expence of this.\nIf appeals to the justice of the Belligerents, thro\u2019 their interests, involve privations on our part also; it ought to be recollected, that this is an effect inseparable from every resort, by which one nation can right itself against the injustice of others.\nIf sacrifices made for the sake of the whole, result more to some than to other districts or descriptions of Citizens, this also is an effect, which tho\u2019 always to be regretted, can never be entirely avoided. Whether the appeal be to the sword, or to interruptions or modifications of customary intercourse, an equal operation on every part of the community can never happen. Nor would an unqualified acquiescence in belligerent restrictions on our commerce, if that could be reconciled with what the nation owes to itself, be less unequal in its effect on different local situations and interests.\nIn estimating the particular measure which has been adopted by the National Councils, it may be reasonably expected therefore, from the candor of enlightened Citizens, that with the peculiarity of the public situation, they will be impressed also, with the difficulty of selecting the course most satisfactory, and best suited to diminish its evils or shorten their duration; that they will keep in mind, that a resort to war must involve necessary restrictions on commerce; and that were no measure whatever opposed to the belligerent acts against our commerce, it would not only remain under the severe restrictions now imposed by foreign hands, but new motives would be given, for prolonging and invigorating them.\nThese observations are not meant to anticipate the policy which the Legislature may henceforward find best adapted, to support the honor or promote the interest of the nation; or to prejudge questions relative to particular changes, which may be pointed out by experience, or be called for by the state of our foreign relations. Neither do they imply any predetermination as to the measure of convening the Legislature, which it will be a duty to adopt or decline, as our national affairs may appear to require. The view of our situation presented to your patriotic reflections, has been suggested by that contained in your address; and it will have its desired effect, if it recalls your attention to the peculiar embarrassments with which the National Councils have had to contend; and enforces the importance of manifesting that union of all, in supporting the measures of the constituted authorities whilst actually in force, which is as necessary to their effect at home and abroad, as it is consistent with the right, and with the legitimate modes, of seeking a revisal of them. In the mode which the Town of New Haven has employed, I witness with satisfaction, that in exercising the right of freemen, the obligation of Citizens has not been forgotten; and that it affords a pledge and an example, which I am far from undervaluing. I tender you my respects and my friendly wishes.\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0366", "content": "Title: To James Madison from George M. Troup, 24 May 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Troup, George M.\nTo: Madison, James\n24 May 1811, Savannah. \u201cA few weeks before the adjournment of Congress having been informed of a vacancy in the consulate of Antwerp I addressed a letter to Mr Smith nominating & soliciting the appointment of Emanuel Wambersie of Georgia to that office. Will you do me the favor to sieze a leisure moment to turn to that letter & the recommendations which accompanied it.\u201d Encloses an old paper he accidentally found, believing it may be of use to the government. Does not doubt the accuracy of its contents at the time of its writing about thirty years ago; \u201callowing for shiftings of the Bar & destruction of land marks it may be considered correct now. Our People have so little intercourse with Pensacola by sea it may even at this day be a better description of the approaches to its harbor than our government is in possession of.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0367", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Hugh Chisholm, 26 May 1811\nFrom: Chisholm, Hugh\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nMontpelier May 26 1811\nSome time ago I give Mr James Leitch a draft on you, for $200 without mentioning the thing to you, before, which I ought to have done, therefore I will thank you to pay it when you find it convenient. We are at this time ingage on the other wing we got it to the Serface of the ground, and will use Every Exersion to finish it with Speed the other wing I will finish against you come hare, I am yours with Estteem\nHugh Chisholm", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0368", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 26 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir\nMonticello May 26. 11.\nAs I sent you my first effort to keep Duane right, so I communicate the second, which the failure of our measures to help him obliged me to write. It probably closes our correspondence as I have not heard a word from him on the subject. Ritchie is correct as to the administration generally. I have written to a friend there what I am in hopes will put him right as to mr. Gallatin, altho, as my friend thinks, it is not certain.\n\u27e8We have had much alarm as to the fly in our wheat. Some friendly rains however have enabled much of it to out-grow that danger. Good lands & husbandry have recieved little injury from it. But the indifferent present as yet rather a meagre appearance. You will be so good as to return me the inclosed after perusal & to accept the assurances of my constant affection.\nTh: Jefferson\u27e9", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0369", "content": "Title: From James Madison to John G. Jackson, 27 May 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Jackson, John G.\nDear Sir\nI duly recd. yours inclosing a sample from your long fleeced Ewe. I have seen no \u27e8way?\u27e9 particularly capable of deciding on its merits. I suspect the question of its value depends on the weight of the fleece, finding that wool nearly as long is not very rare in certain breeds, and that the coarseness of its staple brings it under the denomination of Combing wool. A chance only, of turning the specimen to acct. wd. justify attention to the means of p[r]eserving it. We are still under all the uncertainties relative to our affairs abroad, the Essex having not even arrived, & no authentic accts. having been recd. thro any other channels. You will see by the inclosed handbill what has passed between Rogers & a British Rover on our Coasts. Be assured always of my Affecte. respects\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0372", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Barbour, 29 May 1811\nFrom: Barbour, James\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nOrange May 29th. 1811\nThe inconvenience of my situation as connected with the post office is such as induces me to make an effort to remedy it. Not having the pleasure of an acquaintance with the head of the post office department I have taken the liberty to present the subject to your consideration. The most convenient post office in the County is Orange Court House. The road leading to Charlottesville by my house is the most convenient and the nearest way but notwithstanding this circumstance there is a Stage mail and also a horse mail on the town road. I feel no disposition to change that arrangement yet I think but Just that we should have at least a horse mail once a week. The population on this road is very numerous and respectable and from the remoteness of the post office it is to us almost useless. A post office established at a Public house on my land (called Barboursville) fourteen miles from the Ct House under the direction of John Bradley would produce a convenience to a multitude of People who with myself are anxious for such an establishment. If this subject is within your controul and you can spare time enough from business of more importance to attend to this, the favor will be duly appreciated by very many respectful Friends. I am with Sentiments of the highest esteem yr Obd Sert.\nJs: Barbour", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0373", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Richard Cutts, 29 May 1811\nFrom: Cutts, Richard\nTo: Madison, James\nLetter not found. 29 May 1811. Mentioned in JM to Cutts, 16 June 1811, as transmitting the news of the Republican ascendancy in the Massachusetts legislature.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0375", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Herman Vosburgh, 31 May 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Vosburgh, Herman\nTo: Madison, James\n31 May 1811, New York. \u201cI have been engaged for the last three years in establishing an Extensive Manufactory on the Bronx River about Twelve miles from this City for the purpose of making paint articles from metallick substances of the growth and produce of the United States.\u201d Has obtained a charter from the state legislature to incorporate a company for twenty years with stock of $100,000. Among his stockholders are mercantile houses that have annually imported articles such as red lead, litharge, and patent yellow and white lead from Great Britain, all of which he expects to have ready by 10 June. Has encountered both \u201cexternal and local prejudices\u201d against American manufactures. \u201cThe cold apathy of some the scornful sneers of the ignorant and the wilful misrepresentations of others probably self-interested are in my view a great cause why American Manufactures have languished so long.\u201d Looks to JM as \u201cthe Executive head and father of the American People\u201d for some \u201csentiments \u2026 of favourable import respecting the Manufactures of this Country.\u201d Eight million people \u201cmust and ought to be stimulated by every possible encouragement emanating from the highest authority.\u201d Has waited for some years for Congress to recommend those branches of the arts and manufactures that might be carried on in the different states where raw materials are available.\nHis company sent an agent to the Louisiana country to see \u201cat what price we could obtain metallic lead at the mines, we calculating to consume at our establishment from four to five hundred Tons annually.\u201d The supply is available, but he has been hampered in obtaining it by the lack of a nationally circulating currency and the difficulties of transporting large sums of specie. Believes that the U.S. holds large tracts of mineral lands and supposes that the government \u201cmight be induced to sell in small tracts and to encourage settlers, agree to take Metallick Land in payment thereby not only furnishing our annual supply but also the whole Market of the Atlantic States.\u201d Requests JM\u2019s impressions on the subject and, if permitted, wishes to show them to the directors of the company.\nIs an American by birth and has for a number of years \u201cpersued the manufacturing of the finer Sorts of Copal Japan and Enamel Varnishes and of sundry paints.\u201d Believes he can best serve his country by establishing a permanent manufactory in this line of business. Is confident of success and wishes to forward JM some samples shortly. \u201cI fervently Trust that every means will be made use of that can diffuse the arts of peace throughout our common Country which alone are able to preserve the patriots last best hope and shed \u2026 blessings inestimable and Honours less transient than the blood staind fields of Desolated Europe can bequeath to the rising generations of our fellow man.\u2026 May you long enjoy the Exalted Station you fill with great happiness to yourself and preeminent usefulness to our common dear Country.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0376", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Robert Wickliffe, 2 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Wickliffe, Robert\nTo: Madison, James\n2 June 1811, Lexington, Kentucky. States that the present marshal for Kentucky has decided to resign. Recommends as his successor the marshal\u2019s son, Robert Crockett, who \u201cis in the prime of life and possesses fine talents.\u201d The younger Crockett served as a deputy under his father and is familiar with the laws of the state. His appointment would be widely approved.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0377", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Jesse Jones and Others, 3 June 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Jones, Jesse\nI have recd. fellow Citizens your address, approving my Objection to the Bill contain[in]g a grant of public land, to the Baptist Church at Salem Meeting House Missippi Terry. Having always regarded the practical distinction between Religion & Civil Govt as essential to the purity of both, and as guaranteed by the Constn: of the U. S. I could not have otherwise discharged my duty on the occasion which presented itself. Among the various religious Societies in our Country, none have been more vigilant or constant in maintain[in]g that distinction, than the Society of which you make a part, and it is an honourable proof of your sincerity & integrity, that you are as ready to do so, in a case favoring the interest of your brethren, as in other cases. It is but just, at the same time, to the Baptist Church at Salem Meeting House, to remark that their application to the Natl. Legislature does not appear to have contemplated a grant of the Land in question, but on terms that might be equitable to the public as well as to themselves. Accept my friendly respects", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0379", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Asher Robbins, 3 June 1811\nFrom: Robbins, Asher\nTo: Madison, James\nNewport R. Island, 3d June 1811.\nI hope, Sir, the occasion of my addressing you personally will be received, as a sufficient apology for the liberty, which I have taken. I have recently been informed, from a source entitled to respect, that whilst you were deliberating upon the selection of a Successor to Judge Cushing, you received a letter from, this State, denouncing me as a monarchist in principle; and that the standing of the writer was such, as to give it effect. I owe it to myself to declare to you Sir, that the representation is a calumny, fabricated without the least regard to truth, and for which I defy the writer to give even a specious excuse, from any thing I ever did or wrote or said. No. Sir. Always ardent and undisguized in my Sentiment of zeal for the Union of these states\u2014of devotion to the Constitution as the means of perpetuating that Union, and thereby making our republican institutions immortal\u2014and of gratitude to those, whose labors like yours have eminently contributed to this national establishment so full of present good, and of future promise, it is impossible for this Calumniator, to give even a specious coloring to his charge. Such Communications, I presume are deemed confidential, and that it would be improper therefore to request to you to expose the one to which I allude. In this situation I can only appeal to you sir, for protection; and must pray you to do me the justice, to beleive, that, the injurious charge, was a calumny, without excuse, or palliation. With sentiments of the highest esteem & attachment I am Sir Your devoted frd & Servt\nAsher Robbins.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0381", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Clement Biddle, 6 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Biddle, Clement\nTo: Madison, James\n6 June 1811, Philadelphia. \u201cI find that Mr. Carrington is returned from Canton & as he may not probably go back a Vacancy in the Consulship may take place.\u201d Requests the place for his son, George W. Biddle, who has resided there for several years and is \u201cmuch respected and esteemed particularly by the Gentlemen of the British factory.\u201d Has written to Monroe on this subject.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0382", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Millar, 6 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Millar, John\nTo: Madison, James\n6 June 1811, Darien, Georgia. Gives an account of his life and his efforts to study and become a physician. \u201cI was advis\u2019d by a gentleman to complete my studies in the southern climate, as \u2026 the manner of treatment was different to what it is in the Northern States & in all probability would be a better place for one of that profession.\u201d Moved to Georgia from Kentucky in October 1810 to continue his studies, but his funds have proved to be insufficient. Requests the sum of $500 to defray his expenses including the cost of purchasing instruments and medicine to begin his practice \u201cin a place that really wants a physician.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0383", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Cornelio de Saavedra and Others, 6 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Cornelio de Saavedra\nTo: Madison, James\n6 June 1811, Buenos Aires. The signatories state that their government, desiring to secure the fullest safety from attacks from abroad by peoples who either are its enemies or assault its liberty, seeks arms from the U.S.\u2014a generous nation which appreciates in the most noble manner the just liberty of men. This task is entrusted to Diego de Saavedra and Juan Pedro de Aguirre, for whom the assistance and protection of the U.S. government is requested. In order to ensure the success of their mission, which depends on the greatest and most solemn secrecy, they will travel with passports under the names of Pedro Lopez and Jose Cabrera, which will also avoid compromising the U.S. in any way in the eyes of England or any other nation that might needlessly take offense. This measure is undertaken to communicate with the U.S. government through the medium of JM and to recommend these commissioners to his protection.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0384", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 7 June 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\nDear Sir\nWashington June 7. 1811\nI return the letter from you to D. on the subject of Mr. G. He seems to be incorrigible. If I am not misinformed, his eyes are opening to the conduct & character of Mr. S, with respect to both of which he has suffered himself to be misled partly by his own passions, partly by those who took advantage of them. You see the new shapes our foreign relations are taking. The occurrence between Rogers & the British ship of war, not unlikely to bring on repetitions, will probably end in an open rupture, or a better understanding as the calculations of the B. Govt. may prompt or dissuade from war. Among the items in these will be the temper here, as reported by its partizans. The state of parties in Massts. is in this view important, especially as it will attract particular notice by its effect in degrading Pickering who has made himself so conspicuous in the British service. On the other hand much impatience is shewing itself in the Eastn: States, under the nonimportation. The little embarrassment which occurs in procuring returns for the apples & onions sent from Connecticut to the W. Indies, is generating remonstrances as in the case of the Embargo. I have been obliged to answer one from N. Haven headed by Hillhouse, which they have not yet published. The protracted delay of the Essex still leaves us a prey to the ignorance & interested falsehoods which fill our newspapers. It would seem that G. B. is determined agst. repealing her orders, and that Bonaparte is equally so agst the destruction of her commerce, to which he readily sacrifices his own commerce with the U. S. As to the blockade of England (the decree to which alone the Act of Congs. & the Proclamation have reference), there is no evidence of its being continued in force. All the Official evidence is on the other side. And yet by a confusion of ideas or artifice of language, the appearance is kept up that the ground of the non-importation has failed, and that it is consequently a wrong to G. B. After all, we must remain somewhat in the dark till we hear more on the subject; probably till the return of the vessel that carried to France, the Act of Congs. putting in force the non-importation, for wch. Bonapt. seems to be waiting. After a severe drought, we have had a copious rain. I hope you have shared \u27e8in\u27e9 it & that it will have aided the wheatfeilds in their conflict with the Hessian fly. Be assured of my constant & truest affection\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0385", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Jay, 7 June 1811\nFrom: Jay, James\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,\nNew York June 7. 1811\nWhen the just measures of Government meet with so much opposition as they do at present, it becomes the duty of every friend to his Country to support them. With this view I acquaint you that there are persons in this City and other parts of the State, who are taking measures, on a large Scale, to introduce British goods from Canada into the adjacent States. One part of the Scheme is to fix Agents for the purpose in Montreal and other convenient places. This hint I hope may enable you to defeat or at least diminish the impending Evil. It would be best not to mention my name on the occasion; and this I suggest, not from any personal consideration, for I care not if this Letter should be published, but lest it may prevent me from getting further information on the subject.\nI hope you enjoy good health, and should you continue to possess that blessing, I have no doubt but our Country will triumph over her foreign and domestic Enemies. With great regard, I remain Dear Sir Your Very humble Servt.\nJames Jay", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0387", "content": "Title: To James Madison from George Joy, 9 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Joy, George\nTo: Madison, James\n9 June 1811, Copenhagen. Reports arrival on 30 May of Erving who gave him JM\u2019s letter of 28 Jan. The documents he sent to JM and the secretary of state will show how he protracted the most important cases until Erving\u2019s arrival, and he has no doubt decisions can be delayed \u201ctill Mr: Erving has had sufficient opportunity to confer with Count Rozenkrantz.\u201d His own conversation with the latter and the cabinet secretary suggest outcomes favorable to the objects of Erving\u2019s mission. Is willing to offer his services but perceives no disposition in Erving to accept them, and he will therefore have no further communication with the minister of foreign affairs. Has endeavored to inform Erving of the \u201cdiversity of Character\u201d between government officials, on the one hand, and the prize courts, on the other; has also warned him of the king\u2019s desire to exercise whatever power he can.\nHopes Erving\u2019s reluctance to accept his services will not work against Erving\u2019s goals. Fears Erving \u201cmay have paid some attention to the miserable trash that has been circulated about me\u201d in the newspapers, where an author writing as \u201cJay\u201d called him an \u201cold Tory and a London Broker.\u201d Denies charges that he has justified British policies toward America and refers JM to the publications he sent him under the signature of \u201cConciliator,\u201d and the copies of suggestions under his own name written to members of Parliament. Any man in London will attest to the truth of this, but if JM is affected by any of these insinuations, he will \u201ccertainly be at the pains of collecting the most ample Evidence to refute them.\u201d\nAsserts that he always considered American resistance to British oppression legitimate and justified. Until the time he met JM he had never been more than sixteen months in England, though JM will never \u201cget over the Idea of \u2018the English Relations in which I stand.\u2019\u201d Had intended, after arriving in Virginia, to end his days in the U.S. Has been much in England since then, but he has also been in France, Holland, and Germany.\nWhen he thought ten years ago of seeking public employment JM mentioned the pretensions of \u201cpersons at home.\u201d He had responded that George Erving, Jr., with no more pretensions than himself, had just been sent to the consulate in London. \u201cNow comes the same Mr George Erving, no longer junr., his father having since died in London, with a letter from you speaking of \u2018the English relations in which I stand.\u2019\u201d Protests the injustice of this, mentioning that Erving\u2019s father was \u201c\u2018an old Tory\u2019 of such notoriety as to be nominated a Mandamus Counsellor\u201d and that Erving himself had been educated in England and had not spent five years of his life in America. Joy\u2019s father was a Tory whose five sons all opposed his politics, although \u201cit might be erroneous, to derive any inference from this, unfavorable to the Americanism of Mr. Erving\u201d given his relationship with his father. \u201cIf any inference is to be drawn I do think it more unfavorable to him than to me.\u201d Has three brothers in America and one in England. Of the patriotism of the former, nothing need be said; of the latter, refers JM to Dr. Eustis, his classmate at Cambridge, and to former president Adams. Does not believe that this connection should \u201canglicize\u201d him and repeats that his purpose was to promote American interests by shaming the British government into abandoning their \u201cunjust and impolitic measures.\u201d\n\u201cPerhaps you will say the objection lies only against an Employment in a Department of france,\u201d but he has already stated that he would serve even at the Tuileries in a just cause. Refers JM to his correspondence with Smith in July and with JM himself on 2 Sept. Asks to be given the consulate at Copenhagen and, assuming that Erving will not remain long, to combine it with the position of charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires. The king will have no objections and high officials have hinted they \u201cwould even like it.\u201d \u201cIt is known that I have cleared every ship that her Officers have thought fit to place in my hands.\u201d His meetings with officials also suggest their willingness to diminish American causes of complaint. Does not believe that \u201canything pernicious can be inferred\u201d from this intimation, \u201cbut I rather perceive in it an indication of the mutual benefit to be derived from that sort of intercourse upon which I have before observed as recommended by you to General Armstrong.\u201d\nDiscusses at length the details of one case as yet undecided and about which he wrote to Smith in December. Apologizes, as always, for the length of his letters; promises to make his next letter shorter.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0389", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Asher Robbins, 10 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Robbins, Asher\n10 June 1811, Washington. Acknowledges receipt of a letter from Robbins. \u201cIts declaration of your principles & sentiments on certain subjects will have the attention which is due to the frankness and explicitness with which it is made.\u201d Does not authorize \u201cany inference from this assurance, that might prejudice any individual whatever in your estimation.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0390", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Lambert, 10 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Lambert, William\nTo: Madison, James\n10 June 1811, Washington. Encloses for JM\u2019s \u201cinspection and transmission, a communication to bishop Madison, relating to the longitude of William and Mary College from Greenwich, by computation from the end of the Solar eclipse of June 16th. 1806.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0391", "content": "Title: Edward Coles to Dolley Madison, 10 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Coles, Edward\nTo: Madison, Dolley Payne Todd\n10 June 1811, New York. Observes that it is impossible to comply with his promise to write on everything that interests him. \u201cAs you expressed some curiosity to know how the Smiths &c would treat me, I requested Payne, who told me he was about to write, to inform you that I was treated quite civilly by them all, but that their displeasure with the President and yourself was very apparent.\u201d Mentions having \u201cwaited on Mr. & Mrs. R. Smith\u201d who \u201creceived us very civilly.\u201d \u201cAfter conversing some short time we rose to take leave, when Mrs. Smith asked me if I had been to see Gen. Smiths family, on my answering in the negative, she said she would go with me to shew me the way. We met with the same kind of reception at Gen. Smith. Our visits were the next day returned. We dined & were twice invited to take tea at Gen. Smiths. None of them made any enquiries after you, or the President, except Mrs. Gen. S., who ask[ed] after your health. I was quite diverted at the caution & sameness of the enquiries of Gen., and Mr. & Mrs. R. Smith. \u2018I hope you left our friends well in Washington\u2019 said they. The Smiths are said not directly to vent their spleen, but to spur on their relations & friends, many of whom are extremely abusive of the President & Col. Monroe. As a proof of which, it is only necessary to tell the President that those abusive & scurrilous pieces signed Timolean, that made their appearance some time since in the Whig, are now publicly known (indeed he boasts of being the author), to be from the pen of George Stevenson, the son-in-Law of P. Carr, & the nephew of the Smiths who lives in the counting room of Gen. Smith. I believe I have said too much about this little clan, whose vanity or weakness is such, as to make them believe that they can make & unmak\u27e8e\u27e9 any administration; but you will excuse me for having written so much when I tell you that you are somewhat a favourite with them, for on meeting in the St. Dr. Leib, who is one of their leaders in Phia., he made no other enquiry but after your health.\u201d\nCongratulates her on the safe arrival of her brother, John. In a postscript mentions that while he was in Philadelphia some friends of B. C. Wilcocks requested that he recommend Wilcocks as consul for Canton. \u201cI promised to name him to the President as a person anxious to obtain the above appointment. I have no doubt but what he has furnished letters of recommendation, but in order to comply with my promise, I wish you to name this to the President.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0392", "content": "Title: From James Madison to James Jay, 10 June 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Jay, James\nLetter not found. 10 June 1811. Acknowledged in Jay to JM, 1 July 1811. Discusses the smuggling of British goods from Canada into the U.S.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0393", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Alexander Wolcott, 11 June 1811\nFrom: Wolcott, Alexander\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nMiddletown Ct. 11 June 1811\nI received a letter a short time since from a Mr. Jacob Ogden Jr., a native of this State, now residing at Havana, informing me that he contemplated establishing himself in business, either at Buenos Ayres or at Monte Video and expressing a wish to be appointed consul at one of those places. With regard to the expediency of such an appointment I have formed no opinion. I have had very little personal knowledge of Mr. Ogden since he was 21 years old, (he is now about thirty) but have frequently heard of his progress in the world, and of his reputation. Owing to the failure of his father in business he started in the world pennyless, but he is now, not only flourishing as respects property, but has established a character for more than common industry, intelligence and integrity, and if it should be thought expedient to appoint a commercial agent of any sort, at either of the places mentioned, I have no doubt that Mr Ogden is perfectly well qualified for the place.\nMay I be permitted, Sir, to avail myself of the present occasion, tho late, to say a word respecting your nomination of me as a Judge of the Supreme court of the United States. You have given me, Sir, an indubitable proof of high confidence in me; of this I am proud, for this I am grateful; as these are the only sentiments, of any force that the whole of the transaction has at any time excited, so these, I beg leave to assure you, will be durable. As to the result, or the causes that produced the result, in the Senate, so far as respects myself I think not of them; indeed my knowledge of the characters of men had prepared me for something like it. I regret only, that, whatever may be your opinion of those causes, the affair must have occasioned you a degree of mortificatn. For myself, it is no boast to say that calumnies old or new affect me not. I have, long since, been compelled to learn what malice can do and to place myself out of its reach by contemning its efforts. I beg you Sir to accept assurances of my unfeigned gratitude and perfect respect.\nAlex. Wolcott", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0394", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Alexander Hamilton, 12 June 1811\nFrom: Hamilton, Alexander Jr.\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,\nLisbon June 12th 1811\nIf I have not already, too much trespassed upon your attention, permit me to observe, that the commercial Interests of the United States, are now unrepresented in Portugal. The consulate office, in consequence of the absence of Mr Jarvis, has become vacant. If it comports with your feelings & does not interfer, with the arrangements of Government, I should be happy, through your personal influence, to obtain this station. From the natural indolence & love of ease, that pervades this country, this will always be an important mart, for American productions. As the true policy of our country is to secure, an honorable tranquility, we should avoid exotic transactions as productive of vexatious changes & confirm those arrangements, founded in mutual interests. These degenerate people, are so excessively ignorant, that an attempt to reformation by revolution, would be productive of the most sanguinary consequences & from the nature of such ingredients, would terminate in a more extreme slavery. The laws of this nation I understand, are excellent, they are however a dead letter. The influence of our commercial rival, has already evidenced its invidious effects, by the adoption of a system of exclusion, that prohibits the admission of all liquors, from the United States, that may arrive here, after the 10th May past. Should security & tranquility be restored, the ascendancy of Great Britain, will be more dependent upon personal influence, than national power. The councils of Portugal, will represent the prejudices of individuals, themselves dependent upon commercial calculations & private affections.\nShould you have time, to reply to my request a letter addressed, to the care of Mess: Le Roy Bayard & McEvers New York will be carefully transmitted to Mess Baring Brothers & Co London my commercial correspondents. My intention is to be in England, about the last of August.\nThe combined forces, in Spain & Portugal have dearly purchased their late victories & from present appearances, there is every expectation, of a decisive battle, on the plains of Merida. Marshalls Soult & Victor have about 50.000 Men. Lord Welington 60.000. The[y] have advanced from Seville to the relief of Badajos. The issue will decide, the fate of th\u27e8ree\u27e9 nations. Accept the respects of Your Obedt Hum: Servt.\nA Hamilton", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0395", "content": "Title: Account with Joel Barlow, 12 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James,Lee, William\nTo: \n12 June 1811. Lists items \u201cBot. of Joel Barlow,\u201d including seventy-three bottles of burgundy \u201ccalled Clos de vegiot\u201d at $1.50 per bottle; twenty-one dozen of porter and ale at $2.25 per dozen; eight bottles of \u201cOld Chateaux Margaux this is the same wine as is usually sent to the President from Bordeaux with the difference that this has been in bottle 5 years,\u201d at $1 per bottle; \u201c2 Cases Barsac\u201d for $117; twelve bottles of white Juran\u00e7on for $12; twenty-four bottles of champagne for $48; and six bottles of \u201cLangon 25 or 30 years in bottle, when drank it ought to be decanted in the Cellar,\u201d for $6. Payment of $356.75 received for Barlow by William Lee.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0396", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Tammany Society of Chillicothe, 14 June 1811\nFrom: Tammany Society of Chillicothe\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nChillicothe (O) 14th. June 1811\nThe Tammany Society, Or Columbian Order of Wigwam No. 1, whence the other four branches in the state of Ohio have originated, Unanimously requests leave to address you, at the present momentous Crisis of our public affairs.\nThey have not been indifferent spectators of the trying and difficult scenes, which you have had to pass through, as Executive of the National Government. The unjust and destructive Edicts passed by the two great belligerent powers of Europe, against our Neutral Commerce and Rights; the repeated, insulting aggressions committed on our own coasts, and even in our own waters; the diplomatic finess practised by accredited Ministers; and the apologists for such outrages in our own country, have all tended to make your situation peculiarly embarrassing. But this numerous society of Democratic Republicans, have viewed with the sincerest pleasure, the promptness with which you have met pacific overtures, the firmness with which you have contended for the rights of your countrymen, and the forbearance which the spirit and genius of our government dictated. And Judging from the past they are impelled to express their entire confidence in, and reliance upon your Wisdom, firmness, and patriotism as Executive of the United States, in this trying season. And they are firmly determined to support with their lives and fortunes such necessary measures as the Government of our Country may adopt, for the preservation of our Rights and Liberties; And the promotion of the National Welfare.\nSigned in behalf of the Society\nEdward Tiffin\nGrand Sachem\nSaml. Williams secretary", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0397", "content": "Title: To James Madison from David Meade Randolph, 14 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Randolph, David Meade\nTo: Madison, James\n14 June 1811, London. Asks that JM consider this letter \u201cwith mingled feelings of justice and friendship\u201d; however, if his official conduct has been weighed and found unworthy, asks that JM \u201ctreat this essay with silent contempt.\u201d The reasons for his departure were known to few, but \u201cthe interruptions of commerce\u201d have disappointed his hopes, and he is now engaged in enterprises requiring \u201cprivations, patience and infinite persevereance\u201d in order to be able to support his \u201cunfortunate family\u201d in the future. These reflections have led him to seek the consulate in Lisbon or that in London \u201cshoud the present Incumbent here, by a seriously apprehended dissolution, vacate his Office.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0398", "content": "Title: Resolution of the Court of the District of Columbia, 15 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Court of the District of Columbia\nTo: \n15 June 1811. \u201cThe Grand Jury state to the Court that they have received representations on the oaths of credible persons that Nancy Gerry a free mulatto girl about Eight years old, was during the month of May last Sold as a slave by Samuel Askum, to  Oliphant of Georgia, to which state she is presumed to have been carried, said Oliphant being an Inhabitant of Georgia. The Jury request the Court to Communicate this statement to the president of the United States in order that fit measures may be pursued for the reclamation of the said Nancy Gerry.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0400", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John C. Payne, ca. 18 June 1811\nFrom: Payne, John C.\nTo: Madison, James\nLetter not found. Ca. 18 June 1811. Mentioned in Dolley Madison to Anna Payne Cutts, 20 June 1811 (MHi): \u201cThis Morng. Mr. M has a short letter from John at Drummond Town near the Capes of Virga. He has been unwell there, but promises to \u2018be with us in a few days, when he will explain the causes of his sudden return &. &.\u2019\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0401", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William B. Wood, 19 June 1811\nFrom: Wood, William B.\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir\nNashville Tennessee 19th. June 1811\nI have taken the liberty of informing You of our safe arrival in this country on the 22d of May\u2014it being past the season for making a crop an object I thought it best to hire out our negroes and rent a House in this place which I have succeaded in beyond my utmost expectation, in consequence of this arrangement I have had an opportunity of seeing many parts of this state also the County of Madison (Missippia Territory) which I give a most decided preference to any part of this Country\u2014from its great advantage as a Cotton Country and its advantagee\u2019s in many other Respects, I am very much disposed to make a small purchase there, but in consequence of all the Valuable lands being allready entered and the price being considerably advanced, say from four to Eight Dollars I find my funds are insufficient to comply with my wishes, without making sale of a part [of] my negroes which are all Young and increasing in Value daily. In preference to doing this I have taken the liberty of making application to you for the loane of eight hundred or a thusand Dollars, which if not too great an inconvenience to you, will be a considerable accommodation to me, assuring you at the same that I will use my greatest deligence in returning it. I was compell\u2019d to leave in Virginia one fourth of the sales of my land as an indemnity to Mr. Dawney as Executor to meat the payment of the claim of securityship pending between B. Winslow and my father\u2019s estate which has been a considerable draw back on my funds in the mean time I remain Dear Sir Yr Mo Obt & H St\nWilliam B. Wood", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0402", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Joshua Gilpin, 19 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Gilpin, Joshua\nTo: Madison, James\n19 June 1811, Philadelphia. Wrote to Barlow some weeks ago soliciting through him \u201cthe appointment to a Consular Office, Agency, or some similar object in England.\u201d Has been informed by Barlow that JM expressed himself \u201cin terms which command the utmost respect and gratitude which I can feel.\u201d Hesitates to trouble JM again, but is on the eve of departing for abroad. \u201cIt was my intention at the time I wrote to Mr Barlow, to remain in this country probably some time, and to wait here the chance of any object which might occurr.\u201d But his concern for the welfare of his family on the voyage has convinced him \u201cto embark with them in a few days.\u201d Believes that the imminent return of Pinkney and the expected arrival of Foster might create an opportunity for an appointment. Defends his motives for seeking a position and admits that the emolument is a concern \u201cin a country where the expences of life are beyond those here and where public duties of any kind still increase that expence.\u201d As a merchant, has experienced losses during the last four years, but maintains it is the duty of everyone \u201cto submit to those measures which the public interests require.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0404", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Captain Armstrong, 21 June 1811\nFrom: Armstrong, Captain\nTo: Madison, James\nFather and brothers\nWe your brothers and children Send this letter by our grandson and relation, having first talked with him and one of our White brothers, and now desire that you would listen, and accept the good wishes of myself and My chiefs, and of all your children at Green Town.\nFather & brothers\nYou have often Wished me and my Chiefs to come and See you, as I have been told by my White brothers; We have now thought of doing So, and are ready, and on that account am glad that my grandson and relation has called on me, on his way to See you; and I take this opportunity to Write to you. Now my father and brother We have determined to come and See you With my chiefs and captains, and wish you to send me an answer by my Grandson and relation and hope that you, our father and brother Will provide for us what may be necessary; as we wish to meet with no hindrance on the way, as our White brothers, near me, Say that you will do it; and we would have come and seen you before but did not know how to proceed untill now; and we hope you will send a letter to us by our Grandson and relation that we may know your Mind.\nThomas Lyons\nWolf\nCapt Pipe\nAbraham Williams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0406", "content": "Title: Presidential Proclamation, 22 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: \n22 June 1811. Declares and makes known under the acts of Congress for the sale and disposal of public lands south of the state of Tennessee that the public lands west of the Pearl River in Mississippi Territory, to which the Indian title has been extinguished and which have not been exposed to public sale under the terms of the presidential proclamation of 22 Oct. 1808, shall be for public sale at Washington, Mississippi Territory, on the second Tuesday in November 1811.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0407", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Richard Cutts, 23 June 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Cutts, Richard\nDear Sir\nI congratulate you & Mrs. Cutts on the event which has relieved your anxieties; the more so as it gratifies your joint desire of introducing a female series into your Nursery. We learn that our brother John landed on the Eastern shore South of the boundary between Va. & Maryland, & that he has been detained by sickness from which however he was recovering, with the expectation of setting out hither about this date. Our patience is Still exercised by the delay of the Essex, and also of Foster. You will have noticed the paragraphs saying that the dispatches from France arrived in England too late for the Essex. We shall probably therefore be kept in suspence as to that quarter till the arrival of the Jno. Adams, of which nothing more is known than that she arrived at L\u2019Orient about the middle of april. What Foster will have in his pocket can not even be conjectured. The only favorable circumstance is a report taken from private letters which you have doubtless seen in print, that his mission has been decided on by the P. Regent, in spite of the repugnance of his Cabinet. Adieu with best wishes for yourself & Mrs. Cutts &c &c &c.\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0408", "content": "Title: From James Madison to the Grand Sachem of the Tammany Society of Chillicothe, 23 June 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Grand Sachem of the Tammany Society of Chillicothe\nSir\nWashington June 23. 1811\nI have received the letter of the 14th. instant which you have addressed to me, in the name of the Tammany Society of Wigwam No. 1. in the State of Ohio.\nThe circumstances in our national situation, to which you refer, could not but render it peculiarly embarrassing to those entrusted with the national rights & interests. Whilst Justice, however, continues to be the basis of our policy, and the great body of our fellow Citizens remain firm, in sentiments & determinations, such as are expressed by the Society of which you are the organ, our Country will be found adequate to every trial to which it may be exposed. The approbation which the Society bestows on the share I have had in the public transactions, and its confidence in my further efforts for the public good, are entitled to my thankful acknowledgments; to which I add a tender of my respects and my friendly wishes.\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0409", "content": "Title: To James Madison from George W. Erving, 23 June 1811\nFrom: Erving, George W.\nTo: Madison, James\nPrivate\nDear Sir\nCopenhagen June 23. 1811\nSoon after my arrival here (viz on the 1st. inst) I saw Mr Joy, & delivered to him the letter which you was pleased to put under my care. I find that this gentleman has done very considerable service to several cases wherein he has been employed, & has obtained the liberation of property which stood in very perilous predicaments, yet it is the general opinion amongst the americans here, by all of whom (even those who have employed him) he is disliked, that he has done considerable mischeif also: & I can readily beleive this, as to the case in general; for as he has not engaged in any case without making a condition with the claimant to receive large commissions, (never less than 2\u00bd per cent on the value of the property in question) & his efforts have been applied exclusively in favor of those who have so employed him; & as he was admitted to a species of official consideration by the members of this government in general; it was concluded that he had no good opinion of the cases in which he did not interfere, & they were so far supposed to be abandoned by our government; some say that to promote his views in particular cases he suggested as much, but I do not beleive that he can have been guilty of a proceeding so iniquitous; yet in one of his letters to Mr Gessen (or Jessen) the kings private secretary, which has been seen by respectable gentlemen here, he did say, speaking of a certain captain, that he had now applied to him, & tho his application had been so tardy, nevertheless he really beleived that he was an american: be the fact as it may, the prevailing opinion that he was pursuing such a course operated in terrorem, & induced several to employ him, who otherwise woud not have employed him; a great majority however, not chusing, or not being authorized to give him the commissions which he demanded (in the convoy cases he required 8 per cent, alledging that a part was to be employed in bribery) & some actuated by more general, & by liberal motives, refused to have any thing to do with him; he has obtained however enough of this business, to have produced a very large sum of profit to himself: they say that he has made use of bribery; I have no reason to beleive this (his proposal in the convoy cases apart) but in his having gratuitously assured me, & calling heaven to witness, that he had not: but independent of such means (if they have been used) he has obtained all his consideration here by shewing your letters to the foreign ministers, the ministers of state, & indeed to every body; I am well assured that he even gave them to Mr Gessen to be shewn to his majesty. Mr Joy on my first arrival repeatedly offerred his services, & from his style of writing I conclude that he supposed they woud be very important to me; but not forseeing that my business coud be promoted by any such aids, & having previously formed the very worst opinion of, & feeling the most complete antipathy to him, I have kept myself in entire reserve. Mr Gessen above mentioned is supposed to have more influence with the king than any other person, thro\u2019 his means Mr Joy has done his business, & thro\u2019 him sometime since procured ten licences, to be used for vessels then laying in Norway to secure them a free passage into the Baltic; he carried these licences to Gottenburg, & offerred them for sale to all the american captains there (for they were made in blank) at some enormous percentage on the value of their cargoes; the captains to a man rejected them & he returned back without being able to sell one licence; in the mean time some of those captains wrote to Mr Saabye stating Mr Joy\u2019s offers, & seeing that the king was disposed to grant licences, they presumed that they were granted gratis & begged him to procure them: an application was made to Mr Gessen either by Mr Saabye or by some agents of the captains; the answer given was that no licences woud be granted but to Mr Joy: these facts which are well known have injured Mr Gessen as well as Mr Joy in the opinion of the american supercargoes & masters now here, amongst whom there are several very respectable men. I have thought it my duty Sir to make you acquainted with these transactions of Mr Joy.\nIn my official letters I have spoken very respectfully of the character of M. de Rosenkrantz, but not in stronger terms than it is intitled to; he is not supposed however to have as much influence with the king as Mr Gessen has.\nTho\u2019 I have said that our commerce has not been so entirely sacrifised as was imagined in the U. States, yet certainly the mischeif has been very considerable: You will see sir I am sure with very great satisfaction the immediate alteration which took place on my arrival here, the good effects already produced, & the prospect of a more favorable termination of this mission than was expected. In my first interview with Mr de Rosenkrantz, which I made a very long one, I endeavoured to form an opinion as to the general character of this government, & of its particular feeling as to our claims: it presented itself to me like a virtuous man, who under the pressure of misfortunes was delivering himself over to irregular habits, a numbness, a total insensibility of the nerves seemed to be taking place, it required to be roused by some strong stimulus; the almost suffocated principle of its virtue might be excited & reestablished by bitter reproaches, but woud die away under a soothing & emolient treatment: I coud anticipate nothing but disappointment, or procrastination, equivalent in the actual state of things to disappointment, by appearing in forma pauperis, or by any procedure from which a hope might be derived of putting aside our claims: under these impressions I wrote my first note to Mr de Rosenkrantz, & in all our conversations have evinced a strong sense of the injuries received: whether the course taken has been upon the whole the best, perhaps can only be determined by the final result, but I had also in view an immediate advantage, which I think has been attained, & which I hope will be preserved: I reached Copenhagen at a very critical moment, precisely at the time when our vessels began to arrive, the only two which had arrived had been captured & condemned, (their appeals are now pending) about the 9t or 10t of June the great body of them appeared, but none of these have been brought regularly into the courts, some few only have been slightly examined, the great majority of them have passed without any kind of interruption.\nNo mention has been made in my instructions of the convoy question, nor was I previously aware that there were any vessels coming under it; in a conversation however which I had the honor of having with you on the 7t Jany you supposed the probability of such cases existing, & treated the subject in its connection with the belligerent pretension to search: I noted down at the time the distinctions which you directed to be observed on this delicate point, but on my arrival here finding that the kings instructions to his cruisers had expressly declared neutral bottoms to make free cargoes (contraband of war excepted) & learning that the 8 vessels of the convoy cases which had been finally condemned had been all under such circumstances as not to require any kind of interference in their favor; finding that the search for contraband had not in any case been the pretext for capture, but a new law subjecting to confiscation all vessels which have made use of convoy; so it appeared to me that I ought to confine myself to contesting with this new doctrine.\nAs to the vessels which have been finally condemned I have thought it best to avoid entering upon that part of my business, till the pending cases shoud be favorably disposed of, that the first attention was due to the claimants who stood in momentary danger of losing their property; & if the course determined on with respect to these, shoud be not to take them out of the jurisdiction of the courts, but to direct its decision on them, which I think will be the course, then I calculated upon strengthening by these very decisions the argument against those which have already been passed.\nI took the liberty of writing to Mrs Madison from Newport respecting her proteg\u00e9 Mr Tayloe; further to apologize to her for the manner in which I thought it necessary to mention that young gentleman & his father, I pray you Sir to have the goodness to let her know, what I will take the liberty of here stating: there is a regulation in france that all letters arriving from abroad shall be delivered to the police, therefore previous to going ashore from the \u201cJohn Adams\u201d I recommended Captn Dent to have all the sealed letters which might be on board the ship put into the letter bag; the officers were therefore summoned to deliver up those in their possession, & with the same view I directed Mr Tayloe who was considered as one of my family, to deliver up such as he might have, he gave me some which on my repeatedly asking him he repeatedly declared to be all he had, & which together with those delivered to me by Messrs Lewis & Winthrop also of my family, I put into the bag; I now learn that Mr Tayloe (it might have been that he did not fully understand me) reserved some letters delivered to him by his friends in Baltimore (by General Smith I think) but with them a parcel from Miss Paterson to the king of Westphalia, which had it been found on him in Paris, or had he delivered, woud have exposed him to a prison; perhaps for life; & me to a great deal of embarrassment; fortunately for himself he is an heedless young man & left the parcel in question on board the vessel. I trust in your goodness to excuse my troubling you with these particulars in consideration of their being intended for Mr[s] Madison.\nIn Paris I received all the assistance from Mr Russell which he coud afford me; but I have not received the hoped for communication from thence, & conclude that the business has gone to rest: it is however of very little importance even on the certificate of origin question, & on all others I trust that I shall be able to get on without it. Mr Russell appears to be a worthy man of a shrewd sensible mind, he is rather vain & one Easily sees that he is particularly so of his style in writing: his celebrated letter which has been so much, & as I told him so justly censured, was partly the child of that vanity; his indiscretion was the want of tact in his metier, & his promptness in entering into difficulty, a mixture of honest ardor with the desire of recommending himself at home, directed by that strong preoccupation against those with whom he was engaged, which seems to prevail in the mind of every american there: for the rest I beleive him to be a sound republican & an honest man; nor is he awkward as has been described; he presents himself as well as most men & the want of that courtly ease which is acquired by habit, is well supplied in him, by a manly self-possession which seems to be the offspring of a truly republican & independent mind. With the most sincere & respectful attachment Dear Sir Your very obt St\nGeorge W Erving", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0410", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Henry Lee, 24 June 1811\nFrom: Lee, Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir\nAlexa. June 24h. 1811.\nHaving omitted to mention one or two circumstances to you in the case of my neighbor Mr Yeaton who has lately presented to govt. a petition from the commercial part of this town, praying the remission of his fine, I am compelled reluctantly to occupy yr. time by letter.\nThis gentleman & Rob. Young were partners during the period, when the transaction took place, which in the sequel has been to him so afflicting. What is strange [is] that while Yeaton has been disgraced & amerced Young has been rewarded, having been promoted to the command of a regt. of militia. Their ship the Hero took to amsterdam a cargo of tobacco to pay the govt. debt due in holland so far as its proceeds went. The Secretary of the treasury gave to this ship a special passport, which in[duced?] Yeaton to risk his ship. She is still detained there going on now in the second year. Here this man suffers considerably.\nAs soon as the Judgement of the court below was confirmed above, Mr Y retired from business in a great degree, nor will he ever resume it, until his mercantile character is releived, to be done only by the supreme authoritys annulment of the sentence.\nHis petition has been confined to a particular class of his fellow citizens, as he deemed it improper to refer to others, which if he had done, I am persuaded not ten men in the town would have with-held their Signatures.\nIndeed I do beleive that the gentleman never intended to violate our laws, for he is a fair dealer & a zealous advocate for Mr Jeffersons restrictive system.\nGovernor Langdon who is his personal friend selected this gentleman from his knowledge of him for the exportation of flower from this port, when special licences were necessary during the embargo.\nThis affords testimony in his favor worthy of respect.\nUpon the whole I beleive you will do an acceptable act to the community by remission & what is more momentous, you will undo an incorrect Judgement. I have the honor to be with the deepest respect Yr. Sincere friend & hum: sert.\nHenry Lee", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0411", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Ludwell Lee, 24 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Lee, Ludwell\nTo: Madison, James\n24 June 1811, Belmont. \u201cA relation & friend of mine, Mr. Mordecai Booth of Winchester, wishing to get a place now vacant in the department of war; in the disposal, as he says, of Mr. Simmons; has requested of me to mention his wishes to you.\u2026 I hope I do not presume, too much on our acquaintanceship, to ask this favor of you.\u201d Adds that Booth is qualified for the position.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0412", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Joseph Gales, [25 June] 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Gales, Joseph\nJ. M. with his thanks to Mr. Gales returns the newspaper sent him\u2014with an anticipated paragraph of the Mercantile Advertiser.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0413", "content": "Title: To James Madison from George Keyser, 25 June 1811\nFrom: Keyser, George\nTo: Madison, James\nSir.\nBaltimore June 25th. 1811.\nYou will please to pardon the Liberty, I have taken, by forwarding you a Copie of An address, to the people of the United States, Under the Signature, of Robt. Smith Esq. late Secretary of State. I May appear to you to be Officious, but Sir, to adopt a Sentiment of Mr Smith to Mr Jefferson, I never did abandon a freind, so long as he was worthy of Confidence.\nI pray you Sir to Accept My hearts Best wishes for your Health and Happiness. I remain Sir, your Most Obt. and Verry humble Sevt.\nGeo Keyser", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0414", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Napoleon, 25 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Napoleon\n25 June 1811. Addresses to him a letter of credence appointing Joel Barlow as minister plenipotentiary to France.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0416", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Cornelio de Saavedra, 26 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Saavedra, Cornelio de\nTo: Madison, James\n26 June 1811, Buenos Aires. \u201cMy Son Don Diego de Saavedra will have the honour of placing in Your Excellency\u2019s hands this Letter.\u201d He is accompanied by Juan Pedro de Aguirre, and JM will perceive their purposes from the credentials. Their mission is \u201cto procure the necessary aid of arms against every European, who is opposed to the cause of that Liberty which the People of America have recovered.\u201d Refers JM to their instructions and stresses the importance of the envoys\u2019 concealing their true names from the public, the former being a captain of dragoons and the latter the present secretary of the cabildo. Assures JM his government will take \u201cparticular pleasure in establishing with their Fellow Countrymen of N. America, all kinds of mercantile relations,\u201d and will also preserve \u201cthe Strictest friendship\u201d toward JM.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0418", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 28 June 1811\nFrom: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nWashington, June 28h. 1811.\nThe considerations which arise out of my engagement with the public in the direction of the public buildings are so interesting to me, and involve so entirely my future residence and the means of supporting my family, that unwilling to occupy more of your time that [sic] I can help, in listening to what I have to suggest on the subject, I take the liberty of submitting to you a wish, that a meeting with the Secretary of the Navy, in whose department the principal part of my services have been lately rendered and yourself may be allowed me, when the whole merits of my case may at once be laid before you & the Secretary, and an ultimate decision had. I will speak to the Secretary on the subject and await the arrangement you may be pleased to make respecting such an interview. On the statements I shall then be able to lay before you, you will, I doubt not, be able to form a correct judgement as to what will be due in justice to me, as well as to the public, and it will give me an opportunity of removing such impressions respecting my case, as may have been injurious or explaining circumstances that may have been doubtful. I am with high respect Yrs. &c\nB H Latrobe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0419", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Edmund M. Blunt, 28 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Blunt, Edmund M.\nTo: Madison, James\n28 June 1811, New York. \u201cPermit my enclosing for your inspection a copy of the Nautical Almanac which I assure your Excellency is correct. I was this day informed at the Navy Office the Officers of the Navy were using the Edition published by Mr John Garnett. Mr Garnett\u2019s Almanac for 1811 contains Nine Errors! that for 1812 Thirteen Errors!!! \u2026 No work should have national encouragement which is not entitled to private patronage.\u201d Requests a reply.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0420", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James H. Blake, 29 June 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Blake, James H.\nTo: Madison, James\n29 June 1811, Washington. \u201cIt is rumoured that a new Appointment of Register for the County of Washington, is about to take place; should that be a fact, I beg leave to solicit of you that Appointment.\u201d The demands of his \u201cnumerous family\u201d are as great as \u201cthose of any other individual can well be.\u201d Does not want this request to be understood as a wish for the present occupant to be removed.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0424", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Jay, 1 July 1811\nFrom: Jay, James\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir\nNew York July 1st. 1811\nThe many failures that have happened in this City, have produced much distress among its inhabitants. I have not escaped unhurt. An anxiety to assist two persons who are dear to me, but who ultimately proved unfortunate, hath occasioned me to lose many thousand dollars more than I can afford. When friendship and affection have long held possession of a warm breast, prudential considerations yield to their influence. The Loss I have sustained, obliges me to make an effort to reestablish my fortune, which was but moderate before. With this view I wish to revisit Europe. To go from hence to England, and from thence to the Continent, might, I apprehend, excite suspicion of a person\u2019s being a partisan or even a secret Agent of the British Government, subject one to some disagreeable circumstances, and be detrimental to one\u2019s pursuits. And to go from hence in a merchant ship directly to France, should the vessel be taken and carried into England, a person, besides losing much time, would at least be subjected to much trouble & useless expence. For my own part, I should expect no favor from that Government. Some of its members were not pleased with certain measures I openly took in London, in regard to American Affairs, after the Ministry had refused me a passage to America; and they all may have heard, from what transpired during my late applications to Congress, that both before the war, and during the two first years of it, in which I was detained in England, I uniformly made the British Post Office the means by which I speedily transmitted to our friends in France & America, early information of the Plans & Designs, political & military, of the British Government against our Country: a maneuvre in politics, rather too mortifying to the adverse party to be easily forgiven. For these reasons I take the Liberty to ask you, whether myself & Son could not be accommodated with a passage to France, in the frigate which is to take out Mr. Barlow. I beg you will favor me with a speedy answer, and if it should be in the affirmative, I should be glad to know on what terms or at what expence, the passage could be had.\nYour Letter of the 10th. Ult. I received in course. It might not perhaps be amiss if some person living at the intended Scene of action were to be engaged to transmit information of what passes on the subject, to an authorised Officer as near as possible to the place in question, who could take his measures accordingly to punish the Offence. Health and happiness attend you.\nJames Jay", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0426", "content": "Title: To James Madison from an Unidentified Correspondent, 1 July 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: \nTo: Madison, James\n1 July 1811, Maryland. \u201cI advise you as a Friend to arouse from your Lethargy. Look at the Nation. The People are all but ready to Burst into a Flame. A Flame of Discord. This is the Hour Of Trial\u2014it is more Dangerous than the Time that tried Men\u2019s Soul\u2019s.\u2026 Do not slumber at the Helm in the Storm lest Our ship may Broach too & founder. May God be your Comfort and give you Consolation in the Hour of Trial for you need it.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0430", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Pierre Samuel DuPont de Nemours, 4 July 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Du Pont de Nemours, Pierre Samuel\nTo: Madison, James\n4 July 1811, Paris. Sends two manuscripts that will prove his attachment to the country which has become that of his children and where he hopes to finish his days. One manuscript is a much corrected edition of his work on American finance that was sent to Jefferson last year. The other manuscript is the second, equally corrected, edition of his plan for American national education. Cannot recall whether he acquainted JM with this last work, but in any case it will be useful to reintroduce it to him. It is said that Barlow treated the same subject not long ago with great success. If he agrees with Barlow on several points it will prove their reasonableness; if he differs on others, it will be good for JM to judge and add his own insights.\nEncloses a packet for his children. Also encloses four copies of the last volume of Turgot\u2019s works\u2014one for JM, one for Jefferson, one for the American Philosophical Society, and one for his children. Requests the favor of his children being allowed to respond under the cover of the secretary of state. Requests the even greater favor of permitting his children to use the Treasury Department to send money to him in Europe. Thanks JM again for granting him permission to travel on a U.S. vessel.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0431", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Bossange & Masson, 5 July 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Bossange & Masson\nTo: Madison, James\n5 July 1811, Paris. Acknowledges JM\u2019s letter of 7 Jan. 1811 mentioning receipt of their edition of Homer\u2019s Iliad. \u201cThe favourable admission you have given it by granting a place in your Library cause us to beg the same honour for the Second work of the Illustrious translator, La Jerusalem D\u00e9livr\u00e9e.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0432", "content": "Title: From James Madison to James Jay, 5 July 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Jay, James\nLetter not found. 5 July 1811. Mentioned in Jay to JM, 11 July 1811. States that it would be agreeable to him if Jay\u2019s request for permission to travel to Europe in a U.S. vessel could be granted but the secretary of the navy has made arrangements that will not allow private passengers.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0433", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Taylor, 7 July 1811\nFrom: Taylor, James\nTo: Madison, James\nDear sir\nBelle Vue Kentucky July 7th. 1811.\nInclosed I send you a letter I lately recieved from my friend Judge Coburn.\nIt was intended for my sight alone; but as it explains the cause why he did not attend his Court in Louisiana last Spring, I had a wish that you should see it from under his own hand.\nThis letter contains some expressions which so well comports with my own sentiments & feelings, as to our political & foreign relations, and beleiving that they are not at varience with your own, that I have ventured to inclose it to you without his knowledge or consent. By this letter you will see his sentiments on those subjects undisguised.\nThere may be some clamors against the Judge on the score that he has not his family in the Territory, but I am sure there cannot be another Objection made, and I am induced to think there may be urged some good reasons urged [sic], why a Judge who is not on the spot to enter into the party fealings of the two opposite interests, which have uniformly divided more or less all the different Territorial Goverments, is better able in many grand questions to decide correctly.\nIn the event of our Govt. having to contend with either of the two belligerents I am confident you will find no section of the Union more disposed to support the rights & dignity of the Nation than this part of the Western Country.\nI lately spent several days among our friends in the neighbourhood of Louisville in the state they were generally well, except the old Commodore, he has been a long time confined with his thigh, and he was very anxious to have his leg amputated. I was present at a Consaltation of Surgeons, they decided against it for the present, he is geting better slowly.\nI hope this may find your self & Lady in good health. I have the honor to be with great friendship & esteem Dr. sir Your friend & Servt.\nJames Taylor", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0434", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Thomas Cooper, 8 July 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Cooper, Thomas\nDear Sir\nWashington July 8th 1811\nBy the return of the Frigate Essex, I have received from Mr. McRae on whom the Consulate at Paris provisionally devolved, an answer to my letter addressed to Mr. Warden on the subject of the Chemical books you wished to procure. I subjoin the requisite extract \u201cA stranger & almost entirely ignorant of the language even of the Country, I have been obliged to avail myself of the aid of Doctr. Patterson a young American patriot of distinguished merit, (son of the Director of the Mint at Philada.) to procure a partial supply, the best we could obtain, of such books as Judge Cooper\u2019s letter described, which are forwarded to L\u2019Orient for the purpose of being conveyed by the Essex to Mr. John Vaughan whom the Judge has named as his friend. These books were purchased at so cheap a rate, as to render it entirely unnecessary that I should trouble you with the draft which your friendship for Judge Cooper had invited. I regret very much that it is not in our power at this moment to procure the Abbe Ha\u00fcy\u2019s Porcelain illustrations of Chrystallography; but hope we shall be able to forward them by the next suitable conveyance. As to a new Edition of Loysel sur l\u2019art de la Verrerie, Dr. Patterson assures me that the Judge is misinformed. He says that after strict enquiry, he has ascertained that there is only a single Edition of that work.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0437", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Henry Dearborn, 8 July 1811\nFrom: Dearborn, Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,\nBoston July 8th. 1811\nI take the liberty of presenting you a copy of an Oration pronounced on the 4th inst. by my Son, as to its merit, I can only say, that I hope the imperfections & defects may be in some measure ballanced by the honest zeal of the author. The two Mrs. Coles were with us at our festival. They set out this morning for the District of Maine. Please to ask Mrs. Madison to accept the tender of my best respects, and to ac[c]ept for yourself assurence of respectful regards.\nH. Dearborn\nP. S. We have had five unusually hot days. The Thermometer each day up to 98 or 99.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0438", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Jonas Humbert, 8 July 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Humbert, Jonas\nTo: Madison, James\n8 July 1811, New York. Apologizes for writing a long letter, but as one who supported the Jefferson administration, JM\u2019s nomination, and the Embargo, he was \u201cmarked two years ago as a victim, and lately sacrificed to gratify the Clinton faction in this City.\u201d Has been prevented from acting in his job as an inspector of flour and meal, which has deprived him of the means to support his family. At the time of JM\u2019s nomination to the presidency, there were few in the city who supported their country. Their timidity arose from fear of displeasing the Clinton family\u2014especially DeWitt Clinton\u2014and James Cheetham, whose press was wholly devoted to the views of the latter. The friends of Clinton were, and still are, as hostile to the Jefferson administration as any Federalists in the state. \u201cThe partizans of Mr De Witt Clinton were determined, if possible, to blast the unsullied fame of president Jefferson, prevent your election, in order to raise De Witt Clinton on the ruin of both.\u201d The city was in consternation, arising from the assiduity of Gurdon S. Mumford in propagating the notion of \u201cVirginia influence,\u201d but Dr. Samuel L. Mitchill, on his return from Washington, \u201cgave me full satisfaction, that the Nomination was fairly made.\u201d Discussed with Frank and White, the editors of the N.Y. Public Advertiser, the \u201cunhallowed attacks \u2026 against Mr Jeffersons policy, and base obloqui uttered against Mr Madison\u201d in Cheetham\u2019s American Citizen. These young men were unable to counter the \u201cgigantic pen\u201d of Cheetham, who had also engaged the \u201cformidable genious\u201d of Tunis Wortman, whose own mind had been poisoned by Mumford, \u201cone of the most virulent enimies of Mr Jefferson as well as of your Self.\u201d\nHe informed the editors he would furnish them with a \u201cSystematic exposure of the views of oppositionists\u201d and thus expose Clinton\u2019s schemes in the Public Advertiser. He wrote five essays under the pseudonym of \u201cDiodorus Siculus,\u201d six as \u201cZenophon,\u201d and some other pieces as well. \u201cThese effusions annoyed the Clintonians.\u201d To his satisfaction, some were reprinted in the Aurora, \u201cat that time correct in politics.\u201d Has never regretted the course he pursued even though it cost him his position. Offers to name men appointed by Jefferson in New York who oppose the administration and who \u201care, now, every day, exulting in the attack of Robert Smith, on Mr Madison\u2014declaring that De Witt Clinton is the man that ought to be president.\u201d\nThe business he previously pursued proved \u201cinjurious\u201d to his health, and he needs a situation where he can support his family. Is acquainted with Governor Tompkins, Henry Rutgers, William Few, Nathan Sanford, and Samuel L. Mitchill. The last two \u201cwrote in my favour, but to no purpose, to the Council of Appointment.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0439", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Lambert, 8 July 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Lambert, William\nTo: Madison, James\n8 July 1811, Washington. \u201cA letter lately received from bishop Madison, inclosing a statement to him from Mr. Blackburn, professor of mathematics at William and Mary College, relative to a supposed error in the calculation of the longitude of that college, transmitted by you some weeks ago, has made it necessary for me to explain the objectionable part of the computation, by demonstrating to the bishop, a misapplication of the rule referred to by Mr. Blackburn. The inclosed will, it is hoped, remove any remaining doubt on the subject.\n\u201cAs Dr. Maskelyne and M. de la Lande, have proposed different rules to ascertain the Moon\u2019s parallax in latitude, which do not give the same result, it is essential in practical astronomy, that both and each of those rules should be investigated; for upon the correct determination of that element, the longitude of a place, especially one far distant from another meridian, will materially depend.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0440", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Edmund Randolph, 9 July 1811\nFrom: Randolph, Edmund\nTo: Madison, James\nLexington Virginia July 9. 1811.\nWithout one feeling, left of the character of a partizan, but still living to friendship, a man, whose hand is known to Mr. Madison, asks him, whether he recollects, or ever heard, that after Colo. Hamilton, had been severely pressed for a supposed misappropriation of the money, devoted by law to special purposes, he, Colo H, produced a letter, authorizing it, signed by President Washington, while on his tour to South Carolina: that the President at first denied its existence in positive and vehement terms, not having preserved a copy of it; but that it was afterwards acknowledged by him, and registered in the treasury department, ut valeret, quantum valere potuit?", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0442", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James T. Austin, 11 July 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Austin, James T.\nTo: Madison, James\n11 July 1811, Boston. Asks if JM can spare the time to read the enclosed pamphlet, written by \u201ca zealous admirer of his administration.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0444", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Jay, 11 July 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Jay, James\nTo: Madison, James\n11 July 1811, New York. Expresses his disappointment at receiving JM\u2019s letter of 5 July. Explains his circumstances and background for the benefit of the secretary of the navy, who \u201cmay probably be ignorant of my history.\u201d Gives an account of his life, beginning with the collection he made in Great Britain for Columbia College before the Revolution and his decision to support the cause in America, thereby sacrificing \u201cthe prospect of succeeding to a large fortune in England.\u201d Alludes to his having advanced money in the common cause, to the services he rendered General Washington, \u201cfrom whence, by his own acknowledgment, he derived great advantage in his military operations,\u201d and to the suffering and distress he endured. Recalls that Lord North had once wished to get him a passage to America but was unable to grant it. \u201cThe President of the United States tells me it would be agreeable to him if my request could be gratified, but informs me, that the Secretary of the Navy has made Arrangements which will not admit of private passengers! \u2026 Don\u2019t you think if the President had expressed to the Secretary his inclination that my request might be gratified, but that the Secretary would have accomplished it? What a strange fellow was Jefferson! he invited Tom Paine, & offered him a passage in a frigate, without, as it seems, consulting the Secretary of the Navy about it.\u201d\n\u201cIt occurs to me, that Mr. Hamilton was apprehensive that if he should accommodate me with a passage, other persons might apply for the same. The features of my Character & Conduct in regard to our Country prior to & during the Revolution, are so strongly & singularly marked, that I am inclined to think that no person could complain had a Case thus circumstanced been made an exception in a general rule against private passengers. But to say no more on this subject, had I applied to Mr. Hamilton instead of writing to yourself, I should have acquainted him, that in crossing the Atlantic several years ago, some new thoughts in Naval Science occurred to me; that a subsequent voyage threw farther light on the ideas that had presented themselves to my consideration; and that I should be happy to have so good an opportunity, as sailing in a frigate would afford, of prosecuting a subject which promises to be of considerable importance.\u201d Will now sail to France alone as his son declines to go. Supposes \u201csome fair one has sequesterd his heart.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0445", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Isaac Cox Barnet, 12 July 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Barnet, Isaac Cox\nTo: Madison, James\n12 July 1811, Paris. \u201cFor nearly fourteen years I held the appointment of Consul for the United States in this Country.\u201d Believes his impartiality and integrity in the discharge of his duties are beyond suspicion. Encloses a letter exhibiting the sentiments of those who can judge his conduct. Also appeals to the testimony of \u201cMr. Monroe and Mr. Bowdoin late Ministers plenipotentiary to France and Spain,\u201d as well as that of Mr. Mercer, his former colleague on the American commission in Paris. Concludes that his removal was the result of \u201cmalevolence and the confirmation of it from misrepresentation.\u201d Requests to be reinstated, \u201cor if there exists doubts on either of these points \u2026 I ask to be heard.\u201d Mentions that he has a wife and children dependent on him for support but addresses himself to JM\u2019s \u201cjustice and not [his] Sympathies.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0446", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Charles Livingstone, 12 July 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Livingstone, Charles\nTo: Madison, James\n12 July 1811, Boston. \u201cWe deem it a duty, as good subjects, to make such private Communications as may tend to avert the evils which may arise from Mr Smiths late unwarantable attack on your Character.\u201d Much has been said by the two parties at Boston on the measures of government, and \u201cso much will be expected to be said by way of Calumny \u2026 that little solid advantage can be derived from any publications from these sources.\u201d Another plan must therefore be pursued. Recommends Dr. Rufus L. Barrus of Boston as \u201ca gentleman of uncommon influence and extensive acquaintance,\u2026 Strongly attached to the present administration, [who] moreover has never distinguished himself publickly by a shew of party Zeal so as to loose [sic] the Confidence of the Federal Citizens.\u201d Barrus has done much private communication \u201cthrough the medium of apparent standing betwixt the two parties,\u201d and his candor, uprightness, and \u201cexclusive knowledge\u201d make him \u201cthe fittest person and the best auxiliary at the present Crisis.\u201d He is a gentleman in whom JM may place \u201cthe utmost Confidence\u201d and is worthy of esteem and encouragement. If JM has any doubts as to \u201cthe utility of this measure,\u201d a private letter to the gentleman himself will remove them.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0447", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Stark, 13 July 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Stark, John\nTo: Madison, James\n13 July 1811, Derryfield. Introduces the bearer, Benjamin Franklin Stickney, whom he mentioned last fall. \u201cHe is about five feet nine inches high; has blue eyes, light brown hair, and is a little marked with the small pox.\u201d As Stickney has tendered his services to the public, he does not think it proper to engage in any business that may prevent his immediate attention to any directions JM may give him. \u201cFrom an opinion that he cannot imploy his leisure of suspence better than in travelling\u2014he is about to undertake a tour into the Southern States, and will call on you in his way at Washington.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0449", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Morgan Lewis, 15 July 1811\nFrom: Lewis, Morgan\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,\nStaatsberg 15th. July 1811.\nI take the Liberty to enclose you an Account of a celebration of the fourth of July, to shew you the Temper which endeavours are making to excite in this quarter. The Toasts, considered in connection with those given by the Baltimore party at Jones\u2019, shew decidedly a concert between the malcontents there and here; and that the present vice president is on the List of those to be abandoned. I am happy to inform you, that Genl. A. was the only one of nine of my family connections, who reside within ten miles of the place of celebration, who attended the fete, the rest declined an Invitation sent with great formality. Chanr. Livingston is your friend, and I presume will so continue. Whether the Clinton Party, as the followers of D. W. C. & Judge Spencer are denominated here, will unite in the Opposition is yet to be decided. Spencer, pronounces Genl. A, on all Occasions the greatest man America ever produced; but a warm personal friend of D. W. C, observed on the Chairman\u2019s Toast, that the old Gentleman was too early in the field.\nThe neglect manifested towards Govr. Tompkins is not easily accounted for. They know him to be firmly devoted to the Clinton Interest, and that your friends support him from prudential motives solely, without a particle of confidence in his independence; of which truly he has not a particle. Were I to conjecture, it would be, that their Object is to identify him with your friends, in the Hope that he may by them be supported for the vice presidency; a thing believed to be in contemplation with your friends at Washington. In such an Event they would get rid of him, at an easy rate, and should he be successful, will have a devoted friend at the head of an important Branch of the Government. Time will unfold. With sincerity your friend & hume Servt.\nMorgan Lewis.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0450", "content": "Title: Dolley Madison to Anna Payne Cutts, 15 July 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, Dolley Payne Todd\nTo: Cutts, Anna Payne\n15 July 1811. Discusses the financial difficulties of her brother, John, after his return from Tripoli and announces that he will not accompany Barlow to France. \u201cYou ask me if we laughed over the Smith Pamphlet. Mr. M did, but I did not. It was too impertinent to ex[c]ite any other feeling in me, than anger. He will be sick of his attempt when he reads all that will be replyed to it.\u201d Mentions that \u201cEustis declared against Smiths Pamphlet, as soon as he saw the Book. Hamilton is enraged, & writes, or intends it on the subject. You may guess how the other Secys feel & speak. In short, the Smiths are down whatever harm they may have done to M.\u201d Has seen little of Foster and cannot discuss the state of the negotiation with him.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0451", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Langdon, 16 July 1811\nFrom: Langdon, John\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sr.\nPortsmouth July 16th. 1811\nI had the honor of receiveing, few days since your letter by Mr. Edwd. Coles and Brother, who very politely called upon me, and with whom I was much pleased. I feel myself much gratified, in thus hearing from you, as it brought to my recollection the many years we have walked together thro\u2019 the land of tribulation, and the many pleasant, as well as anxious, hours we have spent together.\nI pray you Sr. to accept of my grateful acknowledgements for the interest you take in my welfare and happiness, which I most sincerely reciprocate. Mrs. Langdon Joins me in our best respects to yourself and Lady. The best of Heavens blessings attend you.\nJohn Langdon", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0452", "content": "Title: From James Madison to David Gelston, 16 July 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Gelston, David\n16 July 1811, Washington. \u201cThe smallness of the sum, and the probability that it might be augmented by some further advances, have occasioned a delay in remitting $11.81. due to you, as intimated in your letter of Octobr. 5. last.\u201d Encloses a draft for the sum on the Manhattan Bank.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0453", "content": "Title: To James Madison from George Joy, 18 July 1811\nFrom: Joy, George\nTo: Madison, James\nDear sir,\nHelsinborg 18th July 1811\nHaving a Copy of the Letter from the Danish Chancery to the Admiralty enclosed in my Letter to you of the 1st Inst: and hearing very suddenly of an Estafette bound to Gottenborg whence a schooner is about sailing to the U. S. I beg leave to hand you the said Copy annexed and am always very respectfully, Dear sir, Yr. friend & Servt.\nGeo: Joy", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0454", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Benjamin Hawkins, 18 July 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Hawkins, Benjamin\nLetter not found. 18 July 1811. Acknowledged in Hawkins to JM, 13 Oct. 1811. Discusses political matters and his difficulties with Robert Smith.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0455", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 19 July 1811\nFrom: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nWashington July 19h. 1811.\nMy duty, as Chairman of the Commissioners of the Columbia turnpike roads obliged me to spend the whole of this morning upon the line leading towards Monty. C. House, and I transmit to you the annexed accts., not so early as I could have wished, but still I hope in time to meet your object in calling for them.\nThe whole of the Sheet iron required by the letter of your superintendent at Montpelier was sent to you, but only part of the Glass, as we had not a sufficient quantity of cut Tables to meet the whole. The price charged for the Iron is the exact cost to the public including the expense of cutting & packing for you. That of the Glass is the charge settled by our Glazier Mr. Walter Clarke. In respect to Harvie\u2019s account, it was thought just at the time that he should pay for refitting your Coachee here. But he has resisted every idea of such an allowance, and I do not think it could be maintained under all circumstances excepting as an equitable one. He says that he can prove by many witnesses that Jacob was drunk when he took away the carriage, & a man wholly unfit to take charge of it; that he cannot be called upon to pay for damages incurred after delivery to your coachman, that to raise the carriage after such a journey was an expence always necessary, & requiring to be repeated from time to time, that the alteration of the front, was not communicated to him before it was made, or he might have done it himself, & much more of the kind. The rejected fronts were allowed for at 10$ as stated.\nHe has further charged for Lamps & Cypher omitted in his bill. It will be necessary to examine his bill to see whether this is actually so. I have stated his account as under these circumstances it would stand, & have drawn out an acct. also, between yourself and me, in which I have assumed the debt of Harvie, & charged the Iron & glass as well as the money paid by myself (as \u214c Vouchers) so as to bring all the transactions into one view & to close them with the most convenience to yourself. Any monies paid by you for small articles of Household expense, might be charged against the balance of 73$.55, and I shall be credited in the furniture fund when I receive the Vouchers or it may stand over for future adjustment. For the Materials sold, I account to Mr. Munroe in the general account under the head.\nI sincerely hope that your temporary retirement from the fatigue of attendance at the seat of government will be cheered by the health of yourself & Mrs. Madison, & by events favorable to the prosperity of our country. I am with high respect Yr. faithful\nB H Latrobe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0457", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Alexander I, 20 July 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Alexander I\nTo: Madison, James\n20 July 1811, St. Petersburg. Announces that he wishes to employ his envoy Count Pahlen elsewhere and assures JM of his goodwill toward both the U.S. and its president.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0459", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, [ca. 22 July] 1811\nFrom: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nMr. Barry has expressed to me Your wish that your Glass should be sent by your Waggon. I will send tomorrow morning the Glass, the Box of Locks &c, the Keg of White lead to the President\u2019s house that these things made [sic] be ready. Mr. Deblois informs me, that the boat to Fredericksburg will not sail for 10 days to come. He is now making an intermediate trip.\nIn Mr Dinsmore\u2019s letter he states that it is unnecessary to send on the Sheet copper. It is however here but if you think it will be useless to you, it may be retained for the use of the public, sheet copper being in frequent demand, & should we ventilate the Hall of Representatives in the Manner I suppose the only effectual one we shall want that & much more.\nI never received from you any drawing of ornamental Moulding to be made of composition by Geo: Andrews, & I believe that were I acquainted with the purpose for which you want it I should be tempted to dissuade you from its use in the country.\nNext week the Water closets, & the leaky Gutters of the roof will be throroughly [sic] repaired at the President\u2019s house. Mr. King the Master smith at the Navy Yard is absent which has occasioned delay for a fortnight. With high respect I am Yrs.\nB H Latrobe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0462", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Henry Dearborn, [ca. 23 July] 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Dearborn, Henry\nDear Sir\nI had the pleasure of duly receiving yours of the 8th. inclosing a Copy of your son\u2019s oration. In the hurry of the period, I have been able to give it a flying perusal only. But I do not accede to your limitation of its merits so much to an honest zeal. It has claims to a much higher character, with the addition of this laudable feature.\nI am just on the point of leaving Washington where I have been detained by the diplomatic operations between Mr. Foster & Mr. Monroe, and subjects connected with our foreign relations. The state of them with France may be collected from the printed informations. The arrival of Mr. Foster, has yielded nothing that promises an amendment of things with G. B. Altho\u2019 it would seem that the case of the Blockade of May 1806. is put on a manageable footing, contrary to the calculations of those who took that ground for G. B. and agst. the administration; yet another ground, disowned by them, but apprehended by us, is taken by the B. Govt. on which it is impossible to meet her. It is required, as a condition of the repeal of the orders in Council that the F. Decrees shall be repealed not only as they relate to the U. S. but as they relate to G. B; not only that we shall trade with G. B. but that the ports of her Enemy shall be opened to her trade: and the idea is held out of retaliating on our non-importation act, if it be not fort[h]with rescinded. Our present conclusion is that Congs. shall be convened on the last of Ocr. or first of Novr. which will be as early as will be convenient, and will at the same time afford a chance of having a return from Europe to be laid before them. Accept my high esteem & friendly regards.\nJames Madison\nIt will be proper to be reserved on this communication, till something in the newspaper may appear that will furnish a fitter source to be referred to.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0465", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Paul Hamilton, 24 July 1811\nFrom: Hamilton, Paul\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nNavy Department 24 July 1811\nI have the honor of submitting to your consideration the paper herewith marked A\u2014which exhibits a view of the navy appropriations up to the 23rd ins. inclusively.\nBy this paper it will appear that the aggregate balance of the appropriations unexpended, is $1,316,577:61; but that two of the appropriations viz for \u201cRepairs of vessels,\u201d & for \u201cQrmaster & Barrack master\u2019s Dept of the Marine corps\u201d are exhausted.\nUpon the appropriation for repair\u2019s there is an apparent balance of $698:10 unexpended; but there are drafts upon that appropriation, at this time unpaid, to the amount of $21,008:27\u2014leaving on this day a real deficit exceeding 20,000$.\nTo meet these drafts, & to provide for current expenses, I respectfully recommend a transfer of One hundred thousand dollars, to be made in equal proportions from the appropriations for \u201cPay of the Navy\u201d & for \u201cProvisions.\u201d\nUpon the appropriation for \u201cQr master & Barrack Master\u2019s Dept of the Marine Corps\u201d there are at this time drafts unpaid, amounting to $552:70. To meet these drafts & to provide for current expenses, I respectfully recommend a transfer of 6000$ from the appropriation for \u201cPay &c of the Marine Corps.[\u201d] I have the honor to be with great respect sir, Yr mo obt &c.\nPaul Hamilton", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0466", "content": "Title: Presidential Proclamation, [24 July] 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: \nBy the President of the United States, of America\nA PROCLAMATION.\nWhereas great and weighty matters claiming the consideration of the Congress of the United States form an extraordinary occasion for convening them, I do by these presents appoint Monday the fourth day of November next for their meeting at the city of Washington; hereby requiring the respective Senators and Representatives then and there to assemble in Congress in order to receive such communications as may then be made to them, and to consult and determine on such measures as in their wisdom may be deemed meet for the welfare of the United States.\nIn testimony whereof, I have caused the seal of the United States to be hereunto affixed, and signed the same with my hand.\nDone at the city of Washington, the twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and eleven; and of the independence of the United States the thirty-sixth.\nJames Madison.By the President,\nJames MonroeSecretary of State", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0467", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Esenbeck, 24 July 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Esenbeck, William\nTo: Madison, James\n24 July 1811, Washington. Proposes to convince JM that the president has the power \u201cto settle as Arbitrator the difference between the Belligerents by Telegraph.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0468", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Mason, 24 July 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Mason, John\nTo: Madison, James\n24 July 1811, Indian Office. Informs JM that Samuel Tupper, factor in the trading house at Sandusky, has asked permission to resign and suggests that Jacob B. Varnum of Massachusetts be appointed in his place.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0469", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Charles Holmes, 27 July 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Holmes, Charles\nTo: Madison, James\n27 July 1811, Charleston. Lays before JM \u201csome (of the many) circumstances, relative to the revenue Department of Charleston District.\u201d Explains that he was a revenue inspector for nearly five years, during which time no complaints were made about him, but he believes the collector has unjustly censured his conduct. Has believed for some time that the revenue laws were being evaded, but no efforts were made to stop this until the surveyor, at his suggestion, directed him to detect as many cases as he could. He found many instances of smuggling, which were concealed for months, and made several seizures, but in one case where he took two bags of coffee he was reprimanded by the deputy surveyor and had to return the coffee to the owner. On the night of 20 Apr. 1811 he caught two men smuggling oranges into the house of Joseph Sibley. On searching the house he found the oranges had been removed, but he seized eight turtles shipped from Nassau, contrary to the Nonimportation Act. The collector, Simeon Theus, was not satisfied they had been smuggled and kept them for several days before selling them as perishable articles. As no one came forward to claim the turtles the collector then instructed him to institute legal proceedings against Sibley, who was held to bail for $400. Seven or eight weeks later he obtained an affidavit against the master of the sloop importing the turtles from Nassau, Joseph Clerck, which he took to the district attorney, who then held Clerck to bail for $400. The collector released Clerck from his bail, \u201ccontrary to all rule and Law,\u201d and Sibley has now also applied to be rid of his bail. Does not know whether the suit against Sibley has been withdrawn, but he [Holmes] has been reprimanded and dismissed for being vigilant in enforcing the law. Other men, \u201cnotorious for being Drunkards, and Others incapable of doing their duty,\u201d have been retained in office.\nSince Theus came into office, \u201cthere [h]as been but one Officer sworn into Office, agreable to law (Sec 20th) and that by the Officers own request to this day!!!\u201d Cannot explain why the law is not being observed, but he deduces the following from the above circumstances. First, while things remain in their present situation, \u201cYour Honrable Executives time and tallents in recommending any perticular Law (be they ever so good and wise) is totally lost, and that of Congress equelly disapears, in making them Laws of the land, while ever these Laws are not carried into effect, by the proper Officers appointed for that pu\u27e8rpose.\u27e9\u201d Second, the collector who dismisses his officers \u201cfor strictly doing their duty, makes a breach i\u27e8n the\u27e9 Laws of the United states, and throws an Opening, (even to inviting) to smugling, without Molestation.\u201d And third, when the laws are set aside by those charged with enforcement, \u201cit will not be wondered at, to see those (and there is not a few) who only seeks for an Oppertunity to break them.\u201d Hopes he has not incurred JM\u2019s displeasure by addressing him.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0470", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Timothy T. Edwards, 29 July 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Edwards, Timothy T.\nTo: Madison, James\n29 July 1811. States in a memorial that he sailed from New York on 14 June 1807 as master of the Brutus bound for the Coromandel Coast, that he arrived there in mid-November, and that he set out for New York with \u201ca valuable cargo\u201d the following May. On 6 Sept. the Brutus was captured by a French privateer commanded by Alexis Grassin, taken to Cayenne, and \u201ccondemned stock & fluke as then alledged under the Milan decree in the Court of Admiralty for that Colony.\u201d Declares that his cargo did not include contraband of war and that when the decree was issued on 17 Dec. 1807, the Brutus was anchored in the roads of Madras. Grassin, his vessel with the name changed to the Diligente, and also the vessel\u2019s owner, Jean Baptiste Goyan, are now in Philadelphia. Edwards went to Philadelphia to see them but was advised that no U.S. court would take cognizance of a suit and that although the Brutus \u201chad been condemned in a Court of Admiralty very oppressively,\u201d the matter was between the U.S. and France. Estimates his losses at $10,000. As the Brutus was wrongly condemned, he asks that Grassin and Goyan not be permitted to depart until full restitution is made for the \u201crobbery committed.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0472", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Right Reverend James Madison, 30 July 1811\nFrom: Madison, James (Reverend)\nTo: Madison, James\nMy dear Sir,\nWilliamsburg July 30. 1811\nYour Kindness in transmitting Mr. Lambert\u2019s Calculations &c. has induced me to take the Liberty of forwarding the enclosed to you. I hope we shall not expose you to a similar Interruption.\nI cannot refrain expressing my Astonishment at the late Publication of R. S. I beleive there is not an honest American who does not view it with Detestation; &, that instead of injuring the present Administration, it will serve only to heighten the Estimation in which it is held by good Men. It is lamentable, indeed, that he should have been so forgetful of the Kind of House in which he himself lived; it looks as if he would not have a single Pane left. Certain it is, that his own Publication affords abundant justificatory Reasons for his Dismissal. I am, with sincerest Respect & Esteem Dr Sir, Yr Friend\nJ Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0473", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Graham, 31 July 1811\nFrom: Graham, John\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir\nDept of State 31st July 1811.\nThe Packet for the Secretary \u27e8o\u27e9f State containing the Letters which I supposed you would wish to read, is left open\u2014and put under Cover to you. I have supposed that this would be the most convenient arrangment. Should you prefer any other you will be pleased to let me know.\nMr Barlow left us yesterday intending to Lodge at Marlbro: and to get to Annapolis early today. We have furnished him with a Copy of Mr Fosters last Letter and of the Communications from Mr Dallas in relation to the arrest of the Captain of the French Privatier the Diligent.\nThe inclosed was received under Cover from Mr Adams\u2014with it came three Letters from him to this Dept\u2014there [sic] are down to the 11th March and \u27e8seem to contain\u27e9 nothing very new or important. So much of them however is in Cypher, that we have not been able to get thro: them in time for this Mail. They will be forwarded by the next Mail.\nI hope that you & Mrs Madison had a pleasant Journey and arrived safely at Montpelier. With Sentiments of the most Respectful attachment I am Dear Sir Your Mo: Obt Sert\nJohn Graham", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0474", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Inhabitants of Knox County, Indiana Territory, [ca. 31 July] 1811\nFrom: Knox County Inhabitants\nTo: Madison, James\nSr.\nIn obedience to the wishes of a numerous meeting of our fellow Citizens assembled for the purpose of taking into Consideration the state of this Country in relation to Indian affairs, We have the Honor to address you. In approaching the chief Magistrate of our Country, who is so deservedly Celebrated for the talents, which distinguish the Statesman, and the virtues which adorn the man\u2014We should not do Justice to our own feelings, and the feelings of those whom we represent if we neglected to express our confidence in his administration and our sincere respect and esteem for his person.\nIn fulfilling the duty which has been assigned to us Sir, it is scarcely necessary that we should do more than to referr you to the Resolutions which are enclosed, they contain a true Statement of facts and a true picture of the feelings of the Citizens of this part of the Country. It is impossible to doubt but that the combination which has been formed on the Wabash is a British Scheme, and it is equally certain that this banditti is now prepared to be let loose upon us and that nothing but vigorous measures will prevent it. In this part of the Country we have not as yet lost any of our fellow Citizens by the Indians but depredations upon the property of those who live upon the frontiers & insults to the families that are left unprotected almost daily occur.\nThe impunity with which these savages have been so long Suffered to commit crimes has raised their insolence to a pitch that is no longer Supportable. We are not Sir, advocates for unnecessary rigor towards our Indian neighbors. The Character which some of us Sustain as minister\u27e8s\u27e9 of the Gospel of Christ will Shield us from the supposition that we wish to plunge our Country in an unnecessary war. Our object is peace but we are fully pursuaded that, that blessing can now only be secured to us by the exertion of some vigor.\nLet the savages be made sensible that every aggression from them will meet with a correspondant punishment and Indian depredations will seldom be heard of. Since the adoption of the Resolutions under which we act, we have listened to the speech delivered by the Brother of the prophet to Gov. Harrison and if a doubt remained upon our minds as to the designs of the Confederacy he has formed It has been Completely removed. Shall we then quietly wait the stroke when we see the weapon is Suspended over us; we hope and trust that this will not be expected and that the general Government will take effectual measures to avert the danger, What these measures Shall be we will not presume to dictate, but We beg leave most respectfully to observe that we conceive that the Country will forever be exposed to those alarms which are at once so injurious to its Settlement & the Interest of the U. S. as long as the Banditti under the Prophet are Suffered to remain where they now are. The people have become highly irritated and alarmed and if the Government will not direct their energies, we fear that the Innocent will feel the effects of their resentment and a general war be the Consequence. The Western Country Sr. is indebted to your Predecessor for an undeviating attention to its prosperity and the gratitude and attachment which they feel towards that distinguished patriot can never be effaced\u2014with equal confidence they look up to his Successor who persuing the same course of politics with regard to the European powers is to them Sufficient proof of coincidence of Sentiment in that which relates to the Continent.\nThat you may be the means under providence of establishing the affairs of your Country and settling its interest in every quarter of the Globe upon a Secure and lasting foundation and that you may long live to enjoy the Blessing of your countrymen for the happiness you procure for them is the sincere prayer of your Fellow Citizens\nSaml. T. Scott[and six others]\n[Enclosure]\nAt a meeting of a very Considerable number of the Citizens of the County of Knox at the Seminary in Vincennes, on Wednesday the 31st of July 1811.\nWhen, Colo. Ephm. Jordan was appointed President and Capt. James Smith Secretary. Thereupon Gen W. Johnston addressed the meeting in which he informed them of the present Situation of the Inhabitants of not only the Town but Country, in regard to the Shawnes Prophet, his Brother Tecumseh and their confederacy of Indians, and advised, that, for the safety of the Citizens some resolution should be fallen into, & therefore Adjt: Daniel Sullivan introduced the following Resolutions, which were read and Explained in an audable voice both in the English and French Languages, were unanimously adopted, as follows Viz.\n1st. Resolved that it is the opinion of this meeting that the safety of the persons and property of this frontier, can never be effectually secured, but by the breaking up of the Combination formed by the Shawanoe prophet on the Wabash.\n2nd. Resolved that we consider it highly impolitic and Injurious as well to the inhabitants of the United States as that of the Territory to permit a formidable Banditty, which is constantly increasing in number, to occupy a situation which enables them to Strike our Settlements without the least warning.\n3rd. Resolved that we are fully convinced that the formation of the Combination headed by the Shawanoe Prophet, is a British Scheme and that the agents of that power are constantly exciting the Indians to hostility against the United States.\n4th. Resolved that the Assemblege of Indians at this place, at this time, and under the circumstances which attended it; was calculated to excite the most serious alarm and but for the energetic measures, which have been adopted by our executive, it is highly probable that the threatened destruction of this place, and the massecre of the inhabitants, would have been the Consequence.\n5th. Resolved that a temporising policy is not calculated to answer any benificial purpose with Savages, who are only to be controlled by prompt and decisive measures.\n6th. Resolved that a committee to consist of the Revd. Samuel T. Scott, the Revd. Alexander Devin, Colo. Luke Decker, Colo. E. Jordan, Daniel Mc.Clure, Walter Wilson Esquire & Colo. Francois Vigo or a majority of them be and they are hereby appointed to prepare and forward to the Executive of the United States a respectful address on the behalf of this meeting, assuring him of our attachmt. to his person and administration and requesting him to take Such measures, as his wisdom may dictate, to free the Territories in this quarter from future apprehensions from the prophet and his party\u2014and that he be also requested to insist upon the surrender, by the Indian Tribes, of those who have murdered our fellow Citizens and provide compensation for such as have lost their property.\n7th Resolved that we approve highly of the prompt and decisive measures adopted and pursued by the governor of the Territory. We are convinced, that the Situation in which we stand with the prophet and his adherents rendered them Necessary for our Safety and from them we confidently expect such a termination of the presumptious pretentions of this daring chief as must be pleasing to every patriot and honorable to himself.\nResolved that these resolutions be printed in the Western Sun and also the address which may be prepared and forwarded to the President in pursuance of them.\nP. S. The printer will please to insert the 7th Resolution before the 6th and let, the 7th Stand 6th & 6th the 7th in print.\nJames Smith Secretary\nEphm. Jordanpresident", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0475", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Jacob Astor, August 1811\nFrom: Astor, John Jacob\nTo: Madison, James\nLetter not found. August 1811. Mentioned in Astor to Jefferson, 14 Mar. 1812 (DLC: Jefferson Papers) as an application to the president for permission to import from St. Joseph\u2019s goods purchased for the Indian trade which were being excluded from the U.S. by the Nonintercourse Act. JM apparently replied that Congress had left no power with the executive to grant permission.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0477", "content": "Title: From James Madison to James Monroe, 2 [August] 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Monroe, James\nDear Sir\nMontpelier July [August] 2. 1811\nI just find by the letters from W. that you had at length been liberated from your detention there. Mr. Graham having left the packet for you unsealed, I have glanced over the papers relating to Grassin & the letters of Foster. I am glad to find that the Owner of the Privateer, domicil[i]ated here, is taken in hand. There can be no legal difficulty I presume in dealing with him. Foster seems more disposed to play the diplomatist, than the conciliatory negociator. His letter though not very skilfully made up, is evidently calculated for the public here, as well as for his own Govt: In this view his evasion & sophistical efforts may deserve attention. Accept my cordial respects\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0478", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Thornton, 3 August 1811\nFrom: Thornton, William\nTo: Madison, James\nDr. sir\nWashington City 3d. Augt. 1811\nI lie still so very sick in bed I am obliged to get Mr. Lyon to write a few lines for me, we were exceedingly obliged by the kind attention of your amiable Lady and self, at the time of your departure, and if your good wishes could have reinstated me I should not be now lieing in the low situation I am in. Since I had the pleasure of seeing you Major White was here, who has trained some of my Horses & informed me if the Colt of King Hirem which is four years Old, at your house could be got up he would send a rider expressly for him, and would train him for me on very easy terms. The Sire of that Colt has been in Georgia for five years & I never have received for his services one Dol., but if one of his Colts was tried and could run it perhaps might bring the Horse into vogue. I am willing to take the Horse at his valuation, or if you prefer keeping him yourself it will be perfectly agreeable to me, and the same justice shall be done to him that would be done if he was my property. Mr. Whites boy will be the bearer of a copy of this, I know the Horse is of more value in consequence of his being a year Older, and if you should not be inclined to keep him, I must pay the more for him or take a two year Old Filly valued at three to make up the difference. I wish this to be perfectly obtional [sic] with yourself as it will make no difference whether you or I have the Colt. I am so fatigued by only dictating these few lines that I must bid you an affectionate and sincere adieu\u2014\nWilliam Thornton.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0479", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Monroe, 5 August 1811\nFrom: Monroe, James\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir\nAlbemarle Augt 5. 1811\nI arrived here late yesterday eving. having taken Richmond in my route. I had the great satisfaction to find Mrs. Monroe & our youngest daughter in better health than I had anticipated, as I had to find Mr Hay & our eldest. The early hour at which the post rider has called renders it impossible for me to say any thing on publick affrs. by this opportunity. I shall immediately turn my attention to them, & not permit another to pass by without availing myself of it. Be so good as to present Mrs. Monroe\u2019s & my best respects to Mrs. Madison & believe me sincerely & respectfully yours\nJas Monroe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0480", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Edmund Randolph, 8 August 1811\nFrom: Randolph, Edmund\nTo: Madison, James\nCharlestown, Jefferson county VirginiaAugust 8. 1811.\nHaving removed hither to pass the fall and winter under the roof of my daughter Taylor, I did not receive your late letter until yesterday.\nIf the analogy between the case at Philadelphia, and the more recent one at Washington, be strong enough to merit the application of it, with the following clue, a second search at the Treasury may perhaps succeed. Giles\u2019s resolutions had been defeated, before Colo. H. suggested thro\u2019 one of his indirect conduits to the ear of the President, that during his tour in the south, he had sanctioned by two letters the measure, which was so severely criminated. He mentioned the circumstance to me, with surprize and passion, declaring in the most excluding terms, that he never did write or cause to be written, letters to that purport. Some days afterwards, Colo. H. put them into the President\u2019s hands, and by him they were communicated to me with an instruction to write to Colo. H. avowing them. This I did, and it would seem impossible that upon a subject, on which his sensibility was so much kindled, that a document of justification should have been laid aside, as a private paper. These facts are most distinctly recollected.\nOn my journey through Staunton, where various people were assembled at the court of chancery, the topic, to which the above relates seemed to be given up on all sides, after the review in the National Intelligencer had explained it: and I suspect, that the only remaining difficulties in the public mind are the article concerning Serrurier\u2019s information, and the abandonment of the Condition, which Armstrong was charged to annex to the enforcing of the nonimportation, or nonintercourse law against Great Britain. These things are not perfectly understood. Adieu my ancient friend, from whom neither time nor circumstances shall sever me.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0481", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Baptist Irvine, [9 August] 1811\nFrom: Irvine, Baptist\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\n[9 August 1811]\nThe servility, the scurrilous style, and scandalous matter, of those who would be thought your friends, defenders, and guardians, leave no other resource to one who would correct their fals[e]hoods, than to address yourself. With them, no man, who values incorruptibility, can farther correspond or communicate.\nWhen your revered predecessor, the illustrious Jefferson, stood at the helm of government, we had no open violations of trust or truth, by little pensioners [of] the public, clerks in the departments: but, since your election, the public spirit has been broken by submission-bills, and all confidence shaken by underhand hints instead of direct recommendations to congress.\n\u201cSo doth the greater glory dim the less.\u201d\nJefferson\u2019s acts were visible, palpable, they stood justified by their merit; and he left them to the criticism of a discerning people. You may be assured, sir, that the public compare men with men, and measures with measures\u2014And Wonder already stares, that oblique, side-way methods should be necessary for your vindication, if you had nerve and honesty to resort to acts that would by their own worth and weight withstand the public scrutiny.\nIt \u201cseems,\u201d that you did not assume the exercise of all the powers for which you were responsible, immediately on coming to the presidency\u2014you erected or continued a \u201ccabinet\u201d contrary to the spirit and letter of that constitution you had sworn to support. You consulted the men who composed it, not about the business of their respective departments, but promiscuously on every thing! What was the consequence? You meant to divide your responsibility, and they resolved (as was natural) to share your power. Their assumption was the effect of your timidity.\nDiffering in opinion with Robert Smith, a separation ensued. Your hirelings attacked him, leaving neither his talents nor integrity without a blow or a slander: if they have not wounded him it is not their fault. As if afraid to meet the real charge in Mr. Smith\u2019s \u201cAddress\u201d that of your inefficiency (or too much pusillanimity) to execute the presidential duties, your Janissaries (or those subsidized by your pretended friends, but real enemies) affect to extract from Smith\u2019s pamphlet, what it does not contain, the accusation of peculiar devotion to France. Here where there is no enemy, the \u201cHessians\u201d are brave; where there are no witnesses, except \u201cthe British party in America,\u201d whom no man credits, the same \u201cHessians\u201d demonstrate, that the sun shines, that \u201cFrench influence\u201d is a chimera; and it is most true. But, Mr. Smith, in defending his own opinions, (and I do not agree with him in all) only shows that you seemed willing to make concessions both to England and France. Pusillanimity is one thing, disaffection is another. We all acquit you of the latter\u2014from my soul, I do. I will no[t] stop here, to apostrophize the fools, who are so officious as to tender you disservice by their service; who seem ready to forget British impressment, plunder and insult, nay, to forget the treasonable conduct of the \u201cBritish party\u201d when in power, all forsake of displaying their loyalty, by detesting \u201cFrench influence,\u201d which nobody believes, or sees\u2014except in reverie or vision; and \u201cvision (we are told) is the art of seeing things invisible!\u201d\nIt was to put an end to this confusion and perversion, that the writer of this penned a letter to a reported hireling of yours in a subordinate station at Washington; who being unprincipled (he possessing bad principles) was said to have been employed to write against the democratic party, in this state by way of forcing them to support you, for fear of their own overthrow. I knew how vulnerable this wretch was; and, for the purpose of giving the public mind time to cool, I reminded him of the danger to which he would expose himself and others, if he stirred up the embers any more. My letter contained a reference to his own diabolical conversations respecting you, et cetera, which would have caused an honest man, with any sensibility, to run and throw himself at your feet, and entreat your mercy. Instead of this, he calculates on the delicacy of those whom he abuses, (and whose well intended letters he publishes in part,) to conceal his crimes as being too gross to be named.\nHe, sir, is supposed to be your vassal; call on him, make him produce the vital part, or the whole of my letter, to you in private: You will then see how anxious I was to save your feelings, and the honour of the wretch, if he had any. Call upon him to exhibit my letter: then, call upon me to substantiate the charge\u2014\u261e Next, ask yourself, whether if you admit his testimony in one case, you must not recognize it throughout? and oh! at what expense!\nWith my warning before his eyes, his appearance (two days after!) in the National Intelligencer, with a mass of fals[e]hood, induces the belief that he was forced or bribed to the measure, and that he had no alternative between sacrificing truth and honour, or, forfeiting his office.\nMuch false insinuation is foisted into certain publications about R. Smith\u2019s Influence over this paper and its editor. Yet, the world could not persuade us to swerve from the cause of truth\u2014We never consulted R. Smith, never received a communication or a hint from him, and even said to the little vassal, as we have to others, \u201cthat, for R Smith, bating where he was connected with the democratic party, or was made the victim of foul treatment and base denunciation, we cared no more than we did for Timothy Pickering, for, we made it our study to avoid obligations to all public men.\u201d This was during a conversation in which he observed, \u201cthat if Mr. Madison was a dupe, (though honestly inclined) he was more dangerous than a knave.\u201d His Saturday\u2019s story, however, to us, was at complete variance with his remarks on Monday! He best knows the reason. He saw R. Smith on Sunday. On Saturday, the vassal said (to the writer) that, certainly, R. Smith had been \u201cvery badly treated,\u201d on Monday, several parts of his \u201cAddress\u201d were \u201cd\u2014\u2014d disingenuous.\u201d\n[Since the vassal\u2019s exposure of his own perfidy in the government paper, a friend of R. Smith, in conversation, related the following: The vassal called at R. Smith\u2019s on Sunday morning; introduced the subject of his difficult situation; he was in danger of being sacrificed, where he was, and could he obtain support for Mrs. \u2014\u2014 for a year or two, \u261e et cetera, he would attempt to get into the practice of the law. This he must do, or worse: \u261e Dick Forrest had on such a day stepped into his room, and declared (as if in your behalf I suppose) that \u201cthis was no time for splitting hairs\u2014every man must now take a part for or against the government!\u201d Meaning, that Mr. Madison was the government\u2014and every man who did not take side with him in opposition to R. Smith, must be considered as an enemy to the government. Are we, sir, come to this? Have we a government of men, and not of Ideas, measures, principles? I must suppose this officious federalist (Richard Forrest) abuses his commission. The master of the ceremonies may fancy himself prime minister. But, why mention, (as the vassal did) the menace held out? his pecuniary embarrassments? the necessity for his taking sides?\u2014(a clerk take sides!) Mr. Smith saw the creature wanted a bid; and, on his part an end was instantly put to the dialogue in contemptuous silence. I need not paint the mortification of the vassal; which is doubtless since removed, by going to a better market\u2014I must add, that R. Smith disclaims having known the character of the vassal\u2014hence the offers of library, instruction, &c. and hence his requital!\nThe generosity of Mr. Smith\u2019s offer to the vassal, in the letter of July 1, is accounted for by the deceitful professions of the latter: When the rupture took place, he said, in substance, to Mr. S. \u201cNow, I am undone; Gallatin\u2019s influence will deprive me of my office, since you are no longer in the Department.\u201d Poh! replied Mr. S. you have nothing to fear, if you conduct yourself discreetly: Mr. Monroe is a mild man; and, beside, you and Mrs. \u2014\u2014 are very intimate at Mr. Madison\u2019s, &c. The vassal persisted in speaking of his ruin; he must prepare to practise law, if he could get admission, &c. And so on this occasion Mr. S promised any assistance in his reach. Who ought to have expected a bribe, from such discourse?\nLook at the infamy of the vassal: Ere the time he addresses Mr. S. with crocodile concern, he boasted that his place or a better was secure; that he had laid an anchor to windward, &c. And, report says, that he, like Dick Forrest, (a ranting federalist,) has been flattered with the hope of a consul\u2019s appointment\u2014but this I do not believe. However, as it is evident that Mr. S. never can descend to the level of the vassal, I thought this digression the more necessary.]\nIn Maryland, sir, the attempts to agitate us by hired mercenaries leagued with federalists, is unavailing\u2014We do not forget the measures of \u201998; we do not forget the tyranny of the feds. in the state and general governments; but this is a state election, and we will no more regard the rupture between you and Mr. S. than the song of a Zany. When the presidential election comes on, however, we may turn to it. I know, your underlings can enlist partizans: the misrepresentation and scurrility lately shed in showers, prove the omnipotence of your subordinate officers over certain presses\u2014What did this seem to say on your part? \u201cWere Smith but out of Venice, I could make what merchandize I would.\u201d It may not so fall out\u2014We still remember Gallatin\u2019s proposals to Erskine, we remember, you did not relish Smith\u2019s disavowal of such offers being authorised. We recollect Gallatin\u2019s interference in the Bank question, on behalf of the federalists and British agents\u2014and, if you couple yourself with him, you cannot hope for a reelection. Apropos\u2014the little vassal told me, that as your Virginia friends had given Mr. Gallatin up, you waited for an opportunity to dismiss him without injury to the party. What party? Surely, Mr. Gallatin aids none but the federal party. And; if nothing impels you, but the trade Winds of Virginia, you must steer a strange course.\n   The patriotism and superior talent of that state, I acknowledge and revere. I only mean to say, that a president of the United States ought not to be guided by a particular state.\n But take what course you may, recent experience convinces me, that you can draw a host of \u201cparasites\u201d around you, whether they are hired by the postmaster general, or not. I suppose, they act on their old maxim, as described by a noted author: \u201cIt is safer for a man\u2019s interest, to blaspheme God, than to be of a party out of power, or to be thought so.\u201d Even the little vassal boasts of directing a press at Richmond; (how many elsewhere I know not,) and another at the same place has manifested a contempt of truth and candour worthy of a loyal pensioner.\n   A gentleman of this city informed its editor of the little perjurer\u2019s character last winter; yet, Mr. Ritchie affected lately to treat his testimony with respect!\nDetesting the hidden machinery employed to blast suffering persecuted worth and reputation; fearing lest the poisoned chalice should be returned to your lips, I, from the best motives, gave a caution to your vassal which has been disregarded. Let him produce the letter to you, or any friend you may commission. I pledge my honour to substantiate his calumny in due season. I cannot mention the vassal\u2019s name on the same page with my own; nor is it necessary. He is now so branded that all can recognize him. The public know how to estimate the testimony of a being who cannot open his lips, until he has first violated faith or oath: Let him to the letter, and defend himself. If you and he dread it, we may at next session of congress let you know a little of it. If he fancies he can render federalism triumphant in Maryland, he is deceived. We care neither for his silence nor his disclosures\u2014though we are ashamed of the baseness which intimidates, or pensions, or encourages, a miscreant, to invent falsehoods or conceal truth for the purposes of deception.\nOn this topic, Sir, I need not trouble you or the public again, if your instrument exhibit my letter to you entire. If he dare not, you ought to suspect the reason. I have thus, Sir, performed the irksome duty of exposing turpitude.\nB. Irvine.\n\u261e It is expected that every unbought independent press will republish the preceding; that truth and reputation may be vindicated, flagitious vice exposed, and harmony restored among political brethren.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0482", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Albert Gallatin, 10 August 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Gallatin, Albert\nDear Sir\nMontpelier Aug. 10. 1811\nI have recd. safe the manuscript of Dupont, and the pamphlet sent with it. The letter from Foster to you, I have handed on to the Secretary of State. The exemption of Articles for the use of pub. Ministers, from the impost, was founded in courtesy, & has been continued from respect to a course of precedents. The plea that it was required by the L. of N. cannot be sustained: Still less could this plea be applied to such a case as that presented by Mr. F. and as the case is without the plea of usage or even precedent, the L. of N. as construed by ourselves, could alone justify the exception to the general rule established by the Act of Congs. It is not improbable that if the case had occurred, at the passage of the Act, it might have been provided for, like that of vessels bringing despatches for Pub: Ms. But even this is doubtful. Mr. F. ought however to have an answer, that he may take his measures with a knowledge of the reception his supplies will find at the Custom houses, and it may be proper to hear from the Secretary of State, before the answer be decided on. If in the mean time the articles expected should arrive, and a forfeiture be incurred, it will be for consideration how far the remitting power, may properly be applied; either absolutely, or provisionally with a reference to the final decision of Congress.\nYou have taken a proper step in your suggestion to Govr. Holmes, with respect to the trespasses on the pub: lands. I am not sure that the intrusion law would not reach the case; but as it is a law departing from common right, the construction of it ought to be rather strict than free; and as Congs. will soon have an opportunity of providing a remedy, it seems best to trust for the present to the remedy you have pointed out, which may perhaps be seconded by an apprehension of removal under the intrusion law if found necessary.\nI hear nothing as to foreign intelligence more than is seen in the Newspapers. I have not yet seen the Secretary of State nor heard more from him, than that he had reached home.\nFrom the information recd from Washington, this will probably find you at N. Y. on your way to Boston. I hope you will find the ramble advantageous to your health, as well as otherwise agreeable. Mrs. M. joins in best respects to Mrs. Gallatin. Accept my esteem & affectionate wishes.\nJames Madison\nOur Crops of Wheat were pinched by a drought, and suffered from the Hessian fly. They are suffering also in the small Cocks in which they remain for the most part in the fields, exposed to the present spell of rainy weather. The Crops of Indian Corn will be unusually great. This result is secured by the rains which are damaging the Wheat.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0485", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Thornton, 12 August 1811\nFrom: Thornton, William\nTo: Madison, James\nDr. sir\nWashington Augt. 12th. 1811\nThe boy that Mr. White meant to have sent down has met with a dreadful accident, been severely bit by a Horse that he was training, I must endeavour therefore to look out for an other if I can meet with one in time. I still remain sick in bed, of what the Doctors call a Rheumatick favour [sic] which must wear itself out, but I think is wearing me out very fast, we have had very severe rains here lately almost every day and the people hereabouts & about Prince Georges Coy., Maryland, think they shall make double crops of Corn. I am sorry to hear that in Jefferson County & over the Mountain the corn is taselling 3 feet high not having rain for near two Months. I feel still so sick that I am obliged to finish after presenting my best respects to your lady & family & am Dr. sir with the highest respect your sincere friend\nWilliam Thornton.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0487", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Eustis, 13 August 1811\nFrom: Eustis, William\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,\nWashington August 13th. 1811.\nYour favor of the 10th. enclosing a Letter from Lt. Voorhis was received this morning. That officer was with me yesterday\u2014he appears to be a good man and bears his sentence like a good christian: he has merit and in case of war may still be useful.\nAt the time of leaving the city for Harper\u2019s ferry the business & state of the office did not admit of my absence for so long a time as a visit to Montpelier implied: it was therefore concluded to return to the city and to embrace a more favorable opportunity, which we are awaiting. The armoury does equal credit to the govt. and to the conductors. The work is good, and is still improving. With the new arsenal which has been erected they are enabled to store all the arms which are on hand & probably will be those manufactured for another year. After this time a new arrangement will be required. It was contemplated (and had I not inspected the site it would have been done) to erect a third arsenal on the square which encloses the other two: but the ground is not sufficiently extensive: they are too nearly neighboured by private lots which when built upon (as they must be at no distant day) will increase the danger from fire. We must either build on the hill at a distance of half a mile, or (which appears preferable) commence in another year the delivery to the states of manufactured arms (contract) under the Law for arming the militia and thereby make room in the stores both at H. Ferry and at Springfield for those manufactured at each of those places. Fifty thousand stands is perhaps as large a number as ought to be deposited in any one place. The city continues healthy, and is not altogether desolate. In a short conversation with Mr F. the evening before he left us, I thought he discovered some solicitude and did not appear to be perfectly satisfied with the state of the relations between our country & G. B.\nThe works in the harbour of N. York will be completed in the beginning of October & from what has been done and is still doing in other ports we shall not be altogether defenceless.\nGenl. W (as I hear) has said that he will have the court Martial in Frederick town. Dr. Thornton continues low\u2014but not dangerous as we are informed. In the hope of coming to your peaceful mansion, we are with our best respects to Mrs M. Dr Sir, yr obedt. servt.\nW Eusti\u27e8s\u27e9\nMr Payne disappointed us very much in not taking a seat with us according to appointment: & the more so as we spent a very agreeable day with Mrs. Washington.\nLetters from P. Chouteau, Agent for the Osages state a request that some of their chiefs may come on a visit to the seat of Govt.\u2014they are dissatisfied at the delay in satisfying their treaty & will probably refuse the annuity.\nA similar request is made by the Choctaws whose agent states one object of their visit to be to meet the Osage chiefs before their common father & to agree on a permanent peace. Letters are prepared assenting to the proposals & will be sent out unless instructions interdictory shall be received in the course of a week.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0489", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Graham, 14 August 1811\nFrom: Graham, John\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir\nDept of State 14th Augt 1811\nThe Letter which you did me the Honor to write to me on the 10th Inst. I received yesterday, together with those which it covered. I have now the pleasure to return Mr. Adams\u2019s (Letter) de cyphered: with the other I can as yet do nothing. I will make an effort before the departure of your next Mail to find out generally its objects; but I am by no means confident that I shall be able to do even this, for my knowledge of the Language in which it is written is very imperfect and of course not such as is best calculated to encounter such a production.\nWe have had a great deal of Rain here since your departure, more particularly within the last 8 or 10 days. It is apprehended that we shall, in consequence, have a sickly Season. Fortunately the weather has c\u27e8l\u27e9ear\u27e8ed\u27e9 away cool and windy, and as yet the City is I beleive very healthy. With Sentiments of the Most Respectful Attachment I have the Honor to be, Sir Your Mo Obt Sert\nJohn Graham", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0490", "content": "Title: From James Madison to James Monroe, 15 August 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Monroe, James\nDear SirAug. 15. 1811\nAmong the papers herewith inclosed are letters from the Govt. at Santa fee, and among these one to the French Minister at Washington inclosing another to the Minister of Foreign relations at Paris. In opening the general packet addressed to the Executive, that for Serrurier was so involved as to be opened unintenti[on]ally at the same time. The more important one for Paris escaped this accident. I send the whole to you, with a request that you will desire Mr. Graham to have the proper portions handed to Mr. Serrurier with the requisite apology & explanation. I do not recollect John Mary de Bordes, who applies for a passport, & a letter of introduction at the Havanna. Mr. Graham, in forwarding the former, may intimate that it is contrary to usage to grant the latter. Accept my best respects & wishes\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0491", "content": "Title: To James Madison from George Joy, 15 August 1811\nFrom: Joy, George\nTo: Madison, James\nMy Dear Sir,Elsinure 15th. August 1811\nI have just crossed the Sound in much better Health than when I left this place.\nYou will perceive, in the concluding Paragraph of my letter to my Brother of the 21st. ultimo, that it was not my intention to cross the Atlantic very soon. Some Murmurs that have reached me have induced serious thoughts however of making the Voyage from this place; and further consideration, to take England in my way.\nI have not seen Mr Smith\u2019s Pamphlet; but I have seen several comments upon it; & tho\u2019 God knows how little I can expect to affect, in stemming the Current that it appears to have produced, that little is most devoutly at your Service.\nIf indeed I had no other Expectation than from my own abstract Efforts, a double Voyage across the Atlantic would be too ridiculous, but as the public Evidences of impartiality on the side of the Gouvernment (tho\u2019 they appear to me demonstrable enough) are suspected of insincerity, and in the letters that I have from you in England, there is an artless Exposure of feelings on the occasion, that cannot fail to do honour to your heart, and, according to my Judgement, ought to convince the most obstinate of the sincerity of your professions in that respect; I conceive it will be better to take them with me, as well as the Evidence of their effect upon certain Members of the last administration, than to trust to my Memory, which tho\u2019 passablement au fait may have less Credit with the public than with you.\nI hope I shall not be drawn from the path of still life that I have chosen to a public Justification of the measures I have been pursuing without a public Commission, or a public Salary; tho\u2019 I am advised by my friends to invoke the Press and have just received, among other incentives, a scrap from the national Intelligencer, containing an extract of a Letter from London, whose wise Author knows it to be false that I was appointed by Mr Pinkney. As the national Intelligencer is supposed to have all reasonable information from the Govt. on simple requisition, and Mr Pinkney\u2019s Instructions must be registered in the office of State; I don\u2019t think it is quite \u27e8just?\u27e9 to treat an absent Man this way. It is chiefly objectionable as having the appearance of your Indulgence\u2014an event that I must acknowledge would shake my Philosophy, indifferent as I certainly am to the trash itself.\nI hope, my dear Sir, the day is far distant when such appearances will become realities; but should the miserable testimonials, which can alone be produced, succeed in perverting the Evidences of my Efforts in your Mind; should that difference take place which the consciousness of rectitude in my own, could not fail, in that Case to produce; I shall still owe it to the public, (in comparison of whom any possible differences between you and me must be the mere dust of the Balance,) to produce those Evidences which strike me as of weight, if not indeed conclusive of the question of truth and fidelity on your Part. For myself I only desire that the facts relating to my Agency in Denmark may be exhibited to the Gouvernment as they are, and in their turn, and this, as matter of simple Justice, I confidently trust will be matter of Course. I rest always very sincerely Dear Sir Your friend & servt.\nGeo: Joy", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0493", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Leonard, 15 August 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Leonard, John\nTo: Madison, James\n15 August 1811, Barcelona. \u201cWhen I had the honor to receive the appointmt. of Consul of the UStates at Barna no doubt I was consider\u2019d properly qualified, and I have the satisfaction to enclose a document in confirmation thereof.\u201d Does so because he has seen a duplicate of a letter in the hands of Mr. Thorndike, signed by Robert Smith and dated 27 Feb. 1811, revoking his consular commission and directing him to turn over the consular papers to John Carroll. Has never seen the signature of Smith and doubts the authenticity of the document. Complains that to divest a person of office in this manner amounts to declaring him guilty of a misdemeanor; and as consuls are generally merchants who depend on honor and credit, the proceeding amounts to \u201cCapital punishmt.\u201d without cause or trial. States that an investigation should be made and a consul notified of charges in order to justify himself; \u201c99 in a hundred of these Kind of charges are ficticious & malicious.\u201d Further argues that hasty measures are unnecessary as Barcelona is blockaded by sea and without communication by land; there is no \u201cpressing demand\u201d for consular functions. With one exception there has been no call for him to perform any services, and it is three years since an American vessel entered Barcelona. Declares that he has done his duty to his nation with credit and therefore the letter is \u201cficticious or produced from wrong impressions.\u201d Requests that justice be done to him and concludes by noting that he has never received an acknowledgment of the letters he has written to the State Department during his eight years as consul at Barcelona.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0495", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Monroe, 16 August 1811\nFrom: Monroe, James\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirAlbemarle Augt. 16. 1811\nMr Gales\u2019s notice of the publication in the Aurora relative to Mr Foster was precisely what it ought to have been. It was undoubtedly proper to prevent such a statment going to the nation as a fact, & the mode of contradicting, being without a compromitment of the govt., the true one.\nI will endeavor to be with you in the course of the ensuing week. I expect to be able to wear my boot in that time, and as soon as I can I will be down.\nI have directed the explanation to be made to Mr Sirrurier, by Mr Graham. Very respectfully & truly Yrs\nJas Monroe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0496", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Hay Battaile, 16 August 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Battaile, Hay\nTo: Madison, James\n16 August 1811, White Sulphur Springs. \u201cOn my way to this place, I call\u2019d on Mr Gooch \u2026 to get a pair or a Ram of your broad Tail Sheep; understanding that he had the disposal of them, he inform\u2019d me that he could part with none without your orders, but that he had no doubt, but you would spare me one or both as you were geting a stock of two other breeds, that you liked much better; that he would speak to you and write me what was your determination; having not heard from him; I fear he has forgot to speak to you.\u201d Takes the liberty of addressing JM on the subject and would appreciate a line \u201cdirected to me at this place.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0497", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Quincy Adams, 17 August 1811\nFrom: Adams, John Quincy\nTo: Madison, James\n(Private.)\nSir.St: Petersburg 17. August 1811.\nThe Event, anticipated in the letters which I had the honour of writing you on the 7. Jany: 8. Feby: and 3d: June, has happened at the time when it was expected. On Monday Evening last the 12th. instt: I had a daughter born, the first example I believe of an American, a native of Russia. As it would have been impossible for me to have accomplished since the Commencement of this year\u2019s navigable season, a Voyage to the United States, before this occurrence, so it leaves my family in a Condition equally disqualified for that undertaking, untill the present Season will be past. My determination to pass the ensuing Winter here remains therefore as at the date of my former letters.\nThat the private concerns and situation of my family, should in any manner affect the arrangements of your public administration has been and still is to me a source of some uneasiness. Aware that my particular convenience and accommodation, was the only motive to the permission in the first instance granted me last October to return to the United States, and an essential one to the subsequent appointment to which you had the goodness to nominate me, I have sincerely regretted, that I could not avail myself of these facilities for going home, or manifest to you my sense of your kindness, by pursuing precisely that course, which from the combined effect of considerations both of a public and private nature you had deemed most advisable.\nWith regard to the Seat on the Bench of the Supreme Court of the United States, you will have perceived that my incapacity to return in due time to undertake the discharge of its duties, was not the only circumstance that swayed my mind to decline it. I submitted other objections, to the consideration of your candour and indulgence; though I presumed and yet hope, that it was itself sufficient to induce an appointment of another person to the Office.\nA variety of reports have reached this Country, some of them through the medium of newspaper Publications, and others by the channel of letters, respecting the appointment of a successor to the mission at this Court. During part of the Summer I was in expectation of his arrival from day to day. Untill you had received my letter of 7. January, you could not have been informed of the Cause which must personally detain me, and in the full expectation of my return, the immediate appointment of a person to take my place might naturally have been thought expedient.\nIt has scarcely been possible for me not sometimes to surmize, that among the arrangements which have taken place in the public administration at home, there might be objects of convenience or of facility to yourself or to the public service, which might be promoted by the substitution of another Minister at this Court, and by my recall. Were this clearly ascertained to me, I should still more strongly regret that my detention here has been the occasion of protracting the accomplishment of such an object. If when you receive this letter a new appointment shall not have been made, I can but repeat the assurance in my former letters, that any dispositions of this place, which you shall think promotive of the public interest, however they may affect my personal situation and concerns, shall have my cordial and cheerful acquiescence. I am with perfect respect, Sir, your very humble and obedt: Servt\nJohn Quincy Adams.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0499", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Henry Lee, 19 August 1811\nFrom: Lee, Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirAlexa. Aug 19th. 11\nI received the other day a letter from my long loved friend Mr Stoddert requesting my correction of the statement of a conversation, wherever he may have misconceived my meaning. In this letter he expresses a high respect for yr. personal character, an admiration of yr. private virtues & an anxious wish to beleive that you was actuated by a sincere desire to close our affairs with G B: as I had asserted. He recapitulates a conversation you held with a gentleman in fredericksburgh when lately in that town according throughout with my report of what had passed between us, but going farther in manifestation of yr. wish to return to amity, with G B. than had been represented by me. In conclusion, I am requested to say, whether the statement referred to me is correct. To this letter which I intended to have transmitted to you, but which is mislaid I sent the enclosed reply. You will I trust excuse the trouble I unexpectedly give, when I tell you that I am led to it by my knowledge of the gross misrepresentations which prevail of every incident connected with you, of my fixed contempt for the despicable practice & my immutable aversion to be considered capable of participation in the vulgar vice. Mr Stodderts letter affords additional evidence to the catalogue which exists of the conviction of a large & respectable class of the nation, that you never can depart so widely from the system of policy adopted by yr. predecessor as to take G B cordially by the hand. Thus persuaded, nothing short of an actual settlement of past differences with the British govt. will ever convince this portion of the community, that your professions are sincere. They will not detract from yr. personal purity, as they will consider you sincere in yr. opinion of the fact, but so completely bewildered by long cherished prejudices as to be incapable of self knowledge in this particular. In this way, will be explained & reconciled their esteem & veneration for yr. moral character with their persuation that yr. declarations of solicitude to settle our dispute with G. B are destitute of sincerity. I anxiously wish & hope that a few months will prove their error not only because I should be gratified in seeing yr. measures approved & supported by this intelligent & respectable portion of our fellow citizens, but from my unceasing desire to see united in the bonds of amity two nations so exactly calculated to promote each others good, & between whom the torch of discord should never be lighted. The only two nations of the many in the world who understand the meaning of liberty, which best political blessing of God to man will flourish so long as its two potent votarys continue to cherish good will & friendship, & will become endangered whenever they imbrue their hands in each others blood.\nGod forbid that this latter alternative should ever occur, but occur it must & will, unless this state of semi-warfare is exchanged shortly for the solid enjoyments sure to follow the return of amity peace & good will. At this moment we are liable to events which may hurry the two nations into war, in contravention to the will of the two governments. If this be correct & a recollection of the affair of the little Belt affirms it to be so, are we not hourly exposed to its repititions & can these take place without plunging the two nations into blood & slaughter. Why then shall we delay the propitious epoch of restoration to our mutual concord & permanent peace. If obstacles not to be surmounted do interpose they ought to be made known to the nation & we ought to be prepared for war. A continuance in the present state of half war, is of all others the most debasing to the national character & nearly as injurious as war itself to individual prosperity. Take us out of the odious condition by restoration of amity, or by drawing the sword.\nIt is better to fight our way to future peace, than to drag on in this state of disputation & irritation, which must lead to war & perhaps at a period not so favorable to us as the present moment.\nIn expressing to you these sentiments I am sure you will derive new proofs of my solicitude for yr. magistratical honor & for our countrys good. I have been brought into this exposition of my opinions from the fulness of zeal which overpowers my mind whenever it is turned to the degrading & deteriorating condition of our country & fellow citizens, which never fails to urge me to contribute my mite to their releif.\nLong as this letter is already I cannot refrain from rehearsing two matters current in this city, as they strike me to be of that sort proper for you to know, whether false or true.\nShortly after yr. departure a Mr Davis (brother to a Doctor Davis who once edited a paper in New-york under the auspices of Col. Burr) came to the city & there gave out that he had been sent by General Armstrong to you for the purpose of announcing his contritition [sic] in having heretofore opposed yr. administration, & of assuring you of his future cordial co-alition & support. In furtherance of this change in his conduct, Davis asserted that he was particularly charged by Armstrong to inform you that he had been urged by R Smith & General W while in this city last winter to establish a gazette in New York for the purpose of driving you from yr. station.\nMr Davis affected great mortification in finding that you had left Washington & expressed occasionally a determination to wait upon you in yr. retirement.\nWhat this man could have in view by his visit is as inexplicable to me as are the tales which he circulated false.\nI have seen a letter from Genl. Armstrong written about the time that Davis left N York speaking of the man with abhorrence & contempt & warning his friend against countenancing the individual or accrediting his fabrications.\nGeneral Wilkinson with whom I conversed on the subject, seemed very uneasy lest the reports might reach you & might induce you to beleive him as intriguing with Smith & others. He wrote instantly to Armstrong communicating Davis[\u2019]s tales & requiring an explanation so far as he was concerned.\nArmstrong\u2019s answer had not arrived two days ago, but Wilkinson assures me that he never heard Smith or armstrong or any other person propose the measure alluded to, unless indeed a conversation with Colvil the clerk last winter may be construed into such a proposition. This reptile suggested the wisdom of such a step & if I did not misconceive Wilkinson, went so far as to say he had serious thoughts of executing some such plan for the purpose of assailing you with all his might. I am persuaded poor Wilkinson is entirely innocent & I trust you will so consider him.\nThe other affair concerns Colvil principally; it is generally said, if not universally, that when the Secretary of State saw Colvill\u2019s reply to Smiths pamphlet, that he became extremely offended at the clerks breach of official trust & that he determined to cleanse his department by immediate dismissal of the culprit. Monroe called at the Govermt. house in the evening & communicated to you his intention. You instantly left the room when yr. lady whom Monroe found sitting with you interceded in Colvils behalf & prevailed on the secretary to recede from his determination. This tale is bottomed on Mr Dawsons authority and it excites real distress among yr. real friends, in as much as it seems to confirm previous reports respecting Colvil, which had become obsolete in a degree but are now revived.\nI give to you these incidents as I heard them related, you will give to them the attention they may merit. I early did myself the honor to tell you that the union of the name of Colvill to yr. name would be received with horror by all who truely love you, this I have seen already completely verified. He may be the vile wretch he is represented to be, whether or not, he certainly is a very tattling impertinent & meddling gentleman, ready to talk write or act as his interest may dictate, in the habit of pretending to much secret intercourse with yr. family & of communicating the interchange of such intercourse whenever & wherever he can promote his views. I am my dear sir always Yr. faithful friend & most ob: h: sert.\nHenry Lee", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0501", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Eustis, 21 August 1811\nFrom: Eustis, William\nTo: Madison, James\nDr. Sir,Washington August 21. 1811.\nThe enclosed Letters from Governor Harrison create a strong presumption that hostilities will not be commenced by the Indians. The movement with a respectable force up the Wabash proposed by the Governor appears from the light in which things are placed, to be adviseable: and in preference to militia it appears to me that Boyd\u2019s Regt. (who are distant from Newport where they are now halted to Louisville 150 miles & from thence by Land to Vincennes 120 miles) ought to be taken. This force with two companies of regulars from Vincennes & two troops of cavalry or mounted rifle men will I presume secure a peaceable march to the extremity of the new purchase. To receive a seasonable notice of your approbation previous to issuing the order would be highly gratifying: but as time is all important in order to enable Boyd\u2019s command to reascend the waters before the winter sets in I am in doubt whether it is necessary to await an answer.\nIn answering the Agents on the subject of a visit from the several Indian chiefs I have stated that as the season is already far advanced, and the engagements of the President during the session of Congress may prevent due attention to the Chiefs, it is desireable that their intended visit should be postponed untill the spring of the year.\nThe two Mr Coles leave the city this day and will probably be at Montpelier in the course of the week.\nPressed by the departure of the mail I have time only to ask a return of the Ltres from Govr. Harrison. With the greatest respect\nW. Eustis", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0502", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Anthony Charles Cazenove, 22 August 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Cazenove, Anthony Charles\nLetter not found. 22 August 1811. Acknowledged in Cazenove to JM, 6 Sept. 1811. Places an order for Madeira wine from Messrs. Murdoch.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0503", "content": "Title: From James Madison to James Monroe, 23 August 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Monroe, James\nDear SirMontpelier Friday 23d. Aug. [1811]\nI ascribe to the heat of the weather my not having yet had the pleasure of your promised visit. We hope when the obstacle is removed that we shall have the gratification increased by the company of Mrs. Monroe. Among the papers now forwarded is another note from Mr. F. His late ones breathe a spirit which it is difficult to account for without the painful supposition that he believes it not uncongenial with the sentiments of the P. Regt. as well as of the Cabinet. At his age & with his prospects, he would scarcely pay court to the latter, in opposition to the views of the former; especially in a stile beyond the mere policy of decent respect for the views of the Cabinet. Are you aware that the Extra rider deposits his return Mail at Fredericksbg where it passes into the general Mail for Washington. Your communications to the Dept. of State ought therefore to be sealed & franked as in other cases. I happened to observe that those of the last week, were deficient in both respects; & of course applied a remedy. Accept my best regards.\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0504", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Cooper, Jr., 23 August 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Cooper, James\nTo: Madison, James\n23 August 1811, Philadelphia. Offers himself as a candidate for the position of consul at Santiago de Cuba, recently vacated by the death of Maurice Rogers. \u201cHaving a perfect knowledge of the place from a long Residence, & being particularly intimate with its local Mercantile Usages, many Merchants of this Port, have intimated a wish that I had the Appointment, & would transact their business.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0505", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Richard Cutts, 24 August 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Cutts, Richard\nDear SirMontpelier Aug. 24. 1811\nI have recd. your favor of the  instant. I hope you will never withold a line to me when convenient to yourself, from an apprehension that it would not be so to me. The only regret I could ever feel would be, that my returns might so little repay you. To supply the deficiency, I again inclose some of the S. Newspapers, in wch. you may possibly find things worth reading, and not republished in papers nearer to you. The hostile effusions from Baltimore, having a source not to be mistaken, seem for the present to be relaxed. That they will be renewed in every shape that deadly hatred can prompt, is to be looked for. The entire failure or rather recoil of the attempts hitherto made, will be far from assuaging the vindictive sensation. We begin to wonder at the delay of the Jno. Adam[s], as we did at that of the Essex. From the last information, she must be either waiting in France or must experience a tedious passage. The state of our affairs with England, speaks to you thro\u2019 the circumstances which have been mentioned in the Gazettes. We have had good crops of Wheat; and are promised most exuberant ones of Indian Corn; the weather at the critical period having been first wet, & then very hot. My Thermometer however since my return hither, has never quite reached 88\u00b0. At present the weather is delightfully cool. I wish our enjoyment of it could be made compleat by the association of your hous[e]hold. Remember me affectionately to Mrs. C. & the little ones; and accept my esteem & best regards\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0506", "content": "Title: From James Madison to William Eustis, 24 August 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Eustis, William\nDear SirMontpelier Aug 24. 1811\nI have recd. yours of the 21. with the letters from Govr. Harrison, and herewith return the latter. As the exhibition properly managed, of an imposing force on the Northern frontier beyond the Ohio, may in several views, be of critical importance at the present juncture, I concur in your opinion of the measure and of the expediency of applying Boyd\u2019s Regiment in aid of it. The late caution to Govr. Harrison, agst. needless hostilities, will conspire with his own reflections, in making the occasion subservient rather to preventing them, hereafter, than to bringg. them on at present. That immediate commencement of them, is not meditated by the Prophets party seems to be fairly inferrable from the communications recd. by you. If the visit from the Southern Indians can be conveniently parried till the Spring, it will be then preferable for the reasons which you intimate.\nWe have at length an exchange of a hot spell of weather for an opposite extreme. We hope it will have its effect in reconciling Mrs. E. & yourself, to the journey in which we are interested. Accept my esteem & best regards\nJames Madison\nP. S. I add to the inclosures an address in support of Govr. H\u2019s proceedings, & a letter from J. Green. The latter you will please, after perusal to send to the Treasury Dept.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0507", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Caesar A. Rodney, 24 August 1811\nFrom: Rodney, Caesar A.\nTo: Madison, James\nMy Dear Sir,Wilmington August 24th. 1811.\nThe enclosed letter is from Mr. Kintzing of Philada. of the house of Pratt & Kintzing. With Mr. Hogan I am personally unacquainted, but I rely with much confidence on the character given him by Mr. Kintzing whom I have long known. In my professional line I have in one case, where Mr. Hogan was a witness, observed with pleasure his integrity & his candor. Mr. Kintzing is well disposed towards the administration, & is as much of a republican as the zeal of his partner will admit.\nIn this part of the country there is but one sentiment, on the subject of Mr Smith\u2019s publications, among the friends of goverment; and the federalists appear to be perfectly silent\u2014His writings have proved ruinous to his own cause. Well might Job exclaim \u201cOh that mine enemy had written a book.\u201d There is a great deal of sound sense & justness in this passage. Mr. Smith\u2019s book has been highly benificial to the administration. It has drawn forth conclusive testimony in their favor, from the most authoritative source, if any evidence were required, to refute a groundless calumny, which they who circulate, do not beleive.\nIt is reported that a British sloop of war is within our capes & has captured a ship bound to Lisbon. But the report wants confirmation. A French privateer is at anchor off New Castle & there is another in the Bay. Perhaps the British are on the \u201clook out\u201d for them. Present my best respects to Mrs. Madison & beleive me Dr Sir Yours Truly & Affectionately\nC. A Rodney", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0508", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Aaron H. Palmer, 24 August 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Palmer, Aaron H.\nTo: Madison, James\n24 August 1811, New York. Solicits JM\u2019s patronage of an office he has established in New York for the translation of \u201call kinds of Papers and Documents relating to Commercial, Maritime, and Judicial Proceedings,\u201d in French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, German, Swedish, and Danish.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0510", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John K. Smith, 25 August 1811\nFrom: Smith, John K.\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,new Orleans August 25th 1811.\nI have now the honor to enclose you the two remaining plats of Land located for Genr. La Fayette.\nMr. Duplantier who has been very much indisposed for many months past & who besides has been Occupied in settling his late merchantile Concerns\n   Mr D. will be possessed of a Competent fortune after settling his Concerns.\n (having failed) promises to afford a particular statement of the situation Value &c. of the lands which have been located for your information. I have the honor to be with great respect Sir yr Ob St.\nJ K Smith", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0511", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Monroe, [ca. 26 August] 1811\nFrom: Monroe, James\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir[ca. 26 August 1811]\nSome very interesting domestick concerns which could not well be postponed, seconded by the state of the wound on my leg, prevented my having the pleasure of waiting on you in the last week, but I shall be with you to morrow if no accident presents an obstacle to it. I shall bring all the papers with me which it will be necessary to submit to your view at this time. Indeed many things have been postponed, to afford me an opportunity before I took any step in them, of se[e]ing & consulting you. I do not know however that any injury has occurr\u2019d as yet by the delay in any case. I am dear Sir very sincerely your friend & servant\nJas Monroe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0513", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Seventy-Six Association of South Carolina, 29 August 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Seventy-Six Association of South Carolina\nTo: Madison, James\n29 August 1811, Charleston. Transmits according to resolution a copy of an oration delivered on 4 July by member Benjamin A. Markley.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0514", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Josef Yznardy, 29 August 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Yznardy, Josef\nTo: Madison, James\n29 August 1811, Rota. Reports developments since leaving Cadiz in February 1810 when the French closed the port. Has been refused access to the city, but has been able to communicate with Hackley. Describes the efforts he and his son have made to rescue American property and repatriate seamen when eight vessels were stranded in the Bay of Cadiz in March 1810. Met with little success. His son was detained by a British naval officer; a vessel he had hired was sold by the Spanish, and its owner is now demanding to be repaid. Mentions that French corsairs have seized several American vessels and brought them into Cadiz, Seville, and Sanlucar de Barrameda. His protests have not been answered satisfactorily, and in April and May 1811 he sent copies of these protests to Hackley and Meade in Cadiz so that they might inform JM. Discusses the personal and financial hardships he has endured in the course of doing his consular duty and suggests that the U.S. should now pay what it owes him on the accounts he has remitted to the secretary of state. These circumstances explain what has happened to the consulate at Cadiz. Fears that the region, and Andalusia as well, will suffer famine as a result of military occupation and poor harvests.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0516", "content": "Title: From James Madison to John Graham, 31 August 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Graham, John\nLetter not found. 31 August 1811. Acknowledged in Graham to JM, 3 Sept. 1811. Transmits a memorandum of purchases to be made and forwarded by Mr. Barry.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0517", "content": "Title: Account with St. Mary\u2019s College, 1 September 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: St. Mary\u2019s College\nTo: \n1 September 1811. Lists charges to JM amounting to $16.50 for one quarter\u2019s tuition \u201cending this day\u201d and school supplies for John Payne Todd.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0518", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Armstrong, 2 September 1811\nFrom: Armstrong, John\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,Rhinebeck 2d. September 1811.\nThe enclosed paragraph, coming from the quarter it does, would not have made any declaration from me either proper or necessary, (any more than that in the National Intelligencer, by which it was followed), had not a common friend, for whose opinions I have much respect, hinted to me the propriety of Stating, either privately to you, or publicly in a Newspaper, what was the fact. In choosing between these two modes I could not hesitate & hence it is that I now offer to you the assurance, that the first mentioned paragraph is substantially false, attributing to me conversations I never held. Indeed the anachronisms in the story will entirely destroy its credit with those who give themselves the trouble of enquiring into dates, as I did not arrive in Washington, untill after M. Erwing\u2019s appointment had been confirmed by the Senate. I beg you to beleive that I am, with the highest respect and consideration, Your most Obedient & very humble Servant\nJohn Armstrong.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0519", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Eustis, 2 September 1811\nFrom: Eustis, William\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,Washington Septr 2. 1811.\nSince the receipt of your Letter of the 24th of August enclosing the papers from Govr. Harrison &c nothing very remarkable has occurred. The alternation of alarm and of quiescence observable in the public papers, particularly in those of New York, is the natural consequence of the variegated intelligence from Europe and of the movements of the British Marine on the coast. By a letter from Baltimore I am informed that a vessel arrived at that port passed a squadron of three ships of the line in the gulph stream in the night conjectured to be the fleet under Sir J. Yorke. In case the aggressions shall be multiplied and come nearer I fear we shall be obliged to adjourn the court martial. The absence of so many field officers, and more particularly those of the artillery, from the posts on the sea board, is sensibly felt: and but for the confidence that no act of hostility will be authorised by the B. Government previous to the receipt of Mr Fosters despatches, I should think that Colo. Burbeck & Major Stoddard should be remanded to N. York & Major Porter to R. Island. At the former place I am assured the works will be completed in all the present month, and that on an emergency the guns may be all mounted within that time. R. Island is still vulnerable. With the highest respect\nW. Eustis", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0520", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Chauncy Hall, 2 September 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Hall, Chauncy\nTo: Madison, James\n2 September 1811, Meriden, Connecticut. Describes a diving outfit he invented in October 1810. Presents six propositions so that \u201ca man may Live and Work in the Diveing Dress under Water,\u201d including the capability of raising or moving ships. Recalls putting his thoughts on paper in Washington and receiving letters patent for this invention by JM\u2019s direction in December 1810.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0521", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Tammany Society of Newport, 2 September 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Tammany Society of Newport\nTo: Madison, James\n2 September 1811, Newport, Rhode Island. The members express their indignation at the insults inflicted on the nation by the European belligerents, but they are satisfied that administration overtures \u201cto the two great contending powers, have produced on the part of one, a manifestation of a more just and liberal policy.\u201d They regret that truth, reasoning, and argument have failed to remove the orders in council and the \u201clong catalogue of aggressions of the other.\u201d While they would be the last to advocate war, if it should prove necessary they will contribute their best efforts to attain their rights, convinced as they are of \u201cthe uprightness of your conduct throughout the whole course of your public life, and the perfect justice of our countrys cause.\u201d They invoke the \u201cgreat Spirit, who presides over the destinies of all\u201d to direct the national councils and take JM \u201cunder his peculiar care.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0522", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Graham, [3 September] 1811\nFrom: Graham, John\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirDept of State [3 September 1811]\nMr Hamilton arrived last Night with the Despatches by the \u201cJohn Adams.\u201d By the advice of his Father I have decided that he should go on with them to you\u2014thinking it probable that you might wish to make some enquiries of him on subjects not touched on in the Letters.\nIt was my intention not to have opened any of the Despatches but I thought it right to inform the Heads of Departments who were here that I was ready to do so if they wished it and Mr Hamilton signifying a desire to know the contents of Mr Russells Letters they were opened accordingly and submitted to him & the Secy of War.\nThere are some Letters from Mr Adams of later date than those heretofore received, say to the 19th May\u2014much of them being in Cypher they are detained to be decyphered. He had not received intelligence of the change of situation intended for him.\nI had the Honor to receive your Letter of the 31st. Augt this Morng. and have seen Mr Barry and given him the Memo it contained. He promises to purchase the things immediately and send them on as you direct. I wish they were now ready as in that case Mr Hamn. could take them with him.\nFor the first time since I was a Child I have had a severe bilious fever. Since thursday week I have been confined to my Room. The arrival of the Despatches brought me to the Office today but I yet feel almost too feeble & weak for Business. With Sentiments of the most affectionate attachment I am Dear Sir Your Mo: Obt Sert\nJohn Graham\nThe Letters inclosed in yours have been sent as directed. The Prospect of the Maryland Election is much against us.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0523", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Paul Hamilton, 3 September 1811\nFrom: Hamilton, Paul\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirWashington Septr. 3d. 1811\nThe John Adams arrived at Boston on the 28th. ult., and my Son reached this place with his dispatches on yesterday; and as I do not consider him as having entirely fulfilled his duty untill he shall have delivered them to you, I have desired him to proceed with them by this days Mail. The informality of his not carrying them to Mr. Monroe, in the first instance, will be accounted for and excused by the circumstance of his residing beyond you\u2014he will be at your command, to convey the papers to Mr. Monroe, after you have seen them, if you think proper so to employ him\u2014and I will not conceal that I shall be much gratified, if by doing so, you afford him an opportunity of paying his respects not only to Mr. Monroe, but to Mr. Jefferson also, for both of whom I have taken care to inspire him with great veneration.\nMr. Graham has afforded me the perusal of the letters from Messrs. Smith & Russell\u2014those from the first being of old date, and considering the late decisions by Sir William Scott afford no interest. Mr. Russell\u2019s to the Departt of State, and the copy of one from him to Mr. Smith remove every doubt as to a revocation of the french Decrees; and I think it would be a happy circumstance if they could speedily be communicated to the public, provided you think it consistent with propriety.\nMy Son having great anxiety to set off I shall, at presents [sic], only add my best wishes and affectionate regard for you and Mrs. Madison in which my family join me. I am Dr. Sir truly yrs.\nPaul Hamilton", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0524", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Levett Harris, 3 September 1811\nFrom: Harris, Levett\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,St Petersburg 3 September 1811.\nMr. Swinguin, who will have the honor to deliver this letter to Your Excellency, is a young Gentleman of rank & family: he goes to America attached to Mr. Kosloff the new Consul Gl. Successor to mr. Daschkoff; but principally with a view to see the United states & to Study our manners & customs.\nThe Count Romanzoff has particularly recommended him to me, and as Mr. Swinguin has cultivated the fine Arts with Success the Chancellor seems to take a lively interest in his visit.\nPermit me therefore Sir, to second the anxious desire of Mr. Swinguin in procuring him by means of this introduction the honor of Your Excellency\u2019s Acquaintance. I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, Sir, Your most Obedient humble Servant\nLevett Harris.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0527", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Anthony Charles Cazenove, 6 September 1811\nFrom: Cazenove, Anthony Charles\nTo: Madison, James\nSirAlexandria Septr. 6th. 1811\nI have been honoured with your letter of 22d. Ulto. containing an order for a pipe of Messrs Murdoch\u2019s L. P. Madeira Wine which went forward per brig Louisa McNamara & expect the wine will come out in her. There is no doubt but these gentlemen\u2019s wine improved by one or two years of our climate will prove of a very superior quality, & I hope merit your attention.\nI beg leave to express my hope that the report in the papers of your having broken your leg by a fall from your horse is without foundation, & am with high regard very respectfully Sir Your most obedt. Servt.\nAnt Chs. Cazenove", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0528", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Pierre Samuel DuPont de Nemours, 6 September 1811\nFrom: Du Pont de Nemours, Pierre Samuel\nTo: Madison, James\nMonsieur le Pr\u00e9sident,6 Septembre 1811.\nJ\u2019ai l\u2019honneur d\u2019envoyer \u00e0 Votre Excellence des M\u00e9moires Sur la vie d\u2019un Grand Homme, dont je vous ai d\u00e9ja fait passer les Oeuvres, o\u00f9 vous aurez vu combien votre R\u00e9publique naissante lui donnait d\u2019esperance et lui inspirait d\u2019attachement. Ces M\u00e9moires complettent l\u2019Edition.\nIls vous Seront port\u00e9s par une branche de ma Famille qui me pr\u00e9cede dans mon retour aux Etats-Unis. Elle est compos\u00e9e de Madame de Pusy ma Belle-Fille qui m\u2019avait accompagn\u00e9 dans mon premier Voyage; et de Ses deux Enfans, une demoiselle de dix Sept ans, un Gar\u00e7on de douze, qui avaient aussi \u00eat\u00e9 de mon voyage, quoiqu\u2019alors dans une bien tendre enfance.\nCes enfans ont perdu leur Pere, Mr de Pusy, qui a fait par ordre de votre Gouvernement le Projet de fortification et de d\u00e9fense de la Baie de New-York, de maniere \u00e0 emp\u00eacher tout B\u00e2timent ennemi d\u2019approcher de la Ville, de la bombarder, de p\u00e9n\u00eatrer dans la Riviere d\u2019Hudson, de la remonter jusqu\u2019\u00e0 West-Point, d\u2019en ravager les bords. Ce Projet qui couvrirait aussi une partie du New-Jersey, les trois petites villes d\u2019Amboy, Newark, Elyzabeth-Town, et que les Ouvrages de Governor\u2019s Island ne peuvent Suppl\u00e9er, aurait il est vrai cout\u00e9 trois millions de dollars. Il est vraisemblable qu\u2019il Sera ex\u00e9cut\u00e9 quand l\u2019\u00e9tat de vos Finances le permettra. On avait pens\u00e9 que la moiti\u00e9 de la d\u00e9pense en pourrait \u00eatre faite par la Conf\u00e9d\u00e9ration g\u00e9n\u00e9rale; un quart aux frais de l\u2019Etat de New-York, et le dernier quart \u00e0 ceux de la Ville. Mais \u00e0 quelque \u00e9poque que l\u2019ex\u00e9cution en soit retard\u00e9e, les Enfans de l\u2019habile Ing\u00e9nieur qui l\u2019a imagin\u00e9 et qui en a fait tous les d\u00e9tails, tous les devis que votre Excellence a Sous les yeux, ne peuvent pas \u00eatre regard\u00e9s comme \u00e9trangers \u00e0 votre R\u00e9publique.\nJe vous demande pour eux, Monsieur le Pr\u00e9sident, votre bienveillance; et vos bont\u00e9s, Si elles peuvent leur devenir n\u00e9cessaires ou utiles.\nJe sais que vous les accordez d\u00e9ja \u00e0 mes Enfans, qui, par les Succ\u00e8s de la Manufacture de Poudre \u00e0 feu que le plus jeune d\u2019entre eux a \u00e9tablie, contribuent aussi \u00e0 la d\u00e9fense des Etats-Unis.\nLeur Sang, ni le mien, ni celui de mes petits Enfans, n\u2019y seraient point m\u00e9nag\u00e9s, Si ce dernier azyle de la libert\u00e9 du monde pouvait \u00eatre attaqu\u00e9.\nJ\u2019\u00e9spere que Votre Excellence a re\u00e7u mes id\u00e9es Sur les changemens que le d\u00e9rangement de votre commerce maritime peut n\u00e9cessiter dans le syst\u00eame de vos Finances; et la Seconde Edition de celles qui concernent l\u2019Education publique am\u00e9ricaine, dont Vous avez eu une premiere connaissance avant mon d\u00e9part.\nVous voyez que moi et les miens voulons payer les dettes de notre reconnaissance pour l\u2019hospitalit\u00e9 de votre bonne Nation, et que nous t\u00e2chons de le pouvoir.\nJe vous Supplie, Monsieur le Pr\u00e9sident, de continuer d\u2019ordonner \u00e0 vos Capitaines de me recevoir \u00e0 bord, quand je me Serai acquitt\u00e9 du travail que je dois encore \u00e0 mon Pays natal.\nPermettez moi d\u2019esperer que \u27e8Votre\u27e9 Excellence voudra bien agr\u00e9er toujours mon z\u00eale, et mon tr\u00e8s respectueux attachement.\nduPont (de Nemours)\nCondensed Translation\nSends the memoirs of the life of a great man, whose works he has already sent JM. They will be presented by members of his family returning to the U.S., including his stepdaughter, Madame de Pusy, and her two children. The children have lost their father, M. de Pusy, who designed the plan for defensive works for the bay of New York and the adjacent areas. Discusses the cost and financing of the plan. Asks JM\u2019s kindness for his family and hopes JM has received his writings on American finances and education. Also requests that JM continue to instruct American ship captains to receive him on board when he has finished his work in his native country.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0529", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Inhabitants of St. Clair County, Illinois Territory, 6 September 1811\nFrom: St. Clair County, Illinois Territory Inhabitants\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\u2014Septr. 6th. 1811.\nIn approaching the chief Magistrate of our country, we should not do Justice to our feelings, were we to neglect expressing our confidence in his administration, and our sincere respect and esteem for his person. And, although we are situated far from the seat of our National government; and not possessed of the best means of information respecting our National concerns\u2014we humbly conceive, that, at the present crisis when our dearest interests demand such an agreement in political opinion as may ensure weight and efficacy to the general government\u2014silence on the situation of our public affairs might be considered Treason against our individual happiness and the general prosperity of our common country. At a time when unwarrantable aggressions and unprecedented depredations are repeatedly made on our neutral rights, in sequestrations and impressments by the powerful belligerant Nations; and when their emmisaries are taking every advantage of the disaffected part of our community, to sever the union, and to cause the fair fabric of United Columbia to totter and tumble into ruin: It is the interest, and it becomes the duty of every patriotic citizen, of United America, to rally round their Standard pledging their lives and property in support of our Constitution, the delegated authority, and that administration that conducts our National affairs (as we conceive) for the best in this portentous dilemma now before us.\nYet we view with gratitude an allwise providence, presiding over our American affairs, ruling and directing those at the helm of government: So that, notwithstanding that dreadful Vortex of war and devastation into which the nations of Europe are hurled, and which is spreading ruin and blood-shed through all their borders: we have hitherto escaped the dreadful calamity. We therefore assure you, Sir, that we are happy that you, together [with] the united wisdom of the general government, have been enabled to steer clear of any alliance with either of the belligerant powers of the Old World. But at the same time we assure You of our firm support should you be obliged to seek by open war, the just and equal rights of a long injured Nation, who have borne innumerable injuries and insults, from those governments from whom we have not deserved them: And we assure you, Sir, that should a Just war with any Nation, be absolutely necessary, we are willing to support it with our lives and property. And prefering war to an inglorious peace, we stand ready for either event, praying that, that God who overrules all events will still smile on you, and the Nation over whom you preside, and have us all under his holy care and protection. While Addressing you in general terms, we wish to remind you of the precarious situation in which we are placed at this time, by the hostile movements of our Indian neighbors. They having murdered two young men in this neighborhood this season, and dangerou[s]ly wounded two other men, took a young woman prisoner, and plundered a considerable property in horses and household goods. The young woman was afterward, fortunately rescued from her captors by a party of men who pursued, and overtook them before they reached their Village. It appears from the best information we can get, that they do not intend to make any reperation. All which probably, has been communicated from other sources; It is very certain that British emmissaries who are trading within our limits, are instigating the Indians to war with the United States.\nWe beg leave, Sir, to mention an other local grievance under which we labor, in order that through you, as through a powerful and happy medium we may reach our National legislature. We humbly conceive, sir, that were the public lands given to actual Settlers at a reduced price, and moderately taxed thereafter for a term of time, the industrious poor would have it in their power to become owners of freeholds, and thereby escape a state of Vassalage: and likewise be enabled to raise their families respectably; from which would arise useful citizens. But numbers of us, who now address you (short of some propitious turn of fortune) cannot entertain the pleasing hope of becoming owners of a competent portion of the soil for the ra[i]sing of our families; if the present price is still required in Cash, whilst there is such a scarcity of the circulating medium, which, at present cannot be procured for the produce of this Country. We therefore earnestly wish that some means could be devised without eventually curtailing our National revenue, whereby the poor of this country could be poss[ess]ed (in fee simple) of a small portion of lands. We conclude Sir, with our best wishes for your health and your present and future prosperity. Signed by order of the convention\nRobt. McMahan Chairman \nJ. Messigner Secy.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0530", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 6 September 1811\nFrom: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,Washington Septr. 6h. 1811\nIt was my intention to have undertaken the survey of the line of the Western Navigation of the State of New York, and I had already accepted the Office of Engineer offered to me by the Commissioners of that State, when you left the city. But on reconsidering the duty I have to perform for the Navy department here, & the injury which so long an absence might occasion to my other concerns I resolved to give up the task at least for this season, & did not therefore go to the Northward as I proposed.\nImmediately after your departure, I had a compleat examination of the roof of the President\u2019s house and as soon as the weather would permit the Plumbers of the Navy Yard repaired the Lead & provided & laid down a new Sheet in the place of that which had been blown off by the Storm, as well as of another which was very faulty. The Wind Vane has also required and received the repair.\nThe Platforms over the Gutters were entirely rotten, & have been removed as they stopped up the Waterway. Mr Lenox has undertaken to replace them & Mr Combes to furnish the timber on the faith of the public. Without them the house will not be habitable next winter; because the steepness of the roof, and the action of the Sun upon the Iron occasions the Snow immediately after it has fallen in any Mass to descend into the Gutters, unless prevented by their being covered.\nThe Stables are also now putting into the order your [sic] desire by Mr Lenox.\nWe have not yet begun to paint the Roof an operation as essential to its preservation as any other, but Mr. Barry has promised to set about it as soon as the weather, which after a very uncommon spell of rain, promises to be fair, will permit him.\nMr. Munroe suggests that if you would permit it, the bills for these works of absolute necessity might be paid out of the balance remaining of the Hotel appropriation as a loan. This balance is about 2000$. The condition of the West side of the Capitol, so often represented to Congress occasions great injury to the finished part of the building. It is impossible to remedy this entirely but I shall at my own expense prevent any injury to the Senate Chamber.\nIf it is possible so to arrange my affairs as to spare a fortnight during the present month I propose taking a short journey into Virginia & shall endeavor to show to you my respect by calling upon you at Montpellier. I am with great truth Your faithful hble Servt\nB H Latrobe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0531", "content": "Title: To James Madison from an Unidentified Correspondent, 6 September 1811\nFrom: \nTo: Madison, James\n\u201cIllustrious\u201d Madison! canting \u201cFellow Citizen\u201d!!!\n\u261e \u261e \u261e I hope you and all your infernal Set, are now in the Suds: if you are not yet, a post or two, will convince you.\nWar, has taken place, between Britain, and the United States; you may recollect this, & credit anonymous\u2019 account, in future.\nAll, that I have predicted, & warned you of, will come to pass. A commence, you will hear of, ere this reaches you.\nI have little to say, on the subject, you must go to Giles, the arch-demagogue, to comfort you! Jefferson is off, for hell.\nG\u2014d send the people a good deliverance: the infernal Scoundrels at the head, must, & will fall.\nRemember that,\nHonestus.\nI pity the Woman!\u2014but you, yourself, have let the Blood hounds loose. While naked as a child, you have insulted a man in iron armor. Are we to lie down, & suffer for your destructive insanity!!!?\n\u261e I am as confident, as that I now exist, that you have sold your Country\u2014that you have entered into a treaty with\u2014 \u261c\u261c\u261c\n\u261e the infernal Spirit of Hell!\nwhich all your art, and all the art of your abetters, will be exercised\u2014to conceal!\u2014and get your detested necks, out of the Halter!\u2014but, you will soon find the flood come down upon you, & call upon the mountains, in vain, to cover you: the honest spirit of the misled multitude, will rouse\u2014you & those demagogues will be like dust & chaff in that burning fiery hour. All will foresake you, & call aloud for vengeance! There never was known, since the foundation of the World, such a scene of Folly, of infatuated & infuriated madness, in a Government, as our\u2019s, owing to your own infatuation, in believing, like an ideot, that the people mt. be lead like lambs to the slaughter. No, the people are honest, & mean well, but they have been most shockingly deceived in chusing you!\nThe poor hoodwinked mob & rabble cry\u2014\u201cthere will be no war\u201d!!! It is gone out of your hands. I say, there will be a War, of the most determind kind; but what care you?\u2014while Carter\u2019s mountain has room for the immortal hero!\u2014& his lick spittle! But mountains won\u2019t cover you. Eternal Justice must & will overtake both the poor shivering wretches; an indignant people will drag you forth! You can see the clouds gathering, but defy the storm.\nThis is written with Spirit, but every word of it is founded, and the predictions will prove\nTrue.\n\u261e Look at the genius of our duels, one or both always killed! Behold the spirit of our Suicides, wife, children, & self, all go together.\nOffer 50 cents Reward, to find the author of this; I will claim it, & surrender directly; but I will publish a copy of it, & all preceding communications to you. I\u2019ll suffer cheerfully for my Country\u2019s good. No, no, you canting Scab, this country does not belong to Americans, it belongs to Napoleon Boneparte, it is sold to him. It was bought of you by him; it once belonged to the gallant Sons of Columbia, but it no longer belongs to them. Jefferson commenced the Sale, you, by his Orders, knocked it down! We live under his nod, or the same thing, under his lick spittle\u2019s fiat!!!!!!\nI tell you, Smith has done your business; he has let the Cat out of the bag. His word with the party is as good as yours. They believe him, & they plainly say, that you are an infamous rascal, & a public thief. O! what vengeance awaits you! I think I hear you cry, with horror:\nO save me, save me, ere the thunders roll\nand hell\u2019s black Cavern swallows up my Soul.\nI am in Earnest\u2014as you will most assuredly find\u2014too late!", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0532", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Rush, 6 September 1811\nFrom: Rush, Benjamin\nTo: Madison, James\nLetter not found. 6 September 1811. Acknowledged in JM to Rush, 20 Sept. 1811. Forwards a copy of a pamphlet received from the earl of Buchan.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0535", "content": "Title: From James Madison to William Eustis, 8 September 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Eustis, William\nDear SirMontpelier Sepr. 8. 1811\nYour favor of the 2d. was duly recd. The course which the B. Govt. pursues, particularly in sending a Squadron to our Coasts, with such menacing indications, calls for our vigilance in every respect; and incidents may ensue, which would make a stronger claim on the services of the Members of the Ct. Mart: at Frederick town, than is made by the Object of that Court. It is so desirable nevertheless that this object should be fulfilled, that I think we ought not to be too hasty, in interfering with it; I am the less willing to presume a sudden & perfidious blow agst. our forts or towns, as the most recent articles of information from Europe do not favor temerity in the existing Cabinet of G. B. and as Mr. Foster\u2019s communication to Mr. Monroe, founded on the arrival of the special Messenger, and relating to the encounter between a frigate & the British Ship, simply demands in the usual form, a disavowal & reparation on the part of this Govt., modestly referring to the example given by G. B. in the case of the Chesapeake. Perhaps it might not be amiss, to signify to the officers at Fredk. Town, the expediency of holding themselves in momentary readiness to repair to their military posts. It might be well also for you & Mr. Hamilton to consult on the Mutual arrangements and orders, which might most contribute to the security, of the ports & places requiring the most prompt attention. N. York, of course, will not escape it.\nI enclose a letter from Mr. Strode in behalf of a Mr. Morrison, whose case is better known to you, than to me. I signified this to Mr. M. and remarked that you would doubtless make the proper decision on it. As it is not a time for diminishing the chances of multiplying arms, it is the more natural to lean to the indulgent side, as far as necessary rules will permit, and future confidence may be secured. Accept my respects and best wishes\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0536", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Paul Hamilton, 9 September 1811\nFrom: Hamilton, Paul\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirCity of Washington Septr 9th. 1811\nSickness in my family which has occupied much of my time for some days past has prevented my forwarding, at an earlier moment, the enclosed copy of a letter from Capt. Porter for your information. As Capt Porter\u2019s operations are sanctioned by the orders which, some months since, in obedience to your instructions I issued to the Commanders of our Vessels of war, I shall inform him that his conduct is approv\u2019d. I regret that the sitting of the court on the case of Commodore Rodgers deprives us, at present, of the services of two of our 44s, but I hope that in a few days the proceedings will terminate, and those ships will go to Sea; and that their appearance on the coast will have a salutary effect in restraining the insolence offered to our ports by anything under ships of the line. You have no doubt noticed well the accounts of the destination of a british squadron to the American Coast under Admiral Yorke. What may be [the] extent of their intentions can only be conjectured, but I think that we may assure ourselves that, at least, they will bear heavily on our trade, and occasionally manifest their contempt for our laws by putting into our ports under mere pretences of distress &c: indeed, I shall not be surprized if even in squadron, they make at times a display in Hampton Road. If you think these things probable, and that it is proper to prepare for service on the Chesapeake some of our Gunboats, I shall be glad to have your instructions on that, or any other point which may be suggested to you as entitled to attention. To see our little navy, if called to the defence of our country, requite by it\u2019s services the expence which is bestowed on it is amongst the most ardent desires of my heart; and I request you to believe that nothing that may conduce to render it as effective as possible shall be omitted.\nI trust that my Son has reached you in safety with his dispatches with which he left this on tuesday last.\nMrs. Hamilton is now confined to her bed with a fever of some days duration, the daily exacerbations of which are preceded by most distressing Agues. My son Edward also has not been clear of fever for 6 days past. Capitol Hill is at this moment as much infested with ague & fever as I have ever known the rice country of So. Carolina to be\u2014other parts of the City are very healthy. I fear that the canal will prove to be a very great injury to the health of this part of the City.\nMay health & happiness constantly attend you and Mrs. Madison. I remain, Dear Sir, with sincere respect and attachment yrs.\nPaul Hamilton", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0538", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Paul Hamilton, 11 September 1811\nFrom: Hamilton, Paul\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirCity of Washington Septemr. 11th. 1811\nThe enclosed was presented me this morning by Mr. Smith, the gentleman in whose behalf it was written. He stated that he had been waiting here for three weeks expecting your arrival, on which, he intended to deliver it, but as he was informed that the period of it was uncertain he had been advised by his friends to offer it to me. He stated to me, most positively, that he knew the contents and that they had now relation only to an application which he made for a Chaplaincy in the Navy, and to no other subject; intimated that delay was inconvenient to him (in a pecuniary way I believe), and with much earnestness requested me to open it. I hesitated\u2014on which he produced me other papers calculated to shew that he was entitled to credence and urged his request that I would open the letter. I felt a confidence in him, and knowing that if the letter proved to be such as he described it to be, in the event of it\u2019s being first opened by you, conformably to that confidence with which you have hitherto honored me, you would return it to me to be acted on, I ventured to open it: and altho\u2019 I have not been deceived in the contents as described by Mr. Smith, a little reflection subsequently has shewn to me, most feelingly, that I have erred in violating, under any assurance the seal of a letter directed to you, accompanied by any representation howsoever plausible. I have sought consolation in the candor which excites this letter. This will serve me to a certain but a very limited extent, for, even if you are so indulgent to me as to excuse the act, I shall ever feel self-reproach for it, while the compunction which I feel causes a determination that, under no circumstances, it shall be repeated.\nI have assured Mr. Smith of the success of his application, for, he appears to be an interesting man, and we need men of his description as Chaplains in our Navy, of which grade of officers, we now have only three.\nI am happy to inform you that Mrs. Hamilton is now mending, altho much reduced. Our hopes of partaking of your hospitality at Montpeleir, this season, are at an end. If we live to see the next, we trust that we shall not be disappointed in complying with the repeated invitations of yourself and Mrs. Madison, of which we shall ever retain a grateful remembrance.\nAll our united best respects and most friendly wishes are offered to you and Mrs. Madison; and with great sincerity and truth I conclude yrs.\nPaul Hamilton", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0540", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Leander Cathcart, 12 September 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Cathcart, James Leander\nTo: Madison, James\n12 September 1811, Madeira. Advises that the wines JM ordered are cased and awaiting a vessel for Alexandria or Baltimore. Both JM\u2019s and Monroe\u2019s wines will be forwarded as soon as a ship is available. \u201cI have taken the liberty to include the Pipe of wine for Mrs. Lucy Washington in the bill I have drawn upon you this day in favor of Matthew Cobb Esqr. of Portland for \u00a3378. Stg.\u201d Wishes to be able to serve JM in the future. Adds in a postscript an account for five pipes of wine at \u00a360 per pipe, five cases at \u00a33 per case, and one pipe cased for Mrs. Washington at \u00a363.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0541", "content": "Title: From James Madison to John Armstrong, 13 September 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Armstrong, John\nDear SirMontpelier Sepr. 13. 1811\nYour favor of the 2d. instant, inclosing a newspaper statement of a conversation imputed to you, has been recd. with the respect due to the motives for the communication.\nI need scarcely say that evidence of that sort could have no weight with me, when opposed by so much improbability, and by the predispositions which it could not fail to find in me. I might add that the disproof furnished by the contradiction of dates, did not escape notice. Accept my respects and good wishes\nJ. M.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0542", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Graham, 13 September 1811\nFrom: Graham, John\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirWashington 13th Sepr 1811\nI should have answered by the last Mail, the Letter you did me the Honor to write me, expressing a hope that my Health was returning; had I not been so sick on the day of its departure that I could not sit up. In consequence of a powerful dose of medicine, I am some what better, and have begun again to take Bark tho: I very much doubt whether my Stomach is properly prepared for it.\nThe City is I think more sickly than I ever knew it to be, tho the fevers are said to be of a cast that yields to the power of Medicine. By this Mail you will receive many Letters from Mr Smith, Mr Erving and Mr Adams. I opened such of them as I thought might probably be in Cypher. With Sentiments of the most Respectful attachment I have the Honor to be your Most Hble Sert\nJohn Graham\nBe pleased to let Mrs Madison know that I have sent her Letters to Mrs Crawford & Mrs Knapp and that I beg to be most respectfully presented to her.\nAs it is possible that they may not be able to get thro the decyphering of Mr Adams Letters, at the office today, in time for the Mail\u2014I will mention that it appears from a p\u27e8ar\u27e9t of one of them which I read, that he declines the appointment of Judge and intends to remain a little longer in Russia.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0543", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Monroe, 13 September 1811\nFrom: Monroe, James\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirAlbemarle Sepr. 13. 1811\nPermit me to submit to your consideration a subject of peculiar delicacy. It is to suggest a doubt of the propriety of your making a visit at this time to this neighbourhood. You will be satisfied that I do suggest it from an attachment to your fame & that of your administration.\nIf you come up, it being just before the meeting of Congress, it will be concluded, & probably so represented in the gazettes, that all the measures of the govt., at this important crisis, are adjusted at the interview. It will not be material that the idea is erroneous & false. The impression will be the same as if the fact was true.\nBy declining to come up our friend will not suppose that the omission proceeds from a want of regard. He will not even suspect it. But if he knew the real motive, he could not but approve it. There is no necessity however for his ever knowing it. The necessity of preparation for hasty departure for Washington, compy., interruption &ca, are a sufficient & just excuse.\nYou may be satisfied that every step you take at this time is watched & criticised with severity, & that light things may do harm. Some friends have been cooled, others made enemies; whom the constant & unshaken course of the distinguished personage on whom they have principally relied, cannot restore to their former state.\nIt is not without concern that I make this suggestion, but I feel that I should fail in the just claim you have on me if I did not. It is in the most perfect confidence, that I submit the subject to your consideration. Should you determine to come up, & drop me a line, I will have the pleasure to meet you there. I am very sincerely your friend\nJas Monroe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0544", "content": "Title: From James Madison to James Monroe, [13 September] 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Monroe, James\nDear SirFriday evening. [13 September 1811]\nI have just recd. your favor of this date. I need not express the perfect confidence I feel in the friendly & considerate inducements to your suggestion. But having made definitive preparation for the intended visit; having in no instance omitted it for many years, & the motive being strengthened by the late one recd. by myself, I think the omission, if tested by prudential calculations of a political nature, would be more liable to objection, than conformity to the usual course; whilst every other consideration is in favor of this conformity. I shall therefore yield to the feelings of personal esteem & friendship; and abide whatever may ensue. These feelings will be the more gratified by the pleasure which the trip promises of an opportunity of seeing you. Accept assurances of my great esteem & cordial regard.\nJames Madison\nWe propose to set out tomorrow morning & to be at Monticello in the Evening.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0545", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John R. Phillips, 13 September 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Phillips, John R.\nTo: Madison, James\n13 September 1811, Newport, Delaware. Admits to some embarrassment in approaching JM, but the village of Newport wishes this autumn to erect and finish by subscription \u201ca neat but plain building as a house for public worship (with a burying ground attachd. to it).\u201d The principles of the plan are that \u201cit will be free to all but belonging to none under the Care of a Committee appointed Yearly from among the citizens of the Village & its neighbourhood.\u201d The committee will form a constitution and raise the sum necessary to pay for the building. Asks JM whether, if they are short of funds, they might look to him to make up the deficiency.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0546", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Albert Gallatin, 14 September 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Gallatin, Albert\nDear SirMontpelier Sepr. 14. 1811.\nThe inclosed Letter was brought to me by the young gentleman in whose behalf it was written. He had other respectable recommendations addressed to you, which he has doubtless forwarded: His personal appearance does not make against him. He therefore stands in fair comparison with the other candidates to be taken into view, and who are better known to you than to me.\nThe accounts by the Jno. Adams fortify the ground on which we stand as to the cessation of the F. Decrees: but are liable to unfavorable remarks in several points of view. It is evident however, that there is an increasing desire in the French Govt. to be thought well disposed towards us; the policy of which particularly at the present moment explains itself. Mr. Foster in pursuance of instructions by the special messenger, has put in a formal demand of disavowal & reparation of the affair of the little Belt; accompanying it with a copy of the instructions under which Bingham cruised. The answer of Mr. Monroe refers to & repeats the explanation given at Washington; adhering to the ground on which no notice of the case, beyond a disavowal of hostile orders, could be taken without the obvious preliminary on the part of the B. Govt. The tenor of the instructions to Bingham, and the manner of their communication, afforded an apt occasion, for expressing the disposition here to meet every proof of an amicable one on the other side, in the way most suited to a favorable & general adjustment of differences. Late communications from Mr. Erving shew that the Danish depredations have ceased & that the loss on the whole will be so reduced as to form no essential proportion to what was threatened. The cases on which the D. Govt. was most inflexible were those in which our Vessels had availed themselves of B. Convoy. Most of them appeared to be desperate.\nWe are just setting out on a visit for 2 or 3 days to Monticello. Mr. Jefferson was with us a week or two ago; and seemed to enjoy good health, with the exception of a troublesome rheumatic affection near the hip.\nMrs. Madison offers Mrs. Gallatin her Affectionate respects. Be pleased to add mine, & to accept them for yourself.\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0547", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Eustis, 14 September 1811\nFrom: Eustis, William\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,Washington Septr 14th 1811.\nIt is with reluctance that I am obliged again to trouble you on the subject of the court martial, the details of which it was hoped might have been arranged by the department. Since my last it appears that it has been determined to take congnizance of all the charges. A new demand, as will be explained by the enclosed copy of a Letter from the Judge Advocate, is now made by the General thro the court for Colo. Cushing & several other officers from the Mississippi. When the request for Colo. Cushing was made by the General to the Dept he was answered that the Colo. was in the hands of a court martial\u2014had pleaded to the charges\u2014that the court at his instance had been adjourned to the first of December to give him an opportunity to procure testimony, and in case of his being ordered to Maryland that he could not return by the time assigned for the meeting of the court in December. The General was then refer\u2019d to Mr Jones for the purpose of making an arrangement by which the deposition of the Colo might be taken. When the motion was made to the court for the order lately given Mr Jones offered as I am informed to admit the declaration of the General to any point wch. was to be sustained by the evidence of Colo. Cushing.\nWhen Colo. Pike was applied for at a late period it was answered to the General that had the application been made in season an arrangement might have been adopted for the purpose: but so many field and other officers had already been ordered from that command, & two of the former grade being in arrest, the public service did not admit of a compliance. Colo. Covington being added to the list brings to recollection a letter which is herewith enclosed which was put into my hands by Mr. Munroe on the evening previous to his leaving the city, apparently in the hand writing of the General; this with other circumstances discovers a disposition to bring together by some means or other the personal friends of the General. The other officers named, if they had been material witnesses should have been ordered on the intimation of the General at an earlier day. From information which I have received, it is probable that a personal accommodation to themselves has been the ground work of the application with an ultimate view to increase the number of friends. To be compelled to know & to state the indirect means which are practising is truely painful. To be convinced of their existence and at the same time to be forbidden to act upon them is embarrassing. After the General had moulded the court to his liking and gained a controul over it wch as I am well informed has been evident in every instance hitherto & of which there can be no higher proof than their order enclosed which was issued under a knowlege of all the circumstances; it was to have been expected that he would have been satisfied and have suffered the trial to proceed.\nIn the case of Colo. Cushing, practice & general principles sanction the releasing an officer from arrest as well as a private from a guard house for the purpose of giving testimony before a court martial\u2014whether an application of the principle under the peculiar circumstances of the Colo. is admissible I must confess I have doubts. Genl. Hampton in a Letter written a short time previous to his visit to the seat of Govt. begs that his resignation may be cotemporaneous with any order which takes Colo. C from the arrest in which he has placed him. If he should adhere to this determination (which has not hitherto been communicated to you Sir, because it was deemed hasty & which is now made known from a sense of duty) after he shall see that it is at the instance of the Court: two great objects will be effected by Genl. W. Cushing will probably never be brot to trial. It will be hors de combat. With respect to Covington Pike & the other officers who (in case an order is given) cannot be expected to arrive in less than three months unless there arise some unforeseen occurrence I perceive no other derangement of service than the passing of their commands to other officers some of whom will be of inferior grades. The question arises shall the request be granted in toto\u2014shall it be declined in toto\u2014or shall it be granted with the exception of Colo. Cushing. A denial is a disrespect to the court (which whether they have or have not merited I presume not to determine) and this will be added in high colours to the alledged system of persecution. In my life I do not recollect an instance of greater embarrassment. Confidentially I have consulted Mr Hamilton who sees the stratagem but is of opinion that the safest course is to comply.\nIn forming a judgment it is impossible to exclude from consideration the high presumption (founded on the disposition already manifested by the court) of a complete and (I should not be surprized to see attached the word) honorable acquital of every charge and specification.\nIn this dilemma, inclining to an opinion that the request of the Court cannot be altogether disregarded unless circumstances affecting the public safety should be deemed such as to justify it, I beg leave to solicit your advice & direction, so far as you may judge proper to afford the one or the other. To render justice to the General & to the country in a manner correspondent with your views & directions, is the highest ambition (in the care) of Dr Sir, your faithful & respectful\nW. Eustis\nThe request of the President of the court as expressed in his Letter will be complied with as soon as a suitable person can be found to assist Mr Jones, who was informed by me a day or two previous to his leaving the city that he would require an asst. and who was requested to cast about in his own mind for a proper character.\nIt was stated to the court by the Judge Advocate that ordering Colo. C. to this court w\u2019d discharge him from his arrest\u2014& as he had pleaded to the charges would release him from any obligation to the court before which he was bound to appear\u2014& it does not appear that this court have given an opinion to the contrary.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0550", "content": "Title: From James Madison to William Eustis, 15 September 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Eustis, William\nDear SirSepr. 15. 1811\nI have recd. yours of the 11th. inclosing a letter from Mr. Jones acting as Judge Advocate at Frederick Town. As the case of Genl. Wilkinson is in possession of the Court Martial, who will judge of the extent of their own jurisdiction, as well as decide on the merits of the questions within it, no instructions seem to be requisite, in the present stage of the proceeding; unless it be in reference to the event of refusing cognizance of a part of the charges; and in that event, I see no sufficient ground on which the residue of the charges could be withdrawn. If those, not transferred by the H. of R. to the Ex. had been witheld, that distinction might have accounted for such a course; but it cannot well be applied to the withdrawal of the charges. When the result of the trial presents itself, we must take up whatever questions may grow out of it, and fall within Executive competency.\nI return the letter of Sibley, and the proposal in favor of Dr. Thos. J. C. Monroe, with the usual note of approbation. Accept my esteem & best wishes\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0553", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Graham, 18 September 1811\nFrom: Graham, John\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirDepartment of State 18th Sepr 1811\nFinding myself better today than I have been since I was last taken sick I rode to the Office this Morning and found on my Desk the Letter you did me the Honor to write to me on the 16th. I immediately sent to the Bank and have been enabled to get Virginia Notes for the amount of the Check excepting $100 which is sent in a note of the Bank of Columbia. I was some what at a loss whether you intended that I should send one half the amount of your Check by this Mail and the residue by the next or whether I should send one half of the notes by this Mail and the other half by the next. I have taken a sort of middle course calculated to lessen the risque of sending a large sum by the Mail and to prevent you from being disappointed should you want part of the Money before the arrival of the next Mail\u2014that is, I now send $200 and one half of nine Notes (amounting to $800) and by the next Mail I shall send $200 more and the other half of the above mentioned Nine Notes. With Sentiments of the most Sincere & Respectful attachment I am Dear Sir your Mo: Hble Sert\nJohn Graham", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0554", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Leander Cathcart, 18 September 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Cathcart, James Leander\nTo: Madison, James\n18 September 1811, Madeira. Encloses an invoice and bill of lading for the six pipes of wine JM ordered on 28 May\u2014five pipes for JM and one for Mrs. Lucy Washington. Pipes no. 1 and 2 are from the vault of John de Carvalhal, the remainder from the private stock of Henry Correa. Assures JM of the purity of the wine, mentioning that \u201cthe vintages of the four last years have been remarkably bad & new wines are now sold at double the price that the[y] were formerly.\u201d Has consigned the wine to Colonel Stricker, the navy agent at Baltimore, who will forward it where JM wishes. Reminds JM of his earlier request to be considered for the consulate at Lisbon in the event [George] Jefferson declines it. \u201cI repeat the request as this Consulate does not furnish the means of maintaining so numerous a family as mine.\u201d Should his application succeed, JM will \u201cmake a family happy who have long been the sport of Fortune & whose prayers have long been offer\u2019d up at the throne of grace for your temporal & eternal happiness.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0555", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Benjamin Rush, 20 September 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\nDear SirMontpelier Sepr. 20. 1811\nI have recd. your favor of the 6th. inclosing the Pamphlet from the Earl of Buchan. Could a portion only of his liberality & philanthropy, be substituted for the narrow Councils and national prejudices, which direct the course of his Government, towards the U. States, the clouds which have so long hung over the relations of two Countries, mutually interested in cultivating friendship, would quickly disappear.\nWill you permit me to trouble you with the inclosed volume from Mr. Dupont de Nemours; to be disposed of according to its address. Accept Dear Sir my high esteem and affectionate respects\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0556", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Graham, 20 September 1811\nFrom: Graham, John\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirDept of State 20th Sepr 1811\nI had the Honor by the last Mail to acknowledge the receipt of your Letter of the 16th Inst. covering a Check for $1200\u2014and requesting that I would remit you the amount in Virginia Notes one half by the last Mail and one half by this.\nIn compliance with this request I had the Honor to send you by the last Mail (18th Inst) $200 in notes of the B of Virginia that were not cut, and the one half of nine notes which were cut, (amounting to $800). I have now the Honor to inclose you the other half of these Notes\u2014and also $200 in notes that are not cut. Making in the whole $1200 the amount of the check. I hope that this Money will reach you and that the plan I have adopted for sending it safely will in no way prove inconvenient to you. Our City yet continues sickly. For myself, I think I am getting well, tho: I have as yet very little appetite.\nI beg to be presented to Mrs Madison and to renew the assurances of the great & Respectful Esteem with which I have the Honor to be, Sir, Your Most Hble Sert\nJohn Graham", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0557", "content": "Title: From James Madison to William Eustis, 21 September 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Eustis, William\nLetter not found. 21 September 1811. Acknowledged in Eustis to JM, 25 Sept. 1811. Gives instructions relating to the attendance of officers at the court-martial of James Wilkinson.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0558", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Eustis, 25 September 1811\nFrom: Eustis, William\nTo: Madison, James\nDr Sir,Washington Septr 25th: 1811.\nYour Letter of the 21st instant was received yesterday. By the mail of the same day an order issued to General Hampton directing the attendance of all the officers named in the request of the Court Martial. A duplicate of the order was also confided to Lt Colo. Backus, a member of the court objected to by Genl. Wilkinson and discharged, who is ordered to the Southward to supply the place of one of the field officers ordered from that station, with directions to deliver it to General Hampton in order that the earliest notice may be given to the concerned.\nThe proceedings of the court martial in the case of Surgeon\u2019s Mate Huston, as also the Letter from Jeffersonville Ky recommending Mr Wood for a commission in the army is received by the mail of this morning.\nThe West end of the city continues healthy\u2014Capitol hill less so. Looking with impatience for your return which will relieve us from the quasi exile of the last two months, we are with our best respects to Mrs Madison, Dr Sir, your respectful\nW Eustis", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0559", "content": "Title: To James Madison from David Meade Randolph, 26 September 1811\nFrom: Randolph, David Meade\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,London 26th September 1811\nThe event which my letter of the 14th June last was designed to anticipate, you will have communicated from the proper source: Whilst my additional appeal to your private or Official character, as your regard to a due consistencey of conduct shall determine, is, for the sole purpose of referring you to my friend John Marshall of Richmond, and such other persons as may be deemed equal to any degree of responsibility, which you shall find requisite, and his confidence in my integrity and honor, can supply. And, whatever shall be your pleasure, I shall regard with personal respect, and as proof of your public dignity. Having the honor to be your faithful Countryman &cc &cc\nD M Randolph", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0562", "content": "Title: Account with Dinsmore and Neilson, 28 September 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Dinsmore, James\nTo: \n28 September 1811. Lists charges for enlarging and furnishing at Montpelier the drawing room, passage, dining room, large bedroom, kitchen, and \u201cS. W. Wing.\u201d Also included are charges for the construction of the temple and labor for the period 30 Sept. 1810 to 28 Sept. 1811. The total amount of the charges is \u00a31,088 8s. 7\u00bdd., with a balance due of \u00a3378 10s. 7\u00bdd. as of 28 Sept.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0563", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Richard Cutts, 30 September 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Cutts, Richard\nDear Sir,Montpelier, Sepr. 30. 1811\nI have received your favor of  with the pleasure I could not but feel in learning that the accident to your shoulder was so far advanced towards a cure. It is with a very different feeling I am given to understand that any doubt exists as to your coming to Washington this winter, where besides considerations of a public nature, the social ones would be so interesting to us. I shall not give up the hope that you will not yield to obstacles which may not be absolutely unsurmountable and that we may even have you and your family with us at an earlier day than that to which you have limited the chance of the gratification.\nNothing has occurred latterly to vary the complexion of our foreign prospects, beyond what you will have gathered from the printed accounts. If a change takes place in the British Cabinet or France should disappoint the calculations somewhat encouraged by recent appearances, Congress will probably have occasion for all their wisdom and patriotic energy. From the accounts of latest date, it would seem that the insane sovereign of Great Britain cannot long be in the way, of better councils, in case his successor should be disposed to adopt them toward this country.\nWe are in the moment of setting out for Washington, and in the hurry incident to it. We are all well except J. Payne, whose indisposition has settled into an ague and fever. This is his well day and I hope his sick one tomorrow may not disqualify for a short ride from my brother\u2019s to Dr. Winston\u2019s.\nAccept for Mrs. Cutts and yourself our affectionate regards and wishes.\nJames Madison.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0564", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Thomas Cooper, 4 October 1811\nFrom: Cooper, Thomas\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirNorthumberland October 4. 1811\nAbout two years ago, I requested you to procure for me, by means of Gen. Armstrong, or Mr Warden, some books on Chemistry and Mineralogy, which the irregularity of intercourse between this Country and France, prevented me from obtaining. You were so kind as to write on the subject to Paris and directed the amount of what the books might cost, to be paid by one or other of those Gentlemen on your credit.\nFrom Gen. Armstrong or Mr Warden, I have never received one line of communication. About two months ago, I heard accidentally that Mr Duane Editor of the Aurora, had received from France some books corresponding to the List I took the Liberty of sending to you. I stated the case (your kind interference, and the titles of the Books I had sent for) in a note to my friend Dr. Armstrong, with a request he would transmit it to his brother the General. He did so. But hitherto neither he or I, have received a line in answer.\nUnder these circumstances, I have taken the Liberty of writing to you, lest the books may have been mistakenly sent to a wrong destination, and you charged with their Amount. That Duane has received some such books, I know, because he sent Loysel sur L\u2019Art de la Verrerie to my son in Law in the City for me to translate if I thought fit; I had already translated it; but my proposed publication has been neglected in consequence of my continual expectation of the books I looked for. Soon after the last April Session, the Legislature of Pennsylvania addressed the Governor to remove me from my situation as Judge, which I had held 8 years, as I thought reputably to myself and usefully to the Country. An account of the proceedings in my case, I shall take the liberty of sending by young Mr Nourse who is on a visit in this Town. I do not expect that you should peruse it, for you have occupations for your valuable time far more important. But I have a right to say that I have lost no friend on the bench or at the Bar; and the encreased and flattering attentions of the late Governor McKean and Mr Dallas, both known to you, assure me, that my offence must have been in reality of a nature purely political, and I am conscious of none.\nIn June, the Trustees of Carlisle College (Dickinson College) made me the voluntary offer of the Chemical Chair in that Institution, which I accepted. I am here (Northumberland) on a visit only to my friend Mr Priestley during the Vacation: so that if you should find occasion to say any thing on the subject of this letter, be good enough to direct to me as Chemical Professor at Dickinson College, Carlisle. I remain with true respect Dear Sir Your obliged friend and Servant\nThomas Cooper", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0565", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Cambridge Light Dragoons, 5 October 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Cambridge Light Dragoons\nTo: Madison, James\n5 October 1811, Cambridge, South Carolina. The subscribers, citizens of Cambridge and vicinity, \u201chave long since associated ourselves \u2026 under the name of the Cambridge Light Dragoons\u201d in order to \u201caid in protecting, the Honor, independence, and safety of these United States from foreign invasion or internal commotion.\u201d They have been watching \u201cwith vigilance, and attention the situation of our foreign Relations with France and Great Britain\u201d and fear that \u201can awful Crisis is at hand\u201d with the latter. \u201cIf the Goddess of peace must be assailed in her last Sanctuary, the Nation should be prepared to meet the daring Assailant with a terrible Vengeance. We therefore \u2026 beg leave to tender to the constituted Authorities our best services in case of Emerg[e]ncy. Our swords shall be drawn at the first summons, and when drawn our Motto shall be an honorable Peace or interminable War, for we would sooner be buried in the Ruins of our Country, than survive to witness her disgrace.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0566", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Richard Cutts, 6 [October] 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Cutts, Richard\nDear SirWashington Sunday Sepr. [October] 6. 1811\nA letter just recd. by Mr[s.] M. from Mrs. C. informs us that you had set out on a trip for Boston. This will probably find you returned, and I hope without any such accident as befel your former one. Mr. J. Q. Adams declines his Judiciary appt. Another is of course to be made as soon as the Senate are in session. Be so good as to give me without delay, information of the state of Mr. Lincoln\u2019s eyes, and his probable disposition on the subject. You will oblige me also by any other information which may aid me in a fit choice.\nWe continue well except J. Payne who is not yet free from his intermittent. He joined us here the day before yesterday; and is in the hands of Dr Elzey, who is famou\u27e8s\u27e9 as a bilious Physician.\nWe remain without important news from Europe farther than the Newspapers give it. With affece. respects to Mrs. C. Adieu\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0568", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William C. C. Claiborne, 8 October 1811\nFrom: Claiborne, William C. C.\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,Near New-Orleans October 8h 1811\nAs my Commission as Governor of Orleans, will expire on the 17th. of January next, I take the liberty to request you to consider me a Candidate for honor of a reappointment. I am very grateful for the many proofs of Confidence you have already given me, and If I know myself, the favorite wish of my heart has always been, to merit by a faithful discharge of my duties, a Continuance of your good opinion.\nAs the Ordinance for the Government of this Territory, makes no provision for the exercise of the powers of Governor, in case of Vacancy, except when arising from death, removal, or resignation, or in case of necessary Absence, it has heretofore been customary to make the Nomination, some time previous to the term of service expiring. If this Rule should be observed on the present occasion, it would relieve me from some embarrassment, and prevent the public service from sustaining Inconvenience. Among the Measures, I contemplate directing, in the event of my continuance in office, is an early Session of the Territorial Legislature: & which will become the more necessary, should the Convention, which is to Assemble in November, deem it expedient to form a Constitution, since it is probable, that some Legislative pro[v]isions Adapted to the contemplated change, will be indispensible.\nOn the question as to a State Authority, there is some division of sentiment; But a majority of the Citizens seem favorable to the Change, and my impression is, that the Convention will readily acceede to the terms proposed by Congress. I presume however, it will not be possible to make such arrangements as to bring the State Officers into Power, at an earlier period, than one year from this date; And in the mean time, it will be essential to the preservation of good Order, & the public surety, that the Territorial Authorities should be operative and in ful[l] force.\nI learn with sincere regret, (thro\u2019 the medium of the News-papers) that your exertions to secure for the U. States, the great Blessing of Peace are not likely to be successful. The pulse of the English Government seems high for War, and instead of receiving reparations for the Many Wrongs offered our Country, we hear daily of further Aggressions. An honorable Peace is certainly the wish of every faithful Citizen; that it is the wish also of our Rulers, I do not believe, a man in America (whatever some party Writers may state) doubts; But I fear Sir, a Crisis will soon arrive, when we must make War, or abandon our Rights as a Nation. At such a Crisis, our Nation will unquestionably be united, & the Government firmly & bravely supported.\nThe City of New-Orleans is again visited by that dreadful Scourge, the Yellow Fever, and many Good Citizens have fallen Victims. The Mortality is greatest among Strangers; but the old Settlers are not exempt.\nThe Members of the Convention are to assemble by Law, at New-Orleans on the first Monday in November; But I suspect many of them will be so apprehensive of the Fever, that a quorum will not be found until about the last of that Month.\nI ask the favour of you to present my most respectful and friendly Wishes to Mrs. Madison, and to permit me to Subscribe myself Your faithful friend and Most Obt servt\nWilliam C. C. Claiborne", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0570", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Hawker, 8 October 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Hawker, John\nTo: Madison, James\n8 October 1811, Plymouth. Encloses a memorial for JM\u2019s consideration. Mentions that the orders in council are still in force and that \u201cVessels and Goods belonging to Citizens of the United States; comeing from or bound to France are often sent in here & are Condemned.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0571", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Wilkinson, 9 October 1811\nFrom: Wilkinson, James\nTo: Madison, James\nSirFrederick Town Maryland October \u27e89\u27e9th. 1811\nWhen I agreed to waive all exception to the Jurisdiction of a Military Tribunal, and submit to a rigorous Scrutiny of my Conduct for more than twenty years past, I did hope, & I am sure it was your intention, Sir, that the proceedings against me should not only be free & unbiased, but that there should not be even cause for Suspicion, that the Government felt any Interest whatever in depriving me of the benefit, of a fair & impartial decision of the Court to whom my case had been referred.\nThis impression, combined to my sense of the Justice & Integrity of your Character, has encouraged me respectfully to represent to you, Sir, that the Conduct of the Accountant of the War Department, (who has been attending here as it would seem, from his own declarations, in the Double Capacity of a Witness for the prosecution & paymaster to the officers of the Court) has been all along designed to excite & to rivet the most injurious prejudices against me, with a view if possible to influence the impending trial.\nNot satisfied with reviling me in the Taverns & on the streets of this Town in malignant & approbitious terms, Mr. Simmons had the presumption last Evening to make use of the high authority of your name in a manner calculated to impress a beleif, that his own unworthy & improper interference, is sanctioned by the predetermination of the President in my Case.\nConvinced as I am that this course of proceedings on his part, is entirely without your Knowledge or approbation, and conceiving it to be no less indecent than it is unfair: The respect which I owe to you, as well as a sense of Justice to myself, seem to render it a Duty, that I should address you personally & directly on the subject; and that you may be particularly apprized of the Kind of language in which Mr. simmons indulges Himself, I beg permission to submit to your consideration the enclosed Statement of Lt. Leroy Opee an officer of Character & a Man of unblemished reputation.\nYou will I trust, sir, have the goodness to pardon me for suggesting to your reflection, that if Mr. simmons\u2019 Deportment & conversations, would be highly improper & unbecoming in any private Individual, when appearing in the Capacity of a Witness, even in an Ordinary Criminal prosecution, this impropriety is extremely aggravated, by the remark which will naturally be made, that Mr. simmons is a public Officer of no inconsiderable responsibility, seeking to exert whatever Official influence he may Himself be supposed to possess, and pretending to call to his Aid the Authority of his Superiors, for the purpose of affecting the result of an Enquiry, in which my Life & Honor and every Interest & feeling dear to the Heart of Man are all staked upon the Issue. With perfect respect, I have the Honor to be sir Your very Humble & obedient Servant\nJa: Wilkinson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0572", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 10 October 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirMonticello Oct. 10. 11.\nMrs. Lewis, the widow of Colo. Nich Lewis, has requested me to mention to yourself the name of a mr. Wood, an applicant for a commission in the army. On recieving the request I rode to her house to ask something about him, observing to her that something more than his name would be necessary. She candidly told me at once that he was a very capable young man, connected with her only as being a brother to one of her sons in law, that he had married a respectable girl in Louisa, but became so dissipated and disorderly in his conduct that his father in law drove him off and procured an act of divorce from his wife, who is now married to another husband. This affected him so that he went off to the Western country, and, as she has been informed, became quite a new man: but had no knolege of it herself. She was inclined to suppose it true as her son Nicholas had written to her pressingly on his behalf and had particularly urged her to get me to mention him to you. To this neighbor I can refuse nothing, and I therefore comply with her request, stating the grounds on which we are both put into motion, and adding some information which perhaps may not be conveyed by others. The old king dies hard; but he will die. I wish we were as sure that his successor would give us justice and peace. I think it a little more than barely possible, relying on his former habits of connection, not on his principles, for he has none worthy of reliance. Ever affectionately your\u2019s\nTh: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0573", "content": "Title: From James Madison to James Wilkinson, 12 October 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Wilkinson, James\nSirWashington Octr. 12. 1811\nI have received your letter of the 9th inst: inclosing a statement of a private conversation between Lt. Opie, and Mr. Simmons Acct. of the War Department, made by the former.\nThe considerations out of which the Court Martial in your case grew, would attach particular regret to any circumstance affecting, even in appearance or opinion, the justice and fairness of the proceedings, as they relate to yourself, as well as to the public. And you very justly take for granted that the Executive would be incapable of any other views or sentiments. Accept my respects\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0574", "content": "Title: To James Madison from David Howell, 12 October 1811\nFrom: Howell, David\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,Providence October 12, 1811.\nMy only Son will have the Honor to deliver this Letter. I have endeavoured to impress his mind with Just views of your personal character & political measures, &, I am authorised to assure you of his Support.\nHe is a young man of regular habits, united with much benevolence & a laudable zeal in the Republican cause, which received his first political attachments.\nWhatever patronage it may fall in your way to afford him, during his Term of Service in the Senate of the United States, will be rendred to a young man of the highest Sensibility; and, you may be assured, will be reciprocated, to the utmost of their means, both by the Father & Son. With the greatest consideration, I have the Honor to be, Sir,", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0575", "content": "Title: Executive Pardon, 12 October 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: \n12 October 1811, Washington. JM remits the sentence of death imposed 12 Aug. 1811 by a court-martial at Baton Rouge on Sgt. Peter B. Conger of the Consolidated Infantry Regiment for the offense of desertion. Leaves standing that part of the sentence reducing Conger to the ranks.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0576", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Hawkins, 13 October 1811\nFrom: Hawkins, Benjamin\nTo: Madison, James\nCreek agency 13th. Octer. 1811\nI have had the pleasure my Dear friend to receive your favour of the 18th July. To a man of my standing with you there was no need of the frank declaration you have made to ensure a continuance of my confidence in your political conduct and to convince me that you are invulnerable in that part where you have been so violently assailed. I had known but little of the character of Mr. Smith and that little much in his favour. As soon as I red his publication I was disgusted with the man, and with his production; It appeared to me a weak wicked and illjudged thing engendered in the basest passions and would recoil on and punish its author.\nI this summer was visited by a man of genteel appearance, infirm health, without a letter of introduction who called himself Felix O\u2019Hanlon an Irishman by birth, who had been a colonel in the spanish service afterwards a Major in that of the British which he left on the score of his religion and now one of the Commissaries for the supply of fresh provisions to the army and Navy in the West indies and southwardly on the spanish coast. He spent some weeks with me, is a man of information and of much anecdote. On leaving me for Charleston he commenced a correspondence with me on political subjects, the successor of Madison &ca. which is now carried on, a part of which is as follows. In my reply of 26 august to a letter of his of 3 or 4 pages of the 18th. July. \u201cYou say Madison aught and might be saved by genius, his very difficulties would he be advised would turn out to his honour and interest. On this subject I have to remark I think him not in the least danger. The great body who support him are the landholders, they are Republican and they will support him. The Conduct of the Exsecretary has recoiled on himself and he is fallen! fallen! fallen! into the abyss of contempt in a national point of view. However the Republicans may jar among themselves they will be in unison on great fundimental points. There is not a man in America I know better or esteem more than Mr. Madison he will act from advise and be grateful for it if his judgment is convinced not otherwise. The happiest part of my life was that in which I was associated with him under the Confederation as well as constitution of the U:S. We both well know what it is to be in the minority, as well as the respect due to the majority. We conformed to the Laws, resisted only during their passage. In the senate particularly such was my political situation that most of the great constitutional questions were settled by the Vote of Mr. Adams our President. I lived then with my political opponents on terms of friendship always believing Mr Adams an honest man and could altho opposed to him tolerate the reasons he assigned for all his Votes one excepted relative to the ratio of Representation which was negatived by General Washington.\n[\u201c]There was no such thing as men in office calumniating their own government and being apologists for the injuries done us by foreign Governments. We were then National men driving to a desirable end by different ways. We had had our Arnold brave as C\u00e6sar as long as he remained in service and a traytor only when he deserted us. We have lately seen men holding public offices traytors to their Country and claiming the thanks or future confidence of their country for being so. I have ever been a firm admirer of our present constitution. I voted for its adoption in my native state and was five years in the senate of the United states. I think it the perfection of human wisdom, that it will last with time itself if administerd on liberal republican principles. As to Mobile I think Governor Claiborne has possession of the whole of the Country we claim, except the fort of Mobile only. If you could in this or any other line render your adopted country any service It would be well received and if you think proper to confide any thing to me on this subject or thro\u2019 me to the Government you can do it in perfect safety.\u201d\nIn his reply of the 21st septr. which embraces several topics \u201cas to Mobile there are a variety of reasons why it aught to be saught possession of all I wish to say, on that subject is I would from my local knowledge of the spanish character and a perfect one of their language and having been in their service, More my near relative Cornet ORiley holding at this moment high situation at Havanah [have] an opportunity of settling the surrender or surprise of the fort as would cause no noise nor arouse any serious unkind feeling towards the administration. To this I would pledge myself no purchase no pay, except bare expences. You are if you think with me at liberty to communicate this to the President.\n[\u201c]In case of a War with Great Britain I have arranged a plan which would raise this Country to a height that would command the respect of the Belligerents and astonish the world to each of these statements I pledge myself in the fullest manner nor would I ought solicit that results would not justify. You know so do I, that it is not wisdom for a person who has capacity to plan or genius to direct in issue schemes of such extent and magnitude without having the advantage in some degree arising from it.\u201d\nMr. Hambleton one of the men captured by the Spaniards near Mobile where Majr. Hargrave was taken, has with three others been liberated. He left the Havanah 21 days past and came by the way of pensacola. The Capn. of the Vessel told him there were two spanish gentlemen on bord going to adjust the surrender of Mobile to the americans. The gentlemen landed at pensacola.\nThe Convention with the Indians sent on to the Department of War will shew you how happily we have succeeded in the road business and for a mere trifle, considering the extent of territory thro which they are to pass and the wildness of our people. With sincere wishes for your health & happiness I am my Dear friend Your obedient servant\nBenjamin Hawkins", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0577", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Henry A. S. Dearborn, 14 October 1811\nFrom: Dearborn, Henry A. S.\nTo: Madison, James\nHond. Sir,Boston. Octo. 14. 1811\nAt the request of my friend N. Bowditch Esqr. I have enclosed you one of his papers containing the result of his calculations on the Elements of the Orbit of the Comet which for some weeks has appeared in the northern regions of the heavens. I have known him for some years & have no doubt but he is the ablest astronomical mathematitian in this country & equal to any in Europe. He is a self educated man. If there is any one in Washington, or in the vicinity of your estate in Virginia, who can furnish him with answers to the questions contained in a note at the bottom of the paper, you will confer a great favor on him, by causing them to be forwarded to him at Salem. I have the honor to remain your Obt. Servt.\nH. A. S. Dearborn", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0578", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Ninian Edwards, 16 October 1811\nFrom: Edwards, Ninian\nTo: Madison, James\nSirElvirade Randolph County Illinois Territory Octr 16. 1811\nI have the honor to enclose you the proceedings of a meeting of the citizens of St Clair county and their address to you. All of which I am convinced is the result of apprehensions of danger, entertained not merely by timid minds but by men well acquainted with the geographical situation habits and disposition of the Indians alluded to\u2014Experienced in Indian warfare and as much distinguished by their valour as any other citizens in the Western country.\nThe principle facts stated in the address I have already had the honor to communicate to the war department.\nThe Indians residing about Lake Michagan and on the Illinois river and its waters are those who have committed the depredations which have so much alarmed and agitated this territory, the Northwestern parts of which are very much exposed to their attacks. Whether those Indians visit our frontiers by land or water they pass thro Peoria or its immediate vicinity both in coming and returning. A garrison therefore at that place would in my opinion hold in check all those from whom we have most danger to apprehend and in several respects be attended with very benificial consequences.\nBelieving the proposed measures to be expedient and necessary to the safety of the territory I have thought it my duty thus far to support the prayer of the enclosed petition, but I had no knowledge that any such was even contemplated till I received the enclosed papers. I have the honor to be With the highest respect Sr Yr Mo Obdt St\nNinian Edwards.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0580", "content": "Title: To James Madison from George Luckey, 17 October 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Luckey, George\nTo: Madison, James\n17 October 1811. Acknowledges receipt of JM\u2019s letter [not found] and is glad he is in good health. Concedes that the people suffer hardships because of the injustice and cruelty of men filled with envy, but they have it better than many others and enjoy liberty when many men are not pleased with liberty. Deplores those who wish to be masters of the world and denounces them as madmen. When he wrote to JM, it seemed best to some to restrict U.S. trade to this country, but every day the state of affairs changes and at this juncture who can say what is best? Suggests allowing merchantmen to arm and defend themselves on the high seas and give the captors by law half the booty captured. Profit was made in this way during the American war and people are eager for wealth. Also suggests negotiating with Europeans to defend both them and the U.S. against the despot of the sea, who will never be fair unless compelled. Excessive forbearance will break the spirit of the citizens and be the cause of much evil. Long ago God gave Americans liberty, peace, and safety, and He still defends these things. The U.S. cause is best, for it is the cause of justice and truth. Americans can fight to the end to defend the country, but they see the enemy striving to divide and weaken them. Exhorts the nation\u2019s leaders to be of good spirit. They have the wishes and prayers of all good men; and just as the Israelites fought, so too Americans are fighting bravely against enemies who are the enemies of justice and truth, as well as of much else. Advocates reliance on God who will be with Americans and make them successful.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0581", "content": "Title: To James Madison from George Joy, 18 October 1811\nFrom: Joy, George\nTo: Madison, James\nDear sir,London 18th Octer: 1811\nThe Constitution is now daily expected at Cowes; and by her I hope to embark for the U.S. I am just now advised of a Bag at the N. York Coffee House for Letters to be sent by a fast sailing ship from Liverpool, and send this in the presumption that it may arrive before the Constitution.\nI am advised of the Condemnation of the Julian, Hercules, Catharine & Atlantic, (carried into Dantzic in May last,) by the Council of Prizes in Paris, without further appeal, on Bond to produce further Proof, as in former Cases. I am also advised by a Gentleman who left Copenhagen the 22nd Ult: that two of our ships, on leaving Elsinore, homeward bound, were pursued by a french privateer, taken, out of Danish Jurisdiction, & carried back; and I have this day a Letter from Copenhagen of the 26th informing me that a Revision of all the Papers in the Case of certain Property in the charge of a Mr: Fisher, of Philadelphia, (and which I presume relates to five Vessells & valuable Cargoes detained since last Year at Kiel,) has been granted by the King, on a requisition from the Captors.\nIn hopes of the pleasure of seeing you, soon after, if not before you receive this, I rest very respectfully & sincerely, Dear sir, Your friend & servt:\nGeo: Joy.\nIf this should arrive before me, or other Letters from me on the subject, I hope there will be no urgent necessity for filling up the Consulship, vacant by the Death of Genl. Lyman.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0582", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Picket, 18 October 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Picket, William\nTo: Madison, James\n18 October 1811, Charlestown, Massachusetts. \u201cMy Son Capt Wm S Picket has just Arrived into Boston from Naples in the Brig Alexander and had the Inclosed Packet committed to his Charge but on his Voyage home was boarded and had his Papers examined and his Letters broke open by the Cruisers of one of [the] Belligerents.\u201d Hopes JM will accept this apology for the packet being opened. Mentions in a postscript that he is acquainted with Richard Cutts.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0583", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Richard Cutts, 19 October 1811\nFrom: Cutts, Richard\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirSaco October 19th. 1811\nOn my return from Boston I found your favr. of the 30th Ulto. from Montpelier, Yours of the 6th Inst. came to hand several days past, on receipt of it, I wrote immediately to Judge Lincoln requesting an explination of the conversation that took place between us last May. I have waited several days for his answer\u2014as soon as it arrives I will forward it to you\u2014if he does not incline to accept the appointment, I most sincerely hope he will point out some of the most prominent Lawyers in the district from whom you may make a fortunate selection.\nIf Judge Lincoln declines, as I fear he will, Joseph Story of Salem the present speaker of our House of Representatives, & the Honble. Ezekiel Bacon appear almost the only Candidates in this State, they are both young & yazooists. As you are personally acquainted with both of them, I am convinced you can form a better opinion of their Merit & qualifications than myself. Since writing another person has occured to my Mind, likewise known to you, I mean Mr. Plummer of New Hampshire, formerly a Federal Senator in the UStates Senate since a Republican, & now the Republican Candidate to Succeed Govr. Langdon. I mention him only for your consideration.\nI regret to state that my late trip to Boston has caused my shoulder to continue very weak & some times painful. I cannot use it but very little, without the assistance of my other hand, being my right arm increases the misfortune, if the disability had been in the left arm I believe we should have surmounted all other obstacles & set our faces towards Washington, we cannot reconcile ourselves to the loss we are about to suffer, without the most painful sensations\u2014if my shoulder should get better soon, we may even at the eleventh hour attempt the journey, if deprived of the happiness of seeing you this winter, we can only say that our constant prayers will be for your health & happiness, & that of Mrs. M\u2014not forgetting Mrs. W. and our other friends. We hope your next will announce the better health of John Payne. I am with the highest respect & esteem yr St\nRichard Cutts", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0585", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Tammany Society of Brookhaven, Long Island, 21 October 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Tammany Society of Brookhaven, Long Island\nTo: Madison, James\n21 October 1811. The society\u2019s members have deemed it expedient to address JM \u201cat the present very critical time & posture\u201d of public affairs and to express their confidence in his talents and patriotism. \u201cWe are not unmindful of [the] enviableness of our condition.\u2026 Nor have we been idle Spectators of those events w\u27e8hich\u27e9 threaten our peace & hazzard our rights as an independent nation.\u201d They express indignation at the repeated insults the country has sustained from the European belligerents and resolve \u201cto stand by & defend the measures of our Goverment in a redress of wrongs, a reperation [sic] for the past & a security for the future.\u201d They are pleased to note \u201csome symtoms of returning justice on the part of France instanced in the repeal of her unjust & iniquitous Decrees against Neutral Commerce\u201d but regret \u201cthe want of a similar disposition on the part of Great Britain\u2014Who from the infamous & unprovoked murder of Pierce to the present time have been guilty of repeated outrage.\u201d The ocean \u201chas been constantly infested by her piratical forces, in violation of every principle of national Law. By them our people have been murdered\u2014our property seized & condemned, our Seamen impressed & enslaved, our sovereignty invaded & our Government openly vilified & insulted\u2014Justice has in reality been stricken from the Catalogue of their virtues.\u201d\nJM\u2019s constant exertions to make an \u201chonorable accommodation\u201d are proof of his sincere regard for the best interests of the country. They regret \u201cthe disposition, which has for a length of time been manifested by a portion of our fellow Citizens [who are] endeavoring to counteract & render abortive, the wisest & most salutary measures of Goverment. These attempts it is our imperious duty to oppose so far as they tend to tarnish our reputation or hazzard our peace & national Independence.\u201d\n\u201cWhile we reflect upon \u2026 the prospect which exists of being compelled ultimately to engage in the \u2018unprofitable contest\u2019 as the only alternative by which redress can be obtained, we embrace this opportunity of assuring you & our fellow Citizens generally of our sincere approbation of the measures of your administration\u2014our attachment to the invaluable principles of our Goverment & our fixed resolution to exert every faculty of our nature, in vindication & support of all such measures as shall be judged expedient for the attainment of ample & complete atonement for the accumulated wrongs which our Country has sustained.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0586", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Oliver Whipple, 22 October 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Whipple, Oliver\nTo: Madison, James\n22 October 1811, Georgetown. Has been unable to call on JM in person and, fearing that his prospects for either a consular appointment at Glasgow or an Indian agency are vanishing, seeks the position of sergeant at arms in the U.S. Senate, recently vacated by the death of Mr. Mathers. \u201cYour Excellency has it in your Power, to do me essential Service, thro\u2019 the medium & Friendship of the honble. Mr. [Richard] Cutts of the House, he is personally acquainted with the members of the Senate; your Intimations to him, backed with your good wishes to oblige me, would induce him to use his influence with the Senate.\u201d A similar suggestion to Mr. Varnum would also be gratefully acknowledged. Had intended to leave for New England this fall, but now that this vacancy has occurred, he will try his fortune with the Senate. \u201cI have this Satisfaction That I have of late rendered your Excellency Services (tho\u2019 unknown to You) and it is in my Power further to do so, on many Occasions.\u201d Has sent a circular to all members of the Senate on the advice of friends, \u201con the Tenor of the one inclosed.\u201d Sends a copy to JM to show the grounds for his actions.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0587", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Pitman, Jr., 24 October 1811\nFrom: Pitman, John, Jr.\nTo: Madison, James\nHond. Sir,Providence (R. I.) October 24th 1811.\nYou will pardon this intrusion of a stranger whose motive is the public good and the support of the administration. A schism (as you have no doubt ere this learned) has again appeared in the Republican party of this State. To this I must principally attribute the recommendation of David L. Barnes Esqr. the present judge of this District, by some leading republicans of this State, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the death of Judge Cushing. He was recommended I believe rather to defeat the appointment of Mr. Robins, for reasons too long here to detail, than from any hope that he might be appointed.\nI was informed by David Howell Esqr. that recommendations would go on for Judge Barnes, and, in case of his appointment, for himself as District Judge, and for myself as District Attorney. This was told to me as a secret. It was one that I very unwillingly kept, for I did not feel disposed to mount this ladder of promotion, and was more than half resolved to write you then as I now have. Supposing however that there was no probability that Judge Barnes would be nominated to the Senate, I concluded there was no necessity for adding to your troubles.\nFinding however that considerable difficulty occurred in filling this vacancy, and understanding that Mr. Adams declines the office, I have felt it my duty to endeavor to prevent an appointment, which might possibly happen, and which, should it happen, would tend to bring the administration and the Court into contempt.\nJudge Barnes is a man of moderate capacity\u2014what he possesses is not of that kind required for a Judicial station\u2014he is generally considered as unfit for the Office which he now holds. He is a federalist in heart, though formerly, he seemed to affect moderation. He is a sycophant of the Merchants of this town, who, almost to a man, are the bitterest opposers of government. They have lately made him a President of one of the Insurance Office[s], where he does daily drudgery, and sucks in the sweet refection of Anglo-federalism for $500 a year. His appointment to his present office by Mr. Jefferson was one of those unaccountable things which sometimes happen. It was perhaps amidst the wreck of judges that at that time prevailed that his low cunning and hypocrysy enabled him to seize upon the plank which slipped from one of his brethren. You probably will not consider this letter as entitled to your consideration, without some knowledge of its author. Upon this point I will refer you to Richard M. Johnson from Kentucky, and Mr. Howell one of our present Senators. I beg however that the contents of this letter may not be communicated, particularly to the latter Gentleman, for reasons sufficiently obvious. He is the son of the present District Atty, and may be disposed, though I do not know that he is, to further the views of his father. I hope that you may not be reduced to the necessity of choosing between Mr. Robins and Judge Barnes. Mr. Robins is a man of talents, but his integrity is doubted, and his politics have not as yet gained him the confidence of the republicans of this State. However I should prefer him to Judge Barnes. I am with sentiments of respectful consideration Your Obedt. Servt.\nJohn Pitman Junr.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0588", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Two Chiefs of the Wyandot Nation, 24 October 1811\nFrom: Two Chiefs of the Wyandot Nation\nTo: Madison, James\nFatherSandusky 24th October 1811\nIn behalf of ourselves & a number of our people We wish to Say a few words. Father we live on The United States Land at Lower Sandusky. Some of our own people have taken up the Tomahawk against us, & are murdering us day by day. Several of our people have been Killed & many more are threatened with Death, how many we do not Know. Father we beg you would interpose your Athority & Influence, Correct those who are murdering us & Stop the further progress of Destruction among us. Father we beg you to Correct the Crane, it is his party who are Cutting us off. Father We beg that you will not delay but hasten to Relieve us. We request that this Letter may be Kept Secret for if it Should be Known our lives would be taken immediately.\nFather Perhaps this may be the last time that we Shall have an Opportunity to express our Affection & Confidence for you but we trust in God for Protection & Pray that your Safety & happiness may be objects of his Care.\nBowl his  Mark\nWasp his  Mark\nTwo of the Chiefs of the Wyandot Nation", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0589", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Eaton, 25 October 1811\nFrom: Eaton, William\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,New york 25th of October 1811\nI took the Liberty to address your Excellency Some time ago. The magnitude of the subject is so weighty on my mind\u2014I Cannot refrain from troubling you again\u2014at this very important time. I will not again Sir in So Short a time harrass your mind\u2014with Such Communications. Next monday week Sir\u2014a Speech from you will be Expected by Congress\u2014and as I think much of their Conduct will be governed by What you may be pleased to recommend to them\u2014and Eventually terminate to be of the utmost Consequence to the United States\u2014I Earnestly intreat you Sir, not to advise war Measures, or the Establishment of a Large Naval or land force\u2014by land force I mean a Larger Standing army. The Militia ought to be the Safe guard of a Republican Government, and Can by its aid, with other Laws, placed under Such regulations\u2014as to make the Government Respectable. Your Enimies, wish to distroy the Popularity of the Administration, and they know, if they can bring about Either of these measures they will Effe[c]t it. The Enimies of the Country also know it\u2014and are instruementa\u27e8l to\u27e9 bring it about\u2014for the ruin of both Gover\u27e8nment and\u27e9 Country. Any reasonable person Sir must know we Cannot have a Navy to Cope with Englands without involving us in Such a debt as Shall bring on a revolution of Government Eventually\u2014of course then any Larger Navy than Just to protect our Seaports at home, must be money thrown away\u2014as they would imediately Copenhagen them\u2014and help instead of hurt our Enimies. A Large Standing army Sir will also involve us in debt breed discontent among our Citizens, make them become very vicious and much less vertuous\u2014check Agriculture, Population, and domestick manufactures and internal improvements\u2014open a door to the many aspireing to office to take advantage of it\u2014Change our form of Goverment place themselves in power\u2014and distroy our Liberty and happiness. In fact Sir\u2014by Either War, Navy, or Army\u2014we have Every thing to loose, and as Sure as we are alive, nothing to Gain. Would it not Sir be adviseable for the Goverment to Say to the merchants we cannot Considering the Embarrassment of the times, protect your property abroad\u2014we will do all in our power to protect and aid you at home\u2014if you will Ship abroad you must do it at your own risk and peril\u2014lay Such heavy duties, as to make it Equal to prohibition of importation of foreign Goods. This would Encourage our own Manufactures and Embarrass theirs, and be the means of bringing us more [\u2026] Surplus provisions\u2014by these means the [\u2026] Mechanics and Merchants would thrive instead of becoming, bankrupts, and our internal happiness and peace Secured. But Sir if this Cannot be done\u2014another Embargo, will by \u00beths of The real Serious thinking American Citizens be by far preffered to War, Navy, or Army. The Society of friends and all other Religious Societies are opposed to War\u2014the farmer also\u2014and these added together make the Great mass of our Stable Citizens. I know Sir there is a Considerable large party for war but these Sir are Generally a restless ungoverned Set of office hunters and men aspiring to power\u2014and who are doing Every thing in their power to insure the Popularity of the Administration and place themselves in office. Witness the powerfull party in this State Called Clintonians. I hope Sir you will be pleased to give these Ideas a Consideration\u2014and pardon me for the trouble I have given you\u2014and Consider them actuated by a Sincere desire for your own and our Countrys Glory. And I pray God he will be pleased to aid you in your address to Such a degree that the world may be astonished at your wisdom and that it may redound to Convince that we are determined to be a Just and Virtuous people. I am Dear Sir very Respectfully your Excellencys Most Obedient Servant\nWilliam Eato\u27e8n\u27e9", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0590", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Tobias Lear, 26 October 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Lear, Tobias\nDear SirWashington Ocr. 26. 1811\nThe notice that the departure of the Store vessel is taking place, being sudden, I cannot specify the several letters for which I am indebted. I believe from successive references recollected by me, that none have miscarried. I must particularly thank you for the Sheep & Wheat accompanied by one of them. The Wheat was sown partly by myself, and partly by several friends among whom it was distributed in order to multiply experiments, and secure its propagation. In every instance however it was put so late into the earth, that another year will be necessary to test its merits. It was remarked that it did not escape the aggressions of the Hessian fly, more than other Wheats in the vicinity. This circumstance attracted notice, because it decides a late Theory, which maintains that the Egg of that insect is deposited in the grain, and may be destroyed by steeps; unless indeed the insect be known in Barbary, which I presume not to be the case. The Sheep arrived all safe; one of them proving however to be a wedder, not a ram. The others, were disposed of, 1 to Mr. Jefferson 1. to Capt: Coles, 1 to Govr. Claiborne, and one to a friend in this neighborhood. For myself, I retained the ram with 4 horns, The oldest Broad tail, and the lamb of that breed; hoping in that way to prolong my possession of an imported breeder. The Lamb however was killed by accident before he reached my farm; and the 4 horned ram died soon after. Retaining therefore, the old ram only, and finding the mutton of the broad tails, of which I have for some years had a mixture of blood in my flocks, I am induced to ask the favor of you to procure me a pair, or if readily to be done, more than one pair of those animals. The only objection to the breed is the coarseness, and almost hairiness of the wool. It is desireable therefore, that, as differences were noticed in the fleeces, the selection be made of the individuals least objectionable on that score. Perhaps there may be broad-tailed families in Algiers, cloathed with fine fleeces; finer even than those of our ordinary sheep. It is certain than [sic] in Tunis, towards the Mountains at least, there are broad-tailed sheep, with fleeces considerably finer than our common wool. I have seen samples of them, from a flock of Judge Peters, who sent them to me, with a sample of Cloth made of the material, & with an Eulogium on the longevity, the mutton, & other merits of the Sheep. I understand also that, Southward of Tripoli, there is a broad-tail sheep, equally remarkable for the succulence of the meat, & a fineness of wool, almost rivalling that of the Merino.\nI should not take the liberty of asking this favor from you, after receiving that for which I am making acknowledgment; but that I make it a condition, that [you] throw all the trouble on an agent, and all the expence on me; and that you point out the mode in which it will be most agreeably repaid. As another store vessel will soon follow, you will have two opportunities, of sending the sheep. The present, if equally convenient, will be the most eligible.\nFor intelligence I refer you to communications from the Dept. of State, and to the Newspapers, which will accompany them. From the latter you will gather the gen[e]ral state of our relations with Europe, the progress of things in Spanish America; and the temper of this Country as to both. The general state of things at home will also be disclosed thro\u2019 the same channel. With the exception of our embarrassed commerce, the prosperity was never greater. As the basis of it we have more universally redundant crops of every kind, than we remembered. Accept my respects and friendly wishes\nJames Madison\nIt occurs that a wine made in Algiers is spoken of as of good quality. As a rarity at least, a cask of it will be acceptable, if the price be not disproportionate to the quality, and either of the vessels can be engaged to bring it.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0592", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Tyler, 28 October 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Tyler, John\nTo: Madison, James\n28 October 1811, Greenway, Virginia. \u201cGreat delay and inconvenience attended the last court at Norfolk, owing to there not being an Advocate on the spot where most of the admiralty business is done.\u201d Vessels are seized and injustices occur when owners are not informed of specific charges because the district attorney resides at Richmond. Officers make seizures without adequate legal advice, and witnesses, being \u201cgenerally sea-faring men, [are] here to day and there to morrow.\u201d Nor can depositions be taken until the court has jurisdiction, except by consent, and \u201cin the mean time the witnesses are heard of no more.\u201d Suggests the advisability of having an advocate in Norfolk, with power to call on the attorney for assistance in cases of great consequence. Also suggests that the marshal be empowered, whenever he serves a citation, to recognize witnesses to appear at the next court.\n\u201cThe Judge out of Term, has in some cases suffer\u2019d the vessels under siezure to proceed on thier voyages, the Owners or Masters giving bond and security \u2026 to abide the decision of the court\u2014thence the necessity of appointing persons to appraise the same. This step, the Court has by law the power to take, but not the Judge at his chambers, but which seems inherent in the Admiralty Jurisdiction.\u201d Believes it would be wise to define specifically the powers of public functionaries, leaving nothing to discretion regarding public or private rights. Has discussed the matter with Mr. Newton; \u201che will aid in this business, and also suggest other amendments necessary in the Admiralty Department.\u201d\n\u201cThe Courts in Norfolk are held in June and December; not the most pleasant Seasons in the Year for business. The last mention\u2019d period calls the Judge from home in the Christmas holy-days, a time, which most old fashion\u2019d people prefer to be with their families. This affords great delight to me who have many children and grand-children scatter\u2019d about the world, but who gather together at that Season. If the time for holding the court at Norfolk could be chang\u2019d to the first of May and November, there would be full time enough to attend in Richmond.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0593", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Lambert, 29 October 1811\nFrom: Lambert, William\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,City of Washington, October 29th. 1811.\nPermit me to submit the inclosed to your perusal, as the copy of a communication to several members of Congress, on their arrival in this city; and at the same to assure you, that while this mark of confidence and respect is offered, it is not expected or wished, that you should take any step in my favor incompatible with the strictest propriety. I have the honor to be, with great respect, Sir, Your most obedient servant,\nWilliam Lambert.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0594", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Matthew Cobb, 29 October 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Cobb, Matthew\nTo: Madison, James\n29 October 1811, Portland. Encloses a bill of exchange dated at Madeira, 12 Sept. 1811, and drawn by James Leander Cathcart on JM for \u00a3378 sterling. \u201cYou will oblige me, by paying this sum into the State treasury, receive from the Secrey. thereof, a draft or Check on the Maine Bank in this place, which your Excellency will please to forward to your Hble Servt.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0597", "content": "Title: Memorandum from Albert Gallatin, [ca. 1 November] 1811\nFrom: Gallatin, Albert\nTo: Madison, James\n[ca. 1 November 1811]\nNotes on President\u2019s message\nsheet page\n1. 1.Do the words \u201cconsiderations drawn from the posture of our foreign affairs\u201d afford a satisfactory reason for the earlier meeting of Congress?\n4.The additional proofs of the repeal of French decrees are mentioned only incidentally & not as a distinct subject; and the mention of the Naples cases (subqt. to 2 Nover apparently under those decrees & at all events very offensive) is omitted.\n2. 3 & 4.The war paragraphs. Two questions\u20141. is it more eligible to resort to war than to rely on the effect of non-importation?\u20142. if more eligible, is it proper and consistent with policy to recommend it? To the 1st question I would be disposed to answer in the negative less from a conviction of the prompt efficacy of non-importation in bringing G. B. to terms than from the uncertainty in every respect of the effect of a war. The resources of the Country both in men & money can be drawn but with great difficulty, and will be found much less than a view of its population & wealth would lead us at first to believe. Exclusively of accumn. of debt tending at the conclusion of the war to weaken us and retarding our natural progression, the measures necessary to carry on the war must be unpopular and by producing a change of men may lead to a disgraceful peace, to absolute subserviency hereafter to G. B., and even to substantial alterations in our institutions: whilst we can calculate almost with certainty all the evils and inconveniencies of the non-importation. If however the spirit of the Nation, or an opinion that hostilities not repelled by corresponding measures would be still more pernicious than any possible effect of a war, shall lead to an answer in the affirmative to the first question, the propriety and policy of the recommendation must still be examined. Notwithstanding the general power to recommend vested in the President, I cannot at least in this instance be perfectly reconciled with the attempt to give a tone on the question of war different from what might otherwise govern the decision of the body with whom our constitution has exclusively vested the power of making war. (If it be said that the hostilities of G. B. are already war, the Executive would have a right to repel it even without the previous sanction of Congress.) But it is above all the policy which appears questionable. If war is certainly to ensue, it is better, as soon as we are sufficiently ready, to make it at once, instead of announcing before hand that determination and thereby enabling the enemy to strike at once, to sweep our commerce, to send a fleet & reinforcements on our coast and vicinity. The only argument in favr. of the measure is that the fear of a war may induce G. B. to recede. This is doubtful: but if the experiment is attempted, the recommendation must be so framed as not to convey any threat too offensive to their pride to be digested, and yet to carry a conviction that war must be the final tho\u2019 not immediate effect of their not receding. (I say not immediate, because if they considered it as such & concluded not to recede they would strike at once). It may be impossible to frame a recommendation precisely to that effect, but that proposed in the message may be improved. Thus the expressions \u201cthe period is arrived,\u201d \u201cdirect & undisguised hostility\u201d \u201cauthorising reprisals\u201d and allusion to a lapse of the present session &a. may be softened or omitted. (Note that it seems that the first sentence of that paragraph which alludes to an extension of defensive preparations might be omitted as a special recommendation follows the ensuing paragraph).\nsheet page\n2. 4.last paragraph. A recommendation to encrease revenue & raise money would seem immediately connected with this. Or shall it be reserved for financial paragraph.\n3. 1.Navy. Having alluded to our limited resources, it may be added that any misapplication of these will be fatal. Looking at the aggregate of resources actually in the possession of & expended by Congress during the revoly. war, paper money, foreign loans, and requisitions & advances actually paid by individual States, it has appeared to me incomprehensible that the very moderate army in actual service had not been well fed, clothed & even paid. I can account for it only on a supposition that those resources were partly mis-applied; how much was mis-applied on a navy? how much on other objects would not be an useless enquiry. But the general fact is certain, and the same remark is applicable to almost every other country. G. Britain alone has succeeded in establishing a system of debt & taxation as yet equal to the most profligate expenditure & mis-application of resources. Bonaparte is, at least in his military expenditure, a model of a judicious application of the resources which he can command; & to this system he has been forced by his inability of borrowing. The support even of our present Navy, say 2 millions a year, must either entrench on our other force which would be most fatal, or compel us to borrow 2 millions more a year. The difference between borrowing six millions a year and borrowing eight, is that the six may be borrowed at 6 p% and that if obliged to push the loan to eight, the whole of it must be borrowed at a higher interest, perhaps 8 p%. The effects on the public credit, on the war itself &a., are evident. Unless therefore great utility can be proven, the employment of that force will be a substantial evil. I believe myself that so far from there being any utility it will in its very employment diminish our means of annoying the enemy, & that every sailor engaged in public service would be more usefully employed on privateers. In a country where the resources & spirit of enterprize are great, and the command of Govt. over those resources extremely moderate, it is necessary as far as practicable to induce individuals to apply those resources of their own accord against the enemy. On land that is impossible; but on the Ocean it is our natural & a very formidable weapon. Let us apply all our resources to the defence of our seaports & of Louisiana, and to the attack of the adjacent British provinces: and let individuals attack the British commerce in every sea. I would omit altogether any recommendation on that subject, or allusion as contained in another paragraph to its utility in guarding the rights of our coast.\nsheet page\n3. 1.Spanish colonies. The only objection which strikes me agt. mentioning this subject is that it will hurt the pride, & may be said to be an improper interference in the concerns of Spain. If it be thought proper to allude to the subject, I think that it would be better to omit the anticipation of unfriendly views originating in misguided councils or ambition and which appears to allude to Spain & England.\n\" 3.protection of navigation & manufactures. The present time, when all our plans are controuled by the belligerent decrees & by the measures either of restriction or aggression which we must oppose to them, is not very proper to digest & adopt any permanent & regular system for the protection of our navigation. The subject is in public estimation absorbed in the much greater wrongs inflicted by the Belligerent nations. On the other hand the effect of the recommendation in favr. of manufactures is lessened by its being blended with that for navigation to which from the tenor of the paragraph it appears but secondary.\nBlank paragraph\u2014\nIndians Will it not be good policy particularly as to G. Britain to present this subject in as favorable view as consistent with truth. It may otherwise give improper encouragement to that Nation.\nFinances. Our returns are not all in. But an estimate will be furnished. It will be favorable for the present year, but shew a bad prospect for the next & will render it necessary to recommend an increase of duties and an authority to borrow.\n   Or, The communications which accompanied the Message of the  have apprized you that France &a.\n It is proper &a. to observe that France has, subsequent to the revocation of her edicts so far as they violated the neutral commerce of the United States, authorized illegal depredations by her privateers and public vessels in the Baltic and on the high seas.\n   Here may be added\u2014Nor has any reparation been made or promised for the detention & confiscation of our Merchants property under the Rambouillet decrees.\n I abstain however at this time from recommending any specific measures with respect to that Nation, under the expectation that the result of the Negotiations still pending between our Minister at Paris and that Government will be ascertained before your adjournment, so as to enable us to decide with certainty on the course &a.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0598", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Robert Williams, 2 November 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Williams, Robert\nTo: Madison, James\n2 November 1811, Washington, Mississippi Territory. Offers to fill a judicial vacancy in the Orleans Territory occasioned by the death of Judge Mathews. States that he is making this application because some of his \u201cmost respectable neighbours & acquaintances\u201d are about to relocate in the Opelousas and Attakapas, and they wish that he \u201cshould make one of their number, & fill this appointment\u201d; the fact that the price of cotton is low and likely to get worse, while the reverse is the case with the price of sugar, \u201cis the principal reason for this removal.\u201d Points out that his past public services have been expensive and without emolument, and that his four years\u2019 administration of the territory cost him about $3,600 more than his annual salary. If JM thinks it proper to make this appointment, he could both serve his country and recover partially some of his earlier sacrifices. Declares that JM knows him too well to require him to say more and requests an acknowledgment of his letter.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-03-02-0599", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Berkshire Agricultural Society, 4 November 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Berkshire Agricultural Society\nTo: Madison, James\n4 November 1811, Pittsfield, Massachusetts. \u201cThe executive Committe[e] of the Berkshire Agricultural Society tender their profound respects & Veneration to the President of the United States\u2014and request his acceptance of the inclosed. They also request he will have the goodness to transmit the inclosure directed to the late President.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0001", "content": "Title: Annual Message to Congress, 5 November 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Congress\nWashington November 5th 1811\nFellow Citizens of the Senate, and of the House of Representatives.\nIn calling you together sooner than, a separation from your homes, would otherwise have been required; I yielded to considerations, drawn from the posture of our foreign affairs; and in fixing the present, for the time of your meeting; regard was had to the probability of further developements of the policy of the Belligerent Powers towards this Country, which might the more unite the national councils, in the measures to be pursued.\nAt the close of the last session of Congress, it was hoped, that the successive confirmations of the extinction of the French Decrees, so far as they violated our neutral commerce, would have induced the Government of Great Britain to repeal its orders in Council; and thereby authorize a removal of the existing obstructions, to her commerce with the United States.\nInstead of this reasonable step towards satisfaction and friendship between the two nations, the orders were, at a moment when least to have been expected, put into more rigorous execution; and it was communicated through the British Envoy just arrived, that, whilst the revocation of the Edicts of France, as officially made known to the British Government, was denied to have taken place; it was an indispensable condition of the repeal of the British orders, that commerce should be restored to a footing, that would admit the productions and manufactures of Great Britain, when owned by neutrals, into markets shut against them by her Enimy; the United States being given to understand that, in the mean time, a continuance of their non-importation Act, would lead to measures of retaliation.\nAt a later date, it has indeed appeared, that a communication to the British Government, of fresh evidence of the repeal of the French Decrees against our neutral trade, was followed by an intimation, that it had been transmitted to the British Plenipotentiary here; in order that it might receive full consideration, in the depending discussions. This communication appears not to have been received: But the transmission of it hither, instead of founding on it, an actual repeal of the orders, or assurances that the repeal would ensue, will not permit us to rely, on any effective change in the British Cabinet. To be ready to meet with cordiality, satisfactory proofs of such a change; and to proceed, in the mean time, in adapting our measures to the views which have been disclosed through that Minister, will best consult our whole duty.\nIn the unfriendly spirit of those disclosures, indemnity and redress for other wrongs, have continued to be withheld; and our Coasts and the mouths of our harbours, have again witnessed scenes, not less derogatory to the dearest of our national rights, than vexatious to the regular course of our trade.\nAmong the occurrences produced by the conduct of British ships of war, hovering on our Coasts, was an encounter between one of them, and the American Frigate commanded by Captain Rodgers, rendered unavoidable on the part of the latter, by a fire, commenced without cause, by the former; whose commander is, therefore, alone chargeable with the blood unfortunately shed, in maintaining the honor of the American flag. The proceedings of a Court of Enquiry requested by Captain Rodgers, are communicated; together with the correspondence relating to the occurrence, between the Secretary of State and His Britannic Majestys Envoy. To these are added, the several correspondences, which have passed on the subject of the British Orders in Council; and to both, the correspondence relating to the Floridas, in which Congress will be made acquainted with the interposition, which the Government of Great Britain has thought proper to make, against the proceedings of the United States.\nThe justice and fairness which have been evinced on the part of the United States towards France, both before and since the revocation of her Decrees, authorized an expectation, that her Government would have followed up that measure by all such others as were due to our reasonable claims, as well as dictated by its amicable professions. No proof, however, is yet given, of an intention to repair the other wrongs done to the United States; and particularly, to restore the great amount of American property, seized and condemned, under Edicts; which, though not affecting our neutral relations, and therefore not entering into questions between the United States and other Belligerents, were nevertheless founded in such unjust principles, that the reparation ought to have been prompt and ample.\nIn addition to this, and other demands of strict right, on that nation: the United States have much reason to be dissatisfied with the rigorous and unexpected restrictions, to which their trade with the French dominions has been subjected; and which, if not discontinued, will require at least, corresponding restrictions on importations from France into the United States.\nOn all those subjects our Minister Plenipotentiary, lately sent to Paris, has carried with him the necessary instructions; the result of which will be communicated to you; and by ascertaining the ulterior policy of the French Government towards the United States, will enable you to adapt to it, that of the United States, towards France.\nOur other foreign relations remain without unfavorable changes. With Russia, they are on the best footing of friendship. The Ports of Sweeden have afforded proofs of friendly dispositions towards our commerce, in the Councils of that Nation also. And the information from our Special Minister to Denmark, shews that the Mission had been attended with valuable effects to our Citizens, whose property had been so extensively violated and endangered, by Cruisers under the Danish flag.\nUnder the ominous indications which commanded attention, it became a duty, to exert the means committed to the Executive Department, in providing for the general security. The works of defence on our maritime frontier, have accordingly, been prosecuted with an activity, leaving little to be added for the completion of the most important ones; and, as particularly suited for co-operations in emergencies, a portion of the Gun-boats have, in particular harbours been ordered into use. The ships of war before in commission, with the addition of a Frigate, have been chiefly employed, as a cruising Guard to the rights of our Coast. And such a disposition has been made, of our land forces, as was thought to promise the services most appropriate and important. In this disposition is included, a force consisting of regulars and militia, embodied in the Indiana Territory, and marched towards our Northwestern frontier. This measure was made requisite by several murders and depredations committed by Indians; but more especially, by the menacing preparations and aspect of a combination of them on the Wabash, under the influence and direction of a Fanatic of the Shawanese Tribe. With these exceptions, the Indian Tribes retain their peaceable dispositions towards us, and their usual pursuits.\nI must now add, that the period is arrived, which claims from the Legislative G[u]ardians of the National rights, a system of more ample provisions for maintaining them. Notwithstanding the scrupulous justice, the protracted moderation, and the multiplied efforts on the part of the United States, to substitute, for the accumulating dangers to the peace of the two Countries, all the mutual advantages, of re-established friendship and confidence; we have seen that the British Cabinet perseveres, not only in withholding a remedy for other wrongs, so long and so loudly calling for it; but in the execution, brought home to the threshold of our Territory, of measures which, under existing circumstances, have the character, as well as the effect, of war on our lawful commerce.\nWith this evidence of hostile inflexibility in trampling on rights which no Independent Nation can relinquish; Congress will feel the duty of putting the United States into an armour, and an attitude demanded by the crisis, and corresponding with the national spirit and expectations.\nI recommend, accordingly, that adequate provision be made, for filling the ranks, and prolonging the enlistments of the regular troops; for an auxiliary force, to be engaged for a more limited term; for the acceptance of volunteer Corps, whose patriotic arder [sic] may court a participation in urgent services; for detachments, as they be wanted, of other portions of the Militia; and for such a preparation of the great Body, as will proportion its usefulness, to its intrinsic capacities. Nor can the occasion fail to remind you, of the importance of those Military Seminaries, which, in every event, will form a valuable and frugal part of our Military establishment.\nThe manufacture of cannon and small arms has proceeded with due success, and the stock and resources of all the necessary munitions, are adequate to emergencies. It will not be inexpedient, however, for Congress to authorize an enlargement of them.\nYour attention will of course be drawn to such provisions, on the subject of our naval force, as may be required for the services to which it may be best adapted. I submit to Congress, the seasonableness also, of an authority to augment the stock of such materials, as are imperishable in their nature, or may not at once be attainable.\nIn contemplating the scenes which distinguish this momentous Epoch, and estimating their claims to our attention, it is impossible to overlook those developing themselves, among the great communities, which occupy the southern portion of our own hemisphere, and extend into our neighbourhood. An enlarged philanthropy, and an enlightened forecast, concur in imposing on the national Councils, an obligation to take a deep interest in their destinies; to cherish reciprocal sentiments of good will; to regard the progress of Events; and not to be unprepared, for whatever order of things, may be ultimately established.\nUnder another aspect of our situation, the early attention of Congress will be due, to the expediency of further guards, against evasions and infractions of our Commercial laws. The practice of smuggling, which is odious every where, and particularly criminal in free Governments, where, the laws being made by all for the good of all, a fraud is committed on every individual as well as on the State, attains its utmost guilt, when it blends with a pursuit of ignominious gain, a treacherous subserviency, in the transgressors, to a foreign policy, adverse to that of their own Country. It is then, that the virtuous indignation of the public, should be enabled to manifest itself, through the regular animadversions, of the most competent laws.\nTo secure greater respect to our mercantile flag, and to the honest interests which it covers; it is expedient also, that it be made punishable in our Citizens, to accept licences from foreign Governments, for a trade unlawfully interdicted by them, to other American Citizens; or to trade under false Colour or papers of any sort.\nA prohibition is equally called for against the acceptance, by our Citizens, of special licences, to be used in a trade with the United States; and against the admission into particular ports of the United States, of vessels from foreign Countries, authorized to trade with particular ports only.\nAltho\u2019 other subjects will press more immediately on your deliberations, a portion of them cannot but be well bestowed, on the just and sound policy, of securing to our manufactures, the success they have attained, and are still attaining, in some degree under the impulse of causes not permanent; and to our navigation, the fair extent, of which it is at present abridged by the unequal regulations of foreign Governments.\nBesides the reasonableness of saving our manufacturers from sacrifices, which a change of circumstances might bring on them; the national interest requires, that, with respect to such articles at least, as belong to our defence, and our primary wants, we should not be left in unnecessary dependance on external supplies. And whilst Foreign Governments adhere to the existing discriminations in their ports, against our navigation; and an equality or lesser discrimination, is enjoyed by their navigation, in our ports, the effect cannot be mistaken, because it has been seriously felt by our shipping Interests: and in proportion as this takes place, the advantages of an independent conveyance of our products to foreign markets, and of a growing body of mariners, trained by their occupations for the service of their Country in times of danger, must be diminished.\nThe receipts into the Treasury, during the year ending on the thirtieth of september last, have exceeded thirteen Millions and a half of Dollars; and have enabled us to defray the current expences, including the Interest on the public debt, and to reimburse more than five Millions of Dollars, of the principal; without recurring to the loan authorized by the Act of the last session. The temporary loan obtained in the latter end of the year one thousand eight hundred and ten, has also been reimbursed, and is not included in that amount.\nThe decrease of revenue arising from the situation of our commerce, and the extraordinary expences which have and may become necessary, must be taken into view, in making commensurate provisions for the ensuing year. And I recommend to your consideration, the propriety of ensuring a sufficiency of annual revenue, at least to defray the ordinary expences of Government, and to pay the interest on the public debt; including that on new loans which may be authorized.\nI cannot close this communication, without expressing my deep sense of the crisis in which you are assembled, my confidence in a wise and honorable result to your deliberations, and assurances of the faithful zeal with which my co-operating duties will be discharged; invoking, at the same time, the blessing of Heaven on our beloved Country, and on all the means that may be employed, in vindicating its rights, and advancing its welfare.\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0002", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Willis Alston, 5 November 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Alston, Willis\nTo: Madison, James\n5 November 1811, \u201cRepresentative Chamber.\u201d States that while he was in Petersburg, the collector, Dr. Shore, died, and that he was applied to by almost everyone to recommend Shore\u2019s son, Thomas Shore, as his replacement. The son had been conducting the business of the place for four years during his father\u2019s indisposition. \u201cColn. Goodwin this moment informed me that he had just received a letter from a respectable merchant of Petersburg stating that a petition would be forward[ed] signed by almost every ship owner and Merchant in favor of the appointment.\u201d Recommends Shore as \u201cwell qualified\u201d for the office.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0003", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Prince, 5 November 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Prince, James\nTo: Madison, James\n5 November 1811, Boston. Requests reappointment, as the commission he received from the former president will expire on 18 Nov. Believes he may appeal to the Treasury Department for the \u201ccorrectness and promptitude\u201d with which he has accounted for public moneys occasionally entrusted to him, and to the courts and to the members of Congress from Massachusetts for their opinions that he has conducted his business with \u201cfirmness, impartiality and humanity.\u201d If continued in office he pledges to discharge his duty constantly and in conformity with his oath of office and his respect for the \u201chonorable source from whence this office is derived.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0004", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Francis Bailey, 6 November 1811\nFrom: Bailey, Francis\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nPhilada. 6 Novemr. 1811.\nYour Message arrived here within less than ten hours from Washington.\nI cannot forbear communicating to you, the raptures it has almost universally diffused through this city. Even many of the Feds acknowledge it is high time that decisive and energetic measures should mark our future conduct to the Belligerents. Paine said \u201cThe time had found us out.\u201d Sooner or later, than the present, might have been perhaps an improper time, to assume the tone and attitude recommended in your Message, of tuesday last.\nMay kind Heaven bless you, and long preserve your usefulness to our beloved Country! With the highest esteem I am your Excellency\u2019s very huml. Sert.\nFrancis Bailey.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0005", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Henry Clay, [ca. 6 November] 1811\nFrom: Clay, Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nWednesday morning [ca. 6 November 1811]\nH. Clay presents his respects to Mr. Madison, & sends him a bottle of wine made from the grape of the Island of Madeira, which has been cultivated in Kentucky. He regrets that the specimen is not more ample, but it is all that he could have conveniently brought in his carriage.\nH. C. had the mortification to have been present some years ago at the exhibition at Mr. Jefferson\u2019s table of some Kentucky wine which, having been injured in the process of fermentation, was of a most wretched quality. The sample now sent will he flatters himself restore in some degree the credit of the wine of that State.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0006", "content": "Title: To James Madison from George Joy, 6 November 1811\nFrom: Joy, George\nTo: Madison, James\nDear sir,\nLondon 6th Novr: 1811\nThe above is, I believe, the 5th Copy of my Letter of the 15th Aug. I doubt if more than one is yet 10 Degrees westward. For 46 Days there have not been more than 6 Hours of easterly Wind and I have lately heard of a ship being still at Tonningen by which I wrote you before I left Copenhagen; and am now advised of the foundering of the John Atkinson from Gottenburg for Philada. Crew saved.\nThis being the regular Mail Day; I hand you herewith a Paragraph from the Courier of which I shall send Duplicates \u214c other routes, for the Chance of early arrival, to the secretary of state. Always very respectfully, Dear sir, Your friend & servt:\nGeo: Joy.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0007", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Congress, 7 November 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Congress\nNovember 7th 1811\nI now lay before Congress, two letters to the Department of State, one from the present Plenipotentiary of France, the other from his predecessor; which were not included among the documents accompanying my Message of the fifth instant; the translation of them being not then compleated.\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0008", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Henry Lee, 8 November 1811\nFrom: Lee, Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir\nAlexa. 8h. Novr 11.\nI cannot with-hold the expression of my delight at the tone & manner of yr. message (I wish I could call it speech). It reminds us of Washington & I ardently hope will be the precursor of union at home & respect abroad. I wish you had touched the emperor\u2019s improper delay on the fulfilment of the promise which produced yr. proclamation. Certainly he has committed a breach of faith in modo.\nBut yr. message will be vain unless followed by appropriate measures\u20141st. a national bank to give money in abundance & with certainty\u20142d. Arming at sea 3 a statute defining our legal commerce & inhibiting our citizens from all other\u20144 an army in the field, ready to fall upon Canada in case England disturbs our legal commerce\u20145 all our maritime force public & private ready to fall upon her trade & upon that of France in like case\u2014It is the only way we can reach france & the interruption of her coasting trade will be serious annoyance, in which our sober & sordid tars of the east will outstrip the English.\nLastly a manifesto by the President or Congress announcing our long suffering, our patience in the hope of amicable settlement, our disappointment, & our determination to make the last appeal, as all other efforts had failed.\nThese things being done I beleive one or both the Belligerents will do us right. That you may produce some how or other this result I devoutly wish. Most respectfy. Yr. friend & sert.\nHL", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0010", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Robert Williams, 11 November 1811\nFrom: Williams, Robert\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nWashington M T. Nor. 11th. 1811\nI took the liberty of addressing you, \u214c last Mail, in the event of the death of Judge Matthews, which was at that time, reported here to be a fact, but which report I am happy to inform you has been Since Contradicted. I am with great & usual respect yrs\nRobert Williams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0012", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Craven P. Luckett, 11 November 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Luckett, Craven P.\nTo: Madison, James\n11 November 1811, Louisville, Kentucky. Reminds JM of letters of recommendation he presented in April in seeking a territorial judgeship or secretarial position. Requests now the Louisiana judgeship vacated by the death of Otho Shrader and promises to discharge the duties of the position faithfully. \u201cI have married the Daughter of an old Friend of yours Colo. Greenup late Gove[r]nor of this State, whose Letter of recommendation you will receive ere long. I have been engaged the last eleven years of my Life in acquiring a knowledge of the Law; a study of five years in Maryland with the practical information of six years in this State.\u201d Refers JM to Stephen Ormsby for his character over the last six years.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0013", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Congress, 13 November 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Congress\nWashington November 13. 1811\nI communicate to Congress, copies of a correspondence between the Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Britain, and the Secretary of State, relative to the aggression committed by a British Ship of War on the United States Frigate Chesapeake; by which it will be seen that that subject of difference, between the two Countries, is terminated by an offer of reparation which has been acceeded to.\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0016", "content": "Title: To James Madison from George Joy, 14 November 1811\nFrom: Joy, George\nTo: Madison, James\nDear sir\nLondon 14th Novr: 1811.\nThe Constitution is at length arrived, and Mr: Russell informs me that she is to return to France before she will proceed to America; which will not probably be till some time in the Month of Janry. My Plan of embarking in her is by this means disconcerted; and the detail of Communication, that I was desirous of making personally, delayed.\nI am now strongly persuaded to defer my departure till the spring; but it is my intention, if I can get on board a good ship, and nothing special intervene, to leave England in a week or ten days. Should I remain, Letters addressed to the Care of Mr Russell, or of Messrs. Rogers, Towgood & Co: Bankers here, would be sure to meet me. In the mean time I take the liberty to hand you the enclosed Copies, shewing the Commencement, and something near the termination of my Agency in Denmark. A Corroboration, not to say Confirmation of certain Reports that I heard in Denmark and Sweden, induce me to request the favor of your perusal of the former: the written words in Mr: Pinkney\u2019s Passport are distinguished by being underlined. I may add to the Evidence of satisfaction expressed by the Cabinet secretary in the latter, that my last Letters from Mr: Adams, received since my arrival here, are as friendly as I could wish. Always very sincerely, Dear sir, Your friend & Servt:\nGeo: Joy.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0017", "content": "Title: From James Madison to John Quincy Adams, 15 November 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Adams, John Quincy\nprivate\nDear Sir\nWashington Novr. 15th 1811\nI have received your several favors of February 8 April 19 June 3 and August 17, all of them in triplicates or duplicates.\nI need not say how agreeable it would have been to me, and I am persuaded satisfactory to the public, if your inclination and circumstances had favored the new allotment of your Services. Being ignorant of the obstacle arising from the particular state of your family, and inferring from considerations known to you, that such an exchange might not be unwelcome, I had proceeded so far in anticipating a decision different from that which took place in your mind, as to hold out the station at St Petersburg to another. It has happened that no disappointment of any sort, ensued to your contemplated Successor: But I ought not to omit, that I did not so far lose sight of the possibility, that you might be induced to decline the new appointment, as not to have meditated a provision for that event, which would have, probably, deprived it of its embarrassments. In the present state of things, I have only to wish that your diplomatic situation may continue to be less incommodious than it was at first found; and that opportunities of rendering it useful to your Country, may equal her confidence in the fidelity and ability which you will apply to them.\nCount Pahlen has just delivered his letter of leave, in pursuance of the order of the Emperor which translates him to Rio Janiero. His excellent dispositions, and amiable deportment have justly rendered him so highly and universally agreeable here, that we take for granted, that no doubt on that point can have been among the reasons of his Sovereign for this change of his destination.\nYou will receive by this conveyance from the Department of State, the late communications to Congress, including the adjustment of the rusty and corrosive affair of the Chesapeake. The pretension of Great Britain which requires us, as a neutral nation, to assert against one belligerent, an obligation to open its markets to the products of the other, shews a predetermination to make her orders in Council co-durable with the war; for she cannot be unaware that nothing but a termination of the war, if even that, will fulfill the condition annexed to their repeal. The question to be decided therefore by Congress, according to present appearances, simply is, whether all the trade to which the Orders are, and shall be applied, is to be abandoned; or the hostile operation of them, be hostilely resisted. The apparent disposition, is certainly not in favor of the first alternative; though it is more than probable, that if the second should be adopted, the execution of it will be put off till the close of the Session approaches; with the exception perhaps of a licence to our merchantmen to arm in self-defence, which can scarcely fail to bring on war in its full extent unless such an evidence of the determination of the U. S. to prefer war to submission should arrest the cause for it. The reparation made for the attack on the American Frigate Chesapeake, takes one splinter out of our wounds; but besides the provoking tardiness of the remidy, the moment finally chosen, deprives it of much of its effect, by giving it the appearance of a mere anadyne to the excitements in Congress and the nation, produced by the cotemporary disclosures.\nIt will afford you pleasure to know that the aggregate of our Crops was never greater than for the present year. The grain part of them is particularly abundant. I tender you assurances of my great esteem and friendly respects.\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0018", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Jonathan Russell, 15 November 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Russell, Jonathan\nprivate\nDear Sir\nWashington Novr. 15. 1811\nYour letter of June 10 was duly delivered. I feel a pleasure in being able to say, that the information conveyed to you with respect to an unfriendly language towards you, having been held by Mr. Pinkney, is not confirmed by any thing heretofore known to me. He certainly has lodged no complaint with me, nor have I ever heard that he has censured you to others. If the reports to you therefore be not destitute of all foundation, I am persuaded they are great exaggerations, if not perversions, of expressions escaping from him, under his anxiety for further information from Paris, and his ignorance of the prudential considerations, which influenced your correspondence.\nI have been always equally aware of the delicacy of your situation; having in view the importance, on one hand, of obtaining from the French Govt. confirmations of the repeal of its decrees, and, on the other, that of not weakening the ground, on which the British repeal was urged. And this delicacy was increased by the mixed character of the F. Decrees; some parts of them relating to G. B only, others to the U. S., and these again, partly affecting our neutral character so as to give G. B. a plea for interposing; and partly our national rights or interests, with which she had nothing to do. Under this last head, might in truth be placed the very case of the N. O. Packet; which must have been seized under a part of the Decrees which did not violate our neutral rights. This vessel entered voluntarily into a French port; and violated conditions only which F. as respects G. B. had an indisputable right to annex to our trade with herself. The conditions with respect to us, no otherwise violated our rights, than as they were enforced under circumstances, giving them a retrospective effect. With a previous notice they would only have contravened the dictates of friendship & reciprocity.\nReferring you to communications from the Dept. of State, I tender you my esteem & friendly respects\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0019", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Thomas S. Manning, 15 November 1811\nFrom: Manning, Thomas S.\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nPhiladelphia 15th Novr. 1811.\nIn addressing you, I am at a loss to know whether I might address you by the endearing appellation I could one of your predecessors, were he living; but be that as it may, I have ventured to arrest your attention by forwarding you the 7th No. of The Freemason\u2019s Magazine. I do not wish you to throw away your precious moments in delving through 80 pages of a periodical publication, nor shall I detain you to con a lengthy epistle from an obscure individual. Will therefore hastily conclude by a request, that you would bestow a few minutes in the perusal of a National Article, entitled \u201cValley Forge.\u201d With sentiments of esteem\nT. S. Manning", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0020", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Jesse Atwater, 15 November 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Atwater, Jesse\nTo: Madison, James\n15 November 1811, New Haven. Mentions that \u201clast summer\u201d he understood from Barlow that JM had been informed of his desire for an appointment that would afford \u201ca comfortable support.\u201d Knowing how often the president is pressed by applicants, he proposes to give no further trouble on this occasion beyond soliciting the consulate in London if the vacancy is not already filled.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0021", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Joel Barlow, 17 November 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Barlow, Joel\nprivate\nDear Sir\nWashington Novr 17. 1811\nYou will receive by this conveyance the proper communications from the Dept. of State. You will see in them, the ground now avowed for the B. Orders in Council. It must render them co-durable with the war; for nothing but a termination of it will re-open the continental market to British products. Nor is it probable that peace will do it in its former extent. The pretension which requires the U. S. as a neutral power to assert an obligation on one belligerent, to favor, by its internal regulations, the manufactures of another, is a fitter subject for ridicule than refutation. It accordingly has no countenance here even among the most devoted Champions of G. B. Whether some of them, by arming themselves with simulated facts & sophystical distinctions, may not be embolded to turn out in her defence, will soon be seen. Nothing has yet passed in Congs. disclosing the sense of that Body, with respect to the moment & manner of meeting the conduct of G. B. in its pressent hostile shape. A disposition appears to enter at once on preparations, which will probably be put in force or not, as the effect of them on the British Councils, shall be ascertained in the course of the session. In the mean time it is not improbable that the merchant vessels may be permitted to arm for self-defence. This can scarcely fail to bring on maritime reprisals; and to end in the full extent of war; unless a change in the British system should arrest the career of events. All proceedings however relating to G. Britain will be much influenced by the conduct of France not only as it relates to a violation of our neutral rights; but of our national ones also, and to justice for the past as well as for the future and that too not only in cases strictly French, but in those in Naples & elsewhere indirect[l]y so. Altho\u2019 in our discussions with G. B. we have been justified in viewing the repeal of the French decrees as sufficiently substantiated to require a fulfilment of the pledge to repeal the orders in Council; yet the manner in which the F. Govt. has managed the repeal of the decrees, and evaded a correction of other outrages, has mingled with the conciliatory tendency of the repeal, as much of irritation and disgust as possible. And these sentiments are not a little strengthened by the sarcastic comments on that management, with which we are constantly pelted in our discussions with the B. Govt., and for which the F. Govt. ought to be ashamed to furnish the occasion. In fact without a systematic change from an appearance of crafty contrivance, and insatiate cupidity, to an open manly & upright dealing with a nation whose example demands it, it is impossible that good will can exist; and that the ill will which her policy aims at directing against her enemy, should not, by her folly and iniquity be drawn off against herself. The late licenciousness of the F. privateers in the Baltic, the ruinous transmission of their cases to Paris, and the countenance said to be there given to such abuses, are kindling a fresh flame here: And if a remedy be not applied, & our merchantmen should arm, hostile collisions will as readily take place with one nation as the other. Were it not that our frigates would be in danger of rencounters with British Ships of superior force in that quarter, there could be no scruple at sending thither some of them, with orders to suppress by force the French and Danish depredations. I am aware that a pretext for these has been sought in the practice of our vessels in accepting British Convoy; but have they not in many instances at least been driven to this irregular step by the greater irregularities practised agst. them? We await the return of the Constitution not without a hope of finding the good effect of your remonstrances in a radical change of the French policy towards this Country.\nThe reparation for the outrage on the Chesapeake frigate, which you will find in the correspondence between Mr. F. & Mr. M. tho\u2019 in a stile & extent sufficiently admissible under actual circumstances, has been so timed as to lose its conciliatory effect, by wearing the appearance of a diplomatic ruse. Those who value it most, do so on the calculation that Mr. F. is authorized to go forward in the road from which he has removed the stumbling block. In this they allow their wishes to mislead their judgments.\nFrom a late communication of Mr. Russel, to the Secretary of State it appears that the F. Emperor has very wisely made up his mind for the Independence of Spanish America; and for the possession of E. as well as W. Florida by the U. S. It is to be hoped that no unworthy attempts will be made to extract money from the occasion. 1. because it is incompatible with the assumed idea that Sp: Ama. must be independent. 2. because, without our occupancy, that of G. B. would be interposed. 3. & essentially, because the pecuniary value of the territory is due from Spain to the U. S. You ought to know, that there is good reason to believe that an agent (Keene) for certain grasping land Jobbers of N. Orleans & possibly elsewhere, has been treating with the Cortes for the vacant lands in E. Florida. And it may be counted on that equal art & avarice will mingle themselves with every opportunity for corrupt speculations.\nHitherto the Continental Colonies of S. America have masked their views of independence, under a nominal adherence to Ferdinand as the head of the whole empire, in contradisti[n]ction to the Cortes governing the European part of it only. Venezuela however has thrown off this mask, has communicated to us its declaration of Independence, and solicits our acknowledging it by receiving a pub: Minister &c. Mexico, according to our intelligence wch. is difficult & obscure, is still in the struggle between the revolutionary & royal parties.\nIn what manner G. B. will proceed in the case of Venezuela, & other districts following its example does not yet appear. Whilst Ferdinand was acknowledged, it was less difficult to steer between the Cortes and the Colonies. It will require more dexterity to reconcile her political connections with the former, and her commercial views towards the latter. If our information from Cadiz be not very erroneous, she is doing us all the mischief there which her influence can effect. What her conduct may be in the event of our taking possession of E. Florida, cannot yet be said. The game she will play with Cuba, may more readily be conjectured. But like most of her others it may in the end be a losing one.\nYou will receive from the Dept of State a set of Newspapers, & will see the pub. countenance as reflected in that Mirror. I add one or two which happen to be at hand and to contain some things worth perusal. Accept my great esteem & most friendly respe\u27e8ct\u27e9\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0022", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Elbridge Gerry, 17 November 1811\nFrom: Gerry, Elbridge\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,\nCambridge 17th Novr 1811\nI have read your message, with great attention & pleasure. It is clear, candid, firm & dignified, & cannot fail of convincing G Britain, that your object is just, your demands are reasonable, & that you will support them at all events. In this resolution, you will unite the eastern part of the nation; except british subjects, traders & partizans, who in case of a conflict, would soon disappear. Boston is their strong Hold in this Commonwealth, but is daily losing it\u2019s influence. I have also perused the documents, as far as they relate to the correspondence of Mr Foster with Mr Monroe, & to the letters of Mr Russell & Mr Smith; & while Mr Fosters inflexibility must meet the disapprobation of every cool & reflecting mind; Mr Monroe will acquire great honor, by that correspondence.\nI am uneasy for my Son in law Colo Austin. The Mal-contents of Boston where he resides, have smarted under the lash of his pen, And are so indignant at his \u201cLeolin,\u201d and his other writings, as to have withdrawn from him, their law business, (of which, being eminent in his profession he did much) in order to drive him away. I fear they will succeed, & oblige him to go to another State; in which event, the republicans will lose one of their most able & industrious champions, & this, at a time when he is most wanted. If a vacancy in the judiciary should be filled from this State, & by an appointment of Colo Blake, the Office of district Attorney, would place Colo Austin beyond the reach of his political Enemies. In all such cases, I know by experience, that many points must be regarded, & if the measure suggested, can be reconciled to the national interest, It will most assuredly conduce to our benefit in this Commonwealth.\nAccept my sincere & hearty wishes for your health & welfare, & be assured dear Sir, I remain with the highest esteem & respect, your unfeigned friend\nE. Gerry", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0023", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Jonathan Williams, 17 November 1811\nFrom: Williams, Jonathan\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nFredrick town Novr 17. 1811\nPerceiving by your Message at the opening of the present Session of Congress that you entertain the same favourable Sentiments relative to military Seminaries, which you expressed to me last February, I feel emboldened to transmit a Copy of the form of a Bill drawn in consequence of a Council of Field Officers of my Corps, which I called for the purpose. The Bill, except in one Section, is formed from that which passed the Senate last February varying only as the aspect of the times seems to justify. This Section, which authorizes the President to establish two practical Schools, was made to meet your Ideas on the subject; it was apprehended that the Establishment of three separate Seminaries, would, in the present state of the public mind on military subjects, appear extravagant; while on this plan no one can deny the necessity of practical military institutions whose sentiments are favourable to a theoretical one. I should have prefered a personal interview on this subject; but the Bill being already before the Senate, and my duties here being too indefinite to enable me to judge of their termination, I am apprehensive that a further delay would cause the application to be too late. Permit me to observe that if the Bill should have passed the Senate, I would not wish that any proposition from me should occasion a return of it from the House of Representatives; for I deem it more essential to the public Interest that the Law should be made in a limited degree, than that it should be endangered by too much discussion. I have the honour to be with the highest Respect Sir Your devoted & faithful Servant\nJona Williams", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0024", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Eleuth\u00e8re Ir\u00e9n\u00e9e DuPont, 18 November 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: DuPont, Eleuth\u00e8re Ir\u00e9n\u00e9e\nSir\nWashington Novr. 18. 1811\nIn consequence of a wish expressed by your father in the last letter recd. from him, I mention to you, that a public vessel will sail in a few days from N. York for France, and that any letters you may wish to forward to him, will be taken charge of by the Bearer of dispatches to Mr. Barlow, if previously lodged with the Collector of that Port. No time therefore is to be lost in sending letters on to the Collector. Your father wished also, that any remittances from you, might pass to him thro\u2019 our Treasury. But I learn from Mr. Gallatin, that this cannot be effected. Accept my friendly respects\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0026", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Chiefs of the Shawnee People, [18 November] 1811\nFrom: Chiefs of the Shawnee People\nTo: Madison, James\nFathers,\n[Fort Wayne, 18 November 1811]\nWe have just finished the foreg[o]ing talk to our Brothers it is our wish that you may see it also that you may Know our minds.\nFathers. We have one request to make: our Annuity comes by the way of Detroit to Fort Wayne for us, and we find it a great distance for our women to go for them, it is our wish if it could be possible in future to have them sent down the Ohio, and delivered to us by our friend John Johnston at Picquatown, it is but a short distance from our Town and we could get them there verry conveniently\nBlack Hoof Speaker", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0027", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Benjamin Henry Latrobe, 18 November 1811\nFrom: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nWashington. Novr. 18h. 1811\nIn order to defray immediate demands on the fund for furnishing the Presidents house, I solicit You to grant me a warrant for 300$ on account. My account up to your departure from the city has been settled at the Treasury, and for the monies since received I have the requisite Vouchers and shall transmit them to the treasury before the end of the quarter.\nAmong the accounts now payable is 100$ for a file of National Intelligencer\u2019s due to Mr. Harrison Smith. I am with high respect Your obedt hble servt\nB H Latrobe\nIn order to save trouble I enclose, as usual, the form transmitted formerly by you to the Treasury.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0029", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Cowles Mead, 20 November 1811\nFrom: Mead, Cowles\nTo: Madison, James\nSir.\nWashington. M. T. Nov. 20th. 1811.\nI am instructed by a Resolution of the House of Representatives of the Mississippi Territory, to forward to you, the enclosed copy of a presentment by the Grand Jury for the County of Baldwin, against Harry Toulmin Esqr. Judge of the Superior Court for the District of Washington. The House over which I have the honor to preside, has deemed the charges therein contained worthy of further investigation, it has therefore required me to transmit another copy to the Delegate of this Territory to be laid before the House of Representatives of th\u27e8e\u27e9 U. S. for the consideration thereof; accompanied with a transcript of the Resolution, which gives me the honor of this Communication. With high respect, & consideration I have the Honor to be Yr. Vry Hble Sert.\nCowles Mead Speaker of the House of Representatives.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0030", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Lafayette, 21 November 1811\nFrom: Lafayette, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de\nTo: Madison, James\nMy dear Sir\nParis 21h November 1811\nIt is a Good fortune for me to Arrive from La Grange in time to improve the Opportunity that is just Going. I ardently Wish the frigate May Soon follow the Flash With Satisfactory Accounts. Hitherto the Emperor Has been on His travels So that Mr. Barlow Could Not be presented before last Sunday. His personal Reception Has been the Most Agreable His friends and the friends to His business Might Wish for. The Regard Expressed by the Emperor for His Merit, His Sentiments, His productions Appears to me a Good omen for the Communications that are Going to take place. I Hope His old Acquaintances in the imperial administration Will not Content themselves With their friendly Welcomes and Will Assist, as far as With Bonaparte Assistance May be Given, in the Grand objects of His Mission. I feel My Wishes Encouraged\u2014May they be Completely fulfilled!\nAs to My private Concerns, I Have Made in Holland a New attempt for a Loan and am not Without Expectation of Some Success. It becomes the more important and Urging that the remaining patents be obtained and forwarded, as a part of the Monney, Must be Withheld Untill the two titles of thousand acres in the Vicinity of pointe Coupee be joined to the four Remaining in my Hands. I know You Will Also Have the Goodness to Urge the Location and put in order the patent for the part Near the town. I Have been Very Sorry to Hear Mr. duplantier Has been Unfortun\u27e8ate\u27e9 in Some business of His own. It May Have Necessitated Some delay but Has not, I Am Sure, Lessened His kind zeal in the Management of my Affairs.\nBe pleased to Remember me to all our friends, make my Respects Acceptable to Mrs. Madison, and believe With Equal Attachment, Gratitude, and Respect Your most Affectionate friend\nLafayette", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0031", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Joseph Desha, 21 November 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Desha, Joseph\nTo: Madison, James\n21 November 1811. Forwards the testimonials that he had mentioned were in his possession \u201ctouching the Standing of Judge Coburn in Louisiana.\u201d Trusts that these will be sufficient \u201cto remove objections (if any exist) respecting his not residing in the country.\u201d States that \u201cthe inteligen\u27e8t\u27e9 inhabitants of the Territory are convinced that the attainment of Justice is verry much promoted, by the occasional attendance of a Judicial Character, who does not partake in the continued conflicts of the country.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0032", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John P. Van Ness, 22 November 1811\nFrom: Van Ness, John P.\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nState of New York, Novemr. 22d. 1811.\nThe vacancy in the Office of Controller affords me an opportunity of asking permission to remind you of the wish of the friends of my brother William P. Van Ness that he should hold some respectable appointment under the present Administration. You have some knowledge of that Gentleman; and for any further information in relation to his talents and merit, I beg leave to refer you to Genl. Paulding, Messrs. Porter, Cook and Tracy, of the House of Representatives, from this State. From his impressions as to your disposition towards him, I am persuaded he is not without a hope of some friendly attention of a public nature from you unless you should beleive it would interfere with the public Interest.\nMy brother, in addition to his professional education, has for some Years been employed in a judicial station; and is now engaged, under a law of this State, in revising & digesting it\u2019s laws. With the highest consideration & respect I am, Sir, your most obedt. hble. Servant\nJohn P. Van Ness", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0033", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Citizens of the Louisiana Territory, 22 November 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Louisiana Territory Citizens\nTo: Madison, James\n22 November 1811, St. Louis. The subscribers regret the necessity of having to recommend a successor to the deceased judge Otho Shrader, but they are motivated by interest in the welfare of the country and the desire some of them have, as attorneys at law, that the appointment be given to \u201ca man whose talents and integrity are known and approved of by us and who has a general knowledge of the characters of our citizens and the state of our Country.\u201d They believe that Col. Rufus Easton, who held \u201cthe appointment we now ask at the time of the Organization of the Government of this Territory,\u201d has the necessary qualifications. \u201cIn that Capacity and since in the capacity of a Citizen and Councellor at Law he has obtained the confidence and esteem of our best Citizens.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0034", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Joseph Allen, 23 [November] 1811\nFrom: Allen, Joseph\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nLexington [November] 23rd 1811\nI am instructed by the eig[h]th Regt. of Virginia Militia, which convened in Lexington Rockbridge County on the 14th Inst. to forward to you the enclosed address. I take the liberty of accompanying it with an abstract view of the strength & arms of the Regt which I had the honor on that day to command.\nIn performing this duty sir I am not less obedient to my own feelings than to the wishes and instructions of the Regt. The times are portentous and the great cause in which we are involved admits of no room for hesitation and delay. When our property is seized and plundered\u2014when our neutrality is disregarded\u2014when the dignity and honor of the nation is scoffed and derided it little becomes the character of a soldier or a citizen to shrink from the danger which the crisis threatens. The remoteness of our situation takes nothing from the zeal and solicitude we feel for the common good and it shall not be twice required of us to do that which honor and national prosperity may demand. There are more than twelve hundred men of the Regt ready for the service of their country and will march at her call. I have the honor to be Sir Yours\nJoseph Allen\n[First Enclosure]\nAn address to the President of the United States unanimously adopted by the eighth Regiment of Virginia militia convened in Lexington on the 14th of Novr.\nSir\nThe crisis has come when the honor and rights of the nation must be enforced and protected by the energies of its people. We love peace but there is a point in human forbearance beyond which we cannot pass\u2014and if war must come we shall look upon it with that firmness and those sentiments which become men who are free and resolved to continue so. Sunk in the deep recesses of our mountains the convulsive struglings of contending nations cannot reach us. Our wives and our families are safe behind them and the enemy dare not brave their lofty summits\u2014but we are the sons of a Common family and if but a hair is touched in the remotest corner of the world we feel the wrong and will avenge it. Our swords leap flaming from their scabbards and cannot be returned unappeased. We have \u201cput on the armour\u201d of our nation and demand to be marched in her service. The hights of Bunkers-hill or the plains of Saratoga shall be points of equal glory to us. We will fight on the shores of the Atlantic or in the wilderness of Canada. Bound and ready for the call of our Country, our arms and our hearts are alike at her service.\nResolved that Major Joseph Allen be instructed to forward the above address to the President of the U. States.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0035", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Willie Blount, 23 November 1811\nFrom: Blount, Willie\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nKnoxville Novr. 23d. 1811\nIn complyance with the request of the General Assembly of the State of Tennessee I have the honor to transmit their address of the 15th. instant expressive of their full confidence in you as chief executive magistrate of the United States\u2014with their\u2019s I unite mine entire; And with pleasure say, that it adds to my gratification in being a citizen of the United States, to know, that you are chief Magistrate; believing as I do, that the honor, independence, safety and prosperity of the Government of our choice, will be, thro\u2019 your exertions maintained, supported, protected and caused to flourish, so as to meet the just expectations of your fellow citizens throughout the Union. I have the honor to be very respectfully your Obt. Servant\nWillie Blount\n[Enclosure]\nSir,\nKnoxville November 15th. 1811.\nBelieving as we do, that it is the right of the States respectively through their Representatives to express to the General Government their opinions, upon such subjects as may seem most important, in order that it may be assured of the attachment of her citizens, and thereby more fully be enabled to assume the most firm and manly stand for the protection of their rights; And believing it to be more especially our duty to do so at this time; when from the hostile attitude assumed by one of the belligerent nations towards the United States, there seems to be much reason to fear that, notwithstanding the United States have uniformly pursued a course of strict neutrality towards them all, And notwithstanding her desire for peace and friendly intercourse with all nations, has induced her to submit to the most cruel, outrageous and unprovoked, wrongs and insults; Yet Great Britain in the madness of her folly, is about to precipitate her into a war.\nUpon this occasion we have much pleasure in assuring you, Sir, that we feel the fullest confidence in the wisdom and firmness of that administration which you have conducted so beneficially for your Country and honorably for yourself; from a Continuation of which, we confidently hope and believe, that the rights of our Country will be firmly established and chearfully maintained, upon the basis of the liberty and independence of mankind.\nAlthough the people of this State, are far distant from their Atlantic brethern, whose local situation renders them liable to become more immediate sufferers by any interruptions in their commercial relations whether by war or otherwise; Yet we feel for them a brotherly affection, and will cordially participate in all their dangers; And in the defence of the common rights of Our Country, we pledge Ourselves to support every honorable means that the constituted Authorities may adopt to maintain that desirable end.\nWe cannot forbear to express our entire approbation of the conduct of the Executive of the United States, in regard to the Florida Country, situated as we are, it cannot fail to advance in an high degree the interest of this State in having an Outlet for the abundant products of our rich and fertile soil. Nature seems to have designed the Mobile as a great highway for a large portion of the people of the Western Country, inasmuch as perhaps most, or all of the tributary streams of that valuable Outlet, take their rise in this and some of the adjoining States and Territories. We believe that although the government, from motives of sound policy have heretofore refused to coerce the entire possession of that Country, yet we trust that those difficulties may be removed, and that as the claim of the United States is bottomed upon Justice and a solemn contract, that possession will be Obtained in the shortest practicable time, consistant with good policy and the best interest of the Country, and will be afterwards maintained with that dignity and manly firmness which the Justice of the claim and the importance of the object would seem to require.\nThat you may continue to your Country, your useful Services and long live and enjoy the Confidence of a free people is the earnest desire of Sir, Your Obt Huml. Servants\nJohn Cocke speaker of the house of Representatives\nThos. Henderson Speaker of the Senate", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0036", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Inhabitants of Sainte Genevieve, 23 November 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Sainte Genevieve Inhabitants\nTo: Madison, James\n23 November 1811. The signatories recommend Richard S. Thomas, attorney at law, of Sainte Genevieve and formerly of Ohio, to fill the vacancy on the general court resulting from the death of Otho Shrader. \u201cWe hope this our recommendation will not be disregarded when it is recollected how deeply we are interested in the appointment of a Citizen whom we intimately know.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0038", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Turner and Jesse Franklin, 25 November 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Turner, James,Franklin, Jesse\nTo: Madison, James\n25 November 1811, Senate Chamber. The writers enclose for consideration a letter from former governor Williams of the Mississippi Territory.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0040", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Republican Meeting of Windsor, North Carolina, 26 November 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Republican Meeting of Windsor, North Carolina\nTo: \n26 November 1811. \u201cThe Republicans of Windsor and its Vicinity called togather by a Just sense of the awful crisis which overclouds our political horizon feel it their duty to declair that though they have long witnessed with painful regret, the unfreindly spirit in which the British orders in Council were dictated, they never ceased fondly to hope, \u2018That the scrupulous reguard to Justice, the protracted moderation and the multiplied efforts of the United States to substitute for the accumulating dangers to the peace of the two countries the mutual advantages of re-established friendship and confidence\u2019 would independant of the manifestly unjust and hostile policy which gave them birth, ultimately cause their removal. Disappointed in this their Just expectation and deeply lamenting the dire necessity which is about to clad our country in arms not only to obtain indemnity for past wrongs so long and so patiently bourn but to oppose the execution of Measures, no less derogatory to the honor of Great Britain, than injurious to our interest and destructive to our rights as an independant nation, rights which we never can, never ought and never will relinquish.\n\u201cBe it therefore Resolved as the sense of this meeting that the indispensible condition assigned by the British Envoy, as necessary to the repeal of the orders in council, is highly insulting and affords additional evidence of the unfriendly disposition of that power to the United States in as much as it requires commercial regulations in different countries of Europe beyond the controul of our Government and that they cannot but view the rigorous execution of those orders, (after the pretext upon which they were framed had been removed relative to America) as not only affording evidence of British injustice and determined hostility to the United States but as actual war both in purpose and effect on our lawful commerce. With this solemn impression they look forward with anxious solicitude to the future decisions of the General Government, and though they deeply deplore the anticipated evil expected to flow from a state of war would prefer it with all its horrors to submission without a struggle to measures calculated to endanger our dearest interest and strike directly at our rights as a free and independent nation.\n\u201cBe it further Resolved that while they are alive to all the insults and indignities offered us by Great Britain they are not forgetful that the cource pursued by France since the repeal of her decrees, has not been in unison with her warm professions of Friendship and goodwill, and that the unwarrantable retention of our property siezed and condemned under various pretext unfounded in Justice as well as the unexpected restrictions on American commerce call loudly for corresponding measures of retaliation.\n\u201cBe it further Resolved that while they warmly approbate the spirit and tone of the President\u2019s late message to both houses of Congress they pledge their lives, their fortunes and sacred honor to support the Government in whatever course it may in its wisdom adopt as best calculated to secure us from future wrongs and indemnify us from past injuries so long and so unjustly sustained.\n\u201cBe it further Resolved that a Copy of the afforegoing resolutions be transmitted to the President of the United States and the proceedings of this meeting be published.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0041", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Joseph Farley, 27 November 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Farley, Joseph\nTo: Madison, James\n27 November 1811, Collector\u2019s Office, Waldoboro. Hears that Eleazar W. Ripley has been recommended as attorney for the District of Maine and endorses the recommendation. Is not intimately acquainted with Ripley but believes him to be a gentleman of \u201chandsome talents, and firmly attached to the laws & government of our country.\u201d Mentions that the incumbent, Mr. Lee, is \u201cfederal in his politics, and therefore not so friendly to the present Administration and laws, as the person who holds that important Office should be.\u201d Adds in fairness to Lee that in business he has always appeared to be \u201cfaithfull & upright.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0043", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Cocke, 28 November 1811\nFrom: Cocke, William\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nKnoxville 28th November 1811\nI have taken the liberty to request Doctor Mitchel to introduce Colo Joseph Bernardo to you who Call\u2019d on us on his way from South America the Attact [sic] of the Prophet on Governor Harrison on the night of the 7th instant leaves us no hopes that you will Any longer have it in Your power to preserve peace for the Union and I hope Tennessee will prove her Self a worthy Sister I have no doubt but that you will be a little Suppriseed to hear that the house of representatives in this State have impeached me as the Judge of the first district it Can be no Very pleasant thing for any man of my years to be in Contention but as it must So happen I Rejoice that it is known to my fellow Citizens that the Charges has not proceeded from any fault or error of Judgement in me but from the malice due from a Tipton Tory and Federal party united, the real Causes are well known to Orriginate from two Charges I gave the Grand Jury in Green County whare choice Spirits of the above discription are known to reside and from the Still more offensave tost that I gave at this place on the fourth of July I am Smileing at misfortune I have Stooped to Conquer Success is enevitable pure Gold is only made the brighter by beieng taken through the Crussable my Accusors begin to be Arraigned by the people it is thought that they will endeavour to free them Selves from exposure as much as possable by entering a nole proseque and thereby prevent investigation [(]as they find I have Courage to do my duty) if we Should be forseed into a war with any of the Belgerants you know how to Appreciate as well as to Cultivate a good understanding with Our neighbours, I beg you to take this letter as it is ment and altho it may be a departure from the General rule prescribed by the Goverment let it have the Credit due to private as well as publick esteem & please present my best Compliments to Mrs Maddison Yours Sincearly\nWm Cocke", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0044", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Cook, 28 November 1811\nFrom: Cook, John\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nNew Markett Fr. County 28 No\u27e8v.\u27e9 1811\nI observe in your instructions to Congress you wish for Volunteers, and having the honor to Command a Company of Horse they as well as my officers have expressed a wish to me to present them to you as a part of that patriotic band which is always ready to Support so good a goverment. I must at the same time solicite a favour, which permit me to hope will be granted, that is for U States to loan us Forty Swords and pistols, as your Excellency is well aware that it is impossible to make soilders acquainted with the Military tacktic without arms & Am Sir Your Very Obedt Sert\nJohn Cook Captn New Markets Light Dragoons", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0045", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Eleuth\u00e8re Ir\u00e9n\u00e9e DuPont, 28 November 1811\nFrom: DuPont, Eleuth\u00e8re Ir\u00e9n\u00e9e\nTo: Madison, James\nSir.\nEleutherian Mills November 28th 1811.\nI am extremely gratefull for the information contained in your letter of the 18th inst. I will avail myself of this good opportunity of writing to my father. Since his application to you I have found a private way of remitting the funds I had to Send him; but I am no less thankfull for your good wish, especially as this proof of your Kindness affords me an occasion of expressing to you the great respect and veneration with which I have the honor to be, of your Excellency the most obedt. and humble Servt.\nE. I. duPont.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0047", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Peter Gansevoort, 29 November 1811\nFrom: Gansevoort, Peter\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nFredericktown Maryland November 29th. 1811.\nAt a meeting of the members of the General Court Martial constituted for the trial of Brigadier General Wilkinson, it was decided that you should be informed of the difficulties the court has to struggle with.\nOn the 6th instant being apprised by the Judge advocate, as well as by the accused, that they had no further evidence to produce, the court adjourned to afford an opportunity for the accused to prepare his denfence [sic]; in the mean time two witnesses arrived from the lower Mississippi, whose testimony was duly taken and recorded. The court exhausted all the evidence on the 23d instant. The accused has declared that he is now ready to deliver his defence, but the court cannot regularly proceed owing to the absence of the citizen who has been appointed its Judge advocate.\nThe officers composing the court feel assured, sir, that you will cause a successor to be appointed, and particularly one over whom the court can have a proper controul, or signify your pleasure that I may exercise the power given by the 21st. section of the act fixing the military peace establishment of the United states.\nThe want of a Judge Advocate has already more than once arrested our proceedings, thereby occasioning a waste of time and expense, alike injurious to the public purse, to say nothing of our own pecuniary resources and the dignity of the Court.\nThe great interest that a long train of circumstances appears to have excited in the public mind; the repeated examinations of these before the representative council of the Nation; the reference of the whole of them to this General Court Martial for a final, full and equitable decision, must justify the most solemn and regular proceeding as well as the most accurate and independent judgement in the case; And sir, I trust this sentiment will serve as an ample apology for the liberty taken in thus addressing you. In hopes of being honoured with an answer on or before the fourth day of December I have adjourned the Court to Thursday the fifth. With sentiments of profound respect I have the honor to be, sir, Your most obedient servant.\nP. Gansevoort Brigr Genl. President", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0048", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Crawford, 30 November 1811\nFrom: Crawford, William\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nWashington 30th. Novr. 1811\nYour customary card has renewed an embarrassment under which I have labored since the first & only time I attended your table as a guest. Living recluse from intercourse with polished society\u2014unacquainted with the regulations of their ceremonial\u2014and diffident of the conduct I ought to observe\u2014I at that time committed a blunder\u2014which may have been construed into rudeness\u2014where I could have no rational motive to offend & where I am conscious I had not a wish to occasion an uneasy sensation. As a representative of the people my standing in society requires an exertion to relieve myself from an awkward situation which has ever since denied me to your hospitality. If this is admitted as an apology an intimation thereof from you will bring me to your table on tuesday\u2014if not it will be considered as forming my excuse. I am Sir With high respect Your Most Obedt.\nWm. Crawford", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0049", "content": "Title: Resolutions of the Mississippi Territorial Legislature, [ca. 1 December] 1811\nFrom: Mississippi Territorial Legislature\nTo: \n[ca. 1 December 1811]\nResolved by the Legislative Council and House of Representatives of the Mississippi Territory in General Assembly Convened That the embarrassments and difficulties under which the United States have for many years laboured have been caused by the injustice of foreign nations and of domestic faction.\nThat the late and present administrations of the general government have in our opinions pursued a wise impartial and just course towards the Belligerent powers of Europe, and such as ought to conciliate and unite the affections of every American Citizen.\nThat the correspondence (just published) between the American Secretary of State and Mr. Foster the British envoy afford additional and conclusive evidence of the determination of Great Britain to continue to violate her most sacred pledges, to trifle with the American nation and to persevere in a course of unjust and hostile measures towards the Commerce the government and honor of the United states.\nThat the late message of the President of the United states to both houses of Congress breathes the true spirit and feelings of the American people.\nThat we will support the administration of the general government in its efforts to obtain justice from offending nations with our lives and fortunes\u2014And for which we pledge our sacred honors.\nResolved That the President of the Council and Speaker of the House of Representatives be requested to cause four Copies of these Resolutions to be made out one of which shall be transmitted to the President of the United states one to the President of the Senate one to the Speaker of the House of Representatives of the United States and one to our Delegate in Congress.\nCowles Mead Speaker of the House of Representatives\nAlexander Montgomery President of the Legislative Council", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0050", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Edme-\u00c9tienne Borne Desfourneaux, 1 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Desfourneaux, Edme-\u00c9tienne Borne\nTo: Madison, James\n1 December 1811, Ch\u00e2teau de C\u00e9zy, Paris. Does not know whether JM will recall his name or whether the request he is about to make will seem indiscreet. Mentions by way of justification the service he was able to render Mr. Brown and several of his compatriots in 1794 while he had command in Saint-Domingue. Family matters have called Mme Desfourneaux to New York, and he has learned from her letters that she would have returned to France by now had she had a safe opportunity to do so. Would be most happy if JM would be so good as to allow Mme Desfourneaux a passage on board an armed vessel of the U.S. on the express condition that she pay the costs on the spot. Recalls with pleasure the time he spent as governor of Guadeloupe and the occasion, on 15 Dec. 1798, on which he sent home on the Retaliation American citizens who had been kept prisoner by Victor Hugues. Hopes one day to be able to show to the former worthy allies of France the high consideration he has for them.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0051", "content": "Title: Account with St. Mary\u2019s College, 1 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: St. Mary\u2019s College\nTo: \n1 December 1811. Lists charges to JM for John Payne Todd for one quarter\u2019s tuition \u201cending this day\u201d and school supplies, amounting to $16.50, and a 15 Oct. 1811 charge of $1.87 \u00bd for two \u201cClassic Books,\u201d for a total of $18.37 \u00bd.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0053", "content": "Title: To James Madison from David Bailie Warden, 2 December 1811\nFrom: Warden, David Bailie\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nParis, 2 December, 1811.\nOn my return here, I found an Edition, in 8vo, of the Essai politique sur La Nouvelle Espagne\u2014of which I have forwarded a copy for your acceptance. Baron Humboldt is, at present, in Germany, and proposes to return soon to Paris. He accuses Major Pike of having copied a part of his map, without even the mention of his Name. A french translation of Pikes\u2019 Journal is in the press. I beg leave, sir, to inclose a copy of queries which I submitted to the Secretary of State, before my departure from Washington. I wish much to possess more correct information concerning my duties as Consul; and permit me, Sir, to repeat that I will never voluntarily deviate from them when well understood.\nThe Emperor seems, at present, disposed to enter into some negotiation which, it is hoped, will put an end to the seizure of american property, and renew friendly relations between the Two Countries.\nI have taken the liberty of sending under cover to you, a ms. for Mr Jefferson, from Senator Tracey, the father in law of young La Fayette. I am, gentlemen [sic], with great respect Your most obedient and very humbe Servt\nD. B. Warden", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0054", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Anthony Charles Cazenove, 2 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Cazenove, Anthony Charles\nTo: Madison, James\n2 December 1811, Alexandria. Informs JM that the pipe of wine he ordered has arrived on the brig Louisa McNamara. Encloses a draft from Murdoch, Yuille, Wardrop, & Company on JM and requests its return when accepted. Asks if JM wishes the wine to remain in store until he sends someone to take charge of it or if he wishes it sent \u201cby the Georgetown or Washington packet which goes to the Navy Yard, or by a careful drayman.\u201d Charges will be rendered after their precise amount is ascertained.\n\u201cI beg leave to mention in case you should want any wines of an inferior quality, that I have received per same Vessel from Messrs. Murdoch Madeira wine @ \u00a348. & \u00a350. Stg p pipe, in half pipes & quarter casks\u2014& have in store good Lisbon in half pipes & qr. casks @ 1 65/100 & good Teneriffe in qr. casks @ 1 56/100 p Gallon.\u201d\nAdds in a postscript: \u201cMessrs. Murdoch\u2019s wine @ 48 & \u00a350. Stg will be sold at importation cost, exchange at par, & 3 Guineas insurance paid on it. I have also a pipe & 2 qr. Casks of their fine old wine @ \u00a360 Stg insured in the United States @ 4 pCt. Being greatly in hopes you will continue to import from that house, I beg leave to suggest the propriety of henceforward ordering your wine to be insured, which Messrs. Murdoch mention would be most agreable to them as in case of a loss they would be reimbursed in London. The insurance would also be obtained on better terms than if effected in the United States.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0055", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Israel Pickens, 4 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Pickens, Israel\nTo: Madison, James\n4 December 1811, Washington. A vacancy has occurred with the death of the collector at Washington, North Carolina, and he has received a letter from Col. Henry Selby, who is seeking the appointment. His acquaintance with Selby is \u201cvery limited,\u201d being confined to one session in the North Carolina Senate, but he believes him to be \u201ca reputable worthy citizen\u201d who would make a good collector.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0056", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Joel Barlow, 5 December 1811\nFrom: Barlow, Joel\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir\nParis 5 Dec 1811\nI take the liberty of recommending to your particular friendship & protection Mr. Corea, a Portuguese of great learning & Science whom I have known for many years a most amiable & honorable man. He is member of most of the learned Societies in Europe, & of that of Philadelphia.\nHe has now chosen the United States for his country, & I feel an interest in his finding friends & other comforts worthy of him. With great respect & attachment your obt. Sert.\nJ. Barlow", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0057", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Caesar A. Rodney, 5 December 1811\nFrom: Rodney, Caesar A.\nTo: Madison, James\nDecember 5th. 1811.\nI do hereby resign the office of Attorney General of the United States.\nC. A. Rodney", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0059", "content": "Title: From James Madison to John G. Jackson, ca. 5 December 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Jackson, John G.\nLetter not found. Ca. 5 December 1811. Acknowledged in Jackson to JM, 8 Dec. 1811. Conveys news that William Henry Harrison and his army have returned safely to Vincennes. Expresses hope that Congress will act decisively.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0060", "content": "Title: From James Madison to William Pinkney, 6 December 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Pinkney, William\nDear Sir\nWashington Decr. 6. 1811\nMr. Rodney having retired from the Office of Attorney General of the U. S. I am desirous of obtaining for our Country, the services promised it by the talents & dispositions which you would carry into the vacancy. Unwilling however to present your name to the Senate without your permission, I must ask the favor of you to intimate by the Gentleman Charged with this, whether I may have the pleasure of taking that liberty. With a hope that it will be allowed me, I tender you assurances of great esteem & best regards\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0061", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Richard Forrest, [7 December] 1811\nFrom: Forrest, Richard\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nBaltimore Saturday Night 11. Oclock [7 December 1811]\nHaving ascertained by an indirect inquiry that Mr. Pinkney had left Annapolis, I set out this morning direct for this place, where I found him. On reading your letter, he requested me to inform you, that he would accept with pleasure the appointment which you had been pleased to offer him, and that he would write you fully on the subject tomorrow.\nI shall leave this place tomorrow for Annapolis and be at home on Tuesday. I have the honor to be with the highest respect Sir, Your most obedient Servt.\nRichd. Forrest\nP.S: Mr. Pinkney says, that should the Senate make any difficulty respecting his unsettled account in the Treasury, that the United States are several hundred dollars indebted to him.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0062", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John G. Jackson, 8 December 1811\nFrom: Jackson, John G.\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir.\nWashington Decr. 8th 1811\nIt was very gratifying to learn from your letter that Harrison had arrived at Vincennes without any other rencontre with the indians than the battle near the Prophets town. I greatly apprehended that encumbered by his wounded, & badly supplied with provisions they might follow on his heels & gall his army in the most distressing manner. Their forbearance augurs well of their conduct during the winter, & with a proper display of force & decision will prevent any considerable assemblage or concentration of the tribes in the next year. Fear alone be assured will destroy the latent spark which has been disclosed: their habits conspire to make them fond of War & there are not wanting base incendiaries who add to their predilection.\nThe Assembly here have not done or agitated any thing which has not been communicated thro the papers. It is said that the denial of the right of instruction by Mr. Giles will produce some resolution asserting the right & consequently censuring the advocates of a contrary doctrine.\nI am apprehensive that the Congress will disappoint your hopes & the nations just expectations. They are too tardy for decision & vigor.\nI am very desirous to procure a copy of the Census of Virginia as printed for Congress & ask the favor of you to send it to me. Offer my affectionate regards to Mrs. M & Mrs. W. At a more favorable moment I will do myself the pleasure to write them. Your Mo. Obt\nJ G Jackson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0063", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Pinkney, 8 December 1811\nFrom: Pinkney, William\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir.\nBaltimore 8h. Decr. 1811\nI am not able to tell you how much pleasure I have received from the kind Letter which you did me the Honor to send to me by Mr Forrest. When I have said that I consider it as a full Pledge of the Continuance of your good opinion & Regard, I have said every thing.\nMy professional prospects here are as flattering as I could have hoped or desired; and they assure me that, if I am spared for a few Years, I may yet redeem the Negligence of the past. But the office of Attorney-General will not much interfere with them; if, indeed, it will not rather make them better. At any Rate it will place me nearer to you, and, while it will prove that I am still honoured with your Confidence & Friendship, will afford me an Opportunity of giving my humble Assistance to your Endeavours for the public Good. I am ready, therefore (as I mentioned to Mr Forrest) to accept the Appointment whenever it may be your pleasure to make it, and to repair to Washington as soon as it shall be thought expedient. Believe me to be, Dear Sir, with grateful & affectionate Attachment\u2014Your faithful & Obedient Servant\nWm. Pinkney.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0064", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Jonathan Robinson, 8 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Robinson, Jonathan\nTo: Madison, James\n8 December 1811, Washington. Recommends Thomas Hall Storm of New York, now acting as U.S. charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires at Tripoli, for consul there. \u201cAltho he has been in Europe for the last 7 years \u2026 and I have not a Personal acquaintance yet from the very Respectable Station his father and all his Family Connections stand in at New York \u2026 I am convinced he is a very worthy character. Mr. Davis I learn has resignd that office and it would be very gratifying to Col Storm if his Son can be appointed.\u201d Refers JM to Gallatin for confirmation that Storm has an \u201cexcellent Reputation and is a Sincere friend to the Administration.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0066", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Willie Blount, 10 December 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Blount, Willie\nSir\nWashington Decr. 10. 1811\nI have recd. your letter of Novr. 23. covering an address from the Legislature of the State of Tennessee.\nThe patriotic sentiments which it expresses are an honorable sample of those which animate the great body of our fellow Citizens. The wrongs which have been so long borne by our Country, in the hope that a sense of justice and the true policy inseparable from it would have put an end to them, are persisted in, with aggravations which leave to a nation, determined not to abandon its rights, no appeal but to its own means of vindicating them. The necessity will be deplored by a people who have cherished peace in sincerity, because they are alive to the calamities which begin where peace ends. But they will meet those as not the greatest calamities, when a surrender of their sacred rights & vital interests are the alternative. They will meet them with the intrepid firmness imposed by a consciousness that the issue has been unsought on their part & I trust with the una[ni]mity, also, which such a cause ought to produce.\nIn The measures by which the navigable streams proceeding from the neighborhood of Tennessee were secured to the U. States, the Executive, paid a just regard to the importance of them, in both a local & national view; without losing sight of the principles of justice & right on one hand, and of those of the Constitution on the other. The sequel rests with the National Councils, on which the Legislature of Tennissee, properly rely for all the attention to the particular interests of that State, which may be compatible with a comprehensive regard to the whole.\nFor the confidence which the Legislature & yourself, have been pleased to express in my views & endeavors for the public good, I tender my acknowledgements, with assurances of my high respects, and a return of my best wishes", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0067", "content": "Title: To James Madison from an Unidentified Correspondent, 10 December 1811\nFrom: \nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nParis December 10th. 1811.\nAs a Citizen of the United states, I feel it my duty to give you the following information. I trust that the nature of the communication I am about to make, will equally remove the idea of delation or mischief towards the individual; but if such were the impressions it is to produce, as my only object is to serve the Country and yourself, my personal respect for you shall outweigh this consideration. Judging therefore, as I do, that it cannot be indifferent to you, to learn from so direct and, as I think, so good a source, the attempt which was made against the United states, and particularly against your administration; the manner in which the proposa\u27e8l\u27e9 was received, the party who counteracted it, and its final result, I feel no more hesitation, and however it may be; there is one consolation cannot fail me, that is; that while its omission might be highly reprehensible, if not criminal, its execution can \u27e8do no\u27e9 harm to any one, but may prove highly interesting to the country and particularly useful to yourself. My first idea was to have procured an interview between my informant and Mr B, he being a man of letters, it appeared practicable but besides that Mr B. is now confined to his bed, by sickness, I am not sure that the former would have spoken freely before a third person, or to a man in office; and I wish the present oppy to convey to you the information.\nThe object of A. B. in coming to Paris, has been variously stated. One of th\u27e8e\u27e9 three men, in France, who were made acquainted with it (The duke of Otranto the Emperor, and this man) who was ordered to make a report on it, for the ministe\u27e8r\u27e9 to be presented to the Emperor, has within one hour related it to me, to have been as follows.\nThe Duke of O. was the only man who took notice of him in France, not even excepting Talleyrand or D Hauterive whose protector he, as he says, had been whilst in Newyork, and on whose return he depended much. To the Duke, he delivered a memorial of 63 folio pages. The delivery of which was suggested by \u201ca desire of concurring with the wishes of his Majesty, namely, of effecting a peace with England\u201d and he added \u201cthat, viewing the object as attainable as, in his opinion it was, he was greatly surprised, it had not long before been brought about[\u201d]: such a declaration, made in so positive a manner, by a man who was not without some celebrity, who had lately been in England, who had had interviews with Mr. Canning, a man of some ostensible reputation, induced the minister to lend an ear; and thus, from mere curiosity to see the man, to considerations of a higher interest, he was led to converse on the subject and the means of a peace with England, and permit him to give him his Memorial of 63 folio pages.\nThe object of this memorial was: to procure peace between France and England. France was to offer to secure to England, with all her forces, even by the loan of 100,000 men or more, the conquest of the Northern parts of the United states.\nWith such a secret treaty or an understanding between the two nations, it was propos\u27e8ed\u27e9 that English fleets should carry, from time to time, to Canada and Nova scotia as many troops, as would be judged necessary, and there wait under some pretences till the moment was favorable, for the operation. That time was provisionally stated by B. to be the next election for P & V. P. He added: that he strongly relied on his consumate local knowledge of the various dispositions & inclinati\u27e8ons\u27e9 of the inhabitants of the Eastern and southern states, and of the local prejudices which he could, between this and that time, excite by means of his numerous friends, who were dispersed over every part of the Country. The English Commanders of those French Armies, in Canada & Nova scotia, were to concert with the chief of an insurrection that was to be raised in New-Mexico, the Province of Texas, W. Florida. This chief was to be himself with the appointment from his I. M. of Generalissimo over the armies in the South. 1.500.000 francs was required for this part of the expedition.\nThe Duke of Kent, or any English Commander was to be at Halifax, rea\u27e8dy\u27e9 at any warning, at the head of a third division, to fall on the Eastern states, whic\u27e8h\u27e9 are represented as impatient of such a pretence, for returning to their allegianc\u27e8e\u27e9 to the mother Country. On the success of this operation, as he expressed it, \u201cwell conducted\u201d he placed great reliance.\nThis movement taking place at the time of the Election of P & V. P., three millions of Francs were demanded; to be distributed among the partisans in the interior of the United states, to excite jealousies, foment divisions among the citizens whom he represents as easily led, and \u201cready to embrace any opportunity of freeing themselves from a bondage imposed upon them, by a Virginian administration.\u201d His expressions were \u201cThe people is willing, nay desirous to go to war; but the administration not having one military man among them, nor confidence enough in those who are out of the administration, will never consent to it. The first Gun fired will be the signal of confusion among them, whence will ensue their defeat and retreat from office without any further trouble, without striking one blow. Sans coup ferir.\u201d\nSuch is the crude plan as proposed to the Emperor, who asked many questions about the individual which the reporter, my informant and intimate friend, had anticipated and answered unfavorably.\nNo decision was taken; no orders given.\nA second conversation was had on the subject, as barren of result as the first.\nIt is added: that although a proposition of this nature was not calculated to produce a favorable impression on the proposer, yet, being treated with great apparent civility he was the dupe of it, and continued to be so, in such a manner as to be induced to make addenda, which he brought to the Minister, at the repeated interviews which he afterwards had with him.\nHowever absurd, to say no more, this plan was transmitted to England through a M L. as you doubtless were informed, by G Armstrong, for the report being then pretty current in Paris, he told me thus much at the time. But what he did not tell me, probably because he could not know, is the manner in which it was received; nor could he know, I think, another very striking circumstance, namely, that it was de facto unauthorised, by the Emperor. Two letters were obtained through the same channel, from Lord Wellesley, which were seen and translated by my friend, one of which contained, as he tells me, among others, this sentence \u201cthat the F G. never had made any proposal that appeared as rational as this.\u201d The whole tenor contained more than a probability of their being well received. He adds: that when F. thought it [\u2026] to declare what he had done, in order to have it approved, and obtain leave to \u27e8do?\u27e9 [\u2026] Emperor was enraged, and F\u2019s dismission was resolved on. But when, a few \u27e8day\u27e9s after, L. W. receiving from Paris no further communications to the cordial opening he had made Ld \u2026 suspected he had been duped, he took the only course that was left him, in so delicate a situation, and making a merit of what he found he ought to have done at first, he published to the world \u201cthe proposition which had been made him by some person authorised by the F Government.[\u201d] Then it was, that the Emperor\u2019s displeasure and passion were at their height, and knew no bounds; and a most formal disgrace with all its concommittants was heaped on the too officious minister. The sincerity of all this is submitted to superior judgment. In this informal, tho, as I mean it, respectful letter, I have mixed opinions with facts nor have I distinguished what was ridiculously absurd. As the opinions, such as they are are those of one who had such opportunities of observing, I judged it might be well to tell all I heard, nor does it become my respect for you, to point out any other distinction. The danger consequent upon designating myself further will be sufficiently obvious to you, to excuse me from an apology for not doing it. I hope soon to be able to convey other information from a smaller distance.\nI wish not to omit: that while hearing the report, in question, the Emperor\u2019s atenti\u27e8on\u27e9 was arrested upon that part which relates to a separation being produced, betw\u27e8een\u27e9 the Northern from the Southern states, he exclaimed \u201cthey all admit it is inevitable sooner or later.[\u201d]\nAnother particular which tho\u2019 of but small importance may nevertheless serve to shew the spirit of some of the Courtiers, is that Talleyrand whose disgrace had not yet been publickly declared, and who was then on some terms with the duke of Otranto, was consulted by him, on the eligibility & practicability of such a plan; and that he greatly encouraged it, and repeated it could not fail of being very agreeable to the Emperor.\nFrom another source; I have good reasons to believe that B. will be in the United states previous to the Election of President. It is not in my power, nor should I have the presumption to point out what he may or may not attempt to traverse it, suffice it to mention: that I have ascertained he has kept up a constant correspondence with some families in Newyork, the Swartout and a few others who express a promise of going all lengths for him, in what he may hereafter undertake.\nA B embarked a few months ago, on board the Vigilant which sailed from Amsterdam for Boston. He since landed in England. I am very respectfully, sir, Your most hble and most obed servant.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0068", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Inhabitants of the Michigan Territory, 10 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Michigan Territory Inhabitants\nTo: Madison, James\n10 December 1811. \u201cDissatisfactions with the aboriginal inhabitants of these countries, [which] have been for some time engendering,\u201d have \u201cbeen kindled into an open flame, and their blood with that of the American citizen has stained the plains of the Wabash; the first which has been spilt in the north western territory, under public authority, since the pacification of Greeneville\u201d on 3 Aug. 1795. \u201cWe pray the god of peace, in his mercy, to grant that these disasters, so portentous to our country, may spread no farther; and that the forbearance, and moderation of our government, and, at the same time, its firmness, will prevent the conflagration from extending along the whole line of the frontier, from Kaskaskias to Detroit, through the Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan governments.\n\u201cWe know, however, from \u2026 experience, that the savage mind, once fully incensed, once diverted from the pursuit of their ordinary subsistence, once turned upon plunder, once inflamed by the loss of their kindred and friends, once gratified with the taste of blood, is difficult to appease; and as terrible as subtle in vengeance. The horrors of savage belligerence description cannot paint. No picture can resemble the reality. No effort can bring the imagination up to the standard of the fact. Nor sex, nor age, have claims. The short remnant of life, left to the hoary head, trembling with age and infirmities, is snatched away. The tenderest infant, yet imbibing nutrition from the mamilla of maternal love, and the agonized mother herself, alike wait the stroke of the relentless tomahawk. No vestige is left of what fire can consume. Nothing which breathes the breath of life is spared. The animals reared by the cares of civilized man are involved in his destruction. No human foresight can divine the quarter which shall be struck. It is in the dead of the night, in the darkness of the moon, in the howling of the storm, that the demoniac deed is done.\u201d\nThese anxieties \u201ccompel us to approach the fathers of our country, to expose to them the dangers, and weakness of this colonial establishment, and to demand the protection of their parental arm. While our representation is on its wing, and ere our wishes, or your intentions, or the extent of the danger, are capable, at this distant separation, of becoming known, we shall be true to ourselves, and true to you; and all that precaution, united with resolution can effect, we shall endeavor to accomplish. But we confidently trust that inaction or hesitation may prevail no longer; and that effective measures, demanded no less by the solid and permanent interests of the United States, than by our local exposure, will not be delayed.\u201d\n\u201cTo those whose duty, or whose wish, it may be, to possess themselves of information, at once the most accurate, and the most minute, with respect to the topographical, and statistical relations of this territory, we give a reference, on the one hand, to the surveys of the whole of the settled parts of this country, recently taken, and which are of record in the treasury department; and, on the other, to the enumerations of the inhabitants, which have just been completed, and are of record in the department of state. To generalize this information, and to present it plain and naked to the mind, we will condense the results in few words.\u201d There are \u201cnine principal settlements\u201d in the Michigan Territory: (1) the Miami River; (2) the Raisin River; (3) the Huron River of Lake Erie; (4) the Ecorce River; (5) the Rouge River; (6) the Detroit River; (7) the Huron River of Lake St. Clair; (8) the Sinclair River; (9) the island of Michilimackinac; and (10) various detached settlements.\n\u201cFrom the first to the second, in the order they are enumerated, the distance is thirty two miles. From the second to the sixth thirty six miles. From the sixth to the seventh forty miles. From the seventh to the eighth thirty five miles. From the eighth to the ninth two hundred miles. The total, from one extreme to the other, three hundred forty three miles.\n\u201cIn the three first the whole population is one thousand three hundred forty souls. The males above sixteen three hundred ninety one. In the four next the whole population is two thousand two hundred twenty seven, males as before five hundred ninety nine. In the two last the whole population is one thousand seventy souls, males as before five hundred three.\n\u201cIn this territory are two garrisons; one in Detroit, one at Michillimackina. The first has ninety four men, the second seventy nine.\n\u201cOf the whole population four-fifths are French, the remainder American, with a small portion of British.\n\u201cThe whole population of the Territory of Michigan, including French, Americans, and British; settlers, and troops; white, and persons of color; is four thousand seven hundred sixty two.\n\u201cIn other frontier \u27e8countries, the fr\u27e9ontier is on o\u27e8ne\u27e9 side. \u27e8It i\u27e9s also on the extremity. The settlements thicken as you recede from the circumfer\u27e8ential est\u27e9ablishme\u27e8nts.\u27e9\n\u201cIn the peculiar manner in which this territory is settled two striking particularities are to be observed.\n\u201cFirst; The whole territory is a double frontier. The British are on one side. The savages on the other.\n\u201cSecond; Every individual house is a frontier. No one farm is covered by another farm in the rear of it.\n\u201cIt may therefore be at once conceived, what would be the situation of the people of the territory of Michigan, in a case of determined hostility against them, by the savages. The inhabitants are so dispersed, that to assemble one hundred men, upon any one spot, on a sudden nocturnal notice, is physically impossible; and how are even these one hundred to be induced, in the hours of danger, to relinquish the last pleasure the world can present them, that of dying along with their innocent and helpless families, and to abandon them to certain destruction, under the, perhaps, visionary hope of any where embodying in force adequate to meet an enemy! What shall reduce into concert the exertions of two distinct people, unacquainted with the languages of each other; and who have reason to be divided in the degree of their fear? Is there again a refuge for the helpless in flight? On the south the savages intercept them from their brethren of the States. On the west, on the north, they perfectly surround them. Shall they then lift an eye to the east, throw themselves on the mercy of the british, and will they, or can they, there, find mercy? Will reason sanction the idea; or have past events authorized the hope? And what, lastly, is to be expected from the military? They can, and will, defend themselves. But they will not march out of the walls of their garrison. They have not even men enough to man their works.\n\u201c\u2026 The essential enquiry which remains is\u2014what is requisite to be done?\u201d The memorialists suggest, first, an increase in the military force \u201csufficient to man the works, and afford a body to march out, in aid of the militia; a part cavalry\u201d; and, second, additional garrisons on other points of the northwestern frontier, namely \u201cat the intersection of a meridian line from the mouth of the grand au Glaize river with a line of latitude drawn from the head of the river Sinclair, or, which is the same thing, the embouchure or outlet of Lake Huron\u201d; at the mouth of the Wisconsin River as defined by article 11 of the treaty of St. Louis of 3 Nov. 1804; and at \u201cthe same latitude as the mouth of the Wisconsin River, on the River Missouri; as soon as legitimate means may be used.\n\u201cIf peace prevails elsewhere on the frontier, notwithstanding the battle on the Wabash, the increase of the military force before mentioned, the establishment of the subsequent garrisons will, as we conceive, give us protection; and, in that happy event, if we have aught to reproach ourselves with, if we have pressed too hard upon a fugitive people, if we have imposed on one that is ignorant, if, approaching the meridian of our strength, we are becoming indifferent to the happiness, to the rights, of an unfortunate race of mankind, who, notwithstanding any temporary injuries they may be capable of inflicting, are destined to melt away before the irresistible advances of an empire, of whose magnitude, of whose stability, they can have no conception, if we have relinquished the feelings of their \u2018father\u2019 before they deprive us of the title, let us not refuse our admiration to the spirit which prompts man to defend his home, his country, to the last hour; let us seasonably retrace our steps; let us hasten to recall sentiments of humanity; let us hasten to render them justice!\n\u201cIf, on the contrary, pacific exertions have failed, and war and contest prevail, of which your information, notwithstanding our proximity, will be more prompt and authentic than ours; if, at the moment that our dangers and our feelings are announcing in your halls the warm blood of life is yet smoking on your frontier; we know of no reliance, in addition to our own exertions, and the military force to which we have adverted, but detachments of militia from the States of Ohio, Kentucky, New York, and Pennsylvania.\n\u201cWe need not urge the importance of our country to you. Your interest, your honor compel you to keep it; and, its intermediate protection is, on one side a right, on the other a duty. Prompt effective defence is wisdom. The country once lost, who shall count the lives, or the treasures you must expend to regain it?\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0070", "content": "Title: From James Madison to William Pinkney, 12 December 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Pinkney, William\nDear Sir\nWashington Der. 12. 1811\nOn the receipt of your letter of the 8th. you were nominated to the Senate as Successor to Mr. Rodney. The inclosed Commission will inform you of the result. In expectation of the pleasure of seeing you as soon as you can make it convenient, I tender you assurances of my great esteem and sincere regard.\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0071", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Elbridge Gerry, 12 December 1811\nFrom: Gerry, Elbridge\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir,\nCambridge 12th December 1811\nThe late President Adams communicated to me yesterday, in a friendly interveiw at my house, the enclosed extract of a letter; & expressed great apprehension, that if all the propositions, for enforcing the non intercourse act, should be adopted, they will overthrow the republican governments of the New England States & make them compleatly federal. The searching houses, as proposed before the repeal of the embargo act, produced great excitements in this quarter, & being high ground, was immediately seized by the malecontents to produce a civil war. It will be wise to consider well of the subject, before it is adopted in toto. The above, with the extract, will be considered in a confidential light, & used with precaution.\nAs there are ten thousand troops to be raised, it is the wish, as far as I am informed, of your friends, & certainly of the one who now addresses You, that our firm & determined friend Governor Hull should have a Brigadier General\u2019s command, if, as it appears to be, consistent with his present office.\nI propose to address you soon on the subject of my public greivance, & in the interim remain dear Sir with the highest estimation & respect, your Excellency\u2019s obedt Sert\nE. Gerry", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0072", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Hull, 12 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Hull, William\nTo: Madison, James\n12 December 1811, Newton. States that Reuben Attwater\u2019s term as secretary of the Michigan Territory will expire on 1 Mar. 1812. Has approved of Attwater\u2019s conduct in office and would find his reappointment \u201chighly satisfactory.\u201d Presumes that there will be no objection to the reappointment but mentions it because Attwater is now the acting governor. \u201cI do not expect to return to the Territory, as early as the 1st. of march. It is therefore desirable that the appointment should be made, and the commission forwarded, so that he may receive it, before the 1st. of March, otherwise, there will be no Officer authorized to administer the goverment.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0073", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Anthony Charles Cazenove, 13 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Cazenove, Anthony Charles\nTo: Madison, James\n13 December 1811, Alexandria. States that he delivered JM\u2019s wine \u201cthis day\u201d to Thomas McGraw. Encloses an account of the charges on it as well as the cost of the \u201cquarter cask of Lisbon,\u201d for a total of $118.88, which JM can remit at his convenience. Advises that \u201can opportunity from hence for Madeira will offer in a few days\u201d and offers to transmit any order JM wishes. Asks him to mention, should he place an order, if he wishes it to be insured.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0074", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Pope, 13 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Pope, John\nTo: Madison, James\n13 December 1811, Washington. Recommends John Edwards King of Cumberland County, Kentucky, for the judicial vacancy in upper Louisiana. He is a lawyer of \u201cexperience, respectability & influe\u27e8nce\u27e9 & qualified for the office.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0075", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Tatham, 14 December 1811\nFrom: Tatham, William\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nDecember 14th. 1811, Norfolk.\nThe inclosed offer to the people of Norfolk, in whom I have not yet found those boasted patriotic virtues which I have too often felt their deficiency in, will shew you how my time has been occupied since I had last the pleasure of seeing you in Washington.\nTwelve months ago I left Harbour Island with a view to be with you before the meeting of Congress (I mean the last of October 1810), but am still purse bound in this port, with the finest Model of a boat which has been seen here; designed for the service refered to in the inclosed printed paper. From the calculations I am enabled to make, with the assistance of a respectable boat builder, at the Norfolk prices as a medium for the U. States, I think I can engage to furnish Boats of thirty five feet long, seven feet wide, with Arm Chests Lockers &c, completely fitted for sea, river, or over land, service, at three hundred dollars each: each boat to carry sixteen Men & their Officers, capable of evolutions by land or by water, & to be delivered at stations along the coast.\nSuch a System of Military movements along our Maritime frontier, & on the Lakes of Canada, must render every Enemy contemptible; and will greatly reduce the Armies necessary to defend our numerous peninsulas, in numbers; and relieve our Troops from the fatigue of marching & counter marching: giving always an advantage in attack, defence, pursuit, or retreat; because we shall be thus rendered so completely amphibuous that none can anticipate, or guard against our motions.\nNow One thousand Boats, conveyed with great ease by the Men themselves, (for two men carried my boat to the water this week, at some distance) when placed on their carriages, which a child can move, will accommodate sixteen thousand effective Troops; and five hundred more, I presume, with Eight thousand Men, will be enough for the Lakes and western service. Twenty four thousand men thus equipped, can speedily rendezvous at any point on the Continent; taking the route, as it falls out, by sea by rivers or by land. The cost will be four hundred & fifty thousand dollars; for which sum, I will engage, giving security for advances to effect my contract, as I need them by instalments.\nThus we save our waggonage, pack horses, and numerous items of wear & tear; and have the only men on earth who can manage this vehicle. In this particular, it may perhaps be a piece of new and valuable information that, although I manage my boat at ease, when entirely alone & at nearly the close of my sixtieth Year, this is not safe for sailors to attempt; nor are any but persons taught in our district competent to avoid destruction in them; although our people relieve wrecks at sea with perfect safety, & in the heaviest gales.\nI have persevered in my topographical surveys, & have lately made considerable acquisitions, though unassisted by government since Eighteen hundred & seven; and opposed by ignorance & vulgar prejudice. I have much to communicate, if ever I am able to reach you; and I am tempted to believe that your letter of the 10th. May 1810 is an ample assurance that I shall be permitted to complete a demonstration of the several principles & improvements I have heretofore hinted; that government will aid me in finishing the hydrographic deficiencies I shall point out to them; and that I shall be ultimately compensated fairly for a surrender of my acquisitions to public use, in spite of such flatterers knaves & sycophants as are wont to croud to the footstool of men in power, and may have happened, for selfish ends, to have crawled between my exertions and the interests of their country. I have the honor to be, sincerely, Yours with high consideration\nWm Tatham", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0077", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the Union Volunteers of Westmoreland and Fayette Counties, Pennsylvania, ca. 14 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Union Volunteers of Westmoreland and Fayette Counties, Pennsylvania\nTo: Madison, James\nCa. 14 December 1811. The officers of the light infantry company called the Union Volunteers, attached to the Seventy-second Regiment, Second Brigade, of the Thirteenth Division of the Pennsylvania militia, are anxious to serve their country \u201cin the field of Mars.\u201d At a full meeting of the company in Uniontown, Fayette County, they resolved to offer their services to the president in order to assist Governor Harrison \u201con the Wabash against the Indians\u201d for six months or longer after their arrival. They are ready to march at a moment\u2019s warning.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0078", "content": "Title: To James Madison from David Meade Randolph, 16 December 1811\nFrom: Randolph, David Meade\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nLondon 16th December 1811\nNotwithstanding my communications may be deemed unworthy your notice, yet since my conscience assures me that I am stimulated by patriotic motives, you will have the goodness to pardon the present repetition.\nAmong the variety of practical improvements to which my enquiries have extended, there has nothing fallen within my reach so vastly important in a National point of view a[s] a subject lately confided to my friend Dr. Eustis. And, since from the evident policy likely to be forced upon the U. States by the present jarring state of the World, the Art of Ship-building seems to claim attention, I am contemplating important advantages to result from my humble acquirements in forming acquaintance with certain characters in this Country, whose theories, altho proved, are still sufferred to linger from a dread of reform, lest the present Mass of corruption, a system of detested patronage, becomes agitated! and, its putrid particles dissippated by the genial rays of Light and Truth. I have been indulged in a confidential perusal of documents in this important occasion whereby to have seen and believed in the fact, and magnitude of the Interest which may be secured to our happy country, for the \u27e8defense?\u27e9 of her rights by a simple change in her patent Laws! or, by a special statute \u201cAuthorising any one or more Aliens (or, by their Attorney) to take out a patent or patents (in the usual way) for such Improvements in Naval \u0152conomy generally; but, more particularly and specifically, for the construction and framing, or combination of timbers\u201d &cc &cc &cc comprehensively! Having lately forwarded to Dr. Eustis certain pamphlets &cc. &c. giving the outlines of this affair, I beg leave, still in confidence, to add, viz: A Ship of Eighty Guns requires 1/6 only of the usual number of seamen to navigate her! Her structure equally adapted to the purposes of war and commerce. Wherefore a National Ship may be let out on hire for commerce in times of peace, furnishing so much capital to the Adventurer, saving the expence of her perishing when laid up in ordinary, and, at all times fit for service! &c &cc &cc &. The expence of Materials and building 1/3 or \u00bd less (than these in this Country) Drawing a diminished ratio of water; so well adapting all our vessels to the Western World, where the numberless shoals oppose formidable obstacles to the present old fashioned Moulds, or \u201cTubs\u201d! Whatever of reputation you may be pleased to ascribe to me personally, that will I freely pledge for the success of the project, if any Law shall induce the parties in my view, to come over for the purpose, of anticipating our possible Enemies in this Improvement in the arts of destruction!\nI have to repeat my prayer for forgiveness, thus to intrude on your patience; and, the more especially since duplicate hasty Scrawls will be committed to chance opportunities for reaching your hands. And, to guard vs. curiosity, both are enclosed to my Sons, who will have the honour each, perhaps, to present one. And, they too, will regard the Affair in strict confidence, thereby consistently preserving my own faith with my new friends here; and, of adding their own, to those sentiments of respect and high consideration with which I am yours faithfully\nD M Randolph", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0079", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Anthony Charles Cazenove, 16 December 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Cazenove, Anthony Charles\nLetter not found. 16 December 1811. Acknowledged in Cazenove to JM, 17 Dec. 1811. Encloses a check for $385.55 to pay both the account of Murdoch, Yuille, Wardrop, & Company and that of Cazenove. Forwards a letter for Cathcart at Madeira.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0080", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Albert Gallatin, 17 December 1811\nFrom: Gallatin, Albert\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir\nI enclose a statement of the regular force in Canada (Quebec excepted) transmitted to me yesterday by Mr Astor, which I believe may be relied upon.\nFrom another quarter the garrison at Quebec has been stated at about 3000 effective men; but this last statement is conjecture.\nThe militia most likely to be embodied & disposed to resist is that of the settlements along the river St Lawrence from Montreal up to Kingston on Lake Ontario. Below all is French and neutral. Above, the population is principally american & friendly. Respectfully\nAlbert Gallatin\n[Enclosure]\nMemorandum of British regular force in Canada furnished by \u2014. \u2014.\nProvince of Upper Canada\nthe 41st regiment distributed as followeth viz.\nYork, near outlet of Lake Ontario\nNiagara (Fort George)\nFort Malden, near Detroit\nSt Joseph, on Lake Huron near Michilk.\nProvince of Lower Canada vizt.\nMontreal and vicinity, including a company at St. John\u2019s, the  regiment\nTotal from Montreal inclusive upwards\nThree rivers, half a regiment detached from Quebec\nQuebec\u2014not stated.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0082", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Pinkney, 17 December 1811\nFrom: Pinkney, William\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir.\nAnnapolis. Decr. 17th. 1811\nI had the Honour to receive, late last night, the Letter which you were so good as to write to me on the 12th., and at the same Time my Commission as Atty. General of the U. S. I shall not delay a moment in repairing to Washington after a few importunate Engagements here have been satisfied; and I hope to set out in a few Days.\nPermit me to thank you again for the great Kindness and Delicacy with which this Appointment has been tendered to me, and to assure you that, if I should fail to justify your Choice by an able Discharge of my Official Duties, I shall at least prove that I know how to discharge the Duties of Gratitude and Friendship. I have the Honour to be, Dear Sir, with true Respect and Attachment, Your faithful and Obedient Servant\nWm. Pinkney.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0084", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Congress, 18 December 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Congress\nWashington December 18th 1811\nI lay before Congress two letters received from Governor Harrison of the Indiana Territory, reporting the particulars and the issue of the expedition under his command, of which notice was taken in my communication of November 5th.\nWhile it is deeply lamented that so many valuable lives have been lost in the action which took place on the 7th ulto., Congress will see with satisfaction the dauntless spirit and fortitude victoriously displayed by every discription of the troops engaged, as well as the collected firmness which distinguished their Commander, on an occasion requiring the utmost exertions of valor and discipline.\nIt may reasonably be expected that the good effects of this critical defeat and dispersion of a combination of savages which appears to have been spreading to a greater extent, will be experienced not only in a cessation of the murders and depredations committed on our frontier, but in the prevention of any hostile incursions otherwise to have been apprehended.\nThe families of those brave and patriotic Citizens who have fallen in this severe conflict, will doubtless engage the favorable attention of Congress.\nJames Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0085", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Charles Pinckney, 18 December 1811\nFrom: Pinckney, Charles\nTo: Madison, James\nDear Sir\nIn Columbia December 18: 1811\nIt is some time since I had the pleasure to write to you, but as I know the pleasure you will feel in finding that the spirit of our first revolutionary years still exists I take the liberty of inclosing you a report I have drawn & submitted to the House of Representatives & which has just unanimously passed without the alteration of a single word: as the Post goes out in an hour & I am now writing in the midst of the House of Representatives I have only time to inclose it to you & to say that the spirit of our state is fully up to it & are only waiting the signal, that Congress will unfurl the standard of the Nation, to rally round it.\nAlthough less in a situation to promote manufactures than the northern states for want of sufficient white hands & wool yet we are Beginning to emulate them\u2014great numbers of our planters this year clothe their own negroes & all our planters nearly in the Upper & middle parts of the State (3/4th of our white population) are now clothed in homespun\u2014more than \u00bd of the house of Representatives in which I now write are clothed in it & Mr Gibat a member fr[om] Abbeville is sitting close to me dressed in a suit made from a mixture of Wool & silk both the growth of his own plantation, so handsomely & finely woven & dyed, that it would do honour to any manufacture in Europe.\nYour address to Congress has met with universal approbation here & the general wish is that the Congress will act up to it & on this Subject We have no doubt. I must request you to believe me with great respect & Esteem dear sir Yours Truly\nCharles Pinckney\nI expect the Speaker will sign & transmit the address by the next post.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0086", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Washington Johnston, 18 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Johnston, Washington\nTo: Madison, James\n18 December 1811, Vincennes. \u201cBy directions of the Legislative Council & House of Representatives of the Indiana Territory, I have the honor of enclosing you their Memorial, praying Congress to Admit the Territory as a Free and Independent State into the Union.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0087", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Washington Johnston, 18 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Johnston, Washington\nTo: Madison, James\n18 December 1811, Vincennes. Encloses a memorial from the Indiana territorial House of Representatives respecting the reappointment of William Henry Harrison.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0088", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Joel Barlow, 19 December 1811\nFrom: Barlow, Joel\nTo: Madison, James\nPrivate\nDear Sir\nParis 19 Dec 1811.\nAs an additional apology for detaining the Frigate as well as for believing that an answer somewhat satisfactory is to be given to my note of the 10th. Novr. I ought perhaps to state to you more fully than I have done in my official letter what past at the diplomatic audience to which I there alluded. It was on the 1st. of Decr. the anniversary of the Coronation. The court was uncommonly brilliant & the emperor very affable.\nIn passing round the circle when he came to me he said with a smile \u201ceh bien Monsieur vous saurez donc tenir contre les Anglais.\u201d Alluding as I suppose to the affair of Rodgers then recently published. \u201cSire nous saurons faire respecter notre pavillon.\u201d Then after finishing the circle he cut across & came back to me in a marked manner & raising his voice to be heard by hundreds he said \u201cMonsieur vous avez present\u00e9 une note interessante au duc de Bassano, on va y repondre incessament et d\u2019une manner satisfaisante, et j\u2019\u00e9spere que la fr\u00e9gate restera pour cette reponse.[\u201d] \u201cSire elle ne reste que pour cela.\u201d\nIn the evening there was a drawing room, in which he singled me out again & said some flattering things, but not on public affairs. As it cannot be on my own account, but on that of the government, it is proper I should notice to you that he & all the grand dignitaries of the empire have taken pains to signalize their attentions to me in a manner they have rarely done to a foreign minister, & never to an American.\nThe points that I expect will be conceded are\u20141st. a diminution of duties on our produce to take place not all at once but gradually\u20142d. The right of transit thro France into the interior of Europe for all our produce without any duties in France but what may suffice for the expences of bureaux. 3d. a revocation or modification of the system of special licences. 4th. releasing the vessels & cargoes not sold, & an arrangement for paying damages for those already disposed of. This last Article perhaps connected with an explanation of the treaty of St. Ildefonso, both by the Spanish & French governments, relative to the boundaries of Louisiana so as to comprehend all that we desire eastward & westward & northward. More of this probably in a private letter by the Frigate. I give no encouragement to the idea.\nA war with Russia seems to be resolved upon notwithstanding the peace signed between her & Turkey. Preparations are great & probably serious on both sides. With great respect & attachment yr. obt. st.\nJ. Barlow", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0090", "content": "Title: To James Madison from the House of Representatives, 19 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: House of Representatives\nTo: Madison, James\n19 December 1811. Resolve \u201cThat the President \u2026 be requested to cause to be laid before this House, by the proper officers, a statement of the capital employed in the Indian trade; the amount of annual purchases, sales, and articles, received in payment; together with the number, names, and salaries, of agents employed, the places where stationed, and specifying, as far as practicable, the state of the trade at each place for the last four years.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0092", "content": "Title: Resolutions of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, [20 December] 1811\nFrom: General Assembly of Pennsylvania\nTo: \n[20 December 1811]\nThe present is a period replete with National occurrences as momentous as ever marked the Annals of the World. That Collision of Kingdoms and Empires, which has deluged Europe with blood, borne down the practice and nearly extinguished the principles of justice and humanity, is not in its effects confined to that unhappy quarter of the Globe. The Unparalleled prosperity, the enterprising spirit, and the expanding commerce of the United States of America, have rendered them, to the two mighty Belligerants, an object of envy, and a medium of retaliation, pretended as to one, and iniquitous in both.\nThe Emperor of the French, has yet much to do, before the just claims of our Country can be satisfied. But he has annulled those decrees which were the only legal obstruction to a friendly and commercial intercourse with his dominions. He has annulled those very decrees on which the British Government solemnly declared its orders in Council to be suspended. To the British Government, and to the World, he has evinced the extinguishment of those decrees, by the United evidence of solemn profession and uniform practice. But have the Orders in Council expired with the French Decrees? No. Compared with their prior, their subsequent operation has been, as life from the dead. They have been executed with redoubled rigour. Our Seamen are impressed; our Citizens robbed; our flag prostrated; our own waters infested; our coasting trade annoyed; our harbours blockaded.\nWhile Maritime oppression has thus risen to its summit, an envoy extraordinary is sent to our Government, not, (as might have been reasonably expected) to soften our irritated Country by conciliatory language\u2014not to offer atonement for offences, and indemnifications for wrongs that are past. These with a single exception, he passes over, as things beneath the notice of the British Government, or its Envoy; or as injuries to which the inexhaustible forbearance\u2014the presumed timidity, or the abject debasement of the American Government would ensure her silent submission. He commences a new species and system of insult. He prescribes to the President, what he shall recommend, and what the National Legislature shall enact. He demands a law which shall admit the products and Manufactures of Great Britain, into the ports of the United States, although American Manufactures are even in time of peace excluded from the British dominions. He commands the American Government to procure of Napoleon, an abandonment of his Continental system, and the admission of British products, and Manufactures into his own, and the ports of his allies. A compliance with the first of these demands, is a relinquishment of sovereignty. To fulfil the latter, the United States, have neither right, nor power, nor the folly to attempt. The first is degrading\u2014the second impossible. And yet a submission to these royal mandates, is menacingly declared to be the only condition on which the orders in Council shall be repealed, and the violation of our Neutral rights discontinued.\nSolemnly impressed with these considerations and contemplating demands so unjust, so unreasonable, so disrespectful to the intelligence, and so insulting to the Sovereignty of an enlightened free and independent people\u2014Therefore\u2014\nI. Resolved, by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, in General Assembly met, That the policy of the British Government, as exhibited by her naval power, on the high Seas, and expressed by her Envoy, near the United States, merits the reprobation, and cannot but rouse the virtuous indignation of every friend to this Country and its Government.\nII. Resolved, That when submission, or resistance, to the unjust demands of a Tyrant is the alternative, the latter only can be chosen by the Freemen of America.\nIII. Resolved That though we would rejoice in that adoption and practice of justice, which would secure to Great Britain, and to the World, our friendship and friendly intercourse, we will, in order to repel aggression, and obtain reparation, vigorously exert all the powers which we possess, to accelerate the accomplishment of such military preparations, as the Wisdom of our National legislature may require.\nIV. Resolved, That it is our duty as Legislators, to employ a suitable portion of the finances of this Commonwealth, in promoting the growth and prosperity, and in securing the permanence of our infant Manufactures\u2014that as individuals of the Community we will, as much as possible, abstain from wearing any thing in our Apparel, that is not the product of these Manufactures; and that we will recommend the same patriotic practice to our Constituents.\nV. Resolved, That the question merits serious consideration, whether, in order to suppress the system of plunder and impressment on the high Seas, it would, or would not be a just, humane and efficient retaliation, to lay hold on property of the British Government, or of its subjects wherever such property can be found to an amount sufficient to indemnify the plundered American; and for every impressed American Citizen, to seize a subject of his Britannic Majesty, wherever such subject can be found, and to subject him to imprisonment and labour, corresponding to the condition of the impressed American, on board of a British Ship of War.\nVI Resolved, That the Wisdom patriotism and firmness of the Executive, and Councils of the General Government, entitle them to our perfect confidence; and their Measures to our prompt and zealous Co-operation; and in case an appeal to arms should be deemed necessary, WE will support them, at the risque of our lives, and fortunes.\nVII. Resolved That the Governor of this Commonwealth be instructed to transmit an authenticated copy of these resolutions, to the President of the United States, with a reque\u27e8st\u27e9 that he communicate them to Congress.\nJohn Tod, Speaker of the House of Representatives\nP. C. Lane Speaker of the Senate.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0094", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Jonathan Russell, 21 December 1811\nFrom: Russell, Jonathan\nTo: Madison, James\nSir\nLondon 21 Decr. 1811\nThe inclosed is a copy of a letter which I received several months since from Mr. Wichelhausen. I have not hitherto communicated it to you from a repugnance to impeach an old acquaintance & fellow labourer in the public service at a time when it appeared no longer in his power, from a change of circumstances to abuse his official information or influence. Having however recently learnt that Mr Forbes is making interest to obtain the consulship here I can no longer conceal from you the facts which have come to my knowledge without feeling myself in some measure responsible for the evils which might result from my silence.\nAlthough in the letter of Mr. Wichelhausen there is much irrelevent matter yet it sufficiently shows\n1 \u2003 That Mr Forbes used the information which he no doubt officially received to speculate to the injury of his fellow citizens whom he ought to have protected\n2 \u2003 That he employed his official power to obtain the execution of a contract which he had improperly made by throwing his victim into new embarrassments by a false denunciation.\nThese facts alone are I trust sufficient to show the unfitness of Mr. Forbes for the consulate here which requires from the frequent opportunity & temptation it affords for abuses more than ordinary virtue\u2014yet I cannot conceal a circumstance which has come within my own knowledge & which tends to show that the transactions alluded to in the letter of Mr Wichelhausen are a part of a system which Mr Forbes has reconciled to his views of propriety.\nAfter I was appointed by Genl Armstrong to take charge of our legation at Paris & was about proceeding to my post I met Mr Forbes at Tonning when after some preliminary observations he said to me \u201cYou are going to Paris where from your official situation you will probably have early information out of which money can be made\u2014I have hitherto been without means to embrace extensive objects which have occasionly presented but I can now command apple [sic] funds & whatever speculations shall be made in consequence of your communication, shall for joint account.\u201d I must avow that I felt strong indignation at this dishonourable proposition & expressed myself accordingly\u2014when Mr. Forbes to excuse himself declared that he did not mean to offend me as he had not asked me to do more than Genl Armstrong had done. A libel on a third person was however but poor satisfaction to me.\nThe original of Mr Wichelhausen\u2019s letter was left by me in possession of Mr Barlow. I have the honour to be with the Greatest respect Sir Your very faithful Servant\nJona Russell", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0095", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Geddes, 22 December 1811\nFrom: Geddes, John\nTo: Madison, James\nSir.\nColumbia (South Carolina) December 22d. 1811.\nI have the honor to transmit to you an Address unanimously adopted by the House of Representatives of this State.\nIt gives me peculiar pleasure, at this moment of general feeling and Interest, to assure you, that in thus adopting this address unanimously, the House have fully expressed the sentiments of their constituents, whose decided opinion it is, that the period has now arrived when an independent Nation such as ours, can no longer doubt, as to the measures necessary, for the promotion of its political Happiness, and the Maintainance of its national honor.\nThey beleive that at this alarming crisis the arm of the General Government ought to be strengthened by an unanimous and explicit declaration of approbation, and support from the individual States, and that it is the best, and perhaps the only means, of convincing the Belligerents of Europe, that we are not a divided, but a united people, and that as a nation of freemen, we are ready, and willing, at every hazard to assert our rights, and maintain that Independence, so gloriously acquired, and transmitted to us by, our brave & patriotic ancestors whenever the General Government consider the moment as having arrived, when an appeal to arms shall be necessary in support of them.\nWhile I feel great honor in thus transmitting the Unanimous opinion of the Representatives of my Country, I seize with much pleasure the oppurtunity it affords me, of tendering to you, the homage of the high respect I have always had, for your virtue and Talents, and to assure you, that I, am, with the greatest respect & Esteem your Obedient Servant.\nJohn Geddes.\n[Enclosure]\nWe can have no doubt, that formed as our general and state governments are, it must be always gratifying to receive from the states, as well the most ample assurances of affection and support, as those respectful communications which, in their opinions, particular circumstances, or the honor and interest of our country may require. Very few of the statesmen and heroes who gloriously achiev\u2019d our independence remain; those who are gone, have left us with the gratifying recollection of having obtaind for their descendents a state of rational freedom which may truly be consider\u2019d the most valuable the world has ever seen. To them belongs the important duty of keeping it unimpair\u2019d, and we trust with their noble example before them, they will be as prompt to defend as their ancestors were patriotic in acquiring the rights they have bequeathd us. Among the statesmen who were actively and conspicuously distinguish\u2019d in the revolution, we with pride recollect your immediate predecessor and yourself; nor is it amongsts [sic] the least of our consolations, that in the difficult and delicate scenes we may have to encounter; we find our government plac\u2019d by the almost unanimous voice of our citizens, in such tried and experienc\u2019d hands. To you Sir, it would be unnecessary to endeavour to point out the difficulties of our present situation; for well we know, that no one has been more indignant at the numerous and continued outrages on our rights as a neutral nation, than yourself. As the organ, however, of our constituents we conceive it our duty to state, that the experience of the three last years and the existing state of our commerce must convince the most prejudic\u2019d, that the period has arriv\u2019d when both, the honor and interests of our country require, we should no longer hesitate. We now find that the greatest of all the benefits to be deriv\u2019d from our independance is the enjoyment of our personal priveleges, and next to those, of our commercial rights; that without possessing them we sink into a more degraded state than that of colonies; for should we as we have been, and now are, be hereafter subject to be directed and bound by any regulation the European belligerants may adopt, in vain may our planters toil or our merchants ship\u2014our produce will, as has been the case for the three last years, fall to nothing; and every vessel which leaves our shores, instead of enriching, hazards the encrease of our loss, as well of wealth, as of national honor. Were we a weak or divided people\u2014were we ignorant of our rights, or incapable of asserting them; was our territory small or contiguous to the belligerents, or had we not undoubtedly the means, if we possess\u2019d but the will, to assert them, we should lament our weakness and be silent. But situated as the United States are, touching as it were, the West-Indies and in a position of infinite consequence, when veiwd with relation to that great and incalculable change now began, and which must soon unshackle the extensive countries of South America; At a distance of 3000 miles from Europe of an extent to defy anything like succesful invasion; with a population of freemen increasing beyond example; abounding with materials of every kind, fitted as well to maintain their rights at Sea as on land; with a spirit that has never brook\u2019d contempt; or suffer\u2019d itself to slumber for a moment; born the heirs of freedom, and less likely than any nation on earth to forfeit the glorious inheritance we cannot but hope that before the invasion of our commerce be permitted to grow into precedents, or our national rights are forever yielded, some efforts will be made to arrest their fall. One of the belligerents has accepted our offer. And it now remains for the other, either to restore us all we are entitled to, under the law of nations or for congress to recollect the solemn pledge they have made to vindicate promptly, and at every hazard, our national honor; nor can we suppose when Great-Britain finds we are determin\u2019d, she will hesitate to restore them; to her our friendship is invaluable; in time of peace we purchase near a third of her manufactures, and her whole West-India trade passes before our door. Whether she views the subject on the side of her interest, her honor, or even her existence, she must at once see that in a contest for the dominion of the sea, scarcely a more fatal event could occur to her, than that of being involv\u2019d in a war with us; and of our being allied to, or our maritime weight thrown into the scale of France. The wars which ended in 1763, and 1783, have read a lesson on our maritime importance never to be forgotten, and it is to be recollected, that our weight and influence in such a struggle would now infinitely exceed what it was at those periods. We confidently believe, that sooner than hazard such a crisis, she will instantly stipulate, the full restoration of all our rights, nor in our opinion can any reason exist why the attempt should not be made. In examining our situation, we find that the losses of the agricultural interest of the United States, and particularly of the Southern; by their products selling at such low and reduc\u2019d prices, have been since 1807 immensely great; greater in our opinion than could have been possibly occasion\u2019d by the assertion of our claims under any circumstances\u2014contrasting those years with such as we have experienc\u2019d, while we enjoy\u2019d our neutral rights, we now fully see their incalculable importance, and that to place our country in a situation to ensure them in future, no present sacrifice can be too great, indeed without them we know that while we have the appearance, we want the essentials of independance, and we feel that not less the dignity than the true interest of our country require it. France having withdrawn all her decrees, and consented to restore our commerce to the full possession of all its immunities, we are pledg\u2019d to require the same of Great-Britain; and if we were not, our honor, and interest would demand it. We suppose that exclusive of reparation for the unaton\u2019d outrages on our flag and within our waters, not only the repeal of her orders in council, but all denials on her part of our neutral rights, whether by illegal blockades of whole coasts and empires by her denying our right to trade with the colonies of her enemies in time of war, or the impressment of our seamen, must be given up. While the former will go effectually to destroy our commerce with nearly all nations except herself, the latter equally destructive to our interests, extends itself to considerations on which an independant nation ought not for a moment to hesitate, for while it dishonors our flag, it subjects that portion of our citizens, who from being more expos\u2019d are if possible more entitled to our protection, than any other to all the horrors, and disgraces of slavery and imprisonment. It is a degradation to which no government has ever before submitted, nor until our flag and commerce are rescued from such a stain, can we either feel ourselves, or be respected by others, as an independent people. While our losses were occasiond by the embargo, or by the acts which held out a shew of resistance, to our suffering, or a conviction to the world, that we were determin\u2019d to assert the rights and honor of our country, we submitted to them not only with patience, but with pride. While we felt ourselves in the path of the sacred gratitude we ow\u2019d, as well as to the respected memory of our ancestors, for the noble legacy they had bequeath\u2019d us, as of duty in delivering it down, unimpair\u2019d to our posterity, we were determin\u2019d never to think of pecuniary losses, but we are candid enough to confess, that when oblig\u2019d to endure them, to answer no national purpose, but to enrich our oppressors, we shall severely feel them, and now more than ever, should no effectual attempts be made to place us in the situation we are entitled to; for we repeat as our decided opinion, that no sacrifice can be too great to obtain it. From every thing that has happen\u2019d, we beleive it will be in vain to treat further on the subject of our differences, without accompanying our negociations with acts. Great-Britain so long ago as 1804 through her minister, solemnly denied the legality of any blockades unless in respect to particular ports, actually invested, even in which case, vessels bound to such ports, ought not, they acknowledge, to be captur\u2019d until previously warn\u2019d not to enter them. Nor will the maintainance of any other doctrine, lift our commerce from its present depression; it would be still trifling with the dignity and interests of our country, with one hand to remove the orders, of council, and with the other by means of blockades as effectually to close the ports of Europe to us \u27e8as\u27e9 ever. This, and the freedom of our seamen from impressment, we consider as of the first importance; nor can we as the representatives of our constituents on this oc[c]asion, withold our just tribute of applause to the able and patriotic manner in which, while secretary of State you advocated them, nor our firm hope, that we shall continue vigorously to support, and assert them. We are far from supposing, that the commerce or convenience of our country should ever be hazarded for unimportant purposes; but being apprehensive that these long continued invasions, if not effectually resisted, may grow into precedents, that will strike at its vitals, and go ultimately to deprive it of its most valuable privileges, and having every reason to hope that your own opinion and that of congress are in unison with us, we seize this, the only opportunity we shall have for a considerable time, to assure you that should the general government now conceive the time arriv\u2019d, when it will be proper to make a solemn and explicit declaration of our commercial rights, and to insist on them, the people of this state will use every exertion to aid in maintaining them, and will with unanimity and ardor, hazard every thing in support of their acts, that can, or ought to be, most dear to freemen.\nJohn Geddes. Speaker of the House of Representatives of the state of South Carolina.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0097", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Gassaway, 23 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Gassaway, John\nTo: Madison, James\n23 December 1811, Adjutant General\u2019s Office, Annapolis. Transmits a general return of the Maryland militia for 1811 [not found].", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0098", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Jonathan Russell, 23 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Russell, Jonathan\nTo: Madison, James\n23 December 1811. Introduces Thomas L. Halsey, Jr., who will hand this letter to JM and is \u201ca Gentleman with whom I have been well acquainted from his childhood.\u201d Halsey desires either to serve in the army, if the country should be involved in war, or to obtain a consular appointment to South America. He will faithfully discharge any trust, and \u201cI shall feel personally much gratified in the success of his application.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0101", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Charles Collins, 25 December 1811\nFrom: Collins, Charles\nTo: Madison, James\nRespected Friend\nNew York the 25th day of the 12th Month 1811.\nWell assured that matters of high consideration press upon thy attention I feel diffident in diverting thee a moment therefrom, but would just say in a brief manner that for sometime past I have felt it my duty to abstain from the consumption of the produce of Slaves and there being some in our society similarly situated I have been induced to commence the trading in such articles as do not interfere with our religious scruples. The Blacks of Hayti being free and many articles of general consumption being raised by them and the Indians of Brazil and perhaps other parts of South America, I am desirous of commencing a correspondence to those places in order to ascertain with some correctness the condition of articles from thence, and look to thee for help in this matter; and I am the more emboldened thereto from the circumstance of thy wife having been a member of our society, and who I am almost ready to say would be glad of an oppy to lend a hand in promoting our peaceable testimony. The annexed remarks on Prize Goods shew our ideas pretty fully on this subject.\nI am informed that as many as a thousand bales of Cotton may annually be procured in Charleston raised by people who have no Slaves and who reside in the upper country about 200 miles from that City. I have sent this information to Thomas Clarkson with a view of his communicating it to the manufacturers of Manchester, some of whom I expect are friends. May I not however be too sanguine, well knowing it required many years to rid our society of the iniquitous traffic. We are at length clear and perhaps the time has arrived for an advance to be made. Had our society been faithful we might not now be obliged to confess that in the consumption of the produce of Slaves we interfere with our testimony, and altho\u2019 weakness has crept in there are many I hope who are ready to seal their testimony with their blood if need be. Desiring thy aid in some Shape or other I am thy assured friend\nCharles Collins", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0102", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Hawkins, 25 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Hawkins, William\nTo: Madison, James\n25 December 1811, Raleigh. Transmits the enclosed resolutions at the request of the General Assembly of North Carolina.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0103", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Hawkins, 26 December 1811\nFrom: Hawkins, William\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,\nRaleigh, North Carolina 26th. Decemr. 1811\nI have the honour to transmit to you, the enclosed authenticated copy of certain resolutions which have been adopted by the General Assembly of this State, approbating the sentiments contained in your message of the 5th Ultimo, to the Congress of the United States; attributing the evils which we have experienced \u201cwholly\u201d to the \u201cunprincipled conduct\u201d of the belligerent powers of Europe; and expressing unanimously the determination to co-operate with the General Government in such measures as may be adopted to secure the union, liberty and independence of the United States.\nThe critical and embarrassed state of our affairs with the belligerent powers of Europe cannot fail to impress every American Citizen with a deep rooted conviction of the necessity of discarding those party prejudices and feelings, which have unfortunately, so long existed in our Country, and which if cherished at a time like the present, when the safety of our Country is endangered, must tend to weaken, or perhaps to render ineffectual such measures as may be adopted for our Common security. Every patriotic Citizen of the United States must now feel himself impelled by his Country\u2019s call, to unite in repelling those aggressions, insults and injuries, with which we have been, and yet are, assailed, and which the pacific and just system of Government, heretofore adopted, has not had the contemplated and desirable tendency to avert. It is, sir, with the utmost pleasure and cordiality I unite in the sentiments expressed by the Representatives of the Citizens of this State. I have the honour to be, respectfully sir yr. Obt. Servant\nWilliam Hawkins", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0105", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Elbridge Gerry, 27 December 1811\nFrom: Gerry, Elbridge\nTo: Madison, James\nConfidential\nDear Sir,\nBoston Council Chamber, 27th Decr 1811\nI addressed a line to you yesterday on a minor subject; at this time, my mind is intent on a very important point. It has been confidentially communicated to me, that there are two revolutionary officers on the list of candidates for the office of Commander in chief of the national Army; Governor Hull & General Brooks. Governor Hull & General Dearbo[r]n were in my mind the most prominent Characters for that office, altho I had early suggested the former as a suitable person for the office of a Brigadier General. The two latter are such decided uniform friends of the national Government, stand so high in the list of our brave, able, & meritorious revolutionary officers, as I beleive can have few if any competitors. General Brooks is perhaps equal in every respect, except the qualification first mentioned, & I beleive him to be a man of strict honor integrity & patriotism, on whose fidelity his Country could place a firm reliance; but his politicks have been such, that however wise & useful it may be to appoint him a Brigadier General, yet to give him the highest Grade in the army, would have a most pernicious effect, would retard the recruiting service, give a triumph to the opposers of the national Government, depress its friends, & weaken their confidence in the national Army.\nYou will pardon my anxiety, which I could not conceal on the occasion; knowing as I do the pretensions of Governor Hull & General Dearbo[r]n; & solicitous as I am, to have another Washington at the Head of our Army. I remain dear Sir, with every sentiment of the Highest Respect & esteem your devoted & sincere Friend\nE. Gerry", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0107", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Congress, 27 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Congress\n27 December 1811, Washington. \u201cI lay before Congress copies of Resolutions entered into by the Legislature of Pennsylvania, which have been transmitted to me with, that view, by the Governor of that State, in pursuance of one of the said Resolutions.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0108", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Lafayette, 27 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Lafayette, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de\nTo: Madison, James\n27 December 1811, La Grange. Discusses Franco-American relations and introduces Mr. de Correa. \u201cWhen I have left town Some days ago symptoms seemed to promise a Better Answer to Mr. Barlow\u2019s note than had been for a long while obtained by An American Minister\u2014I hope he is By this time coralled to send of the frigate, and will not Any Longer Delay these few lines depending upon him to Give you all the intelligences of the day.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0109", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Henry Lee, 27 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Lee, Henry\nTo: Madison, James\n27 December 1811, Baltimore. This letter will be presented by Major Clark of Little York in Pennsylvania. He was introduced to JM many years ago but has sought this reintroduction in the belief that JM will have forgotten him. He was an aide-de-camp of General Greene until he was appointed accountant general of the army.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0110", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Joseph G. Cadiz, 29 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Cadiz, Joseph G.\nTo: Madison, James\n29 December 1811, Washington. Submits a short sketch of his life with a view to obtaining an appointment as consul at Buenos Aires. Mentions that he was born in Caracas and resided there until he was sixteen, then went to Barcelona, where he was employed for two years as a clerk in a commercial house. He immigrated to Havana, where he worked as a clerk, then went to Baltimore for three years. In 1804 he moved to New York and has been there ever since as a shipping merchant. He married in 1805 and became a U.S. citizen and is now considering a removal to Buenos Aires, where he hopes to serve both his personal interests and those of his adopted country. Seeks the consulate for this reason and states that many members of Congress can testify as to his character.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0112", "content": "Title: To James Madison from John Stevens, 30 December 1811\nFrom: Stevens, John\nTo: Madison, James\nSir,New York Decr. 30th. 1811\nThe great importance of the subject of the following communication must be my apology for intruding on your time. A bill respecting the naval establishment has, I find, been reported in the house of representatives, by which, among other things, it is provided that  Dollars be appropriated to the purpose of establishing a dock-yard for repairing the vessels of war in such central and convenient place on the sea board as the President of the United States shall designate.\nOur extensive seacoast will always require a naval establishment of limited extent to defend our coasting trade. With the increase of wealth and population in these States a proportionate increase of this establishment will become indispensably necessary. Should therefore our naval establishment never be extended beyond this object, still it must and will become very considerable. The formation and establishment then of convenient dock-yards for building and repairing ships of war will necessarily require great expenditures; and should it unfortunately happen that an improper site should, in the first instance, have been fixed on, much embarrassment would necessarily insue. All the disadvantages resulting from an injudicious location must be submited to or a heavy loss incurred by a removal to a more elegible position.\nAn inspection of the map of the sea-board of these States will, I presume, shew at once the superior advantages of the port and harbour of New York to any other in the union as a site for a public dock-yard for building and repairing ships of war. The excellency of the harbour, from whence the most extensive commerce in the union is carried on\u2014its central position\u2014its contiguity and ready accessability to and from the ocean, are circumstances all concurring and combining to evince the superior advantages of this position.\nShould, for these reason[s], the port and harbour of New York be finally fixed on, it will then become a question of much importance to designate the particular spot.\nIn a conversation I had a year or two ago, with Col. Williams, after a full discussion of the subject, he finally concurred with me in opinion that Hoboken on the Hudson River, immediately opposite to the State prison in the City of New York was in every respect the most elegible position, both for a dock-yard for building and repairing vessels of war, and for forming a convenient safe & accessable harbour for stationing ships of war.\nMany and important advantages would result from making choice of a position where these objects can be combined. Permit me, Sir, to state some of the reasons and circumstances inducing a preference on both these accounts of Hoboken to the present position of the Navy yard at the Wallabout.\nWith respect to facility of access there is in truth no comparison between the two positions. From the extreme rapidity of the tides in the East river\u2014the narrowness and crookedness of the channel, and the multiplicity of vessels of every discription constantly passing in all directions, there is always more or less of difficulty and detention, and frequently of danger in passing out and in the same. When the wind blows from the westward (which is a fair wind for going out of the bay to sea) vessels are frequently detained for days, or, in attempting to beat it out, incur imminent danger of being thrown on shore. But during the winter season these difficulties and dangers are very much increased. Indeed, during severe frosts, there is frequently a complete interruption of this navigation existing for weeks together. The ice coming down the Hudson river is forced over by the westerly winds which then generally prevail, to the eastern shore, and the flood tide always making up the East river an hour sooner than in the Hudson draws this ice in with it.\nFrom the difficulties, dangers, and, at times, total interruptions above stated Hoboken is at all times almost totally exempt. The navigation of this place to and from sea can never be interrupted by ice, (except for a few hours at a time,) but by the Hudson river being completely frozen over as low down as Hoboken. But this is so rare an event that for a century past it has happened only twice, viz, in the winters of 1740 and 1780. As has been already observed, westerly winds generally prevail during severe frost, and drive the ice over to the opposite shore. A clear passage is thus left, with a fair wind either to come in or to go out, from Hoboken. In ordinary times so wide and so safe is the channel, that a ship of any size can always beat out and in against a head wind.\nThis facility of access is of no small importance too in obtaining supplies of timber and other naval stores. The timber more especially coming down the Hudson in rafts can be deposited at Hoboken without the least difficulty, whereas it is a task of much difficulty, risk, loss of time and expence to take timber round into the East river. Indeed it is almost impracticable, and, of course, never attempted, to take a whole raft round. The constant practice is to break them up and take them round in detached pieces.\nHoboken is an Island consisting of about 300 acres of land, surrounded on three sides by water and connected to the main land by a salt marsh of half a mile in width. It\u2019s insular situation\u2014the commanding eminence of Castle Point near the middle of it\u2014and the facility of obtaining, in any emergency, succours from the City of New York, must ever insure it\u2019s safety against the attack of an enemy.\nThe bank immediately in front of the river runs from the Ferry to Castle Point in a course inclining a little to the Eastward of North-East for the distance of about three quarters of a mile. It is formed altogether of sand and gravel, and, altho\u2019 not very high, sufficiently elevated to furnish ample materials for filling Wharves &c.\nIt\u2019s southern aspect is of essential importance to the comfort and convenience of labourers and artificers at all seasons of the year. In the winter season it is many degrees warmer than a northern exposure, and during the summer months it is constantly refreshed by the cooling influence of the sea breeses.\nCastle Point forms a bold projection in front of which the river is contracted to about three quarters of a mile in width, whilst opposite the Ferry it is more than a mile across. The natural tendency of this projection is to shoot the ice over to the opposite shore. By sinking some blocks then off this Point an effectual protection against the ebb ice may be made, and any number of ships may be safely moored behind these blocks, where they may always be kept in perfect readiness to go out to sea at a moments warning.\nThe bed of the river recedes from the shore by a very gradual slope with a smooth and even surface altogether free from rocks or stones. At the distance of a quarter of a mile from the shore the depth of water does not exceed 40 feet, affording ample room for the formation of spacious docks and wharves. Capacious basins for the reception and preservation of timber are already formed and may be enlarged to any required extent.\nCol. Williams, from his eminent professional abilities, and long residence here has of course acquired an intimate acquaintance with and correct knowledge of the port and harbour of New York. He has it therefore in his power to furnish the most authentic and satisfactory information on the subject of this letter.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0113", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Calvin Jones, 30 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Jones, Calvin\nTo: Madison, James\n30 December 1811, Raleigh. Encloses a return of the militia of North Carolina for 1811 [not found]. \u201cThe Militia of this state would afford good materials for an Army. They have the necessary talents, courage and patriotism, but they are very defectively armed. Many are entirely destitute of arms, and of those reported a great proportion are totally unfit for service.\u201d Wishes to bring this situation to the notice of the general government. Adds that improvements in discipline are \u201cretarded by the knowledge that the prescribed mode has been superceded by Modern Improvements, and by the great variety of forms, which officers, departing from the antiquated system of St\u00fcben, have undertaken on their own authority to substitute.\u201d Is gratified to see that a step has been taken in Congress \u201cin [an] advance towards a more perfect system of Modern Tactics.\u201d Cannot speak for the state militia but offers his services \u201cwhenever the Government shall deem them necessary, and be pleased to require them.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0114", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Thomas Jefferson, 31 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Madison, James\nDear SirMonticello Dec. 31. 11\nIt is long since I have had occasion to address a line to you, and the present is an irksome one. With all the discouragements I can oppose to those who wish to make me the channel of their wishes for office, some will force themselves on me. I inclose you the letters of several merely to be placed on the file of candidates & to stand on their own ground, for I do not know one of them personally. Gerna indeed, the recommender of Arata, I once saw at Paris. He was a bookseller from Dublin, and I got him to send me some books from thence, & that is all I know of him. Le Compte despinville I never saw nor heard of before; nor have I ever seen de Neufville his recommender; but he brot. me a letter of introduction from the Countess d\u2019Houdeton, an old lady from whom I recieved many civilities & much hospitality while in France. She was the intimate friend of Dr. Franklin, and I should feel myself obliged to render any civilities or personal services in my power to one of her recommendation. De la Croix I never saw. But he is a very able military man as far as I can judge from many excellent pamphlets & essays in the newspapers written by him, and Genl. Dearborne thought him a valuable man. I write to him & to de Neufville that they must send certificates of character to the Secretary at war, and I pray you to consider me only as the postrider bearing their letters to you.\nThe prospect of the death of George III. still keeps up a hope of avoiding war. We have had a bad fall for our wheat. I never saw it look worse. We have had but \u00be I. of rain in the last 8. weeks. Your message had all the qualities it should possess, firm, rational and dignified, and the report of the Commee. of foreign relations was excellent. They carry conviction to every mind. Heaven help you through all your difficulties.\nTh: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0117", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Elbridge Gerry, 31 December 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Gerry, Elbridge\nTo: Madison, James\n31 December 1811, Boston Council Chamber. Introduces Richard Devens Harris\u2014\u201ca young Gentleman of this place & of one of the most respectable families in it, of a liberal education, & of correct morals & politicks\u201d\u2014who wishes to pay his respects. \u201cMr Harris having spent two or three years at London, Paris &c has obtained much useful information; which qualifies him to serve his Country in many official Characters.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0670", "content": "Title: Presidential Proclamation, 16 March 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: \n16 March 1811, Washington. \u201cWhereas by an Act of the Congress of the United States, passed on the second day of March 1811, it has among other things been declared, \u2018That the Office of the Collector of the Customs for the District of Buffaloe Creek, shall be kept at such place or places in the Town of Buffaloe as the President of the United States shall designate.\u2019\n\u201cNow Know ye, that I James Madison President of the United States by virtue of the power & authority in me vested by the Act aforesaid, have decided, and by these presents do decide, that from the first day of April to the first day of December in every year, Black Rock shall be the port of Entry for the District of Buffaloe Creek, and that for the residue of each & every such year, the Village of Buffaloe, shall be the port of Entry for the District aforesaid.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0671", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Edward Bouldin, [ca. 5 June 1811]\nFrom: Bouldin, Edward\nTo: Madison, James\nDeare Sir\nI take the Liberty of Writing to you to Informe you that I Was Prest on board of this Brig the 2 day of June my Protection Was Nouse Nor all the Capt Could say they Would take Me I Was Prest out of the Bark Collumbus Belonging to A Lizabeth City North Carolina I Was prest out of hur Lying in montegobay Jamaca I sirvd My time With Mrsstr: Smith and Buccannan My uncle is sirvaer in Baltimore and my Mother Lives in Baltimore I was borne in Baltimore I Was aprintice of the Brig I Da When you Neffue Was in hur to Inday With Capt: Posson I saild aprents With Capt: Macneal and Gant and blackner I hope you will doe me your kindnes to Get me cleare I remain you humble sirvant\nEdwin Bouldin", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0672", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Lewis Cormicy, 5 June 1811\nFrom: Cormicy, Lewis\nTo: Madison, James\nDeare Sir\nMontegobay June the 5: 1811\nI Now take the Liberty of wrighting to you to Informe you that I Was Put onboard of this Brig Rhodien Capt Mobary by Capt: Robert Smith Commander of the Scuner dragen Belongen to Baltimore I shipt Withe him to Gote Baricu and he went to Jamaca he put on board of this Slooape of War for objecting to go to anglish Porte for feare of Looseing my Wagers and I Would thank you for your favers to Wards my Cleaves for idonte minge Sirving my owne Cuntry\u2014he put on board in March the 15: 1810.\nI was borne In Philadilphia. I remaine your humble sirvent\nLewis Cormicy\nI have rote to the Consol in Kingston and he Will not Doe nothing for me\nPlease to read the other Side", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-04-02-0673", "content": "Title: To James Madison from Isaac H. Borden, 19 October 1811 (Abstract)\nFrom: Borden, Isaac H.\nTo: Madison, James\n19 October 1811. The petitioner, a U.S. citizen residing in Troy, Massachusetts, explains that on 4 Jan. 1811 he chartered his schooner, the George, to Jeremiah Murden, a U.S. citizen residing in Charleston, South Carolina, on the understanding that the schooner would proceed from Charleston to Beaufort, South Carolina, and then to Port Antonio, Jamaica. \u201cThe said Schooner did proceed, for Port Antonio where she arrived on the 11th of February 1811\u2014and having delivered her freight, received on board, twenty five Puncheons of Rum for the Charterer, and twelve Puncheons for your Petitioner.\u201d With this cargo Borden left Port Antonio on 15 Mar. and arrived on 4 Apr. in Charleston, where he was arrested for violating the sixth section of the Nonintercourse Act. Borden swears that when he entered Charleston \u201che was profoundly ignorant, of any Law which interdicted the Commercial intercourse between the United States and Great Britain, and her dependencies,\u201d and that \u201cthe before mentioned Jeremiah Murden (Charterer) had taken every means in his power, to convoy this information to your petitioner, in all of which he unfortunately failed, the particular causes of which failure are set forth in the said Jeremiah Murdens affidavit hereunto annexed.\u201d Explains that the schooner has been condemned by the South Carolina district court, that he has been \u201cimprisoned for the Penalties incured under the foregoing prosecution, that he is utterly unable to pay the penalties and must unless relieved by your Excellency remain in Goal without the most distant prospect of liberation.\u201d Requests that JM \u201cafford him such relief as shall seem equitable.\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-08-02-0544", "content": "Title: To James Madison from William Madison, 9 April 1811\nFrom: Madison, William\nTo: Madison, James\n          Dear Brother\n        When you were in Virga last you strongly recommended to me to purchase Mr Waugh\u2019s Land. I believe the old gentleman has not been able to make up his mind on the subject. However there is an adjoing tract now for sale which is supposed to be superior in quality & contains upwards of 500 acres, say one half cleared, between 40 & 50 acres Low grounds on the Robinson river & great Run a part of that in woods is of excellent quality & suitable for Tobo. or any kind of grain, another part is first rate meadow land, it has been stated by some, as an objection, that there is too great a proportion of the tract of this quality, and the third part lies well & but thin. This land is now the property of Mrs. Grymes, widow of Benja Grymes deceased. I have heard that the terms will be accommodating (say one third the ensuing fall & the ballce in two annual payments[)]. The plantation has been rented out for several years past & of course much abused, but originally good. I am afraid the purc[h]ase would exceed my own resources. How would you like to unite in it? I think abt 6 Hands under a good overseer may be worked to advantage on the place. I am very anxious to make some establishment for Willm. Let me hear from you as soon as convenient. I believe a great part of the money is to center with Mr Patton. Doctr Willis\u2019s death, which had been looked for for some time, occured on the 2d inst. Yrs Affecly\n          Wm Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-08-02-0545", "content": "Title: To James Madison from an Unidentified Correspondent, [ca. August 1811]\nFrom: \nTo: Madison, James\n        It is a fact that of the many Vessels that have for some months past enter\u2019d the ha[r]bors of the U. S. pretending to be french privateers the Diligent Brig that arrived at Phila. is the only legal cruiser. It is not intended to include the national schooner No. 5 the rest are an edition of the Bucaneers of old who rob all Vessels they meet with having m\u27e8oney?\u27e9 with which they return to the U.S. & find a safe Assylum for their plunder, it is now nearly ten years since France has had a Colony in these seas from whence only on this side the atlantic a legal cruiser could be fitted.\n        The present Manner of freebooting is nearly as follows, a Number of Villains chiefly frenchmen Associate, purchase a Vessel procure a pass to clear her from a Custom House as an american take Guns on board by stealth, after going to sea they hoist French colors & have usually an obsolete piece of paper signed by Ferrand formerly governor of the City Santo Domingo or Ernouf former governor of Guadeloupe, they rob all they can over power take chiefly money fm. the Spaniards in the neighbourhood of Cuba or the Spanish Main, with their plunder they come to the U.S, no tribunal ever passes on the property if every Vessel of that discription immy on her arrival was taken possession of every paper on board seized & each of the crew separately examined the truth would out. If that expedient be not adopted our Country will justly bring on it the Vengeance of the civilized World as being a receptical for robbers. Ordonnoux, (in a Vessel called the Marengo) almost as famous as black beard is at this moment in the Delaware to the disgrace of our Country he has been permitted to Land between two & three hundred Thousand Dollars. The inclosed contains a sketch of his vessel. His first cruiser called the Emma he actually equiped at St Thomas, after loosing her owing to the vigilance of Rigaud the color\u2019d chief of the Southern depar[t]ment of St Domingo he proceeded to the U.S. & sailed from charleston in a Vessel that was built at Baltimore of the same name as his former cruiser. When he left Charleston he had but twenty seven men & a few muskets he sailed for the coast of Cuba, where he fell in with & captured by boarding a spanish Packet well armed & [illegible] which enabled him to complete his armament as also to increase his crew from the survivors of the packet, many of whom joined him, the cruelty practiced when he boarded the packet is said to have been wanton in the extreme, his piracies were many & successful among them an English Vessel from Curracoa with Money. Is the U. S. a country of law & goverment if it is how can such pirates go unpunished. Let some one of the cruisers take him in the Delaware where he now is, or go in pursuit of him\u2014examine his Vessel well & the truth will out.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-11-02-0775-0007", "content": "Title: To James Madison from James Monroe, 17 [May 1811]\nFrom: Monroe, James\nTo: Madison, James\n            Mr Madison will be so kind as to inform me whether he went yesterday to the Fair, & if he did not, whether he intends to go this evening, as in that event he will go with him\u2014and meet him at such time as he will appoint, at the door.\n            If he went yesterday, he will inform him, whether it was attended with any charge.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-11-02-0775-0008", "content": "Title: From James Madison to Asher Robbins, 10 June 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Robbins, Asher\n            Washington June 10 1811\n          I have duly received your letter of the 3d instant. Its declaration of your principles & sentiments on certain subjects will have the attention which is due to the frankness and explicitness with which it is made.\n          I ought at the same time not to authorize any inference from this assurance, that might prejudice any individual whatever in your estimation. Accept my friendly respects\n            James Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Madison/03-11-02-0775-0009", "content": "Title: From James Madison to William Eustis, 20 August 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Eustis, William\n          I have recd. yours of the 13th. I am glad to learn that you are so well satisfied with the \u27e8present\u27e9 state of the armories; and that an inconveniency to the U.S. can be relieved by so seasonable a measure as that of distributing arms to the States. It is particularly agreeable also that the important works for the defence of N.Y. are so near their completion. Will it not be well to institute without delay reports of the state of all our fortifications, which with every other information of our military & Defensive situation, ought to be at hand on the meeting of Congress? I flatter my self that the communication will not diminish confidence at home, nor respect abroad. The object of the Osages & Choctaws justifies the allowance of their proposed visit, tho\u2019 not in itself desireable. Mrs. M. joins in best respects to Mrs. Eustis; and in the pleasure afforded by the prospect of soon welcoming you both at our Abode. Accept my esteem & respect\n            James Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/02-02-02-0021", "content": "Title: Memorandum Books, 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: \n              Charge John Perry 40. bushels of wheat delivd. him by McGehee on my order, at the agreed price of 9/.\n              Jerry exp. to Bedford 3.D.\n              Gave my note to George Gilmer for 120.D. for two mules paiable within the first week of April.\n              Gave E. Bacon to pay Dettor for beef 23.17.\n              Sent Catlett for butter 1.D.\n              Recd. back from Jerry .44 cents.\n              Recd. from Wm. Caruthers for rent of the Salt petre cave at the Naturl. bridge, through Twyman Wayt 65 D. with a deduction of 3.875, retained by Wayt for articles furnished E. Bacon. \n              Delivd. D. Higginbotham 80.D. towards meeting the order which I now draw on him in favor of Danl. Scott for corn bought last year.\n              Sent Richard Garner amt. of his acct. silverwork 1.5.\n              Sent Catlett for butter 3.D.\n              Patsy for weaving 2.D.\n              C. A. Scott\u2019s vales .25\u2003Scott\u2019s ferry .25.\n              Warren vales .25\u2003ferrge. .25\u2003Mrs. Prior\u2019s vales .25.\n              Henry Fludd\u2019s lodging &c. 2.\u2003Hunter\u2019s breakft. &c. 1.25.\n              Pd. at Pop. Forest for 4. turkies 2.D.\n              Sold my crop of Bedford tobo. to Saml. J. Harrison for 7.D. per Cwt. \n              Pd. Reuben Perry for 4. pr. hinges & screws 2.50.\n              Debts & vales at Poplar Forest 5.50.\n              Enniscorthy vales .25.\n              Arrived at Monticello. Cash in hand 5.D.\n              Shoemaker\u2019s order on Underhill for 250 D. was pd. in Feb.\n              Inclosed to Rob. Patterson Phila. 5.D. for Nautical Almanacs. \n              Recd. from D. Higginbotham 5.D.\n              Recd. from J. Harvie by Mr. Carthrae D. Higginbotham\u2019s note for 90.D. and 4369100 cash in discharge of his first note now due.\n              Gave Kemp Catlett an order on Lukens Shoemaker for 50. bushels of bran. Note his butter acct. to this day unpaid is for 14. \u2114.\n              Gave Francis Eppes 2.D.\n              Recd. of Thos. E. Randolph on account 400.D. \n              Recd. of Eli Alexander on acct. of rent 320.D.\n              Pd. Wilson Madeiris for boots for F. Eppes 6.D.\n              Accepted James Starke\u2019s ord. in favr. Micajah Woods for 9.17.\n              Put into the hands of D. Higginbotham 80.D. which with the 80.D. ante Jan. 25. and his note for 90.D. ante Mar. 15. = 250.D. enables him to pay D. Scott the 240.D. I owe him for corn & 9.50 Int. to this day.\n              Recd. from Danl. Scott 1.50, towit .50 surplus pd. him by Mr. Higginbotham & 1.D. for a hhd. left with him.\n              Pd. midwife 10.D. to wit for Sally, Aggy, Minerva, Lilly, Ursula. \n              Put into the hands of E. Bacon 425.D. to make the following paiments.\n                  D\u2002   \u2003to\u2005 Benjamin Brown 28.24 for the Mutual assurce. co.    Anthony Giannini\u2002 40.}ante Dec. 7. for cows & hogs.    Francis Giannini 20.    Benjamin Morris 45. for 4. cows.    Reuben Mullins 117.50 ante Nov. 16. for 2. mules    George Gilmer 120. for 2. mules    Dr. John Gilmer 54.\u2002 medical acct.     424.74   \n              Inclosed to Richard Barry 100.D. on account.\n              Wrote to Gibson & Jefferson (who were to recieve 1333\u2153 D. due the 1st. inst. from Saml. J. Harrison, being the 2d. instalment due for the lands I sold him) to remit and pay as follows.\n                \u2003to\u2005 Richard Barry 100.D.\u2005 on account    John Barnes 360. int. on Kosciuzko\u2019s money.     John Hollins 86. for plaister    Jones & Howell 349.35 in full for nail rod &c.    Gordon & Trokes 235.42 with interest for groceries.    Joseph Darmsdatt\u2005 75.\u2002 for fish.     1205.77   \n                Inclosed to Henry Foxall\u2005 for himself 13.40 \u2003castings     for Conrad & co.\u2003 12 for books    surplus \u2002.10     25.50  \n              Recd. of Thos. E. Randolph on settlement in full 17.66.\n              Gave Harry bringing up oil &c. 1.D.\n              Gave John Hemings 15.D. to wit the wages of one month in the year which I allow him as an encouragement. \n              Pd. Joe 6.D. to wit 1/ in every dollar of the work done for Mr. Burnley, now amounting to 34.50 D.\n              Gave the Revd. Mr. Osgood in charity 10.D.\n              Paid Mrs. Lewis 10.D. on account.\n              Paid James Starke on account 20.D.\n              Gave Mr. Bacon to pay Walter Coles for a mutton 5.D.\n              Gave Joel Bennett ord. on Gibson & Jefferson for 33.12\u00bd for leather.\n              Sent Catlett for butter 5.D.\n              Recd. back from Henry J. Foxall a note of the bank of Columbia on that of Richmond for the 12.10 ante Apr. 4. remitted him for Conrad & co. on the supposition it was a 2d. paiment of that made ante Feb. 8. 1808. to Rapine. Qu. if not due to a Conrad & co. in Philada. Accdly. I now inclose that note to C. & A. Conrad of Philada.\n              Hhd. exp. 1.D.\u2003sent Catlett for butter 1.D. being 1/9 over balce.\n              Gave Wm. McGehee ord. on D. Higginbotham for 20.D. on account for wages.\n              Pd. Adam Laws for fish 2.50.\n              Charge Craven Peyton on acct. of Reuben Grady \u00a319\u201310 settled with him for fire & coal wood.\n              Recd. from Gibson & Jefferson by post 150.D.\n              Sent (by Mr. Randolph) to\u2003\u2003Darnell 20.D. for a horse purchased by Goodman the last year. Still due 40.D.\n              Repaid Mr. Patterson 5.D. which he pd. Rigden mending watches.\n              Repaid Mr. Bennett stage portage .30.\n              Advanced James Salmons 20.D. on acct. for work to be done.\n              Wormely exp. with Mrs. Marks 1.D.\n              Gave John G. Belt ord. in full on Gibson & Jefferson for 81.25.\n              Pd. Jeremiah Goodman in part of wages 10.D.\n              Renewed my note in the bank of Richmd. of 5800.D. ante June 13 for 3000.D. the balance being pd. out of the proceeds of my tobacco & flour in the hands of Gibson & Jefferson.\n              Drew orders on Gibson & Jefferson in favor of\n                \u2003Dr. Charles Everett 42.20   Genl. Wm. Chamberlayne, negro hire 59.74   Jones & Howell for balance, & new supply 500.   James Lyle for my old debt to his concern 1000.    David Higginbotham on acct. my debt to him\u2003 1500.   cash to be remitted to myself 150\u2005\u2002    3251. 74   \n              \u2003and inclosed the orders to the several persons.\n              Drew order also on Gibson & Jefferson in favr. D. Higginbotham for the proceeds of the 7. hhds. tobo. sent from here, when sold.\n              Agreed this day with E. Bacon that his wages shall be \u00a340.\n              Since the paiment of May 20. 1810. Davy has burnt 3. coalkilns.\n              \u2003the last kiln is just now finished. pd. him for the whole 5.60.\n              Recd. from Gibson & Jefferson 150.D.\n              Gave to D. Higginbotham an order on Gibson & Jefferson for 124.29 of which 96.29 are on the order of Wm. Johnson for flour & tobo. carried to Richmond and 28.D. for Dabney Minor.\n              Pd. James Starke on acct. 30.D.\n              Drew an order on Gibson & Jefferson in favr. Robert Rives for 91.34 D. for books importd. for me.\n              Drew ord. on do. in favr. Wm. McGehee for 180.D. which with the 20.D. ante May 8. pays his wages of 1810.\n              Recd. from Gibson & Jefferson 200.D.\n              Pd. Wm. McGehee in full of last year\u2019s wages 180.D. \n              Pd. Wm. Johnson bringing up 1. ton nailrod & 5 /Cwt. bar iron & 25. \u2114 powder 10.D. Still owe him .50.\n                Bought of Wm. D. Meriwether\u2005 26. \u2005ewes    12. \u2005ewe lambs    5. \u2005weather lambs    43\u2005 \u2005@ 2 D.\u2003 86. \u2003owe him for 3. lambs before recd. \u2005@ 10/5.\u2005\u2003payable 90. days from this time91.D.  \n              Agreed with Jeremiah Goodman to serve me next year as overseer in Bedford over a plantation & 16. hands, for which I am to give him 200.D. a year, & all other articles to stand as by our original agreement.\n              Pd. Micajah Woods the 9.17 accepted for James Starke ante Apr. 1.\n              Gave James Salmonds ord. on\u2003\u2003Fitz for 40.D. on account.\n              Agreed to pay to Isham Chisolm James Salmons\u2019s ord. for 35.D.\n              Pd. James Starke on acct. 20.D.\n              Inclosed to Judge Stewart 10.D. to buy timothy seed.\n              Warren. vales 1.5\u2003ferriage .50\u2003Mrs. Prior\u2019s .25\u2003Fludd\u2019s dinner 1.12\u00bd.\n              Poplar Forest small debts 5.25\u2003Hunter\u2019s feeding .62\u00bd.\n              Fludd\u2019s dinnr. lodgg. brkft. 3.31.\n              Enniscorthy vales .75.\n              Recd. from Rob. Rives an ord. on Martin Dawson for 12.34 overpaid by my order ante July 20.\n              Renewed my note in the bank of Richmond for Sep. 3. 3000.D.\n              Vales at Montpelier 1.D.\n              Ben & the boys for cleaning the sewers 2.D.\n              Pd. Mr. Wingfield officiating at my sister Carr\u2019s funeral 20.D. \n              Small exp. 1.D.\u2014pd. E. Bacon for 2 muttons from his mother 6.D.\n              Analysis of my store acct. with Higginbotham from Aug. 1. 1810 to Aug. 1. 1811.\n               \u2003*including as follows\u2002\u2005\u2020including as follows\u2114 cold. plains 136\u00bd yds.\u2002 @ 4/9 white sugar. 42 loaves.\u2003 305\u00bd\u2002 @ 2/   napped cotton 204. @ 3/6 to 4/\u2005 brown sugar 483\u00be @ 1/   brown linen 804. @ 2/ to 2/6 coffee 158. @ 2/3 to 2/6   Dutch blankets\u2005 30. @ 16/ tea \u200218. @ 16/6 to 18/ \u2002molasses. 90. galls. @ 3/4 \n              The balance which I owed on the 1st. day of this month to\n                \u2003Higginbotham & co. on the bond of June \u2003\u00a3   21. 1810 and subsequent transactions was\u2003 1328\u2013\u20021\u20138   and to D. Higginbotham & co. 819\u201315\u20139    2147\u201317\u20135  \n              \u2003for which two sums I give him bonds respectively this day & take in that of June 21. 1810. ante.\n              A similar analysis of my store acct. with him Aug. 1. 1809. to Aug. 1. 1810\n                \u2003*including   cold. plains 205. yds. \u20024/ to 5/   napped cotton\u2003 115. \u20024/   brown linen 690 \u20022/6   blankets \u200226 18/  \n              Note the pipe of Termo Carrasqueira of 1801. gave out about the last of July, when we began on the Termo Arruda.\n              Assumed to Charles L. Bankhead for James Salmon 55.D. paiable Mar. 1. on account.\n              Accepted John Perry\u2019s order in favr. of J. Winston Garth for \u00a3208\u20134 for the Pop. Forest house with int. from Oct. 2. 11. payable Apr. 1. 1812.\n              Pd. Wm. Johnson on the order of James Starke 1.D.\n              Accepted James Salmon\u2019s ord. in favr. Wm. Galt for \u00a36\u201318\u20139 = 23.12\u00bd paiable Nov. 1.\n              Do. in favr. D. Higginbotham \u00a39\u20134\u20134 = 30.72 paiable Nov. 1.\u2003pd. Mar. 15.\n              Acceptd. James Salmon\u2019s ord. in favr. Martin Dawson for 18.21 payable Nov. 1.\n              I agreed with\u2003\u2003Turner also to accept Salmon\u2019s order in his favr. for 25.D. paiable March 1.\u2003pd. Mar. 15.\n              Gave\u2003\u2003Gooch ord. on D. Higginbotham for 47.50 D. for cows.\n              Sold my lot in Richmond to D. Higginbotham for 130.\u00a3 to be credited in my account with him.\n              Drew order on D. Higginbotham for \u00a38. in favor of Thomas Cradock on the order of James Salmons.\n              Drew on Gibson & Jefferson in favr. of Jesse Winston Garth or order for 109.56 for my taxes now due.\n              Carysbrook. Vales 2.D.\n              The Messrs. Mitchells have forwarded to G. Jefferson their note for 600.D. on acct. for my wheat in Bedford paiable the 5th. inst.\n              Desired G. Jefferson to remit to Nathl. H. Hooe 131.D. to wit 74.D. for the hire of Tom the last year, and 57.D. for Edmund who died Oct. 18. 1810. \n              On settlement with Joseph Brand I owe him balance on an\n                \u2003account now settled \u00a356\u201317\u20134\u00bd = 189.60   the purchase of Kerr\u2019s share of Milton warehouse\u2003 150. I now therefore give him my note on demand for339.60  \n              Charge James Salmon his order in favor of Joseph Brand for \u00a38\u20139 = 28.17 included in the acct. settled with J. B.\n              Charity to Brunt 1.D.\n              Recd. from G. Jefferson 350.D.\n              Paid Yewen Carden on account 50.D. Balce. still due 57.50.\n              Paid Jeremiah Goodman on account 100.D.\n              Drew ord. on Gibson & Jefferson as follows\n                  amount of their accountdeducting Watson\u2019s firewood 20.D.\n              Wrote also to G. Jefferson to pay Mrs. Hackley 85.D. for a set of Liverpool china.\n              Paid Wm. D. Meriwether for sheep 91.D. ante Aug. 3.\n              Wm. McGeehee left my service on the 15th. inst.\n              Left with E. Bacon for Roger Roderic Nimrod Darnell 40.D. balance for a horse ante May 28.\n              Mrs. Williamson\u2019s. pd. for oats .45.\n                Millbrook.\u2005  guide .25.    mending chair & shoeing horse 4.125.   \n              Gave ord. on Gibson & Jefferson for fees to Mr. Hay 33.33 Mr. Thweate 40.67 = 74 in the suit of Skelton\u2019s represent. v. Wayles\u2019s repr.\n              Gave Martin for finding spectacles .45.\n              Vales 1.\u2003Fludd\u2019s horses .25.\n              Hunter\u2019s dinner lodgg. &c. 2.D.\n              Campbell C. H. Reid\u2019s brkft. .50.\n              Poplar Forest. pd. for bottle spirits turpentine .625.\n              Felt shock of an earthquake abt. 4. oclock of the 16th.\n              Lynchbg. feeding horses .50.\n              Left with Jeremiah A. Goodman 20.D. for seed wheat, spinning wheels &c.\n              Debts and vales at Poplar For. 7.5.\n              Fludd\u2019s dinnr. lodgg. &c. 2.5\u2003Warren ferrge. .375.\n              Crossing Hardware .125.\n              Pd. midwife for attending Scilla, Cretia, Fanny & Virginia 8.D.\n              NimRoderick Darnell entered my service on the 22d. inst. \n              Signed notes for renewal of mine in bank for 3000.D. dated Jan. 7. Mar. 10. May 12.\n              Hhd. exp. 1.875.\u200328. Wormley exp. going for Mrs. Marks 1.D.\n              Repd. Dick expences from Poplar Forest 1.D.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0203", "content": "Title: Benjamin Rush to Thomas Jefferson, 2 January 1811\nFrom: Rush, Benjamin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Philadelphia Jany 2nd 1811\n           Soon After I received your last & Affectionate letter, I was called upon to witness a most distressing Scene have been visited by a deep domestic Affliction. m  My eldest son was brought home to me from new Orleans in a state of melancholy derangement brought on  induced by killing a brother naval Officer who was at the same time his most intimate friend, in a duel. Ragged Cloaths,\u2014dishevelled hair,\u2014long nails and beard,\u2014and a dirty Skin,\u2014with a dejected Countenance, accompanied with constant sighing, and an unwillingness to speak, or even to answer a question, and an apparent insensibility to the strongest expressions of parental and fraternal Affection, constituted the Object that was introduced into my family. Judge of the distress of every member of it! For some time, I was in a degree unfitted by it for study or business. In this depressed State of mind, I was unable to discharge my usual epistolary Obligations to my friends.\u2014Time has lessened the distress I have described, & I have again resumed my intercourse with them. My Son is better.\u2014He has become attentive to his dress, now and then opens a book, converses with a few people\u2014but still discovers with a good deal of melancholy, alienation of mind upon several Subjects particularly those which associate with the cause of his derangement. He is now in a Cell in the Pennsylvania hospital, where there is too much reason to beleive he will end his days. Could he have been seen in the state of I have described him when he was introduced first into his father\u2019s house, by the assembly of your State when they deliberated upon the punishment for duelling, they would have classed it with the first of Crimes, and decreed the a a long-long season of confinement and labor to expiate it.\n          Pardon the length of this introduction to my letter, and forgive its relating wholly to myself. You are a father.\u2014\n            I am now engaged in publishing a Volume of introductory lectures to my Courses of lectures upon the institutes of medicine. They will be 18 in number. Two will be subjoined to them upon the pleasures of the Senses and the mind delivered every year after considering the Senses & mind. I shall request you to accept of a Copy of them as soon as they are published. They are upon Subjects that will be interesting I hope to private Gentlemen as well as to Students and practitioners of medicine. One of them is upon that part of medical Jurisprudence which decides upon the State of mind should which should disqualify a man from being a witness in a Court of law, making a Will, and which Should exempt him from punishment for criminal or felonious Acts.\u2014\n          I send you herewith a draft of a Chair I have lately introduced into the Pennsylvania hospital to aid in the Cure of Madness.\u2014\n            Have you found leisure to look into Dr Hartleys \u201cObservations upon the frame, duties & expectations of man.\u201d since your retirement to monticello? I envy the age in which that book will  be relished and beleived, for  it has unfortunately wri appeared a Century or two before the world is prepared for it.  The Scotch philosophers among of whom Dugald Stewart has lately become the Champion, abuse it in intemperate terms; but it is because they are so swamped bewildered in the pagan doctrines of Aristotle & Plato and that they do not understand it. Its illustrious Author has established an indissoluble Union between physiology\u2014metaphysicks & Christianity. He has so disposed them that they mutually afford not only Support, but beauty and Splendor to each Other.\n          Your and my Old friend Mr Adams now & then drops me a line from his Seat at Quincy. His letters glow with the just Opinions he held and defended in the patriotic years 1774 1775 & 1776. In a letter which I have this day received from him there is the following paragraph. \u201cThe banking infatuation pervades all America. Our whole System of banks is a violation of every honest principle of banks. There is no honest bank, but a bank of deposit. A bank that issues paper at interest, is a pick pocket, or a robber. But the delusion will have its Course. You may as well reason with a hurricane. An Aristocracy is growing out of them, that will be as fatal as the feudal Barons, if unchecked in time. Think of the number, the Offices, Stations, wealth, piety and reputations of the persons in all the states who have made fortunes by the banks, & then you will see how deeply rooted the evil is. The numbers of debtors who hope to pay their debts with this paper, united with the Creditors who build palaces in our cities, and Castles for Country Seats, by issuing this paper, form too impregnable a phalanx to be attacked by Any thing less disciplined than Roman Legions.\u201d\u2014\n          When I consider your early Attachment to Mr Adams, and his\u2014to you\u2014when I consider how much the liberties & Independance of the United States owe to your mutual the Concert of your principles and labors, and when I reflect upon the sameness of your Opinions at present, upon most of the Subjects of Government, and all the Subjects of legislation, I have ardently wished a friendly and epistolary intercourse might be revived between you before you take a final leave of the Common Object of your Affections. Such an intercourse will be honourable to talents, and patriotism, and highly useful to the cause of republicanism in not only in the United states but all over the world. Posterity will revere the friendship of two Ex presidents that were once opposed to each Other. Human nature will be a gainer by it. I am sure an Advance on your Side will be a Cordial to the heart of Mr Adams.  & with One foot in Tottering over the grave, he now leans wholly upon the Shoulders of his old revolutiony revolutionary friends The patriots generated by the funding System &c are all his enemies. ADieu! my Dr friend & beleive me to be yours truly & Affectionately\n            Benjn Rush", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0206", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 5 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Eppes, John Wayles\n           Your two letters of Dec. 14. reached this place just after I had left it for Bedford. this has occasioned the delay of the answer.    I now inclose you the paper you requested on the boundaries of Louisiana. it is a bad Polygraph copy; however it is legible. there is nothing secret in the paper and therefore may be freely used as you please, except that I would not have it printed, but with the advice of the President. with his sanction, if it be thought material to satisfy the public opinion on the solidity of a right, the assertion of which may lead to war, it may be printed. but the paper I send you wants a very material appendix. this was a chronological table of all the facts relating to the discovery & history of Louisiana which I compiled from all the authors I possess or could obtain, who have written on Louisiana, with a reference to the authority for every fact. this is not now among my papers, and I have no conception what has become of it, unless it remains in the office of state.  I sent both papers to that office, from which copies were taken and sent to our ministers at Paris & Madrid, & perhaps given in by them to those governments. copies were also retained for the use of the office; and perhaps only the original of the principal paper may have been returned to me. I write by this post to mr Graham to examine, & if he has not the original of the Chronological table, to lend me his copy, from which I will send you one. with respect to the boundaries they are as well ascertained as those of any unsettled country whatever, as well as the boundaries of several of these states, about which disputes still exist, & as the boundaries of many of the unsettled Northern countries of Europe. I wish you would immediately authorise the President to take possession of East Florida immediately. the seizing West Florida will be a signal to England to take Pensacola & St Augustine; and be assured it will be done as soon as the order can return after they hear of our taking Baton rouge, and we shall never get it from them but by a war, which may be prevented by anticipation. there never was a case where the adage was more true, \u2018in for a penny, in for a pound\u2019: and no more offence will be taken by France & Spain at our seisure of both than of one. the English will take East Florida, pretendedly for Spain. we should take it with a declaration 1. that it is a reprisal for indemnities Spain has acknoleged due to us. 2. to keep it from falling into hands in which it would essentially endanger our safety. 3. that in our hands it will still be held as a subject of negociation. the leading republican members should come to an understanding, close the doors, and determined determine not to separate till the vote is carried: and all the secrecy you can enjoin should be aimed at until the measure is executed. the militia of Georgia will do it in a fortnight.\n            I proposed to Francis, as you desired, his staying here. he asked me if I had written to you to ask permission for his stay. I told him I had, & that you left it to himself. he said at once he would stay. I have put him into his Latin grammar, rather to learn him to exercise his memory in getting by heart, than from an expectation that he may otherwise profit by it as yet. I observe he gets very readily & perfectly. I inclose you a letter from him. accept assurances of my constant affection.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0208", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William Chamberlayne, 6 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Chamberlayne, William\n            Your favor of Dec. 27. has been duly recieved, and I now send you a copy of Dr Everett\u2019s account for his attendance on Tom Buck.  James Lewis\u2019s account for boarding him (and he was continued there no longer than till the Doctor thought that plantation attentions would be sufficient) I cannot now lay my hands on, tho\u2019 I have diligently searched for it among my papers. but I possess it, and pledge myself to produce it. it\u2019s amount was 33.D. 26 Cents, which, as I thought it too high, I refused to pay. we referred it to arbitrators, who considering the situation of the patient & the great attentions & particular diet required, confirmed the charge, & I paid it on the 29th of July. proofs of the award & paiment shall be furnished you. I am aware that acting as an Executor, you must use the cautions that character requires. I am therefore willing you shall refer it to Arbitrators, who may be named by yourself, or take the opinion of a lawyer, & I will abide by the award or opinion; to be given on the facts stated in my two letters of Aug. 17. & Dec. 11. which can readily be proved here. I acted for the owners of the negro, as I would have done for my own, as they were not here to take care of him. I could have no motive for recieving him, but that of humanity, and to save his life for his owners I have had to advance 57. D 26 c in confidence that I should be allowed a credit for it in the hire of the other negroes. had he not been placed, when he was, under the care of a skilful Surgeon, his death was inevitable, as a mortification was imminently apprehended. all these things I submit to your consideration & beg you to be assured of my great esteem & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0209", "content": "Title: John Barnes to Thomas Jefferson, 7 January 1811\nFrom: Barnes, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            George Town (Potomac) 7th Jany 1811.\n           The time is fast Approaching when, it will become Necessary again, to remit the good Genl Kosciuskos\u2014, Annual Balance of Int. and dividends. I am Anxiously expecting to be favored\u2014as Usual his Acknowledg recpt for the \u00a3200 sterling remitted him, last year; hope no, unforeseen Accident has, deprived him of so Acceptable a supply. the Genls Bank dividend $312. recd in Sepr with the like dividend now due together with your present years Int. becoming due (1st April.)\u2014would inable me to remit him\u2014at least, another \u00a3200 sterling. Equal to $871\u00b9\u2070\u2044\u2081\u2080\u2080\u2014\n          \u2014mean while, be pleased to favor me with Order Annexed (Copy.) on Mr Smith\u2014for said dividend due\u2014\n          with perfect Esteem, and Respect,\n            I am Dear Sir, your very Obedt servant\n John Barnes", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0210", "content": "Title: Thomas T. Hewson to Thomas Jefferson, 8 January 1811\nFrom: Hewson, Thomas T.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           At the annual election of Officers, held on the 4th instant by again re-electing you to the Presidential chair, The American Philosophical Society has renewed its expressions of respect for your character, and of gratitude for the repeated benefits received thro your fostering attention to the welfare of the Society. I am happy in the honour conferred on me in being made the channel of this communication, and hope that I may be permitted to join in the pleasing expectation that you will long continue to preside over the interests of this institution\n            With Sentiments of high respect I have the honour to be Your obedient humble servt\n Thos T Hewson Correspondg Secy", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0211", "content": "Title: William Lambert to Thomas Jefferson, 8 January 1811\nFrom: Lambert, William\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            City of Washington, January 8th 1811. \n           I inclose for your acceptance, a printed copy of my answer to the Critical Reviewers of Boston, in Massachusetts, who have, in their review for the month of October last, published a number of remarks against my papers submitted to Congress at their last session, relative to the establishment of a first meridian for the United States. Altho\u2019 I dislike much to appear before the public in the style and manner forced upon me by those reviewers, yet I thought it advisable so to do, and endeavor to counteract unfavorable impressions not more insidious in their tendency, than in the manner form of proceeding, and method of circulation. I wish it was in my power to send you a copy of the review; but I have as yet seen but one of them.\n            I have the honor to be, with great respect, Sir, Your most Obedt servant,\n William Lambert.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0213", "content": "Title: William Coolidge to Thomas Jefferson, 9 January 1811\nFrom: Coolidge, William\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          If an apology is necessary for this address, from an intire stranger, I trust its object will be deemed by you, as satisfactory, and accepted as such.\n          The Agriculture and Manufactures of our Country have considerably improved, and are rapidly progressing; and while we can make the one, in a measure dependant on the other, it will tend, not only to promote both; but, in a degree, render us independant of other nations on whom we now depend for supplies.\n          The article of Madder, is of primary importance in Manufactures: no ingredient yet discovered, for Dyeing, can have such almost universal application in the forming of different colors, and shades.\n          Our climate & soil, are undoubtedly congenial to its cultivation; and considering the price we pay for that of foreign growth; it might be made an important article to our Agriculturalists: Yet I do not find any attempt has been made in N England, towards its cultivation, not even for experiment:But observing in one of our News papers, that a Lady in Virginnia, had made a number of successful experiments in dyeing; and that in some of them she made use of Madder in its undried state; of course conclude that the article is there cultivated.\n          Not having the pleasure of a personal acquaintance with any Gentleman of observation in that State, have taken the liberty to address to you for information on that subjectviz.\n              In what part of the State is it cultivated? and when may application be made for the roots in a fit state for setting\n              Presuming that experiments have been made, what is the soil best adapted to its growth?\n              What the most suitable season for planting?\n              Does it require artificial watering in a dry season?\n              How long before it comes to maturity?\n              What the most suitable season for gathering? or if any marks, what are they of its maturity?\n              The best mode of drying, whether in a Kiln, as I understand is practiced in Holland, or in the open air. Any information you will afford me on these inquiries, or any of them, will confer an obligation on\n            Sir your most obedient sevt\n Wm Coolidge", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0214", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Barnes, 10 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Barnes, John\n            Your favor of the 7th came to hand last night, and I now inclose you the order on the bank of Pensylvania for General Kosciuzko\u2019s dividend.  his interest due from me Apr. 1. shall not be delayed a moment, as the distance of that day gives me time for the sale of my crop of 1810. this has been so good, that with the prices now going it will nearly liberate me from that part of my Washington debt for which I was obliged to go into the bank of Richmond. the crop of the year now entered will compleatly clear me there, after which I shall be able to lay my shoulders to the repaiment of the General\u2019s principal.\n           I continue in the enjoiment of good health, take much exercise, and make frequent journies to Bedford, the only journies I now take, or ever expect to take.  I hope your health continues firm and that you are still able to take your walks to the Capitol hill without inconvenience. that you may so continue as many years as yourself may wish, is the prayer of\n            Your\u2019s sincerely & affectionately\n Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0215", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 10 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Eppes, John Wayles\n           By the post succeeding my last letter to you, I recieved one from my counsel in Livingston\u2019s case requesting me to prepare a statement of all the facts which will be to be proved in that case to be forwarded with commissions to N. Orleans to have the depositions regularly taken. this it is not in my power to do without the aid of the statement of the case sent to mr Giles & yourself, of which I have no copy.  I must therefore ask the favor of you to procure me a prompt return of it by post.\n           Mr Coles being on a visit to us two days ago, induced Francis to wish to return to Enniscorthy with him.  tomorrow Jefferson will go there for him. he has enjoyed uninterrupted good health.\n            ever Affectionately yours\n Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0217", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Amos Stoddard, 10 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Stoddard, Amos\n           Th: Jefferson presents his compliments to Majr Stoddert and his thanks for forwarding the inclosed paper, which he now returns with his signature. altho generally declining to subscribe for new books, he has done it with pleasure in this instance, & hopes that Major Stoddert\u2019s subscriptions in this state may make it convenient for him to name some person in Richmond who may be authorised to recieve the price of the work. he salutes him with esteem & respect.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0218", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to David Bailie Warden, 10 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Warden, David Bailie\n          Your several favors of Dec. 11. 19. & Jan. 2. have been duly recieved with the packets accompanying them, for which be pleased to accept my thanks, with those of the other members of my family to whom a part of them were addressed.  I learn with much pleasure that your prospects of returning to France in the character you wish, afford grounds of hope. I sincerely wish they may be relalised; and in whatever way you return, I will pray you to give me early notice, as I should be very anxious to take so sure an opportunity of writing to my friends there. I am confident the President has a just sense of your merit, and a sufficient disposition to avail the public of your services whether where they would be useful. the Senate, less acquainted with you, may be on that account the more difficult. wishing you all the success you can desire I salute you with assurances of esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0219", "content": "Title: John Graham to Thomas Jefferson, 11 January 1811\nFrom: Graham, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n             I had yesterday the Honor to receive your Letter of the 5th Inst. and should have immediately sent you the Paper you ask for, but it was then in the hands of a Gentleman belonging to the Senate. He has returned it this morning in consequence of my having written him a Note to do so, and I am now engaged in taking a Copy of it for the Office that you may not be put to the trouble of having it copied for us at Monticello.\u2014By the next Mail I shall have the pleasure to send you the original which is in your own hand writing.\n            With Sentiments of the most Respectful Regard & Esteem\n              I have the Honor to be Sir Your Mo: Obt Sert\n John Graham\n            I presume you are apprised that a Despatch vessel is going to Europe about the 1st of the next Month. Mr Erving will go in her.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0220", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to James Walker, 11 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Walker, James\n            I am about opening a canal at the hither end of my dam, and carrying it about 300. yards through the low grounds to where I shall have 6.f. fall, with a view of there building a saw mill, and joining to it a threshing machine. I can afford it but little water, & the fall being small, I propose a breastwheel of 10\u00bd f. diameter, with a spur wheel on each side, the one driving the wallower with it\u2019s crank and saw, the other my present threshing machine instead of the horse-wheel which now moves it. the canal will take me a month to dig, & I should wish the mill to be immediately after that compleated as soon as practicable. will it suit you to undertake it? if it would, I should wish you to call at convenience & give me a bill of scantling to be got by my carpenter\u2019s, and the irons necessary to be procured. in the mean time I shall be glad to hear from you if it does not suit you to come immediately. Accept my best wishes.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0221", "content": "Title: Benjamin Brown to Thomas Jefferson, 12 January 1811\nFrom: Brown, Benjamin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n             Thos Jefferson Esqr\n                To ye Ml Assurance Society\n                To Intst thereon from 1st aprl is 21\u2153 Mos\n                To Attorys Comsn for Collection\n            Jany 12th 1811Recd the above for Benjn Brown Attory for ye Ml A Society\n            The above is a Statemt of what is due to the A Society according to the lists sent me\u2014I have directed my son to sign the above recpt if it should be convenient to you to send the amot by him.  The Comsn is added by directions of a late law.The sum which you paid me heretofore was for a quota called for in 1806.With great respect I am Sir\n              Yr Mo Obt Servt\n Benjn Brown", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0225", "content": "Title: John Graham to Thomas Jefferson, 15 January 1811\nFrom: Graham, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Dept of State 15th January 1811.\n           Having been repeatedly called off since I undertook to make a Copy of the inclosed \u201cChronological series of Facts relative to Louisiana\u201d for the use of this Dept I could not get it finished until this Moment.\n          Having finished it, I hasten to send you the Paper in your own hand writing not doubting that you will prefer it to a Copy taken from it.\n            With Sentiments of the Highest Respect & Regard I have the Honor to be, Sir, Your Most Obt Sert\n John Graham", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0226", "content": "Title: Skelton Jones to Thomas Jefferson, 15 January 1811\nFrom: Jones, Skelton\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           Although I have no personal acquaintance with you, yet from the general philanthropy which distinguishes your character, I am induced to apply to you for the loan of one hundred dollars, which I will gratefully return as soon as I am remunerated for my literary labours. I have been unfortunate, and there is but little charity in this place; particularly towards republicans; and those upon whom I have been accustomed to rely, in cases of emergency, are either dead, absent, or unable to assist me. I hope you will excuse the liberty which I take as dire necessity alone compels me to make this application to some gentleman, and I know of none, who, from report, bears the character of possessing more entirely, the ability as well as the inclination of performing an act of kindness.\n          With every wish for your happiness I remain\n            Yr obedt. servt.\n Skelton Jones", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0227", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Law, 15 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Law, Thomas\n           An absence from home of some length has prevented my sooner acknoleging the reciept of your letter covering the printed pamphlet which the same absence has as yet prevented me from taking up, but which I know I shall read with great pleasure. your favor of Dec. 22. is also recieved.  mr Wagner\u2019s malignity, like that of the rest of his tribe of brother printers, who deal out calumnies for federal readers, gives me no pain.  when a printer cooks up a falsehood, it is as easy to put it into the mouth of a mr Fox, as of a smaller man, and safer into that of a dead than a living one.  your sincere attachment to this country as well as to your native one, was never doubted by me: and in that persuasion I felt myself free to express to you my genuine sentiments with respect to England. no man was more sensible than myself of the just value of the friendship of that country. there are between us so many of those circumstances which naturally produce & cement kind dispositions, that, if they could have forgiven our resistance to their usurpations, our connections might have been durable, and have ensured the duration to both our governments. I wished therefore a cordial friendship with them, and I spared no occasion of manifesting this in our correspondence and intercourse with them; not disguising however my desire of friendship with their enemy also.  during the administration of mr Addington, I thought I discovered some friendly symptoms on the part of that government; at least we recieved some marks of respect from the administration, & some of regret at the wrongs we were suffering from that their country. so also during the short interval of mr Fox\u2019s power.  but every other administration since our revolution has been equally wanton in their injuries & insults, & have manifested equal hatred and aversion.  instead too of cultivating the government itself, whose principles are those of nine tenths the great mass of the nation, they have adopted the miserable policy of teazing & embarrassing it by allying themselves with a faction here, not a tenth of the people, noisy and unprincipled, and which never can come into power while republicanism is the spirit of the nation, and that must continue to be so until such a condensation of our population shall have taken place, as will require centuries. whereas the goodwill of the government itself would give them and immediately, every benefit which reason or justice would permit it to give. with respect to myself, I saw great reason to believe their ministers were weak enough to credit the newspaper trash about a supposed personal enmity in myself towards England. this wretched party imputation was beneath the notice of wise men. England never did me a personal injury, other than in open war, and for numerous individuals there I have great esteem & friendship. and I must have had a mind far below the duties of my station to have felt either national partialities or antipathies in conducting the affairs confided to me. my affections were first for my own country, and then generally for all mankind: and nothing but minds placing themselves above the passions, in the functionaries of this country could have preserved us from the war to which their provocations have been constantly urging us. the War-interests in England include a numerous & wealthy part of their population: and their influence is deemed worth courting by ministers wishing to keep their places. continually endangered by a powerful opposition, they find it convenient to humor the popular passions at the expence of the public good. the shipping interest, commercial interest, & their janissaries of the navy, all fattening on war, will not be neglected by ministers of ordinary minds. their tenure of office is so infirm that they dare not follow the dictates of wisdom, justice, & the well calculated interests of their country. this vice in the English constitution renders a dependance on that government very unsafe. the feelings of their king too, fundamentally adverse to us have added another motive for unfriendliness in his ministers. this obstacle to friendship however seems likely to be soon removed, & I verily believe the successor will come in with fairer & wiser dispositions towards us. perhaps on that event their conduct may be changed. but what England is to become on the crush of her internal structure now seeming to be begun, I cannot foresee. her monied interest, created by her paper system, and now constituting a baseless mass of wealth equal to that of the owners of the soil, must disappear with that system, and the medium for paying great taxes thus failing, her navy must be without support. that it shall be supported by permitting her to claim dominion of the ocean, & to levy tribute on every flag traversing that, as lately attempted & not yet relinquished, every nation must contest, even ad internecionem. and yet that, retiring from this enormity, she should continue able to take a fair share in the necessary equilibrium of power on that element, would be the desire of every nation. I feel happy in withdrawing my mind from these anxieties, and resigning myself, for the remnant of life, to the care & guardianship of others. good wishes are all an old man has to offer to his country or friends. mine attend yourself with sincere assurances of esteem and respect, which however I should be better pleased to tender you in person, should your rambles ever lead you into the vicinage of Monticello.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0228", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Account with Jonathan & Isaac Shoemaker, 15 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas,Shoemaker, Jonathan\nTo: Shoemaker, Jonathan & Isaac\n              paid Isaac Shoemaker 67. D 56 c balance of a settlement by arbitration to Aug. 25. 1807.\n              Jonathan and Isaac Shoemaker in account with Th: Jefferson\n\t\t By 53. days suspension of rent, on the breaking of the milldam, from\n            Aug. 13. to this day when grinding recommences.\n              To a moiety for 13. hands @ 4/ & a waggon @ 21/ three days repairing breach in bank of the canal. (36.50)\n              To a moiety for 13. hands 6. days, & a waggon 5. days repairing do\n\t\t By amt of his \n             acct from Sep. 1. 07. to this day [deducting flour delivered to Stuart 5.50 D and a cart 20. D viz. 163. \u2212 25.50]\n              To nail account from Mar. 17. to this date \u00a34\u201314\u20137.\n              To a year\u2019s rent due this day\n            Balance in favor of Th:J.\n              To a moiety of 15. hands 4\u00bd days cleaning canal\n\t\t By 84. days suspension of rent from June 26. when the water first failed by breach of the dam Mar. 22. to this day when grinding begins. @ 1000. D\n              To a year\u2019s rent due this day\n            Balance in favor of Th:J.\n              To a quarter\u2019s rent due this day at 1250.D.\n              To moiety 10. hands 62. days tightening dam 41.33 & 2 days hauling shavgs 7.D\n              To a quarter\u2019s rent due this day\n            Balance in favor of Th:J.\n By order in favor of Salmons\n            By cash 100. D. By 12. flour barrels 5.D.\n              By cost of store house paid by them\n              To a quarter\u2019s rent for mill, and .90 additional for storehouse\n            Balance due Th:J.\n              To balance brought forward\n By articles furnished from Jan. 1. to Apr. 21. as pr acct to wit\n                  shipstuff 21. barrels\n tallow 11.\u2114\n candles 8.\u2114\n              To a quarter\u2019s rent of mill and storehouse due this day\n            Balance in favor of Th:J.\n              By cash inclosed by mail\n              To a quarter\u2019s rent due this day\n            Balance in favor of Th:J.\n              To a quarter\u2019s rent due this day\n By Salmon\u2019s order on me in your favor \u00a34\u20139\n              By my order on you in favor of Salmons\n By acct rendered for flour, midlings, shipstuff, bran, meat, salt, & work\n            on the toll mill from 1810. Sep. 10. to this date\n              By cart borrowed20.\n By nails charged above 15.76\n              To interest on the several balances to Dec. 28. 10\n            Balance due Th: Jefferson\n               The above account is a settlement of all accounts between the subscribers to the 28th of Dec. 1810. and the balance of four hundred and ninety D. 58 cents is agreed to be due to Th: Jefferson\n               Errors excepted\n               Jonathan Shoemaker", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0229", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Nathaniel H. Hooe, 16 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Hooe, Nathaniel H.\n           Mr Shoemaker has failed in delivering me the boat load of flour promised, but has just given me an order on Richmond for 250. D. the  paiable the 30th inst. which I inclose by this post to Gibson and Jefferson to recieve and remit the money to you the bank of Fredericksburg subject to the order of Mrs Dangerfield or yourself, which I trust will not fail to be done. accept the assurances of my esteem & respect. \n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0231", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 16 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\n           I had been considering for some days whether it was not time, by a letter, to bring myself to your recollection, when I recieved your welcome favor of the 2d inst. I had before heard of the heart-rending calamity you mention, & had sincerely sympathised with your afflictions. but I had not made it the subject of a letter, because I knew that condolances were but renewals of grief. yet I thought, & still think, this is one of the cases wherein we should \u2018not sorrow, even as others who have no hope.\u2019 I have myself known so many cases of recovery from confirmed insanity, as to reckon it ever among the recoverable diseases.  one of these was that of a near relation and namesake of mine, who after many years of madness of the first degree, became entirely sane, & amused himself to a good old age in keeping school; was an excellent teacher, & much valued citizen.\n           You ask if I have read Hartley? I have not.  my present course of life admits less reading than I wish.  from breakfast, or noon at latest, to dinner, I am mostly on horseback, attending to my farms or other concerns, which I find healthful to my body, mind, & affairs: and the few hours I can pass in my cabinet, are devoured by correspondences; not those with my intimate friends, with whom I delight to interchange sentiments, but with others who, writing to me on concerns of their own in which I have had an agency, or from motives of mere respect and approbation, are entitled to be answered with respect and a return of good will. my hope is that this obstacle to the delights of retirement will wear away with the oblivion which follows that, and that I may at length be indulged in those studious pursuits, from which nothing but revolutionary duties would ever have called me.\n           I shall receive your proposed publication, & read it, with the pleasure which every thing gives me from your pen. altho\u2019 much of a sceptic in the practice of medecine, I read with pleasure it\u2019s ingenious theories.\n           I receive with sensibility your observations on the discontinuance of friendly correspondence between mr Adams & myself, & the concern you take in it\u2019s restoration. this discontinuance has not proceeded from me, nor from the want of sincere desire, and of effort on my part to renew our intercourse. you know the perfect co-incidence of principle, & of action, in the early part of the revolution which produced a high degree of mutual respect & esteem between mr Adams & myself. certainly no man was ever truer than he was, in that day, to those principles of rational republicanism which, after the necessity of throwing off our monarchy, dictated all our efforts in the establishment of a new government. and altho\u2019 he swerved afterwards towards the principles of the English constitution, our friendship did not abate on that account. while he was Vice-president, & I Secretary of state, I recieved a letter from President Washington then at Mount-Vernon, desiring me to call together the heads of departments, and to invite mr Adams to join us (which, by the bye, was the only instance of that being done) in order to determine on some measure which required dispatch: and he desired me to act on it, as decided, without again recurring to him. I invited them to dine with me, and after dinner, sitting at our wine, having settled our question, other conversation came on, in which a collision of opinion arose between mr Adams & Colo Hamilton, on the merits of the British constitution, mr Adams giving it as his opinion that, if some of it\u2019s defects & abuses were corrected, it would be the most perfect constitution of government ever devised by man. Hamilton, on the contrary asserted that, with it\u2019s existing vices, it was the most perfect model of government that could be formed; & that the correction of it\u2019s vices would render it an impracticable government. and this you may be assured was the real line of difference between the political principles of these two gentlemen. another incident took place on the same occasion which will further delineate Hamilton\u2019s political principles.   the room being hung around with a collection of the portraits of remarkable men, among them were those of Bacon, Newton & Locke. Hamilton asked me who they were. I told him they were my trinity of the three greatest men the world had ever produced, naming them. he paused for some time: \u2018the greatest man, said he, that ever lived was Julius Caesar.\u2019 Mr Adams was honest as a politician as well as a man; Hamilton honest as a man, but, as a politician, believing in the necessity of either force or corruption to govern men.\u2014 you remember the machinery which the federalists played off, about that time, to beat down the friends to the real principles of our constitution, to silence by terror every expression in their favor, to bring us into war with France and alliance with England, and finally to homologise our constitution with that of England. mr Adams, you know, was overwhelmed with feverish addresses, dictated by the fear, and often by the pen, of the bloody buoy, and was seduced by them into some open indications of his new principles of government, & in fact was so elated as to mix, with his kindness, a little superciliousness towards me.  even mrs Adams, with all her good sense & prudence, was sensibly flushed. and you recollect the short suspension of our intercourse, & the circumstance which gave rise to it, which you were so good as to bring to an early explanation, and have set to rights, to the cordial satisfaction of us all. the nation at length passed condemnation on the political principles of the Federalists by refusing to continue mr Adams in the presidency. on the day on which we learned in Philadelphia the vote of the city of New York, which it was well known would decide the vote of the state, and that again the vote of the Union, I called on mr Adams on some official business. he was very sensibly affected, and accosted me with these words. \u2018Well, I understand that you are to beat me in this contest, & I will only say that I will be as faithful a subject as any you will have.\u2019 \u2018Mr Adams, said I, this is no personal contest between you & me. two systems of principles on the subject of government divide our fellow-citizens into two parties. with one of these you concur, & I with the other. as we have been longer on the public stage than most of those now living, our names happen to be more generally known. one of these parties therefore has put your name at it\u2019s head, the other mine. were we both to die to-day, tomorrow two other names would be in the place of ours, without any change in the motion of the machine. it\u2019s motion is from it\u2019s principle, not from you or myself.\u2019 \u2018I believe you are right, said he, that we are but passive instruments, and should not suffer this matter to affect our personal dispositions.\u2019 but he did not long retain this just view of the subject. I have always believed that the thousand calumnies which the federalists, in bitterness of heart, & mortification at their ejection, daily invented against me, were carried to him by their busy intriguers, & made some impression. when the election between Burr & myself was kept in suspense by the federalists, and they were meditating to place the President of the Senate at the head of the government, I called on mr Adams with a view to have this desperate measure prevented by his negative. he grew warm in an instant, and said with a vehemence he had not used towards me before, \u2018Sir, the event of the election is within your own power. you have only to say you will do justice to the public creditors, maintain the navy, and not disturb those holding offices, and the government will instantly be put into your hands. we know it is the wish of the people it should be so.\u2019\u2014\u2018mr Adams, said I, I know not what part of my conduct, in either public or private life, can have authorised a doubt of my fidelity to the public engagements. I say however I will not come into the government by capitulation. I will not enter on it but in perfect freedom to follow the dictates of my own judgment.\u2019 I had before given the same answer to the same intimation from Gouverneur Morris. \u2018then, said he, things must take their course.\u2019 I turned the conversation to something else, & soon took my leave. it was the first time in our lives we had ever parted with any thing like dissatisfaction. and then followed those scenes of midnight appointment which have been condemned by all men. the last day of his political power, the last hours, & even beyond the midnight, were employed in filling all offices, & especially permanent ones, with the bitterest federalists, & providing for me the alternative either to execute the government by my enemies, whose study it would be to thwart & defeat all my measures, or to incur the odium of such numerous removals from office as might bear me down. a little time & reflection effaced in my mind this temporary dissatisfaction, with mr Adams, and restored me to that just estimate of his virtues & passions which a long acquaintance had enabled me to fix. and my first wish became that of making his retirement easy by any means in my power:; for it was understood he was not rich. I suggested to some republican members of the delegation from his state the giving him, either directly, or indirectly, an office, the most lucrative in that state, and then offered to be resigned, if they thought he would not deem it affrontive. they were of opinion he would take great offence at the offer; and moreover that the body of republicans would consider such a step in the outset, as auguring very ill of the course I meant to pursue. I dropped the idea therefore but did not cease to wish for some opportunity of renewing our friendly understanding. two or three years after, having had the misfortune to lose a daughter, between whom & mrs Adams there had been a considerable attachment, she made it the occasion of writing me a letter, in which, with the tenderest expressions of concern at this event, she carefully avoided a single one of friendship towards myself, and even concluded it with the wishes \u2018of her who once took pleasure in subscribing herself your friend Abigail Adams.\u2019 unpromising as was the complexion of this letter, I determined to make an effort towards removing the clouds from between us. this brought on a correspondence which I now inclose for your perusal, after which be so good as to return it to me, as I have never communicated it to any mortal breathing before. I send it to you to convince you I have not been wanting, either in the desire, or the endeavor to remove this misundersta[nd]ing. indeed I thought it highly disgraceful to us both; as indicating minds not sufficien[tly] elevated to prevent a public competition from affecting our personal friendship. I soon found from the correspondence that conciliation was desperate, and, yielding to an intimation in her last letter, I ceased from further explanation.I have the same good opinion of mr Adams which I ever had. I know him to be an honest man, an able one with his pen, and he was a powerful advocate on the floor of Congress. he has been alienated from me by belief in the wretched forgeries lying suggestions, contrived for electioneering purposes, that I perhaps mixed in the activity & intrigues of the occasion. my most intimate friends can testify that I was perfectly passive. they would sometimes indeed tell me what was going on; but no man ever heard me take part in such conversations; & none ever misrepresented mr Adams in my presence, without my asserting his just character. with very confidential persons I have doubtless disapproved of the principles & practices of his administration. this was unavoidable. but never with those with whom it could do him any injury. decency would have required this conduct from me, if disposition had not: and I am satisfied mr Adams\u2019s conduct was equally honorable towards me. but I think it a part of his character to suspect foul play in those of whom he is jealous, and not easily to relinquish his suspicions.\n          I have gone, my dear friend, into these details that you might know every thing which had passed between us, might be fully possessed of the state of facts and dispositions, and judge for yourself whether they admit a revival of that friendly intercourse for which you are so kindly solicitous. I shall certainly not be wanting in any thing on my part which may second your efforts; which will be the easier with me inasmuch as I do not entertain a sentiment of mr Adams, the expression of which could give him reasonable offence. and I submit the whole to yourself with the assurance that whatever be the issue, my friendship and respect for yourself will remain unaltered & unalterable.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0232", "content": "Title: David Bailie Warden to Thomas Jefferson, 16 January 1811\nFrom: Warden, David Bailie\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I had the honor of sending you, the other day, from new york, thro\u2019 the Post-Office, three nos of a Philosophical work, which I hope will reach you\u2014From Baltimore I sent you three packets containing brochures\u2014You were pleased to promise me a copy of your \u201cManual of Parliamentary practice,\u201d which I promised to send to a friend at Paris. If you can spare two Copies I wish much to keep one for my own use\u2014I beg leave to mention, that a variety of business, which I left unfinished at Paris induces me to return there as soon as possible, and I fondly hope that the President, thro\u2019 your friendly mediation, will nominate me to the place I lately held\u2014my Several of my political, and scientific friends, of this City and of new york, have written to Senators in my behalf, and it is believed that this body will not oppose my nomination\u2014 General armstrong, I am told, has declared to several Individuals that he has no objection to my reappointment\u2014I wish, if possible, for good reasons, to embark on board a flag vessel, and to be charged with the dispatches of the Government\u2014you will please to send your letters, for France, to the care of the President\u2014In the course of ten days I shall be at Washington\u2014If you can send the plough, I shall take charge of it with pleasure\u2014If I be fortunate enough to return to Paris as Consul, I will employ all possible industry and activity in promoting the views of the administration and discharging the duties of my Office\u2014I saw Dr Barton last evening who informs me that the voyage of Capt Lewis is in considerable forwardness\u2014That of Pike has appeared\u2014I have been hitherto unfortunate in not seeing Mr Dufief\u2014I shall endeavor to find him today\u2014 one of the nos. I sent you, of the Philosophical Journal of Belfast, contains a curious paper on the linnen trade of the north of Ireland\u2014The author informs me in a letter which I have just received, that the cotton has almost destroyed the linnen business: and that the whole of the stock of one of his sons has remained unsold, in London for a year past\u2014which has decided him to try his fortune in the united States\u2014 yesterday I took the liberty of sending under cover to you two brochures for mrs Randolph\u2014accompanied with a note\u2014I beg you to present my respects to her mr Randolph and family\u2014I am, Sir, with Great respect and esteem,\n            Your very obedt and oblgd Servt\n David Bailie Warden", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0234-0002", "content": "Title: Enclosure: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Preface for Destutt de Tracy\u2019s Commentary on Montesqueiu, [ca. 18 January 1811]\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas,Destutt de Tracy, Antoine Louis Claude\nTo: \n            The Author to his fellow citizens of the United States of America.\n            I am a Frenchman by birth and education. I was an early friend to the revolution of France, and continued to support it until those entrusted with it\u2019s helm had evidently changed it\u2019s object direction. flying then from the tyrannies of the monster Robespierre, I found, and still enjoy safety, freedom, & hospitality among you. I am grateful for these boons and anxious to shew that gratitude by such services as my faculties and habits enable me to render. reading and contemplation have been the occupations of my life, and mostly on those subjects which concern the condition of man.  Montesquieu\u2019s immortal work on the Spirit of laws could not fail of course to furnish matter for profound consideration. I have admired his vivid imagination, his extensive reading, and dexterous use of it, but I have not been blind to his paradoxes, his inconsistencies, and whimsical combinations. and I have thought the errors of his book the more important to be corrected, as it\u2019s truths are numerous, and of powerful influence on the opinions of society. these opinions attemper the principles on which governments are administered, on which so much depend the happiness & misery of men. few nations are in a situation to profit by the detection of political errors, or to shape their practice by newly developed truths. this is the eminent advantage of the country in which I write. had it\u2019s language been more familiar to me, I should with pleasure have made it the original medium of submitting to you my reflections, and of explaining the grounds of my cordial esteem for the principles of your government. their translation however is committed to one well skilled in both languages, and, should it be desired at any future time, the original composition shall be at the command of those for whom it was originally has been written.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0236", "content": "Title: David Bailie Warden to Thomas Jefferson, 19 January 1811\nFrom: Warden, David Bailie\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I beg leave to inform you, that I have received your letter, of the 11th of Jan., which gives me the pleasing hope of returning as Consul to Paris. I need not repeat how much I am indebted to you for your friendship\u2014To be reestablished at Paris will make me quite happy, as it will afford me the means of a decent existence and of improvement in scientific pursuits\u2014which I value more than money. you will please to send your letters for France to the care of the President\u2014I shall repair to washington, in the course of a few days, to wait his decision.\u2014I am, Sir, with the greatest respect and esteem,\n            your truly obliged Servt\n David Bailie Warden", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0238", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Lafayette, 20 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Lafayette, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de\n            Monticello\n          I have to acknolege, my dear friend, the reciept of many of your letters, within the last twelvemonth, and altho\u2019 I have not answered them specifically to yourself, yet I have not been inattentive or inactive as to their contents. on leaving the government, two years ago, I knew I could not serve you so effectually as by committing the whole care of your Orleans affairs to the President. the weight of his agency merged all other interference, & no one could have more zeal. the arrival of your letters therefore to me, was used as occasions for refreshing his memory on your situation, and always produced answers which shewed he had it ever in view, till at length he informed me he had been able to have the grants brought forward for his signature, which they had recieved, and were forwarded to you by a confidential person. your letters after this I considered as effectively answered by the fact of the grants being expedited, & by that time in your hands. your last of Sep. 20. recd Nov. 29. accordingly informed me of mr Parish\u2019s arrival on the continent with them.Notwithstanding the discoragements from Hope & co. I have such reliance on the genius & resources of our friend Parker in these matters as not to despair of means being found of making this property a present relief as well as future provision. I should consider money lent on it\u2019s hypothecation as on the solidest bottom of any loan existing. of which of the dominant powers of Europe is the good faith as trust-worthy? in what spot of Europe is the money of a lender more secure than in this peaceable, industrious, & thriving country? had mr Goldsmidt\u2019s Omnium been all bottomed on the grounds around N. Orleans, he would not have needed the resource of the pistol.on the subject of your location adjacent to the city of N.O. I am not able to say any thing new. in fact I have considered your affairs as so securely placed in the hands of M. Duplantier there, and of the President here, that my interference were better suspended, as it might have disturbed, & could not aid their operations. I did not omit however, on a late visit of Govr Claiborne to me at this place, to strengthen as far as in my power, his good dispositions to give any aid his situation would afford to mr Duplantier. I trust then that for my failure to write for some time past other motives will be percieved than inattention to your happiness & prosperity. old men do not easily contract new friendships: but neither do they forget old ones. yours & mine commenced in times too awful, has continued thro\u2019 times too trying & changeful, to be forgotten at the moment when our chief solace is in our recollections. you will be more sensible of this as you advance more towards my years. my situation too, so far in the interior country, prevents my knowing of the opportunities of writing.  you remember your camps at the Raccoon ford & Mechunck, & that I am still farther inland. for some time past there has have been no opportunities, but by public vessels; and the first we hear of them is generally that they sailed on such a day from such a port. one sailed lately from Hampton, which I learned only by the newspapers, after she was gone: and I am now writing without knowing when, or whence, the letter can be forwarded. to these unfavorable circumstances for correspondence must be added the total change of the habits of my life.  I am now on horseback among my farms from an early breakfast to a late dinner, with little regard to weather. I find it gives health to body, mind & affairs. I go to my writing table with great reluctance, & only for those calls which cannot be put off to tomorrow. I am always happy to hear of the welfare of your family & especially of your own. I hope you enjoy habitually good health & spirits. in the present state of the European world, your comforts must all flow from what is immediately around you. there can be none in casting your eye over scenes of murder, rapine, devastation, pyracy, demoralisation of national societies, & degradation of the instruments of all this evil. if there be a god, & he is just, his day will come. he will never abandon the whole race of man to be eaten up by the leviathans and Mammoths of a day.I enjoy good health, & am happy in contemplating the peace, prosperity, liberty & safety of my country, & especially, the wide ocean, the barrier of all these. my daughter is in good health & continues to multiply the objects of our affections.\n          Mar. 27. since the date of this letter, I am promoted to the honors of a great grandfather. God bless you & send you many & happy days. yours ever and affectionately\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0239", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Caesar A. Rodney, 20 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Rodney, Caesar A.\n           While oppressed with the whole mass of the case of the Batture I passed over some topics too slightly, & some altogether, which have since occurred to myself, or been suggested by others.  I have therefore made these the subject subjects of some amendments to my former memoir on that case; and desiring that my former colleagues in office may be apprized of the whole of what I deem our justification on that measure, I inclose you these amendments separately stated: and will pray you, after communicating them to the President, & Secretaries of state & the treasury to return them to me.  you will see in what manner the Dundee case with which you were so good as to furnish me, bears on ours, according to my ideas. any further suggestions which may occur to you from either reading or reflection will be thankfully recieved from time to time as they occur, as will also any suggestions with which the other gentlemen will furnish me. my wish is to take no ground which they would disapprove.  the plan of defence suggested to my counsel for their consideration is to plead 1. the General issue, which authorises us to go into the whole merits of the case for the justification of the administration & assertion of the interests of the public in general & the city of N.O. in particular. 2. a special plead plea that what I did was as Presidt of the US. without malice, as a justification (our laws allow double pleading) 3. to reserve objections to the locality of the action for a motion in arrest of judgment. this avails us of all the matter of the defence except his citizenship, which we cannot rest upon without smothering the merits of the case.\u2014 I returned your volume of Reports by mr Warden. accept renewed assurances of my affectionate respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0240", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Horatio Turpin, 20 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Turpin, Horatio\n           Your letter of Dec. 8. arrived here just as I had set out on a journey to Bedford which occasioned an absence of some weeks.  it was not till my return that I recieved your letter, and before that I had seen that a Marshal was already appointed. these births are so generally hopeless. it is for the most part the case of one loaf and ten persons seeking bread.an expected call to Richmond last fall had given me the hope of being able to call on yourself & Doctr Turpin. but my presence there being dispensed with, the occasion of seeing you did not occur. necessity calls me frequently to Bedford; otherwise I do not willingly undertake journies. my only chance therefore of seeing you is that of your having calls into this quarter, in which cases I trust you would not pass us. I salute you with great esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0241", "content": "Title: John Wayles Eppes to Thomas Jefferson, 21 January 1811\nFrom: Eppes, John Wayles\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n             When I received your last letter the pamphlet the return of which you requested was in the hands of Mr Clay one of the gentlemen to whom you extended by a former letter the permission of reading it\u2014 I have just this moment received it in the House and have only time while a discussion on the Bank bill is progressing to put it under cover with my friendly wishes\u2014\n            The first section of the Bill is struck out & a question is now depending for indefinite postponement\u2014The Bill for the renewal of the charter will unquestionably fail\u2014\n              With every sentiment of affection & respect\n Jno W Eppes\n             Tell Francis I will write to him by the next mail & inclose his Books if they can be procured in the city\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0242", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 21 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Richmond 21st Janr 1811\n            I have duly received your favor of the 16th inclosing Jonathan Shoemaker & Son\u2019s dft on Wm Underhill for 250$ at 15 days after date from the 15th, which Mr U\u2014 refuses to accept, and which I have of course had noted accordingly.\u2014The reason assigned by Mr U. for not accepting is, that he has no funds in hand, & that it is contrary to his agreement with Messrs S\u2014\u2019s, for them to draw on him unless he has.\u2014he however advises us to hold the dft until it becomes due, as, should he receive flour in time, he will take it up.\n          He apprehends that the S\u2014\u2019s might treat him as they have  he says they have a Mr Dickenson: who made them an advance of 1000$, and recd no more flour from them afterwards.\u2014They next, he tells me, got Mr Richard Anderson to make them an advance, who likewise was treated improperly by them.\u2014This information you will of course consider as being for your own government, as Mr U\u2014 might not wish it to be made public, although he did not enjoin me to secrecy.\n          Your last quarterly account would have been forwarded as usual, but there was nothing to add to it except the bank discount, with which you were acquainted.  Tobacco has fallen\u2014the very best we I suppose would not now command more than 8$, although some little of a very superior quality has sold as high as 10$.\n            I am Dear Sir Your Very humble Servt\n Geo. Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0243", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Lynch, 21 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Lynch, John\n            Monticello\n            You have asked my opinion on the proposition of mrs Mifflin to take measures for procuring on the coast of Africa an establishment to which the people of color of these states might from time to time be colonised, under the auspices of different governments. having long ago made up my mind on this subject, I have no hesitation in saying that I have ever thought it the most desirable measure which could be adopted for gradually drawing off this part of our population most advantageously for themselves as well as for us. going from a country possessing all the useful arts, they might be the means of transplanting them among the inhabitants of Africa, and would thus carry back to the country of their origin the seeds of civilisation, which might render their sojournment and sufferings here a blessing in the end to that country.\n          I recieved in the 1st year of my coming into the administration of the general government, a letter from the governor of Virginia (Colo Monroe) consulting me, at the request of the legislature of the state, on the means of procuring some such asylum, to which these people might be occasionally sent. I proposed to him the establishment of Sierra leone, to which a private company in England had already colonised a number of negroes, & particularly the fugitives from these states during the revolutionary war; and at the same time suggested, if this could not be obtained, some of the Portuguese possessions in South America, as next most desirable.the subsequent legislature approving these ideas, I wrote the ensuing year, 1802. to mr King our minister in London to endeavor to negociate with the Sierra Leone company a reception of such of these people as might be colonised thither.he opened a correspondence with mr Wedderburne & mr Thornton, Secy of the company, on the subject and in 1803. I recieved thro\u2019 mr King the result, which was that the colony was going on but in a languishing condition: that the funds of the company were likely to fail, as they recieved no returns of profit to keep them up: that they were therefore then in treaty with their government to take the establishment off of their hands: but that in no event should they be willing to recieve more of these people from the United States, as it was exactly that thportion of their settlers which had gone from hence which by their idleness & turbulence had kept the settlement in constant danger of dissolution, which could not have been prevented but for the aid of the Maroon negroes from the West Indies, who were more industrious & orderly than the others, and supported the authority of the government & it\u2019s laws. I think I learned afterwards that the British government had taken the colony into it\u2019s own hands, and I believe it still exists. the effort which I made with Portugal to obtain an establishment for them within their claims in S. America, proved also abortive.\n          You enquire further whether I would use my endeavors to procure for such an establishment security against violence from other powers, & particularly from France. certainly I shall be willing to do any thing I can to give it effect and safety. but I am but a private individual, & could only use endeavors with private individuals; whereas the National government can address themselves at once to those of Europe to obtain the desired security, and will unquestionably be ready to exert it\u2019s influence with those nations for an object so benevolent in itself, and so por important to a great portion of it\u2019s constituents. indeed nothing is more to be wished than that the US. would themselves undertake to make such an establishment on the coast of Africa. exclusive of motives of humanity, the commercial advantages to be derived from it might repay all it\u2019s expences. but for this the national mind is not yet prepared. it may perhaps be doubted whether many of these people would voluntarily consent to such an exchange of situation, and very certain that few of those advanced to a certain age in habits of slavery would be capable of self-government. this should not however discourage the experiment nor the early trial of it: and the proposition should be made with all the prudent cautions and attentions requisite to reconcile it to the interests, the safety, & the prejudices of all parties.\n            Accept the assurances of my respect & esteem\n          Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0244", "content": "Title: Fran\u00e7ois Andr\u00e9 Michaux to Thomas Jefferson, 21 January 1811\nFrom: Michaux, Francois Andr\u00e9\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n               Je profite avec bien de la reconnaissance de la permission qui m\u2019est donn\u00e9e par Mr Russel, charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires des Etats Unis, par interim, pour envoyer \u00e0 la Societe philosophique de philadelphie les journaux Scientifiques les plus r\u00e9cents.\u2014Mr J. Vaughan recevra aussi par cette meme occasion quelques Exemples de la Suite de mon travail Sur les arbres de l\u2019Am\u00e9rique seple. Cette partie traite de tous les No\u00ffers, que jai trouv\u00e9 dans les Etats Unis; genre d\u2019arbre dont il ne pas \u00e9t\u00e9 facile de bien distinguer les \u00e9speces, d\u2019avec les Vari\u00e9t\u00e9s. Je ne doute pas, Monsieur, que Mr Jn Vaughan ne Saisisse la premiere occasion de vous faire parvenir l\u2019exemplaire qui vous est destin\u00e9, m\u2019estimant trop heureux, Si vous voulez bien continuer \u00e0 agr\u00e9er cette marque de mon respect et de mon attachemt a votre personne.\n            J\u2019apprendrais avec bien de la Satisfaction que vous ete satisfait de ce qui a deja paru et je profiterais avec bien du plaisir des observations que vous pourriez me faire sur la marche que j\u2019ai adopte.\n               On a publi\u00e9 r\u00e9cement une Nelle Edition du Dicte d\u2019agriculture de Rosier ouvrage dans le quel on a r\u00e9unie beaucoup de remarques int\u00e9ressants en agriculture.\n               J\u2019envo\u00ffe encore \u00e0 M. J. Vaughan La derniere instruction de M T\u00e9ssier sur les soins, qu\u2019on doit donner aux troupeaux m\u00e9rinos; cet ouvrage publi\u00e9 par ordre du gouvernement est fort appr\u00e9cier et j\u2019\u00e9cris \u00e0 M Bradford Libre a Philadelphie pour l\u2019engager \u00e0 le traduire en Anglois.\n            Je Suis avec Respect, \n              Monsieur, Votre tr\u00e8s humble et tres obeissant serviteur.\n F. Andr\u00e9 Michaux\n            P.S. si vous me faisiez l\u2019honneur de m\u2019\u00e9crire que ce soit par le couvert de Ministres des Etats Unis, car sans cette precaution il est rare que les lettres parviennent \u00e0 leur adresse.\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n                 I am grateful to be able to take advantage of the opportunity afforded me by Mr. Russell, interim charg\u00e9 d\u2019affaires of the United States, to send to the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia the most recent scientific journals. Through the same channel Mr. J. Vaughan will receive a few copies of the sequel to my work on the trees of North America. This part deals with all the walnut trees that I found in the United States, a type of tree about which it was not easy to distinguish species from varieties. I do not doubt, Sir, that Mr. J. Vaughan will seize the first opportunity to send the copy that I intended for you, and nothing will make me happier than for you to accept this token of my respect and devotion.\n              It would be a source of great satisfaction to me to know that you are satisfied with what has already appeared in print, and I would be pleased to benefit from the observations you might address to me concerning the approach I have taken.\n               A new edition of Rozier\u2019s Dictionary of Agriculture was recently published. Many interesting observations on agriculture are compiled in this book.\n                 I also send Mr. J. Vaughan Mr. T\u00e9ssier\u2019s latest instructions on the care to be given to herds of merino sheep. This book, published by order of the government, is highly valued, and I am writing Mr. Bradford, a bookseller in Philadelphia, to ask him to have it translated.\n              I am with respect, \n                Sir, Your very humble and very obedient servant.\n F. Andr\u00e9 Michaux\n              P.S. Should you do me the honor of writing to me, it should be in care of United States ministers. Without this precaution, letters rarely reach their addressee.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0245", "content": "Title: James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 21 January 1811\nFrom: Monroe, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I have the pleasure to return you your correspondence with the directors of the Rivanna company which I lately recd from you. I had submitted it to the perusal of a few friends only, in confidence, and had determin\u2019d for the present, at least, not to publish it, from a fear that the publication might lead to some unpleasant discussion.\n           you will have seen by the news papers that, I have been plac\u2019d in a situation of which I had no anticipation when I left home, nor indeed desire.   I was induc\u2019d to accede to it only, by the manifestation of a general sentiment among the republicans, that I should do so, and the hope that it may be useful and in uniting the party more closely together for general purposes, and more especially for the support of the cause.  I am aware that my private affairs will suffer by it, as the salary is insufficient, and I shall not be able to pay due attention to those at home. It is my intention to return immediately after the rising of the assembly, when I shall have the pleasure to see you. In the mean time I beg you to command me in all things in which I may be useful, being with great respect sincerely your friend & servant\n            Jas Monroe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0246", "content": "Title: James Wilkinson to Thomas Jefferson, 21 January 1811\nFrom: Wilkinson, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n             It is a long time since I have been inclined to write to you, but the pressure of my persecutions, the desolation of my humble fortunes, the abandonment of those who owed me support, and that inextinguishable pride which is inseperable from conscious Honor, have prevented me.\u2014\n             And now I should not intrude on your time, but to repel a falsehood which has recently come to my knowledge, viz that I have declared, but when or where is not alledged \u201cas to long Tom\u201d meaning yourself, \u201cHe dare say nothing, for I have got Him under my Thumb\u201d The folly & the indecency of the expression, which I do most solemnly disavow, ought to have protected me against this imputation; but in this instance, as in that of the profligate fictions & forgeries of Danl Clark, the current of popular prejudice has served to sanction allegations the most vile & the most absurd.\n             Finding on my Arrival here the last Spring, that my whole public Life & Conduct had been deemed worthy of scrutiny; I determined to indulge my Enemies & to gratify my Family, by giving it to them in my plain way, with such authentic testimonials of the Activity, patriotism & Utility of my course, as must excite every Breast, which is not steeled against Justice or dead to sensibility; But I have been compeled to suspend my purpose, by the renewal of those Scenes of persecution, which will forever distinguish the last session of Congress, after I had finished the 2nd Vol. in a very rude manner, and partially arranged the Documents proposed to be appended to the 1st & 4th Vols, which I now take the Liberty to send you.\u2014\n            The two criminatory committee\u2019s of Congress which have been raised, occupy my every attention; I have appeared before them not for myself but for posterity, as the measure of my wrongs has been surcharged, and the Country does not possess the Capacity, to repair the Injuries or to heal the Wounds, which have been inflicted upon me, for my Zeal & fidelity in Her service.\n            Look sir at the Appendix of the 4th Vol, retrospect the Calumnies which have been heaped on me on that subject, and your Mind will revolt with Horror from the cruelty & Injustice of my accusers\u2014indeed my Injuries seem to have kept pace with my services, and I can discern no End to the impending Enquiries, no cessation to my persecutions, but in voluntary exile\u2014Bruff, D. W. Coxe Clark Partner in every species of iniquity, Simmons, Peters & others have born Testimony against me, who made no concealment of the vindictive Spirit by which they are urged, yet have expended themselves in smoke.\u2014The Committees manifest a becoming Zeal in the public cause, i.e. they do as they please & investigate with much industry & acuteness, and I must do them the justice to say they have not betrayed the least biass or sympathy for the accused; Dayton is summoned to bear Witness against me, & I can discover no reason why Bollman & Swartwout may not follow Him,\u2014seeing that he was indicted & they were not\u2014In short any thing to support the pride of opinion & to secure the Victim\u2014These things augur almost as illy for the Republic, as did the conspiracy which I dared to defeat\u2014But I have neither the right nor the Interest to complain, my sand is running rapidly & the Glass will soon be out\u2014in the mean time my Health, Spirits & tranquillity remain unshaken, and on my pillow I can pity the public delusions which have destroyed me\u2014I have often thought Bollmans confession might be useful to me, but have not ventured to ask for it, because I did not know whether your obligations to reserve had ceased or not.\u2014\n              I sincerely wish you sir a serene Evening of Life, and, when the time shall come, a painless exit to Glories which never fade & happiness without End.\u2014\n Ja: Wilkinson\n            The enclosed will give you a Glimpse of my treatment before the Grand Jury\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0247", "content": "Title: William C. C. Claiborne to Thomas Jefferson, 24 January 1811\nFrom: Claiborne, William C. C.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            New-Orleans Jany 24h 1811\n            I have the pleasure to inform you, that the Laws of this Territory, is are enforced in every part of the Territory directed to be occupied by the Presidents Proclamation of the 27th of October, except a small District around the Town & Fort of Mobile;\u2014There a Spanish Force is stationed, and must remain undisturbed, until the further Orders of my Government. I hope however these orders, will not be long delayed;\u2014 If there be a Foreign Nation disposed to resent the taking possession of the Country west of the Perdido by the U. States, its wrath will not be averted, by our forbearance to dispossess the Spaniards of Mobile by force;\u2014and whilst the suffering them to remain there, can only tend to create dissatisfaction among our citizens, and to give countenance to a charge (which is already circulated) of a want of firmness  & decision on the part of Congress.\n           We have lately experienced much alarm, in consequence of an insurrection among the Slaves in this Vicinity.\u2014It at first assumed a menacing aspect;\u2014But was very soon quelled by the prompt and decisive Movements of the armed Force of the United States, and the Body of the Militia.\n          Livingston had left this for the United States previous to my arrival;\u2014 He had exhausted his ingenuity to to obtain a Judg\u2019ment against the late Marshal, and to repossess himself of the Batture; but has been completely foiled.\u2014 The Mayor of the City (Mr Mather) informs me, that all the Documents you requested, had been forwarded to your Address.\u2014 The Legislature of the Territory will be in Session in four Days; It is probable that the case of the Batture will again be brought before them.\u2014  I am greatly desirous to see your Memoire on that Subject, in the hands of the people; it cannot fail to make a great & a just impression.\u2014\n          I pray God to preserve you in health & happiness.\n            I am Dr Sir, With great respect Your faithful friend & grateful fellow-Citizen\n William C. C. Claiborne", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0248", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William Coolidge, 24 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Coolidge, William\n           Your letter of the 9th has been duly recieved. I am able to give but little information on the subject of Madder. I know it has been cultivated, ever since I can remember, in this state for houshold use; and before the revolution it was    cultivated on a large scale by some. Colo Harrison, a member of the 1st Congress, was one of these and told me he did not believe it could be cultivated to better advantage in any country than in this. I do not know why he discontinued it, but probably for the want of sale: there not being enough made to employ merchants for that article only, and our merchants of that day being all confined to the tobacco line. it is still cultivated over the whole of this state, I believe, that is to say by some one in every neighborhood, a little being sufficient for a whole neighborhood: for altho\u2019 with us, nearly every family in the country make their own clothing, scarcely any is made for sale.  this answers your first quaere, and for all the rest I must refer you to McMahon\u2019s book of gardening, published in Philadelphia where he resides, & carries on the business of a seedsman. he gives the best account of it\u2019s culture, & can probably furnish the seed of the best species. here it is preferred to use the root undried. in that case it is washed, & after 12 hours beaten into a paste. the same quantity of root will go twice as far in that way as dried. we dry it in the open air when necessary. it takes three years from the planting to be fit for use. this is the sum of the information I recieve on the subject. Accept my salutations.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0249", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 24 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Eppes, John Wayles\n            The Chronological appendix to the paper I sent you on the subject of Louisiana had been retained, as I conjectured, in the Secretary of State\u2019s office, from which I have since recieved it, & now inclose it to you. it is an indispensable companion to the other as referring to the authorities for the several facts stated in that. the subject of your closed doors is perfectly secret here. I conjecture & hope it is on taking possession of E. Florida. it would end in your paying at the conclusion of peace, the price we were disposed to give for it (seven millions.) deducting three millions due us from Spain for spoliations. and this I would do, whether required or not.\n           Francis enjoys perfect health, and is in his first Latin declension. I shall turn him of over to Jefferson during my absence in Bedford to which place I set out in two or three days, & shall be absent 3. or 4. weeks. I am in hopes the next post will bring the papers I wrote for in my letter to you of the 10th as in Bedford I should have full leisure to make the requisite use of them.\n            I have just read your Orleans act. you should have limited that state Westwardly by the Sabine river & thence North to it\u2019s Northern boundary. it would give no discontent now, but may be difficult if not impracticable hereafter. this would not have relinquished your claim further Westwardly more than the limitation to the Iberville relinquishes our claim further Eastwd\n            always affectionately yours\n Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0250", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Eli Alexander, 25 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Alexander, Eli\n          Having some heavy sums to pay at our March & April courts I should be glad if in the disposal of your crops you could have an eye to those periods so far as respects the rent now due.  as the prices of wheat & flour are now good, and the earliest sales of tobo will undoubtedly be the best, I trust no loss can arise from early sales. being to set out for Bedford tomorrow or next day & to be absent some weeks, I have thought it best to suggest this to your attention thus early. Accept my salutations & respects\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0253", "content": "Title: George Hay to Thomas Jefferson, 25 January 1811\nFrom: Hay, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Inclosed are copies of the pleas, proposed to be filed, in your Case.  They were prepared by me, and revised by Mr Wirt. I believe, that they present all the points of defence. That these are exhibited in their best form, I am far from supposing. You will therefore take the trouble to revise and correct them. When you have corrected them, be so good as to return them without delay.  They ought to be filed by the 10. Feb:  to: the time, it is true, has been prolonged by agreement to the 22d: yet I do not wish to avail myself of Mr Wickham\u2019s indulgence, if we can be in readiness on the day first named.\n          My opinion is, that all the points of defence are presented, altho\u2019 there is no plea, founded exclusively on the idea that the President of the U.S acting officially is not personally responsible for an error in judgment. It seems to me that to the counsel for the defendant can avail themselves of that principle, if tenable, under cover of the 7th plea. Mr Wirt seems to be of a different opinion. If you Concur with him, a plea distinct plea shall be prepared, unless you will take the trouble of drafting it yourself.\n          I shall by the mail of monday transmit to Mr Tazewell a Copy of the declaration & pleas: of the substance of which he is already apprised.\n          These pleas in a rough form, were drawn in December during the Session of the Circuit Court; but Mr Wirt being too much indisposed to examine them, & Mr Tazewell being absent, I put in the general issue only, and obtained an order for leave to file additional pleas on or before the 10. of February.\n          I am, with great respect,\n Geo Hay.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0254", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 25 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Monroe, James\n          I am just on the wing to Bedford to which place my affairs call me suddenly.  I have therefore only time to acknolege the reciept of your favor of the 21st and to  congratulate you on your election to the chair of the state by so honorable a vote. I rejoice too that you have accepted it; for altho\u2019 it is not a field on which much genius can be displayed, yet it is a prominent one. but the great thing is that it is the Virginia legislature bearing testimony to the fidelity of your principles before the Republicans of the union generally. those near you & who knew you could never doubt, and if those at a distance were under any alarm, this removes it, and places you on your antient ground which was high. I am sure you will now retain it, & therefore I have only to wish you an easy administration and add the assurances of my constant & affectionate esteem.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0257", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Eston Randolph, 25 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Randolph, Thomas Eston\n           I ought perhaps sooner to have informed you that mr Crav. Peyton had assigned to me your note for 201.49 D to which is to be added the rent of the last year. the present is merely to give this information, as I shall set off tomorrow for Bedford & be absent some weeks. having some heavy paiments to make at our March & April courts any aid towards these would be acceptable, without meaning however at all to press on your own convenience. Accept the assurance of my great esteem and respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0258", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Destutt de Tracy, 26 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Destutt de Tracy, Antoine Louis Claude\n            The length of time your favor of June 12. 09 was on it\u2019s way to me, and my absence from home the greater part of the autumn delayed very much the pleasure which awaited me of reading the packet which accompanied it. I cannot express to you the satisfaction which I recieved from it\u2019s perusal. I had, with the world, deemed Montesquieu\u2019s a work of much merit; but saw in it, with every thinking man, so much of paradox, of false principle, & misapplied fact, as to render it\u2019s value equivocal on the whole. Williams and others had nibbled only at it\u2019s errors. a radical correction of them therefore was a great desideratum. this want is now supplied, and with a depth of thought, precision of idea, of language & of logic, which will force conviction into every mind. I declare to you, Sir, in the spirit of truth & sincerity, that I consider it the most precious gift the present age has recieved. but what would it have been, had the author, or would the author, take up the whole scheme of Montesquieu\u2019s work, & following the correct analysis he has here developed, fill up all it\u2019s parts according to his sound views of them. Montesquieu\u2019s celebrity would be but a small portion of that which would immortalize the author. and with whom? with the rational and highminded spirits of the present & all future ages. with those whose approbation is both incitement & reward to virtue and ambition. is then the hope desperate? to what object can the occupations of his future life be devoted so usefully to the world, so splendidly to himself? but I must leave to others, who have higher claims on his attention, to press these considerations.\n           My situation, far in the interior of the country, was not favorable to the object of getting this work translated and printed. Philadelphia is the least distant of the great towns of our states where there exists any enterprize in this way; and it was not till the spring following the reciept of your letter, that I obtained an arrangement for it\u2019s execution. the translation is just now compleated. the sheets came to me by post, from time to time, for revisal; but not being accompanied by the original, I could not judge of verbal accuracies. I think however it is substantially correct, without being an adequate representation of the excellencies of the original; as indeed no translation can be.I found it impossible to give it the appearance of an original composition in our language. I therefore think it best to divert enquiries after the author towards a quarter where he will not be found; and, with this view, propose to prefix the prefatory epistle now inclosed. as soon as a copy of the work can be had, I will send it to you by Duplicate. the secret of the author will be faithfully preserved, during his and my joint lives; and those into whose hands my papers will fall at my death will be equally worthy of confidence. when the death of the author, or his living consent shall permit the world to know their benefactor, both his and my papers will furnish the evidence. in the mean time the many important truths the work so solidly establishes will, I hope, make it the political rudiment of the young, and manual of our older citizens.  One of it\u2019s doctrines indeed, the preference of a plural over a single executive, will probably not be assented to here. when our present government was first established, we had many doubts on this question, and many leanings towards a supreme executive council. it happened that at that time the experiment of such an one was commenced in France, while the single Executive was under trial here. we watched the motions & effects of these two rival plans with an interest and anxiety proportioned to the importance of a choice between them. the experiment in France failed after a short course, and not from any circumstance peculiar to the times or nation, but from those internal jealousies & dissensions in the Directory which will ever arise among men, equal in power, without a Principal to decide and controul their differences. we had tried a similar experiment in 1784 by establishing a Committee of the States, composed of a member from every state, then 13, to exercise the executive functions, during the recess of Congress. they fell immediately into schisms and dissensions, which became at length so inveterate as to render all cooperation among them impracticable: they dissolved themselves, abandoning the helm of government, and it continued without a head, until Congress met the ensuing winter. this was then imputed to the temper of two or three individuals; but the wise ascribed it to the nature of man. the failure of the French Directory, and from the same cause, seems to have authorised a belief that the form of a plurality, however promising in theory is impracticable with men constituted with the ordinary passions. while the tranquil & steady tenor of our single Executive, during a course of twenty two years of the most tempestuous times the history of the world has ever presented, gives a rational hope that this important problem is at length solved. aided by the counsels of a Cabinet of heads of departments, originally four, but now five, with whom the President consults, either singly or all together, he has the benefit of their wisdom and information, brings their views to one center, & produces an unity of action & direction in all the branches of the government. the excellence of this construction of the Executive power has already manifested itself here under very opposite circumstances. during the administration of our first President, his cabinet, of four members, was equally divided, by as marked an opposition of principle as monarchism and republicanism could bring into conflict. had that Cabinet been a Directory, like positive and negative quantities in Algebra, the opposing wills would have balanced each other, and produced a state of absolute inaction. but the President heard with calmness the opinions and reasons of each, decided the course to be pursued, and kept the government steadily in it, unaffected by the agitation. the public knew well the dissentions of the Cabinet, but never had an uneasy thought on their account; because they knew also they had provided a regulating power which would keep the machine in steady movement. I speak with an intimate knolege of these scenes, quorum pars fui; as I may of others of a character entirely opposite. the third administration, which was of eight years, presented an example of harmony in a cabinet of six persons, to which perhaps history has furnished no parallel. there never arose, during the whole time, an instance of an unpleasant thought or word between the members. we sometimes met under differences of opinion, but scarcely ever failed, by conversing & reasoning, so to modify each other\u2019s ideas, as to produce an unanimous result. yet, able & amiable as these members were, I am not certain this would have been the case had each possessed equal & independant powers. ill-defined limits of their respective departments, jealousies trifling at first, but nourished & strengthened by repetition of occasions, intrigues without doors of designing persons to build an importance to themselves on the divisions of others, might, from small beginnings, have produced persevering oppositions. but the power of decision in the president left no object for internal dissension, & external intrigue was stifled in embryo by the knolege which incendiaries possessed that no divisions they could foment would change the course of the Executive power. I am not conscious that my participations in Executive authority have produced any bias in favor of the single executive; because the parts I have acted have been in the subordinate, as well as superior stations, and because, if I know myself, what I have felt, and what I have wished, I know that I have never been so well pleased as when I could shift power off from my own, on the shoulders of others; nor have I ever been able to concieve how any rational being could propose happiness to himself from the exercise of power over others.I am still however sensible of the solidity of your principle, that, to ensure the safety of the public liberty, it\u2019s depository should be subject to be changed with the greatest ease possible, and without suspending or disturbing for a moment the movements of the machine of government. you apprehend that a single Executive, with eminence of talent, and destitution of principle, equal to the object, might, by usurpation, render his powers hereditary. yet I think history furnishes as many examples of a single usurper arising out of a government by a plurality, as of temporary trusts of power in a single hand rendered permanent by usurpation. I do not believe therefore that this danger is lessened in the hands of a plural Executive. perhaps it is greatly increased by the state of inefficiency to which they are liable from feuds & divisions among themselves.the Conservative body you propose might be so constituted as, while it would be an admirable sedative in a variety of smaller cases, might also be a valuable centinel and check on the liberticide views of an ambitious individual. I am friendly to this idea. but the true barriers of our liberty in this country are our state-governments: and the wisest Conservative power ever contrived by man is that of which our revolution and our present government found us possessed. seventeen distinct states, amalgamated into one as to their foreign concerns, but single and independant as to their internal administration, regularly organised with a legislature and Governor resting on the choice of the people, and enlightened by a free press, can never be so fascinated by the arts of one man as to submit voluntarily to his usurpation. nor can they be constrained to it by any force he can possess. while that may paralyse the single state in which it happens to be encamped, sixteen others, spread over a country of two thousand miles diameter, rise up on every side, ready organised, for deliberation by a constitutional legislature, & for action by their Governor, constitutionally the commander of the militia of the state, that is to say, of every man in it, able to bear arms; and that militia too regularly formed into regiments & battalions, into infantry, cavalry & artillery, examined trained under officers general & subordinate, legally appointed, always in readiness, and to whom they are already in habits of obedience.  the republican government of France was lost without a struggle, because the party of \u2018un et indivisible\u2019 had prevailed: no Provincial organisations existed to which the people might rally under authority of the laws, the seats of the Directory were virtually vacant, and a small force sufficed to turn the legislature out of their chamber, & to salute it\u2019s leader Chief of the nation. but with us, sixteen out of seventeen states rising in mass, under regular organisation, & legal commanders, united in object & action by their Congress, or, if that be in duresse, by a special Convention, present such obstacles to an Usurper as forever to stifle ambition in the first conception of that object.Dangers of another kind might more reasonably be apprehended from this perfect & distinct organisation, civil & military, of the states; to wit, that certain states from local & occasional discontents, might attempt to secede from the Union. this is certainly possible; & would be befriended by this regular organisation. but it is not probable that local discontents can spread to such an extent as to be able to face the sound parts of so extensive an union: & if ever they should reach the majority, they would then become the regular government, acquire the ascendancy in Congress, & be able to redress their own grievances by laws peaceably & constitutionally passed. and even the states in which local discontents might engender a commencement of fermentation, would be paralysed and self-checked by that very division into parties into which we have fallen, into which all states must fall wherein men are at liberty to think, speak, & act freely, according to the diversities of their individual conformations, and which are perhaps essential to preserve the purity of the government, by the censorship which these parties habitually exercise over each other. \n          You will read, I am sure, with indulgence, these explanations of the grounds on which I have ventured to form an opinion differing from yours. they prove my respect for your judgment, & diffidence of my own, which have forbidden me to retain, without examination, an opinion questioned by you. permit me now to render my portion of the general debt of gratitude, by acknolegements in advance for the singular benefaction which is the subject of this letter, to tender my wishes for the continuance of a life so usefully employed, and to add the assurances of my perfect esteem and respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0259", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William Duane, 26 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Duane, William\n           Th: Jefferson returns to Colo Duane the two packages which he supposes to be the last. he has found them as correct as the earlier ones, and much more so than the three preceding.  should he be mistaken in supposing these the last, some delay may attend any future ones, as he is just setting out to an establishment he has about 90. miles Southward (near Lynchburg) and probably will be absent three or four weeks. he salutes him with esteem & respect.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0260", "content": "Title: David Bailie Warden to Thomas Jefferson, 26 January 1811\nFrom: Warden, David Bailie\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I beg leave to inform you that I have written to my friend Doctor Stephenson to send you, as soon as possible, some of the Fioren  grass, which will no doubt as you observe, be a very valuable acquisition in this Country.\u2014\n          I am almost ashamed to renew the subject of my appointment to you, but my unfortunate situation obliges me to state that the President informed me today that he cannot nominate me at present\u2014I propose to remain here a few weeks in hopes that he will decide in my favor, tho\u2019 he does not give me much encouragement\u2014He mentioned that Mr. Russel had been destined as Consul for Paris, and that perhaps he will wish to occupy that place when supplanted by a Minister Mr Russel declared to me, and to several of my friends that he had refused it when offered to him bye General Armstrong; and observed, that he would not be troubled with an office which was attended with much labor and little profit, and that his Commercial pursuits and family would not allow him to remain long at Paris. My numerous friends in New York Philadelphia, and Baltimore have written to many of the Senators and Representatives in my behalf; and I have reason to believe that this body will not refuse to confirm the Presidents nomination.\u2014Mr. Duane has given me all his interest, and has written warmly in my favor to some of the Senators. The mass of Republican Irishmen, established in this Country, are interested in my success, and have declared that they will feel obligations to the President if he nominates me as Consul to Paris\u2014To you they are deeply grateful\u2014In new York and Baltimore they offered me a public dinner, which, in the mean time, I thought proper to refuse as it might rouse General Armstrongs resentment\u2014He has declared to several Individuals that he will not oppose me in any respect. He, I understand, left Town yesterday\u2014you will please Sir, to pardon the liberty I take in mentioning these particulars\u2014\n           I saw Mr Dufief, at Philadelphia, who informed me that he has not Toulongeons\u2019 Work\u2014I inquired for it at Several Booksellers, and it appears that it is unknown in this Country\n          I pray you to present my respects to Mr and Mrs Randolph & family\u2014I am, Sir, with great esteem and respect Your ever obliged Servant\n            David Bailie", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0262", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to James Lyle, 27 January 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Lyle, James\n           Your favor of the 3d did not reach me till the day before yesterday.  I set out this morning for Bedford to see about the expediting the grinding my wheat there & getting the flour to market.  it is the fund which I have destined for your debt, my tobacco being engaged to extricate my indorser & myself from the bank.  what the wheat crop will enable me to do, I cannot fix precisely, as it will depend so much on the price I get for the flour in Richmond, where it will be consigned to Messrs Gibson & Jefferson: but it will not be much short I hope of paying off Harvie\u2019s bond, if it does not enable me to do it compleatly which I still hope. be assured no effort shall be wanting to pay off the other bonds after this is discharged.\n           I am happy in possessing a pair of spectacles which I think will certainly magnify sufficiently for the present state of your vision. I procured them for the purpose of common magnifying glasses, & cannot possibly find a use for them so gratifying to myself as the accomodation of the earliest friend & acquaintance I have now living. if my memory is faithful I remember you 62. or 63. years back. may you enjoy as many more in health & happiness as yourself shall wish. accept the assurance of my constant esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0263", "content": "Title: Richard Barry to Thomas Jefferson, 29 January 1811\nFrom: Barry, Richard\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n              Washington Janry 29th 1811\n             As I now intend to build myself a House to live in for the first in my life and Knowing it will be necessary for me to collect my little earnings together to meet the demands of it, you\u2019l much Oblige me by letting me have the money due me the 20th of March next\n            I assure you Sir If I could possibly do without calling on you now for it would give me great pleasure\n              I remain With great respect Your Hble Servt\n Richard Barry\n            PS\u2014an answer soon will be thankfully recieved\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0264", "content": "Title: George W. Erving to Thomas Jefferson, 29 January 1811\nFrom: Erving, George W.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n              Respected Sir\n              When I had the honor to be with you at Monticello, I mentioned the means which I had taken of forming an opinion, upon the long disputed point, viz whether the quality of the merino wool deteriorated out of spain; which is connected with that other interesting Enquiry, viz the effect of transhumation on the quality of the wool.   I requested permission to send to you the specimens which I had taken from Danl Parkers sheep, & afterwards from those of the Duke of Infantado;\u2014I have hitherto been disappointed in this respect, because my correspondent in London having sent my baggage to this port instead of that of Phila, I have not \u2019till now been able to get at the specimens referred to;\u2014these I take the liberty of transmitting herewith.\u2014In a seperate paper is a specimen of wool taken from some of Infantados sheep lately exported from Cadiz for the United States; this I have just received from Mr Hackley;\u2014 to these inclosures I add some of the silk, as well as the seed of, the \u201csilk plant\u201d of Africa which I procured when in Morocco;\u2014I coud not find that the moors make any use of it, it is as you will perceive the flour (female part of) of a species of thistle.\n            I propose to leave Boston in a few days to proceed on the mission to which the President has been pleased to appoint me;\u2014I trust that the objects of it may be completed in the course of a year or 14 Months;\u2014if any thing shoud occur to you in which I can be useful to you during my residence abroad, or if there be any thing which you desire to have from Paris, & which I can bring to you on my return home, I entreat you Sir to afford me an opportunity of manifesting in some small degree my grateful sense of the very many & great obligations which I am under to you, & of that sincere & entire respect & attachment with which I am always your most obedient & faithful Servant\n              P.S. I have taken the liberty of sending to you (under seperate cover by this post) Mr Bowdoins translation of Daubentons work on sheep; Mr B\u2014 is preparing a more perfect edition with plates &c, which he will have the honor of presenting to you himself.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0265", "content": "Title: William C. C. Claiborne to Thomas Jefferson, 30 January 1811\nFrom: Claiborne, William C. C.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I have the honor to enclose you a Copy of a Communication, I made on yesterday to the Territorial Legislature;\u2014The Batture has not been introduced; But that shall be made the Subject of a Special message.\u2014\n           General Hampton left this a few days since for Baton Rouge;\u2014 It is reported that on his Journey, he purchased the greater part of Mr D. Clarks landed property, and that the Consideration money is three hundred thousand Dollars.\u2014Mr Clark, it is believed, designs to leave the Territory, and I pray Heaven, he may be followed by some \u201cother Choice Spirits.\u201d\u2014\n           The Spaniards at the date of the last Accounts were making every preparation for the defence of Mobile.\u2014\n            I am Dr Sir, With great respect Your faithful friend\n William C. C. Claiborne", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0266", "content": "Title: Matthias Nack to Thomas Jefferson, 30 January 1811\nFrom: Nack, Matthias\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n              Honoured & Respected Sir\n            I trust you will Pardon one who is Personally A Stranger To you, for Solliciting of you favours: when I inform you That By grief & Distress of almost Every kind I am Compelled to the Measure\n             After Experiencing the hardship of Exilement the Loss of Property and the Loss of My father and Mother (the former Dying in the Service of his Country) Losses I Cheerfully Submitted to in Support of the Principles Laid Down in our Excellent Decleration of Independence I Returned to this my Native City whare I found that the British & Tories in their Zeal for Plundering Whigs had not Left Even the Ruins which had Escaped the more mercifull flames:  Being thus Situated I Sold my Small Piece of ground which happily it was not in the Power of the Kings Mirmydons to deprive me of and with the avails of which I Comenced Buisiness and made A Small fortune So that in the year 1796 I opened A Respectable Lumber yard: which Succeeded Very well at first,  But when I Perceived that the federalists who were then in Power, encroached on the Liberties And independence of our Country, I Could Not help going forward in A Publick manner to Republican Meetings opposing Toryism and Supporting Republican Measures which when observed By my Customers & who were mostly federalists, they withdrew their Patronage The consequence of which was that my Lumber Remained on hand, wishing to Be independent of them: I   I Purchased A vessil & Shipped it to the west indies and continued in this trade with a Serious Success untill finally By the Loss of my vessell I was deprivd of every thing I Possessed in this Situation, A Sickly wife A Brother totaly Blind Deprived of the Blessing of Sight and Seven children one of which has the Misfortune of Being Afflicted with insanity, I commenced the word world Anew, in the year 1800 I applied to the Gouvernour & the Councill of Appointment of this State for the office of inspector of Lumber who Being that year Republican of course it was granted By means of which I have Been Enabled to Support my family tho indifferently, owing to the Situation of our forreign Relations,  I was one who was willing To Submit to the Privations in consequenc of the Embargo and all measures which govenment Might May Adopt for the Preservation of our National Dignity,  A Proof of which I have given By calling my youngest Son James Madison: But it is to Be Lamented that all our Republicans would not withstand the temorary Privations and Led Astray By federall federal Misrepresentations our Political Enemies obtained A temporry victory By which meanes they obtained the Councill of Appointment, Amongst those who were removed from office on account of their adherence to Republican Principles I am one Altho the Distressed Situation of my family was well known to them at the time these Circumstances has Brought us to the most complete state of wretchedness frequently we have not Bread to eat and A fall which I received Some years Since has Deprived me in A measure of the use of My right arm and encapacitated me from hard Labour under these circumstances I humbly intreat of you that you will Be pleased to use your interest with the President to give me an appointment as one of the Inspecters of the customes or an Agency for the Purching of Lumber understanding the nature of that Buisiness By Expeince I have had in the Prosecution of my duty as inspecter and having kept A Lumber yard for Some years, or Any thing which it May Please him to grant me which will Enable me to Support my family and Serve my country A Recommenation if Required Shall Be Sent on ea immediately\n            Your condescending to Pay the Least attention to this Matter and diegning to write to me will confer an obligation on your Excellencys Most Obedient and Most devoted Servant\n             N B Should there Be no vacancy I trust that if I could obtain A Loan of four or five hundred dollars to Enable me to Begin Business tho on A Small Scale yet with the Blessing of god I think I would in the course of two or three yeares Be enabled to discharge the interest & Principle with gratitude\n M N", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0267", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Wilson Cary Nicholas, 1 February 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Nicholas, Wilson Cary\n Dear Sir\n           According to your request, I ruminated, as I journeyed here on your proposition for the establishment of an Agricultural Society. on my arrival here, I committed to writing what is in the inclosed  it will be a better proof of my willingness, than of my competence to be useful to the design. it is meant however but as a rough draught until it can recieve the amendments of more skilful hands.\n            ever affectionately your\u2019s\n Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0268", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Constitution for Proposed Agricultural Society of Albemarle, [ca. 1 February 1811]\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas,Agricultural Society of Albemarle\nTo: \n          Several persons, farmers & planters of the county of Albemarle, having, during their visits and occasional meetings together, in conversations on the subjects of their Agricultural pursuits, recieved considerable benefits from an intercommunication of their plans & processes in husbandry, they have imagined that these benefits might be usefully extended, by enlarging the field of communication, so as to embrace the whole dimensions of the state. were practical and observing husbandmen in each county to form themselves into a society, commit to writing themselves, or state in conversations at their meetings, to be written down by others, their practices & observations, their experience and ideas, selections from these might be made from time to time, by every one for his own use, or by the society, or a committee of it, for more general purposes. by an interchange of these selections among the societies of the different counties, each might thus become possessed of the useful ideas & processes of the whole, and every one adopt such of them as he should deem suitable to his own situation. or, to abridge the labor of such multiplied correspondences, a Central society might be agreed on, to which, as a common deposit, all the others should send their communications. the society thus honored by the general confidence would doubtless feel and fulfill the duty of selecting such papers as should be worthy of entire communication, of extracting and digesting from others whatever might be useful, and of condensing their matter within such compass as might reconcile it to the reading, as well as to the purchase, of the great mass of practical men.   many circumstances would recommend, for the Central society, that which should be established in the county of the seat of government. the necessary relations of every county with that would afford facilities for all the transmissions which should take place between them. the annual meeting of the legislature at that place, the individuals of which would most frequently be members of their county societies, would give opportunities of informal conferences which might promote a general and useful understanding among all the societies. and the presses established there offer conveniences entirely peculiar to that situation.\n          In a country of whose interests Agriculture forms the basis, wherein the sum of productions is limited by the quantity of the labor it possesses, and not of it\u2019s lands, a more judicious employment of that labor would be a clear addition of gain to individuals, as well as to the nation, now lost to both by a want of skill and information in it\u2019s direction. every one must have seen farms, otherwise equal, the one producing the double of the other, by the superior culture and management of it\u2019s possessor; and every one must have under his eye numerous examples of persons setting out in life with no other possession than skill in agriculture, and speedily, by it\u2019s sole exercise, acquiring wealth & independence. to promote therefore the diffusion of this skill, & thereby to procure, with the same labor now employed, greater means of subsistence & of happiness to our fellow citizens, is the ultimate object of this association; and, towards effecting it, we consider the following particulars among those most worthy the attention of the societies proposed.\n           1st And principally, the cultivation of our primary staples of wheat, tobacco, & hemp, for market.\n                         2. All subsidiary articles for the support of the farm, the food, the cloathing, & the comfort of the houshold, as Indian corn, rye, oats, barley, buckwheat, millet, the families of peas & beans, the whole family of grasses, turneps, potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes & other useful roots, cotton & flax, the garden and orchard.\n           3. The care & services of useful animals for the saddle or draught, for food or cloathing, and the destruction of noxious quadrupeds, fowls, insects and reptiles.\n          4. Rotations of crops, and the circumstances which should govern, or vary them, according to the varieties of soil and climate and market of our different counties.\n           5. Implements of husbandry, and operations with them, among which the plough and all it\u2019s kindred instruments for dividing the soil, holds the first place, and the Threshing machine an important one, the simplification of which is a great desideratum. succesful examples too of improvement in the operations of these instruments, would be an excitement to correct the slovenly & unproductive practices too generally prevalent.\n          6. Farm buildings & conveniences, inclosures, roads, fuel, timber.\n           7. Manures, plaister, greendressings, fallows, & other means of ameliorating the soil.\n           8. Calendars of work, shewing how a given number of laborers & of draught animals are to be employed every day in the year, so as to perform within themselves, and in their due time, according to the usual course of the seasons, all the operations of a farm of given size; this being essential to the proportioning the labor to the size of the farm.\n          9. A succinct Report of the different practices of husbandry in the county, including the bad, as well as the good, that those who follow the former may read & see their own condemnation in the same page which offers better examples for their adoption. it is believed that a judicious execution of this article alone might nearly supersede every other duty of the society; inasmuch as it would present every good practice which has occurred to the mind of any cultivator of the state for imitation, and every bad one for avoidance. and the choicest processes culled from every farm would compose a course probably near perfection.\n          10. The county communications, being first digested in their respective societies, a methodical & compact digest and publication of these would be the duty of the Central society; and on the judicious performance of this would, in a great degree, depend the utility of the institutions, and extent of improvement flowing from them.\n          11. That we may not deter from becoming members those practical & observing husbandmen whose knolege is the most valuable, and who are mostly to be found in that portion of citizens with whom the observance of economy is necessary, all duties of every kind should be performed gratis: and, to defray the expences of the central publication alone, each member should pay at the first stated meeting of his society in every yeardollars, for which he should be entitled to recieve a copy of the publication in boards.\n          12. The first association ofpersons in any county notifying themselves, as constituted, to the Central society, should be recieved as the society of the county, making a part of the general establishment here proposed: but every county society should be free to adopt associate members, altho; residents of other counties, and to recieve, and avail the institution of communications from persons not members, whether in, or out of their county.\n          We are far from presuming to offer this organisation, and these principles of constitution as compleat and worthy the implicit adoption of other societies. they are suggested only as propositions for consideration & amendment; and we shall readily accede to any others more likely to effect the purposes we have in view. we know that Agricultural societies are already established in some counties: but we are not informed of their particular constitutions. we request of these to be admitted into their brotherhood, and to make, with them, parts of one great whole. we have learned that such a society is formed, or forming, at the seat of our government. we ask their affiliation, and give them our suffrage for the station of Central society. we promise to all our zealous co-operation in promoting the objects of the institution, and to contribute our mite in exchange for the more abundant information we shall recieve from others.\n          For these purposes we now constitute ourselves an Agricultural society of the county of Albemarle, and adopt, as rules for present observance, the principles before stated.\n          Our further organisation shall be, a President, Secretary & Treasurer, to be chosen at the first stated meeting to be held in every year, by a majority of the members present, provided those present be a majority of the existing members, and to continue in office until another election shall be made.\n          There shall be four stated meetings in every year, to wit, on the first Mondays in January, April, July and October.\n          The place of meeting, and rules of the society shall be established, revoked or altered, & new members admitted, at any of the stated meetings, by a majority of the attending members, if they be a majority of those present existing: but all other business may be done by a majority of those present, not being less than one fourth of the whole. and lest the powers given to the greater Quorum of a majority of the whole, should at any time remain unexecuted from insufficient attendance, the same may be exercised by a resolution of the lesser Quorum of one fourth, passed at a stated meeting: Provided it be confirmed at the next stated meeting, by either a greater or lesser Quorum, & in the mean time have no force.\n          Those who, for two whole years, shall not have attended any stated meeting, shall, ipso facto, cease to be members. and, to ascertain at all times who are the existing members, the names of those attending every meeting shall be regularly entered in the journals of the society.\n          The President shall preside at all meetings when present, and, when absent, a President pro tempore may be appointed, for that purpose, by those present.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0269", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Notes on Poplar Forest Plantings and Geography, 1 February 1811\u20136 October 1821\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: \n          Elevations above the height of the eye in the Porticos at Poplar Forest\u20145\u2019 error of instrumt\n E. horison\n W. horison\n S. horison\n Feb. 1\n\t\t\t 30. gooseberries. W. end of the patch.\n               11. grapes of one kind\n              rose bushes\n              N. side of do at W. end\n\t\t\t bear grass\n  pinks. in locks of fence N. & W.\n               50 cuttings of Athenian poplar. nursery next N. fence between 2. stables\n              prepared bed next Southwardly for tomatas\n  next do  lettuce\n   next do 80. f. long for Asparagus\n               planted 16. raspberries along side of the gooseberries\n\t\t\t 25. cuttings of Weepg willow along side of the Ath. poplars\n              plant on each mound\n 3 4. Athenian poplars weeping willows on the top in a square 20.f. apart\n  golden willows in a circle round the middle. 15.f. apart\n Weeping willows Aspens in a circle round the foot. 15.f. apart.\n\t\t\t plant 6. weeping willows round each Cloacinae.\n              I find growing in the truck patch 30. golden willows\n  20. weeping do\n  10. Athenian poplars\n 3 Lombardy poplars.\n 2. Aspens\n              Aspens from Monticello. May 19. 5. living.\n               Calycanthuses. May 19. 1. living.\n   Alpine strawberries. living\n  white strawberries. living.\n  plant a double row of paper mulberries from stairways to the Mounds\n\t\t\t clump of Athenian & Balsam poplars at each corner of house.\n               intermix locusts, common & Kentucky, red-buds, dogwoods, calycanthus, liriodendron\n 20. there are living 31. Golden willows, 19. Weeping willows. 10. Athenian Poplars, 3. Lombardy poplars, & 2 Monto Aspens.\n  26. the road & outer gate leading from the house to the Waterlick road bears S. 43\u00bd W magnetically 179. po. to the center of the house\n              25. 27. took from the Nursery & planted in the grounds round the house\n  20. weeping willows. 30. golden willows. 10. Athenian poplars\n 3. Lombardy poplars. 2. Monto Aspens. 10 16. Calycanthuses.\n 27. planted in the Nursery. 12. Monto Aspens. 16. paper mulberries.\n planted Monto Aspens from mr Clay\u2019s. viz\n 12. round the Eastern mound & 4. round West do 6. still wanting\n planted also 2. European mulberries from  mr Clay\u2019s as part of the double row from the Western mound towards the house.\n          from the wall of the Western stairway to the foot of the western mound 91. feet.\n          Eastern doEastern do84. feet\n          from the N. door along the circular road to the gate due South from the house is 270. yds. conseqly 540. yds round plant a row of paper mulberries on each side all around except the curve at the N. door; at 20 f. apart. will take about 160. trees\u2014\n             plant on each bank, right & left, on S. side of the house, a row of lilacs, Althaeas, Gelder roses, Roses, Calycanthus\n              planted 64. paper mulberries in the nursery\n planted 5. Calycanthuses on each mound. 4. Monticello aspens at the N. foot of the S. W. mound &  3 do at the N. foot of the W E mound\n 19 paper mulberries in a clump between the W. Cloacina & fence &\n 19 do in a clump between the S E Cloacina and fence\n large roses of difft kinds in the oval bed in the N. front \n dwarf roses in the N.WE. oval. Robinia hispida in the N.E W. do\n Althaeas, Gelder roses, lilacs calycanthus in both mounds. Privet round both Necessaries\n white Jessamine along N.W. of E. offices. Azedaracs opp. 4 s of the house Aug. 17 15 livg\n planted 190. poplars in the grounds. 5 Athenian poplars. 2. Kentucky locusts near house European mulberries in the new garden.\n planted in the garden under the N. wall of the stable 20. cuttings of Balsam poplars from mr Radford (some may live)\n          Mountains in the order in which they are seen from Poplar forest, beginning in the S.W. & proceeding N. Eastwardly.\n          Blue ridge.\n          No business. a single one 2 knobs, shewing the blue ridge between them.\n          Blue ridge.\n           Rocky mountain, a single point scarcely seen.\n          Fleming\u2019s mountains. 2 ridges, shewing the bl. ridge between them.\n          Blue ridge.\n          Tobacco row.\n          Blue ridge.\n          1820. Nov. 25. the flat peak of Otter bears from the top of the house N. 67. W.\n          1821. Oct. 6. from the Turnpike on the Waterlick road it is 1.47 miles thereunto to the house gate \n          Chandler\u2019s\n          the high grounds around the house at Pop. For. taken at the roots of the trees as nearly as could be judged, & constituting it\u2019s sensible horizon, taken in different directions by the spirit level of the theodolite placed 3 f. 6. I. above the floor of the porticoes, Dec. 2. 15 is as follows, all + or elevated. Due W. 32\u2019 N 61\u00bd W 63\u2019\u2014N. 15. W. 60\u2019\u2014Due E 30\u2019 S.E. 30\u2019\u2014due S. 25\u2019\u2014SW 99\u2019?", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0270", "content": "Title: Benjamin Rush to Thomas Jefferson, 1 February 1811\nFrom: Rush, Benjamin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Philadelphia Feb: 1st 1811.\n           I was much gratified in reading the confidential Communication made to me in your letter. After reading the Correspondence which accompanied it, I acquit you, of in your refusal to renew it, of the least impropriety of temper, or Conduct.  On the Contrary, I was delighted with the kindness, benevolence, and even friendship discovered in your Answers to Mrs Adams letter. I beleive they were the genuine effusions of your heart, for they exactly accord with the expressions of regard, and the opinion of the integrity of Mr Adams which I have heard you utter a hundred times in our familiar intercourse with each Other during the four last Winters you passed in Philadelphia.\n          I was induced to make the proposal to you of reviving a farewell intercourse with Mr Adams before you meet in Another world, in consequence of his having reverted back to the Opinions and feelings of his early life upon several interesting Subjects of Government, and of his having in one of his letters expressed favourable Sentiments towards you, and a decided Approbation of one of the unpopular Acts of your Administration.\n          many are the evils wh of a political life, but none So great as the dissolution of friendships, and the implacable hatred hatreds which too Often take their place. Mr Adams letters to me contain many affecting proofs of his sufferings from this quarter. The talents, integrity, and present conspicuous station of his son have lately soothed his mind under these Sufferings.  Have you seen the young man\u2019s Strictures upon Ames\u2019s works? They are a masterly performance, rich in republican sentiments, & overflowing with eloquence.  In Addition to the Comfort Mr Adams derives from the character and worth of his son, he tells me he finds great pleasure in reading some of our late novels. Entertainment from this Source, is not new even to great minds.  The celebrated Mr Mclaurin the friend and Cotemporary & friend of Sir Is: Newton was so devoted to this Species of reading that he was generally appealed to to give decide the Character of every    novel and Romance that issued from the press during the period of his greatest intellectual fame. Mr Adams tells me further that he has lately read t several of the ancient Historians & philosophers, and some of them I beleive in their original languages for which he is a most strenuous Advocates Advocate. He even gives Bonaparte credit for reviving the Study of the Greek & Roman Authors.\n           I have lately Subscribed for a Commentary upon the Bible which is publishing in numbers in Our City. The Author, an Englishman of the name of Clark, possesses uncommon Qualifications for such a Work. He is a naturalist, a philosopher\u2014a Chemist\u2014and a Geographer, & a traveller an Anatomist, and well read in Geography, & travels, (from books) and a profound Oriental Scholar. In his Commentary upon the 24th verse of the 1st Chapter of Genesis he has the following remarks. \u201cIn beasts also God shows his wondrous Skill and power: in the vast elephant, and Still more the colossal mammoth, or megalonyx the whole race of which seems to be extinct, a few Skeletons only remaining. This Animal is an astonishing effect of Gods power. He seems to have produced him merely to Show what he could do, af And After suffering a few of them to propagate, he extinguished the race by a merciful providence, that they might not destroy both man and beast. The mammoth, or megalonynx megalonyx is a carnivorous animal as the Structure of the teeth proves; and of an immense Size; From a considerable part of a Skeleton which I have seen, it is computed that the Animal to which it belonged, must have been nearly twenty feet high, and sixty in length. The bones of One toe are entire. The toe upwards of three feet in length. Few Elephants have ever been found to exceed eleven feet in height. How wondrous are the works of God!\u201d\n          I shall make no remarks upon this Quotation. It cannot fail of being gratifying to you.\u2014\n           Mr Adams continues to deplore the evils which impend our Country from the encrease of Banks. He considers them as fraudulent institutions, & so incorporated with the interests & prejudices of our citizens as to be an overmatch for the power of our Governments. They are creating dependance, idleness & extravagance among our farmers in all the Villages in which they are established in the United States.\n            ADieu! my dear Sir, and beleive me to be yours truly and Affectionately\n Benjn Rush", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0271", "content": "Title: Ezekiel Bacon to Thomas Jefferson, 2 February 1811\nFrom: Bacon, Ezekiel\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Washington City Feby 2d 1811.\u2014\n            The Letters & Extracts of Letters herewith enclosed have by Genl Wilkinson been laid before the Committee appointed by the house of Representatives to enquire into his Conduct, & are deemed by him material to the Vindication of his Character.\u2014it therefore becomes necessary that their authenticity be verified by some satisfactory Evidence\u2014as the only practicable mode of effecting this, I am instructed by the Committee to transmit them to you for the purpose of obtaining your Declaration or Certificate whether they comport with the originals in your possession, & further whether in relation to the Extracts, they contain all those parts of the Letters from which they are extracted that can fairly apply or be material to the subject matter of this Enquiry.\u2014\n          The Committee have to regret the task which this search & comparison will necessarily impose upon your time & patience. it is hoped that in the importance of the pending Enquiry both as it regards the honor of our Country & that of the Officer concerned they will find a sufficient apology for this Proceedure.\n          We have further to request that a return of the papers may be effected as soon as may consist with your Convenience\n            In behalf of the Committee\n            I am sir with high respect Your Obedt servt\n Ezekl Bacon", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0272", "content": "Title: James Walker to Thomas Jefferson, 3 February 1811\nFrom: Walker, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            After receiving your letter have met the misfortune to get my Distillery burnt down with all the Grain whiskey &. a considerable quantity of pork which I had in the still house\u2014 my neighbours persuade me to rebuild as my stock of hogs are suffering very much.  I have commenced the work and suppose it will take me four or five weeks to complete it, consiquently am affraid that I cant do your work as soon as you wish yet if it will suit I think I could complete the work by the 1st June next\u2014I have not made out a bill of timbers wanting. but will in a short time & bring or send it to you. whither I do the work or not. I will try to do it in the course of a week\u2014\n            I am respectfully your Obt &c\n Jas Walker", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0273", "content": "Title: John B. Colvin to Thomas Jefferson, 4 February 1811\nFrom: Colvin, John B.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Washington City, Feb. 4th 1811.\n            Gen. Wilkinson having informed me that he had transmitted to you the 2d vol. of his \u201cMemoirs,\u201d which contains his Vindication from the charge of being connected in the scheme of Col. Burr, I presume that you have, by this time, read, in your own words, the arguments in favor of the proceedings at New-Orleans against the conspirators. In truth, I copied those arguments, and gave them to Gen. Wilkinson, without the least intimation that they were from your pen: And thus, Sir, you have contributed to do good without being seen in it\u2014a thing which you, no doubt, have often done\u2014and which, more than any thing else, assimilates a man to the deity.\n            No one, except the president\u2019s lady, has seen your letter to me. I shewed it to her when the Book came out, to demonstrate to her satisfaction, the agency I had in the work; for, as Gen. Wilkinson is a man of very violent temper, I was apprehensive that he might have introduced into it some abuse of the President, and my enemies would not have failed to ascribe it to me. It is owing to my unceasing representations to him that the language of the volume is as temperate as it is. I fear that of the succeeding volumes will not be so much so. The General is becoming desperate; but his constitution is so peculiar, that it is rather the desperation of Anger than the Despair of the fulfilment of Hope deferred.\n          I hope that you will properly appreciate my motive in disclosing to Mrs Madison (who is both sensible and discreet) the contents of your letter. I have been so often accused of writing things that I had no hand in, that I have felt the injury of that species of persecution, and on this occasion resolved to be before my enemies. Charges of this nature had, last winter, nearly deprived me of my little place in the Government; a place which I shall myself relinquish the moment I can fix myself in some honest pursuit in the bosom of Society. Having been a short time at the Bar, with flattering prospects of success and distinction, I shall, next summer, resume the profession of the law in this city, lamenting that I ever relinquished it at the solicitation of selfish politicians, too feeble to maintain a cause which has raised them to power, and too faithless to merit confidence from the heart of sincerity. In this class I do not reckon Mr Madison, whom I really love and venerate, considering him as a man who has saved from corruption the frank manners of our revolutionary times, and one whose vigorous intellect and various information has been mellowed by the philanthropic precepts of a mild and enlightened philosophy. I fear, Sir, after Mr Madison has run his honorable career, that his successor will not follow his and your principles. And yet this is necessary to the duration of our happy form of Government. I see growing up around me an aristocracy of wealth, combinations of families, which threaten hereafter to govern instead of genius and talent. I hope you may live, in to be the Hercules of your country; that, in the event of such an usurpation of power, we may call you forth to disperse these monsters, which are produced by the very fulness and fatness of freedom. It is the little intrigues that I daily behold around me that chiefly induce me to seek in the community an independent situation; and it is in that position I shall be enabled, in trying times, most vigorously to maintain my political principles; a position which is equally removed from the frowns and favors of official power.I have the honor to be, \n            sir, very respectfully, Your most ob. sert\n J. B. Colvin", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0274", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Astronomical Calculations, 5-11 February 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: \n              time elapsd\n\t\t          \u2299\u2019s declin Greenw\n              Log. of \u00bd elapsed time\n              Middle time correspd\n            Note the \u2299\u2019s decln is here stated as at Noon. it Qu should it have been adapted to the hour? it is not done in the examples of the R.T. & may probably be neglected.\n              time from Noon\n          the falsity in the result of these two operations shews that Noon must not be the time of either observn; and  consequently that not very near to Noon.\n              error of instrumt\n              (the above Log. rat. being wrong, made the work false)\n              it is here corrected", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0275", "content": "Title: William Chamberlayne to Thomas Jefferson, 6 February 1811\nFrom: Chamberlayne, William\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Richmond Feby 6th 1811\n           Yours of the 6th ult. was duly recd but indisposition prevented an earlier answer. If the Doctors bill, had been against me in my individual capacity I should Judge it quite reasonable. that being my opinion, I cannot object to it, as exor. the charge for board I shd have thought high, but persons who were made acquainted with the Situation of the man and the trouble & care requisite have sayd that his bill was not too high. I therefore acquiese, for if it was now to be refered & there Should be a difference of opinion in favor of the estate, it would fall on you, instead of Mr Lewis, which wd be rewarding Humanity badly. I shall therefore take the accts as they are, and consider myself as the representative of Mr Shackelford, under an obligation to you for the care & attention you had paid to Tom Buck. If you think his services after he got well was more than equal to the trouble & expence on yr plantation you will allow for them what you think right deduct the Amt of board & Doctors bill, & when convenient, I will thank you to remit the balance either to me, or some of yr friends in this place to be paid to me.I am with great esteem & respect.\n            Wm Chamberlayne", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0276", "content": "Title: James W. Wallace to Thomas Jefferson, 8 February 1811\nFrom: Wallace, James W.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Philadelphia Feby 8th 1811\n           Hoping it may be serviceable I enclose McMahons Catalogue to You\u2014I shall remain here untill the 4th of March\u2014if my services can any way be of use to You I hope You will command them.\n          As my object here is entirely professional, tis not in my power to communicate any thing of interest to You\u2014 Your old acquaintance Dr Rush is well, and much in Statu quo.\n           If convenient You will much oblige me by sending a few of the Benni Seeds, as I find they are not Known here\n            God bless You\n                James W. Wallace\n                Market St. Spread Eagle", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0278", "content": "Title: Gabriel Richard to Thomas Jefferson, 9 February 1811\nFrom: Richard, Gabriel\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Detroit February 9\u20131811\n           This is to acquaint your Excellency that your good wishes towards our Institution at Spring-hill have not been yet fulfilled. Although on my part I have complying complyied with my engagements, having till this day a greater number of indian Children than I had agreed to, and although I have transmitted to the Governement the proper Certificates of our Governor, yet nothing has been done untill this day, but this viz. that my accounts may be Settled on the principle that nothing above 400 doll.\u2014pr year Shall be allowed. The expences I have made for the Instruction & boarding and clothing Indian children are far Superior to that Compensation. I have Sent my accounts last week by mr Grely the Surveyor of public land in this Tery\n           it would be a very great Service to me & our Institution, if your Excellency could write few lines to the President, and certify what Transactions had passed between me and Government when I was in washington January 1809.\n           first that we were to enjoy the farm of Spring hill free from paying any rent, which is now required by mr Atwater the Collector of duties, who has instituted an action in the Supreme Court against me. 2ly please to Certify that it was further agreed that three workmen were to be paid by Govt to work at Spring hill for the benefit and Encouragement of our Institution\u2014after Several attempts made in vain to haveobtain the transfer of the farm of Spring hill made to our Institution, I had written that rather than to remain in any longer uncertainties I Should prefer that the premisses Should be put at public Sale expecting that it Should be Sold Low, which Should have been So; if it had been done in the time I expected as before in April. But on the contrary it was done on the 1st September when by our handyhard work it had the best appearance. my means were not adaquate to reach the extravagant Sum which it was bidden 5000 doll., a manifest proof that the Premisses had been improoved by our great expences. now all our work is lost. it is therefore in vain that we have taken So much trouble and expended So much money. we have been obliged to moove of and quit a place which was So well calculated for Studies being retired from noise and a very healthy Situation.  how often I have remembered these beautiful lines of Virgiliusnos patriam fugimus et dulcia linquimus arva.\u2014insere nunc m\u00e6lib\u0153e pyros pone ordine vites.\n            Sic vos non vobis nidificatis aves:\n           Sic vos non vobis mellificatis apes:\n           Sic vos non vobis vellera fertis oves:\n           Sic vos non vobis fertis aratra boves.\n          I have not given up & I will not give up the designg of Instructing Indian children. I am certain that with constancy we Shall Succeed. but Some means must be Supplied by Government and the advantages & fruits which will be gathered Shall certainly be above the expences. trusting to your benevolence, I remain very respectfully\n            your most obedt & humble Servt\n Gabriel Richard", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0283", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Samuel J. Harrison, 13 February 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Harrison, Samuel Jordan\n            Poplar Forest Feb. 13. 11\n             On my return here on Friday last I found my deed to you for the lands on Ivy creek, executed as I had supposed before three witnesses, himself mr Griffin, Roberts my other overseer & mr Steptoe, and still remaining in Griffin\u2019s hands unrecorded.   I therefore acknoleged it again before himself Roberts & Reuben Perry, and they went to Campbell court the day before yesterday, proved it and left it in court to be recorded.  the bonds not yet recieved from you may remain in your hands till I come here again. should that not be before the 1st of April, as I think it will not, I shall probably send a person to you from Albemarle by that day to recieve the money in Lynchburg; as it may perhaps be more convenient to me to recieve it there than in Richmond.\n          The few days of proper weather we have lately had, have enabled us to strike nearly the whole of our tobo. we can prize and deliver 5. or 6. hhds a week unless prevented by such strong winds as are blowing this morning. I trust the whole may now be delivered in 3. weeks. I shall hope by the first post after to recieve your note for the amount negociable at the bank of Richmond, addressed to me at Monticello. Accept the assurances of my esteem and respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0284-0002", "content": "Title: Enclosure: Power of Attorney from Philip Mazzei to Thomas Jefferson, 4 February 1811\nFrom: Mazzei, Philip\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                Sigr Tommaso Jefferson,\n               Vi costituisco colla presente mio Procuratore, e mandatario ad oggetto, che in mio nome e vece, e per mio interesse procediate a vendere la casa e appezzamenti di terra, che io possiedo in propriet\u00e0 in Richmond a chi pi\u00f9 vi sembrer\u00e0 e piacer\u00e0, per quel prezzo e condizioni che vorrete stabilire, ed all\u2019oggetto che ritiriate detto prezzo, e possiate in nome di me costituente qualunque atto autentico o privato che occorrer possa, con far ricevuta e discarico al compratore, e generalmente facciate ed operiate intorno al mio patrimonio in America tutto quello che crederete opportuno per il mio interesse, dandovi a questo effetto ogni pi\u00f9 generale ed ampio mandato che occorrer possa, promettendo di aver per accettato e confermato tutto quello che farete per mio interesse ed in mio nome.\n              Qo alla Mairie di Pisa y Legalizzasione della firma di sudo Sige Filippo Mazzei\u2014Questo di 4 Febbraio 1811.\n Il Maire\n            Editors\u2019 Translation\n                  Mr. Thomas Jefferson,\n                I hereby appoint you my attorney-in-fact and agent according to the subject matter of this contract, in my name and stead to sell the house and lands owned by me in Richmond, to such person as you deem proper, for such price and on such terms and conditions as you deem fit. I authorize you to collect said price, and in my name to execute whatever notarized deed or private contract may be necessary to effect such conveyance, and to issue a receipt and invoice to the buyer. I grant you authority to perform all acts to be done in and about my patrimony in America as you deem proper, and promise to accept and confirm all said acts performed in my name and interest.\n                To wit at the Townhall of Pisa there authenticated the signature of Mr. Philip Mazzei\u2014this day 4 February 1811.\n The Mayor", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0285-0001", "content": "Title: John Melish to Thomas Jefferson, 16 February 1811\nFrom: Melish, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n              Respected Sir\n            Two of the most important objects in life are\u2014The cultivation of the human mind; and The Organization and proper direction of Civil Society.\u2014The one is essential to man in his individual capacity; the other is necessary to enable him to enjoy the sweets of social life.\u2014It is pleasing to a philanthropic mind to observe the great progress which the principles of Civilization have made within these last 50 years; and particularly in the United States.\u2014But much yet remains to be done.\u2014The Glorious Revolution, in which You had so active, and so honourable a share, fixed the basis of republican principles and equal rights; but many of the twigs of Royalty and Aristocracy remained in the land.\u2014These could only be rooted out by time, and by the persevering efforts of genuine republicans.\u2014In performing this office you have also had an honourable share.\u2014Great efforts have been made to complete the work; but most resolute efforts have been made to oppose it.\u2014 The British Court, in the fury of their Zeal against Republican principles, could not be inattentive to the United States; and the extended Commerce betwixt the Countries Afforded them a happy medium for intrigue, and an innumerable host of Agents to carry it on.\u2014But the principles of freedom have prevailed, and perhaps the struggle may, upon the whole, have been useful in causing the principles of liberty to be more fully discussed; and in keeping alive the Ardour of the republican party.\u2014But it would doubtless be very grateful to every Republican now\u2014to get clear of foreign influence and intrigue; and I think a most favourable opportunity presents itself for getting clear of it.\u2014The British Court, in the blindness of their Zeal, have overshot the mark.\u2014The Commercial System of Britain is shaking to its Centre; and the shock has reached the Commercial Cities of the United States.\u2014The British paper system is tumbling to pieces; and that is also producing a great effect here;\u2014and it happens, most opportunely, that while this is going on the United States Bank Charter (established mostly by Britain) is about to expire.\u2014A fine field for Republican exertion presents itself.\u2014If improved the effects will be happy for the Country\u2014If neglected I shall be sorry indeed.\u2014\n            Being most ardently attached to Republican principles, for which indeed I left my native Country, I have since my arrival in this Country paid a most dilligent attention to what has been going forward in the public Councils: And I am sorry to say, that tho\u2019 I have discovered the majority to be decided republicans in principle, yet I have not discovered among them that clearness of perception, and union of Councils, which is calculated to infuse Republican principles into the modifications of society: While their oponents, tho\u2019 much inferior in numbers, have managed matters with such address as to hold the patronage of almost the whole of the monied institutions in the Country, including the United States Bank!! And even now I have not been able to discover any regular systematic plan for taking advantage of the present favourable Crisis; while I have observed a great deal of false logic, & underhand intrigue resorted to for the purpose of perpetuating the old system.\u2014\n            Impressed with these considerations I have turned my attention to the subject, and have, in a letter to the President, expressed my opinion on three most important topics\u2014The Finances\u2014The Banking System\u2014and the internal improvement of the Country. I have thought it more proper to send it to the President than to publish it; and from motives of esteem I send you a Copy.\u2014If you approve of my sentiments, and think they can be of any service to the Country, you may make any use of my letter you think proper; and as I will have some little time to spare during the ensuing spring and summer, I should be very glad of having an opportunity to devote it to the service of the Community.\u2014\n            I hope I will not be deemed presumptuous in addressing myself to the President and you.\u2014I am comparatively a stranger in the Country, but my sentiments have, from youth upwards, been decidedly republican; and I have had an opportunity of becoming intimately acquainted with the principles of political economy, particularly those parts of the Science which relate to Commerce\u2014Finance\u2014and Paper Currency; and it would give me sincere pleasure aif I had the power of turning my experience in these matters to the advantage of my adopted and beloved Country.\u2014It is no triffling consideration that induces me to express myself thus.\u2014I consider that exertion is necessary, and I often reflect that even individual exertion in a good cause, and on a good plan, may do much.\u2014In Britain the exertions of a Palmer organized and put into operation the Mail-Coach establishment, which is the best arranged piece of political economy in that Country:\u2014And the exertions of a Clarkson accomplished the Abolition of the African Slave Trade.\u2014If individual exertion was capable of atchieving so much in Britain, where it had to contend against the power of a jealous and narrow minded Court; What should not the United exertions of the Republican party atchieve in this Country, where the government is liberal, and entirely in their favour.\u2014That it may be successful in freeing their Country from a dependance upon a precarious foreign Commerce; and encouraging internal industry, and domestic prosperity, is my most earnest wish.\u2014\n            Should this communication merit your notice I shall in my next give you a sketch of my history, accompanied with such references as I know will be satisfactory.\u2014Meantime I may just mention that I am a little acquainted with Col: Duane Editor of the Aurora; and that I am a native of Scotland.\u2014I may also mention that it was in the Month of Octr 1806 I had the pleasure of a short conversation with you,\u2014as mentioned in my letter to the President.\u2014You arrived unexpectedly in Washington while I was there, and a Republican friend, to whom I had letter of introduction, advised me to call upon you in the manner I did.\u2014I was highly gratified both by your reception and conversation, which I have often reflected on with pleasure since.\u2014\n              I remain with sincere esteem sir Your most obedt Sert\n John Melish", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0285-0002", "content": "Title: Enclosure: John Melish to James Madison, 7 February 181[1]\nFrom: Melish, John\nTo: Madison, James\n               Having had occasion to study the Trade of the United States with Europe for a series of years past, I am now of opinion that it has reached a Crisis which calls for a new system of Political Economy in this Country: and a few general ideas have occurred to me on the subject, which I shall do myself the honour of stating to you.\u2014My determination is accelerated by a consideration of the Peculiar manner in which the Government of the United States is situated regarding the Bank Charter.\n              To illustrate my subject I shall take a short glance of the Commerce of the United States with Europe\u2014as it was\u2014As it is\u2014and as it will probably be hereafter.\u2014\n              I consider it of no importance to the argument to refer to Public Documents to ascertain the precise amount of what this Commerce has been; I shall therefore assume as a data that when uninterrupted it stood nearly as follows\u2014 \n                  Exports to Britain\n                  Do to the Continent\n                  Imports from Britain\n                  Do from the Continent\n                  Balance in favour of America by the Continental Trade\n                  Do Against America by the British Trade\n                  Revenue arising from Imports from Britain\n                  Do arising from Imports from the Continent\n              It hence appears that the United States have been chiefly dependant upon the Continent of Europe for a market, and that the Government have been chiefly dependant upon the Imports from Britain for Revenue.\u2014\n              Now, that the Commerce of the United States has been, by the injustice of the Belligerent powers of Europe, interrupted for a number of Years\u2014the Continent is almost compleatly sealed up to the American Trade.\u2014The British Market is compleatly Glutted with American produce, some of which is selling at less than \u2154 ds of the value, and that often not paid for.\u2014Bills of exchange are returning to An immense extent, and the Merchants are failing in numbers.\u2014Produce calculated for the European Market has declined in price in this Country, and many who considered themselves wealthy will probably be ruined by the shock.\u2014The United States Revenue has fallen short, which has afforded matter of triumph to the political oponents of the Government; and these oponents, in conjunction with a foreign faction, have unceasingly villified the party in power as the cause of evils which they have laboured Ifncessantly to prevent.\u2014Meantime many new branches of Manufactures have sprung up, but they have not advanced so rapidly as could have been wished because the Country has not hitherto been in a state for giving them that active support to which they are well entitled.\u2014\n              And it does not appear that any favourable change in the foreign Trade is to be expected soon.\u2014The policy of the European powers evidently is to render the Continent independant of Foreign Commerce; and this System I fear they will rigidly act upon.\u2014A Trade with Britain without the Continent would be ruinous, for it would bring the balance against America to the extent of 4 or 5 Millions of Dollars\u2014Annually.\u2014American produce would find a ruinous market in Britain if confined to it alone.\u2014But indeed the Commercial distress of that Country is such, that it is to be feared it will be a long time before they be in a Capacity for carrying on a favourable trade with Any Country.\u2014\n              It is of little consequence to enquire into the cause of the interruptions which Commerce has sustained.\u2014I may just remark that it appears to me that the chief cause is to be found in the rapacity of the British Fleet, and the violent hatred which the British Court bear to Republican principles.\u2014Actuated by a mistaken policy they have Cut the sinews of a Commerce in which their own nation were the principle gainers, and now they are the principle sufferers.\u2014It is probable that in the course of this spring a change of councils may take place in Britain, and I would not be surprised if that should bring about a General peace.\u2014Should that be the case America may Again enjoy a considerable portion of foreign Commerce.\u2014But that is uncertain, and at any rate, I consider the present Revolution of Commerce (for such it really is) to be too far gone to be stopped in its progress.\u2014It must go on, and if the present period be properly improved by the American Government, they will render an essential service to their Country by making it really independant; and to Republican principles, by fixing them upon a Rock never to be shaken.\u2014\n              I consider it the duty of every genuine republican, who has his Countrys good at heart, to contribute his aid at this important Crisis.\u2014With a view of contributing mine I beg leave to address myself immediately to the Chief Magistrate.\u2014Whether what I have to say is of Any value is most respectfully submitted to his judgement.\u2014\n              It is my opinion that the government of the United States should as soon as possible lend their attention to the following circumstances.\u2014\n              1st So to plan the Revenue that the Government will not be dependant upon foreign Commerce.\u2014\n              2d So to order monied institutions as that they may not be baneful to Republican principles, and to institute such a Bank as will be beneficial to Commerce generally\u2014with out respect of persons, and in particular which may be useful in promoting manufs and internal Commerce.\u2014\n               3d So to order national property as that it may become a fund for opening up and improving the Country by constructing Roads Bridges & Canals.\u2014\n              On the first branch my remarks shall be short.\u2014The present duties on imports ought I think to be continued, and some of them may perhaps with propriety be encreased.\u2014Whether the encrease should be general appears questionable; and indeed on some few articles I am rather inclined to think they should be reduced.\u2014We may safely calculate that the Imports will be considerable under any circumstances; but I think it will be neither wise nor prudent to trust exclusively to that source alone for the Federal Revenue.\u2014It places the Country too much at the Mercy of Foreign Powers.\u2014It causes the Best interests of the Country\u2014that of internal industry\u2014to be overlooked and neglected; and it furnishes the enemies of the Republic with arguments against its prosperity.\u2014But internal Taxes are objectionable also.\u2014It is difficult to Collect them, and the Collectors would, in such a Country as this, be very apt to abuse their powers.\u2014I shall condescend upon what I think would be a considerable fund in another part of this letter, and shall close this part of the subject by remarking, that perhaps the best method of providing against any deficiency would be to make an arrangement with the Individual States, that each might furnish its quota, according to its number of inhabitants; and this could be done by simply augmenting the state Taxes a little, in case of necessity.\u2014There may be objections to this plan which I am not aware of; but were it practicable, it would, I think, be a very effectual one.\u2014Little or nothing would probably be wanted from the individual States, but were a law passed making provision for such support in case of necessity, it would effectually put a stop to the expectations of a foreign government, and their adherents,\u2014that the Government of the United States would be beat into schemes derogatory to the interest and honour of the Country, in order to raise revenue.\u2014\n              On the second branch I shall be more Ample, because it embraces the Banking System on a National Scale, and on Republican principles; a correct view of which is essentially necessary at the present period, not only on account of the change which has taken place in the Commerce of the Country, but also on account of the expiry of the Charter of the present United States Bank.\u2014\n              Concerning this Bank I shall in the first place say a few words.\u2014It consists with my knowledge that it has been conducted with a shameful partiality.\u2014That it has been made subservient to Anti-republican principles; and to the interests of a foreign government, who have unceasingly endeavoured to maintain an undue influence in this Country:\u2014That the great benifits to be derived from a paper Circulation have been principally transferred to foreigners, of avowed hostility to Republican Government That the managers of the Bank have generally been men of high aristocratic principles, who, during a great part of the time the Charter existed, never failed to vilify and abuse the very government to which they were indebted for their aristocratical Consequence.\u2014It is true they have of late a good deal lowered their tone, but the motive is known.\u2014Let them but get a renewal of the Charter for 20 Years more, and we will soon see the old game played over with accelerated effect.\u2014But it is impossible, surely, that such an institution can be allowed to exist in the Republic.\u2014The Charter ought not to be renewed under any modifications whatever; and I am glad to observe that there is likely to be a sufficient knowledge of the subject, and sufficient republican virtue in the Legislature to put a stop to its operations.\u2014\n              Conceiving that the Charter will not be renewed, I shall now proceed to state what I think should be the Outlines of the plan of a new National Bank;\u2014calculated to Consolidate and strengthen Republican principles; to encourage and support manufactures, and internal Commerce; and to bring a large revenue to the public, to whom the profits of a paper circulation should exclusively belong\n              1st The Capital Stock to be furnished wholly by the United States Government.\u2014It may be either limited or not; and the Govt may be authorized to borrow money to raise it, in case of need.\u2014\n              2d The Bank to be established at Washington, and the Directors and other Office-Bearers to be appointed by the Legislature\u2014\n              3d A Branch to be established in every state in the Union, with consent of the respective State Governments, who may be allowed a certain share in the nomination of the managers.\u2014\n              4 The Whole notes to be issued at Washington, and to have a general circulation through the Union.\u2014\n              5 The Bank and its branches to Accomodate the public by Discounting good notes at legal interest.\u2014\n              6 The institution to be so arranged as that there may be a general exchange throughout the Union, by the branches drawing on each other\u2014 \n              8 The Bank and its branches to bring their Books to a balance Annually, previous to the meeting of Congress.\u2014To report the profits and present state of the Institution to the President of the United States, to be by him laid before Congress, and published.\u2014\n              7 The Bank to be Cashiers for the Federal Government; To Collect the Revenue; and to have the use of the surplus\u2014\n              9 And to superintend the Management of the whole Agents may be appointed to inspect the Bank\u2019s Branches, as often as may be judged necessary\u2014To devise the best plans of making the Institution beneficial to the Community; and to make such reports, from time to time, to the President of the United States\u2014as they may judge proper.\u2014\n              These are the general outlines of a national bank, adapted to the present state of this Country, as they have occurred to me, and being pretty well acquainted with the principles of Banking I should be very glad to go more into detail were it to be of any value to the Community.\u2014Of this you can judge.\u2014Meantime I shall notice a few objections which may be urged against establishing such a Bank.\u2014\n              I shall begin with the popular one\u2014\u201cThe Bank should be unconnected with the Government.\u201d\u2014This is an argument derived from Britain, and is applicable to the state of that Country, but not of this.\u2014In Britain the executive is hereditary, and supported by an Hereditary Aristocracy.\u2014Of Course they have a separate interest from the Community, and the patronage of monied institutions is, in their hands a dangerous weapon.\u2014But in the United States, where the whole branches of the Government are elective, the people have very little to dread from an abuse of patronage; or if any abuse should occurr, every succeeding election gives them an opportunity of correcting the evil.\u2014In fact the argument lyes the other way.\u2014The plan of establishing Banks independant of the Government is dangerous to Republican principles, as it has an evident tendency to raise up a monied Aristocracy.\u2014Besides, the whole profits of a paper Circulation ought to belong to the Community at large; and there is no way of managing this so well as by putting Banking Institutions under the immediate Controul of their legitimate Office-Bearers.\u2014I am so Clear upon this point, that I think the Individual States should establish State Banks upon the same principles as I have pointed out for the National one, and grant no Charters.\u2014If monied Men chuse to combine together and form Banking Institutions, let them do so; but let them have no peculiar priviledges, and let their whole property be responsible for their transactions.\u2014\n              The Constitutional Objection of the right of the United States to establish branches, is done away by the plan of establishing them with Consent of the State Governments.\u2014\n              The next objection is the want of Capital.\u2014It is a very weak one, and can only be urged by those who are grossly ignorant of the principles of Banking, or wilfully blind to the power and resources of this Country.\u2014As a preparatory step to meet the argument I shall advert to the nature of Paper Currency.\u2014\n              Paper Currency, under proper regulations, is superior to all others for internal Circulation.\u2014It is created at little expence.\u2014It is easily transferred from place to place.\u2014It can be more easily secured against fire or depredation than the precious metals, and tho; lost, or destroyed, the loss falls upon the last possessor only\u2014the issuer is a proportional gainer.\u2014To be under proper regulations it ought to be the representative of substantial property; and be exchangeable, on demand, into the precious metals\u2014these being the Universal Currency.\u2014\n              Now, no paper Currency, in this Country, could be so Substantially backed as that issued by a Bank belonging to the United States; for it would actually be the representative of the whole property in the Country;\u2014and none could have so extensive, or so respectable a circulation; for every individual in the Community would have an interest in it.\u2014And a very small sum of the precious Metals is sufficient to serve as the basis of a paper Circulation.\u2014I knew a Banking Company in Scotland who with a Capital of \u00a320,000 Stg put \u00a3250,000,000. in circulation; and I am convinced that a United States Bank properly organized, could do even more than that.\u2014It is quite a mistaken notion that every Dollar of paper-money should have a corresponding hard Dollar in the Vaults of a Bank.\u2014Were this the case a real loss would be sustained by the Banking business.\u2014But the case is far otherwise.\u2014As already stated, a very small sum of the precious Metals is sufficient as a basis, particularly where an extensive Circulation may be calculated on, which would be the case with the Notes of this Bank:\u2014And I am of opinion that a sum equal to 10 times the amount which would be wanted, could be raised by the U.S. Govert at Any time, and that without being obliged to have recourse to foreigners at all\u2014whose voice being heard in a Bank is a disgrace to the Country.\u2014\n              The only other objection I shall notice at present is\u2014\u201cThe Danger of changing an established System for one New and Untried\u201d\u2014The objection has some weight, and contains the strongest arguments that can be used for continuing the old Bank Charter.\u2014But objections of this kind have their limits, and must always be viewed in connection with existing Circumstances.\u2014If allowed to be set up as mere bug-bears, their tendency is to put a stop to all improvement in the State of Society.\u2014The arguments against renewing the old Charter are insuperable.\u2014A new system is imperiously called for by the present state of Commerce, and during the change measures can be adopted to guard against any inconveniences that would be apt to arise out of it.\u2014A reasonable time may be allowed the old Bank to wind up its affairs, and during this period the new Bank can be organized, so as its notes may supply the place of the old paper, as fast as it is withdrawn from Circulation.\u2014The establishment at Washington, if the plan should be adopted, will of course be entirely new; but the Bank at Philadelphia and its several branches may all be converted into branches of the new Bank.\u2014In short I think matters might be so conducted as that very little inconvenience would arise at and any little that might occur would soon be amply made amends for by the superior advantages that would result from the new Bank.\u2014\n                  The profits that would arise from this Institution Annually would probably exceed\n                  The Duties on Imports and Tonnage continued with certain modifications will probably exceed}\n              These will of themselfves form a considerable Revenue, and it may soon come to be greatly Augmented by a judicious application of the Public Lands\u2014which leads me to notice\n              The Third General Topic\u2014 the Improvement of the Country by constructing Roads, Bridges, and Canals.\u2014In my opinion the National Lands is an ample fund for this purpose, and they should be exclusively devoted to it.\u2014The funds arising from the Lands, as fast as sold, should be laid out on these improvements, and the tolls levied upon them, when Constructed, would soon form a very considerable portion of the National Revenue; and this would be a permanent fund, which would not only promote the national prosperity, but would encrease with its encrease.\u2014\n              These are great national Topics, and the subject presents a fine field for active exertion.\u2014I hope I will not be deemed presumptuous in laying my opinions concerning them before you.\u2014There are many others, no doubt, who are much abler, and have better opportunities of investigating the subjects than me: But I have also devoted a considerable attention to them, and having a little leisure time at present I should be very glad to have an opportunity of applying it to the benefit of my adopted Country.\u2014Should this letter Merit your notice I beg leave to observe that I can give the most satisfactory references both as to the correctness of my principles and Conduct.\u2014\n              I have seen and conversed with your worthy predecessor, Mr Jefferson, to whom, out of respect, I have sent a Copy of this letter.\u2014I have communicated it to no other\u2014\n              With sincere wishes for your Welfare, and for the prosperity of our Country\u2014I remain with much esteem and high Consideration\u2014\n              My address is \u201cJohn Melish New york\u201d", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0286", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 17 February 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Jefferson, Martha (Martha Jefferson Randolph),Randolph, Martha Jefferson\n            My ever dear Martha\n            Poplar Forest Feb. 17. 11\n          Our post to Milton is but once a week, and I missed the opportunity of sending my letter to Lynchburg the last week. I performed my journey to this place with as little fatigue and by the same stages as in my chair. and by losing myself the first day I made it 40. miles to mr Scott\u2019s.   I have sold my tobo here for 7. Dollars: but my wheat is in an embarrassing situation. the dam of the mill in which it is has now broke a second time, and the Miller refuses to deliver my wheat back altho he had promised in that event to redeliver it. it will take another month to mend his dam, by which time the price and the river both may fail us. I propose to make another formal demand of it, & if he refuses, I may have parted with my crop for a lawsuit instead of money. besides that he is not able to pay all who are in my situation with him. I expect to obtain his final decision within a few days, and, whatever it be to set out then on my return if the weather will permit.  we have had 4. snows since my arrival here, one of 4. Inches, the others slight. they have put the roads into a horrible situation.  I was two days ago at Belleplaine, Beaulieu, Bellavista, Mount Dougherty, Etc all well except a man (William) who is habitually otherwise.  Slaughter is much surprised that the two men expected are not yet arrived, and the more on my telling him they were to set out from Monticello the day after I left it now three weeks past. kiss & bless all the fireside for me, and be assured yourself of my unceasing & tenderest love.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0287", "content": "Title: Nicolas G. Dufief to Thomas Jefferson, 24 February 1811\nFrom: Dufief, Nicholas Gouin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            A Philadelphie ce 24 F\u00e9vrier 1811\n           Je vous adresse par la poste & de la mani\u00e8re que vous m\u2019avez indiqu\u00e9e, les livres au Sujet desquels j\u2019ai eu l\u2019honneur de vous \u00e9crire, & dont l\u2019envoi a \u00e9t\u00e9 retard\u00e9 par des circonstances impr\u00e9vues. Je regrette infiniment que le format du dictionnaire et le caract\u00e8re Sur lequel il a \u00e9t\u00e9 imprim\u00e9 Soient Si peu d\u2019accord avec vos intentions, mais, Monsieur, la crainte que le prix qu\u2019il e\u00fbt fallu demander pour des in 4to ne nuis\u00eet au Succ\u00e8s g\u00e9n\u00e9ral de l\u2019ouvrage m\u2019a forc\u00e9 de pr\u00e9f\u00e9rer un format in 12o & un tr\u00e8s petit caract\u00e8re. Je me flatte, cependant qu\u2019un d\u00e9faut aussi grand ne vous emp\u00eachera pas de parcourir un livre qui n\u2019a \u00e9t\u00e9 compos\u00e9 que pour l\u2019utilit\u00e9 publique & pour r\u00e9pondre aux vues des personnes qui, comme vous, accordent une protection \u00e9clair\u00e9e aux Arts & aux Sciences\n           Il m\u2019a \u00e9t\u00e9 impossible, Jusqu\u2019\u00e0 pr\u00e9sent, de trouver le livre que vous m\u2019avez demand\u00e9 & celui que Mr Warden d\u00e9sirait vous faire passer. Je continuerai mes recherches\n            Agr\u00e9ez, avec votre bont\u00e9 ordinaire, les Sentimens de respect & de reconnaissance avec lesquels, Je Suis, Monsieur,\n            Votre tr\u00e8s-d\u00e9vou\u00e9 Serviteur\n N. G. Dufief\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n              Philadelphia 24 February 1811\n            I send you by mail, and in the manner that you indicated, the books about which I had the honor to write you, and whose shipping was postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. I regret immensely that the format of the dictionary and the font used to print it are so little in keeping with your wishes, but, Sir, the fear that the selling price of a 4to should be an obstacle to the general success of the book compelled me to prefer a format in 12o and a very small font. I flatter myself, however, in thinking that even so big a defect will not prevent you from skimming through a book that was composed for public use and in answer to the needs of people who, like you, accord an enlightened protection to the arts and sciences\n             It has been impossible for me, so far, to find the book that you asked for and the one that Mr. Warden wished me to send to you. I will continue to look for them\n              Please accept with your usual kindness the sentiments of respect and gratitude with which I am, Sir,\n              Your very devoted servant\n N. G. Dufief", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0288", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Martha Jefferson Randolph, 24 February 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Jefferson, Martha (Martha Jefferson Randolph),Randolph, Martha Jefferson\n            My dear Martha\n            Poplar Forest Feb. 24. 11\n          When I wrote you this day week, I thought I should have been with you as soon as my letter. so I think with respect to the present one.  my whole crop of wheat had been put compleatly out of my own power, and the miller who had received it has, by twice losing his dam, become insolvent and has delivered over his mill to a person more able to carry it on, but who will need time to repair it. I have a hope of geting possession of 1100 bushels of my wheat, out of 1400. I have promises of it. I think that within two or three days I can ascertain whether they will be performed, and shall set out the moment it is secured.  I have wished for Anne but once since I came here, and that has been from the moment of my arrival to the present one. the weather has been such that I have seen the face of no human being for days but the servants. I am like a state prisoner. my keepers set before me at fixed hours something to eat & withdraw.  we have had seven snows since I came making all together about 10\u00bd Inches the ground has been now covered a fortnight.  I had begun to prepare an Asparagus bed, and to plant some raspberry bushes, gooseberry bushes Etc for Anne. but it has been impossible to go on with it, the earth is so deep frozen, and I expect to leave it so.   I trust that Bacon does not let the family suffer for any thing in his department, and your note in my name will command groceries or whatever else may be wanting from Higginbotham\u2019s. my best affections attend you all and constant love to yourself.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0289", "content": "Title: Peter Derieux to Thomas Jefferson, 25 February 1811\nFrom: Derieux, Peter (Justin Pierre Plumard)\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Monsieur\n            Warrenton. (North Carolina) Ce 25. Fevrier. 1811.\n           Vos anciennes bont\u00e9s pour moi me font esperer que vous voudr\u00e9s bien excuser la libert\u00e9 que je prends de me rappeller a votre souvenir, en vous presentant lassurance de mes sentiments et ceux de Me Derieux. Depuis trois mois nous avons quitt\u00e9s L Etat de Virginia et venus habiter celui de la Caroline, y ayant obtenu une situation un peu plus Lucrative qu\u2019auparavant; plusieurs de mes Enfants sont maintenant Etablis, et il ne nous en reste que trois avec nous, dont un garcon de 12. ans qui vat au College et ses deux jeunes soeurs, a L\u2019Education des quelles Mme Derieux donne tous ses soins.\n           Voudri\u00e9s vous bien me faire L\u2019amiti\u00e9 Monsieur, de m\u2019informer si vous av\u00e9s recu depuis peu des nouvelles de Mr Mazzei mon beaupere, et a quel endroit je puis lui adresser des Lettres que j ai pour lui, et veuill\u00e9s permettre que Mr et Madame Randolph trouvent ici Lassurance des respects de Mde Derieux et les miens.\n          J\u2019ai L\u2019honneur d\u2019etre dans les Sentiments du plus profond respect et attachement\n            Monsieur Votre tr\u00e8s humble et tr\u00e8s obeist Serviteur\n P. Derieux\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n              Warrenton. (North Carolina) 25. February. 1811.\n             You have been so kind to me in the past that it makes me hope you will forgive the liberty I take in asking you to remember me, as I offer you the assurance of my sentiments and those of Mrs. Derieux. Over the past three months we have moved from Virginia to Carolina, where we have a position a little more lucrative than before. Several of my children are now settled outside the home, and the only ones remaining with us are a boy of twelve, who goes to grammar school, and his two young sisters, to whose education Mrs. Derieux gives all her attention.\n             Would you, Sir, kindly inform me whether you have recently received news of Mr. Mazzei, my father-in-law, and where I may send the letters that I have for him? And please extend to Mr. and Mrs. Randolph the assurance of Mrs. Derieux\u2019s and my respects.\n            I have the honor to be with highest respect and devotion\n              Sir your most humble and very obedient servant\n P. Derieux", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0291", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s General Plea in Livingston v. Jefferson, [ca. 28 February 1811]\nFrom: Livingston, Edward,Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: United States Circuit Court, Virginia District\n              Plea\u2014\u201cNot guilty.\u201d\n              Livingston\n          And the said Thomas, according to the Statute in such case made & provided, & by leave of the court, for further plea in this behalf saith; that he is not guilty of any of the several trespasses above laid to his charge, in manner & form as the said Edward hath above thereof complained against him; and of this he putteth himself upon the Country &c:", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0292", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Plea in Livingston v. Jefferson on Ground of Acting Officially, [ca. 28 February 1811]\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas,Livingston, Edward\nTo: United States Circuit Court, Virginia District\n          And the said Thomas according to the Statute in Such case made and provided, and by leave of the Court, for further plea in this behalf Saith, that as to the force and arms and as to the breaking in pieces and Cutting in pieces and destroying of the goods and chattels of the said Edward, either by the said Thomas himself or by his Servants, and as to the digging and raising or causing to be dug and raised the soil of the said Edward, by him the said Thomas or by his Servants and as to the Carrying away, or causing to be carried away the said Soil by him the said Thomas or by his Servants, and as to the converting the said Soil to the use of him the said Thomas, and as to the Cutting down of the banks of the said Canals by him the said Thomas or by his Servants, and as to all the other trespasses by him Supposed to have been done by him the said Thomas or by his Servants (except as to the breaking and entering the dwe Messuages or dwelling houses and closes or parcels of land thereto adjoining in the first and fifth Counts of the said declaration mentioned and except also as to the breaking and entering the closes in the Second and Sixth Counts of the said declaration mentioned and the putting out expelling and removing the said Edward therefrom, and the keeping and continuing him the said Edward so expelled and removed therefrom, for the space of time in the said declaration in that respect mentioned and also except as to the breaking and entering of the said closes in the third and seventh Counts of the said declaration mentioned and the driving off expelling and removing therefrom the said Edward with his Servants and workmen and forcing them to interrupt and quit their work, and the keeping & continuing the said Edward so removed from the possession of the said closes for the Space of time in the said declaration in that respect mentioned, and also except as to the breaking and entering the said closes in the fourth and eighth Counts of the said declaration mentioned, and the driving off expelling and removing therefrom the said Edward with his Servants and workmen, and forcing them to interrupt and quit their work, and the keeping and Continuing the Said Edward so removed from the possession of the said closes, for the Space of time in the Said declaration in that respect mentioned) he is not guilty in manner and form as the Said Edward hath above thereof Complained against him, & of this he putteth himself on the Country &cAnd as to the other supposed trespasses to wit, the said breaking and entering the messuages or & closes or parcels of land thereto adjoining on the first and fifth Counts of the said declaration mentioned and also as to the breaking and entering the closes in the second and Sixth Counts of the said declaration mentioned and the Putting out expelling and removing the said Edward therefrom, and the Keeping and Continuing him the said Edward so expelled & removed therefrom, for the space of time in the said declaration in that respect mentioned, and also as to the breaking and entering of the Said closes in the third and Seventh Counts of the said declaration mentioned and the driving off expelling and removing therefrom the said Edward therefrom with his Servants and workmen therefrom & forcing them to interrupt and quit their work; and the keeping & continuing the said Edward so removed, from the possession of the said closes, for the space of time in the said declaration in that respect mentioned, and also as to the breaking and entering of the said closes in the 4th & 8th Counts of the said declaration mentioned and the driving off expelling and removing therefrom the said Edward with his Servants and workmen, & forcing them to interrupt and quit their work, and the keeping & continuing the said Edward so removed from the possession of the said Closes for the Space of time in the Said declaration in that respect mentioned, he the said Thomas Saith that he the said Edward ought not to have or maintain his Said action thereof against him, because he Saith that the said Several messuages, dwelling houses closes and Parcels of land in the Several Counts of in the said declaration mentioned are one and the Same or parts of one and the same messuage, dwelling house close and Parcel of land which said close is called and known as the Batture of the Suburb St Mary, and that they are not other or different or Parts of other or different messuages dwelling houses and Closes, and that the aforesaid Messuage and the Said close or parcel of land called and known as the Batture of the Suburb St Mary are now and at the Several times when &c were part and Parcel of the territory of the United States of America established by an act of the Congress of the said United States in such case made and Provided under the name of the territory of Orleans, which said territory is a part of the Country ceded by the first Consul of the French Republic in the name of the french republic to the said United States forever in full Sovereignty, under the name of the Colony or province of Louisiana, by virtue of a treaty between the said United States & the said republic made and done at Paris on the 30th day of April in the year 1803 of our Lord 1803, by virtue of which said treaty the aforesaid Close Messuage and the said Close or parcel of Land Called and known as the Batture of the Suburb St Mary became vested in the said United States in full Sovereignty dominion & possession, on the day and in the year last mentioned & have so continued ever since: and the said Thomas further Saith, that before the time when &c, to wit, on theday ofin the year 1807 he the said Edward took possession of the said Messuage and Close, and unlawfully intruded himself thereon claiming the same exclusively for his own benefit, and with his servants and workmen was then and there employed in digging the Soil thereof, of the Said Close and raising a levee or embankment thereon, to the great injury of the good people of the said United States, and of the government thereof: whereupon & for which reason the said Thomas, on theday ofin the year 1807 aforesaid, being Pre then and long before and since President of the said United States, in order to perform his duty as president aforesaid, according to his judgment and conscience, did acting solely & exclusively in his character & office of President aforesaid, without any malicious malice against the said Edward, did direct the Marshal of the said territory, to remove therefrom, in the name & for the benefit of the said United States, from the said lands messuage and Close aforesaid, any and every person, who Should before have taken possession thereof or of any part thereof; By virtue of which said direction to the Said Marshal, he the said Marshal at the Several times when&c, & at the places where &c did enter on the Said Messuage close or & dwelling house thereon, of which he the Said Edward had So taken possession & with his Servants & workmen was so employed as aforesaid, and then and there gently and without force did put out and remove him the said Edward with his Servants and workmen aforesaid from the said Messuage or dwelling house and Close; which are the same supposed breaking entering & Putting out, driving off expelling & removing interrupting & forcing to quit and keeping & continuing removed in the introduction to this Plea particularly mentioned & whereof he the Said Edward hath above Complained against him the Said Thomas, & this he is ready to verify: wherefore he prays judgment if the said Edward ought to have or maintain his action aforesaid thereof against him &c\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0293", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Plea in Livingston v. Jefferson on Ground of Jurisdiction, [ca. 28 February 1811]\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas,Livingston, Edward\nTo: United States Circuit Court, Virginia District\n              Jefferson\u2014dft\n              Livingston plt.\n          And the said defendant by George Hay William Wirt and Littleton Waller Tazewell his attornies in his proper person comes and defends the force and injury &c and saith that the said plaintiff ought not to have or maintain his said action thereof against him because he saith that the messuage or dwelling house & close or parcel of land being a part of a parcel of land known by the name of the Batture of the Suburb St Mary in the first and fifth counts of the plaintiffs declaration mentioned and the several closes in the second third fourth sixth seventh and eighth counts of the plaintiffs declaration mentioned, for the Supposed breaking and entering of which said messuage or dwelling house and Closes the Said action is brought are not situate lying and being within the Virginia district, or within the jurisdiction of this Court, but are situate lying and being in a territory of the United States of America called the territory of Orleans: and this he is ready to verify. wherefore he prays judgment whether the said plaintiff ought to have or maintain his said action thereof against him &c  in which Said territory there was at the time of the said Supposed trespasses and long before, and at the time of the institution of the plaintiffs said action and yet is a Court of Competent jurisdiction to try and decide upon all pleas of trespass, & all Courses of Action arising within the said territory, wherefore Since the house & land in the decl ment declaration mentioned are not within the  Va Virginia district and the jurisdiction of this Court but in the Said territory, the defendant prays judgment if the Court here will or ought to have further Conversance of the Plea aforesaid &c", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0295", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Plea in Livingston v. Jefferson on Ground of Justification to Abate a Nuisance, [ca. 28 February 1811]\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas,Livingston, Edward\nTo: United States Circuit Court, Virginia District\n          And the said Thomas, according to the statute in such case made and provided, and by leave of the Court, for further plea in this behalf saith, that as to the force and arms; and as to the breaking cutting in pieces and destroying of the goods & chattells of the said Edward, either by the said Thomas himself or by his servants; and as to the digging and raising, or causing to be dug and raised the soil of the said Edward, by him the said Thomas or by his servants; and as to the carrying away, or the causing the said soil to be carried away, by him the said Thomas or by his servants; and as to the converting the said soil to the use of him the said Thomas; and as to the cutting down the Banks of the said canals, by him the said Thomas or by his servants, and as to all the other trespasses above supposed to have been done by him the said Thomas or by his servants, (except as to the breaking & entering the messuages or dwelling houses and closes or parcels of land thereto adjoining in the first and fifth counts of the said declaration mentioned; and except also as to the breaking and entering the closes in the second and sixth counts of the said declaration mentioned, & the putting out expelling and removing the said Edward therefrom, and the keeping and continuing him the said Edward so expelled and removed therefrom, for the space of time in the said declaration in that respect mentioned; and also except as to the breaking and entering the said closes in the third and seventh counts in the said declaration mentioned, and the driving off expelling and removing therefrom the said Edward with his servants & workmen, and forcing them to interrupt and quit their work, and the keeping and continuing the said Edward so removed from the possession of the said closes, for the space of time in the said declaration in that respect mentioned; And also except as to the breaking and entering of the said closes in the fourth and eighth counts of the said declaration mentioned, and the driving off expelling & removing therefrom the said Edward with his servants and workmen, and forcing them to interrupt and quit their work, and the keeping and continuing the said Edward so removed from the possession of the said closes, for the space of time in the said declaration in that respect mentioned;) he is not guilty in manner and form as the said Edward hath above thereof complained against him; and of this he putteth himself upon the Country &c\u2014\n          And as to the other these the other supposed trespasses, to wit, the said breaking and entering the messuages or dwelling houses & closes or parcels of land thereto adjoining in the first and fifth counts in the said declaration mentioned, and also as to the breaking and entering the closes in the second and sixth counts of the said declaration mentioned, & the putting out expelling and removing the said Edward therefrom, and the keeping and continuing the said Edward so expelled & removed therefrom, for the space of time in the said declaration in that respect mentioned; and also as to the breaking and entering the said closes in the third and seventh counts of the said declaration mentioned, and the driving off removing and expelling therefrom the said Edward with his servants and workmen, and forcing them to interrupt and quit their work, and the keeping and continuing the said Edward so removed from the possession of the said closes, for the space of time in the said declaration in that respect mentioned; and also as to the breaking and entering the said closes in the fourth and eighth counts of the said declaration mentioned, and the driving off, removing and expelling therefrom the said Edward with his servants & workmen, and forcing them to interrupt and quit their work, and the keeping & continuing the said Edward so removed from the possession of the said closes, for the space of time in the said declaration in that respect mentioned; he the said Thomas saith, that he the said Edward ought not to have or maintain his said action thereof against him, because he saith, that the said several messuages, dwelling houses, closes and parcels of land in the several counts of the said declaration mentioned, are one & the same, or parts of one and the same messuage, dwelling house, close and parcel of land which said close is called and known as the Batture or Suburb of St Mary, and that they are not other or different, or parts of other or different messuages, dwelling houses and closes; And that long before the said time when the several trespasses in the declaration above supposed to be done by him, he the said Thomas had been, and at the several times when &ct\u2014he the said Thomas was, the President of the United States of America; And that the aforesaid messuage, and the said close or parcel of land called and known as the Batture of the Suburb St Mary are, & at the several times when &c were, and from time immemorial have been a part of the bed of the river Mississippi, which said river Mississippi, is now, & at the several times when &c was, and ever hath been a public and common navigable river, whose bed at the places aforesaid, in which &ct.\u2014is, and was and ever hath been alternately covered and uncovered by the regular swell and recess of the waters of the said river, during the period ofmonths at least in each and every year.\n          And the said Thomas further saith that before the time when &ct.\u2014 &ct.\u2014in &c\u2014 to wit on theday ofin the year of our Lord 180 at the parish ofin the county aforesaid & within the jurisdiction aforesaid he the said Edward wrongfully and unlawfully intruded himself into the said messuage and close, then and there being part of the bed of the said river Mississippi, and then uncovered by the waters of the said river; and that he the said Edward claiming the exclusive possession of the said messuage & close, on which he had so intruded himself, together with his servants and workmen then and there erected the dwelling house aforesaid, on the said messuage & close; and that he the said Edward employed himself and his said servants and workmen in then and there constructing and digging and making a canal, and a Levee, Dyke, or Embankment, of Earth, on the said messuage and close, while the same was uncovered by the waters of the Mississippi aforesaid, which said dwelling house, Canal, Levee, Embankment or Dyke when erected, would have greatly hindered and obstructed the navigations of the said river when at its highest point, & would also have greatly hindered and obstructed the common use of the bed of the said river when the waters thereof should again subside to their lowest point; for which reason, he the said Thomas as it was lawful for him to do as President of the U.S. United States aforesaid, for the necessary preservation & protection of the free navigation of the said River Mississippi when at its highest point & for the necessary preservation & protection of the common use of the said beds of the said River when the waters thereof should be at their lowest point, at the several times when &ct\u2014peaceably & without force entered the said messuage dwelling house & close aforesaid, in which &ct.\u2014& were so unlawfully hindering &ct\u2014as being part of the bed of such navigable river as aforesaid, while the same was uncovered as aforesaid, with the intent only of abating the nuisances which he the said Plaintiff with his servants & workmen was then & there erecting & had already then and there erected in the said messuage and close; And that he the said Thomas did then and there abate the said nuisance as by law he might, and did then and there gently remove the said Edward with his servants & workmen from off the said messuage & close, in order to effect the abatement of the said nuisances; which are the same supposed breaking and entering &c\u2014whereof &c\u2014and this he is ready to verify &c. Wherefore &ct.\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0296", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Plea in Livingston v. Jefferson on Ground of Justification under an Act of Congress, [ca. 28 February 1811]\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas,Livingston, Edward\nTo: United States Circuit Court, Virginia District\n          And the said Thomas, according to the statute in such case made &c and provided and by leave of the court, for further plea in this behalf saith, that as to the force and arms; & as to the breaking, cutting in pieces, and destroying of the goods and chattells of the said Edward, either by the said Thomas himself or by his servants; and as to the digging and raising, or the causing to be dug and raised the soil of the said Edward, by him the said Thomas or by his servants; and as to the carrying away, or the causing the said soil to be carried away, by him the said Thomas or by his servants, and as to the converting the said soil to the use of him the said Thomas; and as to the cutting down the banks of the said Canals, by him the said Thomas or by his servants; and as to all the other trespasses above supposed to have been done by him the said Thomas or by his servants; (except as to the breaking and entering the messuages or dwelling houses and closes or parcels of land thereto adjoining in the first and fifth counts of the said declaration mentioned; and except also as to the breaking & entering the closes in the second and sixth counts of the said declaration mentioned, and the putting out expelling and removing the said Edward therefrom, & the keeping & continuing him the said Edward so expelled & removed therefrom, for the space of time in the said declaration in that respect mentioned; and also except as to the breaking & entering of the said closes in the third and seventh counts of the said declaration mentioned, And the driving off expelling & removing therefrom the said Edward with his servants & workmen, and forcing them to interrupt and quit their work, & the keeping & continuing the said Edward so removed from the possession of the said closes, for the space of time in the said declaration in that respect mentioned; and also except as to the breaking & entering of the said closes in the fourth and eighth counts of the said declaration mentioned, & the driving off, expelling & removing therefrom the said Edward with his servants and workmen, and forcing them to interrupt and quit their work, & the keeping & continuing the said Edward so removed from the possession of the said closes, for the space of time in the said declaration in that respect mentioned;) he is not guilty in manner & form as the said Edward hath above thereof complained against him: & of this he putteth himself upon the country &c\n          And as to the other supposed trespasses to wit the said breaking and entering the messuages and closes or parcels of land thereto adjoining in the first & fifth counts of the said declaration mentioned; and also as to the breaking & entering the closes in the second & sixth counts of the said declaration mentioned, & the putting out expelling & removing the said Edward therefrom, and the keeping & continuing him the said Edward so expelled & removed therefrom, for the space of time in the said declaration in that respect mentioned; and also as to the breaking & entering of the said closes in the third and seventh counts of the said declaration mentioned, and the driving off, expelling and removing therefrom the said Edward with his servants & workmen, and forcing them to interrupt & quit their work, and the keeping & continuing the said Edward so removed from the possession of the said closes, for the space of time in the said declaration in that respect mentioned; and also as to the breaking & entering of the said closes in the fourth & eighth counts of the said declaration mentioned, and the driving off expelling & removing therefrom the said Edward with his servants & workmen, & forcing them to interrupt & quit their work, & the keeping & continuing the said Edward so removed from the possession of the said closes, for the space of time in the said declaration in that respect mentioned; he the said Thomas saith, that he the said Edward ought not to have or maintain his said action thereof against him, because he saith, that the said several messuages, dwelling houses closes & parcels of land in the several counts of the said declaration mentioned, are one & the same, or parts of one and the same messuage, dwelling house, close & parcel of land, which said close is known and called as the Batture of the Suburb of St Mary; & that they are not other or different, or parts of other or different messuages, dwelling houses & closes; and that long before the said time when the said trespasses in the said declaration mentioned are above supposed to be done by him the said Thomas to wit on th 30th day of April in the year\n          And that the aforesaid messuage and the said close or parcel of land called & known as the Batture of the Suburb of St Mary, are now, & at the several times when &ct. were, part and parcel of a territory of the United States, established by an act of the Congress of the United States, under the name of the Territory of Orleans, which said territory is a portion of the Country ceded by the first Consul of the French Republic, in the name of the French people Republic, to the said United States, forever, and in full sovereignty, under the name of the Colony or province of Louisianna, under and by virtue of a Treaty between the said U States of America & the French Republic, made & done at Paris, on the 30th day of April in the year of our Lord 1803, by virtue of which treaty, the aforesaid messuage and the said close or parcel of land called & known as the Batture of the Suburb of St Mary, became the absolute property of the said U States, vested in them in full sovereignty, dominion and possession: And the said Thomas further saith, that before the time when &ct. to wit on theday ofin the year of our Lord 180 in the County ofat the parish of& within the jurisdiction aforesaid, he the said Edward took possession of the said the said messuage & close, and with his servants and workmen erected the dwelling house aforesaid thereon, the same being land ceded or secured to the U States as aforesaid, by the treaty aforesaid; for which reason, he the said Thomas, afterwards, to wit on theday ofat the parish & County & within the jurisdiction aforesaid (he the said Thomas being then and there President of the said U States) did in his character & office of President aforesaid, under and by virtue of an act of the Congress of the U States, passed on the 3d day of March in the year of our Lord 1807, & entitled \u201cAn act to prevent settlements being made on lands of the U States, until authorised by him,\u201d issue an order in writing, directed tothe Marshal of the said Territory of Orleans, thereby commanding him the said Marshal, in the name & for the benefit of the said U States, to remove from the lands messuage & close aforesaid, any & every person or persons, who should be found on the same, & who should not have obtained permission to remain thereon according to the provisions of the said act by virtue of which said order, he the said Marshal at the several times when & at the places where &ct\u2014. did enter on the said messuage, close & dwelling house thereon, of which he the said Edward had so taken possession, and with his servants & workmen had so wrongfully and unlawfully intruded themselves made a settlement thereon, and then and there gently & without force, did put out & remove him the said Edward with his servants & workmen aforesaid, from the possession, occupation & enjoyment of the said messuage, dwelling house & close in which he the said Edward &ct which are the same supposed breaking & entering, putting out, driving off, expelling & removing, interupting and forcing to quit & keeping and continuing removed in the introduction to this plea above particularly mentioned, whereof he the said Edward hath above complained against him the said Thomas and this he is ready to verify. Wherefore he prays judgment if the said Edward ought to have or maintain his action aforesaid thereof against him &ct.\u2014.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0297", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Motion to Dismiss Livingston v. Jefferson, [ca. 28 February 1811]\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas,Livingston, Edward\nTo: United States Circuit Court, Virginia District\n              DemurrerIn Bar.\n              Livingston\n          And the said Thomas by his attorney comes & defends the force and injury &c, as to the second, fifth, sixth, seventh & eighth counts of the said declaration, he the said Thomas saith, that the same, & the matters therein contained, are not sufficient in law, for the said Edward to maintain his action aforesaid, against him the said Thomas had; to which said second, fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth counts, he the said Thomas hath no necessity, nor is he by the law of the land obliged, in any manner to answer; & this he is ready to verify; Wherefore for want of a sufficient second, fifth, sixth, seventh & eighth count to the said declaration in this behalf, he the said Thomas prays judgment as to the said several counts before mentioned, if he the said Edward ought to have  his action aforesaid, thereof maintained against him the said Thomas &ct.\n          And for causes of demurrer in bar in this behalf, the said Thomas according to the statute in such case made, doth set down, & to the court here express these causes following to wit; \n Because he the said Edward, in the said second & sixth counts, demands damages of him the said Thomas, for wrongs done by him the said Thomas, to the said close, after the possession of him the said Edward thereof had ceased, by reason of his expulsion and a motion from the same.\n Because the wrongs stated & averred in the said fifth, sixth, seventh & eighth counts, are therein stated & averred to have been done by him the said Thomas, \u201cwith his servants,\u201d & the said servants are not made parties to the suit, are not named in any of the said counts, nor is it therein in any way stated or averred, that the said servants were unknown to the said Edward.\n Because in the said seventh & eighth counts, there are divers vacant spaces, wanting words to signify & express the place where the action of the said Edward in this behalf is laid, & from wherein whence Venire ought to come.\n Because in the same declaration, two several causes of action are joined, altho\u2019 those actions are therein averred and laid in different places, & within different jurisdictions, the one in the District of Virginia, & the other in the Territory of Orleans.\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "02-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0299", "content": "Title: Notes on Shipping Costs for Flour, [February 1811]\nFrom: Morris & Dunnington,Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: \n 1 bl Sfine flour Sold at\n              freight & provisions,\n toll\n              Storage & Cooperage\n              leaves to the Purchase if not ductd\n          verso, in TJ\u2019s hand:\n            Estimate of the expence of a barrel of Superfine flour from Lynchbg to Richmond Feb. 1811.\n            for a load of 50. barrells is\n         toll & drayage\n         storage & cooperage\n         present market price at Richmond\n            Net proceeds\n            do on 5\u00bd bushels of wheat, is pr bushel \n            which is 8/10\u00bd pr bushel", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0301", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 1 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           Lest your failing to forward a note in time to renew yours in the bank should occasion you some uneasiness, I have concluded to inform you that it has not been attended with the smallest inconvenience: the situation of G & J\u2019s account in the bank at this time being such, as to enable them to raise the money by putting in their own note.\n          Had it been at all important, I should probably have forwarded a copy of my last letter to Poplar Forest, to guard against your detention by bad weather; which I have no doubt was the cause of my not hearing from you.\n            I am Dear Sir Your Very humble servt\n Geo. Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0303", "content": "Title: Robert Wash to Thomas Jefferson, 1 March 1811\nFrom: Wash, Robert\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I have taken the liberty of enclosing you, a rude Map of the surrounding Country. The number & relative positions of the principal Rivers, Villages &C. of the settled parts of this Territory, have been sketched I believe, with tolerable accuracy.\n          This recommendation may possibly obtain procure it an occasional reference, until the appearance of some well executed Map.\n            If this rude draught, should add in the slightest degree to the pleasure you will derive from perusing the numbers in the Louisiana Gazette,  I shall be more than compensated for the little labour & pains I have bestowed on it.\u2014\n           Mr Crafts, is a Gentleman from N. York of very considerable intelligence, & possessed of much useful information concerning this, & many other parts of the Union. To him I beg leave to refer you for every thing of a local or Territorial nature. The correct & satisfactory information which he is prepared to give you on very many important Subjects, is the only appology I can offer for the liberty I have taken in making him known to you.    \n            Yrs Sincerely\n R: Wash", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0304", "content": "Title: Andr\u00e9 Tho\u00fcin to Thomas Jefferson, 2 March 1811\nFrom: Tho\u00fcin, Andr\u00e9\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Monsieur et v\u00e9n\u00e9rable Collegue\n           J\u2019ai l\u2019honneur de vous donner avis que je vous adresse du port de l\u2019orient, par un Navire americain, une petite caisse de Semences de v\u00e9g\u00e9taux etrangers \u00e0 l\u2019amerique Septentrionale. Elles Sont au nombre de plus de 200 Especes differentes. Choisies parmi celles et de grand arbres dont les bois peuvent etre utiles aux arts 2e d\u2019arbrisseaux et d\u2019arbustes utiles \u00e0 l\u2019ornement des bosquets. 3e de Plantes vivaces pittoresques, 4e de fleurs de Parterres et 5e et enfin de Plantes d\u2019usage en medecine et dans toutes les branches de l\u2019Economie rurale et domestique. Je desire que cet envoi vous arrive \u00e0 bon port, qu\u2019il vous Soit agr\u00e9able et qu\u2019il vous reusisse bien.\n           Je ne Sais Si celui que je vous ait adress\u00e9, en fevrier de l\u2019ann\u00e9e derniere, par M. Warden, vous est parvenu n\u2019ayant receu aucune lettre de vous, Monsieur, depuis celle dat\u00e9e de Monticello du 18 Mai 1809.\n            Permettez moi Monsieur et Venerable Collegue de vous renouveller l\u2019assurence de ma haute consideration et de mon tres respectueux attachement\n Tho\u00fcin\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n              Sir and venerable Colleague\n             I have the honor of informing you that I am sending to you from the port of Lorient, via an American ship, a small crate of vegetable seeds foreign to North America. They consist of more than 200 species. Among them are large trees whose wood may be useful to the arts; 2. small trees and shrubs useful to the design of groves; 3. colorful perennials; 4. flowers for parterres; and lastly, 5. plants of use in medicine and in all the branches of rural and domestic economy. I hope that this shipment reaches you safely, pleases you, and meets with success in your hands.\n            I do not know whether the parcel I sent you in February of last year, care of Mr. Warden, reached you. I have received no letter from you, Sir, since the one from Monticello dated 18 May 1809.\n              Allow me, Sir and venerable colleague, to reiterate the assurance of my high consideration and respectful devotion\n Tho\u00fcin", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0305", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to George Hay, 3 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Hay, George\n           I left this place on the 27th of January for Bedford from whence I did not get back till yesterday. I found here your letter of Jan. 25. and regret much that this circumstance had rendered the return of the papers now inclosed impossible at the day prescribed, Feb. 22. but I hope you will have filed the pleas without waiting for my judgment. indeed that was not worth consulting; because of all branches of the law, that of the niceties of pleading least attracted my respect or attention; and our judges of that day being plain country gentlemen, gave no encouragement to scruples of pleading. I have read over the pleas however, and think they bring every thing material into issue. but I must beg leave to rest this entirely on the judgments of my Counsel. a single question occurred to me on a prim\u00e2 facie reading, whether the plea that the locus in quo was parcel of the bed of the river, leaves us at liberty to prove it a part of the bank if the judges or jury should consider it as the bank, but not the bed of the river? if you had concluded it did, no doubt it is right as it stands; but if it had slipped your attention, this suggestion may bring it under your consideration.\n           I have a letter from Gov. Claiborne of Jan. 24. saying his legislature would meet in 4. days, and would probably take up the case of the Batture. I am anxious to see what they do.  I hope for their aid generally and that we may have it in time for facilitating the examination of witnesses, for which I will now immediately make the preparation which mr Tazewell desired me to do. by the time I have prepared it, I hope to be able, with that, to let you know what part they will take in the business. I salute you with perfect esteem & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0306", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to George Jefferson, 3 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Jefferson, George\n            My letter of Feb. 9. from Poplar Forest informed you of the sale of my tobo and of the disagreeable situation of my wheat crop in Bedford.  I staid there till the last day of February in the hope of withdrawing it from the mill there and sending it down to Scott\u2019s to be ground and forwarded to Richmond. but altho\u2019 the mill dam was carried away a second time they refused to let me withdrawing withdraw my wheat. they think themselves safe in assuring me that it will be delivered ground in 3. weeks.  there will be about 250. barrels, out of which a sum of a little over 900. D will be to be paid to messrs Morris & Dunnington as soon as the flour shall have been disposed of by you. I find on my return here yesterday your favor of the 15th inclosing a note for renewal for Feb. 26. I regret extremely my recieving it so late. I now sign and inclose it. before another renewal, you will recieve the amount of my tobo about 3000.D. to be applied to the reduction of this note, after which I should be glad to sign the new notes so long beforehand as to prevent any lapse like the present being occasioned by my journies to Bedford, which take place 3. or 4 times a year and keep me absent near a month at a time. I have not yet had time to enquire whether they have begun yet to send off my wheat flour from this place. the tobacco here is not ready yet.\u2014Have you been able to find any good sallad oil for me? Affectionately yours\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0307", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Peter Minor, 3 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Minor, Peter\n           I received, just as I was preparing for a journey to Bedford, your letter of Jan. 15. informing me that the Directors of the Rivanna Company had changed their first resolution of carrying the navigation thro\u2019 my canal, and had determined to follow the bed of the river: that in that case they would consider my mill dam as an obstruction to the navigation, and a lock to pass it necessary; and whether that should be built and maintained at their or my expence was a question which they proposed to refer to arbitration. I immediately, by letter, expressed my acquiescence, from a desire to make everything as easy to themselves & their object as consists with the most moderate attention to my own rights and reasonable interests. revolving the subject afterwards, in the same spirit of lessening collisions with them, it occurred that I could save them the trouble even of an arbitration, it shall no longer be an obstacle, I will remove it to it\u2019s foundation, in such place as the Directors shall desire, and of the width deemed necessary for the passage of boats. the two sections of the dam, then performing the office of wing-dams, will give greater depth to the sluice, and aid, instead of impeding, the passage of boats. I must, in that case, make abutments, below the broken ends, sufficient for their support, & sluice-gates to be kept shut when no boat is passing. in this way the natural bed of the river will be laid open to their use, and the ground of the reference proposed be entirely done away, besides removing the obstacle. I continue to them the assurance of every aid & accomodation which my lands adjacent can afford, as heretofore proffered them, and avail myself of the first moments of my return to inform them of the satisfaction I derive from thus withdrawing the difficulties which have hitherto embarrassed us. I salute them & yourself with sentiments of perfect esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0308", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Skelton Jones, 4 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Jones, Skelton\n           An absen absence of upwards of a month from this place has put it out of my power sooner to acknolege the reciept of your favor of Jan. 15. on my return home I make it my first duty to offer you this apology for the delay of my answer. I was under the necessity of visiting, in a very inclement season, a possession I have in Bedford, near 100. miles from this, where I have continued from January till the beginning of this month, endeavoring to get my crop there prepared and sent to Richmond as early as possible.  I have the prospect that in 3. or 4. weeks my flour will be ready and sent down, till which I have no funds at my command in Richmond or elsewhere. as soon as this shall put it in my power, I shall with pleasure furnish you the accomodation you ask, should not these delays, unavoidable on my part render it too late for your purpose. being now merely a farmer, without other resource than the annual incoming of the crop of the year, like my brethren in that line, I have the command of money but at that season, accompanied too with the accumulated calls of the year for it\u2019s application. accept the assurances of my regret as well for your want, as my necessary delay on this occasion and of my great esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0309", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Mary Page, 4 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Page, Mary\n            Dear Madam\n           Your favor of Jan. 2. by some unusual course of the post was near a month before it reached this place, to which a further delay has been added by my absence of upwards of a month from home, to which I returned but two days ago. I make it among my first duties to acknolege it\u2019s reciept, to offer this apology for so late a reply, and to give you assurances of the pleasure I should recieve from any act of service, I could render any member of my late friend\u2019s family. his merit, & my estimation of it authorised him to count on any attentions which his friends could render to his family.  to my wishes however of being useful, my present situation is not friendly, and the want of a more particular knoledge of mr J. T. Page\u2019s views, acquirements & habits of life, render it difficult even to suggest any openings for occupation which might suit him. you mention the place of a clerk as one he would be willing to undertake. there are at Washington a great number of clerkships in the offices of the departments of the government, which offer an easy service, and salaries equal to the maintenance of a single man. I know also however that the vacancies in them are not frequent & the competitors numerous.  the friendship of the President, I am sure would induce him to befriend your son, in case of any vacancy. should he prefer the occupation of the law in the Western country, one of those you mention as within his view, it would certainly make him more independant & contented. his success in that would depend on himself alone and would open a prospect of bettering his situation. in the army & navy offer frequent openings for appointment, in which again we might count on the friendship of the President. if any thing which either my self or my friends can do may aid him in any pursuit wherein our agency can be used, I freely tender every good office I can render him, and avail my self with great pleasure of this occasion of renewing to you the assurances of my friendship & attachment & offering the homage of my sincere & high respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0310", "content": "Title: Dudley Richardson to Thomas Jefferson, 4 March 1811\nFrom: Richardson, Dudley\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Most Worthey Sir\n            Kentucky Barren Countey Glasgow Post office March the 4h 1811\n           I hope you will Pardon me For Pestering you with Letters But Rely on your Tender Cear for your Fellow Man. I wood be glad to know if you have heard from my Son Richard Richardson Since I Rote you 1810 & to know if he Has got aney Letter from me or from George Richardson. As I am Desirous of Hearing from him as I am at a Loss to know how I Can Convay A Letter to him as have Got No Account from him onley from the One you was so kind to Rite me I am with Respect yr Ob Svt\n            Richardson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0311", "content": "Title: Caesar A. Rodney to Thomas Jefferson, 4 March 1811\nFrom: Rodney, Caesar A.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Honored & Dear Sir,\n            WashingtonMarch 4th 1811.\n            Your letter enclosing the additional observations on the subject of the Batture directed to me at this place way was received on my arrival here on the first of february. Since that time I have read them with much pleasure & satisfaction, & highly approve of them.  The President Mr Gallatin & Mr Smith have all had the perusal of them & I believe concur with me in opinion. The Dundee case is so interwoven with facts & circumstances that it is difficult to separate the law which is blended in the same mass. I think you have made the most of it.\n          The course you contemplate pursuing on the trial, is correct & judicious The general issue will open wide the door of discussion & will enable you to enter fully into an investigation of the merits of the whole case provided you can bring in a legal shape all the necessary facts before the Court. It will not be a matter of difficulty afterwards to support the plea of justification\n          Your objections to the jurisdiction of the court, as they relate to the subject matter of the suit, or the person of the Plaintiff, are wisely reserved for a motion in arrest of judgment, should that become necessary. I should not be surprised however, if the court, before the cause progresses very far should declare they had no jurisdiction of the case. With us this is not unusual, tho\u2019 there be no plea to the jurisdiction; as the want of it, may be taken advantage of at any moment, when it may be presented to the mind of the court.\n            The personal affair between Mess Eppes & Randolph which has agitated the public mind for some days past I am just told is happily arranged by mutual friends. With great respect I remain Dr Sir\n            Yours Truly & affectionately.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0312", "content": "Title: John Harvie to Thomas Jefferson, 5 March 1811\nFrom: Harvie, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Rockingham March 5th 1811\n           I am sorry to be delinquent in discharging my note to you at the time it became due but it has proceeded from a failure in those opportunities of remittance which I had calculated upon and the difficulty of procuring others as substitutes. I had confidently expected to remit the money by a very safe had hand in the latter end of February but was disappointed in the crossing of the mountain of the gentleman who intended it. I then looked forward to a transmission by some person going over to the march Court of your County but was again left in the lurch. but at last found a safe opportunity in the gentleman (Mr Carthrae) who hands you this letter. He will pay you one hundred and thirty dollars sixty nine cents and take up my obligation which I forwarded to you under with the others under a blank cover some months ago, and which I presume you have received as I put the paper into the hands of Mr Garth of Charlottesville to send to you, and have never heard from you ab since about them\n            Yrs respectfully\n John Harvie", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0314", "content": "Title: David Bailie Warden to Thomas Jefferson, 5 March 1811\nFrom: Warden, David Bailie\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n             I have the pleasure of informing you that the President, on the 2d Instant, was pleased to nominate me as Consul t at Paris, and the nomination was confirmed, the following day, by the Unanimous vote of the Senate.  I have proposed to embark with mr. Barlow, but am, this day, advised, for several reasons, political, as well as private, to embark on the John Adams, which, the Secretary of the navy informs me, will depart from Newport, near Boston, about ten days from this date, tho\u2019 he is not yet informed whether she be arrived at that Port. I have some business to arrange at Philadelphia & New york, which will detain me a day at each of those places\u2014and, I propose to leave Washington tomorrow\u2014 It will afford me great pleasure to take charge of your letters for France, which the President of the united States, or Dr Bullus will forward to me at Newport\u2014\n            Please to send me a list of any french Books which you may wish to possess.  Mrs. Randolph proposed by me to a Lady in Paris: and mr. Randolph promised me a sketch of your present mode of agriculture.  I wish much to carry with me a Copy of your \u201cmanual of parliamentary practice\u201d Accept, Sir, my sincere and grateful thanks for the interest you have been pleased to employ in my success. I will endeavor to be worthy of it by a faithful discharge of the duties of my office, and by an active support of the present administration\u2014I am highly pleased with the character and conduct of the President and sincerely hope that the plan of deviding the Republican party may soon be defeated\u2014\n              I am, Sir, with the highest esteem and respect your very obliged Sert\n D. B. Warden\n            ps\u2014Please to inform mrs Randolph that it will give me pleasure to send her any articles from Paris, of which she may furnish me the list\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0315-0001", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Ezekiel Bacon, 6 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Bacon, Ezekiel\n            It was unfortunate that your letter of Feb. 2. arrived here just as I had set out on a journey which kept me from home upwards of a month. I found it here on my return on the 2d of March, the day before Congress were of course to close their session. I have taken time deliberately to make the examination desired. it\u2019s result will be found in the paper now inclosed, together with the copies you sent for my examination. I avail myself of this occasion of assuring you of my continued esteem & respect.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0315-0002", "content": "Title: Enclosure: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Memorandum on Correspondence with James Wilkinson, 6 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas,Wilkinson, James,Bacon, Ezekiel\nTo: \n            (a) my letter list does not acknolege the reciept of this letter, but my memory does. it was probably inclosed in one of some other date, considered merely as an inclosure & therefore not entered in the list as a distinct letter.\n            Misipiterrity\n            Washington\n            (b) No 74. no date to the copy, but from it\u2019s number it must have been between Nov. 28. & Dec. 9. 06. my letter list does not attest the reciept of any letter from Genl Wilkinson within that interval. yet I think I recollect it\u2019s contents, if I recieved it it ought to be found in the bundle I delivered the Atty Genl\n            , and the day of it\u2019s reciept endorsed in my handwriting.\n            (c) My letter list does not attest the reciept of this letter, nor does my memory enable me to say either that I did, or did not recieve it. if I recieved it, it would of course be put into the bundle of papers respecting Burr, & the day of it\u2019s reciept endorsed in my hand.\n            Natchitoches\n            NewOrleans\n            NewOrleans\n            NewOrleans\n            Richmond\n            Richmond\n            Washington\n            Washington\n            Washington.\n            Washington\n            Carlisle\n            The list on the two preceding pages contains the date of every letter I recieved from Genl Wilkinson during the time I was in the administration of the government. the Ist column presents the dates of the letters now in my possession. the IId those noted in my letter list as recieved from Genl Wilkinson, but which are not now in my possession.  as they related to Burr\u2019s conspiracy, they were put into the hands of the Attorney General, mr Rodney. some perhaps may have been deposited in the War office, as merely relating to that department. the IIId column gives the dates of the letters of Genl Wilkinson communicated to me by the honble Ezekiel Bacon for verification. it will be seen by the Ist column that I am not in possession of a single original of those in Column IIId. these comprehend exactly the period of Burr\u2019s conspiracy; and the whole of them were delivered to the Atty Genl for the purposes of the trial. I have however carefully read the copies communicated by mr Bacon, and recollect well the great mass of their contents; nor do I find any thing in the parts not specifically recollected, but what accords with the general impressions I retain of the transactions. I have no doubt therefore of the fidelity of the copies. but the originals will certainly be found either in the hands of the Attorney General, or in the office of State; and every one of them endorsed in my handwriting with the name of the writer, date of time & place, and the day of it\u2019s reciept by me.\n            Certified this 6th day of March 1811.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0317", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Robert Patterson, 7 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Patterson, Robert\n           I had thought that the copies of the Nautical Almanac which you had been so kind as to furnish me with some time ago, had included the present year, till I had occasion to use one, and found myself mistaken. having no other medium of obtaining it at present this moment, I have indulged myself with the hope that your friendship would permit me to ask the favor of you to send me that of the present & subsequent years so far as they have hitherto been published. I can only forward a bill of our own bank, which however I believe the banks with you are in the habit of changing. the books may be forwarded by post. I presume that mr Garnet\u2019s edition continues to be published as heretofore, and that it keeps pace with that of England. Accept assurances of my constant friendship and respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0318", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Mary Stith, 7 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Stith, Mary\n            Dear Madam\n           In the year 1753. your father, mine, Colo Fry, Dr Hopkins, Major Meriwether and mr Scott purchased of Philip Mayo a tract of 400. as of land in this county (Albemarle) on the branches of Hardware, for the sum of seventeen pounds.  the land itself was deemed, as it now is, of little or no value; but the vein of Limestone which passes from North to South through this state, shews itself in this tract, and as all of them had valuable lands not very distant, they supposed the use of the limestone might become a convenience worth the 9. or 10. dollars a piece they were to pay.  mr Stith then held Edgehill about a dozen miles on this side of the tract, and the Barringer\u2019s creek estate, 8. miles on the other side. mine  my father held the lands I live on adjoining Edgehill, and those my brother holds, 10 miles on the other side, to whom the share in the Limestone tract was given. he sold it to me some years ago for \u00a310. being about the original cost of the share, with 5. per cent simple interest on it to that time.  two persons have taken & held possession of about half the tract, one of them upwards of 50. years, & the other nearly as long, under claims unknown to me. some of our copartners desire to bring suits to oust these persons, and cannot do so it without making us either plaintiffs or defendants. I doubt whether the object is worth the expence, were the event of the suit more certain than it is, as to the oldest tenant at least. but on the whole I have thought it better to be a plaintiff than a defendant: and they have requested me to ask of you to join on the same side of the action. it is taken for granted the title to your father\u2019s portion is in you, as we have not heard of it\u2019s being sold, by his representatives, to whom indeed it is probable that their right to this small piece of property was unknown. the object of this letter therefore is to request that your name may be joined in the action with the co-plaintiffs, and it is for your information of the nature of the case that I have entered into all these details. may I ask the honor of an answer on this subject?\n          I avail myself of this occasion of recalling myself to your recollection. I imagine our acquaintance is of longer standing than that of either of us with any other person now living. I believe it goes back to about 1748. or 1749. I recollect the infantile scenes in which we participated with peculiar pleasure even at this day, and I beg leave to tender you the assurances of uninterrupted friendship, esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0319", "content": "Title: John Threlkeld to Thomas Jefferson, 7 March 1811\nFrom: Threlkeld, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            George Town Mar 7th 1811\n           my Daughter Jane intended the enclosed to go by Mr Eppes but he did not call as She is verry Desirous it should go & I dont know how Particularly to Address it I have taken the liberty to Enclosed Enclose to you for which I hope you will Excuse me all my Family desire health & happiness to you in which they are Joined,\n            by your  obedt Hum Ser\n John Threlkeld", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0320", "content": "Title: Dominick Barthe to Thomas Jefferson, 8 March 1811\nFrom: Barthe, Dominick\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Philadelphia March 8th 1811.\n           I Have the Honour of forwarding to You per Mail, a Package intrusted to my care at St Petersburg by Mr Levett Harris. I had flattered myself with the prospect of getting here early in november last, but the Brig on board of which I was Supercargo having been detained by the British in coming out of the Sound and Sent to London; my return home has been delayed considerably, although vessel & cargo were restored without trial.\n          I have the Honour to be Respectfully, \n            Sir, Your most Obedient Humble Servant", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0321", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 8 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I duly received your favor of the 3d inclosing a note for renewal in the bank, which is in good time.  The sallad-oil should have been procured & forwarded as you directed, but I was told there was none good in Town.\u2014 some has arrived within this day or two, which the holders say is good: but that is so nearly a thing of course, that I will endeavour to learn before Harry\u2019s arrival again, from some one who shall have tryed it, if it is really good.\u2014As to myself, I know nothing about it, as I never use it.\u2014 I generally get Mr Gibson to choose it for my friends, but he has now been confined to his house four weeks by indisposition.\n           An opportunity a few days since occurred of asking Mr Graham, without impropriety as I thought, for some grape-slips for you.\u2014he readily promised some, provided you would inform him what kinds you now have.\u2014Had I been at all intimate with him, I would have asked him for a few of all the different kinds he has: (about 12 or 14)\u2014but that not being the case, and understanding too, that he is a very singular Man; and particular in conferring favors in his own way only, I merely promised to give you the information.\n            I am Dear Sir Your Very humble servt\n Geo. Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0322", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 8 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Richmond 8th March 1811\n           You will probably have heard before this reaches you, of my appointment as Consul to Lisbon.\n          I have not yet received the Commission, and hope that the hurry after the close of the Session may cause it to be delayed, until I shall have time to hear from you in reply to this letter: as it would be with extreme reluctance that I should decline accepting of an appointment, obtained by your kindly interesting yourself in my behalf, and especially without previously consulting you.\n          I fear however that there is an insurmountable difficulty in the way of my acceptance.\n          Mr Gibson as you know, has for several years past been in a very ill state of health.\u2014his Father, who has not seen him for 15 or 16 years, and who is upwards of 70 years of age, has repeatedly expressed a very earnest desire to see him once more\u2014 and within this year or two, has been particularly urgent with him to go over to England, not for that reason only, but to ascertain if the Doctors there can restore him to health, of which he has very sanguine expectations.\n          Mr G. had at length determined on going this spring, to which effect he has long since written to his Father.\u2014How can I my dear Sir can I, under such circumstances, think of leaving the Country, and of consequently disappointing him, when his life perhaps depends on his going?\n          It would be ungenerous under any circumstances, for a person to leave his partner on such short notice; but in my case, it would be particularly so: as Mr G. with a decent capital, and a rich Father, took me by the hand when a young Man wholly unknown in business, except merely as a clerk in a public office\u2014and that too, without a shilling of money.\n          I suppose it would be entirely out of the question for me to expect to be allowed to delay my departure until Mr G\u2019s return, which from this time, would be at least 8 or 9 months: as, from Mrs G\u2019s particular situation, it will be about 2 months before he will be able to leave her. The only possible chance that occurs to me is, the being allowed to let Mr G. act for me for a short time, which he would be willing to do, in the hope of the climate being of service to his health, provided he were to be permitted, after a few months stay, to make a short visit to England, after which he would return here, and then I could go.\n          My reason for troubling you with this letter is to ask, if there would be any impropriety in my making making such a proposal? I greatly fear there would be; as I do not suppose, if a Consul is allowed to appoint any one to act under him at all, it is ever done unless he is in office, at the place of his destination, & compelled for a time to be absent. If the appointment is made by the Goverment, then it would be wholly out of the question for it to be given to Mr G., who is a federalist, although to be sure a very moderate one.\u2014 His sense of propriety is such however, that I could trust him, although the President ought not, even in so subordinate a station: for I am satisfied that he would in such a case act as he supposed I would do were I present, whatever his own wishes or opinions might be.\u2014It must be confessed however, that he might be influenced without being sensible of it, to decide wrong.\u2014On the other hand it may be said, (as I suppose) that no case where party feelings could operate, can be expected to occur at Lisbon.\n          I am going on however to make these random observations, and to trouble you with this long letter, I dare say very unnecessarily\u2014but I know that your great goodness will excuse me: if I were not well assured of that, I certainly should not have taken such a liberty.\n          I hope my dear Sir it is not necessary for me to add, that if you suppose the President would feel the smallest embarrassment on your account, or the least difficulty on any other, that I would relinquish the office even if I knew I could make a fortune by it in one year, sooner than I would say a word to him on the subject.\u2014Hoping to hear from you before I shall be compelled to decide, I am\n            My dear Sir Your greatly obliged and ever grateful friend & servt\n Geo. Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0325", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 8 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Short, William\n           I now make frequent journies to Bedford, and make long staysthere, having a good house and accomodations there. I am just returned thence, after an absence of five weeks, and find here your letter of Jan. 30. I had left this on the 27th. to this you must sometimes ascribe the not recieving timely answers from me, & sometimes to my  the repugnance with which I go to my writing table. my occupations without doors employ the great mass of my time, and repose, society and some reading while within. your letter of Dec. 31. was recieved in due time, and the one to Price in it.  I had laid it in a Cartoon where I habitually lay the letters I have to send off, writing letters afterwards for the post & putting them in the same place, when I came to deliver them to the messenger, I unheedingly delivered him the whole, telling him at the same time to come to me on his return to carry a letter to mr Price. he came accordingly and then I first discovered I had given him Price\u2019s letter with the rest.  I immediately sent him back to the post office to ask for Price\u2019s letter and recieved for answer from the Postmaster that he had sent off all my letters. imagining that Price or some neighbor had been at Milton and taken his letter, I thought no more of it till Price called on me some weeks after, & on my asking, told me he had never recieved it. I presume the Postmaster had inattentively sent it with my other letters by the Northern mail.\n           I am really sorry for the misfortune of mrs Church. it could not have fallen on more worth. commerce, in the way it is carried on here is mere gambling, and those who are constantly playing \u2018double or quit\u2019 must of course break: and so do all commercial men here except mere retailers, who are content with small & sure gains.\n            ever affectionately yours\n Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0328", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Melish, 10 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Melish, John\n          I thank you for your letter of Feb. 16. and the communication of that you had forwarded to the President.in his hands it may be turned to public account: in mine it is only evidence of your zeal for the general good. having served my tour of duty my occupations are now in quite a different line, more suited to my age, my interests and inclinations. having served my tour of duty, I leave public cares to younger and more vigorous minds, and repose my personal well being under their guardianship, in perfect confidence of it\u2019s safety. our ship is sound, the crew alert at their posts, and our ablest steersman at it\u2019s helm. that she will make a safe port I have no doubt; and that she may, I offer to heaven my daily prayers, the proper function of age, and add to yourself the assurance of my respect.\n            Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0329", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to James Wilkinson, 10 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Wilkinson, James\n           Your favor of Jan. 21. has been recieved, and with it the 2d vol. of your Memoirs, with the Appendices to the 1st 2d & 4th volumes, for which accept my thanks. I shall read them with pleasure. the expression respecting myself, stated in your letter to have been imputed to you by your calumniators, had either never been heard by me, or, if heard, had been unheeded & forgotten. I have been too much the butt of such falsehoods myself to do others the injustice of permitting them to make the least impression on me. my consciousness that no man on earth has me under his thumb, e is evidence enough that you never used the expression.  Daniel Clarke\u2019s book I have never seen, nor should I put Tacitus or Thucydides out of my hand to take that up. I am even leaving off the Newspapers, desirous to disengage myself from the contentions of the world, and consign to entire tranquility, and to the kinder passions what remains to me of life. I look back with commiseration on those still buffeting the storm, and sincerely wish your Argosy may ride out, unhurt, that in which it is engaged. my belief is that it will, and I found that belief on my own knowlege of Burr\u2019s transactions, on my view of your conduct in encountering them, & on the candour of your judges. I salute you with my best wishes & entire respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0330", "content": "Title: Richard Barry to Thomas Jefferson, 11 March 1811\nFrom: Barry, Richard\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Washington City March 11th 1811\n           I have writen written to you about six weeks ago to inform you that I would want my money the 20th of March in which I earnestly solicted solicited as an answer by return of post and not hearing from you since am obligated to trouble you again I assure Sir If I had any other source to supply my wants at present I would not call on you at present your compliance will ever oblige\u2014\n            Your Hble Servt\n Richard Barry", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0331", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to George Jefferson, 11 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Jefferson, George\n           Yours of the 8th came to hand last night. I had not before heard of your appointment to Lisbon, but sincerely congratulate you on it. it is one of three of the most lucrative consulships of the US. and the most agreeable of the three. it will suit you the better as the our language is so familiarly spoken there. I am really sorry for the circumstances which embarras your acceptance, but they must not prevent it. the sentiments of friendship and gratitude you express towards mr Gibson are honorable to yourself, justly due to him, and I shall be the last man in the world to approve the sacrifice of a moral duty to any prospect of gain. I hope all may be reconciled, as I have no doubt mr Gibson will be disposed to shorten his visit to England as much as is consistent with it\u2019s object rather than you should lose an establishment which may influence the fortunes of your life. if he can be back before the next meeting of Congress in December, I think that that delay may be contrived for you. I would advise you to accept, with the usual thankfulness, to express to the Secretary of state, from whom the commission will come to you, \u2018your regret that being engaged in commerce, some time will be requisite to place your business in such a state as that it may be left, and the more so as your partner happens to be on the point of departure for England which will occasion his absence also for a few months; but that nothing shall be spared on your part to shorten the necessary delay, which it may be hoped, during the present check & embarrasment of the commerce of Lisbon, may prove less injurious than at any other time.\u2019 at the same time let those around you always suppose that you are within three months, two months, one month of your departure, to prevent medling and rival persons from drawing the attention to your delay and probably no objection will be made to it. should the Secretary of State, after some months, press your departure (which is not very probable) inform me of it immediately, and I will join my sollicitations to yours to obtain the further necessary delay. in this way, I have no doubt you may remain till Congress meets, without disapprobation. after that, it might draw unpleasant reflections on the government. I have the more confidence in the indulgence necessary for you, because the Consuls have never been refused permission to come home for a twelvemonth. mr Lee is now here on such indulgence, and I have no doubt that mr Jarvis, your predecessor, counted on staying as long as you may propose to do it. in this way I hope that the benefit of this appointment may be preserved to you, until mr Gibson can return, & all injury to his & your business be prevented.\n                The two last Merino ewes have brought the scab into my flock of sheep, which is now generally infected with it. the oil of turpentine is the principal ingredient in the remedy for it. but it would take more than our apothecaries could furnish here, and at their exorbitant prices. will you be so good as to send me a gallon by mr Randolph\u2019s boat. I expect you have recieved 6. tons of plaister for me, which is to be forwarded by the same boat. Affectionately yours\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0333", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to David Bailie Warden, 11 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Warden, David Bailie\n           Mr Burwell is this moment arrived here, and our post in the instant of it\u2019s departure.  the inclosed letter happens to have been ready written and I am extremely anxious to have it delivered into the hands of M. Tracy without the possibility of it\u2019s being opened by the government. mr Burwell thinks if I inclose it to you by this post it may get to N. York before you will have sailed. I therefore hasten to inclose & dispatch it, and pray your care & personal delivery of it. be so good as to add my warm affections to M. de la Fayette, & to say to him that if I had had another quarter of an hour I would have written to him. he shall hear from me by mr Barlow. wishing you a happy voyage and meeting with your friends I salute you with great esteem & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0334", "content": "Title: Lafayette to Thomas Jefferson, 12 March 1811\nFrom: Lafayette, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            My dear friend\n          I Hope You Have Received my Letter of the 16h November Complaining of Your silence\u2014far I am from withdrawing the Complaint\u2014Not one Line of Answer from You, Since You are at Monticelo, Has Reached me\u2014I was Anxious to Hear Every particulars Relative to Your Retirement\u2014the minute deta\u00efls I Had presumed to pour upon You, with Respect to my private Concerns, needed to Be Countenanced By Your kind Assurance that You found no impropriety in them\u2014 I Had Encouraged my friend tracy in the Liberty He Has taken to Send You His notes on Montesquieu, Hoping, if they obtained Your Approbation, that You would Have the Goodness to Have them translated and published as if they were An American production\u2014Such were independant of my Relyance Reliance on Your friendship, the motives I Had, on the Arrival of Every Vessel, of Every Government dispatches, to Expect the pleasure of Your Correspondance.\n          This Letter goes in the Same ship with an old friend of ours whose opinions and Sentiments are ill Calculated for present times\u2014I Have Seen Him Before His departure and found Him the Same Excellent man He Has Ever Been\u2014 The dispatches of mr Russel, of which I avail myself to write, will Convey intelligences more Recent and more precise than what I Could give from La Grange\u2014the interest of france in Cherishing Neutral trade appears to me So obvious, that I Consider the deviations from it as a disease of the mind. I Hope the last Communications Betwen mr Russel and this Government may Have Confirmed the Assurances Given to gal Armstrong\u2014There is on this point a Striking difference Betwen England and france\u2014it is that no body Can be Here found, at Least By me, whatever Be His station, But Who Assents to Every Argument in favor of American admission and wishes this intercourse to Make a part of the imperial System. Such disposition is, I am told, on the other Side of the Channel, far from Being General.\n           My Last letter from mr duplantier is dated 12h July\u2014 I Have one from mr Madison of the 1st November\u2014Nine patents of 1000 acres Each in the vicinity of pointe Coup\u00e9e are Safely Arrived\u2014I Expect two others\u2014M. duplantier Says that the Cession made to the town Has not left the 500 acres Mentionned in the act, which tract However, if located, would Be worth drs 20, or 25000\u2014But it Appears to mr Madison very uncertain whether I Can Have it at all, the deficiency Requiring a New Application to Congress, and the Common Reports about the Grant, which He Calls Exagerated, making it a matter of Consideration Which, and I am very Sure of it, He will Arrange for the Best\u2014Such is the state of my information to this day.\n          I Have in my letter of November last with diffidence Expressed You my Situation Respecting a proposal to part with a portion of the pointe Coupee Lands at the Rate of 75fr about 15 dollars. The price did not Seem a Bad one at a time when mr Madison Had Stated, May 18, that the present price of the then made Locations, Covering \u2154 of the Land alloted to me was, in the Opinion of m. duplantier, about dols 50000; and Even after m. duplantier Had writen 12h July that Some parts, not all, might Be Sold at the Rate of from 8 to ten dollars, on long terms, and a few Small portions to people Settled upon them, at a Rate of about drs 12\u00bd pa\u00efable in two or three Years, which if You Calculate the increasing interest of my debts the Loss or of change, the possible chances, and the impossibility to find Monney untill the first Mortgage was paid, will, I Hope, Contribute to Your Approbation of the Measure.\n          Yet it did not go So far as Had Been first thought of\u2014 mr Ridgeway Being absent, I determined not to Anticipate His Consent\u2014 it did not Suit mr preble to take Lands\u2014nor did it Agree with mr parker\u2019s Convenience\u2014I Saw the other Business might Be Carried on independant of this\u2014 Mr Baring took five patents drawn By Lots Before mr Russel, He paid to Himself 300,000fr leaving 20000 for a farther time\u2014 He paid to mr parish 47000f, 28000f to my Brother in law, leaving me 12000f\u2014He Released the mortgage and So I Remain possessor of Six thousand acres in the vicinity of pointe Coupee, for which I now may mentio[n] as a Security, Some kind of valuation Approximative of the price that Has Been obtained. the mortgage Remaining upon my Lou\u00efsiana property will on the 1st July Be 188,000fr: my Reluctance to part with Lands was Such that I Heartily Embraced an Arrangement which left the Greater part of them in my power.\n          But I Have Hitherto Satisfied Creditors who did not press upon me\u2014[...]imagination may feel lighter\u2014the actual weight and Embarassments Remain the Same\u2014m. david parish upon whose Exertions I did So much depend, Has declared that neither in England, Holland, france, Germany, or any where He Could find monney upon my American lands, nor would He Himself Engage Any Sum, However Small, farther than the Liberation He Had Very friendly promoted\u2014I Have Every Where met the Same Repulse\u2014yet am now, Against the Advice of Mmparish and others, making through a french Channel, a last Attempt in Holland\u2014if it fails my pecuniary Situation, altho\u2019 there is in the munificent Grant, Enough to liquidate it, must for want of time prove desperate.\n          While I am ashamed to Confess Such immence Calls when I Should only Have to Aknowledge and to keep the immence gift, I feel a propensity to Refer You to the Half Apologetical memoir I was irresistibly impelled to Entrust to You\u2014for Your opinion of it I Have Been Anxiously wa\u00efting.\n          The Commercial and Administrative Measures which Springing from a Bad principle Have Been irregularly taken Had an Effect on trade and Credit less difficult to Be foreseen than it is Easy to Say where it will Stop\u2014the fate of the European Continent is depending on the Spirit that prevails in the french power\u2014But to Confine myself within the Bounds of pecuniary Speculation, and that only So far as it Respects my private Concerns, I will observe that while the Capitalists draw of their monney from European Business they are Equally if not more Reluctant to trust it upon distant operations. add to this the immence profit made upon change to England or the U.S., and the unaccountable fall of American lands Sold in Holland at one fourth, I understand, of what Could Be Realized in the State of Newyork.\n          Under these Circumstances I See no chance for me But in a Loan made in America which Mm parish, le Ray, and several others well Acquainted with those matters think I Could Better obtain than Any where else\u2014and why Could I not find Speculators who after Having lent me upon the pointe Coupee lands a Sum Equal to the Rate of 12 dollars, and on the tract Near the town Something proportionate, might find a great Advantage in their Share upon the increasing value? permit me, my dear friend, to Submit these ideas, and the unfortunate urging Necessity there is for them to the Enlightned, Active, and So Efficacious Concern in My Behalf which I Have to my Salvation and with the most tender Gratitude Experienced.\n          M. and mde tess\u00e9, M. de mun are in pretty Good Health. They desire their Best Compliments in Every Letter to You\u2014My family are well\u2014I am Surrounded with fourteen Children and Grand Children\u2014my farming Business is thriving But the pecuniary Engagements are So pressing, and my Situation in that Respect So desperate, altho\u2019 the munificence of Congress and Your Goodness [...]Have Rescued me, were the times not So Strange, that no Succes in farming Can Be Enjoyed\u2014the Situation of my Son is Happily the Same as immediately after the peace of Tilsit. what I Said in former Letters I Need not to Repeat.\n          Be pleased to present my Best Respects to Mrs Randolph and Compliments to our friends, particularly to mr Short. I Have dined not Long Ago with mde de Castelanne; She Seems to Be pleased with [...] Her new Situation\u2014Yet Had I Changed Her Name it should Have Been for an other\u2014 our friend Humboldt is preparing for His Expedition to Bengal and Thibet\u2014But Will Yet Stay Some time in france\u2014I am under obligations to You for His Acquaintance which Has Become very intimate. as we were Some weeks Ago Speaking of the former Spanish Colonies on the American Continent He gave me an Extract of [...] His Book then under the press, one Copy of which Has Been Sent By mr Russel to [...] Washington, and the other I was, By the Author, desired to present to You.\n          Adieu, my dear Jefferson, I am most Affectionately, most Gratefully, and most Respectfully Your friend\n            Lafayette", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0335", "content": "Title: Robert Patterson to Thomas Jefferson, 12 March 1811\nFrom: Patterson, Robert\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Philada March 12th 1811\n           Agreeably to your desire I send herewith Garnetts\u2019 Nautical Almanacs for the years 11. & 12\u2014& shall not fail, life remaining, to forward those for succeeding years as soon as published.\n          I have lately added to the common artificial horizon, (the polished plane surface adjusted by a spirit-level) a very simple appendage, by the aid of which any altitude of the sun &c may be taken, on land, from 0 to 90\u00b0, either by the common octant or sextant, with the utmost ease & accuracy\u2014a desideratum, so far as I know, hitherto unattained, in the use of this valuable instrument.\n          Instead of giving you a description of this apparatus, I request you will permit me to send you one, with directions for its use. It is no larger than a moderate sized snuff-box. By what conveyance can I forward it?\u2014\n            I remain, sir, with perfect respect & esteem Your obedt servt\u2014\n Rt Patterson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0336", "content": "Title: Isaac A. Coles to Thomas Jefferson, 13 March 1811\nFrom: Coles, Isaac A.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n              I take the liberty of sending my servant for a few more Aspin trees, & for some cuttings of the Detroit Apple, and of the Spitsenburg\u2014 The season is I fear, almost too much advanced, but as I did not get back from the lower country until the day before yesterday, the evil has been unavoidable\u2014 I send a few of the Tuckahoe cherry which may possibly succeed\u2014 next spring I will send others, with the Pears which I promised\u2014 but that I am so much occupied with planting, & sowing clover seed, I had promised my self the pleasure of a visit to Monticello on tomorrow, & I still hope that it will be in my power to do so, in the course of a week. I am Dr Sir with the most respectful Attachment\n I. A Coles.\n              Thursday night\u2014A Barrel of Pippins have been packed for Colo Randolph, which he may get whenever it is convenient to him to send for them\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0337", "content": "Title: William Duane to Thomas Jefferson, 15 March 1811\nFrom: Duane, William\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n              Respected Sir,\n             I have just received the last packet of the Manuscript\u2014but it appears as if I was doomed to be the sport and the victim of my faithful adherence to those principles which that work so admirably illustrates. I should not invade your merited repose and happiness, with any complaints of mine, were it not necessary to account to you for the suspension of the work even after it had been begun. I have passed thro\u2019 the most laborious and intense application that I have experienced in any period of my life, having literally devoted myself to what I conceived the sacred interests and rights of my country\u2014 The printers all refusing to work, my foreman laid up since November with a debilitating rheumatism, and with none but raw boys to compose and print a paper containing more matter and more manuscript matter than any paper in the country\u2014and not only to write all, unassisted by a single individual, but to go through the drudgery of proofreading.  My labor was rewarded by the cessation of the Bank and by a consciousness that my humble efforts had contributed something to that effect.\n            I was looking forward to an active Spring and Summer\u2014 to the completion of the life of Franklin which I flattered myself would do me no discredit, and be not unworthy of the subject.  But I had offended by the sincerity and the severity of my animadversions upon the conduct of Mr John Randolph, and I am brought to the verge of a precipice, from which it is not possible to say whether I shall escape being dashed to pieces.  I have formerly mentioned to you the cruel consequences which ensued from my making the establishment at Washington, and the cruel persecution set on foot by J. G. Jackson and Mat. Lyon, which left me with an establishment that cost 22000$ all a debt incurred and unpaid, when at the moment that promised to be profitable, the cruel infidelity of the Republicans to a faithful centinel left it next to useless, and compelled me to abandon it to another for a sum not one third of what it cost me.\n            As my    Credit was derived from Banks, I was obliged to have indorsers, and I have during these ten years been in the situation of a man who in a small company saw himself exposed to the vollies of a numerous enemy, and the little band either sinking one by one into the slumber of death or flying into the arms of the enemy and turning their weapons upon me, until at length I find myself without ever once abandoning a principle or betraying any confidence ever reposed in me, standing almost alone.\n            The friendship which subsisted between Mr Joseph Clay and myself you cannot have been at least a stranger to. The sentiments entertained by Mr Thos Leiper, you well know concerning me. I am the same in every respect, but they are no longer my friends\u2014in short they menace me at this moment with ruin.\n            When Mr Clay could not obtain credit for 100 dollars at any Bank here, my credit and name obtained for him from five to eight thousand dollars. Since his father\u2019s death he has released me from this share of burden, but he had as men fell off from the republican ranks, stept into their shoes until he became my indorser for 5000$, part of the debt incurred at Washington & for which I have been paying interest ever since. Mr Leiper in the same way became my indorser for 3000$\n               The various attempts of the U.S. Bank to ruin me have all failed as I took care never to have any account with them. From the other banks I could have had and was invited to take but did not take 10,000$ more than I had ever required. The following events have taken place within four days.\n             I applied for 1000$ out of about 15000 that has been due to me at the Treasury Comptrollers department for some years. The Controller was prepared to pay, but the Secretary of the Treasury, made application at all the other offices to know if I had any unsettled accounts\u2014 Simmons the War office Accountant reported that I had an unsettled account, but I never had any account with him nor in his branch of public duty. I had raised a number of recruits here for which I drew 1700$ and expended 1576 1676$ for which I furnished the vouchers\u2014leaving in that account a balance of 24$ but long before that I had caused 100$ to be deposited with the Paymaster Mr. Brent. who reported to the Controller that there was not any likelihood of my owing any thing; In fact I left two months pay undrawn, and I never presented a contingent account so that instead of my owing there will be due to me about 400$ from the war Department\u2014This 1000$ which I required was to meet an engagement here\u2014\n            The next day after advice of this Mr Leiper notified me that he would no longer lend me his name\n            The same day Mr Joseph Clay wrote a letter to my bookkeeper of which the following is an exact copy\n                The causes of my refusal are the groundless and unwarrantable attacks in the Aurora on my friends; particularly on Mr Randolph. I never will lend the support of my name to such conduct. If Mr Duane chooses to continue it, he must look to others for relief. Mr Duane is at perfect liberty to pursue that course of political conduct which to him may seem correct; but the abuse of men whom I esteem, cannot be either a necessary or justifiable means of convincing the public of the wisdom of any measures of which he may become the advocate.I am Sir, your obed Sert  \n                  (Signed) Joseph Clay\u201d\n            Of the letter I need say nothing\u2014but the effect of this combined denial of my property at the treasury, this odious persecution of Mr Leiper & Mr Clay, leave me unable to raise 9000$ for their conduct is no secret, and Mr Leiper has avowed his purpose to put down the Aurora!\n            This history is prolix, but I know no one to whom I can relate it so properly as yourself, who know my principles and my public conduct; this is the more barbarous on the part of Clay inasmuch as he was one of my predecessors trustees & guardians of those children whom instead of the public I have honorably and affectionately reared; they must suffer the same fate with me, because Mr Dallas has given it as his opinion that the children of Ben. F Bache cannot inherit any part of Dr Franklin\u2019s estate!  His daughter having married one of the brothers of my predecessor!\n            I am aware that this narrative will give you some pain\u2014but my dear Sir, to whom must I pour out my feelings if not to you whom those that are faitheful to the republic love and with whose Esteem I have been so particularly favored. \n            I have advertised my property in books for sale, but I cannot owing to the pressure of foreign commercial affairs upon the community not been able to make any sale tho\u2019 I offered books to the value of ten thousand dollars for 5000 cash, or even for endorsements for nine or 12 months, by which time I should be able to repay the whole with interest.   The four volumes of Franklins works with plates are all printed and at two and a half dollars a volume, these alone are worth 20,000 dollars\u2014I have even offered these at a reduced price engaging or forfeit the whole to have the Memoirs written & printed by the 4th of July next.\n            Here I can look to no one\u2014Is there not in Virginia where I have been so much flattered for my public services public spirit to interpose and save the Aurora and its Editor, from the fangs of John Randolphs creature. I would not accept a present from any man, I would beg sooner than be the slave of any man\u2019s monied present; but I should accept of a loan,    of 8000 dollars which I should repay with interest in the course of the present year, would save me from the danger that impends, and which I can barely ward off from day to day perhaps for eight or ten days\u2014and even then with difficulty\n            The effect on the Republican interest, you must be sensible will not be a little should I be ruined\u2014I have already suffered enough from the instability of public men & their disregard of the services of an incorruptible and inflexible man in support of the vital interests of the nation.\n             In this Situation respected Sir, it is impossible for me to say when I shall be able to proceed with the commentary on Montesquieu\u2014if free from this I should go on immediately and once free from this dilemma, should never place myself in the power of the caprice of any man again.\n            I trust that with your usual kindness this will meet indulgence\u2014With affectionate respect\n              Yours ever faithfully\n Wm Duane\n            If 80 gentlemen would lend me 100 dollars each\u2014payable in 9. 12. 15. months\u2014it would not only save me, but I should be able to pay it in cash in these periods and get out of Bank altogether. It is to those in whom I have confidence and who have confidence in me that I can venture to make such suggestions. If I were a villain I need have no pecuniary necessity", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0338", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 15 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           Your plaister has been here about 10 or 12 days only, having been upwards of a month in coming round from Baltimore.\u2014 I informed Harry when he was last down that he could take as much of it as he pleased, and understood from him that he intended to load up with it, but he afterwards informed our Clerk that he had other back loading & could not take any.\n            I cannot find any oil of turpentine, but will send you some of the spirit, as I am told there is but little if any difference.\u2014I really am beginning to apprehend that the introduction of Merino sheep into the Country    may prove more injurious than beneficial, as I understand they have communicated the scab to the flock of almost every person who has them. There is danger I suppose of its spreading as other diseases have done, so as never to be eradicated.\n           Mr Graham of this place informs me that he thinks he has lately cured it in his Merino\u2019s by steeping one pound of Tobacco in a Gallon of boiling water, & rubbing the parts affected well, as soon as it cooled.\u2014As this remedy must be perfectly innocent (except perhaps with pregnant ewes) would it not be well to make the experiment?\n            I am Dear Sir Your Very humble servt\n Geo. Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0339", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Carr, 16 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Carr, Samuel\n           I send the horse by the bearer. if he is to be had for 100 D I will take him without further hesitation or reserve. if 120.D are required, they must agree to take him back if his lameness does not go off in one month, during which he shall be little used, merely to see if he gets better. I shall be glad to be decided as soon as convenient.  I send you some Benni seed, and more asparagus beans having found a larger stock\n            Your\u2019s affectionately\n Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0340", "content": "Title: Samuel Carr to Thomas Jefferson, 16 March 1811\nFrom: Carr, Samuel\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I will See Mr Clarkson tomorrow and endeavor to purchase the Horse upon the best terms I can for you. Shall not exceed the sum mentioned and will inform you of the result of my visit to him without delay. For the beans and Benni be pleasd to accept my thanks and believe me\n            yrs affectionatly\n Samuel Carr", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0341", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to George Divers, 16 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Divers, George\n           I send the bearer for a bushel and a half of timothy seed, which I will replace in your hands as soon as it can be purchased the ensuing  hands season. I send you a larger supply of Asparagus beans.\n            Yours affectionately\n Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0342", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Notes on Monticello Plantings, 16 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: \n              Taliafer do\n            apricots\n            nectarines\n            vacancies \n          the vacancies to be filled in 1811. as follows\n          1811. Mar. 16. in the row e. I found +5. d therefore planted e\u20131\u20132+1+4+5 with Tuckahoe grey hearts from mr Coles", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0344", "content": "Title: George Divers to Thomas Jefferson, 17 March 1811\nFrom: Divers, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Farmington.\n          I send you a Bushel & a haf of Timothy Seed which is all I have, it will not be wanted til September next\u2014 you express\u2019d a wish some time ago for some of the monthly Rasp-berry which I now Send you. It was late last evening before I could dispatch your little boy. I therefore detain\u2019d him \u2019til this morning\u2014 accept my thanks for the asparagus beans and the box for sowing clover seed which I am told will be ready tomorrow\n            Yours affactionately\n          George Divers", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0345", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Robert Elliott, 17 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Elliott, Robert\n           Your favor of the 6th has been duly recieved, & I now return the paper it inclosed with my subscription. I shall be glad to see in print discourses which I heard delivered with much satisfaction; and my particular thanks are due to you for the mark of respect towards myself mentioned in your letter.  it will probably not add to the popularity of your volume with those professors of religion who admit none to be Christians who are not so in their way, & still less with those in whose religious code no chapter is to be found on the duties of a citizen to his country. their master however was faithful & dutiful to his. to those of your society we owe an acknolegement of the zeal they have generally manifested to for the republican principles of our government. I salute you with great esteem & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0347", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Skeffington Selby, 17 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Selby, Skeffington\n           Your letter of the 5th has been duly recieved. of the Certificate therein stated to have been signed by me, I have not the smallest trace in my memory. I suppose, from it\u2019s date & purport, that it is was one of the thousands of papers signed by me officially as Governor of Virginia. those certificates are still, I believe paid at our Treasury (of Virginia) according to a scale of depreciation. at that date money was worth about 36. for 1. according to the scale: of course this sum of 1277.\u00a3 was equal to about 118.D. specie.\n          Edmund Pendleton (then junr) of Caroline county being still living in the same county, he probably can give you information as to Nelson\u2019s bonds put into his hands.I salute you with respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0349", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Threlkeld, 17 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Threlkeld, John\n           Your favor of the 7th is duly recieved covering a letter from Miss Threlkeld to mrs Eppes. it shall be safely forwarded.  mr Eppes\u2019s son is now here, and will return in a few days to his father. I avail myself with pleasure of the occasion it has presented of renewing to yourself & family the assurances of my continued esteem, and salute them and yourself with attachment & respect. \n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0350", "content": "Title: Theodorus Bailey to Thomas Jefferson, 18 March 1811\nFrom: Bailey, Theodorus\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            By the Mail of saturday, I was honored with your communication, covering a letter to Mr Warden, who goes out as our Consul to Paris.  That Gentleman left this City about the 11th inst, for New Port, R. I. with a view to take passage in the Vessel which is to carry Mr Irvin on his Mission=By Yesterday\u2019s Mail I inclosed the letter in question to the Post Master at New-Port, and requested him to have it delivered if Mr W. shall not have sailed\u2014and if he has sailed to return it under cover to me\u2014The Post Master\u2019s Answer may be expected on Friday or saturday in the current Week\u2014and when received will be communicated to you without delay.\u2014\n            With sentiments of the highest respect and Esteem, I am sincerely your humble & Obedient servant,\n Theodorus Bailey", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0351", "content": "Title: Theodorus Bailey to Thomas Jefferson, 18 March 1811\nFrom: Bailey, Theodorus\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I do myself the honor to transmit to you herewith a copy of the Report of the Commissioners appointed by the Legislature of this state, to explore the Route of an Inland navigation, from the River Hudson to the great Lakes, Ontario and Erie.\u2014A map of the western parts of this State; exhibiting the Route of the projected Canal, will be published in a few days=A Copy of this likewise will be forwarded to you, as soon as it can be obtained\u2014\n            With the highest consideration and respect, I am truly, Your Obedt servant,\n Theodorus Bailey", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0354", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Samuel J. Harrison, 18 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Harrison, Samuel Jordan\n           As I understood it would be more convenient to you to make the second paiment for the land purchased of me & due the 1st prox. in Richmond, and it is as convenient for me to recieve it there, the object of this letter is to pray you to place the money there in the hands of Messrs Gibson & Jefferson which shall be equivalent to paiment to myself. Accept the assurance of my respect.\n            Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0355", "content": "Title: Charles P. De Lasteyrie to Thomas Jefferson, 18 March 1811\nFrom: Lasteyrie-Dusaillant, Charles Philibert, comte de\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Monsieur Le Pr\u00e9sident,\n           Veuill\u00e9s bien \u00eatre mon organe au pr\u00e8s de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Philosophique que vous pr\u00e9sid\u00e9s, pour l\u2019assurer de mon entier devouement, et pour lui offrir l\u2019ouvrage Sur le pastel et l\u2019indigotier que je viens de publier. je d\u00e9sire que ce foible produit de mon travail puisse lui \u00eatre utile agr\u00e9able, et qu\u2019il puisse \u00eatre utile \u00e0 votre patrie. Comme l\u2019Am\u00e9rique    septentrionale Se livre aujourd\u2019hui \u00e0 tous les genres d\u2019Agriculture et d\u2019industrie, il est possible que la culture et la pr\u00e9paration du Pastel devienne une branche int\u00e9ressante d\u2019in de Culture, Surtout lorsque le gouvernement francois aura publi\u00e9 les experiences qui ont \u00e9t\u00e9 faites, et celles aux quelles on travaille, pour extraire la f\u00e9cule colorante du Pastel, qui ou indigo, qui est beaucoup plus abondante, et d\u2019aussi bonne qualit\u00e9 que celle qu\u2019on retire de l\u2019indigotier.\n          je Suis charm\u00e9 Monsieur le Pr\u00e9sident de trouver cette occasion pour t\u00e9moigner \u00e0 la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Philosophique tout le prix que j\u2019attache \u00e0 l\u2019honneur qu\u2019elle a bien voulu me faire en m\u2019associant \u00e0 ses travaux utiles et tout le d\u00e9sir que j\u2019ai d\u2019y concourir d\u2019une maniere avantageuse \u00e0 la prosp\u00e9rit\u00e8 de l\u2019Am\u00e9rique.\n            Recev\u00e9s l\u2019expr\u00e9ssion des Sentimens d\u2019Estime avec les quels j\u2019ai l\u2019honneur d\u2019Etre.\n            C. P. De Lasteyrie\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n              Mister President,\n            On my behalf please convey to the philosophical society over which you preside my entire devotion and offer it the work on pastel and wild indigo that I have just published. I hope that this modest product of my labors might be agreeable to the society and useful to your country. As all kinds of agriculture and industry are practiced in northern America nowadays, the culture and preparation of woad may become an interesting branch of agriculture, particularly after the French government publishes the experiments that have been and are currently being made to extract the coloring starch from the woad, or indigo, which is much more abundant and of equal quality to what is extracted from wild indigo.\n            I am delighted, Mister President, to take this opportunity to inform the philosophical society how much I value the honor it has bestowed on me by associating me with its useful work, and to express my great desire to participate in its work in a manner advantageous to the prosperity of America.\n              Please accept the sentiments of esteem with which I have the honor to be.\n              C. P. De Lasteyrie", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0357", "content": "Title: David Bailie Warden to Thomas Jefferson, 18 March 1811\nFrom: Warden, David Bailie\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          I beg leave to inform you, that, at the moment, when I was on the eve of embarking for France, at Newport, I received a note from the President directing me to suspend my departure till I received further instructions on this point. I propose to wait for them at this City; and will be glad to be the Bearer of letters which you proposed to commit to my care. General Bailey informs me that he forwarded to Newport a letter from you, which will no doubt be returned to him, and he will give it to me.  I have the pleasure of sending you sixteen nos of an Irish magazine, edited by one of my friends. I am, sir, with great respect and esteem,\n            your very obliged Servt\n D. B Warden", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0358", "content": "Title: Opie Norris to Thomas Jefferson, 19 March 1811\nFrom: Norris, Opie\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Charlottesville 19 Mar 1811\n            I am informed that you wish to lease the Shadwell Mills, for another term of years, after the Shoemakers lease is out, I wish to rent them, provided, I can get the Shoemakers to give up the balance of their lease, If you will  lease the Mills to me, for 4 years after their term Expires\u2014at the same rent, that the Mills are rented to the Shoemakers, that is to say, Twelve hundred & fifty dollars Per annum\u2014I dont know that I cud get them to give up the balance of their lease, but I think its more than probably\u2014but it is understood that, I am not to be answerable for more rent, than the time I have the Mills\u2014at the rate of Twelve hundred & fifty dollars Per annum, which will not be more than one years rent,\u2014If you incline to let me have the mills, inform me Immidiately\u2014\n              As I am a Stranger to you, you, can inquire of the following gentlemen who I believe can give you any information that you may perhaps want to know\u2014\n          Higginbotham, F. Turner, J. Watson, J. Kelly, D. Carr, N. Bramham, A. Garrett, J. Winn, R Overton, B Brown, J Leitch & the neighbourhood generally.\n            I am with sure respects Yr Mo Set\n Opie Norris", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0359", "content": "Title: Palisot de Beauvois to Thomas Jefferson, 19 March 1811\nFrom: Palisot de Beauvois, Ambroise Marie Fran\u00e7ois Joseph\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n              Monsieur et cher Confr\u00e8re, Ex president des Etats unis\n             Permett\u00e9z que, p\u00e9n\u00e9tr\u00e9 des bont\u00e9s avec les quelles vous m\u2019av\u00e9z acceuilli pendant mon s\u00e9jour dans les Etats unis d\u2019Am\u00e9rique, et dont je ne perdrai jamais le souvenir, je r\u00e9clame les m\u00eames-bont\u00e9s pour me faire rendre justice dans une affaire qui m\u2019interresse et qu\u2019une malheureuse circonstance a fait Naitre dans votre pa\u00efs et dans L\u2019Etat m\u00ebme que vous habit\u00e9s. mes droits et mes pr\u00e9tentions sont fond\u00e9s sur L\u2019Equit\u00e9 naturelle, sur les loix communes a toutes les nations,: qui r\u00e9gissent tous les peuples,: qui sont ou doivent etre r\u00e9ciproques entre tous les hommes, puis qu\u2019ils appartiennent tous a une m\u00eame famille, quelque soit le coin de la terre ou le hazard et la naissance les ont plac\u00e9s.\n             Pour ne pas abuser de vos Momens, cette Lettre devant etre tr\u00e8s longue par sa nature, je passe de suite aux faits que je vais vous d\u00e9tailler le plus succinctement possible.\n             M. et Mme Rouelle, dont vous vous rappeler\u00e9s sans doute, avaient achet\u00e9 dans le Comt\u00e9 de New-Kent (en 1789), Etat de Virginie, une plantat\u00eeon situ\u00e9e sur le bord du Pamonky-river pres de New-Kent Court house et a peu de distance de Richmond. ils L\u2019ont habit\u00e9 L\u2019un et L\u2019autre pendant pr\u00e8s de dix ans. en revenant en france ils ont c\u00e9d\u00e9 leurs droits a M. Pierre Piernetz frere du Mme Rouelle. ce dernier etait donc devenu propri\u00e9taire. les circonstances et la crainte de quelque m\u00e9sintelligence entre votre pa\u00efs et celui ci, L\u2019avaient d\u00e9termin\u00e9 par prudence et pour sa propre suret\u00e9, a devenir citoyen am\u00e9ricain, D\u00e9marche que L\u2019on voudrait opposer aujourd\u2019hui pour frustrer ses h\u00e9rities naturels de sa succession.\u2014Il fesait valoir cette habitation, et y avait etabli un magasin pour le commerce. il a prosp\u00e9r\u00e9; mais le 2 fevrier 1810 la mort, a laquelle nous ne pouvons Echapper, L\u2019a Enlev\u00e9 au moment ou, c\u00e9dant a nos vives instances, il se disposait a r\u00e9aliser sa fortune et a revenir dans sa patrie passer au paix ses vieux jours au sein de sa famille.\n            Mme Rouelle, devenue aujourd\u2019hui mon Epouse, et dont a ce titre je deffends les droits qui sont les miens, est une des principales heriti\u00e8res et par droit de nature et suivant les loix civiles qui regle les droits de tous les hommes r\u00e9unis en societ\u00e9.\n            Tels sont, Monsieur et cher Confr\u00e8re, les premiers faits qui vous faciliteront L\u2019intelligence des seconds; Les quels m\u2019ont \u00e9t\u00e9 transmis par m. Oster Consul fran\u00e7ais a Norfolk et m. Pauly, notre ami, habitant du Comt\u00e9 de Louisa pres Stanton en Virginie.\n              M. Pierre Piernetz, mon beau frere, ayant eu une L\u00e9g\u00e8re indisposition pour laquelle il prit du tartre \u00e9m\u00e9tique (Tartite de Potasse antimoni\u00e9) fit pr\u00e9venir un certain Stewen Lacy qui tenait un second magasin appartenant aus Piernetz a Diascon-Bridge non loin de celui ou ce dernier demeurait:  ce jeune homme \u00e9tant arriv\u00e9, on alla chercher le magistrat Thomas Ratliff pour recevoir le testament de m. Piernetz, contenant un Legs universel en faveur dud. Lacy; mais, nous dit-on, soit faiblesse, soit irr\u00e9solution, m. Piernetz, qui sans doute ne voulait pas desh\u00e9riter sa soeur, qu il affectionait beaucoup, remit au Lendemain \u00e0 signer le testament qui avait \u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e9crit dans le Secret et a la h\u00e2te, ce sont les propres expressions de m. Pauly.  D\u00e8s ce Moment m. Piernetz ressentit les douleurs d\u2019une r\u00e9tention d\u2019urine. Stewen Lacy s\u2019etant couch\u00e9 avec lui, dans le meme lit se reveilla!!! le Lendemain ayant les bras crois\u00e9s sur son bienfaiteur, dit-il; il le trouva sans sentiment et sans vie!!!!!\n            Sans m\u2019arreter, monsieur et cher confrere aux circonstances d\u2019une mort aussi promte, aussi singuliere, sans chercher a faire naitre des soupcons sur un evenement que la justice du pais n\u2019a pas trouv\u00e9e susceptible d\u2019attirer son \u0153il vigilant; sans faire aucune reflexion sur la facture d\u2019un testament que m. Piernetz a refuse de signer, et sur les id\u00e9es que les circonstances suggerent naturellement, je ne m\u2019attacherai qu\u2019aux suites Egalement singulieres et incroyables, en supposant m\u00eame que tout se soit pass\u00e9 loyalement et L\u00e9galement\n            M. Piernetz etant mort, Stewen Lacy a demand\u00e9 L\u2019execution du testament et a etre Envoy\u00e9 en possession de son Legs. m. Pauly nous a deffendus officieusement; mais par tous pa\u00efs les absens ont tort. aussi, chose incroyable et qui n\u2019a peut-etre pas d\u2019Exemple, la Cour de New-Kent court-house a declar\u00e9 valide, un testament que le pr\u00e9tendu testateur a refus\u00e9 de signer et qui ne L\u2019est par Aucun temoin. C\u2019est a L\u2019ancien Pr\u00e9sident, au premier magistrat des etats unis que je d\u00e9nonce ce deni de justice. ce jugement a accord\u00e9 \u00e0 Stewen Lacy tout le mobilier du defunt, et quant aux bien fonds, attendu qu\u2019ils n\u2019ont pas, dit-il, \u00e9t\u00e9 L\u00e9gu\u00e9s dans les formes ils sont d\u00e9volus a L\u2019etat.\n            M. Oster nous Mande dans sa Lettre, que m. Piernetz s\u2019etant fait citoyen Am\u00e9ricain il ne peut agir officielement en sa qualite, mais seulement officieusement; que pour faire r\u00e9voquer le Jugement de la Cour, et r\u00e9clamer a la prochaine L\u00e9gislature, qui commencera en d\u00e9cembre 1810, et demander la remise et L\u2019envoy en possession de tous les objets auxquels mon Epouse a un droit incontestable, il est n\u00e9cessaire d\u2019envoyer une procuration et toutes pi\u00e8ces qui prouvent sa consanguinit\u00e9 et ses droits.\n            Permettez moi maintenant, monsieur et cher Confrere, en r\u00e9clamant vos bons offices, de vous pr\u00e9senter quelques reflexions.\n             d abord mon beau frere est mort le 2 fevrier 1810. nous en avons \u00e9t\u00e9 instruit par les Lettres de m. Pauly en datte du 15 fevrier et de m. Oster datt\u00e9e du 25 mars. ces deux lettres, sous la m\u00eame enveloppe, ne nous sont parvenues que le 14 janvier 1811. ce fait est constat\u00e9 par le timbre de la poste et le Certificat de m. M\u2019Rae consul des etats unis a Paris. ces pieces seront jointes a celles que je rassemble et que nous enverrons incessamment a un fond\u00e9 de pouvoir. L\u2019\u00e9loigment L\u2019\u00e9loignement, le trajet de mer, les difficult\u00e9s, les longeurs du d\u00e9part et de la travers\u00e9e l\u2019attent d\u2019une occasion sure, &c. augment\u00e9s par les circonstances, les obstacles pour les communications, les int\u00e9rets politiques qui ont fait naitre des diff\u00e9rens entre le gouvernement des Etats unis et la france, des obstacles en un mot de tous genres, une force majeure n\u2019a pas permit que je fusse instruit aussitot que j\u2019aurais du L\u2019etre, et n\u2019ayant re\u00e7u la nouvelle que le 14 janvier 1811. il eta\u00eet physiquement impossible que ma r\u00e9clamation fut port\u00e9e a l\u2019assembl\u00e9e Legislative de Virginie au mois du decembre 1810. je ne puis donc pas etre dechu de mes droits par cette raison.\n             Au fond: m. Piernetz etait citoyen americain, ou, dit-on, ses h\u00e9ritiers etrangers ne peuvent pas h\u00e9riter des biens fonds. ainsi dans L\u2019esp\u00e8ce, et vu le jugement de la Cour nous n\u2019h\u00e9riterons ni du mobilier ni des immeubles. mais l\u00b0 je dois avoir le droit de revenir sur un jugement port\u00e9 sans que j\u2019aie \u00e9t\u00e9 entendu. 2\u00b0 dans les trait\u00e9s qui ont reconnu L\u2019ind\u00e9pendance de L\u2019am\u00e9rique et qui sont irrevocables, quant aux clauses de cette nature, nonobstant tous evenemens ult\u00e9rieurs, il est dit, que les Citoyens francais seront trait\u00e9s comme Ceux des Nat\u00eeons les plus favoris\u00e9s. ou dans le trait\u00e9 avec la suede il est dit que le droit d\u2019aubaine est respectivement-aboli. la france a tellement tenu a cette condition que, dernierement dans la succession d\u2019un Americain, et dans laquelle m. Maklure avait des droits, nos tribunaux ont remis aux heritiers Americains, et le mobilier et les immeubles. le gouvernement des etats unis sera-t-il moins g\u00e9n\u00e9reux et moins juste.la preuve de ce fait sera jointe aux piec\u00e8s que je dois envoyer.\n            quant au jugement de la Cour de New-Kent, vous savez mieux que moi, monsieur et cher Confrere que la maxime de tous les pa\u00efs est qu\u2019un testament etant un acte qui tend a frustrer un heritier naturel est un acte injuste: que les legislateurs par des mot\u00eefs particuliers d\u2019interet social les permettent ou les Tolerent; mais ayant pressenti la suggestion et toutes les fraudes qu\u2019il est Si commun et si facile de mettre en usage autour d\u2019un malade affaibli, et dont les facult\u00e9s intellectuelles sont devenues presque nulles par L\u2019effet des Longues souffrances et de la maladie, ces m\u00eames L\u00e9gislateurs ont tous attach\u00e9 a ces sortes d\u2019acte des formalit\u00e9s imp\u00e9rieuses qui seules peuvent les rendre valides. la premiere formalit\u00e9, celle qui constate la volont\u00e9 libre et formelle d\u2019un testateur est celle de sa signature, prouv\u00e9e r\u00e9elle et certaine par la signature des t\u00e9moins. il est donc etonnant que la cour de New-Kent ait pu m\u00e9connaitre ce vice radical du testament qu\u2019il a: d\u00e9clar\u00e9 valide quant au mobilier, et le jugement doit etre reform\u00e9 sur ce chef. quant au second chef, les immeubles je ne doute pas que L\u2019assembl\u00e9e Legislative ne fasse droit a ma reclamation.\n            J ose donc vous supplier, monsieur et cher Confrere, de vouloir bien aider m. m. Oster et Pauly de vos bons conseils et de m\u2019accorder votre bienveillance et votre protection pour 1\u00b0 faire reformer le jugement de la Cour de New-Kent. 2\u00b0 obtenir de L\u2019assembl\u00e9e legislative la d\u00e9livrance des immeubles et m\u2019accorder le delay de deux ans, vus les circonstances et les difficult\u00e9s des communications pour pr\u00e9senter ma r\u00e9clamation appui\u00e9e de toutes pieces,  t\u00eetres et preuves du droit que nous y avons.\n            J\u2019ai L\u2019honneur d\u2019etre avec la plus haute consid\u00e9rat\u00eeon et la plus parfaite est\u00eeme. \n              Monsieur et cher Confr\u00e8re Votre tr\u00e8s humble et tr\u00e8s obeissant serviteur\n                  Palisot de Beauvois\n                  membre de L\u2019inst\u00eetut\n                  rue de Turenne No 58 au Marais.\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n              Sir and dear Colleague, Former president of the United states\n             Imbued with the kindness with which you welcomed me during my stay in the United States of America, and which I will never forget, allow me to call on you for the same kindness to secure justice in a case that concerns me and to which an unfortunate circumstance gave rise in your country and in the very state in which you live. My rights and my claims are founded on natural equity, on laws common to all nations and ruling all peoples, which are or must be reciprocal between all men, since they all belong to the same family, in whatever corner of the earth chance and birth may have placed them.\n             In order not to waste your time, since this letter has to be very long by its very nature, I will immediately get to the facts, the details of which I will give to you as succinctly as possible.\n             Mr. and Mrs. Rouelle, whom you probably remember, had bought a plantation in New Kent County (in 1789), state of Virginia, located by the Pamunkey River, near New Kent Court House, a short distance from Richmond. They lived there for about ten years. On their return to France they ceded their rights to Mr. Peter Piernet, Mrs. Rouelle\u2019s brother, who thus became the owner. The circumstances and the fear of some misunderstanding between your country and this one, made him decide, out of prudence and for his own safety, to become an American citizen, a fact that is now being used to deprive his natural heirs of their inheritance.\u2014He worked the plantation and established a store for merchandise there. He prospered; but on 2 February 1810 death, from which we cannot escape, took him at the moment when, yielding to our entreaties, he was getting ready to liquidate his fortune and return to his fatherland to spend his old age in peace in the bosom of his family.\n            Mrs. Rouelle, who is now my wife, and for whom, as such, I defend the rights that are also mine, is one of the principal heirs by the law of nature and according to the civil laws that govern the rights of all men united in civilized society.\n            Such are, Sir and dear colleague, the first facts that will facilitate an understanding of the second set, which were transmitted to me by Mr. Oster, French consul at Norfolk, and Mr. Pauly, our friend, who lives in Louisa County near Staunton in Virginia.\n              Mr. Peter Piernet, my brother-in-law, having suffered a slight illness for which he took some tartar emetic (potassium antimony tartrate) informed a certain Stephen Lacy, who managed a second store belonging to Piernet at Diascond Bridge, not far from where the latter lived: this young man having arrived, the magistrate Thomas Ratcliffe was sent for to receive Mr. Piernet\u2019s will, containing a universal bequest in favor of said Lacy. But, we are told, either from feebleness or irresolution, Mr. Piernet, who probably did not want to disinherit his sister, of whom he was very fond, postponed until the next day the signing of the will that had been written in secrecy and haste; these are Mr. Pauly\u2019s very expressions. At this time Mr. Piernet started feeling the pain of urine retention. Stephen Lacy having gotten into bed with him, in the same bed woke up!!! the next day his arms having fallen across his benefactor, he says; he found him senseless and lifeless!!!!!\n            Without dwelling, Sir and dear fellow colleague, on the circumstances of so quick and peculiar a death, without trying to arouse suspicions about an event that the local justice of the peace did not deem worthy of looking into, without making any reflections on the composition of a will that Mr. Piernet had refused to sign, and on ideas that the circumstances suggest, I will only dwell on the equally strange and unbelievable continuation of events, even supposing that everything had happened truthfully and legally\n             Mr. Piernet being dead, Stephen Lacy requested the execution of the will and possession of his bequest. Mr. Pauly defended us unofficially; but in all countries absentees are in the wrong. Therefore, incredible as it may seem, and perhaps without precedent, the New Kent court declared valid a will that the alleged signatory had refused to sign and which no witnesses had signed. It is to you, former president, first magistrate of the United States, that I denounce this denial of justice. This decision awards to Stephen Lacy all the personal property of the deceased, and as to the real estate, since it has not been, says he, bequeathed in the proper way, it reverts to the state.\n            Mr. Oster told us in his letter that because Mr. Piernet had become an American citizen, he, Mr. Oster, could not act officially in his capacity as French consul, but only unofficially; that in order to have the court decision revoked, and to plead in the next legislature, which will begin in December 1810, asking that the case be rescheduled and that he be given possession of all the objects to which my spouse has an undeniable right, it is necessary to send a power of attorney and all the documents proving her kinship and rights.\n            Allow me now, Sir and dear colleague, to ask for your good offices and present you with some reflections.\n            First, my brother-in-law died on 2 February 1810. We were informed of it by Mr. Pauly\u2019s letter dated 15 February, and by Mr. Oster\u2019s letter dated 25 March. These two letters, placed in the same envelope, did not reach us until 14 January 1811. This fact is verified by the post-office stamp and the certificate of Mr. McRae, United States consul at Paris. These documents will be added to others I am gathering and that we will send very soon to an agent. Distance, the sea voyage, the difficulties, the time needed for departure and for the crossing, the waiting for a sure opportunity, &c. increased by the circumstances, the obstacles to communication, the political concerns that gave rise to disagreements between the American and French governments, in a word these obstacles of all kinds, and of such great force did not allow me to be informed as early as I should have been, and having received the news only on 14 January 1811, it was physically impossible for my claim to be submitted to the Virginia General Assembly in the month of December 1810. Therefore, I must not lose my rights for that reason.\n             Basically: Mr. Piernet was an American citizen, and, it is said, his foreign heirs cannot inherit his real estate. Therefore, in this case, and given the decision of the court, we will inherit neither the personal property nor the real estate. But first I must have the right to appeal a court decision made without a chance for me to be heard. Secondly, in the treaties that recognized the independence of America and are irrevocable, regarding clauses of this nature, notwithstanding all subsequent events, it is said, that French citizens will be given most-favored-nation status. In the treaty with Sweden, it is said, the droit d\u2019aubaine is respectively abolished. France was so attentive to this condition that, lately, in the inheritance of an American in which Mr. Maklure was a party, our tribunals awarded to the American heirs the personal property and real estate. Will the United States government be less generous and less just? The proof of this fact will be added to the documents that I will send.\n            Regarding the New Kent court decision, you know better than I do, Sir and dear colleague, that the maxim in all countries is that if a will contains language that tends to deprive a natural heir, it is unjust: that legislators, for private motives based on their own interest, allow or tolerate them; but, having foreseen the susceptibility of and all the frauds so commonly and easily committed on a weakened, sick person, whose mental faculties have become almost nonexistent through the effects of prolonged suffering and sickness, these same legislators have attached to these kinds of acts, certain mandatory formalities that are necessary to render wills valid. The first formality, the one that formally verifies the free will of a testator, is the signature, proved real and genuine by the signature of witnesses. It is therefore surprising that the New Kent court failed to recognize this radical flaw in the will it declared valid regarding the personal property. This court decision must be reversed on this point. As for the second point, the real estate, I have no doubt that the General Assembly will respond positively to my claim.\n            Therefore, Sir and dear colleague, allow me to beg you to assist Mr. Oster and Mr. Pauly with your good advice, to look on me kindly and offer me your protection in the attempt first to reverse the New Kent court decision. Secondly to obtain from the General Assembly the release of the real estate and the grant of an extension of two years, considering the circumstances and the difficulties of communication, to present my claim, supported by all documents, titles, and proofs of our rights to it.\n            I have the honor to be, with the highest regard and respect.\n              Sir and dear colleague Your very humble and very obedient servant\n Palisot de Beauvois\n                  member of the Institute\n                  Rue de Turenne number 58, Marais district.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0360", "content": "Title: John Wayles Eppes to Thomas Jefferson, 20 March 1811\nFrom: Eppes, John Wayles\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            My being uncertain whether you had returned from Bedford prevented my writing before I left washington\u2014  The rancour of party was revived with all its bitterness during the last Session of Congress\u2014United by no fixed principles or objects & destitute of every thing like American feeling, so detestable a minority never existed in any country\u2014Their whole political creed is contained in a single word \u201copposition\u201d\u2014They pursue it without regard to principle, to personal reputation or the best interests of their country\u2014 If I had not removed from the only District in which I believe I could be elected feeble as the aid I could afford to the administration would be I could not reconcile to my principles a withdrawal from Congress at the present moment\u2014 I consider the scenes of 1798 & 1799. again approaching\u2014 Our principles are staked on the support of Mr Madison\u2014A change in our foreign relations would enable him to ride triumphant, put down his opponents in Congress & silence the growlings of those who ought to possess his entire confidence\u2014\n             If you have any m. melon seed of the fine kinds\u2014 any very early corn\u2014 be good enough to send me a little by the servant who goes for Francis\u2014I am in the midst of rubbish\u2014The workman has failed in his contract and I shall have the hammers about me for six weeks to come\u2014I have just completed the roof over the two small two story buildings which I have united\u2014I have still another house to join\u2014\n             our winter has been unfavorable for Wheat\u2014The crop in this neighbourhood except on our Tobo lotts is alive and no more\u2014\n            present me affectionately to the family and accept for your health & happiness every wish of\n              Yours affectionately\n Jno: W: Eppes\n              P.S. I have directed Tom to come to New Canton the first day with Francis\u2014It will be I fear rather a long ride for him 33. miles\u2014he has however frequently rode that distance in the day\u2014I would have sent the Gig but I did not know how the servant could bring his pony & it would be death to Francis to leave him\u2014It will be necessary for Tom to take a fine day for starting as Francis\u2019s great coat would afford him no protection in case of rain\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0361", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Albert Gallatin, 20 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Gallatin, Albert\n          I send you three letters from mr Fitz, improperly sent to me, but as they may contain something worthy your notice, I forward them to you. I believe I have before informed you that he is as purely honest & inoffensive a man as lives, and well qualified as a Surveyor. he lived with me a year or two.his letter of latest date must have been extorted from his good nature.\n           Mrs Jones has requested that I will sollicit the attention of to her business from the Government. you know the difficulty of refusing requests from such quarters. I told the person who asked it that they might be assured of your attention without any sollicitation but that I would mention it to you, which I do merely to fulfill my word, and be able to say I have done it. Accept assurances of my constant & affectionate esteem & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0362", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Patrick Magruder, 20 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Magruder, Patrick\n           Having just now made up the Exhibits to be used in the suit of mr Livingston on the subject of the batture, and finding a printed copy of the petition of the Mayor Etc of N.O. to Congress sufficient for our purpose, I return you the original one which you were so kind as to send me from your office, with my thanks & assurances of great esteem & respect \n            Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0363-0001", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Robert Smith, 20 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Smith, Robert\n             Having just now made up my packet of documents to be sent to Messrs Hay & Wirt, my counsel in the case of the Batture, I think it my duty to furnish you with a particular list of those sent me from your office, which list you will accordingly find on the next page. those marked as now returned, you will find in the packet which accompanies this letter. the rest are sowed together that they may not be separated & lost, and will be immediately forwarded to the Gentlemen above named, in whose hands they will remain deposited until the trial, unless, as is probable, they should think it necessary to forward the whole packet of them to your office for formal authentication. Accept my thanks for the accomodations furnished me from your office in this case & the assurances of my constant & affectionate esteem & respect.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0364", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to James Mather, 21 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Mather, James\n          Your favor of Nov. 30. was recieved on the 10th of Jan. and that of Dec. 15. on the 25th of Jan. I have deferred acknowleging their receipt and that of the papers accompanying them, until some which were expected from other quarters were should be also recieved and enable me on a review of the whole to see whether any thing was still wanting to our information as to mr Livingston\u2019s claims. I find the collection now sufficiently compleat, and for the articles furnished by yourself, & which came conformable with the list you inclosed, I return you my cordial thanks. my own defence in this case would have been very simple, that what I did was as a public officer, & even had I erred, it was not mal\u00e2 fide & therefore not imputable. the whole burthen of proof would then have been on the plaintiff, and that of a mala fides in me impossible. but I feel it a duty to support the public rights, and for that purpose to produce all the necessary proofs of it. and I have the most perfect confidence of establishing the right of the Nation, as sovereign, in the batture, and not as a right which they can alienate, but one which the sovereign holds in trust for the use & convenience of all it\u2019s individual citizens. the proofs recieved so far as they consist of the affidavits Etc of witnesses, being exparte, we shall be obliged to have them taken de novo, & in the presence of both parties. I am now writing to my counsel to have commissions issued & to prepare proper instructions as to the facts necessary to be proved and the witnesses to be examined.\n            Accept the assurances of my grateful sense of your aids in this case, and of my high esteem & respect\n Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0365", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Robert Patterson, 21 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Patterson, Robert\n             Your favor of the 12th is recieved and also the Nautical Almanacs for 1811. 12. for which accept my thanks as well as for the artificial horizon proposed to be forwarded.  as it would be liable to be broken, it would come best by some of the vessels sailing daily from Philadelphia to Richmond addressed to me to the care of Messrs Gibson & Jefferson merchants at Richmond, adding \u2018to be forwarded by water\u2019 they will in that case put it into the hands of some careful master of the boats constantly plying between that & this place. the cost of it shall be remitted to you as soon as you will be so good as to make it known to me.before I entered on the business of the world I was much attached to Astronomy & had laid a sufficient foundation at College to have pursued it with satisfaction & advantage. but after 40. years of abstraction from it, and my mathematical acquirements coated over with rust, I find myself equal only to such simple operations & practices in it as serve to amuse me.  but they give me great amusement, and the more as I have some excellent instruments.   my telescope however is not equal to the observation of the eclipses of Jupiter\u2019s satellites, nor is my best time piece sufficiently to be depended on, for that purpose.  I am limited to what can be done with a fine Equatorial, & a Theodolite with telescopes, both by Ramsden, and a 10. I. circle of Borda, or rather of Hadley, for it is his principle. Accept the assurance of my constant friendship and respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0366-0001", "content": "Title: Benjamin Morgan to Thomas Jefferson, 22 March 1811\nFrom: Morgan, Benjamin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                I defered answering your letter of the 29th October last until I could get Lieut Robt Peyton here hoping his presence was all that was wanted to settle the administration of his brother John\u2019s Estate. He arrived last week and it now appears that he must have a power of Attorney from the Coheirs &ca as stated in the above memorandum\u2014 \n            Please to forward these documents and I will do all in my power to close the business which in my opinion has been protracted here very unreasonably\u2014\n              I am with much respect and esteem Your most obt Servt\n Benja Morgan", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0366-0002", "content": "Title: Enclosure: Abner L. Duncan\u2019s Instructions on Settlement of John Peyton\u2019s Estate, [by 15 September 1810]\nFrom: Peyton, John,Duncan, Abner L.,Peyton, Robert\nTo: \n              To enable R Peyton to settle the Estate of J. Peyton in Orleans the Powers from the coheirs must be Very full if their are married sisters, their husbands must unite, in the Power or letter of attorney Some Proof of their identity will also be necessary\u2014it would Be well to bring two or three Depositions from respectable characters well authenticated to Prove the number of children the Family consisted of\u2014their names and Places of residence, and to Shew also, that his Brother never was married", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0368-0001", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to George Hay and William Wirt, 23 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Hay, George,Wirt, William\n               It is sometime since I recieved from mr Tazewell a letter in which he says \u2018I presume it will be essential to procure much evidence from N.O. in order to sustain the defence proposed. as those however who may be there employed to prepare this evidence, from the circumstance of their not being accurately acquainted with the points & course of this defence, very probably may commit many errors, either by omitting the proof of facts notorious there but unknown here, or by stuffing into the depositions much matter wholly irrelevant to the subject before us, do you not think it will be adviseable to prepare here a statement of the facts which it is desirable to have established? this statement being transmitted to the persons there who may be engaged to prepare the evidence, will serve them as a chart, and while it will ensure us the benefit of all the testimony we may wish, will at the same time exclude from the record all the superfluous matter which might otherwise swell it\u2019s volume to an enormous bulk. if you would take the trouble to prepare this paper, each of your counsel can add to it\u2019s contents, any facts by them deemed important, should such be omitted.\u2019 so far mr Tazewell.\n            I have prepared accordingly the inclosed statement of the facts, to be added to, curtailed, or commented by yourselves & mr Tazewell. I have als to every page left 3. blank columns, one to the right & two to the left of the text, in which each gentleman may insert his notes, and instructions as to the evidence he thinks should be collected. when you shall have done this, be so good as to forward it to mr Tazewell for the same purpose in the envelope which I have put it into & franked. he will return it to me, and the identical paper shall be forwarded to N.O. with any blank Commissions, subpoenas Etc you may send me.\n            I now make up for you a set of Pamphlets & other papers for information, Exhibits authenticated, some recieved from the office of the Secretary of State, and some from N.O. according to the list now inclosed. the sets of pamphlets Nos 1. and 3. will be forwarded to you. the set No 2. I shall forward to mr Tazewell for his use, being not quite so compleat as the set No 1. the authenticated papers are sewed together to prevent confusion or loss. these last will of course be kept with you. after you shall have read Moreau\u2019s Memoire which is very able, would it not be well to detach it from the pamphlets with which it is connected, & returned return it to me to be forwarded to mr Tazewell for his perusal? I say returned return it to me, because it will save the postage of so bulky a volume.you must judge whether the papers from the department of state must be more formally authenticated. if that be requisite, you can either return them to me with your instructions, or send them direct to \u2018John Graham, chief clerk of the Department of state.\u2019\n            my next task shall be to examine the books of authority quoted and possessed by me, and to send you a list of them, that you may look out in time for any you think you may need which I do not possess.Acce the pamphlets Etc are so bulky that I shall endeavor to find a private conveyance; but if none such offers in a few days I will send them by post.Accept the assurances of my constant esteem & respect.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0368-0002", "content": "Title: Enclosure: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s List of Batture-Related Papers and Pamphlets sent to Counsel, 23 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: \n             Papers, pamphlets, Exhibits Etc. made up for the use of Counsel.\n                and a volume in 4to\n Note Nos 1. & 3. are sent to Messrs  Hay and Wirt, & No 2. to mr Tazewell.\n            Contents as follows.\n                  Livingston\u2019s Address to the people of the US.\n                 Report of the Case of Gravier v. the city of N.O.\n                Correspondence\n                 Derbigny\u2019s opinion on the Case for Counsel.\n                  Livingston\u2019s Examination of the title of the US.\n                 Duponceau\u2019s Opinion on the Case of the Batture.\n                Livingston\u2019s Case for Counsel & 13. Queries.\n                 Answers to the 13. queries by Ingersoll & Rawle.\n                  Poydras\u2019s Address to the legislature of N.O.\n                Defence of the right of the public to the batture\n                Further Observations\n                 Examination of the jdmt of the court by Moreau de Lislet.\n Thiery\u2019s Reply to Duponceau\n                Appendix to do\n Derbigny\u2019s Refutation of Duponceau\n Thiery\u2019s Examination of the claim of the US.\n                Pieces Probantes\n Memoire de Moreau de Lislet. MS.\n                Papers for information.\n Edict for establishing a West India company. 1664. May. translated.\n Extracts from a Collection of Royal decrees by Neron & Girard. 1683. April. 1710. Feb. translated.\n Extract from the Repertory of Guiot. translated.\n Affidavit of Poydras, with a translation.\n Deed of J. Gravier to Peter de la Bigarre. 1806. Dec. 14. Copy unauthenticated.\n BelleChasse & Macartey\u2019s Speech to the militia. 1807. Aug. 15.\n                the Governor\u2019s Speech to the people on the Batture. 1807. Sep. 15.\n Tanesse\u2019s Report to the Mayor. 1809. Apr. 23. Copy unauthenticated.\n Notes on the sale of the batture by B. & J. Gravier.\n                Petition of the Mayor, Aldermen & citizens of N. O. to Congress. 1809. Nov. 11.\n Du Jarreau\u2019s Address to the Mayor & Aldermen of N. O. 1808. Aug. 24.\n Livingston to the Public. 1810. Nov. 17. an advertisement.\n                Exhibits authenticated.\n            B. Gravier to\n            Girod, Claude Fran\u00e7ois; and batture controversy, 3:484Girod.\n            Legendre\n                f. \u2018frente a la lev\u00e9 de este rio.\u2019\n            J. Gravier to\n            \u2018fronting the river.\u2019\n Extract from the Register of the Cabildo of N. O.1801. June 5.\n                Statement of the expences of repairing the lev\u00e9e\n The Case of Livingston v. D\u2019Orgenois in the District court of Orleans 1810. July 4\u2013Nov. 14.\n Affidavits of Pelletier, surveyor. 1807. Dec. 5.\n                John Gravier v. the Mayor Etc of N. O. in the Superior court. 1807. Mar. 25.\n Depositions of Livandais & Laveau Trudeau taken in the cause.\n                Pelletier\u2019s plans of the city & fauxbourgs, the Batture, Livingston\u2019s works Etc\n            Exhibits from the office of the Secretary of State to be returned to that office after trial\n                 B. Gravier to Nicholas Gravier for 13. lots \u2018haciendo frente al rio Misipi.\u2019 1794.\n                 Nichs Gravier to Escot. 60.f \u2018de frente al rio.\u2019 1794.\n                 John Gravier to P. de la Bigarre \u2154 of the Batture 1804. Mar. 20.\n                for the whole batture except 1. lot. 1806. Dec. 14.\n             Piedesclaux\u2019s affidavit. 1807. Oct. 14.\n\t\t\t Letter of Govr Claiborne\n             to the Secretary of State. N.O.\n                it\u2019s inclosures.\n\t\t\t         James Brown to Govr Claiborne.\n            E. Livingston\n             to the Governor\n            the Governor\n             to E. Livingston\n            the Governor\u2019s speech to the people\n             Letter of the Atty Genl Rodney\n                to the Secy of State. (his Opinion.)\n                to the President (his Opinion)\n                Letter of Govr Claiborne\n                to Secy of State. Concordia. 1807.\n\t\t\t it\u2019s inclosures. Gravier v. the Mayor Etc of N.O.\n                [here should come in the Sec. Sta.\u2019s lre to Gov. Claiborne of 1807. Nov. 30. misdated & misplaced 1808]\n            the Secy at War\n                to the Commandg officer at N.O.\n            Govr Claiborne\n                to the Sec. of State. N.O.\n                inclosures D\u2019Orgenoy to the Governor\n                copy of the injunction.\n            Govr Claiborne\n            to the Presidt of the US.\n            Sec. of State\n                to Govr Claiborne\n                Petition of the citizens of Orleans to Congress.\n                letter of Govr Claiborne to the Secy of State\n                inclosures Govr Claiborne to the Mayor of N.O.\n            the Mayor to Tanesse surveyor.\n            Tanesse to the Mayor\n the Master Warden & Wardens to Govr Claiborne\n            the Mayor of N.O. to Govr Claiborne\n             to the Mayor of N.O.\n            the Mayor to the Governor\n            Tanesse\u2019s survey.\n                letter of E. Livingston without date or address. [to some member of the admn]\n            E. Livingston to the Secy of State. Smith.\n            the Atty Genl Rodney to the Secrety of State\n            E. Livingston to the Sec. of State\n               letter of the Sec. of State to the Atty of the District of Orleans. Grymes.\n            Govr Claiborne to Th: Jefferson \n            inclosure. Vote of thanks of Legisl. of Orleans to Th:J\n            Resolutions of the legislature of Orleans on the subject of the batture.\n Th: Jefferson\n Lafon\u2019s Plan of the city of N.O. sent to & environs sent\n                to Messrs Hay & Wirt.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0370", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Statement of Facts in the Batture Case, [ca. 23 March 1811]\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: \n          Batture.State of the case  \n           Not long after the establishment of the city of N. Orleans, and while the religious society of Jesuits retained their standing in France, they obtained from Louis XIV. a grant of lands adjacent to the city, bearing date the 11th of April 1726. the original of this grant having been destroyed in the fire which consumed a great part of the city in 1794, & no copy of it as yet produced, the extent and character of the grant is known from no authentic document. it\u2019s other limits are unimportant, but that next the river & above the city is understood to have been of 20. arpents, of 180. French feet, or 64. yards of our measure, each, \u2018face au fleuve\u2019 the ambiguity of which expression is preserved by translating it \u2018fronting the river.\u2019 whether this authorised them to go to the water line of the river, or only to the road and levee is a question. to these they had added 12. arpents more by purchase from individuals. in 1763. the order of Jesuits was suppressed in France, and their property confiscated.\u2014the 32. arpents before mentioned, were divided into 6. parcels described each as \u2018faisant face au fleuve,\u2019 and the one next to the city of 7. arpents in breadth, & 50 in depth, was sold to Pradel; but how these 7. arpents became 12. in the sale of the widow Pradel to Renard, 13. in Gravier\u2019s inventory, and nearly 17. in the extent of his fauxbourg does not appear.  in 1788 Gravier, in right of his wife the widow of Renard, laid off the whole of extent of his front on the river, whatever it was into 4. ranges of lots, & in 96. he added 3 ranges more, establishing them as a Fauxbourg, or suburb to the city. no formal and written permission for this from the government has been produced, whether it was only verbal, or, if written, was lost in the fire, does not appear. that it was given is inferred  1. from Gravier\u2019s declaration to Charles Trudeau the surveyor, 2. from Carondelet\u2019s order to Trudeau, first to deposit a copy of the plan in the public archives, and afterwards for a second one to be delivered to himself and his subsequent declaration that the establishment of the Fauxbg had relieved Gravier from the maintenance of the road and levee. 3. from the regular appointment of officers of police for the new quarter from 1796. till the US. took possession. 4. from the character of the Spanish government, under which no one would have dared to execute such a measure without the permission of the governor. in truth written & formal titles were not given for much of the lands held in that country, as the researches of our present board of commissioners there will prove. yet the validity of these rights will not be questioned. \n          Bertrand Gravier proceeded to sell the lots of his new Fauxbg, and particularly he sold the whole range next the river. \n   15. deeds duly authenticated are possessed. 8. of them are \u2018frente al rio.\u2019 7 are \u2018frente \u00e0 la lev\u00e9 de este ri\u00f2\u2019\nsuch deeds for these lots as have been produced describe them as \u2018haciendo frente al rio\u2019 \u2018fronting the river,\u2019 and it is believed that most, if not all of the deeds use the same expression. Bertrand Gravier himself on all occasions declared\n   Pieces Probantes 9. 21. 28. 30. the mass of testimony printed under this title must all be retaken in legal form. a great proportion of the essential facts rest on that authority.\n that he had sold his lots \u2018faisant face au fleuve\u2019 & had passed to the purchasers his right to the devanture, meaning every thing in front of his lots. \n          In 1797. Bertrand died intestate, and without children, leaving John Gravier & other brothers & sisters in France, or their representatives, as coheirs. an\n   an authentic copy of this inventory, appraisemt & adjudication is wanting.\n inventory & appraisement of the estate took place; and it being understood that B. Gravier had left France indebted and insolvent, John Gravier declined taking it simply as heir, lest he should be liable for all his debts, and recieved it as a purchaser at it\u2019s appraised value & with the benefit of inventory as it is termed. in the inventory is placed a single article of lands in these words, \u2018are placed in the Inventory the lands of this habitation, whose extent cannot be calculated immediately, on account of his having sold many lots; but mr N. Gravier informs us that it\u2019s bounds go to the forks of the bayou, according to the titles.\u2019 and in the appraisement also there is but this same single article of lands thus described \u2018about 13. arpents of land, of which the habitation is estimated, including the garden, of which the most useful part is taken off in the front, the residue, consisting of the lower part [to wit, that descending back to the bayou] the side being sold to Navarro, one Percy, & the negro Zamba, a portion of which, Etc estimated at 190.D. the front acre, with all the depth which makes 2470.D.\u2019 then follows the adjudication which adjuged to John Gravier \u2018the effects, real estate, moveables & slaves, which have been inventoried as belonging to the estate of his deceased brother Bertrand Gravier\u2019 Etc \n          Now it happens that opposite to the habitation or plantation of B. Gravier, now the fauxbg Ste Marie, the beach of the river called in that country Batture, of ordinary breadth within memory, has sensibly increased, by deposits of earth, during the annual floods of the river, till, in the year 1806 it was found to extend in breadth, at low tide, from 122. to 247. yards of our measure, from the water edge into the river: & from about 7.f. height, where it abuts against the bank, declining to the water edge. while uncovered, which is from August to January inclusive, it has served as a Quai for lading & unlading goods, stowing away lumber & firewood, & has furnished all the earth for building the city, and raising it\u2019s streets and courts, essential in that oozy soil. while covered, which is during the other six months of the year, from Feb. to July inclusive, it is the port for all the small craft of the river, and especially for the boats of the upper country which in the season of highwater, can land or lie no where else in the neighborhood of the city. during this period they anchor on it\u2019s bottom, or moor to it\u2019s bank. it is then, like every other beach, the bed of the river one half the year, and a Quai the other half, distinguished from those of tidewaters by being subject to a semiannual, instead of a semidiurnal ebb and flow. in this beach or shoal Bertrand Gravier seems sometimes to have supposed he had some vague right, not at all defined in his mind, and therefore never distinctly claimed or asserted. however whatever it was, he meant to convey it to the purchasers of the front lots, by the term \u2018frente al rio\u2019 \u2018fronting the river\u2019 as we see by his reserving in the deeds to one purchaser of 58. lots expressly a right to take earth from the beach for his brickkilns. not being considered as his property it was not put into the inventory of his estate, as we have seen; and Fernandez, acting for the Depositor general, says that he took charge & possession of all the estate in according to the inventory which had been made from the 28th of June to the 4th of July 1797, and that the batture was not only not in the inventory, but was never heard of as the property of Gravier, was never in the charge of the Depositor, nor delivered to J. Gravier, nor spoken of at the time of the delivery to him. nor does John Gravier appear to have claimed any right to it then or for 6. years after, until the \n   Feb. 1804. Liv\u2019s Address. VII\narrival\n          of mr Livingston from New York, with the wharves & slips of that place fresh in his recollection. Gravier is then tempted by \n   the 2. deeds to Bigarre are in our possession.\nsuccessive bargains on different conditions, to claim the batture and lend his name, recieve a round sum for it, & in no event to be liable to any loss which might be incurred. \n   that Parisien gave such testimony, should be proved, because it establishes the fact by the testimony of an appraiser that the batture was not in the inventory or appraisement but was omitted thro\u2019 forgetfulness. it is not probable the plaintiff will examine hi bring him forward again.\none of the appraisers recollects, just at the same time, that the batture was omitted through forgetfulness, to be inserted in the inventory; that it was intended to be inserted, & he walked over it himself in the interval of taking the inventory (to wit June 28. to July 4.) with a view of estimating it\u2019s value; omitting to state that at the same time, the batture was covered with 7. or 8 f. water, the flood being then so high that all the sawmills were at work. in making this purchase mr Livingston found it most convenient to use the name of an old acquaintance from N. York, a Peter de la Bigarre, & perhaps to allow him some little partnership in it. John Gravier then by way of manifesting his claim\n   Liv\u2019s Address VII. Note 1. authorises a belief it was not begun till after Feb. 1804. & finished the ensuing winter.\n in 1804 began an inclosure of 500.f. square, & compleated it the next year. it is probable that this beginning was after it was understood that the country was ceded to us, & not while the French Governor considered the country as belonging to his master. however, the batture having at all times been considered as public property, having been constantly kept clear from intrusion by the Spanish governors & Cabildo, this inclosure was demolished by \n   this order wanting\norder of the Cabildo of Feb. 22. 1804. the that deed to la Bigarre is then made, Mar. 27. 1804. for two thirds of the property, and (notwithstanding this) Gravier on the 20th of Oct. 1805 commenced a suit against the city, as proprietor of the whole: and the court, acting as a court of Chancery adjudged the whole to him: and on the 14th of Dec. 1806. he, by another deed conveys the whole property to la Bigarre, on new conditions. this deed was kept secret till the day before the court pronounced it\u2019s decree, when, the parties becoming apprised of the decision which was to be given (for it was known at least on the 20th of May, 1807) had it recorded before a notary, and the day after it\u2019s publication the court acting as a court of Chancery, by the opinion of \n   see Examn of the judgment pa. 4. Sprigg dissentient.\ntwo members against one, decreed the whole property to be John Gravier\u2019s, his several conveyances of it notwithstanding. the alarm which this adjudication produced was immediate & great. the fact was notorious, that from the earliest to the latest extensions of the beach the public had had a free use of it, as their Quai in low water, and in high water their port, and never before had their right been doubted by themselves, or questioned by the riparian possessors. the Governors and Cabildos had had the constant care & controul of it, had demolished buildings and inclosures erected on it, had, by public Ban, prohibited all erections or obstructions to it\u2019s use, had themselves erected a rampart, to inclose within it a chamber accessible for earth at highwater, for rebuilding the city after the fire, and had exercised uninterruptedly every other act of authority derived from the public rights; that the Graviers till the change of government and their transactions with Edward Livingston had never pretended to more than the right of common in it, and never had questioned that of the public, or the authority of the Governor & Cabildo over it. while they held the adjacent plantation indeed, they maintained the road & bank as all rural proprietors are obliged by the Roman law to do, as well as by the conditions of their grants.  but after establishing the front of the plantation into a Suburb and thus cutting off the residue from the road & river, being called on to repair the road by an order from Governor Carondelet, who seems at the moment not to have adverted to the change, Bertrand Gravier answered that having sold the lots \u2018faisant face au fleuve,\u2019 fronting the river, he had abandoned the batture to the town, & that the road & levee could not be at his expence. the Governor recollecting & correcting himself at once says \u2018Gravier is right, all this is true\u2019 and immediately & ever after had the repairs made by the public\n   see Statement of expences. official.\n: and the Graviers from that time stood discharged from these burthens on the same principle which had freed the original owners of the scite of the city from maintaining the banks of the City. \n          On the 21st of Aug. 1807. mr Derbigny\u2019s opinion was published and reanimated the public hope by bringing into view the right of the US. and shewing that the sentence of the court must, of course, as to them, be a mere nullity. the court could not have undertaken to decide on the right of the US. which was neither before them nor within their competence. and the injunction they issued could only be addressed to the parties between whom they had adjudged, and not to suspend the rights of others whom they had never heard, much less of the US. who could not be heard before them. \n          Presuming however that the coast was now clear, and the question finally settled, the ostensible actors withdraw, and their principal comes forward, is put into possession by the sheriff, & begins his works. Aug. 24. he employed a number of negroes to commence digging a canal which he projected to make across the beach. but the citizens assembled in considerable numbers and drove them off. on the day following he went in person, but was again opposed by the citizens, whose minds were much agitated. they assembled the next day about the same hour, & for several days successively by beat of drum. on Monday the 31st of August mr Livingston recommenced his work, after having given notice that he should do so. he began about 10. aclock A.M. and about 4. or 5. aclock in the afternoon the people assembled again & drove off his labourers. on the 14th of Sep. he again attempted to work, getting two constables to attend his laborers. the people drove them off, & the constables having noted on a list some of those present they seised them, took the list & tore it to peices.  on the next day he writes to the Governor\n   his letter of Sep. 15. in our possn\n that he shall set his labourers to work again that day at 12. aclock, and \u2018he shall not be surprised to see the people change the insolence of riot into the crime of murder.\u2019 at noon he accordingly placed 10. or 12. white laborers there. in the afternoon the people re-assembled to the number of several hundreds. the Governor repaired there & spoke to them. he was heard with respectful attention: and one of them, speaking for the whole, expressed the serious uneasiness which the decision of the court had excited, the long and undisturbed possession of the batture by the city, as well under the French as the Spanish government, & the great injury which would result to the inhabitants, if the land should be built upon & improved. and another declaring that they wished the decision of Congress, & in the mean time no work to be done on the batture, there was a general exclamation from the croud \u2018that is the general wish,\u2019 followed by a request that they might nominate an Agent to bear to the President of the US. a statement of their grievances, & that the Governor would recommend the agent to the Government. he said he would do so, & they nominated Colo Macartey, by general and repeated acclamations. they then withdrew in peace to their respective homes. \n   authentic copy wanting.\nOn the 14th of November, a grand jury of the most respectable characters of the place, give in a presentment to the court in which they say \u2018We of present as a subject of the most serious complaint the present operations\u2019 Etc Notwithstanding this capitulation then, we find mr Livingston, instead of awaiting the decision of Congress, the only constitutional tribunal, resuming his works boldly, and the people whom he represented as like \u2018to change the insolence of riot into the crime of murder\u2019 appealing peaceably, by presentment to the laws of their country until the national government should decide. \n   very particular testimony of these works and their subsequent effects should be obtained.\n In the latter end of the same year, he opens a canal from the bank directly thro\u2019 the beach into the river 276.f. long, 64.f. wide & 4.f. 2.I. deep at low water, & with the earth excavated, he forms a bank or quai, on each side, 19 f. 6 I. wide, from 4. to 6.f. high above the level of the batture, & faced with palissades. these are all French measures, to which add a fifteenth to make them ours. within one year after this what had been anticipated by the grand jury and others, had already manifested itself. in Dec. of the ensuing year 1808. a bar had already formed across the mouth of the canal, which was dry at low water; the course of the waters had been changed during the intervening flood, and the places where dry ground first shewed itself, on the decrease of the river, were such as had, the year before, been navigable at low water. the port in front of the town had been impaired by a new batture begun to be formed opposite the Custom house, which could not fail to increase by the change of the current.  the beach or batture of St Mary had, in that single tide, extended from 75. to 80.f. further into the river, & risen from 2. to 5 f. 10.I. generally, & more in places; as a saw scaffold which, at the preceding low tide, was 7.f. high, was now buried to it\u2019s top: and Tanesse, the surveyor says he does not doubt that these works have produced the last year\u2019s augmentation of the batture, at the expence of the bed of the river, have occasioned the carrying away a great part of the platin or batture of the lower suburbs, & breaking the levee of M. Blanque next below, & that the main port of the city, being a Cove, immediately below Livingston\u2019s works, would, if they were continued, be filled up in time; and it is the opinion of Piedesclaux also that they would produce changes in the banks of the river, on both sides, prejudicial to the city, & riparian possessors, by directing the efforts of the river against parts, not heretofore exposed to it. and mr Poydras tells us\n   regular proof to be obtained.\n that when the river is at it\u2019s height the boats which drift down it can only land in the eddies below the points, as they would be dashed to pieces in attempting to land in the strong current: that at the town they cannot land for want of room, there being always there two or three tier of vessels in close contact; nor at the lower suburbs of Marigny, which being at the lower part of the cove, are too much exposed both to winds and current. indeed no evidence is necessary to prove\n   special proof of these facts very desirable.\n that in a river of only 1200. yards width, having an annual tide of 12. to 14.f rise, which brings the water generally to within 8. or 10. I. and sometimes 2. or 3. I., of the top of the lev\u00e9e, insomuch that it splashes over with the wind, were the channel narrowed 250. yards, as mr Livingston intends, that is to say a fourth or fifth of it\u2019s whole breadth, the waters must rise higher in nearly the same proportion, that is to say 3.f. at least, and would sweep away the whole levee, the city it now protects, and inundate all the lower country. \n   the original letters from the Govr are in our possession.\nThis case was brought before the Executive of the US. thro\u2019 different channels of information, but principally by letters from the Governor. the urgency of the danger, and necessity of a prompt remedy, were pressed.   on the 24th of Oct the Atty Genl had given his opinions\n   see copies of his lres to the Presidt and Secy of State.\n & on the 27th of Nov. 07. a consultation was held with the heads of Departments & Attorney General, and according to what was then unanimously considered & determined, the Secretary of State wrote on the 30th of Nov.\n   see his letter.\n to the Governor covering instructions for the Marshal to remove immediately by the civil power, any persons from the batture Ste Marie, who had taken possession of it since the 3d of March, & authorising the Governor, if necessary, to use military force, for which purpose a letter of the same date was written by the Secretary at War\n   see the letter.\n to the Commanding officer at N. Orleans. this force however was not called on.the epoch of the 3d of March was fixed on to bring the proceedings within the sanction of the law of that date, as well as under that of all preexisting laws. the instructions to the Marshal were delivered to him about 9. aclock, in the morning of the 25th of Jan. 1808. he immediately went to the beach and ordered off mr Livingston\u2019s laborers. they obeyed, but soon after returned. on being ordered off a second time, the principal person told him that he was commanded by mr Livingston not to give up the batture until an adequate armed force should compel him. and in the mean time, mr Livingston had procured from a judge of the superior court of the territory, an order,\n   see the order in D\u2019Orgenoy\u2019s lre of Jan. 27. 08. to the Govr\n purporting to be an injunction forbidding the Marshal to disturb Edward Livingston in his possession of the batture, under pain of a contempt of court. but no court of Chancery having ever been established or authorised by law in that territory, & no other court having jurisdiction over the United States, the Marshal collected a posse comitatus, ordered off the laborers again, who peaceably retired, and no further attempts were made to recommence the work. \n           The territorial legislature, 3. weeks after took up the subject, & passed an act\n   authentic copy of the act wanting. qu? is not the printed copy sufficient?\n providing prescribing in what manner riparian proprietors should proceed, who wished to make new embankments in advance of those existing, and passed a vote of thanks\n   see authentic copy in Govr\u2019s lre to Th:J. of Feb. 1. 1810. but the clerk has omitted to put any date to the vote of the legislature.\n to the Executive of the US. for it\u2019s interposition; and the Executive, recieving on the 1st of March information from Governor Claiborne of the execution of their orders, laid the whole matter on the 7th of that month before Congress by a message turning the case over to them as one in which all the Executive functions had been discharged, and now placed in the hands of the legislature the only power competent to decide it.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0371", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Littleton W. Tazewell, 23 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Tazewell, Littleton W.\n             When I recieved your letter of Dec. 29. my Memoir on the case of the batture was out of my hands, and not recieved by me till within a short time past. I have now made out from that a statement of the facts of the case, and have left 3. blank columns on every page, one to the right & two to the left of the text, for you gentlemen to insert any alterations, or instructions as to the evidence to be obtained which you may think proper.  this is now inclosed to Messrs Hay & Wirt, to recieve their observations, and I have requested them to forward it to you for the same purpose. when you shall have entered your instructions in it, be so good as to return it to me, and I shall forward the identical paper to N.O. to the person who will be engaged to collect the evidence.   I have also inclosed to mr Hay & Wirt, pamphlets, Exhibits, & papers for information according to a list of which I inclose you a copy; except that the 8vo & 4to volumes No 2. therein mentd are now inclosed to you for your own use, and Boqueta\u2019s plan of the city & environs, noting the situation of Gravier\u2019s plantation. you will percieve by this list what authenticated documents we possess & are forwarded to Messrs Hay & Wirt.\n            My next task shall be to examine what books of authority are quoted & possessed by me, of which I will send you a note, that you may look out in time for any you may think necessary & not possessed by me. mine my collection shall be sent to Richmond in due time. it will be very voluminous. Accept the assurances of my great esteem & respect.\n             P.S. I have desired Messrs H. & W. after reading Moreau\u2019s able Memoir, to detach it from the pamphlets with which it is connected, & return it to me to be forwarded to you for your perusal.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0372", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Nathaniel Ellicott, 24 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Ellicott, Nathaniel\n          I avail myself of the partial acquaintance between us to which a former occasion gave birth to ask the favor of some information interesting to me. I am desirous of erecting a mill or machine for pulverising plaister of Paris on a small scale, to be moved by water. I remember your being kind enough to shew me your mill once but I do not retain it\u2019s construction in my memory. I think it was on the principle of the powder mill, with pestles lifted by cogs inserted in a horizontal shaft, & falling by their own weight on the stone placed in a trough. was it a single trough common to all the pestles or was there a distinct trough to each pestle? what the size of the trough? the dimensions and weight of the pestle & of what material, wood or iron, made? the length of the cog inserted into the shaft to lift the pestle, & of that inserted in the handle of the pestle? at what distance is the pestle placed from the side of the shaft? how many cogs to each pestle, or in other words how many strokes does the pestle give for each revolution of the water-wheel? how near are the pestles to one another? how high are they lifted? is this pounding the only operation necessary, or are there any other previous or subsequent operations? some idea of the quantity pounded by each pestle in a given time, and indeed I am ignorant of every thing about it, even of the outlines of the framing in which the works are contained and confined: so that the more extensive the information you will be so good as to give me, and the more minute, the greater will be the obligation, and especially adapting your advice to the small scale to which I shall confine myself. there will not be offered more than 40. or 50. tons a year for grinding. half that quantity has already destroyed an excellent pair of mill stones for me, so that I am tired of that mode. I propose to place an overshot wheel for this machine, below the water wheel (an overshot) of my mill, to recieve it\u2019s water by a prolongation of the same water-trough, & to be in operation only when the grist mill is idle.\n          I hope you will excuse the trouble I thus propose to you andbe assured of the thankfulness with which it will be recieved and of my esteem and respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0373", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 24 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Eppes, John Wayles\n             Your servant arrived here the day before yesterday, since which the weather has been showery, & is now threatening & uncertain if tomorrow is promising, Francis will set out. we part with him with more regret after every visit.   while the cold weather kept him pretty much in the house, I made him do a little in the Latin grammar, merely to begin to exercise his memory.  as soon as you think him sufficiently advanced in reading writing & arithmetic for the Latin school, there is a fine position for him in this neighborhood. Peter Carr having to educate his own sons, determines to take a few others, the more to fill up his time. they board with him. how long he will continue the business, those who know him doubt: but while he does continue it, there cannot be a better situation. I shall be happy to have Francis so near us.\n               I send you some Nutmeg melon which I know to be fine, & some I recieved from Malta but have not tried: and some Pani corn brought me by the Osage Indians, the finest & forwardest corn I have ever tried.   I also send some Asparagus bean, a vegetable new to us, brought me by Genl Sumpter from Georgia, & new there.  it is a very valuable one, much more tender & delicate than the snap, and may be dressed in any form in which Asparagus may, particularly fried in batter, or chopped to the size of the garden pea, & dressed as such in the French way. plant them in rows 12. or 18 I. apart, the rows 3.f. apart, & stick them as you do Lima beans. plant at the same time with the Lima bean, they come together & last till Frost.\n                Your character of the Federalists is not exaggerated. bitterer enemies to their country do not exist in France, England or Spain.   those in Congress, with John Randolph now consolidated with their body, would be delighted that Great Britain could conquer & reduce us again under her government, & Pickering Quincey & Gardenier would rather France should do it than that we should remain under a republican administration.  mr Madison, as you justly say, must be supported. with so unprincipled and traitorous an opposition, the republican who schismatises is a traitor in deed, altho\u2019 he may not be in intention. I am sorry you retire in so dubious a state of things. you intimate that the district you have left is the only one which would would elect you. I am assured that to which you have removed would do it. I pass often thro\u2019 Buckingham, and am assured there you would have a very general vote. besides your services in the house, what greater could you render your country than by the exclusion of John Randolph, the most envenomed enemy to a democratical republican government which it has ever seen. if his adder-tongue can so infatuate his constituents as that ordinary candidates cannot obtain their suffrage, it becomes the more incumbent on him who can, to offer himself. his exclusion alone would give greater security to our government, than the repeal of the British orders. I am not apt to despair, nor do I despair under any shape of political events. but I am deeply mortified when I see that from the circumstances of our common language, laws, manners & prejudices from the omnipotent controul over our commercial men from the intrigues of her subjects permitted to live among us, and from her briberies, Great Britain is enabled to force our government out of that course of proceeding which the interests of our own country calls call for. this she notoriously did in the case of the embargo. present me respectfully to mrs Eppes, and accept my constant & affectionate attachment\n             Mar. 26. Francis would have set off yesterday but was unwell. he had eaten something which disagreed with him. it is the only moment of ill health sickness he has had since he came.   I add to the seeds some Benni, and Cherokee corn, remarkably fine.  whether as forward as the Pani I cannot say. it was sent me from the nation. he carries also some me and a male puppy of the Shepherd\u2019s breed", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0375", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Madame de Tess\u00e9, 27 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Tess\u00e9, Madame de\n            Dear Madam\n          Since I had last the pleasure of writing to you, I have to acknolege the reciept of your favors of 1809. June 12. & Oct. 9. & 1810. March 24.   with the first came the seeds of the Paullinia or Koelreuteria, one of which has germinated, and is now growing. I cherish it with particular attentions, as it daily reminds me of the friendship with which you have honored me.  yours of Octob. 9. mentions the having sent some Marrons d\u2019Inde (Aesculus hippocastanea) perhaps however Marrons cultiv\u00e9es (Castanea Sativa) which were what I had requested. these however got into the hands of some English pirate. I regret it the more as that delicious nut has never yet been introduced into the United States, & altho\u2019 the nut itself, when planted, does not produce uniformly the same fruit, yet it is said to do it generally.  I should have had also to regret the print of our illustrious & much valued friend Humboldt, had not your goodness supplied another by Count Pahlen, which came safe to hand. when shall I have the opportunity of returning these kindnesses? in other words when will the ocean be freed from the piracies which have so long shut it up? nothing would give me so much pleasure as to prepare annually here a box of what we have acceptable to you. but the several unsuccessful efforts which I made at Washington, one only of which reached you, & that in bad condition, have deterred me from the attempt. the time however will I hope return when the restoration of peace & safe intercourse may enable me to give you these proofs of my wishes to contribute to your happiness, which will, in that way, become a part of mine also. I do not permit myself to decide that it is even impossible I should have the pleasure of seeing the scene of your new labours. I sometimes indulge the reverie, altho\u2019 conscious that Europe entire, in it\u2019s present state, would be a Bastile to me.  it would be soothed indeed by the pleasures of a renewed society with yourself, with messieurs de Tesse & de la Fayette, and some few others still left among the living.I lament, Madam, with you, the loss of mr Short\u2019s services in the mission destined for him. I am certain it would have been for the benefit of our country, had he been continued. his amiable manners & conversation could not have failed to make him acceptable. but an unworthy intrigue defeated my wishes: for here also we are sometimes baffled by intrigue, and it is not every one among us, entrusted with the public concerns, who looks with a single eye to the public interest. should a general peace take place, and the ocean be once more placed under the safeguard of moral law, I hope my first information may be by the reciept of your commands, specifying what we possess here which would be acceptable to you. the execution of them will be a great gratification to me.  requesting your permission to place here my respects for M. de Tess\u00e9 I pray you to accept the homage of my highest respect and attachment.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0376", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Peter Walsh, 27 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Walsh, Peter\n              Monticello. (Virginia) Mar. 27. 1811.\n            Altho\u2019 not personally known to you, I am probably so by name and character, & therefore take the liberty of addressing you directly\u2014mr Warden, now going as our Consul general to Paris, will be the bearer of this letter, and as you may have official relations with him, I shall take a pleasure, in the letter to him which covers this, to make you known to him. I some time ago recieved from you through mr Coles, who is known to you, some St George wine which was much approved.  the object of the present letter is to ask the favor of you to send me annually a supply of a pipe (about 120. gallons) of the same quality, and to draw on me for the cost & charges, at 90. days sight, in favor of your correspondent, mr Havens at New York, or of any other person, & your draught shall be duly honored.  the convenient ports for me are N. York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, or Norfolk, and if addressed to the Collector of the customs at the port, it will be forwarded to Richmond for me.  I write this under the expectation of a restoration of intercourse by the repeal of the edicts & orders which have so long interrupted it. should this not take place, you must be so good, using your own discretion, as to suspend the sending of the first pipe until the general laws, or some special means of safe-conveyance, may give security to what is sent. Accept the assurances of my esteem & respect.\n            P.S. letters for me should be addressed to\u2018Thomas Jefferson Monticello Virginia.\u2019", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0377", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Theodorus Bailey, 28 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Bailey, Theodorus\n           I am to thank you for your two letters of the 18th & the attention you have been so kind as to shew to mine addressed to mr Warden. one since recieved from him gives me the hope that that which I now inclose may still find him at N. York; but lest he should be gone I am obliged again to take the benefit of your cover, and renew the request, if he should be gone, to return it again under cover to me.\n            Accept the assurances of my great esteem & respect.\n Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0378", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William Duane, 28 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Duane, William\n            I learn with sincere concern, from yours of the 15th recieved by our last mail, the difficulties into which you are brought by the retirement of particular friends from the accomodations they had been in the habit of yielding you.   that one of those you name should have separated from the Censor of John Randolph, is consonant with the change of disposition which took place in him at Washington. that the other, far above that bias, should have done so was not expected. I have ever looked to mr Lieper as one of the truest republicans of our country, whose mind unaffected by personal incidents, pursues it\u2019s course with a steadiness of which we have rare examples. looking about for a motive, I have supposed it was to be found in the late arraignments of mr Gallatin in your papers. however he might differ from you on that subject, as I do myself, the indulgences in difference of opinion which we all owe to one another, and every one needs for himself, would, I thought, in a mind like his, have prevented such a manifestation of it. I believe mr Gallatin to be of as pure integrity, and as zealously devoted to the liberties and interests of our country as it\u2019s most affectionate native citizen. of this his courage in Congress, in the days of terror, gave proofs which nothing can obliterate from the recollection of those who were witnesses of it. these are probably the opinions of mr Lieper, as I believe they are of every man intimately acquainted with mr Gallatin. an intercourse, almost daily, of eight years with him has given me opportunities of knowing his character more thoroughly than perhaps any other man living: and I have ascribed the erroneous estimate you have formed of it, to the want of that intimate knolege of him which I possessed. every one, certainly, must form his judgment on the evidence accessible to himself, and I have no more doubt of the integrity of your convictions, than I have of my own. they are drawn from different materials, and different sources of information, more or less perfect, according to our opportunities.  the zeal, the disinterestedness, and the abilities with which you have supported the great principles of our revolution, the persecutions you have suffered, and the firmness and independence with which you have suffered them, constitute too strong a claim on the good wishes of every friend of elective government, to be effaced by a solitary case of difference in opinion. thus I think, and thus I believed my much esteemed friend Lieper would have thought: and I am the more concerned he does not, as it is so much more in his power to be useful to you, than in mine. his residence, and his    standing at the great seat of the monied institutions command a credit with them, which no inhabitant of the country, and of agricultural pursuits only, can have. the two or three banks in our uncommercial state are too distant to have any relations with the farmers of Albemarle. we are persuaded you have not overrated the dispositions of this state to support yourself and your paper. they have felt it\u2019s services too often to be indifferent in the hour of trial. they are well aware that the days of danger are not yet over. and I am sensible that if there were any means of bringing into concert the good will of the friends of the Aurora scattered over this state, they would not decieve your expectations. one month sooner might have found such an opportunity in the assemblage of our legislature in Richmond. but that is now dispersed, not to meet again under a twelvemonth.   we, here, are but one of an hundred counties: and on consultation with friends of the neighborhood, it is their opinion that if we can find an endorser resident in Richmond (for that is indispensible)   from it   10. or 12 persons of this county would readily engage, as you suggest, for their 100.D. each, and some of them for more. it is believed that the republicans in that city can and will do a great deal more; and perhaps their central position may enable them to communicate with other counties. we have written to a distinguished friend to the cause of liberty there to take the lead in the business, as far as concerns that place; & for our own, we are taking measures for obtaining the aid of the bank of the same place. in all this I am nearly a cypher. forty years of nearly almost constant absence from the state have made me a stranger in it, have left me as a solitary tree from around which the axe of time has felled all the companions of it\u2019s youth & growth. I have however engaged some active and zealous friends to do what I could not. their personal acquaintance and influence with those now in active life can give effect to their efforts. but our support can be but partial, and far short, both in time & measure, of your difficulties. they will be little more than evidences of our friendship. the truth is that farmers, as we all are, have no command of money. our necessaries are all supplied either from our farms, or a neighboring store. our produce, at the end of the year, is delivered to the merchant & thus the business of the year is done by barter, without the intervention of scarcely a dollar: and thus also we live with a plenty of every thing except money. to raise that, negociations & time are requisite. I sincerely wish that greater and prompter effects could have flowed from our good will. on my part no endeavors or sacrifices shall be witheld. but we are bound down by the laws of our situation.\n            I do not know whether I am able at present to form a just idea of the situation of our country. if I am, it is such as, during the bellum omnium in omnia of Europe, will require the union of all it\u2019s friends to resist it\u2019s enemies within & without. if we schismatise on either men or measures, if we do not act in phalanx, as when we rescued it from the satellites of monarchism, I will not say our party, the term is false and degrading, but our nation will be undone.   for the republicans are the nation. their opponents are but a faction, weak in numbers, but powerful & profuse in the command of money, & backed by a nation, powerful also & profuse, in the use of the same means: & the more profuse, in both cases, as the money they thus employ is not their own, but their creditors\u2019 to be paid off by a bankruptcy, which whether it pays a dollar or a shilling in the pound is of little concern with them. the last hope of human liberty in this world rests on us. we ought, for so dear a stake, to sacrifice every attachment & every enmity. leave the President free to chuse his co-adjutors, to pursue his own measures, & support him & them, even if we think we are wiser than they are, honester than they are, or possessing more enlarged information of the state of things. if we move in mass, be it ever so circuitously, we shall attain our object: but if we break into squads, every one pursuing the path he thinks most direct, we become an easy conquest to those who can now barely hold us in check.\n            I repeat again that we ought not to schismatize on either men or measures. principle alone can justify that. if we find our government, in all it\u2019s branches, rushing headlong, like our predecessors, into the arms of monarchy, if we find them violating our dearest rights, the trial by jury, the freedom of the press, the freedom of opinion civil or religious, or opening on our peace of mind or personal safety the sluices of terrorism, if we see them raising standing armies, when the absence of all other danger points to these as the sole objects on which they are to be employed, then indeed let us withdraw & call the nation to it\u2019s tents. but while our functionaries are wise & honest, & vigilant, let us move compactly under their guidance, & we have nothing to fear. things may here & there go a little wrong. it is not in their power to prevent it. but all will be right in the end, tho\u2019 not perhaps by the shortest means.You know, my dear Sir, that this union of republicans has been the constant theme of my exhortations: that I have ever refused to know any subdivisions among them, to take part in any personal differences; & therefore you will not give to the present observations any other than a general application. I may sometimes differ in opinion from some of my friends, from those whose views are as pure & sound as my own. I censure none, but do homage to every one\u2019s right of opinion. if I have indulged my pen therefore a little further than the occasion called for, you will ascribe it to a sermonising habit, to the anxieties of age, perhaps to it\u2019s garrulity, or to any other motive rather than the want of the esteem & confidence of which I pray you to accept sincere assurances.\n            P.S. absorbed in a subject more nearly interesting, I had forgotten our book on the heresies of Montesquieu. I sincerely hope the removal of all embarrasment will enable you to go on with it, or so to dispose of it as that our country may have the benefit of the corrections it will administer to public opinion.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0379", "content": "Title: Nathaniel Ellicott to Thomas Jefferson, 28 March 1811\nFrom: Ellicott, Nathaniel\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            My Freind Tho Jefferson Esq\n           I have before me your letter of Enquiry of 24th. As you seem to wish your Manufactory of Plaster upon a small scale I am Verry Inclined to think, that the new mode of breaking it by a Cast Iron screw firmly fixed Immedeately over the Mill hopper is much more simple, and much cheaper, but if you wish (tho you say not) to go upon a large scale, I have always been of opinion that hard Knocks is best suited to breaking any Kind of stone Expeditiously. But if you beat with pestles your stones cannot Run while you beat with the same shaft, it Creates too much Jarring, upon Every considert consideration I would Recommend the screw upon your scale, and Altho I have often seen them at work, I am not at the moment able to describe the fixtures to your satisfaction\n          Oliver Evans of Philadelphia Casts and sells those screws, and will ship you one to Richmond with Directions to fix it up of at your Request If I did not fully believe this mode would suit better than the one I pursue, I would with pleasure give you a Minute discription of the pestle Plan, and if you should determine not to use the screw but to use the pestle I will do myself the pleasure of Complying with your future wishes\n            believe me Truly yr S\n N Ellicott", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0380", "content": "Title: Bernard Smith to Thomas Jefferson, 28 March 1811\nFrom: Smith, Bernard\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          Taught, at an early period of my life, to revere your character, and having been employed in the Department of State, during a great part of your Administration, I had an opportunity of witnessing your exertions to promote the happiness and prosperity of our Country.\n          Impressed with these sentiments, I take the liberty of forwarding to You a paper containing an Oration, which I delivered on the 4th inst. A great pressure of business, as well as indisposition, has prevented me from paying you sooner this mark of respect, and of assuring you that I remain, with sentiments of profound respect & consideration, Your most obedt & very Hble Servt ", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0381", "content": "Title: Archibald Stuart to Thomas Jefferson, 28 March 1811\nFrom: Stuart, Archibald\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Staunton 28th March 1811\n           On the receipt of your favor enclosing a letter to Mr Derieux I requested the mail carrier to enqure for him as he passed through the Neighbourhood where he formerly resided\u2014He informed Me he had seen Mr Ds Daughter who informed him her father had removed to N.C. but could not say to what part of the State\u2014She Promised If possible to ascertain the Place of his residence & gave give me information of it, since which I have not heard from her\u2014The letter is now returned agreeable to your request\u2014\n          I rejoice at the Changes which I trust have taken place in the English Cabinet as they will probably relieve us from our Present embarrassing situation\n            yrs very affectionately\n Archd Stuart", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0382", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to David Bailie Warden, 28 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Warden, David Bailie\n             Your letter of the 18th gives me the hope you have recieved that which I had taken the liberty of putting under your care for M. Tracy: and the further hope also that those I now inclose for Mde de Tess\u00e9 M. de la Fayette & mr Walsh may reach you in time. Mde de Tess\u00e9 I believe you know is the aunt of M. de la Fayette. mr Walsh is our Consul at Cette, a countryman I think of yours, who has resided in France a great many years, a man of great worth, and carrying on a respectable commerce. should your official functions bring you into correspondence, you will find him worthy of your confidence & kindness. my present intercourse with him is as a wine merchant.  I sincerely congratulate you on your appointment, so much the more honorable as it was with the unanimous vote of the Senate. I can say with sincerity that you carry my best wishes with you. I am to thank you for the magazines you were so kind as to send me. the family is now all engaged in reading them. they desire me to add their thanks also for the pieces you had sent them. if you leave any occasion of call for money in this country, or any correspondent to whom paiments made here would be equivalent to making them in Paris, I should probably sometimes request you to send me a volume which might now & then strike my notice. but the difficulty of making small remittances to Paris, cuts off that resource. Accept my best wishes for a safe & pleasant voyage and the assurances of my great esteem & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0383", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 29 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           Being informed by Mr Norvell who transacts Mr Randolph\u2019s business, that Harry has not been down for some time, and that he does not know if he has not brought the whole of Mr R\u2019s flour, I fear it may be uncertain when he will again come, & will therefore be obliged to you to ask Mr Higginbotham to get some trusty waterman to call for your oil & spirits of turpentine, as I am going out of town, & Mr Gibson is unacquainted with them.\n            I am Dear Sir Your Very humble servt\n Geo. Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0384", "content": "Title: Reuben Perry to Thomas Jefferson, 29 March 1811\nFrom: Perry, Reuben\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n             I Shall only State to you that James hubbard was carried up the rivanna by your wartermen warterman harry 3 weeks ago and Suppose must be in that neighbourhood at this time I Should be glad that Mr Bacon will try to get him for me and I will be very much oblige me, and also receive recompenced fore the Same I Am Sir\n Reuben Perry", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0386", "content": "Title: Caesar A. Rodney to Thomas Jefferson, 30 March 1811\nFrom: Rodney, Caesar A.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Honored & Dear Sir,\n            Washington March 30th 1811.\n            If you recollect just before you retired from office, I ventured to give you an opinion, on a case stated by Mr Wilberforce, in direct opposition to those he had obtained in England. It was natural that I should distrust my own judgment, when put in competition with that of able & eminent civilians perfectly conversant with the laws & practice of courts of admiralty. But the slave trade having been prohibited by act of parliament, & cases arising under it, made cognizable before the admiralty tribunals, all the rules of prize courts, succeeded, of course, as a commentary to the text, to direct the course of proceeding in the exercise of this branch of their jurisdiction. Agreeably to the usual practice therefore the  onus probandi would, in these cases, be imposed on the claimant. Without violating the principle which prohibits one nation from executing or even noticing the penal laws of another, I conceived it would be competent in examining the pretensions for restitution to look into the right or title of a claimant to the property And it would seem to me, a solecism, if a right could exist in a citizen of the U. States in the face of the offended laws of his own country. No title I thought could flow from such an impure source. Under these impressions I gave the opinion which has since been confirmed in various cases by the high court of admiralty. And I am now happy to find the question put at rest, by a solemn decision before the Lords Commissioners of appeals in prize causes. A breif sketch of the case is contained in the enclosed paper. You will receive pleasure and satisfaction from its perusal. The determination will have a happy influence, and will contribute greatly to aid the cause of humanity in which you have so successfully laboured. With every sentiment of esteem, affection and gratitude I remain Dr Sir,\n            Yours Truly\n C. A. Rodney", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0387", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William Wirt, 30 March 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Wirt, William\n           Mr Dabney Carr has written to you on the situation of the Editor of the Aurora, and our desire to support him.   that paper has unquestionably rendered incalculable services to republicanism thro\u2019 all it\u2019s struggles with the federalists, and has been the rallying point for the orthodox of the whole Union. it was our comfort in the gloomiest days, and is still performing the office of a watchful centinel. we should be ungrateful to desert him, and unfaithful to our own interests to lose him. still I am sensible, and I hope others are so too, that one of his late attacks is as unfounded as it is injurious to the republican cause.  I mean that on mr Gallatin, than whom there is no truer man, and who, after the President, is the ark of our safety. I have thought it material that the Editor should understand that that attack has no part in the motives for what we may do for him; that we do not thereby make ourselves partisans against mr Gallatin, but, while we differ from him on that subject, we retain a just sense of all his other services, and will not be wanting as far as we can aid him.for this purpose I have written him the inclosed letter answer to his letter, which I send for your perusal, on supposition that you concur in the sentiment, and would be unwilling he should misconstrue the service you may be able to render him into an encouragement to proceed in the mischievous undertaking of writing down mr Gallatin. be so good as to return the paper when read, and to be assured of my sincere and constant attachment & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0388", "content": "Title: Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours to Thomas Jefferson, 31 March 1811\nFrom: Du Pont de Nemours, Pierre Samuel\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Mon tr\u00e8s respectable Ami,\n            Je Sais que mon ouvrage Sur les Finances des Etats-Unis vous est parvenu, et je Suis bien curieux d\u2019apprendre quelle en a \u00e9t\u00e9 votre opinion?\n          Je le crois encore un peu pr\u00e9matur\u00e9, grace au ciel; mais le moment o\u00f9 Ses principes pourront, devront peut-\u00eatre; \u00eatre Soumis \u00e0 la consideration de vos hommes d\u2019Etat S\u2019approche d\u2019ann\u00e9e en ann\u00e9e. Et il est bon d\u2019y Songer d\u2019avance.\n           Avez vous jug\u00e9 que cet \u00e9crit m\u00e9rit\u00e2t d\u2019\u00eatre communiqu\u00e9 \u00e0 Mr Madison et \u00e0 Mr Galatin?\n          Ce que je d\u00e9sire surtout pour lui, c\u2019est votre suffrage. Toutes les id\u00e9es qui auront l\u2019approbation d\u2019un Philosophe et d\u2019un L\u00e9gislateur comme vous, Seront un jour utiles \u00e0 votre Pays et au monde.\n             Je joins ici un autre ouvrage beaucoup moins important, quoiqu\u2019il ait eu aupr\u00e8s de notre Classe le Succ\u00e8s d\u2019emp\u00eacher que le talent ne l\u2019emport\u00e2t sur la v\u00e9rit\u00e9, et ne fit d\u00e9cerner \u00e0 Mr De Rulhiere le prix d\u2019Histoire.\n          Bien dire me parait en toute langue un avantage Secondaire, auquel il ne faut cependant pas renoncer quand on peut l\u2019atteindre. Savoir ce dont il est question, bien observer, bien raisonner, dire vrai, juger avec impartialit\u00e9: c\u2019est ce que doit faire un Historien. Il ne faut calomnier ni les Peuples, ni m\u00eame les Rois. Ces pauvres Rois Sont assez malheureux quand ils ont quelque vertu, et font assez de malheureux quand leurs vertus sont d\u00e9nu\u00e9es de lumieres, pour qu\u2019il ne faille pas leur tenir compte et de leurs lumieres, et de leurs bonnes intentions quand  lorsque celles-ci ont de la pers\u00e9verance.\n           Je ne Sais encore quand je Serai libre de retourner vous voir et porter le tribut de mes derniers jours \u00e0 vos nobles et Sages Citoyens, qui Sont maintenant, l\u2019unique espoir du monde. J\u2019ai encore un volume des Oeuvres de Mr Turgot Sous presse, et les formalit\u00e9s nouvelles \u00e9tablies pour la censure des Livres font marcher l\u2019impression avec beaucoup de lenteur.\n          En attendant, je me suis charg\u00e9 de l\u2019organisation des secours \u00e0 domicile que r\u00e9clament les Indigens de Paris, et que leur doit l\u2019Administration des Hopitaux et des Hospices \u00e0 laquelle le Gouvernement remet \u00e0 cet effet des fonds, il est vrai insuffisans, mais donn\u00e9s \u00e0 tres bonne intention. C\u2019est \u00e0 l\u2019intelligence \u00e0 en augmenter l\u2019efficacit\u00e9. L\u2019ouvrage est difficile, il int\u00e9resse vivement le coeur, il demande l\u2019entier emploi des forces du Corps et de l\u2019esprit. Vous trouverez raisonnable que votre  vieux Ami y mette Sa peine. Quand la machine sera mont\u00e9e, il suffira d\u2019un Homme de bien, quel qu\u2019il soit, pour la faire marcher; et alors je   partirai. \n            Vous connaissez mon tendre attachement et mon profond respect.\n DuPont (de nemours)\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n              My very respectable Friend,\n              I know that you have received my work on the finances of the United States, and I am very curious to find out what you think of it.\n            I believe it to be a little premature, thank God; but the moment when its principles can, and perhaps must, be submitted to the consideration of your statesmen draws nearer and nearer every year. And it is good to think about it ahead of time.\n             In your judgment, does this work deserve to be sent to Mr. Madison and Mr. Gallatin?\n            Your approval of it is what I desire most. Any ideas that have the approbation of a philosopher and legislator like you will one day be useful to your country and the world.\n               Enclosed herein please find another work, much less important, although in our class it helped truth gain a narrow victory over cunning, and it kept Mr. De Rulhiere from winning the prize for history.\n            I think that expressing oneself well in any language is a secondary advantage, which however one must not renounce when achievable. To master one\u2019s subject, observe well, reason well, tell the truth, and judge with impartiality, this is what makes a historian. One must not slander people, not even kings. These poor kings are unhappy enough when they have some virtue, and make enough people unhappy when their virtues lack enlightenment, and one must not hold their enlightenment and good intentions against them when they go on and persevere.\n             I do not yet know when I will be free to return to see you and offer the tribute of my last days to your noble and wise citizens, who are now the only hope for the world. I still have a volume of Mr. Turgot\u2019s works in press, and the new censorship regulations make book publishing go very slowly.\n            In the meantime, I have taken charge of organizing the at-home assistance claimed by the natives of Paris, owed to them by the hospitals and hospice administration, and to which the government grants funds, insufficient it is true, but given with the best of intentions. It is up to intelligence to increase the effectiveness of these funds. The work is difficult, it strongly engages the heart, it demands one\u2019s whole body and spirit. You will find it reasonable that your old friend should give of himself. When the machine is set up, one good man, whomever he may be, will be enough to keep it going; and then I will leave.\n\t\t\t You know my tender attachment and profound respect for you.\n DuPont (de Nemours)", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0389", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to George Jefferson, 1 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Jefferson, George\n            I recieved last night yours of the 29. William Johnson of Milton has two boats on the river & is now engaged in carrying down my crop, of which he carried to you 40. Bar. of flour the last week, being the first load he had taken for me.  he attends his boats himself and may be trusted with the oil, spirits of turpentine or any thing else of mine, except that I would not have my plaister delivered to him till I shall have seen him & made a special bargain with him as to the price of bringing it. Samuel J. Harrison, exclusive of my Bedford tobo the paiment of which is not yet due, is to pay in your counting house for me this day \u00a3400. on another account & for another destination.  this & the reciept of my flour & tobo of this place which will now regularly go on, will begin to put me in funds in your hand.   I must therefore pray you to deliver the inclosed letter to James Oldham, which requests him to procure for me 100. panes of glass of different sizes, & to call on you for paiment. these be so good as to send by Johnson\u2019s first return.I would wish you to sell my flour as fast as it goes down, not under 9. Dollars.  when the Richmond price is below that, let it lie till it gets up to it, & when observing it has kept steadily at Philadelphia at from 10\u00bc to 10\u00be D. thro\u2019 the whole season, & knowing there cannot soon be any ground for it\u2019s falling I would not let it go for less than 9.D. but sell as fast as that can be got.  the same also to be observed as fast as my Bedford flour gets down.Your\u2019s affectionately\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0390", "content": "Title: James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 1 April 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I intimated to you the Offence taken by Armstrong at the re-enstatement of Warden. It is not improbable that it will be the ground of an open hostility. This will call into view his present denunciations of W. which are pointed agst    him as an Adventurer & Impostor from the commencement to the end of his career, in comparison with the patronage so long continued to him, and the sentiments heretofore expressed of him. Will you be so good as to send me the extract from A\u2019s letter written in the summer or Fall of 1808, which notifies the appt of W. as Consul, and gives the favorable side of his character, as well as the objections to a confirmation of the appt. That letter was the only communication made on the subject.\n          You will have inferred the change which is taking place in the Dept of State. Col. Monroe agrees to succeed Mr Smith, who declines however the mission to Russia, at first not unfavorably looked at. I was willing, notwithstanding many trying circumstances, to have smoothed the transaction as much as possible, but it will be pretty sure to end in secret hostility, if not open warfare. On account of my great esteem & regard for common friends such a result is truly painful to me. For the rest, I feel myself on firm ground, as well in the public opinion, as in my own consciousness.\n              Wilkinson I find has lately recd a letter from you, wch he has shewn to his friends, with much apparent gratification. I understand at the same time, that the letter is cautious, and limited to the charge of privity with Burr. Did he disown to you the anonymous letter printed in Clark\u2019s Book, or say any thing relative l to that subject?\n           The latest information from Europe will be found in the inclosed papers. The indications from France are rather favorable. Should the Old King displace the Regent in England, little is to be hoped from that quarter; unless forced on the Cabinet by national distress. In the last correspondence of Pinkney with Wellesley, the latter sufficiently shewed his teeth; and recd the severest scourging that was ever diplomatically inflicted.\n            Be assured always of my great esteem & affection\n James Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0391", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to James Oldham, 1 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Oldham, James\n              Monticello  Mar April 1. 11.\n              Having occasion for some window glass of the sizes below mentioned, & supposing it may be had in Richmond, I take the liberty of requesting you to procure it for me of good quality.  the Bohemian glass is the cheapest by far of all the good kinds. it comes generally from Hamburg or Trieste. if not to be had with you we must take the English crown glass. be so kind as to do this immediately & deliver the glass well packed to messrs Gibson & Jefferson, who will pay the amount. for the glass for the circular sashes I will send you the models which are not yet ready. do not therefore let the rest wait for this, as those of the square kind are pressingly wanting. Judge Cabell having consulted me as to some things to be done to his house, I advised him to apply to you to make some Venetian blinds with moveable slats. the kind I had in view may be seen in a house Dr Currie inhabited in Richmond about a dozen years ago. Accept of my constant & best wishes.\n            75. panes of best window glass 12. by 18. I.75. do 12. I. square. 20.\u00a0panes,\u00a0segments\u00a0of\u00a0circleof one model}the models for these will be sent by a boat. but the others are not to wait for these.10. panes do of\u00a0another\u00a0model", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0392", "content": "Title: James Walker to Thomas Jefferson, 1 April 1811\nFrom: Walker, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I am sorry to have disappointed you so much by not coming to see you according to promise=a few days after I last saw you got hurt by whilst raising a house &. was not for a considerable length of time able to ride about\u2014my business has since been &. is now such that I cant with any convenience come this week=I dont think that it will be in my power to do your work as soon as I promised as I am called on to do work promised twelve months previous to your first writing to me consirning your work\u2014hope it will not be a material disappointment to you &. if you can get any other person to do your saw mill &.c I shall be glad when I promised to do your work it I had not a right to expect to be called on so soon to do the other work above mentioned\u2014 have been much disappointed in my expectations since I saw you, if in the course of the summer it will suit I am still anxious to build your saw mill &. start the wheat machine by water I shall again get my distillery in operation in a few days &. can then come down & consult you on the subject of this business\u2014\n            I am with great respt your obt H. servt\n Jas Walker\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0395", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Eston Randolph, with Account, 2 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Randolph, Thomas Eston\n            Thomas E. Randolph in Account with Th: Jefferson\n                By balance on account to this day due T.E.R. \n                 To your note to Craven Peyton assigned me\n                To rent of Bunker\u2019s hill for 1810.\n                By 18 Flour barrels deliver\u2019d last year\n                Balance due Thos Jefferson\n Dear Sir\n             I now inclose you your note to Craven Peyton, and also your nail account which had been entered in our former account on which I observe the balance was in your favor 7.41 D now carried to the credit of our present account. this I have stated above as far as I am able, not knowing what the rent of Bunker\u2019s hill was for the last year. this you can fill up and ascertain the final balance. Affectionately yours\n Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0396", "content": "Title: John Martin Baker to Thomas Jefferson, 3 April 1811\nFrom: Baker, John Martin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n             Consulate of the United States. Palma. Island of Majorca.\n April 3d 1811.\n           I had the Honor to address You last on the 14th of May ultimo, which letter with former ones, I hope have come safe to hand: for want of opportunities direct, I have availed, as I now do, to send my letters, when opportunities offer, to Richard. S. Hackley Esquire\u2014Consul. Cadiz. who is so obliging as to forward them\u2014Sir, the American trade to this quarter, and particularly to the ports within the district of my Consulate, being so very uncertain, and of late become so precarious, that since my late arrival and return from the United States, to my Station, the receipt of Every Consular Emolument, my dues, for Tarragona. Majorca\u2014Minorca, and Yvica. has in its amount no more than satisfied the payment of rent for a decent House to dwell in, for which I pay One hundred and Ninety two Dollars Yearly. My family large, Provissions now high, and my hope and dependance on the American Squadron coming, now reduced to the last expectation. I most Respectfully, Entreat your Excuse for importuning, and pray you Sir, to influence in my favor with His Excellency. The Most Honorable James Madison, President of the United States of America. for the appointment of Consul at Lisbon. in the place of William Jarvis Esquire, who I am credibly informed, has left said place. I beg leave Sir, to say, that this application, is in the case, that I have not been appointed to Tunis, or other affrican consulate, in virtue of my Solicitation to you, in my respects, under date the 14th of May last, which I have the Honor to confirm. Your consideration on my Situation, unfortunately disappointed, in a Strange Country, with a large family, will I hope and trust Sir, apologize for my pressing entreaties for your friendly interference.  Since my arrival Sir, I have had no direct opportunity for any port of the United States. to remit you the Box. I received at Sarde\u00f1a, and the other articles that I have by me, (since the month of June) purchased per Your order. if some Vessel for the United States, does not offer within fourteen days, I will send them on, Via Cadiz.\u2014 \n           Mrs Baker prays Your Acceptance of her Respectful Compliments, and joins me in prayers for Your Health, and Happiness.I have the Honor to be with the Highest Respect and Gratitude.\n            Sir Your Most Obedient humble servant\n John Martin Baker.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0397", "content": "Title: John Barnes to Thomas Jefferson, 3 April 1811\nFrom: Barnes, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n              George Town Columa 3d April, 1811.\n             My last respects to you, 14th Jany in Answer, to your esteemed favr 10th still leaves me in doubt, respecting my last Years remittance of \u00a3200 sterling to Genl Kosciusko\u2014thro you, via Genl Armstrong. I have to regret Genl Ks not having yet, acknowledged receipt\u2014as heretofore,\u2014still however! as no protest &a hath transpired here am still hopefull\u2014it has been duly received and paid\u2014or, if miscarried the good Genl would in course have complained thro the want thereof.\n            Appearances being equally precarious at the present Crisis\u2014as they were last Year, respecting remittance by Bill of exchange. in Order than to prepare my self for a Choice\u2014 I addressed a few lines to my good friend Mr Charles Ludlow\u2014in New York on the subject of Ex\u2014whose Ansr I recd a few days since\u2014he says\u2014\u201cI find\u2014that no Bills on France are to be had, in this place, or such as would think it prudent or safe, for you to take, the Nominal Ex\u2014on France is par\u2014 that on London 8 or 10 \u214c C. Under par\u201d\u2014this being the real state of that market.\n            I flatter my self; I can be furnished with a sett of Ex\u2014for \u00a3200. sterling on equal terms\u2014here\u2014from the same good firm\u2014I purchased last Year. at date most suitable to your self. and safe Conveyance thro. you\u2014also most Acceptable.\n            With tenders of my best services, and wishes for your happiness.\n              I am Dear Sir\u2014most Respectfully, Your very Obedt servt\n John Barnes.\n            the very precarous & uncertain state of our foreign relations\u2014hath hitherto, & I fear, will still continue to deter the Merchts Holders of Tobo from shipping that Article in any considerable Quantities more especially fine Maryland (most suitable to Amsterdam &c Market Markets)\u2014of which my 60 hhds still on hand are, Amot $3000\u2014with held from now 12 Mos guards me not a little!\n            and but one solitary Hope!\u2014a remedy left to console me\u2014Namely Patience\u2014most certainly a Virtue, but in this Instance\u2014both painfull & expensive\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0399", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Hollins, 3 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Hollins, John\n           Accept my thanks for your kindness in procuring & forwarding the Plaister. by the present post I desire Messrs Gibson & Jefferson to forward you the amount, 86. Dollars from Richmond where alone Baltimore bills can be had. your friends at Carrsbrook & Warren were all well yesterday. this morning mr & mrs Patterson leave Carrsbrook for Baltimore. ever affectionately yours\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0400", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Jones & Howell, 3 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Jones & Howell\n            Messrs Jones & Howell\n             I believe our account stands thus.\n D\n              due of course Aug. 2.\n              Interest on 304.36 to this day\n              By remittance\n              Balance will then be due\n          which balance of three hundred and forty-nine dollars 35. Cents I now desire Messrs Gibson & Jefferson to remit to you out of funds placed in their hands the 1st inst. I have been truly mortified at the unavoidable delay of this paiment. but I believe I mentioned in a former letter that my resources, as a farmer, coming in but once in the year, I had made the rent of a mill payable quarterly, in order to have intermediate resources to meet your quarterly supplies, and that a failure in these could only be brought up with certainty in the spring of the year, when we get our produce to market. the intermediate resource failed me entirely by the deranged circumstances of the tenant, and the first produce I get to market is now applied to make good my arrears to you. whether I shall continue my nailery or not I am very doubtful. not a pound of nails is ever sold for cash, and unless I can get my mill into better hands, I have no reliance but the annual one of my farms. I am thankful to you for the indulgence I have experienced from you, and salute you with friendship & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0401", "content": "Title: Peter Minor to Thomas Jefferson, 3 April 1811\nFrom: Minor, Peter\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I think you mentioned that you would recieve & store any corn for the Rivanna Company that they would have ground in your Mill. Under this impression I have contracted to have some delivered there in the course of a day or two, & other parcels hereafter, & I have taken the liberty to mention it to you in this way, in order that you may instruct your Miller or whoever is to receive it in case you have not given them instructions heretofore. The corn will be shelled, & delivered in small parcels at a time, so as to produce the least inconvenience to you.\n           I am sorry I cannot do myself the pleasure of seeing you today\u2014Having been engaged for some time in opening a m new road, & my neighbours having determined to assist me in it today, as the most convenient time to them, renders my personal attention indispensable\n            Yrs with Great Respect\n P. Minor.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0403", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Barnes, 4 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Barnes, John\n           By the present post I desire messrs Gibson & Jefferson to remit you 360.D. for Genl Kosciusko, being the interest on his money in my hands for the last year.  I am labouring & employing all the resources I can spare to wipe out my Washington debt paid for me by the bank of Richmond. the crop now going to market reduces it so that the one now preparing will clear it off entirely.  this done, I can easily repay the General\u2019s money with the crop of the next year.  my mill tenant mr Shoemaker proves a most unpunctual one. if I could get my rents from him it would place me at my ease as to all minor calls; but he remains in great arrears.  I have never heard a word from mrs Beckley.  I take the liberty of putting the inclosed letter under your cover, because it contains 100.D. for Barry to whom it is addressed, and he being obscure, he might not get it from the post office. I think you know him.  if you do not mr Dougherty knows him well. I trust to your usual goodness where when I trouble you with the care of this letter. I hope you continue to enjoy good health & your usual activity. accept the assurance of my constant & affectionate esteem. \n            Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0404", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William Chamberlayne, 4 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Chamberlayne, William\n             Your favor of Feb. 6. was duly recieved. I am now beginning to get my crop to market where (Richmond) it will be deposited in the hands of Messrs Gibson & Jefferson for sale, and as soon as the proceeds shall be recieved I will send you an order for the amount of the negro hire as stated below.  I have given credit for the time that Tom Buck worked as if he had been a sound hand, and charged nothing but his bread, which I actually purchased (for it was a new plantation) and paid 4. and 5. Dollars a barrel for it. I hope the statement will meet your approbation & tender you the assurance of my great respect.\n            Tom Lee, Frederic, Tom Buck & Nancy were hired for \u00a350. their separate hire not being fixed. it is usual to estimate a woman at half the value of a man. according to this the 3. men would have been 47. D 62 c each and the woman 23.81. but as Tom Buck worked 2. months only his hire would be only 7.95 Das follows \n Dc\n            Frederic\n             Cr. by paid James Lewis board & nursing\n             by pd Dr Everett,\n             attendce, operations Etc\n            Balance due", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0405", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Darmsdatt, 4 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Darmsdatt, Joseph\n           I have gone much beyond my stipulated term for remitting you the balance due for the supply of fish. a farmer\u2019s resources come in but once a year, which is at this season. I had provided an intermediate resource which I had a just right to count on for the paiment to you. it has failed unworthily & forced me into the failure to you.  I avail myself of my first produce getting to market to desire Messrs Gibson and Jefferson to pay my balance to you, which I have done by this post. my mortification at this failure has prevented my risking similar ones for a renewal of my supplies. I pray you to accept this apology with the assurance of my esteem & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0406", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Henry Foxall, 4 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Foxall, Henry\n            Monticello M Apr. 4. 11\n           I have long waited & waited in the expectation that I might have occasion to make some larger remittance to Washington in which the 13.40 D due you might be included, as being a fractional sum. but finding none such arrive, I have concluded to remit it in our bank bills.  I accordingly inclose 25. 25 D. of which 12. are due to Conrad & co. booksellers on the Capitol hill, which I must pray you to pay to them. the denominations of our bills did not permit me to make either remittance separately. as the 40. Cents can only be sent in silver, I shall not put it into this letter that it may not excite suspicions, but will put it under separate cover by another post. Accept the assurance of my continued esteem & respect. \n            Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0407", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Gordon, Trokes & Company, 4 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Gordon, Trokes & Company\n            Messrs Gordon & Trokes\n            I am at length enabled to have paiment made to you of the balance for which I have been so long in arrear.you know that a farmer\u2019s resources come in but once a year, which is at this season. but in order to provide an intermediate resource for the purchase of my groceries, I had reserved the rent of a valuable manufacturing mill to be paid quarterly.  unfortunately I fell into the hands of an unfaithful & insolvent tenant, from whom I get nothing but disappointments. I have availed myself of my first produce getting to market to desire Messrs Gibson & Jefferson to discharge to you my balance, which I believe is 235.42 D with interest. I have ceased to call on you for my usual supplies of groceries because I found I could not be certain of making the semiannual paiments with punctuality. I tr hope you will accept this apology for my delay, and be assured that I have felt the severity of it more than you can have done. I salute you with esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0408", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to George Jefferson, 4 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Jefferson, George\n           I presume you have recieved the sum of 1333\u2153 D from mr Samuel J. Harrison which he assured me should be punctually paid on the 1st inst. at your counting house.  this makes no part of the purchase of my tobacco crop, which is not yet due, & is destined to meet the following demands\n            Washington.\n            John Barnes\n            Richard Barry\n              under cover to mr Barnes\n            Baltimore.\n            John Hollins esq.\n\t\t          Philadelphia.\n\t\t          Jones & Howell\n              Ironmongers\n\t\t          Richmond\n            Gordon & Trokes\n              with interest\n            Jos. Darmsdatt\n          I have accordingly given notice by letter to these several persons that you will be so good as to make them the remittances & paiments immediately.  I am in hopes my Bedford flour is beginning to arrive with you abo by this time. there should be 280. barrels of it. that from hence & the tobo here will go as fast as Johnson\u2019s two boats can carry it. these will be the subjects of future explanations\n            ever affectionately yours\n Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0409", "content": "Title: Th\u00e9odore Pahlen to Thomas Jefferson, 4 April 1811\nFrom: Pahlen, Th\u00e9odore\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Washington ce 4 Avril 1811.\n           Depuis mon arriv\u00e9e aux Etats Unis je n\u2019ai pas discontinu\u00e9 de projeter une course en Virginie, sans avoir pu la r\u00e9aliser jusqu\u2019apr\u00e9sent, mais enfin je me vois \u00e0 m\u00eame de pouvoir quitter Washington pour venir vous pr\u00e9senter mes respects en personne et je prends la libert\u00e9 de m\u2019adresser aujourd\u2019hui \u00e0 vous, Monsieur, pour apprendre si entre le 15 et le 20 de ce mois je pourrais avoir l\u2019honneur de vous trouver \u00e0 Monticello.\n          En me rendant chez vous, Monsieur, je remplis un double but en suivant les intentions de L\u2019Empereur Mon Maitre et mes propres inclinations.\n          Mon fr\u00e8re et Mr Poletica, Conseiller de la l\u00e9gation Russe, auront en m\u00eame tems que moi l\u2019honneur de se pr\u00e9senter \u00e0 Monticello.\n          J\u2019ai l\u2019honneur d\u2019\u00eatre avec la plus haute consid\u00e9ration et respect \n            Monsieur, Votre tr\u00e9s humble et tr\u00e9s Ob\u00e9issant Serviteur\n Le Comte T. Pahlen\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n            Since my arrival in the United States I have not stopped planning a trip to Virginia, but I was never able to carry it out until now. At last I am able to leave Washington in order to pay my respects to you in person and I take the liberty to address myself to you, Sir, to learn whether between the 15th and 20th of this month I might have the honor of finding you at Monticello.\n            In visiting you, Sir, I fulfill two goals: satisfying the intentions of the emperor, my master, as well as my own inclination.\n            My brother and Mr. Poletica, counsel to the Russian legation, will have the honor of introducing themselves at Monticello at the same time I do.\n            I have the honor to be, with the highest regard and respect\n              Sir, Your very humble and very obedient servant\n Count T. Pahlen", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0410", "content": "Title: John G. Jackson to Thomas Jefferson, 5 April 1811\nFrom: Jackson, John G.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Clarksburg 5th April 1811\n            Judge Nelson who was assigned to this Circuit has resigned his Office, & my friends have procured my consent to become a Candidate for it. The Law requires that his successor shall reside within the Circuit & there is not any person here to dispute my pretentions. I presume the Executive will not deem it good policy to send strangers to us to fill our local offices, for the reason that it would be presumptuous in Western men to expect local Offices beyond the mountains\n          If this conjecture be correct the Executive will doubtless favor my views on proper application. I am personally known to but two of the members, & take the liberty to solicit your friendly offices if you think it not improper to recommend me. Born in the District & having an extensive practise at the bar for more than ten years; aided by the confidence of the people; & the circumstance that my inability to pursue my profession actively was the result of zeal in the public service\u2014are, I hope, a sufficient justification for the interposition of my friends. I pray you to be assured that I shall not feel any disappointment at your declining to interfere in my behalf\u2014I feel  have too much affection for your person & veneration for your Character to wish you to do an act which the most scrupulous delicacy could forbid or condemn.\n            I am Dr Sir your mo. Obt.\n J G Jackson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0411", "content": "Title: Benjamin Henry Latrobe to Thomas Jefferson, 5 April 1811\nFrom: Latrobe, Benjamin Henry\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Washington, April 5th 1811\n           The high respect & attachment which I have always professed and very sincerely felt for you has not been proved by the frequency of my letters to you. But knowing how much your time & mind are occupied by correspondence of infinitely more importance, I have never had the vanity to believe that I am entitled to intrude upon you witht special occasion.\u2014Another reason,\u2014the reason indeed which now induces me to write to you, has kept me silent hitherto. I have been persuaded, at last, after resisting all that has been said to you me for several Years past, to believe that you have long ago changed the favorable sentiments respecting me which induced you to commit to my charge the direction of the public buildings of the U States.\n          It is always useless to argue against sentiment & feeling, and ambitious as I am that your personal feelings towards me should be favorable,\u2014it would be,    very impertinent in me to take up your time with professions, the time opportunity to prove which, by actions, is past;\u2014or to wear attempt to wear out the impressions made upon your mind ever since the Year 1808 at least, by the written words of a single letter. But it is never too late to p remove wrong impressions as to fact, by documents, and to do this I now write to you, and solicit you to give me, as a matter of justice, your attention.\u2014\n           There has been current for at least four years, an opinion in this city that I had erected, in the north wing of the Capitol the Courtroom & the Offices attached to it, and had removed the Senate Chamber and its Offices & committee rooms upstairs not only without your knowledge of what I was about to do, but absolutely contrary to your wishes and orders.\u2014 This opinion was originally published in an anonymous piece in the Washington federalist in 1807.  Early in 1808 Dr Thornton in the most gross libels which, under his own name, he published in the same paper made the charge without any modification.  When the Federalist was bought by Mr Patterson in 1809 & the title changed to that of the Independent american,\u2014he opened his career by a series of papers so gross & calumnious, that the end of making an impression was defeated by his proving too much. One of his principal charges against me was the alteration of the North wing contrary to your intentions & orders.\u2014\n          Knowing as I supposed better than any one else in how far such a charge could be founded, it gave me no uneasiness.\u2014With congress it could not injure me because those members who would enquire of you would be undeceived, and the public could not feel much interest on the subject. I therefore took no trouble to contradict the assertion publicly, altho\u2019 it was made from all quarters.\u2014I considered Dr Thornton to be its author.\n          But I have lately heard from a gentleman who resides the near you, that the impression on my your mind respecting my conduct in altering the capitol is this,\u2014\u201cthat I had pushed the work without your knowledge to a point from which it was impossible to recede, & that I had then been permitted to go on by you; because it was impossible for you to prevent it.\u201d\u2014 On hearing this I immediately called upon Mr Munroe, who told me that on your return to Washington in 1806 or 1807, (it must have been in 1808) you had, on hearing or seeing the demolition of the piers & Columns in the Senate chamber, expressed the utmost dissatisfaction with my proceedings\u2014that however after having visited the works with me, you appeared, on his next interview, quite satisfied with the explanation I had given you.\u2014On conversing however since then with the president U.S. I have again been induced to believe that there has always been more foundation in your own mind for the report that has been so injurious to me than I at first supposed, and that altho\u2019 I knew myself that I did nothing in the erection of the North wing of the capitol that had not had your sanction, and which you had not submitted to congress, yet that you were not entirely satisfied on that head, and may probably have so expressed yourself, not recollecting the details of the plans which had been submitted by you.\u2014\n          It is of great importance however to my peace of mind that this impression should be removed, and that my conduct during your administration should be exhibited to you in its true light. I am not satisfied, that by a submission of all my reports & correspondence I could convince any third person or persons that I have not devoted the 8 best Years of my life to the mean & dirty employment of establishing a professional reputation by destroying the labors of my predecessors uselessly, in order to make room for my own,\u2014and in disobeying the orders of the president to whom I owed the means of acquiring that reputation.\u2014\n           The first document to which I refer is the original book of drawings submitted with my report of the 25th of Novr 1806 to Congress.  This paper I have borrowed on my receipt & promise to return it, of Mr  McGruder Clerk of the House of Representatives.\u2014It is very evident that this plan, (in reference to which all the appropriations for the North wing have been made, & to which in all my subsequent reports I have referred,) could not possibly have been executed without removed  removing all those parts which are colored as being required to be removed, & making all those additions which the color points out as necessary. Nothing is so easy as to deceive by means of drawings. To compare drawings with work actually executed requires professional knowledge, as well as strict examination & measurement of the work itself. Besides,\u2014drawings, unless in great detail do not exhibit more than the governing features of a design, the subordinate parts of which may be infinitely varied, & still be justified by reference to the plan.\u2014Aware of this I have given two plans of each floor, so as to exhibit not only the ultimate effect of my proposed alteration but the means by which I meant to accomplish it.\u2014\n          Of these drawings I have always possessed a correct copy in my office. But lest any doubt should shou arise in your mind I have thought it best to send the original, in which the parts covered with letter paper were covered by yourself as being part of the center, my plan of which you did not approve.\u2014\n          I have, on this document only to add, that there is not the slightest alteration betw in the execution of the work from these drawings excepting only that in the North Vestibule two rooms, (as marked in pencil) are taken off, the one, (East room) being the Office of the Clerk of the supreme court, the west the shop,\u2014for the present, of Mr Franzoni,\u2014but intended to be the Office of the Marshall of the district.\u2014The West side of the house remains at present in the State in which it originally was, the new works having been carried up only so far as to include the central Lobby.\n          2. I will next refer to my letter of the 13h of Augt 1807 in which are these words \u201cCapitol. My whole time excepting a few hours now & then devoted to the president\u2019s house is occupied in the drawings & directions for the N. Wing in the arrangement of which I am pursuing the eventual plan approved & presented by You to congress at the last Session.\u201d\u2014\n          3. In my letter of the 10th of Novr 1807, I thanked you for the \u201cliberal manner in which you had been pleased to enable me to get thro\u2019 the business of the public works by your approbation of all I had done.\u201d It is not possible that I could have been so insolent as to thank you to your face for an approbation I had never received: & had I been guilty of such insolence, surely you would have dismissed me from my Office.\u2014During your absence at Monticello I had communicated to you on the 17h & 22 of Septr 2d & l7h of Septr the course of our proceedings all calculated to execute the plan, now actually compleated.\n          4. In the Year 1808 the work in the North wing again proceeded after the rising of congress which took place on the 29h of April. On the 23d of May I sent to you a voluminous report, the first part of which relates to my works in the North wing. I cannot refer to any directions in writing for the authority on which I proceeded, but from the confident manner of my report, & your not having objected to it in any letters I ever received, I cannot but conclude that it was conformable to the general plan of proceeding, which you expected. The report is so long that I beg you to turn to my letter in your possession, which even now proves the necessity of what I was doing.\u2014\n          I have already so far exceeded the bounds I had prescribed to myself that I will not adduce the rest of my testimony as to my having acted,\u2014as I supposed, in strict conformity to my communications to You.\u2014I beg that you will have the goodness to communicate to me your own conviction on this head.\u2014I do not expect the public buildings to be finished under my direction. As far as I have conducted them they will not disgrace your presidency. It is my intention to publish the designs & history of the work while the facts can be verified, as soon as I can make the necessary arrangements.\u2014With the highest respect\n            I am & shall always be, Your obliged & not ungrateful\n B H Latrobe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0412", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to James Lyle, 5 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Lyle, James\n            In my letter of Jan. 27. I informed you I was just setting out for Bedford to see about getting my crop of wheat there ground & brought to market, out of which I should be enabled to make you a paiment. I found it in a disagreeable situation. it had been delivered to be ground at a mill, the dam of which had recently given way. I endeavored to withdraw it but the miller refused, engaging to have his dam up & the flour delivered within the season. I staid there a month, and was assured when I came away that the dam would be compleated within the next three weeks, when my wheat should be immediately ground. of course it should now be ready or nearly so to be sent down. it will be consigned to Messrs Gibson & Jefferson, & will enable me when sold to pay you 1000.D. I sincerely wish it could have been more, but the plantation expences coming out of it, do not leave more at my disposal. Accept my best wishes for the continuance of life & health & assurances of my great esteem & respect\n            Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0414", "content": "Title: Peter Carr to Thomas Jefferson, 7 April 1811\nFrom: Carr, Peter\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n P: Carr To Th. Jefferson\n            Carr\u2019s-brook. April. 7th 1811.\n           Since I left Monticello, I have spoken to two of the gentlemen, counted on, to aid us in Duane\u2019s affair.  Mr Divers says he is averse to it on principle, and Bramham seems entirely unwilling to indorse for us at Bank. Indeed, he evaded the promise even to give any thing. These things are disheartening; and I begin to fear we may fall through, especially as I shall not have an opportunity, of seeing any one again \u2019till court. I have written today to Mr Wirt on the subject; though from his letter of last week I cannot say, I have very sanguine hopes from that quarter. I have thought it not amiss to give you this sketch of our prospects. Adieu, most affectionately.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0415", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Kemp Catlett, 7 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Catlett, Kemp\n            When you mentioned that your supplies of butter might stand in discharge of my order for bran, & that tho\u2019 it had hitherto been your resource for groceries, you would make some other shift, it did not strike me at the time: but after you were gone it occurred to me that the diverting the usual resource for your groceries might deprive the family of them. if this be the case, be so good as to say so, & I will continue to send the money when I send for butter as usual; and particularly let me know my present arrearage & it shall be sent by the boy the next time he goes without regard to the order for bran, which may be a separate account. indeed I have omitted to enquire at the mill what you got on the order. Accept my best wishes.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0416", "content": "Title: Gibson & Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 7 April 1811\nFrom: Gibson & Jefferson\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Richmond 7th Mar April 1811\u2014\n          We hand you annex\u2019d your Accot Current balanced by $6264.72 in our favor\u2014We also inclose you a note for your signature to renew the one in bank due the 3d May\u2014we leave the amount blank to be fill\u2019d up as you may direct\u2014We received a few days since fifty six barrels of your flour all Sfine, sales were made on Monday at 9\u00bd $, but in consequence of a large quantity coming down at once the price has fallen to 9\u2159 $ however before the remainder of yours is received, we expect it will again rise, as the quantity in market is small, and the Cadiz & Lisbon markets still encouraging to shippers\u2014Respectfully we are\n            Your obt Servts\n            Gibson & Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0419", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Bernard McMahon, 8 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: McMahon, Bernard\n           I have been long wishing for an opportunity, by someone going to Philadelphia in the stage, to take charge of a packet of seeds for you. it is too large to trespass on the post-mail.  I recieved them from my old friend Thouin, director of the National garden of France. but the advance of the season obliges me to confide them to a gentleman going no further than Washington, there to look out for some one going on to Philadelphia.  I have added to them a dozen genuine Glocester hiccory nuts of the last season sent me from the place of their growth.  your favor of the 10th Ult came safe to hand with the seeds, for which accept my thanks. you enquire whether I have a hot house, green-house, or to what extent I pay attention to these things. I have only a green house, and have used that only for a very few articles. my frequent & long absences at a distant possession render my efforts even for the few greenhouse plants I aim at, abortive. during my last absence in the winter every plant I had in it perished. I have an extensive flower border, in which I am fond of placing handsome plants or fragrant\u2014those of mere curiosity I do not aim at, having too many other cares to bestow more than a moderate attention to them. in this I have placed the seeds you were so kind as to send me last.   in it I have also growing the fine tulips, hyacinths, tuberoses & Amaryllis you formerly sent me.       my wants there are Anemones, Auriculas, Ranunculus, Crown Imperials & Carnations: in the garden your fine gooseberries, Hudson & Chili strawberries: some handsome lillies. but the season is now too far advanced. during the next season they will be acceptable. small parcels of seeds may come by post; but bulbs are too bulky.  we have always medical students in Philadelphia, coming home by the stage when their lectures cease in the fall who would take charge of small packages, or they may come at any time by vessels bound to Richmond, under the addressed to the care of Messrs Gibson & Jefferson.   I have put into your packet some Benni seed.   we now raise it and make from it our own sallad oil preferable to such olive oil as is usually to be bought. accept my friendly & respectful salutations\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0420-0001", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Littleton W. Tazewell, George Hay, and William Wirt, 9 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Tazewell, Littleton W.,Hay, George,Wirt, William\n             In a former letter I promised a list of the books quoted & possessed by me, & of those quoted but not possessed, that these last might be sought for in time, as far as necessary.that list is now inclosed with explanatory notes. such of them as it will be necessary for me to send, shall be sent to Richmond whenever desired. the communications by water between Richmond & Norfolk are so frequent, that these books, or such of them as may be desired, can readily be sent or returned from the one place to the other. I do not know how those mentioned in the 2d column can be obtained unless from N. Orleans, and it is very doubtful whether they can be either bought or borrowed there. for I am told that few lawyers there possess them. can we depend on the pl\u2019s counsel for producing them? perhaps it will be better to state to me such of them as you deem absolutely indispensable, and I will try if these so particularly stated can be procured at New Orleans. perhaps I might have time to get them from France. this will depend on the time when the trial will come on. if not till the 1st term of 1812. I could procure them from France in time. Accept the assurances of my esteem & respect", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0420-0002", "content": "Title: Enclosure: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s List of Authorities cited in Statement on the Batture Case, [ca. 9 April 1811]\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: \n                Books quoted & possessed by me.\n                Books quoted but not possessed by me.\n\t\t FerriereValin\n\t\t Pothier\n\t\t Guyot. Repertoire Universelle Denizart\n\t\t Renusson\n\t\t Julien Prevot de la Jann\u00e9\n\t\t Partidas\n\t\t Curia Philippica\n\t\t 8. Brown\u2019s reports of appeals in Parliament. Hale de Jure maritima marisNote, all my quotations from the above authors, except the two last, are taken from the Memoires of the counsel either for or against the question. 8.\n\t\t Brown was lent me by mr Rodney & returned. \n\t\t Hale de Jure maris is quoted from Bac. abr. Praerog. B.3.The books marked \u2020 are such as I presume can be found in Richmond, & need not therefore to be sent from Monticellothose marked * are I presume too unimportant, & will not therefore be sent unless particularly desired.those in the 1st column having no mark prefixed, it is presumed must be sent from Monticello, unless they except such as may be found in Richmond & shall be so noted by Messrs Hay or Wirt to save the trouble of sending them.\n\t\t Vinnii institutiones. 4to\n  Digest\n                in the Corpus Juris Civilis Gothofredi 2. v. 8vo \n\t\t Theophili Antecessoris institutiones. 4to\n\t\t Pragmatics of Attaliata. in the Jus Graeco-Romanum Leunclavii. fol.\n                 Vinnii Partitiones juris civilis 4to\n\t\t Noodt Probabilitates juris fol.\n\t\t Calvini Lexicon juridicum. fol.\n\t\t 1. Brown\u2019s Civil law 8vo\n                 Kaim\u2019s Law tracts. 8vo\n\t\t Vattel\u2019s Law of Nature & Nations.\n\t\t Grotius de jure Belli et Pacis.\n\t\t Encyclopedie Methodique. Jurisprudence by LeRasle\n                 Napoleon Code Civil.\n\t\t Boucher. Institutions Maritimes. 2. v. 4to\n                Nouveau Commentaire sur l\u2019Ordonnance de la Marine de 1681. 2. v. 12mo\n Domat\u2019s Public Law. 2. v. fol.\n                Statutes at large.\n  Britton.\n Fleta.\n                Lambard\u2019s Eirenarchia.\n Stamford P.C.\n Bacon\u2019s abr 8vo edition with Notes.\n Comyn\u2019s Digest.\n Blackstone\u2019s Commentaries.\n Hawkins\u2019s P.C.\n 1. Rolle\u2019s Abr.\n 2. Jones\u2019 Rep.\n 1. Salkeld.\n                Proclamation of O\u2019Reilly\n                Laws of Orleans.\n Acts of Congress.\n 2. & 3. Dallas\u2019 reports.\n                Miscellaneous\n Gibbon\u2019s Rom hist. c:44.153.\n                Plinii Historia Naturalis\n Aristotle, Politica\n word \u0391\u03b3\u03c1\u03bf\u03c2\n Homeri Odyss.\n Stepani Thesaurus Linguae Gr.\n Dictionnaires de Richelet, Trevoux, de l\u2019Academie. \u2018rivage\u2019\n Dictionnaire Historique. \u2018Domat.\u2019\n Joutel\u2019s Journal.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0421", "content": "Title: William Coghlan to Thomas Jefferson, 10 April 1811\nFrom: Coghlan, William\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            May it please your Excellency\n            Columbia W: Tennessee April 10th 1811\u2014\n           You will perhaps be somewhat surprized at being addressed by a person entirely unknown to your Excelcy, At such a distance, & on such a subject as you will not perhaps, expect I need not say (such a subject) as fame errs or you have been often addressed on the same subject & much to the satisfaction of the applicants. But that I may not intrude on your Excellencys time & patience I shall State my Case to you in as brief a manner as possible\u2014 I am a man turned of fifty bred to a mechanical business but now rendered unable to work by the Rheumatism, after Many losses & Misfortunes by sea & land too numerous to trouble your Excelcy with I was over persuaded to come to this western Country as being a healthy fertile & plentifull Country & where I could support my helpless family to wit a wife & five small Children on easy terms, I accordingly arived here about Eighteen months ago togeather with another man with the following property between us, Viz. two Stills a wagon & four indifferent horses a Military land warrant for 640 acres of land & no money, we could not get the warrant located unless we gave one half for the other, after some time we were compelled to sell it for two Shillings \u214c acre we could only barely support ourselves by our Stills the other man sold his part & is gone back to N: Carolina where we came from I could not go on account of some debts I contracted for provisions a few cows &C: to support my Family & am now indebted about $120 which I am unable to pay & am at the eve of loosing every little thing I possess & seeing my poor family perrish if not relieved, If I could sell what little I have at near its Value I could pay without troubling your Excelcy or selling my still the only support of my poor family but money is so scarce here that nothing will sell for money & nothing will satisfie my creditors but money, I offered them property it wont do, I offered to pledge as security for $100 for one year six cows & calves two horses forty hogs two beds & some little articles of household furniture all worth at least $200 & twenty \u214c Cent. intrest but could not obtain a loan unless I gave thirty \u214c Ct. & deposit double as much property as I possessed which was out of my power to do. therefore must be surely undone & unable to return to some of the southrn States where I could support my distressed family by some means here I Can do nothing at the business I was bred too Viz Painting & Glaizing\u2014But knowing your Humane Benevolent & Charitable Character & hearing of the many similar distressed Cases which your Excelcys timely Charity & benevolenc has relieved I was prompted (I hope by Heaven) to apply to you Excelcy for relief I know the little that would relieve me and my distressed family & enable me to support them in future would never be felt by your Excely except the heart felt pleasure it would give you to reflect that you saved a poor distressed family from inevitable distruction, Therefore I beg & Intreat of your Excelcy for the love of God to assist me & save my poor helpless family from Starvation, My oldest who bares your Excelcys Name A name always revered by me & will while I exist, is my chief assistant but he & I both unacquainted with labouring work are not able to support the rest, therefore earnestly supplicate & implore your Excys assistance & trust in God you will look upon our distress: situation with a favourable & compassionate Eye, in full Confidence of hearing from your Excelcy soon I remain Joined by my Family in fervent prayers & sincere & unfeigned wishes for your Health & Felicity in this world & Eternal Glory in the next your Excellency\u2019s most devoted most humble & most obedt servt & Petitioner\n            Wm Coghlan", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0422", "content": "Title: William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 10 April 1811\nFrom: Wirt, William\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          I have your favors by the last mail and will attend to them with much pleasure. If any thing could be done for Colo. D. here, it would be by shewing the copy of your letter to him. I shall retain it for another mail that I may recieve your directions as to making use of it or not. You may rely upon it that D.\u2019s name has no magic in it here: he is considered as the foe of Mr Madison.  And the republicans, here, have no sympathy with any man who carries opposition colours, whether federalist, quid, or tertium quid. The distinction which you make between the past fidelity and present aberration of The Aurora is just, liberal and magnanimous\u2014and the sentiment might perhaps be spread by the contagion of your letter. I have made one experiment to day without it\u2014the answer was that D. could not want friends since his alliance with the Smiths. By the next mail I shall have satisfied myself conclusively as to the possibility of my doing any thing without the aid of your letter\u2014\n            With respectful affection, your friend & svt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0423", "content": "Title: Joseph Darmsdatt to Thomas Jefferson, 11 April 1811\nFrom: Darmsdatt, Joseph\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            I rec\u2019d yours of the 4h Inst & observt the Contents which will be Sattisfactory & If you Should want any fish this season\u2014you may hav it\u2014as i well Know the payment of farmers & only pay once a year\u2014i Generaly P Charge a Littel more for the articul my fish will arive next mont they are of Good Quallity pleas Infor me how many you want & i can Sent them from time to time\n              I am with respect your humble Serv\n J Darmsdatt\n             flour9.25Briskhemp\u20148 \u2114 112Dull whisky\u201445 to 50dull", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0424-0001", "content": "Title: Gibson & Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 11 April 1811\nFrom: Gibson & Jefferson\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n               We received yesterday your favors of the 1st and 4th Inst and have made the several remittances and payments directed as pr Memm annex\u2019d amounting to $1240.26\u2014 we have also paid Mr Da Warwick on account of Messrs Morris & Dunnington $956.33 as pr statement at foot We have this day sold 56 barrels of your flour, which is all we have yet recd at $9\u215c\u2014Your letter to Mr Oldham is deliver\u2019d\u2014\n                Your obt Servts\n Gibson & Jefferson\n                  John Barnes (includg $100 for Rd Barry)\n                  John Hollins ofBaltr\n                  Jones & HowellPhila\n                  Gordon Trokes & Co (\u214c a/c forwarded)\n                  Joseph Darmsdadt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0424-0002", "content": "Title: Enclosure: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Account with Morris & Dunnington, [ca. 10 April 1811]\nFrom: Morris & Dunnington\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Thomas Jefferson Esqr\n                In account with Morris & Dunnington\n                 To Balance due M&D\n            \u3003 Interest on \u00a3263.17 from 1st Sept. 1810 untill paid (7 mo 10 days)", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0425", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to George Jefferson, 11 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Jefferson, George\n           It is with real reluctance I trouble you with small commissions, which I know ought not to be done. I do it therefore only in cases of urgency, & for articles not to be had here. we are in immediate want of 29 32. yards of Cotton diaper or Cotton damask (I know not which it is called) of about 9 or 10. quarters wide for tablecloths, which I am told is to be had at Richmond.  will you be so good as to send it to me by the return of the stage, addressed to the care of mr Higginbotham.Affectionately yours \n            Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0426", "content": "Title: Thomas Law to Thomas Jefferson, 13 April [1811]\nFrom: Law, Thomas\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Philadelphia Mrs Lawsons 3rd St April 13th 1811 \n            Permit me to request your name as a Subscriber to a work which will be of essential service to which Mr Gallatin, Mr Paul Hamilton & others have subscribed & which Mr Gallatin has promised to aid by correcting the Statistical account\u2014should you be dissatisfied I will take it\u2014\n          The translator is a very worthy man, whom I esteem, & whom I assist as much as lays in my power for the rising generation will much benefit by it\u2014\n          The beneficial pacify pacific policy of the last ten Years will be illustrated by encrease of population & by manufactures amog to about 200 Millions of Dollars\u2014in Pensylvania alone they amt to 44,200,740\u2014Had war taken place the coasting trade would have been obstructed, commercial losses would have been doubled, 100 000 men would have been uselessly employed in armies & navies and in making ammunition tents &ca and evils might have ensued which we know not of\u2014\n          With apologies for this liberty\n            I remain With much Esteem & respect Yr mt Obt St\n Thos Law", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0427", "content": "Title: Henry Dearborn to Thomas Jefferson, 14 April 1811\nFrom: Dearborn, Henry\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           Domestic affliction will, I hope, be admitted as an apology for my not having written to you for so long a time. I mention an apology, because I feel guilty of a neglect, whenever I allow several months to pass without giving you some indication of my friendship & gratitude. the recollection of having enjoyed a share of your friendship will I trust never cease to Afford me peculiar pleasure.\u2014 Although I endeavour to detach my mind in some measure from political concerns, I find it impossible, (and perhaps it would be improper) to become a mere unconcerned spectator, while the best interests and happiness of our common Country is so much at stake.   I had indulged the hope that when the Prince of Wales should come into power, the retched situation of the British Empire, would induce such a change of measures in relation to us, as would in a great measure remove our present imbarrasments, but it seems that the same blind and impolitic measures that have so long disgraced the Councils of that devoted Country, are still to be pursued.\u2014and whether Napoleon will ultimately act with anything like good faith, remains problematical. we have no arrivals yet from France, and of course no conclusive evidence of the real intentions of the Emperor, in relation to the American property in his hands.\u2014the late measures at Washington occasions much speculation in this quarter\u2014     I am sorry that Duane allows his feelings to carry him such lengths in relation to certain charactors, I fear he will injure our cause by the zealous part he is pursuing; we have lately had a very warmly contested election in this State for Govr Lt Govr & Senatores, the Tory\u2019s made the greatest possible exactions to recover the Ascendency but they have failed, we have elected our Govr Lt Govr and a majority of Senatores, by conciderable majorities. we hope that Mr Gerry will act with more firmness than he did the last year, and not calculate so much on a temporising sistim.\n            I find it is suspected by some of our members of Congress, that the Smiths & Co will take an active part against Mr Madison, and indeavor to bring in Genl Armstrong. If Genl Smith could obtain some foreign Mission he probably would be quiet, but a measure of that kind would might be considered at least, of a doubtfull quality.\u2014\n            Accept Sir a tender of my respectfull esteem & best wishes for your health & Happiness.\n H. Dearborn", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0428", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Alexander von Humboldt, 14 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Humboldt, Alexander von\n            My dear Baron\n          The interruption of our intercourse with France, for some time past, has prevented my writing to you.  a conveyance now occurs, by mr Barlow or mr Warden, both of them going in a public capacity. it is the first safe opportunity offered of acknoleging your favor of Sep. 23. and the reciept at different times of the IIId part of your valuable work, 2d 3d 4th & 5th livraisons, and the IVth part, 2d 3d & 4th livraisons, with the Tableaux de la nature, and an interesting map of New Spain. for these magnificent & much esteemed favors accept my sincere thanks. they give us a knolege of that country more accurate than I believe we possess of Europe, the seat of the science of a thousand years. it comes out too at a moment when those countries are beginning to be interesting to the whole world. they are now becoming the scenes of political revolution, to take their stations as integral members, of the great family of nations. all are now in insurrection. in several the Independants are already triumphant, and they will undoubtedly be so in all. what kind of government will they establish? how much liberty can they bear without intoxication? are their chiefs sufficiently enlightened to form a well guarded government, and their people to watch their chiefs? have they mind enough to place their domesticated Indians on a footing with the whites? all these questions you can answer better than any other. I imagine they will copy our outlines of confederation & elective government, abolish distinction of ranks, bow the neck to their priests, & persevere in intolerantism. their greatest difficulty will be in the construction of their Executive. I suspect that, regardless of the experiment of France, and of that of the US. in 1784. they will begin with a Directory, and when the unavoidable schisms in that kind of Executive shall drive them to something else, their great question will come on, whether to substitute an Executive, elective for years, for life, or an hereditary one. but unless instruction can be spread among them more rapidly than experience promises, despotism may come upon them before they are qualified to save the ground they will have gained. could Napoleon obtain, at the close of the present war the independance of all the West India islands, & their establishment in a separate confederacy, our quarter of the globe would exhibit an enrapturing prospect into futurity. you will live to see much of this. I very little. I shall follow, however, chearfully my fellow laborers, contented with having borne a part in beginning this beatific reformation.\n          I fear, from some expressions in your letter, that your personal interests have not been duly protected, while you were devoting your time, talents & labor for the information of mankind. I should sincerely regret it, for the honor of the governing powers, as well as from affectionate attachment to yourself, & the sincerest wishes for your felicity, fortunes and fame.\n          In sending you a copy of my Notes on Virginia, I do but obey the desire you have expressed. they must appear chetif enough to the author of the great work on South America. but from the widow her mite was welcomed,& you will add to this indulgence the acceptance of sincere assurances of constant friendship & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0430", "content": "Title: David Bailie Warden to Thomas Jefferson, 14 April 1811\nFrom: Warden, David Bailie\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I am induced, by a sense of duty, to inclose for your perusal, a copy of my defence with regard to the insinuation made against me, before my appointment, by a secret enemy, and to which, I understand, General armstrong has lately referred\u2014as he has not furnished his objections to my consular appointment, I trust that the President will soon allow me to embark. The suspension of my departure has excited curiosity, and has set me up as a mark for Newspaper calumny.  The attempt made, by my secret enemy, thro the Editors of the New york evening Post, to injure my reputation, has completely failed.  I instructed my friend Counsellor Sampson to prosecute them for the libel, and they inserted an article, in their paper, of the 10th, proclaiming my innocence.\n           The National Intelligencer, of this day, contains my observations on Robins\u2019 travels.\n          I am, Sir, with great esteem and respect\n            your very obligd Servt\n D B. Warden", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0431", "content": "Title: John Barnes to Thomas Jefferson, 15 April 1811\nFrom: Barnes, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n              George Town Columa 15th April 1811\u2014\n            I have now the pleasure to inclose you, sett of ex. 1t 2d & 3d\u2014Messrs Bowie & Kurtz.  dated 13th Inst a 60 days sight on Mr Wm Murdock in London for \u00a3200. sterling ex\u2014at 10 \u214cCt under par\u2014 which be pleased to endorse, as well transmit as \u214c last yr via thro the Secty of the State\u2014  to the good Generals Bankers, Messrs Hoffingan & Co in Paris\u2014I had some difficulty in being allow\u2019d 10 per Cent but for Cash as some Others could only Obtain 8 \u214cCt\u2014\n            my Letter to and a/c wth Genl K. as well Copy\u2014of the latter for your govermt is Also inclosed\u2014\n             your favr of the 4th recd this Instant shall be duly Attended to and particularly so with referance to Mrs Beckley\u2014tho I fear with little hopes of success. still however I have ventured to renew the disagreable subject\u2014without (if possible) wounding her feelings\u2014but I presume the unfavorable situation of her Brothers Affairs (the Ostensible excuse) will scarse Allow them the means\u2014if really so\u2014should they possess the good Principle of performing with good faith their promises long since made of adjusting this debt of Honor\u2014which to a gratefull mind must harrow up the most cutting feelings of both shame and remorse\u2014her Answer may however at least Afford some future hope of redress.\n              with great Esteem & Respect, I am Dear Sir, Your most Obedt\n John Barnes,\n            PS. Messrs Gibson & Jeffersons expected draft in my favr for $360\u2014not yet at hand but daily expected", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0432", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours, 15 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Du Pont de Nemours, Pierre Samuel\n           I have to acknolege the reciept of your letters of Jan. 20. & Sep. 14. 1810. and, with the latter, your Observations on the subject of taxes. they bear the stamps of logic & eloquence which mark every thing coming from you, & place the doctrines of the Economists in their strongest points of view. my present retirement & unmeddling disposition make of this une question oiseuse pour moi.  but after reading the Observations with great pleasure, I forwarded them to the President and mr Gallatin, in whose hands they may be useful. yet I do not believe the change of our system of taxation will be forced on us so early as you expect, if war be avoided.  it is true we are going greatly into manufactures; but the mass of them are houshold manufactures of the coarse articles worn by the laborers & farmers of the family. these I verily believe we shall succeed in making to the whole extent of our necessities. but the attempts at fine goods will probably be abortive. they are undertaken by company-establishments, & chiefly in the towns; will have little success, & short continuance in a country where the charms of agriculture attract every being who can engage in it. our revenue will be less than it would be were we to continue to import instead of manufacturing our coarse goods. but the increase of population & production will keep pace with that of manufactures, and maintain the quantum of exports at the present level at least: & the imports must be equivalent to them, & consequently the revenue on them be undiminished. I keep up my hopes that, if war be avoided, mr Madison will be able to compleat the paiment of the national debt, within his term, after which one third of the present revenue would support the government. your information that a commencement of excise had been again made, is entirely unfounded. I hope the death blow to that most vexatious & unproductive of all taxes was given at the commencement of my administration, & believe it\u2019s revival would give the death blow to any administration whatever. in most of the middle and Southern states some land tax is now paid into the State treasury, and for this purpose the lands have been classed & valued, & the tax assessed according to that valuation. in these an Excise is most odious. in the Eastern states land taxes are odious, excises less unpopular. we are all the more reconciled to the tax on importations, because it falls exclusively on the rich, and, with the equal partition of intestate\u2019s estates, constitute the best agrarian law.  in fact, the poor man in this country who uses nothing but what is made within his own farm or family, or within the US. pays not a farthing of tax to the general government, but on his salt; and should we go into that manufacture, as we ought to do, he will pay not one cent. our revenues once liberated by the discharge of the public debt, & it\u2019s surplus applied to canals, roads, schools Etc and the farmer will see his government supported, his children educated, & the face of his country made a paradise by the contributions of the rich alone without his being called on to spare a cent from his earnings. and the path we are now pursuing leads directly to this end which we cannot fail to attain unless our administration should fall into unwise hands.\n          Another great field of political experiment is opening in our neighborhood, in Spanish America. I fear the degrading ignorance into which their priests & kings have sunk them, has disqualified them from the maintenance, or even knolege of their rights, & that much blood may be shed for little improvement in their condition. should their new rulers honestly lay their shoulders to remove the great obstacle of ignorance, and press the remedies of education & information, they will still be in jeopardy until another generation comes into place, & what may happen in the interval cannot be predicted, nor shall you or I live to see it. in these cases I console myself with the reflection that those who will come after us will be as wise as we are, & as able to take care of themselves as we have been. I hope you continue to preserve your health & that you may long continue to do so in happiness is the prayer of yours affectionately\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0433", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to George Jefferson, 15 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Jefferson, George\n            I return you the note signed, and filled up with the former sum supposing it not best not to change it till the next renewal, by which time mr Harrison\u2019s note for the tobo will be in hand and due.  Griffin wrote me on the 5th that he had then delivered 24. hhds to mr Harrison, and that 6. more were ready & would be opened in a few days, when mr H. would give his note for the whole payable in 60. days.I am very sensible of your kindness in having gone beyond my draughts, which I by no means intended. these were kept within the limits of the funds I then deemed on hand.  the debt to Morris & Dunnington was contracted for the Bedford plantation & was to be paid from it\u2019s crop. I had therefore engaged to M. & D. that they should recieve it out of the proceeds of the first of the Bedford flour which should get to market. Griffin writes me he should send off 100. barrels on the 9th inst. and had the promise of the rest for a short day afterwards. this therefore as well as what is going from here will shortly replace your advance to M. & D. in whose favor I had delayed drawing till the Bedford flour should be down, because I wish to shew my thankfulness for your friendly dispositions by not making an abusive use of them.ever affectionately yours\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0435", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Pierre Paganel, 15 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Paganel, Pierre\n            I recieved through mr Warden the copy of your valuable work on the French revolution, for which I pray you to accept my thanks. that it\u2019s sale should have been suppressed is no matter of wonder with me. the friend of liberty is too feelingly manifested, not to give umbrage to it\u2019s enemies. we read in it, and weep over, the fatal errors which have lost to nations the present hope of liberty, and to reason the fairest prospect of it\u2019s final triumph over all imposture, civil & religious. the testimony of one who himself was an actor in the scenes he notes, and who knew the true mean between rational liberty, and the frenzies of demagogy, are a tribute to truth of inestimable value. the perusal of this work has given me new views of the causes of failure in a revolution of which I was a witness in it\u2019s early part, & then augured well of it. I had no means afterwards of observing it\u2019s progress but the public papers, & their information came thro\u2019 channels too hostile to claim confidence. an acquaintance with many of the principal characters, & with their fate, furnished me grounds of for conjectures, some of which you have confirmed, & some corrected. shall we ever see as free & faithful a tableau of the subsequent acts of this deplorable tragedy? is Reason to be for ever amused with the hochets of physical sciences, in which she is indulged merely to divert her from solid speculations on the rights of man, and wrongs of his oppressors? it is impossible. the day of deliverance will come, altho\u2019 I shall not live to see it. the art of printing secures us against the retrogation retrogradation of reason & information, and the example of it\u2019s safe & wholsome guidance in government, which will be exhibited thro\u2019 the wide spread regions of the American continents, will obliterate in time the impressions left by the abortive experiment of France. with my prayers for the hastening of that auspicious day, & for the due effect of the lessons of your work to those who ought to profit by them, accept the assurances of my great esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0436", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Th\u00e9odore Pahlen, 15 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Pahlen, Th\u00e9odore\n          Your favor of the 4th did not arrive here till yesterday, owing to the late rains which have rendered the waters and roads nearly impassable for the mail. I hasten to acknolege it\u2019s reciept, and to express a due sense of the honor of the visit you give me the hope of recieving here, and the value I set on the double gratification it will afford of manifesting to the representative of the emperor my respect and veneration for a sovereign so distinguished by his virtues & station, and to yourself the esteem justly due to your person and character.  I shall be at home & happy to recieve yourself and your friends at the period you mention, or so soon after as the condition of the roads shall admit your encountering them, regretting only that their present degradation will add so much to the labors and discomforts of the journey. I pray you to accept the assurance of my respect & high consideration. \n            Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0437", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William Wirt, 15 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Wirt, William\n          Your favor of the 10th was recieved yesterday.   I should be unwilling that any use should be made of my letter which would shew my interference in the case in question, because I know how gladly the dogs of federalism would turn from Duane upon me and tranquility is now become the summum bonum with me.    should Duane push his state-partyism against mr Gallatin to an opposition to the President, I should have no hesitation in abandoning him, as we have been obliged to abandon others who have apostatized. my sincere affections for mr Madison, as well as my devotion to the principles of republican administration would do away all doubt in such a case. but I still think Duane is more likely to be won by liberality, than to be forced from his direction by persecution. ever affectionately yours.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0439", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Tadeusz Kosciuszko, 16 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Kosciuszko, Tadeusz\n              My dear General & friend\n            My last letter to you was of the 26th of February of the last year. knowing of no particular conveyance, I confided it to the department of State, to be put under the cover of their public despatches to Genl Armstrong or mr Warden. not having been able to learn whether it ever got to hand, I now inclose a duplicate.knowing your affections to this country, and the interest you take in whatever concerns it, I therein gave you a tableau of it\u2019s state when I retired from the administration. the difficulties & embarrasments still continued in our way by the two great belligerent powers, you are acquainted with. in other times, when there was some profession of regard for right, some respect to reason, when a gross violation of these marked a deliberate design of pointed injury, these would have been causes of war. but when we see two nations antagonists contending ad internecionem, so eager for mutual destruction as to disregard all means, to deal their blows in every direction regardless on whom they may fall, prudent bystanders, whom some of them may wound, instead of thinking it cause to join in the Maniac contest, get out of the way as well they can, and leave the Cannibals to mutual ravin. it would have been perfect Quixotism in us to have encountered these Bedlamites, to have undertaken the redress of all wrongs against a world avowedly rejecting all regard to right. we have therefore remained in peace, suffering frequent injuries, but, on the whole, multiplying, improving, prospering beyond all example. it is evident to all that in spite of great losses much greater gains have ensued. when these heroes gladiators  shall have worried each other into ruin or reason, instead of lying among the dead on the bloody Arena, we shall have acquired a growth & strength which will place us hors d\u2019insulte. peace then is has been our principle, peace is our interest, and peace has saved to the world this only plant of free and rational government now existing in it. if it can still be preserved, we shall soon see the final extinction of our national debt, & liberation of our revenues for the defence or improvement of our country. these revenues will be levied entirely on the rich, the business of houshold manufacture being now so established that the farmer & labourer clothes himself entirely. the rich alone use imported articles, and on these alone the whole taxes of the general government are levied. the poor man who uses nothing but what is made in his own farm or family, or within his own country, pays not a farthing of tax to the general government, but on his salt: & should we go into that manufacture also, as is probable, he will pay nothing. our revenues liberated by the discharge of the public debt, & it\u2019s surplus applied to canals roads, schools Etc the farmer will see his government supported, his children educated, and the face of his country made a paradise, by the contributions of the rich alone, without his being called on to spare a cent from his earnings. however therefore we may have been reproached for pursuing our Quaker system, time will affix the stamp of wisdom on it, and the happiness & prosperity of our citizens will attest it\u2019s merit. and this, I believe is the only legitimate object of government, and the first duty of governors, and not the slaughter of men, & devastation of the countries placed under their care, in pursuit of a fantastic honor, unallied to virtue or happiness; or in gratification of the angry passions, or the pride of administrators, excited by personal incidents, in which their citizens have no concern. some merit will be ascribed to the converting such times of destruction into times of growth & strength for us.And behold! another example of man rising in his might, and bursting the chains of his oppressor, and in the same hemisphere. Spanish America is all in revolt. the insurgents are triumphant in many of the states, & will be so in all. but there the danger is that the cruel arts of their oppressors have enchained their minds, have kept them in the ignorance of children, and as incapable of self-government as children. if the obstacles of bigotry & priest-craft can be surmounted we may hope that Common sense will suffice to do everything else. God send them a safe deliverance.As to the private matter explained in my letter of Feb. 26. the time I shall have occasion for your indulgence will not be longer than there stated, & may be shortened if either your convenience, or will should require it. God bless you, & give you many years of health & happiness, & that you may live to see more of the liberty you love than present appearances promise.\n            P.S. mr Barnes is now looking out for bills for your usual annual remittance.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0440", "content": "Title: James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 16 April 1811\nFrom: Monroe, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           The minister of Russia, Count Pahlen & his brother, having intimated their intention to make you a visit at Monticello, I have taken the liberty to give them this introduction. The publick character of these respectable foreigners, would, I well know, secure them your kind reception, & friendly attention, but you will be gratified to know that they have high claims from personal merit.\n            I am dear Sir with great respect your friend & Servant\n Jas Monroe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0441", "content": "Title: John Hollins to Thomas Jefferson, 17 April 1811\nFrom: Hollins, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Baltimore 17th April 1811\n          A few days ago I had the pleasure to receive your esteemed lines of the 3d Inst\u2014Messs Gibson & Jefferson have as you desired, remitted me the eighty six dollars in payment for the plaister last sent you, which settles that transaction\n            All our friends, that I have had an opportunity of conversing with, have expressed their regret at the late changes, & doings at Washington, indeed they do not hesitate in declaring their intire disapprobation of the President\u2019s conduct, particularly as respects the dismissal of Mr Smith, & the appointmt of one in his place, who so recently aspired to the Presidential chair, & of course used every effort to prevent the election of Mr M., & in some instances, if report be correct, by very indecorous remarks on some of Mr M\u2019s near connection, this may not be so & I hope for the honor of the present secretary, it may not, still however under all circumstances the recent appointment of Secretary, is most astonishing\u2014as is also the manner in which the President acted in the dismisal of Mr Smith, for in that light alone can it be viewed; We had always believed that the greatest harmony, & best understanding prevailed between those Gentlemen, & that the former always respected the abilities of the latter, in a high degree, I know this opinion was by your good self, entertained of Mr S. & I am really & truly sorry that anything shd have occured to break in upon the good understandg between him & Mr M, because it gives our Political opponents an opportunity of exulting, & I do hope without a cause, unless something very unexpected turns up to the prejudice of Mr S.\u2014if there does not (& God forbid there shd) the change will doubtless operate against the Democratic Interest, & probably throw the Governmt into the hands of the Federalists\u2014this is not only my fears, but those of others at a distance who have written on the subject\n           Mr Foster may soon be expected, & it is very much to be feared that his appointment, may wind up much in the same way as that of Jackson Rose &c &c A letter just received from London under date of the 6th March, states, that Mr Pinckney does not hesitate to say that the Brith Governmt will not agree with what we have a right to demand\n           It also states that both Mr P & Mr F.\u2019s furniture were shiping by the Ship Congress\u2014for this Port\n           Allow me to add a few more lines on the subject of Mr M. & Mr S.\u2014It seems very strange that the first intimation of the change, came from the Federalists, & thro\u2019 their papers, which looks as if Mr M. prefer\u2019d communicating with them, in preference to his own political friends, if not so, it woud have the appearance, that the Feds had, by undue & improper influence actually succeeded with Mr M. to Mr S\u2019s prejudice, certain it is that Mr Pickering, when returning from Congress thro\u2019 this City, mentioned openly what was to take place\n          Excuse the trouble I give, & the freedom I have used in writing the forgoing & believe\n            Me very truly Yr fnd & Servt\n Jno Hollins", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0443", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Survey of Boundary between Lego and Pantops, 17 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: \n          1811. Apr. 17. a survey of the line between Lego & Pantops from the stump of the old\n          line tree near the river up to the clearing on the mountain, called Pantops, with a\n          view to mark the line accurately from the river to the public road.\n          every line tree now standing is herein marked, as far as we went.\n          Beginning at the old fore & aft a little way from the river, the stump of which is still standing, & the body lying on the ground, shewing the marks still visibly.\n              these courses give from the fore & aft stump on the river to the fore & aft here noted a course of N. 4613 E. 366.2 po. by protraction.\n\t\t   side line tree on the left\n\t\t13.2\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0to a fore & aft tree\n              \u00a0\u00a08.64\u00a0to\u00a0a\u00a0line\u00a0tree\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0right\u00a0.12\u00a0from\u00a0the\u00a0course\n              these courses from the fore & aft to the last side line tree \n\t\tabove here noted gives for the true line N. 4513 E. 77.2 po. by protraction, which will leave all the side line trees on their proper side. we pursued the line no further. no line tree is to be seen along the Pantops fence\n              \u00a0\u00a05.76\u00a0to\u00a0one\u00a0on\u00a0the\u00a0left\u00a0.2\u00a0from\u00a0the\u00a0course.\n              \u00a0\u00a02.56 to a line tree on the left\n\t\t\u00a0\u00a01.72 to one on the right\n          from the line tree last mention the corner of the Pantops clearing bore N. 19. E. 6.8 poles.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0444", "content": "Title: William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 17 April 1811\nFrom: Wirt, William\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          Yours of the 15 in reply to mine of the 10th inst. has been brought to me from the office this instant.  The copy of your letter to D. has been shewn to one person only\u2014Wm H. Cabell. The effect of it was to dispose him to lend D. $500. And I wrote my letter in a persuasion produced by that incident, as well as by its effect on my own feelings, that with the use of that letter, something important might be done for D. in spite of the adverse spirit, or at least distrust, which the factious and equivocal character of his paper have lately excited\u2014 Equivocal in relation to Mr Madison. But D.\u2019s three or four last papers contain such insulting and infamous paragraphs in relation to Mr M. that I think it very dubious whether even your letter would not now be too late, had I been permitted to shew it. The paper is now regarded as an opposition one. In what other light can it be regarded when it exhibits the president as being so perfectly the tool of Mr Gallatin as to have descended from the ground of a gentleman in relation to Mr Smith and played him a \u201cshabby, Genevan trick.\u201d If he intended this for Mr G. it was through the sides of the President.  The act of which he speaks was Mr M\u2019s: and these paragraphs treat him with an impudence of contempt so open and daring, that I suspect the federalists spoke the truth in calling D. an Irishman. Can charity or magnanimity require us longer to adhere to this man? Can he consider it as persecution, to desert him, after he has abandoned his cause, the people and the president of their choice, and has begun to strain every nerve to bring them into contempt?\u2014I think he has for some time required a lesson on the subject of modesty which the people will now give. He thinks that we will follow him\u2014so thought J.R.\u2014and D. like him will find his mistake.\n          Every gentleman who mentions this subject in my hearing speaks with the warmest resentment against D. Believe me, Sir, it is impossible to do any thing for him here, now; and any farther attempt would only disable me from rendering any service to the cause, hereafter. I am persuaded that you will see this subject in its true light, and be assured that it is the impracticability of serving him, produced by D.\u2019s own misconduct, as well as the violation which I feel it would be of my sentiments for Mr M. that prevent me from proceeding. Indeed, I am persuaded that before you receive this, D. will have convinced you that he is unworthy of the benevolent and exalted sympathy which you have felt for him: that he is, probably, using those means of indemnifying himself for his past fidelity to which he alludes in his postscript; and that he merits abandonment on the principle stated in your letter of having pushed his state-partyism against Mr G. into an opposition against Mr Madison.\n          I return herewith the copy of Mr D\u2019s letter to you and yours to him. and beg you to be assured of my respectful and affectionate devotion.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0445", "content": "Title: James Oldham to Thomas Jefferson, 18 April 1811\nFrom: Oldham, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n             Your Letter of the 1st Instant was handed to me Three dayes ago, I immedeately indevored to Procure the Bohemian Glass as you mentioned, but there is none of the kind in Richmond lorger than 8 by 10 I. and none of aney quallity that is 12 I. Square, I tooke a box of Crown Glass 12 by 14 I. and had them cut to 12 I. Square packed them up very snug and delivered them to Gibson & Jefferson as you desired. the 12 by 18 I. is not to be got at this Time in Richmond, but there is a quantity daley expected from New-Yorke and as soon as it arives I will Procure your complement and deliver it agreable to your request.your recommendation to Judge Cabell will be ever Gratefully Rememberd. I have not sean him since his Last return to Richmond, while he was Govenor I did a considerable quantity of worke under his direction and should be desirous of serveing him, aney serveses I am capable of in Procouring such neseries as you may wont from Richmond it will always be attended to with chearfulness.\n              With Grate Respect I Am Sir your Obt Servt\n Jms Oldham\n             I beged the faver of Mr Gibson to forword the box delivered by the firs safe convayance", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0446", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Peter Derieux, 19 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Derieux, Peter (Justin Pierre Plumard)\n           A little before the reciept of your favor of Feb. 25. the inclosed letter had come to my hands, and not knowing your residence I had forwarded it to judge Stuart at Staunton with a request that he would enquire for you & send it. as soon as I recieved yours of Feb. I wrote to mr Stuart to return the other letter to me. his absence from home delayed my recieving it, & my answering your letter till now. with respect to mr Mazzei I have not had a letter from him for a little more than a year. he was then well, & residing at Pisa. he sometimes talked of coming over here to marry & establish his daughter in this country. I rather considered this as a wish, than a fixed purpose.  be so good as to present my salutations to mrs Derieux, & to accept yourself the assurances of my esteem & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0447", "content": "Title: Henry Foxall to Thomas Jefferson, 19 April 1811\nFrom: Foxall, Henry\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n              Respected Sir\n              George Town April 19th 1811\n             Your Esteemed favors of the 3d & 4 Ulto came with their Enclosurs safe to hand I called on Messrs Conrad & co Booksellers Capitol Hill, to pay them the 12 Dollars agreeable to your request. on Examining their Books they found the Amt of their bill $12.50 had been paid by you in the month of Feby 1808\u2014That Business has been carried on for some time past by Mr Raphine I believe one of the firm of Conrad & co\n            For some Days past I have been at a loss to know how to remit you $12.10 the Ballance over and above the Amt of my bill $13.40\u2014have now concluded to return it in a Certificate of Deposite from the Bank of Columbia on the Bank of Virginiea in my favor which I have made payable to your order; I prefered this mode because I could do it exactly to the amt and it being the most expeditious, together with that of believeing you had frequent oppertunitys of sending to Richmond\n              I am Respected Sir with much esteem Your Obeged humble Servt\n Heny Foxall\n            PS If at any time you should have any little business to do in this place or the City that is in my power to perform I shall at all times do it with much pleasure", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0448", "content": "Title: Gibson & Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 19 April 1811\nFrom: Gibson & Jefferson\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Richmond 19th April 1811\u2014\n           Your favors of the 11th & 15th were both recd yesterday, we have procured and sent you by the Stage driver 1 pe \u00b9\u2070\u2044\u2084 Cotton diaper containing 26\u00bd yds at 9/. we could not send the precise quantity wanted of one pattern, nor is there at present but one Store, where it is retailed and there they ask 12/. for similar quality; Messrs Tompkins & Murray of whom we purchased this piece, have still one more left; which we have got the favor of them to lay bye, until we hear whether you would wish to take it, which we request you will inform us of by return of mail\u2014 No more of your flour has yet come to hand, we sold to day at 9\u00be$ Cash\u2014\n            Your obt Servts\n Gibson & Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0449", "content": "Title: James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 19 April 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I have recd your favor of  containing the requested extract from Armstrong\u2019s letter relating to Warden. A. has entangled himself in such gross inconsistencies, that he may perhaps not execute this threat to vindicate his removal of W. agst my reinstatement of him. This consideration alone will restrain his enmity agst both of us.  You will see the conflict in which he is engaged with Fulton.   Pinkney is weekly expected by the return of the Essex.  Previous to his taking leave of the Prince Regt he ascertained by a correspondence with Wellesley, that his stay was wished for the mere purpose of delay and delusion.  The mission of Foster, like that of Rose, plays the same game.  The Convalescence of the King renders the Prince a Cypher; and his Cabinet is inflexible in its folly & depravity.   The inclosed paper of Poulson, publishes from the \u201cCourier\u201d P\u2019s the Cabinet paper, the doctrine which is to provide the pretext be maintained & modified for the purposes of plunder. We have been long without official intelligence from France. The last was not unfavorable. Appearances & reports have of late engendered suspicions of foul play. The arrivals of two vessels from Bayonne, in the Delaware, with the notice of others to follow, indicate a renewal of trade. On the other hand extracts of letters seem to imply a continuance of the Iron policy in that quarter. The symptoms of approaching war between France & Russia seem to multiply.  I am sorry to trouble you with a recurrence to your dormant files, but as I know the facility afforded by the method of them, I will ask the favor of you look under the \u201cAnonymous\u201d head for a long letter or letters, written from London, in the beginning of 1809; in a disguised hand, & signed \u201cA Man.\u201d If recd at all, it probably was forwarded by Lyman.\n            Affectionately & respectfully\n James Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0451-0001", "content": "Title: Oliver Pollock to Thomas Jefferson, 23 April 1811\nFrom: Pollock, Oliver\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n              When you recve this you will discover that my carreer of misfortunes and trouble has not yet terminated, nor am I satisfied, notwithstanding all the sacrafices of time trouble and expense for the Actual losses sustained by me in my concerns with the public\u2014to you who knew so well there nature their extent and there importance I need not delate\u2014but I may use that Recollection as an inducment in my favour to procure the reasonable request now about to be made.\n              Inclosed you will perceive a Copy of a document Obtained from the Council Chamber of the State. by which it appears that the Copies of the public letters written to me during your Administration are lost.\n              I am advised that it will be of considerable importance to establish the purport of that correspondence or of the public instructions which were then given.\n              I have no doubt that this may be done from Your Memory\u2014and can not but flatter my self\u2014that you will do it without difficulty.\n                I have the Honor to be Your Mo. Obt Servt\n Olr Pollock.\n              Please send to me at my Residence in Baltimore", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0452", "content": "Title: Thomas Richards to Thomas Jefferson, 23 April 1811\nFrom: Richards, Thomas\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Orange Mills 23d April 1811\n           It has been stated to me that the term for which you rented your mills is about to expire, and that the present tenant will not continue longer, if this be correct, Permit me to enquire whether you are disposed to rent them again, and if you have made any disposition of them.\u2014Being unknown to you, it may not be improper merely to mention, that I have been some years engaged in the milling business at my own mills in the County of Orange and at the Mills which formerly belong\u2019d to the Messrs Madisons, to whom, and to most others in the county, I am well known.\u2014You will do a favor to let me hear from you on this subject at your convenience \n            With respect Sir I am yr mo. Obt Sevt\n Tho. Richards", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0453", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Edward Coles, 24 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Coles, Edward\n           I left in the President\u2019s house a print of the Diocletian palace a drawing of the Capitol on that plan, & one by mr Latrobe on a plan of his, & mentioned to the President that I would be glad to recieve them when Congress had decided whether to prosecute either or not. they hung in the room then used as a setting room.  either yourself or mr Isaac Coles informed me, more than a year ago, they were forwarded for me to Richmond. having never heard of them since, I spoke yesterday to mr Isaac Coles on the subject. he thinks they were put into the hands of mr Latrobe to be forwarded. in this state of uncertainty, I take the liberty of troubling you to make the necessary enquiry for me, & if you can be instrumental in having them forwarded to the address of Messrs Gibson & Jefferson you will oblige me. your mother & family were well yesterday. accept the assurances of my esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0456", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Eleuth\u00e8re I. du Pont de Nemours, 24 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Du Pont de Nemours, Eleuth\u00e8re Ir\u00e9n\u00e9e\n           We are, four of us, sportsmen, in my family, amusing ourselves much with our guns. but the powder sold here is wretched, carrying the index of the French eprouvette (such as you furnished Genl Dearborne) to 9. 10. or 11. only, while the cannister of your powder, recieved from you 2. or 3. years ago, carried it to considerably upwards of 20. I have persuaded a merchant in this neighborhood to get his supply from you which he has promised to do, and I am in hopes the difference which will be found between that & what has been usually bought will induce our other merchants to do the same.  I promised mr Lietch, the merchant alluded to, a letter to you when he should go on. this will serve instead of it. but he does not go on till autumn. in the mean time I am engaged in works which require a good deal of rock to be removed with gunpowder, in doing which with the miserable stuff we have here, we make little way. will you be so good as to send me a quarter of a hundred of yours, addressed to Messrs Gibson & Jefferson of Richmond, who will forward it to me. the cost shall be remitted you as soon as made known. vessels pass from Philadelphia to Richmond almost daily, & the sooner I recieve it, the sooner I shall make effectual progress in my works. Accept the assurances of my great esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0457", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Albert Gallatin, 24 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Gallatin, Albert\n           A book confided to me by a friend, for translation & publication has, for a twelvemonth past, kept me in correspondence with Colo Duane. he undertook to have it translated & published. the last sheets had been revised, & in a late letter to him, I pressed the printing.  I soon afterwards recieved one from him informing me that it would be much retarded by embarrasments recently brought on him by his friends withdrawing their aid who had been in the habit of lending their names for his accomodation in the banks. he painted his situation as truly distressing and intimated the way in which relief would be acceptable. the course I pursued on the occasion will be explained to you in a letter which I have written to the President, & asked the favor of him to communicate to you.\n            A difference of quite another character gives me more uneasiness. no one feels more painfully, than I do, the separation of friends, & especially when their sensibilities are to be daily harrowed up by Cannibal newspapers. in these cases however I claim from all parties the privilege of Neutrality, and to be permitted to esteem all as I ever did. the harmony which made me happy while at Washington, is as dear to me now as then, and I should be equally afflicted, were it, by any circumstance, to be impaired as to myself. I have so much confidence in the candor and good sense of both parties as to trust that the misunderstanding will lead to no sinister effects, and my constant prayer will be for blessings on you all.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0458", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 24 April 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Madison, James\n            Yours of the 19th is recieved. I have carefully examined my letter files from July 1808. to this day, & find among them no such anonymous letter as you mention. indeed the strong impression on my memory is that I never recieved an Anonymous letter from England, or from any other country than our own.\n             Certain newspapers are taking a turn which gives me uneasiness. before I was aware of it, I was led to an interference, which tho\u2019 from just motives, I should not, at a later moment, have shaped exactly as I did. I cannot therefore repress the desire to communicate it fully to you. on the 24th of March I recieved a friendly letter from Duane, informing me of the distress into which he had been thrown by his former friends, Lieper & Clay, withdrawing their endorsements for him at the banks; the latter expressly for his attacks on John Randolph, the former without assigning any particular cause: & he concluded by asking whether, in Virginia, where he had been flattered by the support of his paper, 80. gentlemen could not be found, who would advance him their hundred Dollars apiece, to be repaid at short periods.  I immediately engaged mr Peter Carr here, & mr Wirt in Richmond to set the experiment afoot, & one of these engaged a friend in Baltimore to do the same. but I mentioned to these gentlemen that, to apprise Duane of the grounds on which we interested ourselves for him, to wit, his past services to the cause of republicanism, & that he might not mistake it as an approbation of his late attacks on mr Gallatin, of which we unequivocally disapproved, I would write him a letter. I accordingly wrote him the one now inclosed, which I previously communicated to messrs Carr & Wirt. it did not leave this till the 1st of April. the thing was going on hopefully enough, when his papers of the 4th & 8th arrived here, the latter written probably after he had recieved my letter. the effect at Baltimore I have not learned. but every person who had offered, here or at Richmond to join in aiding him, immediately withdrew, considering him as unequivocally joining the banners of the opposition, federal or factious. I have to give an account of this to Duane, but am waiting, in expectation of an answer to mine of March 26. in that I shall make one effort more to reclaim him from the dominion of his passions, but I expect it will be the last, and as unavailing as the former.\n            I could not be satisfied until I informed you of this transaction, and must even request you to communicate it to mr Gallatin: for altho the just tribute rendered him in the letter was certainly never meant to meet his eye, yet as it is there, among other things, it must go to him. Ritchie has been under hesitation. his paper of the 16th decides his course as to yourself. and I propose to set him to rights, as to mr Gallatin, through a letter to Wirt in which I shall expose the falsehood or futility of the facts they have harped upon. all this however is confidential to yourself & mr Gallatin; because, while I wish to do justice to truth, I wish also to avoid newspaper observation.\n              With respect to the opposition threatened, altho it may give some pain, no injury of consequence is to be apprehended. Duane flying off from the government, may, for a little while, throw confusion into our ranks, as John Randolph did. but, after a moment of time to reflect & rally, & to see where he is, we shall stand our ground with firmness. a few malcontents will follow him, as they did John Randolph, & perhaps he may carry off some well meaning Anti-Snyderites of Pensylvania. the federalists will sing Hosannas, & the world will thus know of a truth what they are. this new minority will perhaps bring forward their new favorite, who seems already to have betrayed symptoms of consent. they will blast him in the bud, which will be no misfortune. they will sound the tocsin against the antient dominion, and anti-dominionism may become their rallying point. and it is better that all this should happen two, than six years hence. \n            Disregarding all this, I am sure you will pursue steadily your own wise plans, that peace, with the great belligerents at least, will be preserved, until it becomes more losing than war, & that the total extinction of the national debt, & liberation of our revenues, for defence in war, and improvement in peace, will seal your retirement with the blessings of your country. for all this, & for your health & happiness I pray to god fervently.\n            P.S. be so good as to return the inclosed as I have no other copy.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0459-0002", "content": "Title: Enclosure: Maria Beckley to John Barnes, 21 April 1811\nFrom: Beckley, Maria Prince\nTo: Barnes, John\n              Philadelphia April 21st 1811\n            Nothing should have prevented me from addressing either Mr Jefferson, or yourself\u2014on the subject of his debt\u2014had any effort of mine been such as to enable me to say what would have been satisfactory\u2014but a fatality seems to have attended every exertion of my Brothers for the last three years\u2014a A valuable property of theirs to the amount of 26 thousand Dollars\u2014was entrusted to Men, as they thought of honor, and fidelity, two years past, and since which they have never heard an account of\u2014they must have run off with Vessel, and Cargo\u2014and every exertion of theirs my Brothers to gain intelligence of the property, has been ineffectual ten days past I received a letter from St. Jago\u2014giving some account of a Vessel answering in port the one of my Brothers\u2014and should it fortunately prove to be their property I trust they would soon be able to settle Mr Jeffersons debt\u2014it has given me infinite pain that for for so long a period, I have never been able to remit you even part of it\u2014but be assured I never lost the recollection of it, and I shall never g feel  satisfied, till it is paid\u2014for eight months past I have been without my Brother\u2014and to enable us to get along\u2014I have had several friends living with us\u2014which will give you an idea\u2014how difficult the times are\u2014Commercial Men for three years past, have had nothing but trouble to contend with, and my poor Brothers have been peculiarly unfortunate, I know the delicacy of their feelings respecting the debt due Mr Jeffersons Jefferson, and although they have not had the means\u2014to meet it yet, it will assuredly be paid before long\u2014I expect my Brother Isaac in a few weeks\u2014when I will press the business\u2014you shall hear from me when he arrives\u2014accept my best wishes for your health, and believe me respectfully\n M Beckley.\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0461", "content": "Title: Edward Parker and Joseph Delaplaine to Thomas Jefferson, 27 April 1811\nFrom: Parker, Edward,Delaplaine, Joseph\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                  We take the liberty of soliciting your name as a subscriber to the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia. This very extraordinary work has already obtained a large share of public patronage in this quarter\n              With great respect & esteem we are your Obedt servts\n Joseph Delaplaine\n             Since the prospectus was printed, Professors Barton of Philada & Miller of New-York have engaged to assist in the work.\n            Doctr Barton is making arrangements to write the article America for the work.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0463", "content": "Title: Edward Coles to Thomas Jefferson, 29 April 1811\nFrom: Coles, Edward\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Washington April 29th \u201911\n            When I had the pleasure of seeing you last summer at my Mothers, I informed you, that Mr Latrobe had sent round to Richd some time in the Month of May last, your prints to the Care of Gibson & Jefferson. I was led to this conclusion from Mr Latrobes having taken the Prints that you left in the setting room to his House, for the purpose of packing them up with one he had there; and from my having afterwards understood him to say that he had sent them to you.\n          Mr Latrobe having left Washington on a visit to Philadelphia the day before I received your letter of the 24th of April, I was fearful I should not have been able to have given you any satisfactory account of your prints; but on making particular enquiry I found a Box directed to you, which, from a slight examination, I am induced to believe contains the prints you are in search of.\n          I will send this box to the care of Gibson & Jefferson by the first Packet that sails for Richd\n            I am with very great respect & esteem yours\n Edward Coles", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0465", "content": "Title: Bennett H. Henderson to Craven Peyton, 30 April 1811\nFrom: Henderson, Bennett H.\nTo: Peyton, Craven\n            Shelby County Kentucky 30th April 1811\n            I have Contemplated writing this letter for a considerable time and hope that you will think propper to answer me According to my request as I deem you the most propper person to apply to for Certain information, if I recollect right about four or five years ago I gave you my deed for one hundred and two acres of Land back of the town of town of milton Milton by the hand of my brother James the particulars of which has entirely Slipt my memory my Object in Mentioning it is Simply this That as he has trespast Largly upon my rights it is probable he has taken an advantage of my ignorance and plac,d in the deed more that than what I designd, if you will please to inform me whether it includes more than the above mention,d Land you will Set my mind Considerably at ease  he also informd me that he had left two protested orders in your hands to be Sued for one on himself for Sixty odd pounds and the other on Isham Henderson for twenty five Said orders were Given me from my brother John if this is the Case I Suppose your information your information on the Subject will be Satisfactory and Correct if you have such orders in your possession you will be Kind Enough to forward them to me or inform me the Situation of them my design is immedeately to dispose of all the property adjoining milton belonging to me which I have not deeded away or otherwise dispos,d of I am Sorry that I have neglected this bussiness So long my brother James has made a Vast Confusion in my affairs and am Sorry to add that his Character in Kentucky is now at a low Ebb indeed I am told he is living Near Natchez in affluent Circumstances\n          no news of importance So I conclude Your Friend &c ", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0467", "content": "Title: Benjamin Smith Barton to Thomas Jefferson, 1 May 1811\nFrom: Barton, Benjamin Smith\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n             Mr Oemler, of Georgia, a very intelligent gentleman, who has devoted much attention to the study of Entomology, has very particularly requested me to give him a few lines to you. I could not deny him this favor. He appears to be a man of much merit; and has, indeed, been mentioned to me, by some of my friends, in terms of great praise.\n             I fear you are very anxious to get back Persoon. I should have returned it long since, had I not been much disappointed in receiving a copy from Europe. I hope, however, in a short time, to shew you, that I have been making no bad use of the Synopsis, even in regard to your own State. Nor will I detain the work much longer.\n             It is reported, that Charles Thomson, Esq., has burnt all his papers, relative to our revolution. I cannot help wishing, if he found it necessary to burn some of his writings, that he had burnt his translation of the Bible, instead of the others.\n             You have a river in the south of Virginia, called Hardware, or Hardwere. What is the proper pronunciation, and the meaning of the word? Is it Indian? If your leisure permitted, I should be very glad to get have a line on this subject.\n            I beg you to present my best respects to all your family. I hope Mr Randolph may find time, as well as yourself, to look over the printed sheets which I send. They are all the pages yet printed (the work going on very slowly, owing to the pressure of other business) of a new edition of my work on the Indian languages, a copy of which you possess.\n             I beg you to present my best respects to Mr and Mrs Randolph, and to all your families, and be assured of the very great respect with which I am, Dear Sir,\n              Your sincere and obedient, and obliged, servant, &c.,\n B. S. Barton.\n             P.S. I shall, in a few weeks, send you some printed sheets on the subject of our Indians.\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0469", "content": "Title: Theodorus Bailey to Thomas Jefferson, 2 May 1811\nFrom: Bailey, Theodorus\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I now do myself the honor to inclose to you, a Map of the western Part of the State of New York, on which is delineated the Route of A projected Canal from Lake Erie to Hudson\u2019s River; which has been completed within the current Week: I some time since transmitted to you, the Report of the Commissioners (appointed by the Legislature of this State) on the subject.\n            With great respect and esteem I am Dear sir, your Obedt huml servt\n Theodorus Bailey", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0470", "content": "Title: Joel Barlow to Thomas Jefferson, 2 May 1811\nFrom: Barlow, Joel\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I have delayed a few days my answer to your very kind letter of the 16th wishing first to ascertain whether the mission in question would really take effect or not. The equivocal accounts hitherto recieved of the present disposition of the French government relative to the its obnoxious decrees have rendered it doubtful whether the dignity & interest of the U.S. would be best consulted by expediting or delaying my departure. There seemed even to be a possible case in which it might be proper to suspend indefinitely our diplomatic intercourse with both the belligerents. But I believe it is now decided or will be very soon that I must depart. & I assure you that so far as it regards myself I see it with great regret, & that on many accounts.\u2014I have seen too much of the world to promise myself any pleasure from a farther acquaintance with it. We are too well situated in private life & too far advanced in age to render it otherwise than extremely inconvenient to break up or derange our domestic establishment.  And I join you in regretting, tho neither of us can have much reason to do it, the retardment of my great literary project. I do not abandon it, & my intention is to pursue it in some degree while absent & to return to it again here as soon as I am able. To preserve however your property from accidents on this score I have boxed up your books left in my hands, in the same boxes they were left sent in, & I shall leave them in deposit at the President\u2019s house subject to your order.\u2014They are all safe & the number entire.\n          Is it not probable that t some documents are to be drawn from the french archives to throw light on our revolution & the peace of 1783, or on the history of our Colonial state & the war of 1756?\u2014Should you think of any points capable of being illucidated from such researches there as may possibly be in my power I would thank you to point them out to me either before I go or after I am gone. As my ultimate object is a complete history of the U. States from their origin as colonies.\n           I shall with great pleasure embrace your offer of a correspondence, which may be carried on with convenience thro the Dept of State. Your little commissions already recieved shall be attended to, & I beg you to give me without Scruple as many more as you may find occasion for. I doubt not but there is plenty of time, as it is not probable I shall be off in less than 15 or 20 days.  Mr Lee & Mr Warden will probably go in the same ship with us.\u2014\n            Mrs Barlow joins me in every sentiment of great respect gratitude & affection to you, & we beg you to present us kindly to Mr & Mrs Randolph & their children.\n            Joel Barlow", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0471", "content": "Title: Fitzwhylsonn & Potter to Thomas Jefferson, 3 May 1811\nFrom: Fitzwhylsonn & Potter (Richmond firm)\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           In obedience to the request contained in your polite note, of the 28\u2019th Ultimo, with which we were favored this morning, we have put into the post Office, under your address, the 32\u2019nd No of the Edinburg Review. This is the last No as yet received from New-York. As the others arrive we shall forward them agreeably to order.\n            We are Sir, very respectfully,Your Obedt Servants\n Fitzwhylsonn & Potter", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0472", "content": "Title: James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 3 May 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I have recd yours of the 24 Apl and return the letter inclosed in it; after having made the communication intended for Mr Gallatin. Your expostulations with Duane could not be improved; but he gives proofs of a want of candor, as well as of temperance, that will probably repel advice however rational or friendly.  The great fulcrum of his attacks on Mr Gallatin, is Erskine\u2019s statement of his favorable dispositions toward England; and these attacks he obstinately reiterates and amplifies, notwithstanding the public & solemn denial of Mr G; whilst Mr Smith & myself, tho\u2019 included in a like statement, under which we have both remained silent, have not been reproached on that account, and Mr S. is become an object even of favor.  A like want of candor is seen in the Comments of the Aurora, on the putative explanation  of the rupture between Mr S. & myself.   Of the alledged points of difference, the main one, viz, the non-intercourse, it appears that as his opinion is on my side; yet he takes the other side generally without even alluding to the exception; and of late, restricts his comments to Macon\u2019s bills, or smothers the \u201cnon-intercourse\u201d under an &c\u2014or confounds the measure with the manner of its execution. Again, Whilst he admits occasionally that the non-intercourse or rather non-importation now in force, is the best and the only effectual adequate resort agst the aggressions of G.B. he continues his abuse on the Government, for abandoning the interests & rights of the Nation. I have always regarded Duane, & still regard him as a sincere friend of liberty, and as ready to make every sacrifice to its cause, but   that of his passions. Of these he appears to be compleatly a slave.\n           Our expected frigate is not yet arrived from Europe; Nor is there any acct of the departure either of Pinkney or Foster from G.B. The last acct from P. was of Mar. 13. when he was packing up for his passage in the Frigate. Whether the delays, proceed from the approach of the Equinox, the posture of the Regency, or a wish to learn the result of things in Congress, or from some other cause, is unknown.  From the jumble of accts from France, it is probable, that the repeal of the Decrees is professedly adhered to; and that an exchange of the productions of U.S. & F. with certain an exception of certain articles, is permitted by the Municipal laws, under vexatious precautions agst British forgeries & American collusions; and perhaps under some distrust of the views of this Government.\n            Accept my high esteem & best affections\n James Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0473", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William Wirt, 3 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Wirt, William\n           I have rejoiced to see Ritchie declare himself in favor of the President on the late attack against him, and wish he may do the same as to mr Gallatin. I am sure he would if his information was full. I have not an intimacy with him which might justify my writing to him directly, but the inclosed letter to you is put into such a form as might be shewn to him, if you think proper to do so. perhaps the facts stated in it, probably unknown to him, may have some effect. but do in this as you think best. be so good as to return the letter to Duane, being my only copy & to be assured of my affectionate esteem & respect.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0474", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William Wirt, 3 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Wirt, William\n           The interest you were so kind as to take, at my request, in the case of Duane, and the communication to you of my first letter to him, entitles you to a communication of the 2d which will probably be the last. I have ventured to quote your letter in it, without giving your name, & even softening some of it\u2019s expressions respecting him. it is possible Duane may be reclaimed as to mr Madison. but as to mr Gallatin I despair of it.  that enmity took it\u2019s rise from a suspicion that mr Gallatin interested himself for Snyder when Duane & a small minority of Pensylvania undertook to write him down in the election of their governor against the views of Duane and his friends. I do not believe mr Gallatin meddled in it. I was in conversation with him nearly every day during the contest & never heard him express any bias in the case. the ostensible grounds of the attack on mr Gallatin, are all either false or futile.  1. they urge his conversations with John Randolph. but who has to revealed these conversations? what evidence have we of them? merely some oracular sentences from J.R. uttered in the heat of declamation and never stated with all their circumstances. for instance, that a cabinet-member informed him there was no cabinet. but Duane himself has always denied there could be a legal one. besides the fact was true at that moment, to wit, early in the session of Congress. I had been absent from Washington from the middle of July to within 3. weeks of their meeting. during the separation of the members there could be no consultation, and between our return to Washington & the meeting of Congress, there really had arisen nothing requiring general consultation, nothing which could not be done in the ordinary way by consultation between the President and the head of the department to which the matter belonged, which is the way every thing is transacted which is not difficult as well as important. mr Gallatin might therefore have said this as innocently as truly, and a malignant perversion of it was perfectly within the character of John Randolph. but the story of the 2. millions. mr Gallatin satisfied us that this affirmation of J.R. was as unauthorised as the fact itself was false. it resolves itself therefore into his inexplicit letter to a committee of Congress. as to this my own surmise was that mr Gallatin might have used some hypothetical expression in conversing on that subject, which J.R. made a positive one, and he being a bullying duellist, & mr Gallatin with a wife and children depending on him for their daily subsistence, the latter might wish to avoid collision & insult from such a man. but they say he was hostile to me. this is false. I was indebted to nobody for more cordial aid than to mr Gallatin, nor could any man more sollicitously interest himself in behalf of another, than he did of myself. his conversations with Erskine are objected, as meddling out of his department.  why then do they not object mr Smith\u2019s with Rose? the whole nearly of that negociation, as far as it was transacted verbally, was by mr Smith. the business was in this way explained informally, & on understandings thus obtained, mr Madison & myself shaped our formal proceedings. in fact, the harmony among us was so perfect, that whatever instrument appeared most likely to effect the object, was always used without jealousy. mr Smith happened to catch mr Rose\u2019s favor & confidence at once. we percieved that Rose would open himself more frankly to him than to mr Madison, and we therefore made him the medium of obtaining an understanding of mr Rose.   mr Gallatin\u2019s support of the bank has, I believe been disapproved by many. he was not in Congress when that was established, and therefore had never committed himself publicly on the constitutionality of that institution, nor do I recollect ever to have heard him declare himself on it. I know he derived immense convenience from it, because they gave the effect of ubiquity to his money wherever deposited. money in N. Orleans or Maine, was, at his command, & by their agency, transformed in an instant into money in London, in Paris, Amsterdam, or Canton. he was therefore cordial to the bank. I often pressed him to divide the public deposits among all the respectable banks, being indignant myself at the open hostility of that institution to a government on whose treasures they were fattening. but his repugnance to it prevented my persisting. and, if he was in favor of the bank, what is the amount of that crime or error, in which he had a majority, save one, in each house of Congress as participators? yet on these facts endeavors are made to drive from the administration the ablest man, except the President, who ever was in it, & to beat down the president himself, because he is unwilling to part with so able a counseller. I believe Duane to be a very honest man, and sincerely republican; but his passions are stronger than his prudence, and his personal as well as general antipathies, render him very intolerant. these traits lead him astray, & requires require his readers, even those who value him for his steady support of the republican cause, to be on their guard against his occasional aberrations. he is eager for war against England, hence his abuse of the two last congresses. but the people wish for peace. the reelections of the same men prove it. and indeed war against bedlam would be just as rational as against Europe in it\u2019s present condition of total demoralisation. when indeed peace becomes more losing than war, we may prefer the latter on principles of pecuniary calculation. but for us to attempt, by war, to reform all Europe & bring them back to principles of morality & a respect for the equal rights of nations, would shew us to be only maniacs of another character. we should indeed have the merit of the good intentions, as well as of the folly of the hero of La Mancha.\n            but I am getting beyond the object of my letter, & will therefore here close it with assurances of my great esteem & respect.\n Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0475", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Dortic, 4 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Dortic, John\n           I thank you for the care you have taken of my friend Thouin\u2019s letter which I have safely recieved, and especially of the box of seeds. with respect to the last I am obliged to request the further trouble of putting them into one of the stages for Philadelphia addressed to mr Bernard McMahon, gardener of that place, who will recieve & take care of them & pay the stage transportation. no duties were, I presume, payable on them on their entry, and if any thing was due for freight, I am certain mr Gelston will have the goodness to discharge it for me & notify me of the amount on the assurance of it\u2019s being immediately remitted. with my thanks for your attentions be pleased to accept the assurance of my entire respect \n            Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0477", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Oliver Pollock, 4 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Pollock, Oliver\n            Monticello  Apr. May. 4. 11.\n           I have duly recieved your favor of Apr. 23d & with it a certificate by which it appears that the papers of the Executive office of Virga during the first year of my administration as Governor are lost, and particularly a letter of mine to you of Nov. 6. 1779.I am really sorry it is not in my power, by memory, to say what were the contents of that letter, of which I do not retain the smallest trace in my mind, nor have I any copy. it was usual for me to write rough draughts of letters & other important papers my self, of which the clerk of the council made fair copies for transmission & kept the rough draught for the use of the office. but the letter you speak of having been dated at the board of trade, must have been written by them & only \u2018approved & signed\u2019 by me. be this as it may I have not the least recollection respecting it, and indeed after a lapse of 32. years, & the diversified agencies I have borne during that period, all the particulars of the transactions concerning you while I was governor, are obliterated from my mind, I only recollect generally that we had considerable transactions with you. with my regret that my memory cannot serve you on this occasion accept the assurance of my respect. \n            Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0478", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Hollins, 5 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Hollins, John\n          Your favor of Apr. 17. came duly to hand. nobody has regretted more sincerely than myself, the incidents which have happened at Washington.  the early intimations, which I saw quoted from federal papers, were disregarded by me, because falshood is their element. the first confirmation was from the National Intelligencer, soon followed by the exultations of other papers whose havoc is on the feelings of the virtuous. sincerely the friend of all the parties, I ask of none why they have fallen out by the way,  and would gladly infuse the oil & wine of the Samaritan into all their wounds. I hope that time, the assuager of all evils, will heal a these also; and I pray from them all a continuance of their affection, & to be permitted to bear to all the same unqualified esteem. of one thing I am certain that they will not suffer personal dissatisfactions to endanger the republican cause. their principles, I know, are far above all private considerations. and when we reflect that the eyes of the virtuous, all over the earth, are turned with anxiety on us, as the only depositories of the sacred fire of liberty, and that our falling into anarchy would decide forever the destinies of mankind, and seal the political heresy that man is incapable of self government, the only contest between divided friends should be who will dare farthest into the ranks of the common enemy.\n             With respect to mr Foster\u2019s mission, it cannot issue but as Rose\u2019s & Jackson\u2019s did. it can no longer be doubted that Great Britain means to claim the Ocean as her conquest, and to suffer not even a cockboat, as they express it, to traverse it, but on paying them a transit duty to support the very fleet which is to keep the nations under tribute, & to rivet the yoke around their necks. altho\u2019 their government has never openly avowed this, yet their orders of council, in their original form, were founded in this principle, and I have too observed, for years past, that, however ill success may at times have induced them to amuse by negociation, they have never on any occasion dropped a word disclaiming this pretension, nor one which they would have to retract when they shall judge the times ripe for openly asserting it. protraction is therefore the sole object of Foster\u2019s mission. they do not wish war with us, but will meet it rather than relinquish their purpose.\n            With earnest prayers to all my friends to cherish mutual good will, to promote harmony & conciliation, and, above all things, to let the love of our country soar above all minor passions, I tender you the assurance of my affectionate esteem & respect\n Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0479", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 5 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Monroe, James\n           Your favor on your departure from Richmond came to hand in due time. altho\u2019 I may not have been among the first, I am certainly with the sincerest who congratulate you on your reentrance into the public National councils. your value there has never been unduly estimated by those whom personal feelings did not misguide.the late misunderstandings at Washington have been a subject of real concern to me. I know that the dissolutions of private personal friendships are among the most painful occurrences in human life. I have sincere esteem for all who have been affected by them, having past with them 8. years of great harmony and affection.  these incidents are rendered more distressing in our country than elsewhere, because our printers raven on the agonies of their victims, as wolves do on the blood of the lamb. but the printers & the public are very different personages. the former may lead the latter a little out of their track, while the deviation is insensible: but the moment they usurp their direction & that of their government, they will be reduced to their true places. the two last Congresses have been the theme of the most licencious reprobation for printers thirsting after war, some against France, & some against England. but the people wish for peace with both. they feel no incumbency on them to become the reformers of the other hemisphere, and to inculcate, with fire & sword, a return to moral order. when indeed peace shall become more losing than war, they may owe to their interests, what these Quixots are clamouring for on false estimates of honor. the public are unmoved by these clamours, as the re-elections of their legislators shew, and they are firm to their Executive on the subject of the more recent clamours.\n          We are suffering here, both in the gathered & the growing crop. the lowness of the river, & great quantity of produce brought to Milton this year, renders it all but impossible to get our crops to market.  this is the case of mine as well as yours: and the Hessian fly appears alarmingly in our growing crop. every thing is in distress for the want of rain.\n\t\t Present me respectfully to mrs Monroe and accept yourself assurances of my constant & affectionate esteem.\n Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0480", "content": "Title: Robert Smith to Thomas Jefferson, 5 May 1811\nFrom: Smith, Robert\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I have just received with great satisfaction your very friendly letter of the 30 Ult. Of the occurrence at Washington I had as little suspicion as you had. And I, at this moment, know not to what infatuation to attribute it.\n          From one of your old & uniform friends I some days since received a letter requesting information as to the ground there was for the Opinion, that you had been privy to this transaction, stating at the same time that he could not allow himself to give any kind of credit to so improbable a tale. I at once assured him that it was to be referred to the class of fabrications\u2014that so far from entertaining myself such a suspicion, I was confident there was not the slightest ground for the imputation, and by way of illustration I transmitted to him for his individual satisfaction copies of two letters I had received from you after my accession to the State Dept.\n          I entreat you, t Sir, to remain assured that with sentiments, as grateful as pleasing, I at this time do, &, I trust, I ever will retain a just sense of your dignified, liberal, frank deportment towards me on every occasion during your administration, and that, however I may be disposed to forgive an enemy, I never did abandon a friend. \n           As to the letter from mr Hollins, I have no other information respecting it than your allusion to it.\n            I beg you to accept the assurance of the high respect with which I have the honor to be, sir, Your friend\u2014\n R Smith", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0481", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Henry Foxall, 7 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Foxall, Henry\n          I duly recieved your favor of Apr. 19. and the check which it covered on the bank of Columbia, which I have sent on to Messrs Conrads of Philadelphia, to whom perhaps it was due, for I think it was due to somebody.  in my letter to you, I forgot to ask whether you had ever made the Swedish stoves of which I gave you the model sent me by the Earl of Buchan. I have so high an opinion of them, & hear so much of their superiority over all others, that I should be glad to get a couple of them, whenever they can be sold at a price cleared of the expences of the first moulds. I thank you for your kind offers of service, which I shall accept freely should any seasonable occasion occur, and I assure you of an entire reciprocity of disposition on my part, adding my best wishes for your health & happiness.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0482", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Edward Parker and Joseph Delaplaine, 7 [May] 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Parker, Edward,Delaplaine, Joseph\n            Monticello Apr. May 7. 11.\n           Th: Jefferson presents his compliments to Messrs Edward Parker & Joseph Delaplaine, and his thanks for the communication of their prospectus for reprinting the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia. possessing already every Encyclopedia which has been published in France, Great Britain & America, & a library moreover vastly beyond his present wants, he has for some time ceased to make additions to it, & especially to engage for works which will take a longer time to compleat than he has probably to live. he therefore begs leave to decline becoming a subscriber to the work they propose to publish, tendering them at the same time his best wishes for it\u2019s success & the assurances of his respect.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0483", "content": "Title: Elijah Fletcher\u2019s Account of a Visit to Monticello, [8 May 1811]\nFrom: Fletcher, Elijah\nTo: Fletcher, Jesse\n          Wednsday 8th I started again for Monticello\u2014Mr Kelly when I got to Char. went with me. When we arrived at the foot of the hill, we wound a side way, circutous course to avoid the steapness in getting the house, which was immediately upon the top of the mountain. We rode up to the front gate of the door yard a servant took our horses\u2014Mr. Jefferson appeared at the door. I was introduced to him\u2014and shook hands with him very cordially\u2014We went into the drawing room\u2014wines and liquers were soon handed us by the servant\u2014He conversed with me very familiarly & he gratified my curiosity in showing me his Library\u2014Museum of curiosities Philosophical apparatus &c Mr. Jefferson is tall, spare, straight in body. his face not handsome but savage\u2014I learnt he was but little esteemed by his neighbers. Republicans as well as federalists in his own County dislike him and tell many anecdotes much to his disgrace\u2014I confess I never had a very exalted opinion of his moral conduct\u2014but from the information I gained of his neighbors, who must best know him\u2014I have a much poorer one\u2014The story of black Sal is no farce\u2014That he cohabits with her and has a number of children by her is a sacred truth\u2014and the worst of it is, he keeps the same children slaves\u2014an unnatural crime which is very common in these parts\u2014This conduct may receive a little palliation when we consider that such proceedings are so common that they cease here to be disgraceful\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0485", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 9 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          I am duly favor\u2019d with yours of the 30th ultimo. The window glass was forwarded by Thomas Becks on the 27th, and will have arrived I hope some days ere this.\n           We have received since our last 138 Bbls of your flour, 45 of it being from Lynchburg.\u2014 Although the price is \u00bd $ above your limit, it is dull at that, which has prevented our making any further sale for you.\u2014if we were to go out and force a sale on an unwilling purchaser, it could only be done at a reduced price.\u2014there is are not unfrequently a losses sustained in this way by persons compelled to sell immediately, of \u00bc $ \u214c barrel\u2014we shall lose no opportunity of disposing of yours at a fair price.\n           I inclose you an account of fines against Shoemaker for which he is liable to you.\u2014his flour the Inspector informs us is frequently light.\u2014His barrels are not lined, which obliges us to have it done.\u2014The law does not compel the Miller to do this, but custom compels the seller: or if he does not do it, a greater deduction is frequently made in the price than it would cost.\n           Fine Tobacco as you have heard is in great demand. as much as 10 $ has been given for a few Hhds. inferior qualities go down as low as 20/. and I should not be surprised at their being even still lower.\n          I fear from what you say of the order of yours that we shall not be able to sell it.\u2014its barely going through the sweat without rotting is not sufficient for the purchaser.\n            I am Dear Sir Your Very humble servt\n Geo. Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0486", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Reuben Perry, 10 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Perry, Reuben\n             Immediately on the reciept of your letter,    I desired mr Bacon to be on the lookout for Hubbard, and to apprise the Patroles of him & to inform them of the reward you had offered which I would advance for you. I moreover engaged a trusty negro man of my own, and promised him a reward on my own account if he could inform us so that he should be taken. he has not been heard of. yet I have no doubt he was had been here as you were informed, which I infer from the correctness of the name of the man you were told brought him, & from his character. he belongs to mr Randolph, not to me, & runs the river pretty constantly.\n           My boat will start to Lynchburg as soon as it has got all my flour down from hence; which will be in about one trip more. she will carry the 4. pair of glass doors with their jambs & soffites, & the semicircular windows, all ready glazed for hanging. I must pray you to be in readiness to come the moment of my arrival at Poplar Forest to put them all up, that it may be done while I am there. I shall not set out from hence till the boat has started for Lynchburg. Your\u2019s etc\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0488", "content": "Title: John Dortic to Thomas Jefferson, 11 May 1811\nFrom: Dortic, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           Agreeably to your instruction respecting the Garden Seed box I forwarded it to day to Philadelphia through the Swift Sure Stage with the direction to Mr Bernard McMahon.\n          The entry of that box was made with many other things and the Value was estimated so low that the duties duty can not be calculated. As for the freight, it is over paid by the pleasure I had to be agreeable to you, Sir, I am Sorry that the object was of So little consideration. Whatever be the case you may depend upon my care as much as You may believe me Very Respectfully\n            Sir Your Most Obedient servt\n John Dortic", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0490", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Dudley Richardson, 11 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Richardson, Dudley\n            Your favor of Mar. 4. is at hand. I have recieved no letter from your son Richard since my last communication to you, altho I have no doubt the letters I forwarded to him went safely to him, as I got the Secretary of state to inclose them in his own dispatches to the Agent of the US. in Jamaica. the difficulty of getting letters from thence by private conveyances, and the numbers which miscarry, sufficiently account for our not hearing from your son but at long intervals. be assured that any letters from him which come to me shall always be forwarded to you without delay; you may therefore safely consider your recieving no information as evidence that I have recieved none. Accept my best wishes & respects\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0491", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Bernard Smith, 11 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Smith, Bernard\n           I duly recieved your favor of Mar. 28. with the copy of the oration it covered. accept my thanks for this communication, and still more for the favorable sentiments expressed in it as well as in your letter. the approbation of those who are faithful to the interests of their country, and especially to it\u2019s self-government & independance, is highly acceptable to me, and nothing more soothing than the evidence of the prevalence of those sentiments and the prospect of their long continuance. a witness to your services in the department of state, while I partook of the government, I retain a sincere wish for your prosperity in life, of which I pray you to accept the assurances with those of my esteem & respect. \n            Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0492", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Johann Severin Vater, 11 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Vater, Johann Severin\n            Monticello. Virginia. May 11. 11.\n          Your favor of Nov. 4. 09. did not get to my hands till a twelvemonth after it\u2019s date. be pleased to accept my thanks for the publication you were pleased to send me. that for Dr Barton I forwarded to him.  his researches into the Indian languages of our continent being continued, I hope it will be in his power to make to you communications useful to the object you are pursuing. this will lessen to me the regret that my retirement into an interior part of the country, as well as my age and little intercourse with the world, will scarcely afford me opportunities of contributing to your information. it is extremely to be desired that your researches should recieve every aid & encouragement. I have long considered the filiation of languages as the best proof we can ever obtain of the filiation of nations. with my best wishes for the success of your undertaking accept the assurances of my high consideration & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0493", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Robert Wash, 11 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Wash, Robert\n            I duly recieved your favor of Mar. 1. with the map it covered, for which be pleased to accept my thanks. every information of that country is acceptable as we know much less of it than either our duties or interests require.  mr Crofts, mentioned in your letter, probably passed on some other way, as I had not the pleasure of seeing him.   not being a subscriber for the Louisiana gazette, it is rarely seen in this quarter.  indeed I am giving up the reading of newspapers in order to be able to indulge myself with reading which is more agreeable. Accept the assurances of my respect. \n            Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0494", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Graham, 12 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Graham, John\n           Th: Jefferson salutes mr Graham with friendship & respect and prays him to give the benefit of the cover of his office to the inclosed letters to St Petersburg, by the first conveyance he shall deem safe. not knowing where mr Warden is at present he has taken the liberty of inclosing a letter for him & of praying mr Graham to superscribe the proper post-office, & commit it to that line, for which purpose Th:J. has franked it.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0496", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Craven Peyton, [12 May 1811]\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Peyton, Craven\n           The demand of Frances Hornsby for her portion of the lands of her father conveyed to you by James L. Henderson is now become so serious as to require us to proceed immediately against James L. and in the mean time to aim at some compromise with mr Hornsby.  I yesterday conversed with Capt Meriwether, attorney for Hornsby, who desired me to give him in writing any proposition I would make, observing at the same time that it was not the price I paid for it (\u00a3130.) but the worth of it which he should require. I cannot venture however to make a proposition without consulting you, and therefore must pray you to call the first time your business brings you into our neighborhood observing at the same time that I generally go out about 10. aclock in the morning till 3. in the afternoon  should be retained by notice from you. I salute you with esteem & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0498", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to David Bailie Warden, 12 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Warden, David Bailie\n           Th: Jefferson salutes mr Warden with esteem & respect and prays him to take charge of the inclosed for Gen. Kosciusko. it covers the 2d of a bill of exchange, the 1st of which is remitted him through mr Barlow, to multiply the chances of one of them getting safe to him through the accidents impending by sea & land. he repeats his wishes for a pleasant voyage to mr Warden.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0499", "content": "Title: Joel Barlow to Thomas Jefferson, 15 May 1811\nFrom: Barlow, Joel\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            I have just recd your letter of the 11th covering one containing a remittance to Gen. Kosciusko, to which I shall attend very particularly. And I thank you for the hint respecting a mode of remittance to this country.\n          You do not mention having recd a letter from me in reply to yours of the 16 April. There was nothing in mine that required an answer, & my fear of its miscarriage is grounded only on the possibility of your having occasion to think me remiss in my duty of acknowledging a favor.\u2014\n            With great respect & attachment\n Joel Barlow", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0500", "content": "Title: John Dortic to Thomas Jefferson, 16 May 1811\nFrom: Dortic, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n             On the 11th inst I had the favour of advising you of the invoice made to mr MaMahon McMahon according Your direction\n             I am about to sail again for France; should you have any command to trust me with You may rely upon my Exactness as much as on the pleasure I would have to Execute them.\n            Circumstanced as We are the travellers must take as much security as they can have. Therefore I take the liberty of solliciting Your patronage to make me to have some dispatches from the Secretary of State Either for the charge d\u2019affaire of the U.S. at Paris or for the French minister any Kind of dispatches will be a good passeport against the British Cruisers. Last Year I had some from the secretary of the Treasury which undoubtedly prevented the vessel from being turned off.\n            The Brig Catherine Ray will sail on ballast and with passengers only when coming home it will be a good opportunity for distressed seamen to reach their Families: Last voyage I took 18 out L\u2019orient\n            I beg Your pardon, sir, for the liberty I take to sollicit your patronage for such a thing should you grant it to me I am Certain I cannot fail on my purpose and I shall Will be for ever with Gratfulness\n              Sir Your most obedient Servant\n John Dortic\n            N.B. I intend to be back in about 6 months", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0501", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 16 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           We have received since my last 6 Hhds of your Tobacco.\u2014although it arrived last week, there has been such a quantity coming in, that I was not able to get it inspected until to day.\u2014I am very sorry to inform you that it is so indifferent, I could not get an offer for it at all, the whole of the principal purchasers saying it would not suit them at any price.\u2014one declared it not to be worth more than 3.\u00bd $, and none went higher than 5 $ , as to their opinion of the value, but all concurred in saying they would not purchase it at all.\u2014it is badly culled, is dirty, & is much too high in case\u2014so much so, that a part at one of the heads will be thrown away.  I feared I should not be able to sell it, although Isaac Coles as I suppose you will have heard, sold his crop at 68/\u2014 & one of Mr Short\u2019s tenants sold at 71/6. I however had not the most distant idea of yours being so very indifferent.\u2014The stem\u2019d Hhd is nearly as bad as I ever saw.\u2014 Flour having sold occasionally at 9.\u00bc $ since my last, we have been able to get off only 51 Bbls more of yours at 9.\u00bd $.\u2014141 bbls more have been received, 40 of them from Lynchburg.\n          Hoping that my next may contain better news,\n            I am Dear Sir Your very humble servt\n Geo. Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0502", "content": "Title: Eleuth\u00e8re I. du Pont de Nemours to Thomas Jefferson, 17 May 1811\nFrom: Du Pont de Nemours, Eleuth\u00e8re Ir\u00e9n\u00e9e\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Eleutherian mills May 17th 1811.\n           I have been absent from home these last three weeks, and at my return I found your favour of the 24 ult. unanswered I much regret this circonstance which deprived me to express to you Sooner how anxious I always will be to execute any order which you will have the kindness to give me.\n           I will forward by the first opportunity for Richmond a quartr cask containing a few pounds of fine folling Powder and the remainder of musket to blow rocks, this last although of the same quality and made out of the same materials does not give as good a report on a small eprouvette on accont account of the large size of its grains, but it is the best for blowing as it does not pack so close in the hole when raming the Stone.\n          I hope Sir you will be so indulgent as to excuse my apparent neglect which was altogether involuntary and which I Sincerely regret. \n          I have the honor to be with great respect \n            Sir your most obedt humble Servant\n E. I. duPont de Nemours.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0504", "content": "Title: William F. Gray to Thomas Jefferson, 18 May 1811\nFrom: Gray, William F.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I this day forward to you \u214c stage, a small Box, which Mr Milligan of George Town sent to my care.\u2014With best wishes for its safe arrival\n            I am with Respect Yours &c.\u2014\n Wm F. Gray", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0506", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Memorandum on Craven Peyton and Reuben Grady, 19 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas,Grady, Reuben,Peyton, Craven\nTo: \n           Charge Craven Peyton \u00a319\u201310 for fire & coal wood accounted for to him by Reuben Grady settled between them May 19. 1811.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0507", "content": "Title: William Wirt to Thomas Jefferson, 19 May 1811\nFrom: Wirt, William\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n             Your favor of the 3rd covering a copy of your letter to Colo. D. arrived at a time when I was absent on an excursion to the superior court of Powhatan from which I have just returned. If the bulwark of vanity which surrounds D. be not impregnable, or the spirit of faction which rules him, as wild and deaf as the winds of winter, I think your letter must touch him\u2014but I much fear that he is intangible.\n             As to R. he is perfectly upright\u2014but I am somewhat afraid of putting it in his power to quote you against John Randolph He would not do it, I believe, by name\u2014but by allusion sufficiently intelligible, and perhaps by parol explanation where it was not understood\u2014he is vain, loquacious and too little disciplined in the school of silence\u2014 I hope too, the same purpose may be answered in relation to Mr Gallatin, without giving him a view of your letter. I can inform him of the facts without citing the authority\u2014at all events I will see that the object is effected, if it can be, without using the privilege which you have placed in my power.\n            I am much pleased, on my own account, to see this view of the facts in relation to Mr G. I never saw him and know him, therefore, only by his acts and character. His talents are certainly unquestionable. Yet I confess that J.R\u2019s having an intimacy with him after his revolt from the standard of the administration\u2014so close an intimacy, too, as to lead to disclosures apparently hostile to the administration\u2014this followed by his oracular response to which you allude\u2014and this, again, by Mr Erskine\u2019s declarations concerning you as coming from him, had not a little excited my distrust of his candor and political integrity. I have been cautious however to give no expression to my doubts\u2014because they were but doubts, which might prove groundless\u2014and I was sensible of the importance of his talents to the administration. He is still, however, distrusted by very many who are warmly the friends both of yourself and Mr Madison\u2014and who impute the continuance of your confidence in him rather to the benevolence with which your heart leads you to judge of all men, than to his own merits.\u2014I know that this is the ground on which D. places your good opinion of Mr G.\u2014How would it do to give the facts which you have given me respecting him the form of a news-paper paragraph? You may rely upon it that the suspicions of Mr G.\u2019s subtilty and insincerity are widely disseminated\u2014there are men of much greater weight than D. who are busy in the dissemination\u2014and I am persuaded that if Mr G. were not held up by his being attached to Mr Madison he would sink in an instant. Whatever, therefore, is attempted to save him, ought to be in such a form as to give it rapid & extensive circulation and effect.\u2014\n              Your devoted friend & servant\n Wm Wirt\n            I avail myself of Mr Carr\u2019s return to send enclosed as you desire the copy of your letter to D.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0508", "content": "Title: John Graham to Thomas Jefferson, 20 May 1811\nFrom: Graham, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Washington 20th May. 11.\n           I had the Honor to receive your note of the 12th Inst. covering three Letters. The one for Mr Warden was delivered to him this Morning on his return from New York.\n           at this time we have no information of any direct conveyance for St Petersburg; but I will certainly avail myself of the first which I deem safe, to forward the Letters you have done me the honor to commit to my care unless you should think proper to desire me to retain them until the departure of the departure of the Frigate which is to take Mr Barlow to France. If there was a certainty of her sailing in a few weeks, I should not hesitate to detain your Letters for her, as I should calculate on getting them conveyed from Paris to St Petersburg by a Russian Courier\u2014as it is, I should be happy to receive your instructions\u2014In the mean time I will write to New York to know what vessels are going to Russia, that I may be prepared to send your Letters by one of them, should you not wish them to be detained for the Frigate.\n            With Sentiments of the Highest Respect & Regard I have the Honor to be Sir Your Most Obt Sert\n John Graham", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0509", "content": "Title: James Lyle to Thomas Jefferson, 22 May 1811\nFrom: Lyle, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Manchester May 22d 1811\n           I was much surprised this day, to find in my desk the enclosed Letter dated March 23 d, which I expected had been long ago forwarded to you, it appears we neglected to send it to the post office, lest you have not had a Copy of it I now enclose it.Yours of the 5h of  April came duely to hand; and I have no doubt of your makeing me as large a payment as you can. I am still very blind, yet I scrible this note to you and hope you will be able to read it\n            with great Esteem I am Your Mo hue st\n James Lyle", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0510", "content": "Title: Thomas Ringgold to Thomas Jefferson, 22 May 1811\nFrom: Ringgold, Thomas\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Dear Thomas\n            Washington County May 22nd 1811\n           I Have To Tell you That I am your Frend & hope you Will Send me your Best Respects To Celebrate The Fourth of July 1776 & A Golden Eagle Direct To me & Beleave me & my Brother to be your Well Wisher\n            Thos Ringgold.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0511", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Dortic, 23 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Dortic, John\n           I recieved yesterday your favor of the 16th inst. & by this day\u2019s post I inclose it to the Secretary of state, for his information and that of the Secretary of the Treasury.  I suppose it probable they will avail themselves of your kind offer, to get dispatches to France should they have present occasion. I avail myself of this opportunity of renewing to you the assurances of my respect \n            Th: Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0512", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 23 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Flour having become more & more unsaleable from the date of my last, I found it impracticable to effect any further sale of yours at 9.\u00bd $ in money, and was therefore induced to sell the whole of it (288 barrels) to Brown & Rives at that price, on a credit of 60 days, adding the bank discount.\u2014As however we were not authorised by you to make a sale on credit, we enter it to your account as if it had been actually made for Cash, taking upon ourselves the risk of getting the paper discounted, as we should any other risk, had there been any other, but in the present case you know there is not.\u2014\n          I beg that no feeling of delicacy may restrain you from drawing for this money immediately, as, if the st situation of B & R\u2019s account at the bank is such that their paper cannot be discounted, the present state of our own account is such, just at this time, as to insure our obtaining money whenever we may require it, without its being attended with the smallest inconvenience.\u2014\n          I inclose as you direct 150$ and am\n            Dear Sir Your Very humble servt\n Geo. Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0513", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to James Monroe, 23 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Monroe, James\n           I inclose a letter from a Mr John Dortic, who being bound to France shortly and to return again, wishes to be the bearer of any dispatches the government may have for that country.  of this person I know nothing more than that he brought me lately a packet of seeds from M. Thouin Director of theNational garden of France, which he very kindly notified me of from N.Y. and afterwards forwarded for me to Philadelphia, and as one good turn deserves another, I could not avoid giving you notice of the opportunity: & the rather, as it may be perhaps a convenience were it only to send newspapers to your agents.  perhaps mr Gallatin may know more of his trust-worthiness.\n           I recd lately, under your frank, Boucher\u2019s Institutions Commerciales, which, from the frank, I supposed came from you, & conjectured you might suppose it useful to me in the case of Livingston, & were therefore so kind as to send it, for which my thanks are as cordially given as if I had not happened to possess it. but already possessing it, I ask your instructions whether I shall return it thro\u2019 the same channel, the post, or deposit it in your library, or what else?\n          Since my last to you we have had good rains, which have enabled our wheat very much to outgrow the injury from the fly. they have also swelled the river so as to take off all the produce from Milton, in which I hope, tho\u2019 I do not know, that your wheat was included.   nothing but a total want of other business ever induces a waterman to undertake to carry wheat. flour is declining at Richmond, & tobacco, unless of a peculiar character is null. even the peculiar staggers under apprehensions of the new British regulations threatened. ever your\u2019s affectionately\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0514", "content": "Title: James Ogilvie to Thomas Jefferson, 24 May 1811\nFrom: Ogilvie, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            At the time, my dear Sir, when I am about to suspend for many months, the prosecution of the design I have undertaken: for the purpose of more systematic preparation, I cannot deny myself the pleasure of troubling you with a few lines.\u2014\n            During the progress of my rapid and extensive excursion, altho\u2019 the concentrated enthusiasm, which my pursuit excited, necessarily occasioned an almost habitual absence & abstraction of thought, that in some measure incapacitated me for observation, yet, I could not shut my eyes to the evidences, of stable, general & radically & rapidly progressive prosperity, which the aspect & condition of society every where presented.\u2014\n            The tranquil possession & sober exercise of equal rights, the greatly diminished & constantly decreasing inequality of conditions, the extensive diffusion of elementary & the rapid advance, towards the diffusion, of scientific knowlege, the spirit of enterprize that pervades all classes of society, the almost total exclusion of bloated opulence & its odious consequence & counterpart, squalid destitution, the unparalelled rapidity with which population multiplies, without condensing, the yet greater rapidity with which opulence augments, without accumulating, O: Tis a glorious & heart-cheering spectacle!\u2014There is nothing in the History of preexistent or in the condition or prospects of coexistent nations, to be compared with it.\u2014\n            In addition to these essential, pervasive & reproductive sources of & securities of national happiness & greatness, when on    one side, we behold the vast Atlantic, continually wafting to our shores the inventions & refinements of the nations of the Old world, whilst it shields the Republic, as with an \u00c6gis, from the violence of their arms, & renders innoxious by distance the contagion of their vices; & on the other side, behold, an almost interminable extent of territory almost vacant, territory over which, a civilized population is incessantly pouring its vicessimally doubling multiplying millions.\u2014When we contemplate This, & anticipate not thro\u2019 the illusions of    fanciful speculation, but the clear light of philosophical analogy, the future prosperity & glory of a nation, commencing its career, in \u201canother & a better world,\u201d occupying the grandest theatre, beneath \u201cthe visible diurnal sphere,\u201d \u201crising into destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye\u201d\u2014The emotions of the enlightened mind can find vent only in the rapturous aspirations of the Bard\u2014 \n                 What glorious scenes to hope\u2019s enraptur\u2019d eye\n                Descending slow, their glittering skirts unroll,\n                Visions of glory! spare my aching sight,\n                Ye unborn ages, crowd not on my soul.\u2014\u201d\n            The first oration I propose to write during my seclusion in Kentucky, will embrace an analysis of the Progress & Prospects of society in the United states.\u2014It will make one of the series I shall (if I live to execute my design) hereafter deliver in London: I indulge a hope, that the delivery of this oration in the principal Cities of England, Scotland & Ireland, will have some tendency, to correct the misrepresentations, which are there entertained with regard to the condition & prospects of society in the United states.\u2014\n            In a state of society thus auspiciously constituted, the recollection of having discharged with ability\u2014& fidelity, the duties incident to the most elevated stations, to which the suffrages of a free & independent people, could exact an individual, must place your happiness, during the remainder of your life, beyond the reach of fortune calumny or faction.\u2014Surrounded with so many objects worthy of your affection, cheered by the recollection retrospect of an illustrious life devoted to the service of your country, in possession of every means of earthly comfort, which health, leisure, the esteem of the wise & good, & literary & scientific refinement in rural seclusion can furnish, that you may, you many years hence, sink into the sleep of death full of years & full of honour, amidst the tears of affectionate & afflicted friends, is the heart-felt wish of\n              My dear Sir, your grateful & sincere friend\n James Ogilvie\n            PS.\u2014 I take the liberty to enclose for your perusal a little publication of mine, written & circulated for the purpose of attracting some portion of public patronage to ted memoirs of C. B. Brown deceased, by Mr Paul Allan of Philadelphia\u2014I knew C. Brown & revere his memory: I know Allan intimately\u2014He is fully competent to the work he has undertaken\u2014He possesses much solid & curious learning without pedantry, independence of mind & spirit without austerity or obstinacy, benevolence without ostentation, a mark of genius without one particle of vanity & incorruptible integrity with the best temper in the world.\u2014In this biographical work he will make his literary entree\u2014\n            I can offer him nothing but my good wishes but should his design be fortunate enough to obtain your countenance, you can do much.\u2014Should you have leisure to suggest to me by letter, any subject in your judgment peculiarly adapted for illustration from the Rostrums, you will add another, to the many favours I have already received from you.\u2014Have the goodness to present my kindest & most respectful regards to your daughter & Coll Randolph & believe me to be\n              yours truly\n            N.B. I shall offer no apology, my dear Sir, for enclosing a few observations, relative to my oration, which I had the pleasure of penning a few minutes ago, after my return to Augusta, on my way to Lexington\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0515", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Ann C. Bankhead, 26 May 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Bankhead, Ann C.\n            My dear Anne\n            I have just recieved a copy of the Modern Griselda which Ellen tells me will not be unacceptable to you. I therefore inclose it. the heroine presents herself certainly as a perfect model of ingenious perverseness, & of the art of making herself and others unhappy. if it can be made of use in inculcating the virtues and felicities of life, it must be by the rule of contraries. nothing new has happened in our neighborhood since you left us. the houses & trees stand where they did. the flowers come forth like the belles of the day, have their short reign of beauty and splendor, & retire like them to the more interesting office of reproducing their like. the hyacinths and tulips are off the stage, the Irises are giving way place to the Belladonnas, as this will to the Tuberoses Etc. as your Mama has done to you, my dear Anne, as you will do to the sisters of little John, and as I shall soon & chearfully do to you all in wishing you a long, long, goodnight.  present me respectfully to Doctr & mrs Bankhead and accept for mr Bankhead & yourself the assurances of my cordial affection, not forgetting that Cornelia shares them.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "05-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0517", "content": "Title: Samuel J. Harrison to Thomas Jefferson, 29 May 1811\nFrom: Harrison, Samuel Jordan\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n             My Brother advises me today, that Mr Griffin has Applied for a Dft here, for the Bale due you on a/c your Crop of Tobo\u2014This not being our Bargain, I left home without making Such an Arrangement\u2014I expect to be at home on Sunday next when it will give me pleasure to Serve you, by giving the Dft as requested\u2014\n S J Harrison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0518", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Cornelia J. Randolph, 3 June 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Randolph, Cornelia Jefferson\n              My dear Cornelia\n             I have lately recieved a copy of mrs Edgeworth\u2019s Moral tales, which seeming better suited to your years than to mine, I inclose you the first volume. the other two shall follow as soon as your Mama has read them. they are to make a part of your library. I have not looked into them, preferring to recieve their character from you after you shall have read them.your family of silk worms is reduced to a single individual. that is now spinning his broach.  to encourage Virginia and Mary to take care of it, I tell them that as soon as they can get a wedding gown  gowns from this spinner they shall be married. I propose the same to you that, in order to hasten it\u2019s work, you may hasten home; for we all wish much to see you, and to express in person, rather than by letter, the assurance of our affectionate love.  \n            P.S. the girls desire me to add a postscript, to inform you that mrs Higginbotham has just given them new Dolls.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0519", "content": "Title: William C. Rives to Thomas Jefferson, 4 June 1811\nFrom: Rives, William Cabell\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            W. Rives offers his most respectful compliments to Mr. Jefferson, & informs him that he is at present unable to communicate the precise amount of the costs of Mitford\u2019s Greece & Mrs. Macauley\u2019s England, but will procure the agent of Brown & Rives in this place to obtain a particular statement of them from the house in Richmond. The manner in which Mr. Jefferson proposes to discharge these costs will be perfectly convenient & satisfactory.\u2014If Mr. Jefferson should wish to retain Col. Barbour\u2019s Mitford for any other purpose than a comparison of it with his own, W. Rives is authorised to assure Mr. Jefferson of the readiness & pleasure with which it will be continued in his use.\u2014He begs leave to repeat to Mr. Jefferson the expression of his warmest sentiments of gratitude & esteem.\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0520", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Milledge, 5 June 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Milledge, John\n            Monticello June 5. 11.\n           Our cultivation of Benni has not yet had entire success. the 1st year we sowed late & the frost caught it, so that we had scarcely seed the 2d year to raise seed for the 3d. we have at length made in the neighborhood two or three bushels. I succeeded in expressing the oil in the iron press you saw at Foxall\u2019s. but the iron giving a brown tinge to the oil, altho transparent & free from taste, I tried a wooden press, on the principle of that for flaxseed; which is a mortise in a bench, into one end of which a small bag of seed is put, and the remaining space being filled with blocks, a wedge is forced between them by a sledge hammer, & the oil drops from the bag, through a hole in the bottom of the mortise, into a vessel below. we found this troublesome & embarrassing, and I then tried a conceit of my own. it is a simple mortise in a block, 6. Inches square & deep, into which is inserted a stem of wood 2. feet long & fitted nicely to slide up & down in the mortise. under this the bag of seed is placed in the mortise, & the whole put under the beam of a cyder or tobacco press. this answered best of all. I had but one bushel of seed, & having to try so many new projects before any one succeeded, I got from the whole but one gallon of oil. I have mentioned these essays at presses on the possibility you might wish to make the oil at home.My greatest difficulty now is in separating the seed from the broken particles of the pod & leaf. if we attempt to winnow, the seed is so light that it goes off with the refuse particles. will you be so good as to inform me how you clear the seed from these particles. the plant appears to me about as hardy as Cotton, & consequently our climate will barely permit us to make enough for family use.\n           The many-horned ram which I was to have sent to Norfolk for you was killed by his sire. this abominable animal killed moreover two fine Barbary rams for me, & was so dangerous generally that I was obliged to have him destroyed. I found the species very worthless.  I sent the wool to Philadelphia, to be examined by experienced manufacterers. their information was that it answered only for blanketing, & was of the least value of all the kinds of wool. I am raising the Barbary sheep altogether for the table, certainly the most delicious we have ever seen: and the Merino for the sake of the wool for sale.  but these last have brought the scab into my flock which threatens it\u2019s entire destruction. they are the smallest things I have ever seen in the form of sheep.\n          I have written you quite a farmer\u2019s letter. I am done with politics and have banished all it\u2019s passions, except the love of free government. tho\u2019 you are too young to have bid adieu to the public councils, yet I presume your present occupation, like mine, is purely agricultural.  our family joins me in their respects to mrs Milledge & their wishes for her health, as well as in the assurances of entire esteem & respect for yourself.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0521", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 6 June 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Richmond 6th June 1811\n           We have since my last received 152 bbls of your flour, which we have been compelled to sell at your lowest limit of 9$ cash.\n            I am Dear Sir Your Very humble servt\n Geo. Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0522", "content": "Title: James Monroe to Thomas Jefferson, 6 June 1811\nFrom: Monroe, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Washington June 6th 1811.\n            Mr Dortic mentioned in your favor of the 23d ulto was furnishd with a passport, and a packet of newspapers was sent to the Collector at New York to be forwarded by him, which it is presumed he will receive. It happend that there was no dispatch prepard at the time for our charg\u00e9 des affrs at Paris, or it would have been committed to his care. Important communications are expected by the Essex, and untill her arrival, little can be done or said in our concerns with either France or G Britain.\n          Bouchers institutions commerciales was thought to belong to you. The President was under an impression that he had borrowed it from you, & it was forwarded to you as the owner. If you find that it belongs to this departmt as it must do, if it is not yours, you will be so good as to return it by the same conveyance.\n          The delay of the Essex subjects me to much embarrassment & concern. I hoped when I came here, to have got back to my family & my affrs. in a few weeks. After the arrival of that vessel the presumption is, that I may soon be spar\u2019d to make such a visit. Abundant rains here have given a good face to the growing crop. I hope they have afforded us an opportunity to make a commenc\u2019ment in that of our tobo\u2014\n            very sincerly & respectfully your friend & servant\n Jas Monroe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0523", "content": "Title: James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 7 June 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Washington June 7. 1811\n           I return the letter from you to D. on the subject of Mr G. he seems to be incorrigible.  If I am not misinformed, his eyes are opening to the conduct & character of Mr S, with respect to both of which he has suffered himself to be misled partly by his own passions, partly by those who took advantage of them.  You see the new shapes our foreign relations are taking. The occurrence between Rogers & the British ship of war, not unlikely to bring on repetitions, will probably end in an open rupture, or a better understanding as the calculations of the B. Govt may prompt or dissuade from war. Among the items in these will be the temper here, as reported by its partizans.  The state of parties in Massts is in this view important, especially as it will attract particular notice by its effect in expelling degrading Pickering who has made himself so conspicuous in the British service. On the other hand much impatience is shewing itself in the Eastn States, under the non-importation. The little embarrassment  felt which occurs in procuring returns for the apples & onions sent from Connecticut to the W. Indies, is generating remonstrances as in the case of the Embargo. I have been obliged to answer one from N. Haven headed by Hillhouse, which they have not yet published. The protracted delay of the Essex still leaves us a prey to the ignorance & interested falsehoods which fill our newspapers. It would seem that G.B. is determined agst repealing her orders, and that Bonaparte is equally so agst on the destruction of her commerce, to which he readily sacrifices his own commerce with the U.S. As to the blockade of England (the decree to which alone the Act of Congs & the Proclamation have reference) there is no evidence of its being continued in force. All the Official evidence is on the other side. And yet by a confusion of ideas or artifice of language, the appearance is kept up that the ground of the non-importation has failed, and that it is consequently a wrong to G.B. After all, we must remain somewhat in the dark till we have more on the subject; probably till the return of the vessel that carried to France, the Act of Congs putting in force the non-importation, for wch Bonap. seems to be waiting. After a severe drought, we have had a copious rain. I hope you have shared in it & that it will have aided the wheatfields in their conflict with the Hessian fly.\n            Be assured of my constant & truest affection\n James Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0524", "content": "Title: Samuel J. Harrison to Thomas Jefferson, 8 June 1811\nFrom: Harrison, Samuel Jordan\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n             On the 6th Inst I gave Mr Griffin a Dft on our Friends,\n   Gibson & Jefferson\n paye the 4 July for $2,731.99. being the Balance due you for your crop of Tobo  after deducting Some Small Sums Drawn by him, & what he Claims as his & Roberts\u2019s part of the Crop. of All which I suppose he has advisd you.\u2014\n          Scott has just ordered Suit against us Jointly, for the Land!\u2014\n            I am Sir Yr Mo ob St\n            Harrison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0526", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Account with Jonathan & Isaac Shoemaker, 8 June 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas,Shoemaker, Jonathan,Shoemaker, Jonathan & Isaac\nTo: \n             Messrs Shoemaker in Account with Th: Jefferson\n                To balance by settlement of this day\n                 By order on Underhill\n                To a quarter\u2019s rent due this day\n Mar.\n By my order in favr K. Catlett 50. bush. bran.\n                To a quarter\u2019s rent due this day\n By Bacon\u2019s ord. in favr of Trevilian\n                To a month\u2019s rent which will be due this day \u2013 4. days\n                By balance of account of offal to May 7\n                By additional furnished\n                By store account for 2. sacks 1\u00bc bush. salt\n By short allowance for Salmon\u2019s ord. of Dec. 15. 09\n By facing a pair of Burr millstones\n By cambric Etc to McKenny\n Balance due Th: Jefferson\n            This is a settlement of all accounts subsisting between us to this day whereon the balance of sixty two Dollars 30. cents is acknoleged due to Th: Jefferson\n Th: Jefferson \n                Jonathan Shoemaker\n                By shipstuff Etc", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0527", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Charles L. Bankhead, 10 June 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Bankhead, Charles Lewis\n            Monticello June 10. 11.\n           I have just recieved a letter from mr Short authorising me to sell his lands in our neighborhood, and particularly desiring me to offer them to yourself and Dr Bankhead. the I think it an excellent tract and well worth 12. Dollars. the times of paiment will be made entirely easy on paiment of interest. should Dr Bankhead fulfill our wishes in providing himself a retreat here, I do not think it likely a better tract will soon be offered for sale. be so good as to inform me whenever his or your mind is made up on the subject that I may govern myself accordingly. we are all well, and live in the hope that Anne will shorten her intended stay at Portroyal & that yourself will visit us sometimes in the meanwhile. I set out to Bedford on the 16th or 17th to return about the last of the month.  the family proposes to pass that interval at Edgehill.  altho\u2019 we have lately had very seasonable rains, the wheat does not get over the injury of the fly. the crop will be light except in the tobacco grounds & other very rich lands. the Shoemakers deliver up the mill tomorrow to mr Randolph & McKenny, who have bought them out at considerable sacrifices, and will carry on the business in partnership. the Shoemakers, under all their bad management, have ground between 7. & 8000. barrels this year, on which they confess they have made a Dollar a barrel. I think their successors will recieve at least 60,000. bushels of wheat a year, without buying a bushel.  tender my kisses to Anne & Cornelia, my respectful obeisances to Dr & mrs Bankhead, & accept for yourself the assurance of my affectionate esteem & attachment.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0528", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Isaac A. Coles, 10 June 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Coles, Isaac A.\n             Mr Rives gives me reason to hope you meditate a visit to us in a few days, and he thought it might have happened yesterday.  as I shall set out for Bedford about the last of the week, and am unwilling to lose the pleasure of your visit, I mention my meditated journey, in the hope it will bring you the sooner.  I am the more interested in it as you were so kind as to say you would come over in the inoculating season and give us a lesson in that art.   I wish to have some May dukes & Carnations inoculated, as mine are on the decline, and your example and instruction may enable my grandson to perform that operation hereafter. ever affectionately yours\n            P.S. we were told by some one that mrs Coles would be so kind as to spare us some bulbs of the Mourning bride. altho the season is not naturally that of removing roots, yet they are so hardy a plant, that I have supposed it possible they might bear it. mrs Coles is a better judge; and if she thinks the removal would now be safe I would ask a few: but if not safe, I would rather wait a more favorable season.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0529", "content": "Title: Isaac A. Coles to Thomas Jefferson, 10 June 1811\nFrom: Coles, Isaac A.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Enniscorthy June 10th 1811.\n           I have been intending for some days to visit Monticello, & have been prevented from doing so by indisposition which has confined me at Home, & which I fear may still prevent me from executing my intention;\u2014If however I am not worse I will be with you on Wednesday\u2014\n           The mourning Bride has not flourished well in our Garden, & I send 2 bulbs which were all that could be safely taken from the only remaining bunch of which we were certain\u2014from another, which the Gardener believed to be mourning bride, I have also sent a few roots, around which, to distinguish them from the others, I directed him to fold a rag\u2014As they are taken up with the hard earth adhereing to them, I have no doubt but that they will succeed perfectly\u2014\n          With sincere and respectful attachment\n I. A. Coles", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0530-0002", "content": "Title: Enclosure: Teophane Arata to Thomas Jefferson, [ca. 10 June 1811]\nFrom: Arata, Teophane\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n             The want of having a Consul in this Port of Civitavecchia who possessing the Language of the American Nation, should afford a proper Assistance to the Subjects of the United Estates of America, enboldens me to demand with all umility the appointement to that Office in my Behalf.\u2014\n            The sincere attachment that I have always had, even from my earliest Years towards the United Estates, and for its Individuals, whom with so much pleasure I have frequently served in various occurrences lead me to hope that my request will be graciously granted.\u2014Meanwhile ambitious for such an honour, I remain with the Highest respect, and veneration\u2014\n              Your most Obedt & most humble Servant\n              Teophane Arata,", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0531", "content": "Title: Thomas T. Loury to Thomas Jefferson, 11 June 1811\nFrom: Loury, Thomas T.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Staunton Va 11th June 1811.\n           I herewith send you a piece of Ore that is supposd to contain Silver, which was lately found near the Mississippi River\u2014  this ore was given to me last Month by Major Henry C Gist of Logan County Kentucky, with a request that I would deliver it to you my self, and to know of you whether you cou\u2019d get a Skilful hand to extract the Metal. but my being compelled to be in Winchester the day after tomorrow, puts it entirely out of my power to call upon you, and Mr Turner of this place has promis\u2019d me to send it to you by a safe hand\u2014Major Gist is a Son of Colo Nathl Gist an old Revolutionary Officer. He had Just return\u2019d from where this ore is found, and he informs me, that from appearances, the mine has been work\u2019d for ages; Colo Gist upon his Death bed described the place to his Son, and requested him to search until he found it, and at the same time said, \u201cabout thirty years before, he had seen Canoe loads of Silver made at this place, by the French and Indians\u201d\u2014I hope Sir you will honor me with a letter directed to Charles Town Jefferson County Va and let me know if the Ore came safe to hand, and also inform Majr Gist of the same\u2014\n            I have the honor to be your very sincere friend and Hble Servt\n Tho T. Loury.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0532", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Morgan, 11 June 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Morgan, Benjamin\n            Your favor of Mar. 22. came to hand on the 28th of April, and the delay of an answer has proceeded from the circumstance of mr & mrs Logwood\u2019s residence in another county. I now inclose you the documents which your letter called for. from an expression in the powers of Attorney, that \u2018the monies were to be paid into your hands for my use\u2019 it might be inferred that I was interested in this business. but this is neither the fact, nor the meaning of the parties. tho named in the paper, like yourself, I am the mere channel of conveyance.  it is true that Craven Peyton owes me some 3. or 400.D. but this I know I could have from him at any time, were I disposed to press. this I probably shall not do, but await his reciept of this money.  the fact is that the great part of this money is to be paid to a mr Gilmer here, as being the proceeds of negroes which he delivered to John Peyton to be carried to the Missisipi & sold on his account, & which were sold, & the money proceeds had not been remitted at the death of John Peyton. Gilmer & Craven Peyton have thought proper to  agree mutually that the money shall be remitted to me as their depository, to be paid to Gilmer, at least so much as is due to him, as soon as recieved. my interference has been merely as the friend of the parties & their mutual trustee. I am really sorry I have drawn so much trouble on you in this business. when I asked the favor of your attention to it, I considered it merely as money recieved by a lawyer for his client, & which he would give you no other trouble about than to recieve & remit it. with my apologies be pleased to recieve the assurances of my great esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0533", "content": "Title: Benjamin F. Salvage to Thomas Jefferson, 11 June 1811\nFrom: Salvage, Benjamin F.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Harisonburg June 11th 1811\n           I have been informed you want A private secretery. if so I would be happy to serve you in that capasity; I am driven by reduced circumstances to decline the study of the Law. and now wish to place myself in such a situation as would as would enable me to devot part of my time to study while with the other I would earn it. If you should want a young man of this discription you will do me the honour to write & the necessary certificat that will be required. I remain with esteem your humble & obedient servant &c \n            Benja F Salvage", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0534", "content": "Title: C. & A. Conrad & Company to Thomas Jefferson, 12 June 1811\nFrom: Conrad, Cornelius,Conrad, Andrew,Conrad, C. & A., & Co.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Philadelphia June 12th 1811\u2014\n           Yours of the 24th April came regularly to hand with A check for Twelve dollars for which you have credit\u2014the reciept of it ought to have been acknowledged sooner but we have been so much engaged that it has been neglected\u2014We think mr. Rapine must be mistaken in saying the Acct was paid in February 1808\u2014We have examined our books very carefully but find no account of it besides it does not appear by the bill forwarded you from Washington (which we now return to you) that there was more than Two Dollars oweing at that time\u2014In the course of A few days we shall have occasion to write to Mr Rapine and will mention the circumstance to him. if we find that we are wrong the money now recieved shall be credited as you direct\u2014\n           There has been so many difficulties to retard the publication of Lewis & Clarkes book that it is impossible yet for us to say positively when it will be done\u2014we hope the time will not exceed another Six Months and think it cannot be much less the narative part is written and Dr Barton has made considerable progress in his part of the work.\n          We have put your name down for 12 copies\u2014\n            Very Respectfully Your Obedt Sts\n            Corns & Andw Conrad & Co", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0538-0001", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Burwell Bassett, 17 June 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Bassett, Burwell\n            I have lately recieved a letter from Monsr Beauvois of Paris, a literary friend & acquaintance of mine, who passed several years in the US. of which letter I give an extract on the next leaf. I am anxious to serve him in the case there stated, but find it necessary first to obtain correct information of the facts and transactions which have taken place in the case in this country, and the present state of things respecting it the case. I believe none of my old acquaintances in the county of N. Kent are now living there, and therefore I have presumed to ask your friendly aid in obtaining the information necessary to enable me to act understandingly for my friend. I have hoped that your acquaintance in that county might put it in your power to obtain the information I seek, without much trouble and that I might so far presume on our mutual acquaintance as to sollicit this favor, which will be considered as an obligation. Accept in the mean time the assurances of my great esteem and respect.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "03-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-0538-0002", "content": "Title: Enclosure: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Extracts from Palisot de Beauvois\u2019s Letter to Thomas Jefferson, 19 March 1811, with Jefferson\u2019s Notes\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas,Palisot de Beauvois, Ambroise Marie Fran\u00e7ois Joseph\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            Extract of a letter from M. Palisot de Beauvois to Th: Jefferson dated Paris Mar. 19. 1811.\n             \u2018Monsr and Made Ruelle in 1789. purchased a plantation in the county of New Kent, and lived on it about 10. years. returning then to France, they conveyed their rights to Peter Piernetz, the brother of Madame Ruelle. he worked the plantation, and established on it a store of merchandize, which he carried on succesfully, making himself, in due form, a citizen of the United states. in Feb. 1810.  being taken ill, he sent for a young man, Stephen Lacy, who kept another store for him at Diaskun bridge, not far off. on his arrival, mr Thomas Ratcliff, a magistrate, was sent for to make his will. this was done, secretly, as is said, & hastily, and mr Piernetz declining to sign it till the next day, died before it was without having signed it.in the mean time M. Rouelle had died, and his widow had intermarried with M. de Beauvois the writer of the letter: and M. Pauly as a volunteer the friend of Monsr & Made Beauvois, sister & principal heir to Piernetz, opposed the establishing the unsigned will before the county court of New Kent. they however admitted Stephen Lacy to qualify as executor under it, and he took possession of the estate; the personal part in his own right, and the lands, until the legislature should decide on them, which it was proposed should be done at their session of Dec. 1810.  Pauly communicated this to Mr Oster, consul of France at Norfolk, who wrote to Beauvois May 25. 1810. covering a letter from Pauly to him of Feb. 15. 1810. but these letters did not get to M. Beauvois till the 14th of Jan. 1811.\u2019 so far his letter goes. it does not say whether Made Beauvois, during her residence of 10. years here, became a citizen or not. I presume therefore that the legal steps for that purpose were not taken. M. & Mde Ruelle were known to me in Paris. they came over, I think, before the establishment of the present constitution of the US. and of course their citizenship depends on the then existing laws of Virginia. but whether a citizen or not, she may succeed to the personal estate of Piernetz as sister and next of kin. I am not informed whether the legislature has been applied to, or has done any thing respecting the lands, or whether any process of escheat has been issued or proceeded on. the desire of mr Beauvois is to recover the personal estate from Lacy, and to petition the legislature for a relinquishment of the escheat in favor of the sister, whose natural claim he supposes to be strengthened by the renunciation of the droit d\u2019Aubaine mutually between the US. and France by their treaty, and by a strict compliance with this article on the part of France of which he mentions proofs.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-1001", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to George Jefferson, 10 June 1811 [document added in digital edition]\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Jefferson, George\n              Monticello\n            I recieved yesterday yours of the 6th informing me of the sale of part of my flour at my lowest limit of 9.D. you must be so good as to consider that limit as removed. it was originally proposed at a season when I was satisfied the market must come to that notwithstanding momentary depressions. but the season is now arrived when the approach of harvest must necessarily lower the demand & price. we must therefore take what we can get for any still in hand, as no rise can be expected for this season, & the commodity will not keep till another.in the progress of the non-importation law, there is a single article of British manufacture, for the want of which we may suffer piercing distress. that is, the striped blankets for the negroes, for which no substitute can be had. I think it a duty to those poor creatures to look to this in time. could you procure me 50. in Richmond or elsewhere? perhaps they may as yet be had and without an extravagant advance, altho some advance must even now be expected. you will remove a load of painful apprehension from my mind if you can secure me on this article. I wish not to be named as the purchased purchaser, being desirous that my name may not be connected with any subject which may be distorted into a political aspect.I shall set out for Bedford this day sennight & return to our harvest. ever affectionately yours\n              Th: Jefferson\n            P. S. I make some small draughts on you, too inconsiderable to merit letters of advice, my writing & signature being so well known", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "04-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-03-02-1002", "content": "Title: Th\u00e9odore Pahlen\u2019s Account of a Visit to Monticello, [between 15 April and 15 May 1811]\nFrom: Pahlen, Count Th\u00e9odore\nTo: Romanzoff, Nicolas de\n          Depuis peu je suis revenu d\u2019une tourn\u00e9e en Virginie & quoique ce voyage n\u2019ait rien de commun avec les affaires, j\u2019ai cependant cru que Votre Excellence ne serait pas fach\u00e9e d\u2019en apprendre la relation, ne l\u2019ayant entrepris que pour pr\u00e9senter mes respects \u00e0 Mr Jefferson. La campagne qu\u2019il habite se trouve en Virginie \u00e0 peu pr\u00e8s \u00e0 200. werstes au Sud de Washington. Apr\u00e8s \u00eatre parvenu \u00e0 Monticello tant bien que mal par d\u2019assez mauvais chemins, j\u2019ai \u00e9t\u00e9 grandement r\u00e9compens\u00e9 par le s\u00e9jour que j\u2019y ai fait. Mr Jefferson r\u00e9unit  les rares qualit\u00e9s de l\u2019homme d\u2019Etat, du Savant & de l\u2019homme aimable. Son esprit actif embrasse tout ce qui est utile ou int\u00e9ressant; par l\u2019invention d\u2019une nouvelle charrue il h\u00e2te les progrets de l\u2019agriculture & dans le m\u00eame tems il rectifie par des observations astronomiques la position de son pays.\n          D\u00e8s mon arriv\u00e9e aux Etats-Unis j\u2019avais \u00e9crit \u00e0 Mr Jefferson pour lui faire conna\u00eetre combien Sa Majest\u00e9 l\u2019Empereur conservait d\u2019estime & de consid\u00e9ration pour lui & \u00e0 Monticello je lui ai r\u00e9p\u00e9t\u00e9 de vive voix tout ce que Sa Majest\u00e9 Imp\u00e9riale m\u2019avait charg\u00e9 de lui dire.\n          C\u2019est toujours avec la plus vive sensibilit\u00e9 que Mr Jefferson parle de son attachement pour Sa Majest\u00e9 l\u2019Empereur; il sait dignement appr\u00e9cier les rares qualit\u00e9s d\u2019un Souverain Philantrope & Son buste se trouve dans son sallon.\n          Je ne connais pas de vieillesse plus heureuse que celle de Mr Jefferson; malgr\u00e8 68. ans il conserve toute la vigueur & toute la vivacit\u00e9 de son esprit;  il est entour\u00e9 de sa fille & de ses petits enfans qui le ch\u00e9rissent au del\u00e0 de toute expression; il est justement estim\u00e9 par tout homme bien pensant & loin des intrigues du monde il a la jouissance de voir prosp\u00e9rer le pays qu\u2019il a contribu\u00e9 \u00e0 rendre ind\u00e9pendant & heureux.\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n            I recently returned from a tour of Virginia and, although this trip had nothing to do with diplomatic affairs, I nevertheless thought that an account of it would please Your Excellency, because I only made it to pay my respects to Mr. Jefferson. He lives in the Virginia countryside about 200 versts south of Washington. After reaching Monticello not without some difficulty over rather poor roads, I had a very rewarding stay there. Mr. Jefferson combines the rare qualities of the statesman, the scholar, and the sociable man. His active mind encompasses all that is useful or interesting. He has accelerated the progress of agriculture by inventing a new plow and, at the same time, calculated a corrected geographical location of his country estate using astronomical observations.\n            I had written to Mr. Jefferson as soon as I arrived in the United States to let him know how much respect and consideration His Majesty the Emperor has for him, and at Monticello I repeated in person everything His Imperial Majesty had asked me to tell him.\n            Mr. Jefferson always speaks with the most profound feelings about his attachment to His Majesty the Emperor. He knows how to appreciate properly the rare qualities of a philanthropic sovereign and displays the Emperor\u2019s bust in the parlor.\n            I know of no happier old age than that of Mr. Jefferson. Despite his 68 years, his mind retains all of its vigor and alertness. He is surrounded by his daughter and her young children, who cherish him beyond measure. He is justly respected by every right-minded man and, now withdrawn from the world\u2019s intrigues, he rejoices in viewing the prosperity of the country to whose independence and happiness he contributed.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0001", "content": "Title: John Barnes to Thomas Jefferson, 18 June 1811\nFrom: Barnes, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          I am without any of your favors since that of the 4th April\u2014Answered the 15th\u2014\n\t\t  on the 25th I had the Honor of inclosing to you Mrs Beckleys letter to me, respecting her Brothers unfortunate situation, since when nothing has transpired on that Accot\u2014\n\t\t  Mr Barry called on me 21st Ulto (since Married) when I paid him the $100\u2013 Messrs \n                  G & J. remitted me, Over and above, your $360. Int on Genl \n          I have some thoughts of making a short Tour the insuing Mo to Philada (health permitting) which of late I have not\u2014as heretofore injoyed.\u2014no Unusual complaint (save weakness\u2014&c\u2014the Natural affect, of advancd Age.)\u2014\n          as I expect to be\u2014in Philada Middle July should you have any particular Commands\u2014I should with pleasure Attend to them,\u2014as well, whilst there\u2014receive\u2014via your Order\u2014the good Genls 6 Mos dividend due 1st July\u2014\n          I am Anxiously expecting to hear of your last years remittance to him\u2014being safe in his Brokers hands\u2014as well the present years\u2014now\u2014on its passage\u2014\n          with great Respect, I am, Dear Sir, your most Obedt servant", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0002", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Hugh Chisholm, 18 June 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Chisholm, Hugh\n\t\t  We yesterday got up the wooden frame of our Pier-head compleat, and this morning mr Salmonds begins the stone-work. \n\t\t   he will get to the spring of the arch this evening, or tomorrow morning before you can reach this from mr Madison\u2019s. I must pray you therefore to be with us tomorrow forenoon, the earlier the better. on arriving at the Pier head you will find\n\t\t\t your attendants on the spot, the same who attend Salmonds, as he must stop his work till you have turned the arch for him to proceed on. the mortar is there, ready made, the bricks & sand on the spot, and I shall probably be there myself. I\n\t\t\t must beseech you therefore not to fail us an hour, as besides Salmonds\u2019 work being stopped, I wait only for this job to be done to set out for Bedford, from whence I must be back to the beginning of our harvest. Accept my best wishes.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0003", "content": "Title: John Martin Baker to Thomas Jefferson, 19 June 1811\nFrom: Baker, John Martin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                     Palma. Island of Majorca \n\t\t   I have the Honor to Enclose herewith a packet delivered to me at Cagliary by the professor Director General of His Sardinian Majesty\u2019s Cabinet of Natural History, at Said place, which accompanies a Box Containing Natural Petre productions of the mentioned Island\u2014\n\t\t   which will be forwarded to you sir, by William R Lee Esqe Collector at Salem\u2014\n\t\t  who will at the same time Send on One quarter Cask Albaflor Wine\u2014\n\t\t   One Bag Soft shell almonds 76.lb majorca weight, and One Box Olives: all which I hope may come Safe to hand, and I shall be particularly gratified that you approve of them\u2014this opportunity Sir, is the very first, and the only\n\t\t\t direct one, from this Island to the United States, since my last return to my Station from America\u2014per the first next that may offer I will not fail to remit \n                  you the remainder of the Articles, I had the Honor to be Commissioned to send You. Times are very dull here, particularly in my Consular Station owing to the very few or no Arrivals of Vessels bearing our flag.\u2014\n\t\t  In the event of any Affrican, or European\n\t\t\t Commercial Seaport\u2013Consular Vacancy, I pray You Sir, to hold me in view, and intercede in my behalf with His Excellency The President\u2014\n            Mrs Baker desires me sir, to present you her most Respectful Compliments\u2014and I have the\n\t\t\t Honor to be, with the Highest Respect & Gratitude\n            Sir Your most obedient humble servant\n                  John Martin Baker\n            I am just informed, that the Consular office of Tripoly is vacant. If it be a truth, I pray you sir, to intercede for me for the appointment: & I beg leave to add, that I am conversant with the lengua-franca\u2014now commonly used in Affrica, by the Cheifs &c\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0004", "content": "Title: Charles L. Bankhead to Thomas Jefferson, 20 June 1811\nFrom: Bankhead, Charles Lewis\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          I have recieved yours of the 10 June for which both my father and myself render you our gratefull acknowledgements.    \n\t\t  he thanks you sincerely for the information you have given him of Mr: Shorts intention to sell his land & to be remember,d by you will ever impose a debt of gratitude upon me, a debt which my heart most liberally repays. I should have answerd you before this, but for the expectation of saying to you in person, what I now do by letter. Mr: Radford of Lynchburgh has lately written me on the subject of our land in Bedford, and express,d a strong desire to become a purchaser; supposing him acquainted with the price, Mr: Clay having promised to make that known, I had determined to set out immediately for Lynchburgh.\n\t\t  As you are lately from the forest I should be obliged to you for any information you may have collected, as to the chances of finding a purchasor. Mr: Radford requests me to fix a price. I must \n\t\t\t advice as to that also, as my answer will be determined by it.\n                  My father declines the purchase of Mr: Shorts land, both my mother and himself fearing\n\t\t\t at this time of their lives, to\n\t\t\t encounter\n\t\t\t the laborious & troublesome details of moveing, building, improveing &c. I wish indeed that there was a house on the\n\t\t\t place with some little improvements about it, for those are\n\t\t\t circumstances\n\t\t\t which I believe would make highlanders of us all.\n\t\t\t am happy to hear Colo. Randolph is likely to succeed with the mill. I always thought from the adjacency of his farm, that the advantages resulting from the lease would be greater to him than to any other tenant. \n                  My warmest regards to Mr: & Mrs Randolph and believe me my dear sir to be yours very affectionately", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0005", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 20 June 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I inclose an acct of the sales of 547 bbls of your flour, together with your acct current to this day, the last shewing a balance against you of $:2671.\u2074\u2070\u2044\u2081\u2080\u2080.\u2014\n\t\t  Deducting this sum from the 5800$ obtained from the bank, (which is partly to be paid off with Harrisons dft, and the balance to be continued) leaves $:3128.\u2076\u2070\u2044\u2081\u2080\u2080 for which you are to draw.\u2014You can likewise if you think proper draw for the probable amount of 54 barrels of flour received within these\n\t\t\t few days from Lynchburg; which I have not been able\n\t\t\t to sell, although very anxious to do so, both from a wish to close the sales of the whole together, and from a fear of holding it at this advanced season of the year, lest it should spoil. I\n\t\t\t suppose\n\t\t\t however that it has been but lately manufactured, and will therefore be safe for a short time at any rate. At present there is no demand whatever: no one will purchase except at a price greatly\n\t\t\t under\n\t\t\t the value\u2014sales of small parcels having been made as low as $:8.\u00bc.\n\t\t  I inclose a note for your signature, for renewal in the bank.\u2014I have filled it up with 3000$ as being a round sum.\u2014if you prefer any other, you will of course make the necessary alteration. you will see from the date, when it will be wanted.\n            I am Dear Sir Your very humble servtGeo. Jefferson\n                    I have bought the blankets, but at the very high price of 15/ each: this was not in consequence of an advance in the price, but of their great size, & very superior quality.\u2014there are no common ones in to be had.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0006", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Peter Minor, 20 June 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Minor, Peter\n\t\t  Th: Jefferson presents his compliments to mr Peter Minor and sends him a bottle of oil of the last expression, in the wooden press placed under the beam of the cyder press. it\u2019s colour shews it\n\t\t\t preferable to the Iron press; and the ease with which this press is made is a further encoragement to the culture of the Benni.\n\t\t  Th:J. will not make seed\n\t\t\t this year, owing to his having sowed it with a drill which covered it too deep.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0009", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Charles Everette, 24 June 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Everette, Charles\n\t\t  My funds lying all in Richmond, I inclose you an order on Messrs Gibson & Jefferson of that place for 42. D 20 c the balance of your account. but should it not be convenient to you to recieve the money in Richmond, I will on your intimation call for it by the first post. \n\t\t   will you be so good as to sign the inclosed paper & return it to me by the bearer to be transmitted to Genl Chamberlayne who, acting as executor for the estate of which the negro man was a part, informs me he must produce vouchers for the passing of his accounts.I hope you are recovering fast from the consequences of your fall. \n\t\t  our good cherries are all gone, or we should have repeated the sending them. none remain but a few Morellas, too sour to be eaten. but if they would be acceptable they are at your service. Accept the assurances of my great esteem & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0010", "content": "Title: Gideon Granger to Thomas Jefferson, 24 June 1811\nFrom: Granger, Gideon\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                     General Post office \n\t\t  A few days past I rec\u2019d your note acknowledgeing the receipt of my late list of Post offices, which was transmitted without my knowledge and in consequence of my suggesting a determination to furnish you, as I now do, by the volume herewith transmitted, a complete view of the present state of this Department.\n          Ever your friend", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0011", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to George Jefferson, 24 June 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Jefferson, George\n\t\t   Yours\n                  of the 20th was recieved yesterday inclosing my account balance \n                  3128.60 and the estimated amount of 54. Barrels flour unsold, to be drawn for\u2014\n\t\t  there should be still near 50. Barrels more to be recieved from Bedford. \n\t\t\t In consequence of your permission I am drawing on you as follows:\n\t\t   Dr. Everett of Charlottesville\n\t\t   Gen.l Wm. Chamberlayne of N. Kent\n\t\t   Jones & Howell Phila.\n\t\t   James Lyle\n\t\t   D. Higginbotham\n            all those will present draughts, except Jones & Howell whom I inform by letter that you will be so good as to remit them 500 Dol. immediately, which I must pray you to do. \n\t\t  besides the order to D. Higginbotham, I give him one on you for the proceeds of the 7 hhds tob. sent from this place whenever you shall have sold it. they are supposed to yield something upwards of 12,000 weight. if it is not too troublsome, I will ask to know what has been the fate of the single hhd of tobo sent last, the overseer who made it, solliciting me to enquire, as he supposes it much superior to that which went from another plantation. in addition to the above draughts I will pray you to forward me by post 150. Dollars. some\n\t\t\t symptoms of indisposition & the heat of the weather have induced me to defer my journey to Poplar Forest yours with combined affection.\n            P.S. I returned the note for the bank signed at 3000D.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0013", "content": "Title: William McGehee to Thomas Jefferson, 24 June 1811\nFrom: McGehee, William\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t   your boy came down today while I was in the woods geting timber for the Sithes with a line concening Bens absence from the  my family informed me that he wanted an answer which I now prseed to give I stoped Ben for the purpose of assisting about planting the Tobacco tryd to find Fill also but could not this was done in conciquence of finding that the seasson would be gone before I could get done unless I raised all the hands I could & then to hurrey them another reason\n\t\t\t why I did so is notwithstanding I am doing your bisness for a certain sum feel it much more my intrest to make you a good crop than a sorry one & that I feel a greater regard for my Character\n\t\t\t than I do for only this one years wages & I hope it will be no offence if I further observe that if you cant see it I plainly can that the way your matters are at present planed you are to\n\t\t\t loose\n\t\t\t wheet considerably after you have read this I am perfectly willing that you Should do as you see cause I can but do as well as I can\n          am Sir Sincerely your well wisher", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0014", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 27 June 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I have sold your last 54 barrels of flour to Wm McKenzie at 8.\u00bd & 9$. (5 barrels being fine only) on a credit of 60 days, his note to be endorsed by Jno Lesslie.\u2014For the reasons before assigned you will be\n\t\t\t pleased to consider this likewise as a Cash sale.\n          I am Dear Sir Your Very humble servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0015", "content": "Title: Edmund M. Blunt to Thomas Jefferson, 28 June 1811\nFrom: Blunt, Edmund M.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  Permit me to enclose for inspection a copy of the Nautical Almanac for 1812\u2014I confess myself governed principally by interest, in soliciting your opinion of a work which, if incorrect, is not only useless, but extremely dangerous. \n\t\t  I was this day informed at the Navy Office the Officers were furnished by government, and they used that published by Mr John Garnett\u2014\n\t\t  His Almanac for 1811 contains Nine, and for 1812, Thirteen Errors, one of which is an error of 90\u00b0\u2014Should you consider my work entitled to the patronage of the country your approbation will sanction its sale; if, like the one\n\t\t\t to which I refer, you should discover the least deviation from what\n\t\t\t it should be, I will consign the whole edition to the flames, where every work should be that misleads the Mariner on the pathless ocean.\n            Respectfully your obt sert\n            P.S. A reply will confer an honor on one who has ever appreciated your talents", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0017", "content": "Title: Benjamin Rush to Thomas Jefferson, 28 June 1811\nFrom: Rush, Benjamin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I enclose you another Attempt to combat a greater enemy to the prosperity and liberties of the United states, than the fleets of Britain and the Armies of Bonaparte. It is intended to catch the eye of the Common people\u2014upon the doors of School houses, Court houses and Churches.\n\t\t\t For this purpose suppose it were republished in your state. \n\t\t   Bishop Madison would I have no doubt concur in it, for I know him to think humanely and piously upon this Subject.\n          Health and friendship! from Dear Sir Yours truly", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "06-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0018", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Barnes, 29 June 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Barnes, John\n\t\t   Your favor of June 18th is recieved as had been in due time that of Apr. 25. \n\t\t  I now inclose you the July order on the bank of Pensva for Genl Kosciuzko\u2019s July dividend. \n\t\t   I inclosed to him one copy of the bill of exchange you sent me by mr Barlow, & a 2d by mr Warden, both then expected to sail shortly & in different vessels. I have not however as yet heard of the actual sailing of either.\n\t\t   the newspapers say they are detained till the arrival of the Essex hourly expected. still I think it would be better if you, in your visit\n\t\t\t to Philadelphia, could find some eligible conveyance for the 3d of Exchange, which with that view I now return to you.\n\t\t  I recieved mrs Beckley\u2019s letter in yours. presuming her unable to pay what is due to me, I mean not to have it mentioned to her again.\n\t\t  it\u2019s reciept would always have been & still would be a sensible convenience to me, as small sums give me difficulty while I am devoting every thing to my Washington debt, in order to get out of the bank: but impossible things must be thought no more of.\n\t\t  you did right in paying Barry the hundred Dollars. I\n\t\t\t wonder mr Jefferson did not mention they were for him, as I had done in my \n                  order. I thank you for your kind offer of service in Philada, but at present have nothing particular for that place. expecting that the harvest we are now reaping will clear me of the bank, I am looking forward to the time, not distant I hope, when I\n\t\t\t may send to Philadelphia for every thing I use in my family. I pay 167 D. here for what costs 100.D. there. freight & charges add only 20. pr ct. if you could recommend any merchant there who would purchase for me on Commission as faithfully and kindly as you used to do, it would be a valuable service to me, as soon as I am in a\n\t\t\t state to avail myself of it.\n\t\t\t I learn with concern the\n\t\t\t increase\n\t\t\t of feebleness of which you complain.\n\t\t\t I may sympathize in it the more\n\t\t\t feelingly inasmuch as I am very sensible of it in myself. I have long lost the power of walking any distance, and feel that I do not ride now with as little fatigue as I used to do. providence is\n\t\t\t kindly withdrawing by degrees the enjoiments of life that we may leave it without reluctance. I wish you had thought a\n\t\t\t visit\n\t\t\t to Monticello as friendly to your views of health as Philadelphia. I am persuaded it would have been as much so, and been recieved with more welcome in our tranquil situation, than the bustle & distraction of a great town will admit. try it the next\n\t\t\t experiment you make with the same view, and follow afterwards the course which shall have proved itself most favorable, and accept in the mean time my prayers for a longer continuance of the\n\t\t\t blessings of strength, health & happiness.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0019", "content": "Title: David Bailie Warden to Thomas Jefferson, 1 July 1811\nFrom: Warden, David Bailie\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t   I beg leave to inform you, that the Essex is arrived, and that we expect to sail in the course of eight, or ten days. \n\t\t   I received, from Mr. Graham, the note which you were pleased to write, with the inclosed letter for Paris\u2014Since that time, I took the liberty of sending you a copy of my translation of Gregoires\u2019 work on Blacks, in which he examines your opinions concerning their capacity for improvement. He proposes to write a Biographical-Dictionary\n\t\t\t of all Individuals who have distinguished themselves in the cause of freedom, of which he is still an enthusiast. He is obliged to keep this project a secret at Paris.\n\t\t  I have great hopes of being able to carry with me a copy of the commentary \n                     on Montesquieus\u2019 spirit of laws, which you were pleased to mention to me\u2014\n\t\t  Mr. Duane recommended it to me in the highest terms\u2014\n\t\t  I have amused myself lately in examining the productions and improvements of this district, and have some idea of writing a kind of Itinerarie, which may be useful to strangers who visit, or who propose to inhabit Washington. I do not find that there exists here any register of the temperature of the atmosphere, predominant winds & &\u2014, and having been informed, that you paid great attention to this\n\t\t\t subject, you will oblige me much, if convenient, to furnish me a brief abstract of your observations on this subject\u2014\n\t\t  I have lately seen chicore\u00e9, \n                     or Chicorium Intubus\u2014in a luxuriant state, in a dry soil, at Masons\u2019 island\u2014I suspect that it might be cultivated, in this district, with great advantage, as food for cattle\u2014\n\t\t  It is well ascertained that the Captain of the Melampus declared to that of the Tamahamak, which he carried to Halifax, that he had received positive orders to capture all american vessels bound to France\u2014\n\t\t  Mr. Pinkney is arrived in this City. He proposes to bring his family here on a visit.\n\t\t   Mr. Foster has taken lodgings at Crawfords\u2019 Georgetown\n\t\t  I am, Sir, with respects to Mr & Mrs Randolph and family,\u2014and with sincere thanks for the interest you have taken in my welfare\n          Your ever obliged & devoted Sevt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0020", "content": "Title: Horatio Turpin to Thomas Jefferson, 2 July 1811\nFrom: Turpin, Horatio\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  This will be handed you by Mr Wm Harris the Grandson of your Old Acquaintance Colo John Harris of the Mankin town who wishes to go on board of the Navy and if you could by a letter to the President be instrumental in Obtaining a birth for him he would be thankful to you to do so, he is a young Gentleman of good morals addicted to none of the prevalent vices & I think I can with\n\t\t\t Safety pledge myself for his intrepidity bravery and that he will never disgrace the American flag by\n\t\t\t Striking to inferior force whenever it may be his lot to have the command of a vessel\n            As Our present prospects with the belligerent powers will Justify an expectation of a Rupture young Men of his Undaunted courage will probably be Acceptable to his Country\n            As Offices to which danger is attach\u2019d perhaps are not so frequently apply,d for, the difficulty of obtaining a Suitable birth would not be So great as those where more ease and safety and better pay are expected, Should you think this recommendation would Justify you for an Application in his favour you would confer an Obligation on me\n\t\t  Mrs Turpin Join me in presenting our best wishes to yourself, and also Mrs Randolph and family who we expect are with you and am respectfully thy friend\n\t\t  PS. Wms Father Jordan Harris and his Brother John Harris were both Revolutionary officers in Our last war", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0021", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 3 July 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Madison, James\n\t\t  I have seen with very great concern the late Address of mr Smith to the public. he has been very ill advised both personally and publicly. as far as I can judge from what I hear, the impression made is entirely unfavorable to him. every man\u2019s own\n\t\t\t understanding readily answers all the facts and insinuations, one only excepted, and for that they look for explanations without any doubt that they will be satisfactory.\n\t\t   that is Erving\u2019s case. I have answered the enquiries of several on this head, telling them at the same time, what was really the truth, that the failure of my memory enabled me to give them rather conjectures than recollections. for in truth I have but indistinct recollections of the case. I know that what was done was\n\t\t\t on a joint consultation between us, and I have no fear that what we did will not have been correct & cautious. what I retain of the case, on being reminded of some particulars, will\n\t\t\t re-instate\n\t\t\t the whole firmly in my remembrance, and enable me to state them to enquirers with correctness, which is the more important from the part I bore in them. I must therefore ask the favor of you to\n\t\t\t give\n\t\t\t me a short outline of the facts which may correct as well as supply my own recollections. but who is to give an explanation to the public? not yourself certainly. the chief magistrate cannot enter the Arena of the newspapers. at least the occasion should be of a much higher order. I imagine there is some pen at Washington competent to it. perhaps the best form would be that of some one personating the friend of Erving, some one apparently from the North. nothing laboured is requisite. a short & simple statement of the\n\t\t\t case, will, I am sure, satisfy the public.\u2014we are in the midst of a so so harvest; probably one third short of the last. we had a very fine rain on\n\t\t\t Saturday last. ever affectionately Yours\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0023", "content": "Title: Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours to Thomas Jefferson, 4 July 1811\nFrom: Du Pont de Nemours, Pierre Samuel\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                     Mon respectable Ami, \n\t\t  voici le dernier Volume des \u0152uvres de Mr Turgot. vous y verrez parce quil \u00e9crivait au docteur Price et au Sage Franklin combien il aimait votre Patrie.\n\t\t  Je fais passer \u00e0 Monsieur le Pr\u00e9sident une copie corrig\u00e9e de mon M\u00e9moire sur les Finances des Etats-unis dont je vous ai envoy\u00e9 la minute l\u2019ann\u00e9e derniere.\n          Et aussi une copie corrig\u00e9e de l\u2019ouvrage que vous m\u2019aviez demand\u00e9 sur l\u2019\u00e9ducation nationale.\n\t\t  On m\u2019a dit que Mr \n                     Barlow avait trait\u00e9 le m\u00eame Sujet. Je serais bien curieux de savoir en quoi nous nous raprochons et en quoi nous differons; et d\u2019avoir votre jugement sur les deux ouvrages.\n          J\u2019ai encore \u00e0 donner pour completter l\u2019edition actuelle de Mr Turgot une seconde Edition tr\u00e8s augment\u00e9e des M\u00e9moires sur Sa vie, son Administration, et Ses Ouvrages. Et en retravaillant ces M\u00e9moires j\u2019ai pleur\u00e9 comme la premiere fois.\n          La cessation du Ministere de ce Grand Homme et sa mort, ont \u00eat\u00e9 des malheurs bien graves pour le Genre humain.\n          quand vous recevrez le volume qui en contiendra les dernieres preuves, je serai vraisemblablement bien pr\u00e8s de partir pour Monticello: car je veux \u00eatre enterr\u00e9 en terre Sainte, c\u2019est-\u00e0-dire en terre libre. Il me semble que j\u2019y serai plus tranquille, et que mes os y porteront quelque bonheur.\n          agrez mon inviolable, et tendre, et bien respectueux attachement.\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n                     My respectable Friend, \n\t\t  Here is the final volume of Mr Turgot\u2019s works. You will see by what he wrote to Doctor Price and the wise Franklin how much he loved your country.\n\t\t  I am forwarding to the President a corrected copy of my memoir on the finances of the United States, the draft of which I sent to you last year.\n            And also a corrected copy of the work you had requested of me on national education.\n\t\t  I was told that Mr. Barlow had treated the same subject. I would be very curious to know how we are similar and how we differ, and to have your judgment on these two works.\n\t\t  To complete the current edition of Turgot\u2019s writings, I have still to produce a second, much enlarged edition of his Memoirs on his Life, Administration, and Works. And upon returning once again to these memoirs, I cried like I had the first time I saw them.\n            The cessation of this great man\u2019s ministry and his death have been very serious misfortunes for mankind.\n            When you receive the volume that contains the final proof of this, I will probably be about to leave for Monticello: because I want to be buried in holy ground, that is to say in a free land. It seems to me that I will be more tranquil and that my bones will bring some happiness there.\n            Please accept my inviolable, tender, and very respectful attachment.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0024", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 4 July 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I only yesterday received your favor of the 24th ultimo.\u2014the note however was in time, but had one hour only to spare.\u2014I suppose that your letters must have been too late for the mail, for the dft to Mr \n                  Lyle has not yet appeared.\u2014\n\t\t\t the one to Mr Higginbotham did, in due time. I will tomorrow forward the 500.$ to Jones & Howell.\u2014to day the bank does no business. I wrote you a few lines by last mail to Poplar Forest, a copy of which I subjoin.\n          The last Hhd of Tobacco is greatly superior in quality to the average of the other six, being indeed a very good one.\u2014There was one of the others however as good as this.\n          Tobacco of an inferior quality is if possible becoming more & more unsaleable.\u2014I really should not be at all surprised at its selling shortly at 2$.\n                  Higginbotham will take yours, I think you had better let him have it almost at any price.\n          I would not willingly sell it if you would give me the whole proceeds.\u2014I inclose you 150$ & am\n          Dear Sir Your Very humble servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0025", "content": "Title: William Duane to Thomas Jefferson, 5 July 1811\nFrom: Duane, William\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  By the Mail of this day, I forward you a single copy of the Review of Montesquieu, I hope you will find it executed in a style of neatness not discreditable to the work nor to the American press. By printing it on a larger type and a smaller page, it might have\n\t\t\t been made a large volume, but I believe it will be considered as preferable in its present form by those who prefer a book for its contents rather than by weight or measure.\n\t\t  I have ventured to place two short paragraphs from Hobbes & Beccaria, as mottoes to the title page\u2014containing applicable truths, and at least not inconsistent with its spirit; it was done merely to comply with a fashion, rather than any other motive.\n\t\t   The price which I have put it for sale at, is governed by two considerations, the expence incurred, and the expence to be incurred in circulating it; I have printed 750 copies, & must pay 25 per cent out of the price only for circulating it, that being the Sum agreed upon with the man I employ to obtain Subscribers and deliver works; should this edition sell sufficiently soon, it will determine whether or not it would be adviseable to print another edition at a lower price, and that will be known by the demand and the impression which the work makes; it is too soon to form any judgment here, as my political sins of several years prevents the light of my door from being ever darkened by federal shadows.\n          I trust you will excuse my not having written in answer to your two letters of 28 March and May 1. they excited in my breast very painful feelings, and as I could not touch the Subjects to which they related without expressing my sentiments explicitly and fairly, I judged it preferable to be silent, perfectly satisfied with my own integrity and indifferent to the frowns or favors of mankind thus fortified.\n          If the book is in the form which you suggested as adapted for sending abroad, I shall send you the ten copies which you were pleased to order; or if there should be any other form of binding or putting together, with thinner covers in the manner of French works, I shall have them executed to your wish, having bookbinders in my own house. I am, Sir, with great respect\n          Your obedt Sert", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0026", "content": "Title: John Barnes to Thomas Jefferson, 6 July 1811\nFrom: Barnes, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                  George Town Columa\u20146th July, 1811\n          Your esteemed favr 29th Ulto inclosed Order on Bank of Pensyla\u2014as well 3d Bill of Ex\u2014  \n\t\t  on Accot of Genl Kosciusko\u2014respecting the latter\u2014\n\t\t  on paying my respects on the Memorable 4th Inst to the good Presidt and conversing with Mr Monroe\u2014whose presense gave universal satisfaction\u2014   I took Occasion to mention the delay of Messs Barlow and Warden\u2014by whose conveyance the 1st & 2d setts were deposited\u2014would not be protracted, but for a short time\u2014under these circumstances, forwarding this 3d sett by a 3d conveyance, might possibly be attended with risque\u2014by the possibility of its being presented, for Acceptance, by some unknown hand, prior to the receipt of either the 1st or 2d sett, by Messs B & W\u2014this 3d sett is therefore Retained\u2014\n\t\t  The extreme heat of the Weather deterrs me for the present proceeding to Philadelphia\u2014\n\t\t\t The disadvantages you labour Under\n\t\t\t Respecting your family supplies\u2014I am fully persuaded may be considerably Reduced\u2014\n\t\t\t    by beig procured here, you would scarsely Credit, the very extra increase of importations of every Article of family consumption to this place Coastwise from Boston New York Philada Baltimore Charleston &ca &ca Owing to the Many Capital New buildings\u2014\n\t\t  Wholesale Stores, along the Wharfs above and below the ferry, since you left Washington, several of which contain Merchandize to the Amot of 80, a 90,000 Dolls each\u2014for my part I am at a loss to conceive, how the importers can dispose, of them: but so it is\u2014the Back planters & farmers need not, nor in general do not, Now as heretofore resort, to Baltimore\u2014or Alexandria\u2014Moreover\u2014the \n                  return flour Boats, take back vast quantities of Merchandize to Cumberland\u2014on\n\t\t\t their Way to Kentucky &a &a\u2014a source of great Commercial intercourse solely Appertaining to this place.\u2014\n                  The increasing population\u2014and extra improvemts in George Town and Washington\u2014is in a great Measure Owing to these adventurous speculators Coastwise And were it not for fatal \n                  the fatal\u2014and I fear increasing Obstructions\u2014to our foreign\n\t\t\t Navigation I mean\u2014Obstructions in the Channel of our River\u2014being such, as to compell our shipping Merchants (under, very great disadvantages\u2014extra expences &ca)\u2014to Enter &, Reenter to load, & unload their Vessels\u2014belonging to this port, bound to, & from a foreign port\u2014\n                  to transact their business at the port of Alexanda\u2014instead of George Town solely on Accot of the Obstructn in the Channel\u2014Caused\n\t\t\t in part, by the New Bridge Co\u2014could these difficulties but be removed\u2014this Port and Town would most Assuredly Rival\u2014if not out strip\u2014the Invious pride of\n\t\t\t Alexandria\u2014The Citizens of Washington, not less Invious\u2014and unfriendly\u2014are equally Jealous of this Town\u2019s superior situation\u2014Unhappy, selfish\u2014Views totally erronious\u2014they ought most certainly to be one & the same\u2014as in a\n\t\t\t Co-partnership\u2014the One proportionably benefited by the improvements and prosperity of the other\u2014the other relative\u2014and envious Neighbour, instead of aiding our Mutual Comforts\u2014do but laugh, at our folly and Madness\u2014\n          If you want an early fall or immediate supply\u2014do but give a little time to look about me\u2014I will engage to put them up\u2014as Usual good, and Reasonable\u2014at least reduce your $167\u2013 to 147\u2014\n                  The Stores on the Wharfs are Chiefly for the Storage of Flour Corn Salt Sugar & Molasses and Groceriesin\n                  \u2014generally of all Kinds\u2014here are also not less than 12 New Brick buildings on both sides Bridge Street Elegantly fitted up, and stored abundently\u2014with every Article you can possibly stand in Need of, \n                  Wholesale and retail\u2014as Rivals, their prices & terms, are very Moderate, nearly if not equaly so, to the great Citys, if purchased by those Accustomed to purchase by the piece or package &ca\u2014and altho some particulars \n                  particular Articles must be paid for in Cash\u2014the far greater part, wd be a 60 and others a 90 days Credit on Note\u2014\n          upon the whole, I may safely Venture to say\u2014that with Mrs Ratcliffs Assistance\u2014You could be furnishd with almost every family Article\u2014Wet or dry\u2014fine or Coarse\u2014Linins\u2014\n                  Muslins, Cottons, & Woolens, East, and West India produce & Manufacture\u2014&a &ca\u2014 The freight from hence to Richmond\u2014as the Vessels Usually go in Ballast, would be very Moderate\u2014and fixed here on the Spot\u2014not as Customary\u2014from New York or Philada\n          In, The fall every Needfull Article for the Blacks are in great abundance\u2014\n          If then, from these several combined circumstances you should judge favorably of them\u2014And Accept my Offer\u2014you may depend upon my best exertions for your Interest & satisfication, and while shipping your family supplies\u2014The others at same time might in part be furnished Also\u2014such as Ticklenbergs &a &a\u2014always in Store\u2014\n          Accept my Dear Sir my most gratefull thanks for your kind invitation Necessity not choice, alone, induced me to propose that of Philada on Accot of my unfortunate Tobo purchase By my latest advices, \u214c \n                     last Evengs post I find no possible sale can be made\u2014nor even a Barter one effected. of course I shall defer the Attempt\u2014and \n                  quietly & Anxiously wait the issue of events more favorable to my purpose,\u2014\n          most Respectfully\u2014and most sincerely\u2014Be Assured I am Dear Sir\u2014Your Obedt servant,", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0029", "content": "Title: James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 8 July 1811\nFrom: Madison, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  Your favor of the 3d came duly to hand. You will have noticed in the Nat: Intelligencer that the wicked \n                     publication of Mr Smith is not to escape with impunity. It is\n\t\t\t impossible however that the whole turpitude of his conduct can be understood without disclosures to be made by myself alone, and of course, as he knows, not to be made at all. Without these his\n\t\t\t infamy is daily fastening itself upon him; leaving no other consolation than the malignant hope of revenging his own ingratitude and guilt on others.\n\t\t\t The case of Erving, will probably be better explained in the Newspaper, than I can here do it.\n\t\t\t The general facts of it I believe are,\n\t\t\t that\n\t\t\t the three offices at London were centered in him, with one of the salaries only; it being understood at the time that he would be made Assessor to the Board under Jay\u2019s Treaty, in which case he would be well recompenced.\n\t\t\t The Board declined to appoint him, giving preference to Cabot. Still however a certain portion of business passed thro\u2019 his hands.  On this he charged, the usual commission of 2\u00bd per Ct accruing from the individuals, and not from a public fund. \n                  In stating his account however Having paid over \n                   the whole of the money of individuals in his hands, to the public, instead of retaining his Commission, \n                  a resort to Congs became necessary. Whilst the subject was before them, doubts were excited as to the merits of the case, and a call made on Mr Gallatin for information. His report put an end to the difficulty. the appropriation was immediately made, and but for the perverted view of the matter now before the public, would never more been thought of. The Treasury\n\t\t\t officers, tho\u2019 politically adverse to Mr E. do him much justice on the occasion, declaring that his official transactions throughout as presented in his accts are models of clearness and exactness, that he appears to have saved or gained to the public by his vigilance & assiduity 60. or 70,000 dolrs that there remains a surplus of unclaimed monies, to a considerable amount, the greater part of which will probably never be claimed, & finally that the only error committed by Mr E. was his not avoiding the necessity of asking a \n                  Congs to give back what they had improperly re the amount of his Commission, by deducting it himself from the sums paid into the public Coffers.\n                  It has been thought best, whilst Mr Monroe is in communications with the B. & F. Ministers here, to be silent on the subject.\n\t\t\t the latest information from Russel, is prior to the arrival of the non-importation Act, the state of our affairs at Paris may be conjectured. \n                  Pinkney brings, of course, nothing; Foster being the channel of English news.\n                  I do not know that he has yet opened himself himself \n                  compleatly to Mr Monroe; but from the conciliatory disposition of the Prince Regent, and the contrary one of his Cabinet, still deriving an ascendency from the convalescence of the King, you will be very able to dive into the character of the mission. You will perceive in the printed paper enclosed, a step by the British Minister, which, very unseasonably it would seem, denotes an increasing rigor towards this Country.\n\t\t\t According\n\t\t\t to a preceding interposition with the Court of Admiralty, cases under the orders in Council, had been suspended\n          I had promised myself the \n                  a release from this position immediately after the 4th July. It will be some days yet before I shall be able to set out. \n                  Considering the excessive heat for some days past, no time has yet been lost. The weather has been as dry as hot. In general the drought has been so severe as to ruin almost the oats & flax. The crop of wheat, tho\u2019 shortened, will be tolerable, in tolerable land, where the Hessians have not committed their ravages.Be assured of my most affectionate esteem.\n            James Madison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0030", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to David Bailie Warden, 8 July 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Warden, David Bailie\n\t\t   I recieved your favor of the 1st by our yesterday\u2019s post and have hastily written the two inclosed letters to Messrs La Fayette & Kosciuszko, the in the hope that the return of the post may still find you at Washington.\n\t\t  I kept, during the last half dozen years of my residence at Washington a diary of the weather. I h cannot in the instant make any thing of it which could be useful to you, but, with the first leisure, will furnish you with such general results from it as may answer your views.\n\t\t  Arthur Young carried the Sichorium Intubus from France to England, & sent some seed to Genl \n                  Washington who gave me a part. it has been growing\n\t\t\t here in abundance & perfection now 20. years without any cultivation after the first transplanting.\n\t\t\t  I know no plant so valuable for green feeding, and mr Strickland told me they cut up the dry plant in England, & fed their horses with it. to get my letter to the office\n\t\t\t before the departure of the mail I must here conclude with my wishes for a happy passage, & an assurance of my great respect & esteem.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0031", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Philip Mazzei, 9 July 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Mazzei, Philip\n          I recieved, my dear friend, the day before yesterday, your favor of Feb. 15. it is the only one I have recieved from you since that of Oct. 28. 1808. so long a silence had excited apprehensions which this letter removes. \n\t\t   I shall take the best measures I can for the sale of your house & lot in Richmond. it is in a part of the town where property sells low. for it is a curious fact, that Richmond instead of extending itself downwards towards the lower navigation has built to meet the upper navigation.\n\t\t   the body of the town is now on Shockoe hill.\n\t\t   I will immediately write to mr Bracken on the subject of Bellini\u2019s effects; but the result cannot go with this letter, because a frigate sailing this week with mr Barlow appointed minister & mr Warden Consul to Paris, allows me but the single post of tomorrow to get this letter into their hands. it is the more\n\t\t\t unfortunate as the few opportunities which occur are rarely known to me but by the newspapers announcing their departure.\n\t\t   your friend Woollaston arrived safely in this country, and sent me the wines you were so kind as to commit to his care. they were delicious, such bottles as preserved their quality, and served to excite the\n\t\t\t regret you have often heard me express, that the monopoly of our commerce by a single nation, should exclude us from the good things of all others.\n\t\t  mr Woolaston called on me afterwards at Washington, but making no stay there, gave me no other opportunity, than at a single dinner, of becoming acquainted with him.\n\t\t   the Monthly strawbery seed you sent me in a phial, I determined to keep unopened till I should come home myself to take care of them, because I found it impossible from repeated trials, to have\n\t\t\t such things attended to in my absence. I sowed the seeds in an earthen box, and one single one only germinated, from which I have now two beds, and loaded at this time with fruit. I shall be\n\t\t\t enabled,\n\t\t\t the ensuing season, to stock the neighborhood.\n\t\t   all the other articles you were so kind as to send me, being of necessity confided to servants here, have left me with a few vines only, and about half a dozen peach trees, which not having yet\n\t\t\t borne fruit, are as yet unknown as to their qualities.\n\t\t   I learn with great pleasure that you have such a source of happiness in your daughter. her age, her education, her prospects & her love, must be so many interesting links binding you to life.\n\t\t  altho\u2019 I doubt whether a person brought up in European society & habits can themselves be as happy here as there, yet I have no doubt of the blessings they prepare for their posterity by\n\t\t\t transplanting them hither. but my visions of going to bring you all here are dissipated by the hand of time. one\n                  birthday more places me in my 70th year, and tho\u2019 I have constantly enjoyed good health, I am much enfeebled. I am little able to walk about. most of my exercise is on horseback, and the powers of live \n                  life very sensibly decayed. rest and tranquility now constitute the summum bonum for me, and my only wish a quiet descent to that asylum which has recieved some more of your acquaintances since my last.\n                  mr John Walker and his wife left us the last year, within a few days of each other. I am not certain whether the deaths of John Page & mr Wythe have been made known to you.\n\t\t\t Daniel Hylton is also gone, and my affectionate connections, mr & mrs Eppes, and indeed I recollect none of your intimate acquaintance now living but T. Lomax & myself.\n                  make me known favorably to your daughter if you please, to whom the affectionate dispositions of an old man can do no harm, and accept my sincere prayers for the continuance of your life & health as long as yourself shall wish.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0032", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to David Bailie Warden, 9 July 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Warden, David Bailie\n            The possibility that another post may still find you at Washington induces me to risk another letter\u2019s getting in time to have the benefit of your care.\n\t\t\t  mr Mazzei, of Pisa, to whom it is addressed, is the intimate friend of mr Febroni, probably known to you as a man of letters, lately appointed by the Emperor a Maitre de requetes, charged with the care of roads and bridges South of the Alps, and passing most of his time at Paris. if put into his hands it\n\t\t\t will be sure of a safe conveyance, but in case of his absence, such other conveyance as you can find for it will oblige me. repeating my wishes for a pleasant voyage, I add the assurance of my great esteem and respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0034", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to David Bailie Warden, 10 July 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Warden, David Bailie\n\t\t  Th: Jefferson presents his friendly salutations to mr Warden and having recieved a single copy of the Review of Montesquieu he is anxious to have the benefit of the safe conveyance by mr Warden & the\n\t\t\t Essex to get it to France. \n\t\t  he again therefore takes the chance of a letter still finding him at Washington & of asking his care of it with a repetition of his wishes for a happy voiage.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0035", "content": "Title: Benjamin Galloway to Thomas Jefferson, 11 July 1811\nFrom: Galloway, Benjamin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I have taken the liberty of troubling you with the inclosed Papers. I shall continue to animadvert on a Steady Patriot, from time to time. his grand object is to influence the approaching choice of Electors of \n                  the Senate of Maryland. our Citizens in Washington County are true to the principles of July 4th 76\u2014but, an attempt is now making to debauch them. I have placed myself in their defence, and be assured, I will be constant, watchful and decided\u2014In haste, permit me with best wishes for your health & happiness much respected Sir", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0036", "content": "Title: James T. Austin to Thomas Jefferson, 12 July 1811\nFrom: Austin, James T.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  A citizen who holds in most exalted respect the illustrious character of the late President of the United States begs leave to enclose a pamphlet, written with a view of supporting the laws & constitution of the Country\u2014and seizes this only occassion in his life of expressing the most devoted admiration of", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0037", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Mary Lewis, 12 July 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Lewis, Mary\n\t\t  Th: Jefferson presents his friendly salutations to mrs Lewis and sends her \n                  a few figs some figs, of the few which come forward at this season. \n\t\t   if she has cucumbers to spare he will avail himself of her kind offer of them, his own being not yet advanced, and the drought of May & June having left him without lettuce.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0038", "content": "Title: John Milledge to Thomas Jefferson, 12 July 1811\nFrom: Milledge, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                  near Augusta, Georgia. 12th July 1811\n          I have received your esteemed favor of the 5th of last month\u2014\n\t\t  I was apprehensive that Monticello, and its nieghbourhood would be too cold for the bene, so as to make it a profitable article of cultivation for Market\u2014If you can raise a sufficiency of seed for your own use, it will be, in\n\t\t\t my opinion, as much as can be done\u2014accept my warmest thanks, for communicating your different essays at presses for making of the oil\u2014I have made oil for my own use, and nieghbours, for two years\n\t\t\t past, it took me some time before I succeeded, and now with very little trouble, I can make about a gallon and a quart of pure cold drawn oil, to a bushel of seed\u2014I took a block of sweet gum, 4\n\t\t\t feet\n\t\t\t by 2\u00bd, a mortise in the centre, 12 inches long, 8 wide, and 9 inches deep, an inch Auger pass was passed obliquely through, so as to hit the centre of one side of the mortise at the bottom, into which I introduced a piece of gun barrel as a tube\u2014at the bottom of the mortise, grooves\n\t\t\t were cut, with a chisel, in different directions, gradually made deeper as they inclined to the tube\u2014strips of sheet Iron about an inch wide, and nearly the length of the mortise, was placed over\n\t\t\t the\n\t\t\t grooves, about 3\u20138th of an inch apart\u2014In my first essay I had no grooves, a considerable part of the oil was forced up, little ran out at the tube, I have the seed bruised in a mortar, then put into a bag\n\t\t\t knitted of coarse yarn the bag with seed is placed in the mortise, a piece of sweet gum, about 3 inches thick, made exactly to occupy the mortise, is put on the bag, a block of the size of the\n\t\t\t mortise follows next\u2014a large wooden screw, which I have for compressing cotton into square bales, is made to act on the block, the lever is of considerable length, and of course the power great,\n\t\t\t your\n\t\t\t method of the beam must answer equally as well as the screw, perhaps better, as the pressure is more gradual\u2014\n\t\t   I was impressed with the belief, that the beam would answer, and recommended it last winter to Mr Willis Alston of North Carolina\u2014The way I have hitherto taken to clear the seed of the refuse particles is by wenches riddling the seed in small baskets, in the same manner that is done with corn, to take the husk from it, after being beat for hommony\u2014I some times cleanse the seed by wind, putting a bench on\n\t\t\t a sheet for a person to stand on, and lowering and raising the seed, according to the force of the wind\u2014I once used a wheat fanner, the only objection, the sieve was too coarse\u2014\n\t\t   Colo Few informs me, that a fanner has been invented for the bene seed, and in use at an oil mill on second river, New Jersey, which separates the seed remarkably well\u2014\n\t\t   The rice which you sent me, I distributed \n                  among some of our best rice planters near savannah, one of the aquatic kind, is said to be equal if not superior, to the rice now generally cultivated\u2014The bearded rice grows well on\n\t\t\t high land, and requires only the usual seasons for bringing Indian corn to perfection\u2014I will have the result of the experiments published\u2014\n                  I intend sending to our friend Genl smith of Baltimore, a rice barrel of bene seed for you, with a request that he send it to Richmond. I think you will find a difference in the weight of the seed, raised in Georgia, and that with you\u2014I should like to know the method which is used in the old Country to clarify oil. I find a sediment after the oil remains some time bottled, and it retains a vegetable\n\t\t\t scent which ought to be removed\u2014\n                  as we appear to have somewhat of an\n\t\t\t intercourse with France, would you be desirous of making a second attempt of cotton seed? it is only to inform me, and it shall be sent to whatever port you may direct\u2014\n                  The Sheep of south Carolina, and Georgia, I believe to be little inferior to the best of that Species, either for the wool, or table\u2014our mutton has been long admired, and it has been but a few years since we have noticed the\n\t\t\t texture of the wool\u2014\n                  I think I informed you, that I sent to Colo Humphreys manufactory, some wool from a place I have near the sea, to have its quality ascertained, in return I had cloth sent me, made of the wool, which I am now wearing, very little inferior to\n\t\t\t the best broad cloth\u2014\n                  A late arrival from Lisbon, has brought us upwards of 100 Merino sheep\u2014The\n\t\t\t unjust measures towards us of the two great Belligerent\n\t\t\t Powers, has certainly openned the eyes of our Countrymen, and turned their attention to their true interest\u2014The mechanical genius is exerting itself throughout our extended nation\u2014we already see\n\t\t\t in many things equal, and in some superior to the old Country.\n                  The deplorable situation of Mrs Milledge, now nearly three years confined to her bed laying on her back not able to turn, to the right, or left\u2014her legs and thighs swelled to an enormous Size, her Body a perfect skeleton\u2014never\n\t\t\t moved but on a sheet raised by three persons on each side, and in constant excruciating pain\u2014It is the wonder of every one who has seen her, that her existance has been prolonged to this day\u2014\n                  She unites with me in our sincere respect and best wishes for yourself Mr and Mrs Randolph\u2014I will thank you to remember me to my young friend Jefferson\u2014\n          Accept the assurances of my high, and great esteem.\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0039", "content": "Title: Philip Turpin to Thomas Jefferson, 13 July 1811\nFrom: Turpin, Philip\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n        Dear sir\n\t\t  Mr William Harris has inform\u2019d me of his intention of making a tender of his services to his country in the naval line, and has requested a letter of recommendation to you: this request I have cheerfully\n\t\t\t complied with, as I have known Mr Harris from his infancy, and think him a young gentleman of merit and respectability, and doubt not his inclination or ability to deserve well of his country, should his services be accepted.\n      To you, dear sir, no apology I presume is necessary for the liberty I have taken; persuaded as I am of the pleasure you receive from furthering the views, and promoting the interests of young men of worth and respectability.\n      I am happy to hear by Mr Harris that you continue to enjoy a good share of health, which I sincerely wish the continuance of, not only on your own account, but also on that of your country: for I cannot but hope that if\n\t\t\t that blessing be continued, your activity of mind, and philanthropy will induce you to add to the number of your literary productions.\n      I have in a great measure declin\u2019d the practice of physic; but I have not the happiness, like you, to retire with the applause of millions; nor have I your consolation, of having either written what deserves to be read, or of having perform\u2019d what will deserve to be recorded.\n      With my sincerest wishes for your health & happiness\n        I am, dear sir, your sincere friend and hble servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0040", "content": "Title: Burwell Bassett to Thomas Jefferson, 20 July 1811\nFrom: Bassett, Burwell\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          Your letter of the 17th ult has been received and the answering of it thus long delaid. to procure the desired information\u2014. I have this day seen Mr Ratcliffe the person named in the letter of Monsr Beauvois. He is a man I have long been acquainted with, and I know him to be deserving of confidence. \n\t\t\t He states that he was sent for to write Mr Piernetz will and that at the time be \n                  he began to write the will there were many of the neighbours in the store but that before he could finish it they had all gone home that Piernetz then in his perfect senses approved the will and as there were no persons to witness it he said to Mr Ratcliffe that if he would ride down in the morning that he Piernetz would send for some of his neighbours and get the will witnessed but the next morning was too late and the paper not signed.\n\t\t  The court of new Kent admited the paper to record as a noncupative will and Lacy has petitioned the Legislature and a law has passed at the last session, in what form I can not say most probable only relinquishing the title \n                     right of the commonwealth. This is the substance of Mr Ratcliffe,s information. \n\t\t  I am not informed whether an escheat was ever taken out, nor can I say any thing certain as to Ruelle\u2019s having made himself a citizen but I am disposed from my knowledge of the man to believe he did acquire the right of citizenship & I am the more induced to think so because the first thing he did almost was to purchase land, he would not have been so unadvised as to neglect the means of securing it.\n\t\t  whether Mrs Ruelle the made herself a citizen would then be a question. If it be material to your views of this subject to know whether Ruelle became a citizen I can have the record examined and inform you. I could if desired send copies of the will &c. There being opposition made to the recording\n\t\t\t the will I should suppose that it would be difficult to set aside that decision. I am not apprised of the strength of testimony besides that of Mr Ratcliffe which may be aduced but as he observed that were a \n                  many persons at the house when he went to write the will it is probable some were privy to the circumstances. This is the sum of the\n\t\t\t information that have as yet been able to gather on this subject should any other come to my knowledge they shall be communicated.\n          I cannot doubt that any thing connected with the natural history of our country will be highly interesting to you and that you will receive with pleasure the information of the bones of the Mamouth have been found on the shores of York River. \n\t\t\t discovery was made at Mr Gowin Corbins between the mouths of King & of Queens creek and between high & low water mark.The\n\t\t\t teeth which I have seen are as perfect as those sent you by Mr Clarke, Two of them were connected in their socket and there was more or less bone connected with all the teeth. The pelvis which I did not see is said to be five across. The place of this deposite tho now covered at high tide it would seem had not\n\t\t\t been always so for in diging for these bones many roots of trees were discovered. asAs yet all the place werewhere the carcass was suppose\u2019d to ly has not not been explored. The head & tail had been most exposed by the washing of the tide and those parts have as yet only been found. The teeth with the bones attached to them have been lodged in College as I presume the other parts will be as found.\n          with the assurance of much esteem and respect your obt. SerBurwell Bassett", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0041", "content": "Title: Jacob Franklin Heston to Thomas Jefferson, [before 20 July 1811]\nFrom: Heston, Jacob Franklin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           IN dedicating this book to you, I have many reasons to expect, that I shall escape the censures, which the authors of dedicatory addresses so generally, and so justly, deserve. If you had not retired from office into the peace of private life, this address might have afforded some pretext, perhaps, to charge me with motives, very different from those by which I am actuated. But sir, you neither wear a crown, nor hold an office; and therefore, the base incentives by which dedicators are so often influenced, cannot with any plausibility be imputed to me. Indeed, if you were still in office, such reproaches could not be believed; because it could not be supposed that I am ignorant of a character, which is known to all the rest of my fellow citizens. It is now obvious, I believe, that no eulogium could induce you to grant favours to the unworthy; nor the omission of it to withhold them from merit. Hence, sir, if you were still in office, it must be evident that I would not, if I were seeking promotion or gain, inscribe my productions to one, from whom no more could be obtained by that means, than could be obtained without. Besides, as so fit an occasion, for an address of this kind, has seldom, or perhaps never, occurred before, I ought not to be judged by common criterions.\n          I have addressed you, sir, on the present occasion, not only for the purpose of expressing my gratitude for the services which you have rendered to mankind; but for the honour of publicly declaring my intire approbation of your public and private life. I may not perhaps, be informed of all your private transactions; but I give them this approbation, with the fullest confidence; because your political and official conduct has given the most unequivocal proof, that your private life has been laudable and correct. He who preserves an unsullied virtue in the highest stations, and in the greatest prosperity, as well as under the pressure of the greatest difficulties, would certainly act with propriety in every sphere in which he could be placed; for whoever with virtuous firmness uniformly resists the stronger temptations, would surely not yield to the weaker.\n          You will observe, sir, that I do no more at present, than adopt the easiest method of participating in the honour of another\u2019s merit. For, by adopting the works and sentiments of others, we seem to share in their fame; though we have neither the wisdom with which their plans were devised, nor the prudence or fortitude by which they were executed. And it is thus, sir, by this approbation of Your policy, that I seem to share in the honour of it.\n          But, independent of the high gratification and honour, which I derive from this public acknowledgment of my approbation and regard; if the tendency of this book is consistent with the design of writing it, to whom could I offer the homage of its dedication, with that propriety with which it is now offered to you. For, you were not only the first to make a prompt and manly declaration of independence; but you have uniformly evinced, on all occasions since, the most incorruptible attachment to liberty, and the most disinterested desire to extend and preserve it for the benefit of the human race. Under your administration the most obvious defects of the constitution were removed; and its best principles strengthened and preserved. Under you, the friends of liberty, cheerfully and unanimously united for its defence; and by you it was protected from foreign and domestic foes. Under you, the diabolical spirit of despotism was suppressed; and by your firmness, some of the would be tyrants of our country, were driven from our shores.\n          In short, under your wise, lenient, and pacific administration, we enjoyed the most unexampled prosperity, and \u201cwitnessed the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, where reason is left free to combat it.\u201d\n          After so many heart saddening instances of the infamous and cruel success of monarchs; and amidst so many shocking examples of political turpitude and apostacy, it is peculiarly grateful to the mind, to behold, in this happy country, wisdom triumphing over folly, virtue over vice, and truth over falshood. It must, indeed, be the sweetest consolation, amidst these melancholy instances of political, immoral, and infernal deception; to behold a great and incorruptible statesman, scorning the baubles and temptations of ambition, trampling on the spirit of tyranny and oppression, and, with a firm heart and capacious mind, protecting his country from the evils which threaten it, and preserving its freedom, peace, and prosperity. At least, to a mind possessed of honest sensibility, I cannot imagine what could afford a higher\n\t\t\t gratification, than to see a good man always successful, when he is struggling with such glorious and invincible integrity, to discharge the most sacred of duties: especially, when he bears down\n\t\t\t before the tide of his good fortune, the extreme cruelty and depravity of a despotic or monarchical spirit: for as history proves that there is nothing more cruel than the success of that spirit;\n\t\t\t nothing should give us more joy, than to see it successfully opposed. Hence, sir, while I have beheld your success, I have felt the liveliest gratification; and have imbibed the pleasing hope,\n\t\t\t that\n\t\t\t your great example would limit the ambition of others; and stimulate your successors to walk in your path.\n          But sir, if it is a pleasure to reflect on your services, it must also be a pleasure to know that they have met with a grateful reward. I do not, however, mean to insinuate that your reward is equal to your services; but I believe it is the greatest which a wise man can experience, and it arises from the happiness, gratitude and veneration of his fellow citizens. If it must afford pleasure even to an ordinary mind, to reflect on the happiness of this extensive country; what delight must it give to you to behold the felicity of so many millions; especially, if you consider that you were so greatly instrumental in procuring it.\n          With respect sir, to this book, whatever may be its effect, or its merit, it was written in favour of liberty: and therefore I think I could not offer the homage of this dedication to any one with as much consistency as it is now offered to you, to whom we are so much indebted for the liberty which we at present enjoy.\n          But, if I am acquainted with the sentiments of the public, it is not only your political discernment, services and integrity which have, in their judgment, entitled you to our respect; but, though I have addressed this book to you merely as to the great defender of liberty, yet, if it had possessed the greatest literary merit, I should, nevertheless, have thought it most proper to inscribe it to you: and the propriety of it would, I believe, be no less obvious to the public.\n          I have not, however, the vanity to expect that one who has been accustomed to write with the greatest elegance, perspicuity, and correctness, will find much, except truth, to esteem in this book: nor do I expect that one who possesses the finest taste, and is the most capable of perceiving the smallest shade or tincture of impropriety, can peruse it without meeting with many gloomy or unsavoury passages in his way. But I confidently hope, that, if it would be an atom in the scale of liberty, you will be cautious in animadverting on it\u2019s defects; for I cannot, be insensible that if this work has any merit, the sanction of your name would give it currency, and notwithstanding its defects, make it in some degree useful to the public.\n          If, in making this address without your knowledge or consent, I have committed an error, I know that there are none more likely to pardon errors, than those who know how to avoid them; and the hope of impunity encouraged me to gratify my inclination, by a more free communication of sentiment, than may, perhaps, be proper on the present occasion. I have not however mentioned facts and opinions, because I thought that it would be agreeable to you to hear even the truth in your own praise, but because I thought that it would be honourable to me, and in some other respects proper, to mention them. I have not said enough to do justice to my own feelings, although I have said more than can be agreeable to yours: but, if I have derived a gratification at your expence, I hope you will pardon this freedom when you reflect, that I consider this as the only opportunity which I can ever have of publishing sentiments so honourable to myself. I hope also that you will pardon the manner of publishing them, when you reflect on the plainness of my understanding, and the difficulty of attaining the object which I desire on the one hand, without violating the strict rules of decorum on the other. This is a difficulty to which I fear I am unequal: and I should make the experiment with the greatest apprehension if it could occasion any serious injury. But, for particular reasons, I have determined to express the truth in this address; and when all other apologies fail, I will plainly appeal for my justification to the right, which every man has of declaring his approbation of another\u2019s conduct. This is a right which you cannot deny. I do not, however, wish to appear in the high road of venal dedicators: and, lest I should seem to be treading in the same path, I will only recapitulate what I have, before observed, that I wish this address to be considered, merely as the sincere declaration of the gratitude which I feel, and of the sentiments which I am proud to proclaim: and that, to consider it in any other light would indeed be an act of injustice: for as to the assertions which it contains, they are notoriously true; and as to the expression of my regard, there is no reason to believe that it is not, what it really is, the purest homage of my soul, uninfluenced by the body or its concerns.\n          I will now conclude, without venturing to trouble you with any other remark, except, that I fear the length and prolixity of this address will admit of no excuse; permit me however, in taking my leave to reiterate the warmest assurances of my sincerity and of the great veneration, with which\n          I have the honour to be, Sir, your most devoted friend and Fellow Citizen,\n                  Jacob Franklin Heston", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0042", "content": "Title: Benjamin Morgan to Thomas Jefferson, 20 July 1811\nFrom: Morgan, Benjamin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  Your favour of the 11th Ulto reached me a few days ago covering the papers asked for in my letter of the 22d March and it appears a further delay is to take place with this unfortunate business\u2014Lieut Peyton is stationed at Fort Stoddard a considerable distance from hence and could not be got here before the Adjournment of our Superior Court which takes place to day\n          The Court opens again on the first Monday in November by which time I will endeavour to have Mr Peyton here and terminate this longstanding Affair\n          I am with much respect & esteem your most Obt Hble servant", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0044", "content": "Title: Joel Barlow to Thomas Jefferson, [received 21 July 1811]\nFrom: Barlow, Joel\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t   Mammoth Rye. I recieved it last year from France. it is lately from Asia. I sowed 70 grains in my garden. it produced 7483 grains. but they are not so plump as those I sowed. It is heavier than wheat & gives a flour as white. The stalk being more solid than\n\t\t\t that of common rye it will probably resist the fly. Sow in Sepr\u2014\n                  Caspian wheat. recieved with the rye. was extremely plump & heavy, has somewhat degenerated in my garden, possibly owing to the season & the exposure uncommonly dry & warm. Having a solid stalk it will give more fodder than common wheat & may escape the fly. it has a cluster head. Sow in Sepr\u2014\n\t\t   Persian Barley, recieved with the rye & wheat. has degenerated less with me. It was much heavier than common barley, with a thinner & softer coat. Sow in Spring.\n          I pray Mr Jefferson to accept the samples herewith sent as above described. After one or two years trial he will be able to appreciate them, & if he finds them valuable he will impart them to others for public benefit. The names I have given them are somewhat arbitrary, but not entirely so. They came I understand from regions that are well enough indicated by the names of the two latter. the first will speak for itself.\n          As the president is soon to quit the city I suppose I shall soon embark, but the prospect of doing good is not very brilliant.\n\t\t   I recieved two packets from you Some time ago, each containing enclosures for France. To each I returned an answer, & in one of mine I mentioned the disposition I had made of your books &c at my house. They are deposited at the presidents house to your order, & in the Same boxes they came to me in.\u2014\n          with the greatest possible attachment & respect, including wishes for your long life & happiness\u2014I remain yrs obt St", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0045-0001", "content": "Title: James Walker to Thomas Jefferson, 21 July 1811\nFrom: Walker, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I have taken a second consideration on the calculation of the running gears intended for your saw Mill. both for a 10.\u00bd feet water-wheel &. a 15 feet wheel\u2014&. am most in favour of the latter. more particularly as you intend using the small branch the 15 feet wheel will with the same quantity of water drawn on it produce the greatest effect as there will be so many more buckets to act at the same time. should you have a 15 foot wheel it may work by the side of the saw Mill and if the top of the wheel projects above the floore of the mill house it will not be in the way of any thing. the water from the river may act on the same perpendicular descent & more buckets than on the 10.\u00bd foot wheel=&. the water from the branch will act on a much greater perpendicular descent consiquently the wheel withe of 15 feet damr with the same quantity of water must act with most power\u2014as you can obtain sufficient fall in the branch\u2014I should clearly recommend the 15 feet wheel=we can also give the saw 10 or 12 strokes in a minute more than with the 10.\u00bd foot wheel, as it will bear gearing reather higher\u2014but in either case it will be difficult with only single gearing to give the saw sufficient motion without having the cogwheel too large & wallower \n                  too small=in case you should have a 15 foot water wheel I have added at the bottom of the former Bill=a little to the length and sizes of some of the timbers\u2014\n            I am Sir your obt servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0045-0002", "content": "Title: Enclosure: James Walker\u2019s Timber List for Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Sawmill Wheels, 20 July 1811\nFrom: Walker, James\nTo: \n\t\t   Back Cants for Cogwheels white oak or heart pine\n                Face Cants for ditto.\n                Coggs for ditto good Locust\n\t\t   Plank for wallowers &c white oak.\n\t\t   For Ragwheel of heart pine\n                For water wheel\n\t\t   Shrouding of good white oak or heart pine\n\t\t   Soling. of pine\u2014\n                Buckets ditto\n                Cogwheel for 15 feet water wheel\n                Water wheel 15 feet diamr", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0046", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Joel Barlow, 22 July 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Barlow, Joel\n                  I had not supposed a letter would still find you at Washington. yours by last post tells me otherwise. those of May 2. & 15 had been\n                   recieved in due time. \n\t\t  with respect to my books, if \n                  lodged at the President\u2019s house, if you should see mr Coles, the President\u2019s Secretary, and be so good as to mention it, he will be so kind as to have them put on board some vessel bound to Richmond, addressed to the care of Gibson & Jefferson\n\t\t\t there, whom he knows.\n                  your doubts whether any good can be\n\t\t\t effected with the Emperor of France are too well grounded. he has understanding enough, but it is confined to particular lines. of the principles and advantages of commerce he appears ignorant, and\n\t\t\t his domineering temper deafens him moreover to the dictates of interest, of honor & of morality. a nation like ours, recognising no arrogance of language or conduct can never enjoy the favor of such a character. the impression too\n\t\t\t which our public has been made to recieve from the different stiles of correspondence used by two of our foreign agents, has increased the difficulties of steering between the bristling pride of\n\t\t\t the\n\t\t\t two parties.\n\t\t\t seems to point out the Quaker stile of plain reason, void of offence:\n\t\t\t the suppression of all passion, & chaste language of good sense.\n            heaven prosper your endeavors for our good, and preserve you in health and happiness.\n            the grains recieved shall be duly attended to", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0047", "content": "Title: John L. Thomas to Thomas Jefferson, 23 July 1811\nFrom: Thomas, John L.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t   My Brother Norborn & myself having Commenced a Commission buisiness in this place any encouragement You may be disposed to give to young & dependent beginners will be thankfully received by\n          Yr most obt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0048", "content": "Title: Robert Wash to Thomas Jefferson, 23 July 1811\nFrom: Wash, Robert,Mason, John Thomson\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           Mr John T Mason, intends to pass thro\u2019 your part of the Country on his return to Loudon; and having expressed a desire to see Monticello &C, I have ventured to give him a pretext for calling. Should\n\t\t\t he deliver the Nos. of the Louisiana Gazette in person, you will be able to obtain from conversations with him, information more useful, interesting & authentic than they can possibly afford.\n           Mr Mason, is the son of Stephen Thompson Mason of Virg. deceased, & the brother-in-law of Governor Howard. From him, you may learn the News,\n\t\t\t condition &C of the Territory in detail.\n          Beleive me with sincere esteem yr &C", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0049", "content": "Title: Benjamin Franklin Thompson to Thomas Jefferson, 24 July 1811\nFrom: Thompson, Benjamin Franklin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                     Setauket (Long-Island New york) \n\t\t  A sincere and ardent veneration for your person and character, has induced me, to transmit you an Oration of mine, lately delivered in this place, at the request of the Tammany Society No 1 of the Island  of Nassau & No 4 of the State, of which I have the honor to be Grand Sachem.\n          The publication has no particular merit to recommend it it t \n                  to your notice; but as I have taken the liberty to mention your many virtues, perhaps it will not prove an unwelcome present.\n          Should you ever contemplate a Tour thro\u2019 this State, your presence on Long Island, would excite inexpressible satisfaction to a very numerous majority of Republicans and especially to your\n          Obedient Humble Servant\n                  Benjamin Franklin Thompson.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0050", "content": "Title: David Bailie Warden to Thomas Jefferson, 24 July 1811\nFrom: Warden, David Bailie\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I beg leave to inform you, that I have received the volume for general La Fayette. I\n\t\t\t shall set out tomorrow, for annapolis, where I expect to embark for France, with mr Barlow, in the course of a few days\u2014\n\t\t  the French Minister has received dispatches from France announcing the Emperors\u2019 decision to admit into the ports of his Empire, the productions of the United States\u2014It is stated, that the duties, on american \n                  articles, with the exception of tobacco, will be but one half of the late tariff\u2014I am, Sir, with great respect, \n                     your ever obliged Servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0052", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William Duane, 25 July 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Duane, William\n\t\t  Your letter of the 5th with the volume of Montesquieu accompanying it, came to hand in due time; the latter indeed in lucky time as, inclosing it by the return of post, I was enabled to get it into mr Warden\u2019s hands before his departure, for a friend abroad to whom it will be a most acceptable offering. of the residue of the copies I\n\t\t\t asked, I would wish to recieve one well bound for my own library, the others in boards as that before sent. one of these in boards may come to me by post, for use until the others are recieved,\n\t\t\t which\n\t\t\t I would prefer having sent by water, as vessels depart almost daily from Philadelphia for Richmond. \n\t\t  Messrs Gibson & Jefferson of that place will recieve & forward the packet to me.\n\t\t  add to it if you please a copy of Franklin\u2019s works, bound, and send me by post a note of the amount of the whole, and of my newspaper account, which has been suffered to run in arrear by the difficulty of remitting small &\n\t\t\t fractional sums to a distance, from a canton having only it\u2019s local money, & little commercial intercourse beyond it\u2019s own limits.\n\t\t     I learnt with sincere regret that my former letters had given you pain. nothing could be further from their intention. what I had said and done was from the most friendly dispositions towards yourself, and from a zeal for maintaining the republican ascendancy. federalism, stripped as it now nearly is, of it\u2019s landed and labouring support, is Monarchism & Anglicism, and whenever our own dissensions shall let these in upon us, the last ray of free government closes on the horizon of the world. \n\t\t   I have been lately reading Komarzewski\u2019s Coup d\u2019oeil on the history of Poland. tho\u2019 without any charms of stile or composition, it gives a lesson, which all our countrymen should study; the example of a country erased from the map of the world by the dissensions of\n\t\t\t it\u2019s own citizens. the papers of every day read them the counter lesson of the impossibility of subduing a people acting with an undivided will.\n\t\t\t   Spain, under all her disadvantages, physical and mental, is an encouraging example of this. she proves too another truth, not less valuable, that a people having no king to sell them for a\n\t\t\t mess of pottage for himself, no shackles to restrain their powers of\n                   self defence, find resources within themselves equal to every trial. \n\t\t  this we did during the revolutionary war and this we can do again, let who will attack us, if we act heartily with one another. this is my creed. to the principle of union I sacrifice all minor\n\t\t\t differences of opinion. these, like differences of face, are a law of our nature, and should be viewed with the same tolerance. the clouds which have appeared for some time to be gathering around\n\t\t\t have given me anxiety, lest an enemy always on the watch, always prompt & firm, & acting in well disciplined phalanx, should find an opening to dissipate hopes, with the loss of which, I\n\t\t\t would wish that of life itself.\n\t\t\t to myself personally the sufferings would be short. the powers of life have\n\t\t\t declined with\n\t\t\t more in the last six months, than in as many preceding years.   a rheumatic indisposition, under which your letter\n\t\t\t found me, has caused this delay of \n                  in acknoleging it\u2019s reciept, and in the expressions of regret that I had unin inadvertently said or done any thing which had given you uneasiness. I pray you to be assured that no unkind motive directed me, and that my sentiments of friendship and respect continue the same.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0053-0001", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 25 July 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            I inclose as you direct 200$.\u2014I likewise inclose an account of the sale of your last 54 barrels of flour, the net proceeds as you will observe, being $:429.\u00b9\u2077\u2044\u2081\u2080\u2080.\u2014This should have been forwarded some time ago, had I not received a letter from you informing me there was more to come down, which induced me to keep it back, with the view of including the whole in one account. As however no more has yet arrived, I conclude that you must have been mistaken as to the quantity. \n\t\t    I yesterday sent up by Johnson, some nail rod & iron lately received, together with a small box received some time ago.\u2014\n\t\t  I will endeavour to sell your Tobacco seperately as you suggest, but fear the chance is bad, as the demand even for the very finest quality has greatly subsided.\n            I am Dear Sir Your Very humble servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0053-0002", "content": "Title: Enclosure: Account from Sale of Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Flour, 2 July 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  Sales of 54 Barrels flour made on account of Thomas Jefferson Esqr\n\t\t  To Wm Mackenzie for Jno Leslies note at 60 days vzt\n\t\t  49 Barrels Superfine\n            Richmond", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0054", "content": "Title: Wilson J. Cary to Thomas Jefferson, 26 July 1811\nFrom: Cary, Wilson Jefferson\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t   I ask the favor of you to deliver to the bearer (who is directed to receive and take charge of him) the Merino Ram lamb we are entitled to, out of the produce of our ewes. An apology is due to you for having given you the trouble of keeping him so long; but the distance from hence to Monticello and the variety of pressing business always on hand upon a large and complicated farm must plead our excuse for having delayed removing him untill now.\n          I am with great respect and regard &c", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0055", "content": "Title: John H. Cocke to Thomas Jefferson, 26 July 1811\nFrom: Cocke, John Hartwell\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t\t Be so good as to deliver my Merino Lamb to the Bearer hereof.\u2014\n          Some time ago, I would gladly have taken back the Ewes which I sent to Monticello on Colonel Fontaines account cou\u2019d I have obtain\u2019d permission of his Executors\u2014but it is no longer desirable to me as I have purchased some\n\t\t\t\tfull blood\u2019d Merino\u2019s\n          I am sir Yours most respectfully", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0056", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 26 July 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Short, William\n\t\t\t  On the reciept of your letters of May 29. & June 18. I wrote to mr Bankhead, then with his family in Port-royal, offering your lands to him at 12.D. for altho I had seen no reason for a great sudden rise in the price of our lands, yet two sales had been made as I formerly wrote you, far above what had been deemed the neighborhood\n\t\t\t\tprice. himself had been one of the purchasers. I therefore thought this advance not out of proportion.\n\t\t\t\t but his father has declined the plan of removing from Portroyal.\n\t\t\t but a mr Thresly from that neighborhood, came, on his recommendation, to see the lands.\n\t\t\t\t in the\n\t\t\t\tmean time I had seen Price & recieved from him the information that the leases of the tenants were for three years, & he said he had consulted me. in this I think he is mistaken, because I have not the\n\t\t\t\tsmallest trace of it in my memory, and because I am conscious I should not have undertaken to approve, but have left him to his instructions. from the time I informed you that my residence at Washington would render my further attentions to that place impracticable, & unprofitable to you, I never meddled at all. Price generally called to see me, whenever I came home, & of course would tell me what he was doing, and I may have said Yea or Nay as any other neighbor would in the way of\n                   conversation. this has perhaps taken place, & he may have construed something of this kind into an approbation, & I have\n\t\t\t\tno doubt he did so, being persuaded of his entire honesty & truth.\n\t\t\t on mr Threshly\u2019s arrival, I told him of the leases, and that if he should like the land, he should recieve the rents as owner,\n\t\t\t\tin compensation of the interest, or he might be clear of interest, leaving us the profit of rents. after visiting the land, he declined\n\t\t\t\tthe purchase, objecting both to the price & the want of\n\t\t\t\tpossession. \n                  Colo Lindsay, some time ago, expressed a wish to purchase this land. I shall make him the offer at 12.D. but if, getting over the objection of possession, he should decline on the point of price alone, I shall fall to your price. if he buys, he will pay the cash, in Richmond to your order. but I fear the leases will stand much in the way of the sale. \n                  I have been confined to the house for three weeks by\n\t\t\t\trheumatism, and\n\t\t\t\tthis is among the first fruits of my return to my writing table, or I should on reciept of your last favor of June 23. have no longer delayed writing to you in the expectation of doing it with more information. as soon as I\n\t\t\t\tam able to ride, I will go to Indian camp, to learn the state of things, and make the best arrangements the case will admit of, either for the surrender of the leases in the event of sale, or for the\n\t\t\t\tcare of the land if they continue.\n          Absorbed by the principal object of your letters, the sale of the land, the article respecting the settlement of your accounts, mentd in that of June 18. had escaped me. there will be no difficulty in the case, mr Upham\u2019s folly & malignity notwithstanding. the constitution, & ten thousand instances of practice make the appointment good to the end of the next session following it. you have only to inclose your account to the Secretary of state, who will refer you for the production of your vouchers to the Auditor, stating to him the principles on which it is to be settled.\n          Should Colo Monroe propose to purchase Indian camp, as I have heard said, and as you also mention, it will be a transaction to be settled of course between yourselves. my relation to you both would make me as \n                  an improper & unwilling mediator. we expect him daily. would not the season, as well as the occasion, joined to our\n\t\t\t\twishes, tempt you to come and look to this matter yourself? I need not tell you the pleasure it would give us to recieve you here: but in that and all other events I repeat with sincerity the assurances of my affectionate esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0058", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John H. Cocke, 28 July 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Cocke, John Hartwell\n\t\t\t  The servant who delivered your letter will recieve 4. ram lambs, 3 of them from the half dozen ewes you sent, the other in commutation for 2. ewes sent by Colo Fontaine, but which I am sure he never saw, as they were such miserable half grown, diminutive animals that I could not permit them to run with my flock, and sent them to another place.\n\t\t\t I send a lamb from my own ewes however in exchange for them, & in sending it to you I comply with the request of Colo Fontaine to mr Randolph. \n\t\t\t  I had a Merino ram & 3. ewes of the three different races, selected by mr Jarvis of Lisbon.\n\t\t\t  the two last of them recieved brought the scab into my flock. I lost one of the ewes by it, and two of them from their ill state of health lost their lambs immediately. I now have therefore but\n\t\t\t\tthe ram, which is a very fine animal, 2. ewes and one ram lamb. \n\t\t\t  the wool of one of the ewes was considered at Washington as superior to any of the samples ever shewn there. we have, with a great deal of\n\t\t\t\ttrouble extirpated the scab, except in a single individual which I have separated from the flock. none of the lambs have ever had a symptom of it. yet the possibility of it\u2019s coming on them\n\t\t\t\trenders\n\t\t\t\tattention adviseable. \n\t\t\t the loss of their wool is the vis \n                  first visible indication, & then the scabs appearing on the naked part.\n\t\t\t  a mixture of sulphur & fat rubbed on at once, cures the disease effectually. in mine however it had become so inveterate as to need a 3d & 4th anointment, having previously bid defiance to mercurial ointment. Accept the assurances of my great esteem & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0059", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Joel Barlow, 29 July 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Barlow, Joel\n\t\t\t I fear I shall overload yourself, if not your ship, with my accumulated commissions. the inclosed publications will, I think be acceptable to men of mind in any country. will you be so good as to deliver them according to their respective addresses, and accept renewed assurances of my great esteem and respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0060", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 1 August 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t\t Mr Thomas Taylor an acquaintance of mine having lately purchased some land near the West-ham ferry, it occurred to me that he would probably purchase the lots which I recollected to have heard you say you owned there.\u2014On mentioning it to him, I found him very anxious to purchase. As\n\t\t\t\tthe place can never more be of any value as a landing, unless we suppose the Canal to be abandoned, I conclude that you would be willing to sell the lots, since the trifle they would bring would be better saved than lost: if so, be so obliging as to inform Mr Taylor or myself of the number you have, and of their numbers.\n          I have not been able to do any thing with your Tobacco, not even by dividing it as you proposed.\n          I am Dear Sir Your Very humble servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0063", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Burwell Bassett, 2 August 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Bassett, Burwell\n\t\t\t I have duly recieved your favor of July 20th and thank you for the trouble you have been so good as to take in the case of M. Beauvois. to this I will not add by troubling you with the further enquiries you so kindly offer to make if necessary.\n\t\t\t it will be the duty of M. Beauvois\u2019 agent to give me any further information necessary, as I am only requested to advise him in his proceedings. this I\n\t\t\t\tshall do on motives of common duty, that if M. de Beauvois has any rights, his being a foreigner & absent may be no obstacle to his recovery of them. I pray you to be assured of my esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0064", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Bracken, 2 August 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Bracken, John\n\t\t\t I have lately recieved a letter from mr Mazzei in which he sais \u2018I have several times mentioned to you the unhappy state of the poor old sisters of our deceased friend Bellini. referring you to former letters, I will only add to what I have before said, my prayers for your aid in \n                  to the interests of these poor & distressed old women.\u2019\n          On recurring to our former correspondence on this subject I observe you had sent me a letter containing a bill of exchange for these ladies, but on information of the failure of the merchant on whom the bill was drawn, you had desired me to return the letter. entirely unacquainted with any transactions in the case since that, I take the liberty, in compliance with the request of mr Mazzei, of only saying that if I can be useful in conveying either letters or remittances to the representatives of mr Bellini, I shall do it with pleasure, and pray you to accept the assurances of my great respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0065", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Galloway, 2 August 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Galloway, Benjamin\n\t\t\t Th: Jefferson presents his compliments to mr Galloway and his thanks for the papers he inclosed. they furnish proofs of his firm perseverance in the principles of sound patriotism. retired himself to\n\t\t\t scenes of tranquility and repose, he trusts with entire confidence to the vigilance of his republican fellow citizens to render harmless all designs against our happy constitution. he prays mr Galloway to be assured of his esteem & respect.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0066", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Martin Oster, 2 August 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Oster, Martin\n\t\t  I have lately recieved a letter from M. de Beauvois of Paris stating the claims of Madame Beauvois to the property of her brother M. Piernetz, in the county of New Kent, claimed & held by a mr Ratcliffe of that county, under a supposed will of m \n\t\t  mr Beauvois requests me to counsel his friend and agent M. Pauly how to proceed in maintaining his claims, and says he lives in Louisa near Staunton. this error in our geography renders it impossible for me to find M. Pauly, in order to assure him of my dispositions to be useful to M. de Beauvois, & with that view to offer any services I can render. as I find by M. de Beauvois\u2019 letter that you have been so kind as to give him information on this subject, I have presumed you would do the further favor to us both to furnish me with the address of M. Pauly, to enable me to make him a tender of my assistance in this case. I pray you to excuse this trouble on behalf of M. de Beauvois and to accept the assurances of my esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0067", "content": "Title: Certificate of Henry Cassidy, 4 August 1811\nFrom: Cassidy, Henry\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I do Certify that I can make oath if required that in the year 1805 when I came to st Louis to enter the Titles Papers of Elisha Winters & Gabriel Winters Lands at the Arkansas that I advised with General Wilkinson on the subject and that he advised me to Employ Rufus Easton Esqr as agent for the claim Saying at the time that he \n                  was a man of honor & abilities and would do me Justice in attending to the Interest of the Claimants Given under my hand at St Louis the 4th Augt 1811\n                  The above named Gentleman has been and is appointed a judge of the Courts of Arkansas District by Governor Howard\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0068", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Nicolas G. Dufief, 4 August 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Dufief, Nicholas Gouin\n\t\t  I recieved some time ago your valuable dictionary, and have now had time & trial enough to pronounce it the very best French & English dictionary which has ever been published. it\u2019s handy size too increases it\u2019s convenience. the 3d volume is a treasure. I only wish it\u2019s numerous alphabets had been digested into a single one to save the double research first for the proper alphabet, & then for the article wanted from it. will you be so good as to note to me the price which I will take care to remit you as soon as known. \n                  I am anxious to get a \n                  Cours de Mathematiques, (I believe it is in 7. vols 8vo) but I think I have learnt that you have ceased to act in the bookselling line.\n\t\t\t formerly\n\t\t\t had some dealings with Messrs Roches, freres, booksellers of Philadelphia. if my information as to yourself is right, perhaps they would be so kind as to send me a copy with a\n\t\t\t note of it\u2019s amount which should be promptly remitted them.\n\t\t\t might come any week by vessels bound to Richmond, & if addressed to Messrs Gibson & Jefferson there would come safely to me. Accept the assurances of my esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0070", "content": "Title: Robert Rives to Thomas Jefferson, 4 August 1811\nFrom: Rives, Robert\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I have just got home after an absence of 10 days and found your fav of the 20th Ult: covering a drft on G & J for $91.34 which is $12.34 over the cost of the books as \u214c statd below\u2014 for which I enclose you a drft on M D & Co of Milton\u2014\n            For your kind services towards my Son I am with inexpressible gratitude very respectfully\n            Your mt ob sert\n                Int: to 26th Oct allowg 3 months to place\n            the money in London\n                Exchange 115 \u214cCent (the present\n                rate at which we sell bills)\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0071", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Jordan, 5 August 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Jordan, John\n\t\t  Mr Ogilvie, to whom the inclosed letter is addressed, was about the latter end of May at Columbia S.C. on his way to Lexington in Kentuckey \n                  Kentucky. presuming him to be still there I have so addressed the Letter. should he not be there, will you be so good as to superscribe the proper address, & forward it by post.\n\t\t  if in that country, I presume his position known to you, because being engaged in giving lectures in public which deservedly draw great attention from the public, the newspapers generally\n\t\t\t announce where he is. excuse the trouble thus proposed to you by a stranger and accept the assurances of my respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0072-0001", "content": "Title: James Lyle to Thomas Jefferson, 5 August 1811\nFrom: Lyle, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n              This is to acknowledge the receipt of your favor, enclosing an order on Messrs Gibson & Jefferson for $1000  \n                  which was punctually paid.\n\t\t  This you will please observe, as by the enclosed statement, is not enterd to your credit on our Companys book, but to your credit on my private books where you stood debetor for the debt due Richrd Harvie & Co\n              The enclosed State, is made from your Letter to me on that subject.I would have been glad you could have made it convenient to have pd the Whole of D Harvies that I might have balanced his Acct on my private books The bale appears to be \u00a394.12.4 w \n                  Sterling with interest from July 6th last past.\n\t\t\t I continue very blind, although I write this with\n\t\t\t difficulty, I cannot see to read it over. I am with great Regard\n              Your Most hule servt\n\t\t\t In your next I am honord with please mention if the enclosed State be correct  ", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "07-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0072-0002", "content": "Title: Enclosure: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Account with James Lyle, 6 July 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Lyle, James\n\t\t  Thomas Jefferson Esqr on acct of Richd Harvie\n            In acct. with James Lyle\n                To This sum, \u214c Col: Jefferson\u2019s letter, due with interest from the 19th of April 1783 at 5 \u214cCt \u214c Ann:\u2014Sterling Money\n                To Interest on the same till July the 6th 1811 being 28 years 2\u00bd Months\n                By Cash of Gibson & Jefferson \u214c order $1000\n                Deduct Exchange at 133\u2153\n                Errors Excepted", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0073", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Franklin Thompson, 5 August 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Thompson, Benjamin Franklin\n\t\t  Th Jefferson returns his thanks to Doctr Benjamin Franklin Thompson for the pamphlet he has been so kind as to send him, and owes him special acknolegements for the indulgence with which he has been pleased to view the general\n\t\t\t tenor of his political life. the sentiments of the pamphlet bespeak through the whole a glow of genuine republicanism, which it is ever delightful to him to percieve, and which strengthen his\n\t\t\t confidence in the duration of our happy form of government. he salutes Dr Thompson with esteem & respect.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0074", "content": "Title: Joshua Simmons to Thomas Jefferson, 7 August 1811\nFrom: Simmons, Joshua\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                     Rowe\u2014Massachusetts\u2014AD 1811 Hampshire county \n\t\t  I am about to request a favor that will appear verry extraordinary from an entire stranger but I am under the necesity of doing it to some person who is not acquainted with me for I know of o no one with whom I am personally acquainted that is in a situation to do me the favor I am in absolute need of which is the lone of one hundred dollars for the term of one year\u2014And then I will be punctual in refunding it\u2014with interest. I reside in the town of Rowe Farming is my profession now Setting up a gin still on a small scale and have not quite money sufficient to go through with it without being verry much embarrassed\u2014If you will Send me the hundred dollars I shall ever consider you as my benefactor\u2014It is not becuse my credit is so low that I am under the necesity of applying to a stranger I can be credited any thing among my acquaintance they have to Sell but money is so scarce it is not to be obtained I have tried to conjecture what reception this with met \n                  will meet with I think could I now be placed if \n                  in your circumstances after experienceing the want of a little money I should send it but had I never known the want of money I cannot determine what I should do under like Situation\u2014The hearts of millions attend you\n          And among them that of your real friend and Humble Servt\u2014\n                  Joshua Simmons", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0075", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Archibald Stuart, 8 August 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Stuart, Archibald\n\t\t  I ask the favor of you to purchase for me as much fresh timothy seed as the inclosed bill will pay for, pack & forward, and that you will have the goodness to direct it to be lodged at mr Leitch\u2019s store in Charlottesville by the waggoner who brings it. you see how bold your indulgencies make me in intruding on your kindness.\n\t\t  I do not know that the government means to make known what has passed between them & Foster before the meeting of Congress; \n                  but in the mean time individuals, who are in the way, think they have a right to fish it out, and in this way the sum of it has become known. \n                  Great Britain has certainly come forward and declared to our government by an official paper that the conduct of France towards her during this war has obliged her to take possession of the ocean, and to determine that no commerce shall be carried on with the nations connected with France. that however she is disposed to relax in this determination so far as to permit the commerce which may be carried on thro the\n\t\t\t British ports. I have, for 3 or 4. years been confident, that knowing that her own resources were not adequate to the maintenance of her present navy, she meant with it to claim the conquest of\n\t\t\t the\n\t\t\t ocean, and to permit no nation to navigate it, but on paiment of a tribute for the maintenance of the dominion fleet necessary to secure that dominion. a thousand circumstances brought together left me without a doubt that that policy directed all her conduct, altho\u2019 not avowed. this is the first time\n\t\t\t she has thrown off the mask. the answer & conduct of the government have been what they ought to have been, & Congress is called a little earlier, to be ready to act on the reciept of the reply, for which time has been given. God bless you\n          from yours affectionately", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0077", "content": "Title: John Bracken to Thomas Jefferson, 13 August 1811\nFrom: Bracken, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  Two days ago I received your letter of Aug. 2. & have to observe, in answer thereto, that in compliance with Mr Mazzei\u2019s request, I remitted to him by one of U.S. Ships bound up the Mediterranean a bill purchased of Mr Rutherfoord on London Jan. 1807. I sent some time after a duplicate by another national Vessel, & I enclosed a triplicate to my friend Mr Munroe then in London to present for acceptance, which he obtained & left the Bill with his Merchant Mr John Rennolds. Not knowing whether to attribute the want\n\t\t\t application for payment to death or the circumstances of Europe, I two years ago requested Mr Rennolds to apply for payment in my payment name, which was refused without an indemnification against Mazzei, as the bill was made payable to him.  This cou\u2019d not be expected from Mr Rennolds, to whom I was a stranger, but has lately been complied with by Mr Saml Gist, who authorizes me to receive the amount from his Dividend in the Dismal Swamp Land Company. \n\t\t   If you can point out to me any safe opportunity of remittance by which I may be\n\t\t\t exonerated, I will with readiness embrace; it; or if you will yourself receive the Money on behalf of Mr Mazzei, & the two old Ladies, I will deposit in \n                  With respect & due consideration,I am your most obedt Servt\n            Ps I shall in a few days set off for Frederic with my daughter whose state of health requires a change of climate & not return before the 15. Oct.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0079", "content": "Title: Martin Oster to Thomas Jefferson, 13 August 1811\nFrom: Oster, Martin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                     Monsieur et tr\u00e8s V\u00e9n\u00e9rable ancien pr\u00e9sident, \n           J\u2019ai re\u00e7u la lettre dont vous m\u2019avez honnor\u00e9 le 2 Courant, par laqu\u00e9lle vous paraissez desirer l\u2019adresse de Mr Pauly, ami de Mr de Beauvois. La voici telle qu\u2019il me l\u2019a donn\u00e9e.\n              Mr Lis Abraham Pauly,\n              at Calfpasture\n              Augusta County Virginia.\n\t\t  J\u2019aurois eu l\u2019honneur de repondre 3 jours plust\u00f4t \u00e0 Votre Excellence, Si je n\u2019avois point esp\u00e9r\u00e9 pouvoir recevoir de New-Kent et vous adresser avec la pr\u00e9sente, tant copie du pr\u00e9tendu testament de feu Piernet, que du jugement de la Cour de New Kent, Sur les dispositions \u00e9tranges qu\u2019il Comporte en faveur du nomm\u00e9 Stewen Lacy, \n                     storekeeper du dit Piernet. J\u2019aprends \u00e0 l\u2019instant, que Ces pi\u00e9ces ne me seront envoy\u00e9es que dans 8. Jours d\u00e8s quelles me Seront parvenues, je m\u2019empresserai de vous les acheminer, pour Servir \u00e0 fixer v\u00f4tre opinion sur\n\t\t\t\tla nature des r\u00e9clamations de Made de Beauvois dans la Succession de Mr son fr\u00e9re.\n          Salut et Respect\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n                     Sir and very Venerable former president, \n\t\t   I have received the letter with which you honored me dated the 2d of this month, which appears to request the address of Mr. Pauly, a friend of Mr. de Beauvois. Here it is as he gave it to me.\n                Mr. Lis Abraham Pauly,\n                at Calfpasture\n                Augusta County Virginia.\n\t\t  I would have had the honor of answering Your Excellency three days ago if I had not hoped to be able to receive from New Kent County, and to enclose in the present letter, copies of the alleged will of the late Piernet and the ruling of the court in New Kent County regarding the strange clauses in favor of a certain Stephen Lacy, the storekeeper of the aforesaid Piernet. I have now learned that these papers will not be sent to me for another eight days. As soon as they arrive, I will hasten to forward them to you, so that you may come to your own\n\t\t\t conclusions about the nature of Madame de Beauvois\u2019s claim to her brother\u2019s estate.\n            Greetings and Respect", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0080", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Henry Dearborn, 14 August 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Dearborn, Henry\n                  Dear General and friend \n\t\t  I write from a place which I visit occasionally, near the New London of this state, 90. miles from Monticello, and where I have not the means of examining whether I have let pass the annual period pass over of saying \u2018all\u2019s well\u2019 and \u2018how d\u2019ye do\u2019? your letter ofcame in due time.\n\t\t   I had learned by the newspapers the\n\t\t\t afflicting event it announced, had felt it as your friend, and as the friend of the inestimable character which had left us. but I said nothing, and I say nothing; well knowing that condolances\n\t\t\t renew\n\t\t\t the grief they would assuage, & that time and silence are the only medecines for that affliction.\n          I am happy to learn that your own health is good, and I hope it will long continue so. the friends we left behind us have fallen out by the way. I sincerely lament it, because I sincerely esteem them all, & because it multiplies schisms where harmony is safety. as far as I have been able to judge however, it has made no sensible impression against the government. those who were murmuring before are a little louder now; but the mass of our citizens is firm and unshaken. it furnishes, as an incident, another proof that they are perfectly equal to the purposes of self-government, and that we have nothing to fear for it\u2019s stability. the spirit indeed which manifests itself among the tories of your quarter, altho\u2019 I believe there is a majority there sufficient to keep it down in peaceable times, leaves me not without some disquietude. should the determination of England, now formally expressed, to take possession of the ocean, & to suffer no commerce on it but thro\u2019 her ports, force a war upon us, I foresee a possibility of a separate treaty between her\n\t\t\t & your Essex men, on the principles of neutrality & commerce.PinkPickering here, & his nephew Williams there, can easily negotiate this.\n\t\t\t such a lure to the quietists in our ranks with you might recruit theirs to a majority. yet, excluded as they would be, from intercourse with the rest of the union and of Europe, I scarcely see the gain they would propose to themselves, even for the moment. the defection would certainly disconcert the other states, but it could not ultimately endanger their safety.\n\t\t\t they are adequate in all points to a defensive war. however I hope your majority, with the aid it is entitled to, will save us from this trial, to which I think it possible we are advancing.\n\t\t\t the death of George may come to our relief; but I fear the dominion of the sea is the insanity of the nation itself also.\n                  perhaps, if some stroke of fortune were to rid us at the same time from the Mammoth of the land as well as the Leviathan of the ocean, the people of England might lose their fears, & recover their sober senses again.tell\n\t\t\t my own old friend, Governor Gerry that I give him glory for the rasping with which he rubbed down his herd of traitors. let them have justice, and\n\t\t\t protection against personal  violence, but no favor. powers & preeminences conferred on them are daggers put into the hands of assassins, to be plunged into our own bosoms in the moment the thrust can go home to the heart. moderation can never reclaim them. they deem\n\t\t\t it timidity, & despise without fearing the tameness from which it flows. backed by England, they never lose the hope that their day is to come, when the terrorism of their earlier power is to be merged in the more gratifying \u201csystem of deportation & the guillotine.\u201d being now hors de combat myself, I resign to others these cares.\n                  a long attack of rheumatism has greatly\n                   enfeebled me, & warns me that they will not very long be within my ken. but you may have to meet the trial, & in the focus of it\u2019s fury. God send you a safe deliverance, a happy issue out of all\n\t\t\t afflictions, personal\n\t\t\t & public, with long life, long health, & friends as sincerely attached as\n          yours affectionately", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0081", "content": "Title: John Dortic to Thomas Jefferson, 14 August 1811\nFrom: Dortic, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n            He who forwarded you the Small Seed box through me Could not, indeed, believe that Such an introduction to you, would be more troublesome than the invoice agreeable. I hope, whoever, that the Subject on which I now take the liberty of entertaining you with, being in behalf of the country will carry\n\t\t\t My excuse with it.\n\t\t  I am not acquainted, in your State, with any one So well delighted with agriculture as you are and, of course, none cannot be as good Judge as you, Sir, of the qualities of the Soil Suitable for Vines. That is the question I\n\t\t\t am about to lay under your eyes\n          Circumstanced as this country is, in regard to Europe, we must try of every thing to free ourselves from being tributaries of foreign produces.\n          The Eastern powers Wish to annihilate the trade of nations in get\n                  ting into their own dominions those produces refused, I dare Say, by nature and so wisely distributed, over the globe, as to make of them the tied of the civilised nations\n                  If the Europeans endeavour to enrich their own Soil with cotton, sugar, Indigo, &c &c Why the Americans Should not adorn their country with Such a tree as to have Wine oil, Silk &c Such an advantage belongs to a Government that includes under his laws the 30th & 45th degree of latitude; Such a Situation offers better change to any kind of culture than Europe for their desig. The Soil of the U.S. may provide the inhabitants with any Sort of French and Italian produce.\n          I think of Vine as of a culture deserving the best encouragement and to which any one acquainted with must be bound to make it Succeed\n          The Eastern and northen States are to cold; the frequent and Sudden changed \n                  change of the weather forbids that experiment\n          I consider Virginia and the Western States back better than any other part throughout the union\n          Therefore I take the liberty, Sir, to beg of Your kindness to favour me with your opinion on that Subject, and with some notice on the Soil, and how deep the ground can be digged and what quality is to be found at to \n          Excuse me, Sir, for troubling you, but your country life brings into my mind, the idea that you cannot be desagreed with a question, when the prosperity of the country is in the Scope of it. you know what Said a celebrated author on the grapes of Burgundy transported to the cape of good \n          I have the Honour to be Respectfully Sir Your most obedient Servant", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0082", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Charles Clay, 16 August 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Clay, Charles\n\t\t  I thank you for the contents of your basket and was just about writing to you when your boy came. \n\t\t  I find I shall not have strength enough to ride as far as your house: but I should be very glad if you could meet me at the Double branches in the road, the day after tomorrow (Sunday) and that you may not have to wait, I will be sure to be there before 11. aclock. I have had some measures made which, in event, puzzle me not a little. you will excuse this trouble which has been encouraged by your own kindness. \n\t\t  I will propose to mr Steptoe to meet you here at dinner. I salute you with friendship & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0083", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Preliminary Agreement with William & Reuben Mitchell, [ca. 16\u201317 August 1811]\nFrom: Mitchell, William,Mitchell, Reuben\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  We will purchase Mr Jeffersons crop Wheat & will give him Within two shillings 2/3 of the Richmd price at the time of delivery Payable in a 60 day bill on Richmd, or will grind it on the usual terms & deliver the Flour 60 days after the delivery of the Wheat\u2014\n                     Notation by TJ on verso:\n            Mr Mitchell agrees to give within 2/ a bushel of the best price which shall be given in Richmd from this day for 40. day to come (Aug. 17. to Sep. 26.) the wheat to be delivered at Lynchbg as fast as one team can carry it in & the money payable in Richmond within 60. days after the 6th of Sep.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0086", "content": "Title: Palisot de Beauvois to Thomas Jefferson, 18 August 1811\nFrom: Palisot de Beauvois, Ambroise Marie Fran\u00e7ois Joseph\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                     Monsieur et cher Confr\u00e8re, \n\t\t   Le 19 Mars dernier j\u2019ai eu L\u2019honneur de vous ecrire pour reclamer vos bont\u00e9s et vous prier de me faire rendre, dans Votre pa\u00efs la justice, qui nous est dus. Ma Lettre tres detaill\u00e9e Se trouve jointe par duplicata, a celle-ci. La Certitude que j\u2019ai de L\u2019arriv\u00e9e du Navire charg\u00e9 de Cette d\u00e9p\u00eache Me rassure Sur Sa\n\t\t\t\tdestination. je ne doute donc pas qu\u2019elle ne vous Soit parvenue, et je compte assez Sur vos bont\u00e9s et Sur Votre amour pour Ce qui est juste. j\u2019ai donc lieu de croire que vous aurez eu\n\t\t\t\tL\u2019obligeance de\n\t\t\t\tvous m\u00ealer de Cette affaire de maniere a conserver mes droits.\n\t\t  j\u2019adresse par Cette occasion a M.M. oster et Teterel, Ce dernier Negociant \u00e0 Williams bourg, toutes les pieces necessaires a L\u2019appui de ma reclamation; Tels que Extraits Baptistaires, et Mortuaires, acte de notoriet\u00e9 &c. procuration et tout, document Legalis\u00e9, propre a justifier mon droit. un point essentiel est de Savoir que dans la Succession d\u2019un Americain mort en france, notre gouvernement a Laiss\u00e9 Ses heritiers jouir de tous les biens de la Succession. M. Maclure, qui Sans doute vous est connu, etait interress\u00e9 dans Cet heritage. de plus M. M\u2019raie votre Consul, et actuellement En Amerique, a Connaissance de Ce fait. je dois donc esperer que les francais, qui, d\u2019apres tous les trait\u00e9s, doivent jouir des memes pr\u00e9rogatives \n                        que les citoyens des Nations les plus favoris\u00e9es, auront le Meme avantage et que les biens delaiss\u00e9s par mon beau frere Seront rendus a Ses heritiers Naturels.\n\t\t   Nous ne donnons pas notre procuration a M. Pauly, Notre Ami, par Ce que devant comparaitre Comme temoin dans la procedure, il ne pourrait pas etre en M\u00eame temps temoin et r\u00e9clamant.\n            j\u2019ai L\u2019honneur d\u2019etre avec la plus haute Consideration, Monsieur et cher Confrere Votre tres humble et tres obeissantServiteurPalisot de Beauvoismembre de l\u2019institut, rue de Turenne no 58.\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n                     Sir and dear colleague, \n\t\t   Last 19 March I had the honor of writing you to ask for your assistance in obtaining the justice that is due to us in your country. A duplicate of my very detailed letter is subjoined to this one. My certainty of the arrival of the ship that carried it reassures me as to the delivery of that dispatch. I do not doubt\n\t\t\t that it reached you, and I count on your kindness and love of all that\n                      is just. I have, therefore, every reason to believe that you have been so good as to involve yourself in this affair in such a way as to protect my rights.\n\t\t  At this time I also send Mr. Oster and Mr. Teterel, the latter a Williamsburg merchant, all the papers necessary to support my claim, such as birth and death certificates, the deed, etc., power of attorney, and all of the appropriate notarized documents to justify my\n\t\t\t rights. An essential point with regard to the inheritance of an American dying in France is whether our government has allowed his heirs to dispose of his estate freely. Mr. Maclure, whom you probably know, had an interest in such an inheritance. Moreover, your consul, Mr. McRae, who is in America at this time, is aware of that fact. I hope, therefore, that French citizens, who, according to treaty, should enjoy the same prerogatives as citizens of the most favored nations, will have the same advantage, and that the possessions left by my brother-in-law will be returned to his lawful heirs.\n\t\t   We have not given the power of attorney to our friend Mr. Pauly, because he will appear in court as a witness, and he cannot be both a witness and a claimant at the same time.\n            I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, Sir and dear colleague, your very humble and very obedientservantPalisot de Beauvoismember of the Institut, Rue de Turenne Number 58.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0088", "content": "Title: William J. Harris to Thomas Jefferson, 19 August 1811\nFrom: Harris, William Jordan\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t   I have the honour to transmit to you, the Enclosed letters which you advised me to get, and I am in hopes you will forward them on as soon as possible\n          I am with great and esteem Sir yours &c\n                  William J. Harris", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0091", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Brown & Robertson, 21 August 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Brown & Robertson\n                  Messrs Brown & Robertson \n\t\t  Pop. Forest \n\t\t  The accounts handed me by mr Garland have been examined. those from the autumn of 1809. are as I expected; because at that time I directed mr Griffin to have his whole dealings at your store. those preceding that period were unknown to me. it is possible they may have been mentioned to me, altho\u2019 I have no such recollection. but my\n\t\t\t memory is not sufficiently faithful to enable me to speak positively. but, if mentioned at all, it must have been before that period, while mr Griffin had the disposal of my wheat crops, and every thing except the tobacco, with which, I had taken for granted, all his accounts were kept even. this is mentioned only to apologize for my\n\t\t\t apparent inattention to these accounts, which would not have taken place had I been aware of them. as it is, provision\n\t\t\t must be made for their paiment. this cannot suddenly be done.\n\t\t  I have sold my wheat of the present year, & am now delivering it to mr Mitchell. the quantity is as yet unknown, and the price depending on that at Richmond within a given time, payable in 60. days from the 5th of September. these uncertainties prevent my knowing the\n\t\t\t amount of what I may count on from this fund, or being more precise at present than naming some general limits. I shall not, for instance, be able out of it to pay up the whole of the bond, but\n\t\t\t certainly may more than the half of it. I shall be as anxious as yourselves to go as far into it as possible; and what I cannot pay this year, I must trust to your having the goodness to wait for\n\t\t\t till the next; and these accounts once brought even, it will certainly be my care to pay the dealings of every year out of the produce of the year. Accept the assurances of my esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0093", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Calculations for a Horizontal Sundial at Poplar Forest, [ca. 23 August 1811]\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: \n          Hour lines of horizontl dial for Lat 37\u00b0\u201322\u2032\u201326\u2033\n              horary angle\n              Logarithm Tangt\n          to the Sine of the latitude ::\n          so is the tangt of the horary angle :\n          to the tangt of \u2220 of hourline with ye meridn", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0094", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Charles Clay, 23 August 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Clay, Charles\n\t\t  While here, & much confined to the house by my rheumatism, I have amused myself with calculating the hour lines of a horisontal dial for the latitude of this place which I find to be 37\u00b0\u201322\u2032\u201326\u2033. the calculations are for every 5. minutes of time, and are always exact to within less than half a second of a degree. as I do not know that any body here has taken this trouble before, I have supposed a copy would be acceptable to you. it may be a good exercise for master Cyrus to make you a dial by them.\n\t\t  he will need nothing but a protractor, or a line of chords & dividers. a dial of size, say of from 12.I. to 2.f. square, is the cheapest & most accurate measure of time for general use, & would, I\n\t\t\t suppose, be more common if every one possessed the proper horary lines for his own latitude.\n\t\t  Williamsburg being very nearly in the parallel of Poplar Forest, the calculations now sent would serve for all the counties in the line between that place & this, for your own place, New London, & Lynchburg in this neighborhood. slate, as being less\n\t\t\t affected by the sun, is preferable to wood or metal, & needs but a saw & plane to prepare it, and a knife point to mark the lines and figures.if\n\t\t\t worth the trouble, you will of course use the paper inclosed; if not, some of your neighbors may wish to do it, & the effort to be of some use to you will strengthen\n\t\t\t the assurances of my great esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0095", "content": "Title: Levett Harris to Thomas Jefferson, 23 August 1811\nFrom: Harris, Levett\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I received, a few days Since, from the department of State, two letters recommended by You to my care for Professor Vater at Konigsberg & Count John Potocki, both of which I have forwarded to their respective addresses.\n\t\t   I have now the pleasure of inclosing You a little work which I am Sure will interest You; it is from the Same Mr \n                  Adelung, whom I have already several times named to you. The Success of this enlightened man in assimilating the Sanscrit language with that of Russia has certainly been happy, and will undoubtedly obtain him praises from the world of letters.\n          I have the honor to remain, with the highest Consideration & respect, Sir, Your most obedient humble Servant", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0096", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 23 August 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t    As it is very seldom that I see Mr Randolph\u2019s Harry, I must ask the favor of you to direct him to call for the negroes blankets.\u2014They should have been sent up sooner, but the person of whom I bought them did not like to open a bale, for fear of the moth: he has lately been opening some,\n\t\t\t and called upon me to take yours away.\u2014I had them baled up again, but not so securely perhaps that the moth cannot get at them.\u2014the sooner the negroes have them therefore, the better, as each can\n\t\t\t take care of his own.\n          I inclose you a note for renewal in the bank, and am\n          Dear Sir Your Very humble servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0097", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Levi Lincoln, 25 August 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Lincoln, Levi\n          It is long, my good friend, since we have exchanged a letter. and yet I demur to all prescription against it. I cannot relinquish the right of correspondence with those I have learnt to esteem. if the extension of common acquaintance in public life be an inconvenience, that with select worth is more than a counterpoise. be assured your place is high among those whose remembrance I have brought with me into retirement, and cherish with warmth. \n\t\t  I was overjoyed when I heard you were appointed to the supreme bench of national justice, and as much mortified when I heard you had declined it. you are too young to be entitled to withdraw your services from your country. you cannot yet number the quadraginta stipendia of the veteran. our friends, whom we left behind, have ceased to be friends among themselves. I am sorry for it, on their own account, and on my own, for I have sincere affection for them all. I hope it will produce no schisms among us, no desertions from our ranks: that no Essexman will find matter of triumph in it.\n\t\t\t the secret treasons of his heart, and open rebellions on his tongue, will still be punished, while in fieri by the detestation of his country, and by it\u2019s vengeance in the overt act. what a pity that history furnishes so many abuses of the punishment by exile, the most rational of all punishments for meditated treason.\n\t\t   their great king beyond the water would doubtless recieve them as kindly as his Asiatic prototype did the fugitive aristocracy of Greece.\u2014but let us turn to\n\t\t\t good-humored things. how do you do? what are you doing? does the farm or the study occupy your time, or each by turns?\n\t\t\t do you read law or divinity? and which affords the most curious and cunning\n\t\t\t learning? which is most disinterested? \n\t\t   and which was it that crucified it\u2019s Savior? or were the two professions united among the Jews?\n\t\t  in that case what must their Caiaphases have been? answer me these questions, or any others you like\n\t\t\t better, but let me hear\n\t\t\t from you and know that you are well and happy. that you may long continue so is the prayer of your\u2019s affectionately\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0098", "content": "Title: Brown & Robertson to Thomas Jefferson, 26 August 1811\nFrom: Garland, Mr.,Brown & Robertson\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  Yours of 21st Inst is at hand and observe the contents we make no doubt but that you will do us impartial Justice and make such payments towards our claims as justice requires\u2014I take the liberty in behalf of Mr Robertson who is absent to return our thanks for your past custom and hope to merit a continuance of your favours\u2014with due respt we remain Yo mo obt\n          hm sertB & Robertson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0099", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Thomas Mann Randolph, 26 August 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Randolph, Thomas Mann\n\t\t  I told Newby that I should refer to yourself entirely the choice of an overseer, but that before the evening I would write to you on the subject.\n\t\t   I was just going over to Goodman\u2019s, to make some enquiry about his brother, Tomlins, Etc. he tells me it is a brother whose name I have forgot who drinks. I think it began with an F., but that Nathan is perfectly sober, good humored towards the negroes; & he thinks him equal as a manager to any man in the county. if he will come at all to Tufton, he will take 200. Dollars. \n\t\t   Tomlins, he says, has been brought up in the school of the Garths, & is excessively severe; otherwise a very good manager; but his severity puts him out of the question.\n\t\t   he is to go tomorrow, to engage for me at Lego, a man of the name of Ham: who has lived long at mr Durrett\u2019s, and is of the best qualifications & dispositions. between Nathan Goodman, Newby & their competitors for Tufton, you must be so good as to decde \n                  decide as you think best.\n          Your\u2019s affectionately", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0101", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 29 August 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          I have duly received your favors of the 21st and 26th with the inclosure mentioned in the last.\n\t\t  Wheat having fallen as you were informed by Mr Coles on Monday the 19th\u2014\n\t\t  that is, no sales having been made at 9/. after saturday the 17th I concluded as it came so near your time, it was best to procure a Certificate at once, whilst the circumstance was recollected: indeed on enquiring of Mr Gallego he informed me that the price on the 17th was 8/6; but on my telling him I understood it had not fallen until monday, he said that he had reduced the price in the afternoon of saturday.\u2014so that you will observe Certificates might\n\t\t\t possibly be procured against us, of the price being only 8/6 on the 17th\u2014and it might be contended perhaps that from the 16th did not include that day.\u2014I am thus particular lest some difficulty should be raised, and my recollection should fail me.\u2014I would have gotten a Certificate from Gallego, but he refuses to give any, for fear of being carried to distant parts of the Country as a witness.\u2014the one I procured\n\t\t\t I now inclose.\u2014should wheat rise previous to the 25th of next month, I can easily get another.\u2014but of that I fear there is but little, the price being now down to 7/6.\n\t\t  You may observe perhaps that it is quoted in the Enquirer at $:1.66.\u2154, which must have been occasioned by an error in extending shillings into dollars & cents.\n          A few sales were made some time ago at 9/6 as you heard, but they were on credit.\u2014Randolph Harrison I know sold his crop at that price, but it is not to be paid for until Christmas.\n                  You certainly have lost considerably by the sale of your last crop of Tobacco in Lynchburg, and would continue to lose by making sales there, unless by mere accident you might happen to make an advantageous one: as purchases there are almost invariably made with the view of sales\n\t\t\t being effected to the shippers here, and of course on the calculation of a profit. Your last crop however was not sold at the price you have heard, having been sold to Mr Rutherfoord at $:9. only.\u2014it should be\n\t\t\t observed though, that it was included in a parcel of 300 Hhds of Mr Harrisons, which, although the best of his selection during the year, was still I have no doubt an advantage to the sale of it.\u2014\n                  Mutter & Stewart took one third of the purchase of Mr R\u2014 and shipped it, so that I know it could not have been resold at the price you mention.\n          I am Dear Sir Your Very humble servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0102", "content": "Title: Seventy-Six Association to Thomas Jefferson, 29 August 1811\nFrom: Kirkland, Joseph,Johnson, Joseph,White, John B.,Lance, William,Moses, Myer,Seventy-Six Association\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                  Charleston South Carolina \n\t\t  In obedience to a regulation of the \u201cSeventy Six\u201d Association, we as their Standing Committee have transmitted a Copy of an Oration delivered on the 4th of July by Benjamin A. Markley Esquire, A member of that Institution, for your perusal\u2014\n          We remain Sir, with respect and esteem Your obedient and humble servants\u2014Jos Johnson \n                  Joseph Kirkland ", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0103", "content": "Title: William C. Rives to Thomas Jefferson, 30 August 1811\nFrom: Rives, William Cabell\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t   Since I had the pleasure of being at Monticello, the unsettled state of my health has totally disqualified me for intellectual exertion. Indeed, for the last two years, either the incapacity resulting from this cause, or the avocations of business have materially\n\t\t\t obstructed my desire of knowledge, by taking away the physical power of obtaining it.\u2014The former evil being now partially removed\n\t\t\t by a recent visit to the Springs, I am determined, in spite of the latter, to renew my studies with energy & zeal.\u2014But finding myself deficient in those elementary parts of learning which serve as a scaffolding for higher attainments, & having always\n\t\t\t meditated a recurrence to them when circumstances should favour my design, I must adopt some new arrangement for the purpose of comprehending them in my future course.  \n\t\t  The subjects to which I allude, are Mathematics, Physics, the antient, & some of the modern, languages, all of which will become subservient, either directly or indirectly, to my ultimate\n\t\t\t profession.\u2014In order to incorporate these with my other studies, it will be necessary, however, to make the reading of Law for some time a secondary object; nor will the temporary abridgement of\n\t\t\t legal researches be at all inconvenient, as I am not anxious to precipitate the period of active employment. It will be necessary likewise, to change the scene of my literary labours, for the\n\t\t\t difficulties of Mathematics cannot be easily overcome without the aid of an instructor or the co-operation of a\n                   fellow-student, the principles of Natural philosophy cannot be distinctly understood without experimental proofs, and the dull exercise of committing grammars & vocabularies to\n\t\t\t memory cannot be patiently endured without sharing it with a companion. Possessing none of these advantages at home, I have been induced to look abroad for a more favourable situation, and\n\t\t\t bounding\n\t\t\t my view by the limits of the State, I have at length selected Williamsburg as the best. I have not extended my view to other states, because it appears desirable that every person should receive his education in the particular state which is destined to be the\n\t\t\t theatre of his future life, as he is thereby better enabled to accommodate himself to the tone of feelings & manners which prevail among his fellow-citizens.\u2014In Wms-burg there are able professors in all the departments I have mentioned.\n\t\t\t a Mathematician, Mr. Blackburn is supposed to be inferior to no man in Virginia, and the original simplicity of his method of instruction entitles him to the first rank as a teacher. \n                  Bishop Madison, I believe, has acted a distinguished part in the Philosophical transactions of his own country, and in Europe, his name is highly respected. \n                  The professor of modern languages, also, is said to be a man of considerable erudition, & possesses a critical & complete knowledge of the French, which is his vernacular tongue.\u2014To these advantages, I may superadd the edifying society of studious & enlightened young-men of whom there are at least six or seven at\n\t\t\t that place, in years of the greatest scarcity.\u2014\n          The very friendly disposition which you have manifested towards me, together with your experience in matters of this kind particularly & the rectitude of your judgement on all, has emboldened me to solicit your remarks & advice on the subject of my future course. Will you do me the favour, sir, to say whether you consider Wms-burg a proper \n                     an eligible situation for the objects I propose, and if not, what other you would recommend?\n\t\t\t desire to be most respectfully presented to Mr. & Mrs. Randolph & their family, and with zealous prayers for the continuance of your health & happiness,\n          I have the honour to be your mo. obt. serv.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0104", "content": "Title: \"A Bond Street Lounger\" to Thomas Jefferson, 31 August 1811\nFrom: \u201cA Bond Street Lounger\u201d\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  The letter of Mr Secy Smith (lately published) has fully exposed the diabolical views, & Strange fallacy of the democrats of America in fine the above letter will do more for the Cause of Federalism than all their own writers Combined could have done\u2014to use a Cant & Vulgar phrase \u201cwhen theives fall out, honest Men Come by their own\u201d\u2014the\n\t\t\t above speaks more\n\t\t\t than volumes\u2014in fine you must Shrink from the present high tone towards us or your demo. govt will fall\u2014mark these words\u2014\n\t\t  a few Lectures from Sir Joseph will settle the business\u2014You will find that you have Neither energy nor Strength to support your\n            Yr frda Bond Street Lounger\n\t\t  My Compts to the official Lyar. or liar. the gallant Commodore/ The Nelson of America\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0105", "content": "Title: Peter Carr to Thomas Jefferson, 31 August 1811\nFrom: Carr, Peter\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t   You will receive by James, a very fine boar-pig of the Chinese or Parkinson breed; he is just eight weeks old, and as the sow is in heat again, I thought it best, to seperate them. If they Should answer the character given of them, they will certainly be, a valuable acquisition.\n\t\t  Judge Holmes and Genl Smith of Winchester, speak of their being made fit for the table, on a third or even a fourth of the corn, used for the common hog.\n\t\t  Our dear mother is yeilding at length to the unconquerable force of her disease\u2014she is perfectly helpless, knows no person, and is insensible to every thing. I did not think, she could have lived through\n\t\t\t the last night\u2014She cannot possibly survive many days. Adieu affectionately.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "08-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0107", "content": "Title: Josef Yznardy to Thomas Jefferson, 31 August 1811\nFrom: Yznardy, Josef\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          Muy Sen\u00f4r mio y de mi mayor veneracion y respeto: Mucho t\u00edempo hace caresco de la complacenc\u00eda de sav\u00e9r de la salud de V.E. qe celebrar\u00e9 sea la mas robusta, la m\u00eda es bien endeble, despues de haver pasado, tantas fat\u00edgas, desvelos, y perd\u00eddas desde la entrada de las tropas Imperiales en este Pais, qe si no me hallase tan cargado de a\u00f1os y familia, y de propiedad fincal, me trasladar\u00eda \u00e1 esa, \u00e1 finaliz\u00e1r mis dias con algun descanso.\n\t\t  Para qe V.E. se convenza de la m\u00edseria en qe deve est\u00e1r la Espa\u00f1a, se ex\u00eegen 72. p% de contribucion sobre las fincas \u00f9rbanas, y 90. sre. las r\u00f9sticas, y sobre lo industrial y Comercio, por requisiciones forzadas \u00e1 los tenedores de la especie, reduciendo\n\t\t\t\tlos Pueblos \u00e1 imponderable miseria, agregandosele \u00e1 esto, qe las Cosechas del a\u00f1o pasado y preste han sido tan esc\u00e0sas de granos y liquidos, qe la libra de pan vale d\u00edez cientos, y el quartillo de vino lo mismo, la libra de Carne treinta, y \u00e1 proporcion todo comestible.\n          En mi particular hasta aqui he ido pasando, teniendo qe pagar diariamte diez fuertes de contribucn qe si dura mucho, no ser\u00e1 posible soportarla, y no hay otra felicidad, qe la de no haver enfermedades, pero \u00e9s indispensable haya hambre el a\u00f1o prox\u00eemo, si no se verifica importac\u00edon.\n          En medio de estas calamidades, y\u00f2 no me he olvidado de la amistad de V.E. y pr cuya felicidad anhelo, suplicandole tenga la bondad de qe reciva y\u00f3 la satisfaccion de v\u00e8r letra suya, pues desde el 5. de Febrero del a\u00f1o pasado, qe vine de Cadiz \u00e1 esta \u00e1 visit\u00e1r mi familia, se me priv\u00f2 oficialmente de toda comunicacion con dha. C\u00edudad, ignorando quanto \u00e0 pasado y pasa en ella, teniendo la pena de hallarme una hora distante de\n\t\t\t\tnavegacion, s\u00edn tener noticias verdaderas de ella, hasta qe D\u00edos quiera, pues cr\u00e8o est\u00e0 muy distante, y sin otro motivo tengo el honor de repet\u00edr \u00e1 V.E. la sinceridad de mi respeto, rogando \u00e1 D\u00edos gue. su vida ms as.\n          Exmo. Se\u00f1or B.S.M. de V.E. su mas atento y Segro Servidor.\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n            My dear Sir and with my greatest veneration and respect: it has been a while since I have had the pleasure to learn of your health, which I pray is very robust; mine is very weak, having suffered so much fatigue, sleeplessness, and so many losses since the imperial troops entered this country, that if I did not feel so tied down by old age, family, and property, I would move and end my days in peace.\n\t\t  To convince you of the misery that exists in Spain, they are demanding 72 percent in taxes on urban properties and 90 percent on rural ones, and on industry and trade; because of forced requisitions in kind, the villages are reduced to\n\t\t\t incalculable misery and, in addition, the harvests of last year and this year have been so scanty in grains and liquids that a pound of bread costs ten cents, and a quart of wine the same, a\n\t\t\t pound of\n\t\t\t meat thirty, and so on for all the other foodstuffs.\n            This situation, having to pay taxes of ten fuertes a day, if it goes on for very long, will be untenable, and there is no happiness, other than that of not being sick; but famine next year is certain if we do not import food.\n            In the midst of these calamities, I have not forgotten your friendship and I long for your happiness, begging you to have the goodness to provide me with the satisfaction of receiving a letter from you, because since 5 February of last year, when I came here from C\u00e1diz to visit my family, I have been officially deprived of all communication with that city; not knowing what has happened and is happening there, suffering in finding myself an hour away,\n\t\t\t without having real news of it, until God wishes it, which I think is very far off in the future, and with no other motive I have the honor to repeat to you the sincerity of my respect, praying\n\t\t\t that\n\t\t\t God preserves your life for many years.\n            Dear Sir I kiss your hand. Your most attentive and loyal servant.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0108", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Gideon Granger, 1 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Granger, Gideon\n\t\t  Will you be so good as to inform me to what place I should address a letter to James Lyon, son of Colo Matthew Lyon. it is so long since I have heard any thing of him, that I am quite uninformed of his residence, and have occasion to write to him.\n\t\t  Let me take this occasion of thanking you for the new, post book, which is a daily convenience to me, and of renewing the assurances of my constant esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0109", "content": "Title: John Jordan to Thomas Jefferson, 1 September 1811\nFrom: Jordan, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I had the honor to receive your favor of the 5th Ult covering one for Mr Ogilvie, which I enveloped and forwarded him at Bairdstown Kentucky by the same Mail\u2014 having taken up his residence at that place to be near a literary friend of his (Mr McAlister)\n           Mr Ogilvie diliverd several Lectures during his stay at this place, they were received with the most unbounded applause.\n           It affords me a real & sincere pleasure to have it in my power to render you so small a service\u2014Particularly when I reflect on the many benefits our State has derived during your, and our Present Presidents administration\n           We have encreased in Population, and for our age no State has excelled us in Agriculture and Manufactures\u2014and happy am I to say that Republicanism keeps pace.\n\t\t  We have been some what agitated in our late elections as to State Legislatures Instructing their Senators in Congress\u2014should time present itself to you I shoud deem it a most singular favor for your opinion on this head\u2014for this query I trust you will have the goodness to pardon\n\t\t\t me\u2014as I may have form\u2019d an eronious opinion, particularly as our Senators as related to the U.S. Bank question have differed\u2014\n          I again repeat the pleasure that twill at all times afford me to prove serviceable to you or any of your Friends\n          That you may enjoy health\u2014And that Posterity justly appreciate what you have done for your Country is the fervent & sincere Wish of\n          Your Most obt Sert.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0111", "content": "Title: Francis Eppes to Thomas Jefferson, 2 September 1811\nFrom: Eppes, Francis\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          I wish to see you very much I am very sorry that you did not answer my letter give my love to aunt Randolph and all the children\u2014believe me to be your most affectionnate Grandson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0112-0001", "content": "Title: James S. Gaines to Thomas Jefferson, 3 September 1811, with 14 October 1811 postscript\nFrom: Gaines, James S.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  The State of Virginia which was foremost in her contest for Liberty appear to be the last to enjoy it. for at the close of the war it seems as if she was quite exhausted, and Just nestled herself down under some\n\t\t\t of the most Corrupt principles of the old regal Government. principles Sir, if persisted in will finally eventuate in the downfall of all that have been atchieved the last hope of the\n\t\t\t Philanthrophist. you sir predicted thirty th \n                     years ago \u201cthat the time would arrive when our rulers would forget right and make interested uses of power and that patriotism would no longer be a shield sufficient for the protection of the Liberties\n\t\t\t of the people.\u201d the time have I presume already arrived, and your predictions are but too fully verrified. Laws are now passed with impunity, infringing some of the dearest rights of freemen, and\n\t\t\t there is a most shameful waste of the public money. \n\t\t  I am now Sir, fully prepared, to subscribe to the opinion of my venerable great uncle (the Late Edmund Pendleton) who said \u201cof men advanced to power there is more who would try to destroy Liberty than preserve it.\u201d hence then the necessity of a well organized Government, with suitable checks on the rulers to secure the Liberties of\n\t\t\t the ruled, with powers so well defined, that public agents will not be able by any forced construction of expediency or implied right to overleap the barriers of the Constitution. I take the\n\t\t\t Liberty\n\t\t\t Sir, of enclosing to you what I conceive to be \n                  in my opinion are the most important defects of the Constitution of this State together with a new plan or form of Government which I conceive to be well adapted to the genius of Republicanism in this new\n\t\t\t place. I have endeavored as much as possible to keep the\n\t\t\t departments of the Government seperate and independant in such manner that they shall be as so many checks one on the other. 2. that each section of the state shall be equally represented which\n\t\t\t will\n\t\t\t include wealth and population, and ballance betwixt the commercial and agricultural parts of the Community. 3. Responsibility the Soul. 4. Economy the Body of a representative Government.\n              Be so good Sir, as to give the enclosed a perusal, and write me the result of your deliberations on the subject.  I am Just about to remove myself to Madison County \n                  Bent of Tennessee please to direct your letter to the care of Gabriel Moore attorney at Law of that place\n              with sentiments of the most perfect esteem and respect I subscribe myself yours &c\n              It grieves me Sir, that I have to trouble you in your Retirement but you must yet Continue to Illumine our political Hemisphere, as the Sun is to the solar Systam, so are you to the political world, altho the Emperor of France Occupy the highest place in the Temple of Mars, as a Statesman & Philanthropist, you sir stand unrivaled, and will Occupy the highest place in the Temple of Liberty.\n              Embargo War or submision again present themselves, your measures must again be resorted to, & may now I flatter myself be enforced,\u2014\n              if you should think propper to answer me please to direct your L the same to Knoxville I shall give the Postmaster at that place the necessary directions,\u2014your most Obediant servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0112-0002", "content": "Title: Enclosure: James S. Gaines\u2019s Plan for a New Virginia Constitution and Revised Legal Code, [ca. 3 September 1811]\nFrom: Gaines, James S.\nTo: \n\t\t  A New plan or form of Government\u2014\n            Divisions of the State\n            1. The state of Virginia shall as follows be laid off into three departments the first thirty Counties lying along the atlantic ocean shall be called the Eastern department the next thirty two Counties lying parallel with the Eastern department shall be denominated the middle department and the thirty Counties lying North\n\t\t\t & West of the middle department shall be called the Western department. 2. each department shall be again laid off into Senatorial districts of eight Counties each and each senatorial\n\t\t\t district\n\t\t\t shall be subdivided into representative districts of two counties each\u2014\n            Article 1. Sec. 1. all legislative powers herein granted shall be vested in a General assembly of the State of Virginia. which shall consist of a Senate and house of Representatives. 2. There shall be but one senator from each Senatorial district and one representative from each representative district who\n\t\t\t shall receive for their services while serving on the General assembly a compensation that shall neither be increased or diminished during the time for which they shall have been Elected. 3. No foreigner emigrating to this State after the adoption of this constitution shall be elected to serve in the General assembly or\n\t\t\t appointed to fill any office civil or military of trust or emolument under the authority of this State 4. no person shall be elected to serve on the General assembly who is a practitioner of the\n\t\t\t or preacher belonging to any religious sect of people, or who shall be licensed to sell goods wares and merchandize by wholesale or retail, or to keep a public house or who shall be appointed to\n\t\t\t fill\n\t\t\t any office civil or military under the authority of this State or of the United States 5. No senator or representative shall during the time for which he shall have been Elected be appointed to any civil office under the authority of this State\n            6 Elections to elect members to the General assembly shall be held on the fourth monday in august to be continued from day to day if by any casualty it cannot be concluded on the first day: 7. The sheriffs of Counties shall on the tenth day subsequent to the day of election convene at some convenient place in each senatorial district and from the poll so taken in their respective Counties return as senator the person having the highest number of votes in the whole district and also as representative the person having the highest number of votes in each representative district. 8. all free white persons enrolled on a muster list or the list of a tax gatherer (except those who shall hereafter be excepted) shall be entitled to vote for a member of the house of representatives who shall vote by ballot and not otherwise. 9. all persons possessed of a freehold Estate of fifty acres of land which shall be in the occupency of himself or a tenant at will shall be entitled to vote for a senator and shall give his vote viva voice and not otherwise. 10. No person holding any lucrative office under the authority of this State shall be entitled to the right of suffrage no person born after the adoption of this Constitution who cannot read & write and who does not understand arithmatic as far as the rule of Three shall be entitled to vote for members of the General assembly. \n                  No person shall be entitled to the right of suffrage who have been guilty of a breach of any of the penal laws of this State which thereby shall have subjected him to infamous punishment untill restored to such forfeited privilege by the Judge of the superior court where such offence shall have been committed No foreigner emigrating to this State after the adoption of this constitution shall be entitled to the right of suffrage. 11. The Legislative shall assemble at the Capitol in the City of Richmond once in each year & Such meeting shall be on the first monday in December except they shall by law appoint a different day. 12. The attendance of three Senators and twelve members of the\n\t\t\t house of Representatives from each department shall constitute a quoram to do business but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day untill such quoram shall have been completed. 13. Each house shall be the sole Judges of the elections, returns, and qualifications of its own members may compel\n\t\t\t the attendance of absent members in such manner and under such penalties as the General assembly shall by Law provide may determine the rules of its own proceedings punish its members for\n\t\t\t disorderly\n\t\t\t behavior and with the concurrence of two thirds of both houses expel a member. 14. all Bills shall originate in the house of representatives and when having passed thru several readings shall\n\t\t\t before\n\t\t\t it become a law be sent to the Senate for their concurrence if they concur the speaker shall sign the bill if they do not concur the bill shall be returned with their objections to the house of\n\t\t\t representatives who shall enter the same at large on their Journals and proceed to reconsidder if after such reconsideration two thirds of that house shall again pass the Bill the speaker of the\n\t\t\t senate shall sign the same which shall become a Law any thing to the contrary notwithstanding. But in all such cases the votes of both houses shall be determined by yeas and nays and the names of\n\t\t\t the\n\t\t\t persons voting for and against the bill shall be entered on the Journals of both houses respectively.If any bill shall not be returned by the Senate within six days sundays excepted after it\n\t\t\t shall\n\t\t\t have been presented to them the same shall become a Law in like manner as if they had concurred except the house of representatives by their adjournment prevent its return in which case the bill shall be Lost. 15. The Journals of both\n\t\t\t houses respectively shall be published anually together with a regular Statement and account of the receipts and expenditures of all public money one for each member of the General assembly and\n\t\t\t one\n\t\t\t for each magistrate throughout the state 16. No money shall be drawn from the Treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by Law and all monies appropriated to the Establishment of\n\t\t\t Seminaries\n\t\t\t of Learning or public improvements of any description shall be levied exclusively on the inhabitants of senatorial districts where such seminaries may be established or such public improvements\n\t\t\t shall\n\t\t\t have been so made 17. Taxes shall\n\t\t\t uniform throughout the State and the like tax shall be paid on every hundred dollars in any of the Chartered Banks of this State as on a Hundred dollars worth of land according to the equalizing\n\t\t\t Law. 18. at the first session of the General assembly after the adoption of this Constitution the Judges of the superior\n\t\t\t courts\n\t\t\t shall convene at the Capitol in the City of Richmond for the purpose of revising and simplifying the whole body of the laws of this State now in force and such Laws when so revised and made conformable to the principles of this constitution\n\t\t\t shall by the General assembly be made permanent and shall not thereafter be repealed or revised untill two thirds of the Judges of said superior courts shall petition to the\n\t\t\t General\n\t\t\t assembly to that effect. 19. The General assembly shall pass no Laws subjecting Lands whereon the owner resides Household and Kitchen furniture plantation tools or provisions necessary for the\n\t\t\t support of his or her families to the payment of any debts which shall be contracted after the adoption of this Constitution. 20. all Laws which shall be passed by the General assembly\n\t\t\t contravening\n\t\t\t the principles of this constitution or of the constitution of the united States or infringing any of the fundamental rights apertaining to freemen shall be null and void from and after the passing thereof. 21. The yeas and nays shall be taken in the house of\n\t\t\t representatives on all questions that shall be decided on of a public and general nature which shall be inserted in their Journals. 22. The seats of the members of both houses of the General\n\t\t\t assembly\n\t\t\t from the Eastern department shall be vacated at the expiration of the first session the seats of those from the Western department at the expiration of the second session and the seats of those\n\t\t\t from\n\t\t\t the middle department at the expiration of the third Session and so to continue alternately\u2014\n            Article 2. sec. 1. The executive powers shall be exercised by a Governor under the regulation of such Laws as the General assembly shall think expedient to pass 2. at the first meeting of the General assembly the senate shall proceed to Elect by ballot a Governor and Lieutenant Governor for three years who shall be ineligible three years after having been twice Elected they shall be allowed by the house of representatives a compensation for their services quarter yearly which shall neither be increased or diminished during their continuance in office they shall not during such time receive any other emolument under the authority of this State or of the united states they shall be natural born Citizens of this State but shall not both be Elected from the same department. 3. The Lieutenant Governor shall be speaker of the Senate and shall have the casting\n\t\t\t vote whenever they shall be equally divided. 4. In case of the removal by impeachment of the Governor from office or of his death, resignation, or inability to discharge the duties thereof the\n\t\t\t same\n\t\t\t shall devolve on the Lieutenant Governor and the General assembly shall by Law provide for the case of removal, death, resignation or inability both of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor\n\t\t\t declaring\n\t\t\t by what mode such vacancies shall be supplied untill the disability be removed or regular Elections shall have taken place 5. In case of the death resignation or inability to act of any of the\n\t\t\t members of the General assembly the Governor shall issue writs of Election to supply any such vacancy that may so happen. 6. The Governor shall by and with the advice and consent of the senate\n\t\t\t two\n\t\t\t thirds concurring therein nominate and appoint the Judges of the court of appeals and of the superior courts the attorney General the public Treasurer the register of the Land office and clerks\n\t\t\t both houses of the General assembly. but their salaries shall severally be allowed them by the house of representatives 7. The Governor shall appoint the military field officers and they shall\n\t\t\t appoint the other commissioned officers but the appointment of the noncommissioned officers shall devolve on the companies severally. 8. he shall at the commencement of each session report to the\n\t\t\t General Assembly the state of the commonwealth and exhibit a regular statement of her finances which shall be entered at large on the Journals of the house of the \n                  representatives he shall recommend to their consideration such measures as he may Judge necessary and expedient and may on extraordinary occasions convene both houses of the General assembly.\n\t\t\t 9. The Governor Lieutenant Governor and all civil officers of the State shall be removed from office on impeachment for and conviction of Treason bribery or other high crimes and misdemeanors\n            Article 3. Sec. 1. The Judicial power of this State shall be vested in one Supreme Court or Court of Appeals and superior Courts to be held in each County together with such other County Courts as the General assembly shall think expedient to Establish. 2. The Judges of both the supreme and Superior Courts shall hold their offices during good behavior and shall quarter yearly receive for their services a compensation which shall not be increased or diminished during their continuance in office. 3. The Judges of the superior courts of common Law shall give relief in equity as well as in Law. 4. no appeal from these courts to the Court of appeals shall be had of right but on application being made to the Judges of the court of appeals they may grant a supersidius if in their opinion a wrong Judgement has been given in the superior Court where such decision was had\u2014\n            Article 4. Sec. 1. The magistrates in each Captains district shall by rotation take in a List of all taxable property in said districts shall be furnished by the public printer with blank books for that purpose and in consequence of such services be exempted from working on roads or performing military duty in time of peace 2. The office of Sheriff shall by the County Court be let to the highest bidder and the money arising therefrom converted to the use of the Poor Establishment and County Charges\u2014\n            Article 5. Sec 1. There shall be erected at or near the centre of each senatorial district a house for the reception of the poor a foundling Hospital and work house to be under such regulations as the General assembly shall from time to time adopt\n            Article 6. Sec. 1 There shall be erected on some eligible spot over ten and not to exceed twenty miles from the City of Richmond an arsenal and military academy at which place all the arms implements of war and military Stores shall be deposited 2. The Governor shall by and with the advice and consent of the senate\n\t\t\t select from each department a certain number of young men not to exceed ten to be taught at the military academy in the most approved arts and sciences of modern warfare 3. The General assembly shall pass such Laws and make such regulations as they shall think necessary and expedient for carrying the foregoing article into operation 4. In case of an Invasion by a foreign foe the militia from the Eastern\n\t\t\t department shall be called out in the months of June, July, august, and September those from the Western department in the months of October, November, December, and January and those from the\n\t\t\t middle\n\t\t\t department in the months of February, March, april and May, under such other regulations as the General assembly shall from time to time adopt\u2014\n            Article 7. Sec 1. whenever one third of the members of the house of representatives shall deem it expedient to call a convention for the purpose of revising this Constitution the General assembly shall without delay pass a Law directing the Sheriffs of Counties and sergeants of Corporations to open a poll at the next Election thereafter for the purpose of taking the sense of the people if two thirds of the whole number of voters in the State shall be in favor of a revision a Law shall be passed at the next General assembly for the purpose of calling a convention\u2014\n            Article 8. Sec. 1. The Senators and members of the house of representatives \n                  shall in all cases except treason felony and breeches of the peace be privileged from arrest during their attendance at the General assembly and in going to and returning from the same and for any speech or debate in either house they shall not be questioned in any other place\u2014\n            Article 9. sec. 1. The senators and Representatives before mentioned and all executive Judicial and military officers of the Government shall be bound by oath (or affirmation) to support this Constitution but no religious test shall be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the authority of this State\u2014\n            A criminal Code of Laws\u2014\n            Rape in the first degree Murder in the first degree bigamy in the 1. degree robbing on the highway and the burning a house at that time the residence of some person shall constitute the first grade of offences and if committed in the first degree of malignancy shall be punished with hard Labor and solitary confinement in the Penitentiary House during Life, and if in the second degree of malignancy for a term of years, over 25. and not to exceed 30. years. Treason, Manslaughter, Treason Perjury, Forgery or Counterfeiting, Horse stealing or the wilfully Stabbing any or wounding any person with the appearance of an intent to kill, shall constitute the second grade of offences and shall be punished with hard Labor and solitary confinement for a term of years, over 15. and not to exceed 25. years; The publishing any thing Hostile to this Government by speaking, writing, or printing whilst a negociation is pending betwixt this Country and any foreign Court, that may thereby impede such negotiation shall Constitute the third grade of offences, and shall be punished with hard Labor &c for a term of years, over 10. and not to exceed 15. years. the offences that comes under the description of Petty Larceny\n\t\t\t shall be punished by making restoration of four times the value of the thing stolen by standing in the Pillory from three to six hours, and by being deprived of all the rights of a free white\n\t\t\t person\n\t\t\t while residing in this State, untill restored to such forfeited privl \n                  privilege by the Grand Jury, and assented to by the Judge of the superior Court, where such conviction was had. Drunkeness, fighting, Cursing and swearing \n                  the singing vulgar songs or making use of such indecent Language as may have a tendency to Corrupt the morals of the people, shall constitute the fourth grade of offences, and be punished with a fine over twenty and \n                     not to exceed thirty dollars, or a deprivation for twelve months of all the rights of a free white person\n            The defects of the Constitution of this State are \n                  1. The want of Responsibility in the Legislative and executive branches of the Government the senate by \n                  being Elected for four years and from Large districts are scarcely directly or indirectly accountable to their constituents and by having an unqualified negative on the acts of the house of\n\t\t\t delegates greatly lessens the responsibility of that branch of the Government and in the executive branch by the Governor having a Council and by having no vote at the council board. 2. The General assembly are too numerous there being two members from each County\n\t\t\t the means of Corruption may become to too General Candidates have it too much in their power to influence some and overawe others especially since their votes are given viva voice.\n\t\t\t 3. The General assembly by having the appointment of the Governor\n\t\t\t and\n\t\t\t Council and all other important officers of the Government and the giving them their Salaries acquire thereby an undue influence over the other departments the Government is too much blended\n                  and all power result exclusively to the Legislature. 4. The inequality of the representation of the people both in the Senate\n\t\t\t and house of delegates arising from the great difference in the extent and population of the senatorial districts and of the Counties. 5. The right of Suffrage as it respects the state and\n\t\t\t federal\n\t\t\t Legislature being withheld from nearly one half of the Citizens of this Commonwealth who contribute to the protection and support of the Government 6. The Bill of Rights not being recognized by\n\t\t\t the\n\t\t\t Constitution is therefore no part of the Constitution and of course of no validity. 7. The defects of the Judiciary first the multitude of Courts which occasion useless delays and expences Second\n\t\t\t the\n\t\t\t wrong organization of the Courts. 1. by being a useless number of County Courts in a year 2. The want of responsibility in the magistrates. 3. The power of increasing their number without\n\t\t\t limitation\n\t\t\t and 4. Their chosing a sheriff from among themselves\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0113", "content": "Title: Paul Hamilton to Thomas Jefferson, 3 September 1811\nFrom: Hamilton, Paul\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  My Son who has lately returned from Europe with public dispatches, and goes with them to Mr Monroe, will not fail to gratify himself by calling on you: and although I am not favored with a personal acquaintance with you, I cannot consistently with justice to him hesitate to announce him to you: respect for you having been a part of his education; and I do it the\n\t\t\t more readily as it affords me an opportunity to offer to you the assurance of my cordial respect & veneration. I beg your acceptance of my sincere wishes for your health & happiness, and am, Sir, truly yrs\n            Paul Hamilton", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0114", "content": "Title: Joseph Dougherty to Thomas Jefferson, 4 September 1811\nFrom: Dougherty, Joseph\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                  City of Washington Septr 4th\u201411\n\t\t  I now solicit you on a cause of great importance to me, and one too in which you can make more interest for me than I can Suppose,\n\t\t  Mr Mathers, the Door keeper for the Senate th was buried the other day, and no doubt but there will be one hundred applicants for his place, my friends advise me to try for it,\n          Now Sir, you best know what will be the best mode to pursue, would a few lines from you to each of the Senators (or at least) those that are your friends answer a good purpose for the present as there is supposed to be several letters on already sent to them\n          I am sir, Sorry, and should be more so, to give you so much trouble:\u2014if I had the smallest idea that you would do it reluctantly: I can perhaps make some intercession with the federalists through my old friend Mr Otis. but your \n                  you sir is my only dependant. \n\t\t   please to advise me what will be best to do would \n                     a few words from you, to Messrs. Madison & Muroe be necessary\n          Sir I do not know that I ever have;\u2014and hopes I never shall disgrace any recommendation that you in your gooness \n                  goodness may give me\n          I am sir your humble Servant", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0116", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to James L. Edwards, 5 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Edwards, James L.\n\t\t  Your letter of Aug. 20. has truly surprised me. in this it is said that for certain services performed by mr James Lyon and mr Samuel Morse, formerly editors of the Savanna Republican, I promised them the sum of 1000.D. this, Sir, is totally unfounded. I never promised to any printer on earth the sum of 1000.D. nor any other sum, for certain services performed, or for any services which that expression\n\t\t\t would imply. I have had no accounts with printers but for their newspapers, for which I have paid always the ordinary price & no more. I have occasionally joined in moderate contributions, to\n\t\t\t printers, as I have done to other descriptions of persons, distressed or persecuted, not by promise, but the actual paiment of what I contributed.\n\t\t  When mr Morse went to Savanna, he called on me & told me he meant to publish a paper there, for which I subscribed, and paid him the year in advance.   I continued to take it from his successors Everitt & Mclean, & Everett and Evans, and paid for it, at different epochs, up to Dec. 31. 1808. when I withdrew my subscription.  you say Mclean informed you \u2018he had some expectation of getting the money, as he had recieved a letter from me on the subject.\u2019 if\n\t\t\t such a letter exists under my name, it is a forgery. I never wrote but a single letter to him; that was of the 28th of Jan. 1810. and was on the subject of the last paiment made for his newspaper, & on no other subject: and I have two reciepts of his, (the last dated Mar. 9. 1809.) of paiments for his paper, both stating to be in full of all demands, and a letter of the 17th of Apr. 1810. in reply to mine, manifestly shewing he had no demand against me of any other nature. the promise is said to have been made to Morse & Lyon. were mr Morse living, I should appeal to him with confidence, as I believe him to have been a very honest man. mr Lyon I suppose to be living, and will, I am sure acquit me of any such transaction as that alledged.the truth then\n\t\t\t being that I never made the promise suggested, nor any one of a like nature to any printer or other person whatever, every principle of justice and of self respect requires that I should not\n\t\t\t listen\n\t\t\t to any such demand.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0117", "content": "Title: Ralph Granger to Thomas Jefferson, 5 September 1811\nFrom: Granger, Ralph\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                  Washington City \n\t\t   My Father being absent on a journey to N England, the pleasing office of answering your\u2019s of the 1\u2019st devolves on me\u2014\n\t\t  It is reported, on what grounds I know not, that Mr James Lyon dares not be seen at his usual place of residence, but a letter directed to him at Carthage, Smith County, Tennessee, where his family resides, by their conveyance would doubtless find him\u2014\n          With the greatest Respect and Esteem, Sir, I have the honour to be Your\u2019s &C.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0118", "content": "Title: Robert Johnson to Thomas Jefferson, 5 September 1811\nFrom: Johnson, Robert\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                  Great Crossings \n\t\t  The right of instruction by state Legislatures has become a subject of controversy in Kentucky Perhaps on account of the state Legislature having passed a resolution to the following effect Resolved That\n                   our Senators & Representatives in Congress are requested to oppose a renewal of the Charter of the Bank of the United States. Two members in the lower house voted against the resolution. A request was Sent by Petition from some of the Inhabitants of Lexington to our members of Congress in favour of renewing the Charter of said Bank The resolution was also sent requesting our members to oppose the renewal.\n\t\t\t Mr Clay voted against the renewal and Mr. Pope in favour of it. It is said by the party in opposition to\n\t\t\t instructions: That it is a Dangerous and alarming usurpation of the Peoples right for state Legislatures to instruct; That the constitution has not vested any such power in the state\n\t\t\t Legislatures.\n\t\t\t Some of them agree that the people have a right to instruct & others that they have not: on the other hand it is observed: that the national government possess all power given by the federal constitution and no more. That the state governments possess all powers except those prohibited or reserved to the people: That the state governments are parties to the federal compact and have a right to speak their sentiments on any infraction on the Constitution: That the state Legislatures are\n\t\t\t the people by representation but \n                  and are accountable to them for improper conduct: That they have a right to offer instructions on political Subjects on important occasions and if right; it is proper but ought not to do it on\n\t\t\t trivial or Doubtful occasions If instructions are disregarded the corrective will be at next election. That the Bank Charter not being confined within the ten miles square was unconstitutional\n\t\t\t and\n\t\t\t created unconstitutional criminal Jurisdiction in the federal Courts (over Counterfeiters of notes) not given by the constitution. They refer to the virginia resolutions in 1798 and their reconsideration at their next session. That the Institution admitted Brittish Subjects to hold the greater part of the stock in this great monied institution. That and It was as impolitic as to permit aliens to hold land and have influence on the great landed interest.\n                  It seems the right of\n\t\t\t instruction to members in Parliament of G. B. by the people was not questioned for 150 years That Judge Blackstone was the first who opposed it in England and Since that time the Brittish government has become more corrupt \n                  having hinted some points in controversy and being desirous to have your opinion on state Legislative instructions to their Senators and representatives in Congresss on Subjects not included within\n\t\t\t the powers given to them by the constitution also on the Doctrine of instruction in cases of policy which are included in those powers Delegated to them\n\t\t\t If it be not Disagreable or\n\t\t\t inconvenient\n\t\t\t you will very much oblige me in sending a letter on the Subject\n\t\t\t directed to me at \n                  the Post officce \n                  office at the Great Crossings, Scott County Kentucky or to my son Richard M. Johnson at Congress who will forward it to me. If I have made too free in addressing this letter to you I hope you will forgive your friend and obedient Servant", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0119", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to James Lyon, 5 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Lyon, James\n\t\t  I inclose you the copy of a letter I have recieved from a James L. Edwards of Boston. you will percieve at once it\u2019s swindling object. it\n\t\t\t appeals to two dead men, and one (yourself) whom he supposes I cannot get at. I have written him an answer which may\n\t\t\t perhaps\n\t\t\t prevent his persevering in the attempt, for the whole face of his letter betrays a consciousness of it\u2019s guilt. but perhaps he may expect that I would sacrifice a sum of money rather than be\n\t\t\t disturbed with encountering a bold falsehood. in\n\t\t\t this he is mistaken; and to prepare to meet him, should he repeat his demand, and considering that he has \n                   presumed to implicate your name in this attempt, I take the liberty of requesting a letter from you bearing testimony to the truth of my never having made to you, or within your\n\t\t\t knolege or information, any such promise to yourself, your partner Morse, or any other. my confidence in your character leaves me without a doubt of your honest aid in repelling this base\n\t\t\t & bold attempt to fix on me practices to which no honors, or powers in this world would ever have induced me to stoop. I have sollicited none, intrigued for none. those which my country has\n\t\t\t thought proper to confide to me, have been of their own mere motion, unasked by me. such practices as this letter-writer imputes to me, would have proved me unworthy of their\n\t\t\t confidence.\n          It is long since I have known any thing of your situation or pursuits. I hope they have been succesful, and tender you my best wishes that they may continue so, & for your own health & happiness.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0120", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Francis Eppes, 6 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Eppes, Francis\n\t\t  Your letter of Aug. 19. came to hand only 4. or 5. days ago. I should have answered it by post hat \n                  had not Martin arrived with your second.\n\t\t\t I am glad to learn you are becoming a Roman, which a familiarity\n\t\t\t with\n\t\t\t their history will certainly make you. \n\t\t  the putting you into qui, quae, quod, was only to strengthen your memory, which you may do quite as well by getting pieces of poetry by heart.\n\t\t  Jefferson & myself intend you a visit in November, and it will then be a question for the consideration of your papa and yourself whether you shall not return with us & visit your cousins. this will be acceptable to us all, and only deprecated by the partridges & snowbirds against which you\n\t\t\t may commence hostilities. adieu my dear Francis, be industrious in advancing yourself in knolege, which with your good dispositions, will \n                  ensure the love of others, & your own happiness, & the love & happiness of none more than of\n          Yours affectionately", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0122", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Randolph Jefferson, 6 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Jefferson, Randolph\n\t\t  Our sis \n                     worthy sister Carr has at length yielded to the wasting complaint which has for two or three years been gaining upon her.\n\t\t  without any increase of pain, or any other than her gradual decay, she exi \n                  expired three days ago, and was yesterday deposited here by the side of the companion who had been taken from her 38. years before.\n\t\t  she had the happiness, and it is a great one, of seeing all her children become worthy & respectable members of society & enjoying the esteem of all. \n\t\t  present my best respects to my sister and be assured of my constant affection.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0124", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Charles Wingfield, 8 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Wingfield, Charles\n           The death of mrs Carr, my sister, which took place a few days ago, and the desire that she should be buried here by the side of her husband, induce me to trouble you with a request that you would be so kind as to come and officiate on the occasion of her funeral. it is \n                  proposed that it shall take place on Wednesday the 11th at 12 aclock. it will be private, her near connections only proposing to attend, and our desire is to have the ceremony performed in a simple way, with prayers Etc as you shall think proper. I defer inviting her friends until I can recieve an answer from you by the bearer, whether we may hope the favor of your attendance.  accept the assurance of my great esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0125", "content": "Title: Charles Wingfield to Thomas Jefferson, 8 September 1811\nFrom: Wingfield, Charles\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I received yours, of the date abovementioned, have observed the contents; shall attend at Monticello on wednesday the eleventh, at 12 OClock, to officiate on the occasion of the funeral Solemnities.\n\t\t\t  Accept the assurance of my great esteem & respect.\n            Wingfield", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0126", "content": "Title: Charles Willson Peale to Thomas Jefferson, 9 September 1811\nFrom: Peale, Charles Willson\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                  Farm Persevere Sepr 9th 1811.\n           I most chearfully accept your kind invitation of a renewal of corrispondance; tho\u2019 with very little expectation that I shall be able to add to your stock of Information in your favorite occupations, however with this pleasing hope, that as my subjects must necessarily be on the culture of the Earth, I must \n                     shall get instruction in my new occupation, that of a farmer, which thus may be difused to others, as I am \n                  willing to put into practice every thing that promisses to emelorate the condition of Man. To produce the best effect of labour with ease how vastly important! \n                  Your Mould-board ought to \n                  to be studied by every Man that makes a Plow, if the form of it was given to every Plow, the land would be infinitely better plowed; greater products consequently, withall less labour to Horses. I have lately sought for one of the best Plow-makers in the vicinity of Germantown, and made a model of your invention in his shop, and required of him to make me a plow & give the mould-board that form. He thought he could do it with one of his slabs which had in part\n\t\t\t some of the natural twist, such as wheel-rights generally provide to \n                  for mould-boards, after my Plow was made I found it had not the 4\u00bd Inches hanging over, therefore insufficient to turn the sod completely over. This mechanicks excuse, was, that his slab was not\n\t\t\t quite thick enough to form the angle. I have been examining all those of Cast Iron that I could find in Stores, none of them please me, & therefore I am now making an experiment of twisting a\n\t\t\t white-oak board by means of Steam. I cut down a sound\n\t\t\t White-oak, split the But into several slabs of sufficient thickness &c I intend to prepare the following means to give the proper twist\u2014Mortice of the size of the end of the slab in a log fixed in the ground, placing the slab perpendicular into the Mortice, to the upper end of the slab fix two\n\t\t\t pieces of Scantlin, thus:\n      To steam the slab, take a Hogshead, taking out the head & putting within the slab, place the head on the top of the cask with sufficient weight on it to confine the steam, from my Steam-kettle insert its tube at the bung-hole.\n      After the slab has got a full proportion of\n\t\t\t twist, secure the long lever-arms untill the slab is completely seasoned, which perhaps will take 2 or 3 weeks, when all its sides are exposed to the air. a \n                  It will I expect then keep its form, more especially if well secured in the framing of the Plow. one thing may opperate against such Mould-boards\u2014Farmers too frequently leave their Plows in the\n\t\t\t field, exposed to Sun & Rain, which may possibly injure the twist, therefore a well formed casting must be preferable\u2014will wear better & smoother. yet they are not unfrequently broken on\n\t\t\t our\n\t\t\t Stony Lands. The well formed mould-board is very easily covered with steel Saw blades; they can be twisted, if not very thick, without heat.\n          you ask whether the Museum will not suffer by my retiring to the farm. I\n\t\t\t thought it necessary to satisfy public men that the Museum could be well well conducted without my presence, it was also necessary \n                  to give my Son Rubens a profession that would engage him to a good work, finding he was fond of Natural history and liked to arrange & dress the Museum, I addressed him thus, I am growing Old and may be taken away soon, it will be a satisfaction to me to see the Museum well managed without my attention to it\u2014I have gained much credit for my exertions in forming, and more honour than\n\t\t\t I expected, or have  \n                  deserved, I wish you to receive all the honour of it in future, I wish to be out of sight, by retiring to the Country, & to muse away the remainder of my life\u2014you must give me a certain sum yearly and all you can gain more shall be for the improvement of the Museum and a surpluss for your emolument, and in proportion to your good management so will your profits be encreased, & the higher your reputation will be exalted. he accepted my offer, and I can very truely say that I have very great satisfaction in finding that he has\n\t\t\t improved the Museum far beyond my expectation and I think you will frequently hear from those who visit it, how neat and handsomely it is arranged, and withall how very instructing, and, how very beneficial to the Public. You ask whether \u201cthe farm is interresting?\u201d my answer is that it is exactly what you would wish, \u201ca rich spot of Earth, well watered, and near a good market for the produce of the Garden.\u201d I am situated \u00bd a mile from Germantown and have the same distance to the old-york turnpike road\u2014two Streams run through my land, who\u2019s sourses are within 3 miles, on each there are 3 mills above me, from the east stream I can have 23 feet head of water, and on the other 10 feet within\n\t\t\t my own land, and liberty from my neighbours land below to add 5 feet more\u2014This stream is the nearest to my dwelling.\n\t\t\t is my intention as soon as I can conveniently have it executed, to Build the End of a Mill-house, which may be extended if wanted in future, my object at present is only to apply it to the saving of labour of the farm, such as churning of Butter, Grinding our tools, beating of Homony, washing of Linnen, a turn\n\t\t\t bench &c &c all of which may be performed by bands,  \n                  thus expence of wheels is avoided. on the other Stream I intend to Build a Grist Mill, after my farm is put into compleat order, if I am able to make it so. \n                  I began with putting out the farm on shares, and I thought I had engaged a good farmer, for he had served his apprenteship with Joseph Cooper, opposite Philada a noted good farmer. But my farmer was too lazy a man, and too poor to hire men to do the work\n\t\t\t for him, consequently every thing was put too late into the ground, my crops fell short, corn untoped & all the fodder lost, and all my Cattle half starved throughout the winter. my only consolation was that I had no repugnance in putting my farmer \n                  away, And taking the whole charge on myself. \n\t\t\t is a fact, that this year I have had less trouble than the last, my Crops plentiful, and every thing looks as well as I should wish, except the extended part of my Garden; a part which I had proposed to make an early market Garden, with a SE aspect; side of a Hill, promising to produce early crops\u2014my first planting of Strawberry beds\n\t\t\t succeeded, and\n\t\t\t every thing was promising when our harvest came on, I thought that a few days neglect of the Garden might be soon repaired by giving assistance to the Gardiner, Rain succeeding a long drought, made the\n\t\t\t weeds grow so fast that the loss of labour could not be recovered, great part of my new Garden became a wilderness I am now taught to know that a garden must be constantly attended to\u2014This is not the only mistake I have committed,\n\t\t\t even with the best intentions, I have laughed at my folly in thinking I could do wonders by my steady perseverance. \n\t\t\t see my farm, and those of all my neighbours with around having an abundance of weeds, I thought that if I cut off those weeds while in Blossom that I should prevent them from seeding, and by a persevering labour of cuting them off, I should\n\t\t\t at last have my place free of weeds\u2014\n\t\t\t procured\n\t\t\t bryer hooks, and set to work\n\t\t\t in my destruction of the St Johnsworth, wild Carrots & plantain, it was my daily work for a long time, and I conceived that I was doing wonders, I made the muscels of my right arm sore, I then began with my left\n\t\t\t hand as I thought that I must go on. But\n\t\t\t after some time visiting those\n\t\t\t parts where my Herculian labour began, I found that where I had cut off one head, Hydra-like a half dozen had sprouted up in its place, and, then I found that I ought to up as have rooted them up, as I had done with the Docks, to do any good.\n                  It then recured for \n                  to me that I had seen an experiment of planting Guinea & brown corn and cutting it down when it was 3 or 4 feet high for fodder, each plant then gave 4 or 5 sprouts, that \n                  this was also cut down and a third crop of encreased sprouts was obtained for food, to his cattle, that was not suffered to graise on his fields.\u2014This Gentleman is a speculative farmer about 3 miles distant from me, when I have time to pay him some more visits I may be furnished with subjects for another letter. As I\n\t\t\t have every thing to learn about farming, I gain all the knowledge I can from my neighbours as well as from Books. \n\t\t\t Sir do you find the french work entitled Maison Rustic contains useful knowledge for the American farmer and Gardiner? I once had\n\t\t\t that work, and taking\n\t\t\t a thought that\n\t\t\t keeping a library which I did not use, was a folly, I therefore sent it & all those which I thought I should not want, and made a sacrifise of them at auction. \n                  But the important reason I have\n                  for liking the farmers life, is yet to be told, For many years before I came to this place, my lungs was not sound; salt\n\t\t\t phlegm troubled me, and I seldom could get into sound sleep before I had thrown off that Phlegm\u2014By using a great deal of exercise in the open air; with hilly grounds, fine Water and temperate eating I am more\n\t\t\t than paid for the cost of the farm, by strong health. \n                  It is true that I had experienced considerable benefit by an\n\t\t\t abridgment of my Solid food, before I left the\n\t\t\t City, I had been relieved from\n\t\t\t Colicks and head-achs; from the time I had read Sr John Sinclears code of Longevity, about the time my Son Rembrandt went to France.\n          Milk food may also have contributed to cure my Lunges.; it serves for drink as well as food, and we have it in perfection in the Country but shamefully spoiled by the retailers of it in the City.\n The last line gives me the thought of a Machine to carry milk to Market, like one I contrived to take my milk from the Cow-pen to the Spring-House, which saves a great deal of labour\u2014a short description of it may be acceptable, I got a large ceder Tub of an Oval form made with a cover to it, a little below the top are 4 pegs to rest a strainer on, a wire of No 1. make to fit its place, a broad hem to run the wire through,\n                  . To prevent the wire from rusting, I varnished it. A frame to let the Tub moove freely in, with pivots in opposite direction to those in the Tub, and thus it swings like the mariners compass\u2014\nThe carriage has 3 wheels, the hind wheels with a crook\u2019d axle-Tree to let the carriage be low. The strainer prevents the splashing of the Milk from perpendicular jolts. The pivots of the Tub so as admit it to be tilted to pour into a pan set on the forepart of the Carriage, having a lip to the Tub to prevent the spilling the \n                  of Milk. The fore wheel with a swivel, and the tongue imbraces the axle tree to turn the wheel to the right or left\u2014\n          altho\u2019 my drawing is very slight, yet with the description sufficient for your comprehension, Such a Carriage on a larger Scale to be drawn by a Horse would be good to carry milk to the City, and the profits will pay for the trouble. in the hot weather this Summer, they could not get milk at any price, at least for a few days. \n                  A Grass farm gives the least trouble, and most profit near to the City\u2014I shall endeavor to make mine such, but time is necessary for this as well as perfectioning of Fruit Tree\u2019s. \n                  I dont want fruit Tree\u2019s to make Cyder, \n                  I consider it a pernicious liquor, as causing Stone and Gout &c. I have further observed that the time of making Cyder, is in a busey season with\n\t\t\t the farmer, and much very necessary business is neglected through their love of Cyder. some of my friends tell me that I ought to make Cyder for Sale, I know that where it is made it will be drank, and the profit of making it is, small, the apples sent to market is more profitable in every point of view\u2014last year being a plentiful year for apples, I dryed a great many of\n\t\t\t them, I made sliding stages, so that on the appearance of Rain, they were drawn in, under cover, with very little trouble. the failure of Apples this year, I am thus supplied for another year. I am endeavoring to have fruit of every kind near my\n\t\t\t dwelling That \n                  Trees at a distance we cannot keep from pillagers. Peach trees ought to be plat \n                  planted with us every year, however I cannot help thinking that the owners of Peach trees neglect attending to the roots at the proper seasons to distroy the worms. I have thought if our Peach trees\n\t\t\t could be preserved untill they become large & strong, that they would be less liable to be injured by worms. I am told that the Chinease put casses round the roots the lower part of their tree\u2019s filled with sand. Mr Richard Wistar, a brother of the Doctor, is trying the chinease method of preserving them. I dont recollect that the people of maryland had any difficulty to preserve their Tree\u2019s, and I presume that in Virginia, being still further South, that Peach tree\u2019s are equally lasting?\n          I wish to know the best construction of a Kiln for drying of fruit which I contemplate building, after I have done with some other more necessary works. I find my hands & head full of business, even on rainey days, I contrive to give my Men full imployment in my work-shop. because we are learning to make all our farming Utensils. my present labourers are all young men, and teaching them the use of Carpenters tools, in \n                  may be of some importance to them hereafter. I am fond of such work, more especially as by it I can fill up all vacant hours and thus drive away ennui. yet I do not entirely neglect the Brush, I have painted a few portraits with encaustic Colours from my son Rembrandt\u2019s instruction, and hope to produce some pictures of Value on account of their colouring.\n          Some of my friends told me that I would soon be tired of a country life, as others of their acquaintance had been. I believe my fondness for the farmers life is becoming daily stronger.\n                  I have been making some experiments to know whether Plaster or ashes answers best on my land, also different modes of producing Potatoes. After my Crops are gathered, I will give you the result, if it is \n                  deserving of notice. I wish you health & long life, & am with due respect your friend", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0127", "content": "Title: Nathaniel H. Hooe to Thomas Jefferson, 10 September 1811\nFrom: Hooe, Nathaniel H.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I received a letter from Mr John Daingerfield of the 2nd Inst who sayes \n                  says he was authorised by Mrs Mary Daingerfield to make a request of me whether I had written to you relative to the Balance of money due her & whether I had herd from you & if I had to be informed of the prospect of her geting the money due her Viz\n\t\t\t the full hire of Edmund with some balances of Intirest that is due her from the times that her moneys became due & not punctually paid, I informed Mr Daingerfield that I had written to you on the subject of a payment that I had reced no answer to the letter I had written to you, but expected one on the 5th Inst at the post office at King George Ct House, & if I received one I would send her a copy, be assurred sir that a speedy payment to Mrs Daingerfield & myself would be a very great accommodation to usYours Very Respectfuly\n            Nathl H. Hooe", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0128", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William McClure, 10 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: McClure, William\n\t\t  In order to commence the establishment for family manufacture in our neighborhood, on which we conversed the other day, I will, for myself, engage of you a spinning Jenny, and a loom with a flying shuttle, doing towards them myself whatever my workmen can do; I will furnish six women or girls to work for myself on them under your direction, build a house for them to lodge in, contribute to a common manufacturing room, & dwelling house for yourself, all of logs, furnish subsistence for my own people, contribute a quota of corn & pork for that of your family, furnish the materials for my own people to work up, giving you, for your trouble, such proportion of what shall be woven as shall be agreed on: all however on the conditions that the numbers to be employed in the factory shall not exceed a limit to be agreed on, and that the establishment shall be at a distance to be agreed on from the two towns in the neighborhood, & on the opposite side of the river from them: and I should suggest as a convenient position some spot in the woods near the Edgehill and Lego line, where a spring may be found. these propositions are submitted to you for consideration, with my best wishes for the success of the establishment, & for your own welfare.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0129-0001", "content": "Title: James Walker to Thomas Jefferson, 10 September 1811\nFrom: Walker, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I send the bill of scantling for your sawmill which you gave to me the other day=as also a bill for the pitt gears of the same=the bill you gave me was not the sam that I supposed\u2014I sent you a 2d bill whilst you ware at Beadford which I suppose your servant has not delivered to you, however you may destroy that as the two which I now send will be sufficient=please have them filled up as soon as may be convenient=I\n\t\t\t wish you to refer putting up the pittwalls untill I come again which will be in two or three weeks\u2014\n            I am with respect your Obt servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0129-0003", "content": "Title: Enclosure: James Walker\u2019s Timber List for Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Sawmill Pit Gears, [ca. 10 September 1811]\nFrom: Walker, James\nTo: \n                Length in feet &. parts\n                Breadth in Inches &. parts\n                Thickness in Inches &. parts\n                Terms for different pieces\u2014\n                shrouding for Water wheel\n                Clear of cracks\n                arms for ditto\n                Buckets for ditto\n                Elboes for ditto\n                Soling for ditto\n                Back cants for 2 cogwheels of the spurr kind &.\n                Face ditto for ditto\n                arms for ditto\n                Locks for the arms\n                           good Locust for spurr cogs\n                dogwood for rounds\n                Main headblocks oak or pine heart\n                spurrs for the headblocks to rest on ditto\n                white oak for wallowers &.C.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0130", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Smith Barton, 11 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Barton, Benjamin Smith\n\t\t  Mr Oemler, not having found me here, delivered me your letter of May 1. on the 19th Ult. at a place 90. miles Southwestwardly near the New London of this state, which I visit frequently, & with considerable stay. this absence & the date of delivery will account for\n\t\t\t this late answer.\n\t\t   We are in no hurry for Persoone, and I am happy in it\u2019s emploiment to a good purpose. for altho\u2019 I do not\n\t\t\t know exactly the extent of the work you are engaged in, I am sure it will be useful & add instruction to the public.\n\t\t  The river Hardware, after which you enquire, passes within 10. miles of me. it\u2019s name is pronounced as the same term when applied to the merchandize called hardware. I think the name undoubtedly English, and\n\t\t\t given when this part of the country was first settled, which was only 80. years ago; the earliest grant of land I have seen or heard of being of 1730. & bordering on that river, which is in fact but a creek. \n\t\t   I conclude it English, as well from it\u2019s idiom, as from the fact that every other name, in the country roundabout, is English: and it is a singular circumstance that while the waters of the\n\t\t\t neighboring rivers, York, Rappahanoc & Patomac, North, and Appamattox & Roanoke in the South, have retained abundance of Indian names, there does not remain a single one, as far as I can recollect, to the waters of James river, covering one third of the state below the Alleghany ridge. all is English. you may observe that in New England, the\n\t\t\t next oldest settlement, the names are almost wholly English. the names in the neighborhood of Hardware are Willis\u2019s river, Slate river, Rockfish, Buffalo, Tye river, Piney river, Fluvanna, Rivanna, Moreman\u2019s river, Mechum\u2019s river Etc\n\t\t  You will have seen the name of a mr Bradbury among the adventurers from St Louis up the Missouri, & lately returned thence to St Louis. \n\t\t   he is an English Artisan from Liverpool, who being desirous to move his family to this country, and not free, by their regulations, to come under that character, was employed by the Botanical society of Liverpool to come out as their herboriser. he is an estimable man and really learned in the vegetable,\n\t\t\t animal and mineral departments of science. he is indefatigable in his researches, and before that journey, had already discovered a great number of new articles, which he has\n\t\t\t communicated from time to time, to his employers: and has returned to St Louis fraught, without doubt, with a great mass of information, which will immediately pass the Atlantic, to appear first there. \n\t\t\t was recommended to me by mr Roscoe, & staid here three weeks, passing every day in the woods from morning to night. he found, even on this mountain, many inedited articles. with\n\t\t\t respect therefore to your work, as well as Govr Lewis\u2019s, I am anxious that, whatever you do, should be done quickly.\n          Accept the assurance of my great esteem & respect.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0132", "content": "Title: Littleton W. Tazewell to Thomas Jefferson, 11 September 1811\nFrom: Tazewell, Littleton W.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          I have been flattering myself during the whole summer, with the hope of having it in my power to pay a visit to the Mountain Country, and in the course of my projected tour I contemplated calling upon you; but the situation of my family, and some perplexing business which I have found greatly \n                  great difficulty in adjusting, has protracted my stay here to so late a period, that I find myself now compelled to abandon my intended journey\u2014  \n\t\t  Being thus disappointed in the pleasure I anticipated from a personal interview with you, I am compelled to write to you upon the subject of business, which has heretofore frequently engaged our attention, I allude to the claim of Welch against you\u2014On the first of October annually I remit to that Gentleman my account, shewing the transactions of the preceding year, to which by his directions I always subjoin a statement of\n\t\t\t the debts due \n                  him yet uncollected, with notes of the times when payment of all or any part of such debts may be expected\u2014In my last years statement I remarked upon your debt, that I had received\n\t\t\t your assurances, that you would make provision for its payment out of the proceeds of your crops as they accrued, and your other engagements would permit; so that he might expect to receive a\n\t\t\t part if\n\t\t\t not the whole of this claim during the course of the then next year\u2014That year is now about expiring, and I have therefore to request of you to inform me, if you can conveniently enable me to make\n\t\t\t remittance to Mr Welch about the period I have mentioned, or if not, to say to me when I may inform him he may expect such remittance, and how much.\n          I am very respectfully Sir your mo: obdt servt\n                  Littn: W Tazewell", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0135", "content": "Title: Lafayette to Thomas Jefferson, 12 September 1811\nFrom: Lafayette, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  Altho\u2019 my Letters to you Have for a very Long time Remained unanswered, I Cannot let madame de puzy Go to America without these lines from me\u2014Not that she is in Need of a Recommendation to the friend upon whose Sentiments for Herself and Her parents she and Her children are chiefly to depend.\n\t\t  she abandons the prospects to which the Distinguished Services of Her Husband, not only in our times, But under the present Government did Entitle them.\n\t\t  Her daughter, the little Sara you Have known, is now an Accomplished young Lady\u2014 Her Son is very promising and will do Honour to Any profession He Embraces\u2014your good advice and kind offices will not Be\n\t\t\t wanting to them. to Entreat would be on my part Superfluous\u2014But to Enjoy the testimonies of your kindness to that family will Be Equally proper and pleasing.\n          mr Barlow is Every day Expected\u2014we Have Long been without Any particular intelligences. those from mexico and South Spain give us the prospect of an independance which I did Early and more than Ever do wish to See Extended to Every part of America. most affectionately, tho\u2019 very Angrily at your Silence, I am Your friend\n            Lafayette", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0136", "content": "Title: Charles Wingfield to Thomas Jefferson, 12 September 1811\nFrom: Wingfield, Charles\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           I received yours of the twelfth instant, shall attend agreeably to request, tomorrow at 12 OClock, unless the rain should be very excessive. with the assurance of my esteem & respect.\n            Wingfield", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0137", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to George Divers, 14 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Divers, George\n\t\t  The advance of the season makes me uneasy about your timothy seed. on the 8th of Aug. I inclosed a 10.D. bill to Judge Stewart requesting him to procure the amount of it in timothy seed, fresh, & forward it to mr Leitch\u2019s in Charlottesville. as I have not heard from him I have this day written to him by post. when it arrives at mr Leitch\u2019s, call for it without waiting for communication with me on the subject, lest it should occasion a delay which the season forbids.\n          Your\u2019s affectionately", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0138", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Archibald Stuart, 14 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Stuart, Archibald\n\t\t  In a letter to you of Aug. 8. I took the liberty of requesting you to procure for me some timothy seed to the amount of a 10. Dollar bill then inclosed. this being to replace some seed I borrowed in the spring from mr Divers, and the season now approaching for sowing it, I am induced to mention it again merely by the fear that perhaps my letter (which went by post) might not have got safely to you, and the\n\t\t\t season might slip over without my knowing that & mr Divers be thus disappointed.\n\t\t  War is, I think, inevitable. indeed it is commenced already by Great Britain as far as she can wage any war against us, that is by the capture of all our vessels bound elsewhere than to England. \n\t\t  the death of the king can alone change their measures. this event may be hoped for every hour. but the present\n\t\t\t ministry are endeavoing \n                  endeavoring to have it so far committed that their successors cannot stop it. every circumstance which delays our closing in the appeal to arms may have the happy effect of preventing the war, by giving\n\t\t\t time for another ministry to\n                   come in and stop these mad measures. so far it is fortunate that the meeting of Congress is at some distance\n          Affectionately yours", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0139", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Clement Caines, 16 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Caines, Clement\n\t\t  Your favor of Apr. 2. was not recieved till the 23d of June last with the volume accompanying it, for which be pleased to accept my thanks.    \n\t\t  I have read it with great satisfaction, & recieved from it information, the more acceptable as coming from a source which could be relied on. the retort, on European Censors, of their own practices on the liberties of man, the inculcation on the master of the moral duties which he owes to the slave, in return for the benefits of his service, that is to say, of food, cloathing, care in sickness, & maintenance under age & disability, so as to make him in fact as comfortable, & more secure than the laboring man in many \n                     most parts of the world, and the idea suggested of substituting free whites in all houshold occupations, & manual arts, thus lessening the call for the other kind of labor, while it would increase the public security, give great merit to the work, and will, I have no doubt, produce wholsome impressions.  the habitual violations \n                  violation of the equal rights of the colonist by the dominant (for I will not call them the mother) countries of Europe, the invariable sacrifice of their highest interests to the minor advantages of any individual trade or calling at home, are as immoral in principle, as the continuance of them is unwise in\n\t\t\t practice, after the lessons they have recieved. what in short is the whole system of Europe, towards America, but an atrocious & insulting tyranny? one hemisphere of the globe \n                     earth, separated from the other by wide seas on both sides, having a different system of interests flowing from different climates, different soils, different productions, different modes of\n\t\t\t existence, & it\u2019s own local relations and duties, is made subservient to all the petty interests of the other, to their laws, their regulations, their passions and wars, and interdicted from social intercourse, from the interchange of mutual duties & comforts with their neighbors,\n                   enjoined on all men by the laws of nature. happily these abuses of human rights are drawing to a close on both our continents, and are not likely to survive the present mad contest\n\t\t\t of the lions and tygers of the other. nor does it seem certain that the insular colonies will not soon have to take care of themselves, and to enter into the general system of independance &\n\t\t\t free\n\t\t\t intercourse with their neighboring & natural friends. the acknoleged depreciation of the paper circulation of England, with the known laws of it\u2019s rapid progression to bankruptcy, will leave that nation shortly without revenue, & without the means of supporting the naval power necessary to maintain\n\t\t\t dominion over the rights & interests of distant nations. the intention too, which they now formally avow, of taking possession of the ocean as their exclusive domain, & of suffering no\n\t\t\t commerce on it, but thro\u2019 their ports, makes it the interest of all mankind to contribute their efforts to bring such usurpations to an end. we have hitherto been able to avoid professed war,\n\t\t\t to continue to our industry a more salutary direction. \n\t\t\t the determination to take all our vessels bound to any other than her ports, amounting to all the war she can make (for we fear no invasion) it would be folly in us to let that war be all on one\n\t\t\t side\n\t\t\t only, & to make no effort towards indemnification & retaliation by reprisal. that a contest thus forced on us by a nation a thousand leagues from us both, should place your country &\n\t\t\t mine\n\t\t\t in relations of hostility, who have not a single motive or interest, but of mutual friendship & interchange of comforts, shews the monstrous character of the system under which we live. but,\n\t\t\t however, in the event of war, greedy individuals on both sides, availing themselves of it\u2019s laws, may commit depredations on each other. I trust that our quiet inhabitants, conscious that no cause\n\t\t\t exists but for neighborly good will, & the furtherance of common interests, will feel only those brotherly affections which nature has ordained to be those of our situation.\n          A letter of thanks for a good book has thus run away from it\u2019s subject into fields of speculation into which discretion perhaps should have forbidden me to enter, & for which an apology is due. I trust that the reflections I hasard will be considered as no more than what they really are, those of a private individual, withdrawn from the councils of his country, uncommunicating with them, & responsible alone for any errors of fact or opinion expressed; as the reveries in short of an old man, who, looking beyond the present day, looks into times\n\t\t\t not his own, and as evidences of confidence in the liberal mind of the person to whom they are so freely addressed. permit me however to add to them assurances best wishes for his personal happiness, & assurances of the highest consideration & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0140", "content": "Title: John Chambers to Thomas Jefferson, 16 September 1811\nFrom: Chambers, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t   When my friend Mr D. B. Warden was last here, he communicated to me a Letter of yours on the subject of the  Fiorin Grass mentioned in the Belfast Ag. Society\u2019s papers, & requested me to endeavour to procure some of it for you\n\t\t  I have very great pleasure in now informing you, that in consequence of having written to a Botanical friend in Belfast, I have just received a small parcel in excellent preservation, & have put it into the care of Mr Weightman, Bookseller, of Washington City who is now on his Return, & expects to be in that City in about a Week, & will then, search for the safest conveyance of it to you:\u2014but it is possible you may be able\n\t\t\t to point out one to him, upon which you may have more perfect reliance. The parcel is too large to convey by Post, & I was unwilling to divide & put it into so small a compass, from a\n\t\t\t fear of\n\t\t\t injury\n          This Grass has been chosen by a Gentleman of much Botanical knowledge, who has put it up in the manner directed by you in your Letter to Mr Warden; & I hope it will reach you in perfect safety, & fully answer the expectations you entertain of it\n          Permit me to express the satisfaction I feel, in having an opportunity of paying you even this small mark of Attention, & believe me, sir, with great respect, your obedient servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-16-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0141", "content": "Title: Charles G. Paleske to Thomas Jefferson, 16 September 1811\nFrom: Paleske, Charles G.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  Equally convinced with You of the incalculable benefit, which would result to the United States,\u2014a country enjoying all climates and productions of the earth,\u2014and particularly in its present situation in regard to external commerce, equally hazardous and unproductive in future\u2014from\n\t\t\t well constructed canals\u2014\n\t\t  am induced to inclose the law passed the 2d April last, the proclamation of our Governor and the byelaws, also the terms of the intended Loan for $100,000, and the address to the citizens, which were intended (perhaps with some alterations) to be printed and annexed to the printed Laws. But the many failures during last forthnight and the number apprehended during this autumn have induced the board to postpone the application for the\n\t\t\t present. And we further apprehend, that the revolution it will create in all mony transactions will be felt sufficiently long to prevent any attempt of making surveys next Year, unless the United States will make the said Loan to our corporation free of Interest for seven Years, on condition of our paying the Surveys and estimates to Lake Erie,\u2014to which effect it is intended to make application to the next Congress as early as may be adviseable, hoping it will meet Your approbation and countenance.\n          Inclosed blank certificate for the new Stock hope will be found a good specimen of the improvements made in the art of engraving.\u2014\n          I have the honor to be with great respect and consideration Sir Your obedient Servt\n                  Charles G: Paleske", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0143", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William C. Rives, 18 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Rives, William Cabell\n\t\t  Company & particular occupations have prevented my sooner acknoleging the reciept of your letter of Aug. 30. which delay however \n                  should not have been yielded to, but that I considered the season as forbidding your immediate departure for the lower country.\n                  Nothing can be sounder than your view of the importance of laying a broad foundation in other branches of knolege whereon to raise the superstructure of any particular science which one would chuse to profess with credit & usefulness. \n                  the lamentable disregard of this, since the revolution has filled our country with Blackstone lawyers, Sangrado physicians, a ranting clergy, & a lounging gentry, who render neither honor nor service to mankind, and when their country has occasion for scientific services, it looks for them in\n\t\t\t vain over it\u2019s wide extended surface.\n\t\t\t the particular services \n                     sciences too which you propose to yourself are certainly well allied to that of the lawyer, who has many occasions at the bar for mathematical knolege, and cannot, without disreputation, be ignorant of\n\t\t\t the physical constitution of the subjects which surround him. history, the closest adjunct of law, can be acquired in our cabinet; but mathematics\n\t\t\t & Natural philosophy require academical aid: & I know no place where this can be had to greater profit than at William and Mary. it possesses the double advantage of as able professors, & a better apparatus than any other institution I know. inasmuch\n\t\t\t therefore as you are not pressed in time to begin the practice of your profession, I entirely approve your idea of going there to perfect yourself in these sciences. \n\t\t\t would not however, while there, lose time in attending to branches which can be as well acquired by reading in retirement, as by listening to lectures.\n                  such are history beforementioned, ethics, politics, political economy, belles-lettres Etc. \n                  considering the\n\t\t\t progress you have already made in the law, and that it\u2019s greatest difficulties are now surmounted, the habit of reflection in that line should not be lost by an entire disuse. I would devote an\n\t\t\t hour\n\t\t\t or two of the four & twenty to maintain the ground gained, & even to advance it. this would be done by reading the reporters, which may really be considered as but the light reading of\n\t\t\t that\n\t\t\t science. but\n\t\t\t you should common place them as you go; and, in doing that, take great pains to acquire the habit of condensing your matter, and of couching ideas in the fewest & most correct words possible.\n\t\t\t they will thus occupy less space in the mind and leave more room in it for other aphorisms.\n                  Among the modern languages to be attended to the Spanish is important. within your day, our country will have more communication with that than with any other language but it\u2019s own. all our antient history too is written in that language. \n                  Spanish English & French cover the whole face of our continents & islands; & the last, as the language of science & of general conversation, is an universal passport. they are therefore the \n                  languages exclusively which every American of education ought to possess. \n                  I think it useless to lose time on Italian, German Etc which tho\u2019 abounding with works of science & taste, are rather beyond the limits of utility for us. I have thus hasarded my thoughts to you frankly, because you desired it, believing at the same time that your own judgment and appetite for science would be a sure guides for you. be assured  \n                     in all situations of my friendship & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0144", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Dougherty, 19 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Dougherty, Joseph\n           Your letter of the 4th came to hand on the 8 inst. but it was not till I could get a list of the Senate that I could do any thing in it.   \n\t\t  mr E. Coles accompanying the President in \n                  on a visit here has furnished me one, and I have immediately written to those members of the present Senate to whom I felt myself at liberty to apply. with some of\n\t\t\t the others I am not acquainted, and a recommendation from me to the federalists would be a sufficient condemnation of you.\n\t\t\t    my letters to Genl Smith of Balt. Doctr Leib, mr Giles & mr Brent I have forwarded by this post, because I knew their address.\n\t\t  but those to Messrs Varnum, J. Smith of N.Y. Gregg, Condit, Lambert, Worthington, Pope, Anderson, Franklin, Turner & Crawford, not knowing their post offices, I now inclose to you to superscribe the place of their abode, or to retain till you see them as you think best.  I sincerely wish they may have the effect you wish for. the thing to be\n\t\t\t apprehended is that some revolutionary officer or souldier may be a competitor, & rendered formidable by the favor shewn to them. I leave one of the letters open, for your perusal, all of\n\t\t\t them\n\t\t\t being the same. seal it before you send it off. I wish you every possible success.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0145", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Circular to Certain Republican Senators, 19 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Varnum, Joseph Bradley,Smith, John,Gregg, Andrew,Leib, Michael,Condit, John,Lambert, John,Smith, Samuel (of Maryland),Giles, William B.,Brent, Richard,Worthington, Thomas,Pope, John,Anderson, Joseph,Franklin, Jesse,Turner, James,Crawford, William H.\n           The death of mr Mathers, Serjeant at arms to the Senate, is likely, I understand, to overwhelm you with sollicitations. each candidate will doubtless put\n\t\t\t into motion every lever he can employ. \n\t\t\t one of them, Joseph Dougherty, whom perhaps you knew while he lived with me in Washington, where he did my riding business, imagines I may serve him, by bearing testimony to his character.\n\t\t\t during the eight years he lived with me, I found him sober, honest, diligent &\n\t\t\t uncommonly intelligent in business: and I verily believe he will carry all these good qualities into the service of the Senate, without a single one that I know of to lessen their value. his political principles too, which are perfectly correct, are not a matter of indifference in the choice of that officer. I know that your justice will weigh him in a fair balance with his competitors, and if you find him nothing wanting, it will\n\t\t\t give me real satisfaction that the lot should fall on him. the religious duty I feel of being useful to the future fortunes of one who was so long a faithful member of my family must apologise\n\t\t\t for\n\t\t\t the trouble I give you in reading this, and it is quickened by the occasion it presents of tendering you assurances of my continued esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0146", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to George Callaway, 21 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Callaway, George\n\t\t  My wheat made at Poplar forest the last year was delivered at your mill under a contract made by yourself with mr Griffin to give me a barrel of flour warranted superfine at the Richmond inspection for every five bushels. \n\t\t   when your milldam was carried away, I pressed for an annulment \n                     a relinquishment of the bargain, and redelivery of the wheat, making reasonable allowance for diminution of quantity. you declined doing it. when the dam was carried away a second time I pressed the same thing again, but you\n\t\t\t again refused it, & the bargain was thus doubly and trebly insisted on, on your part. the quantity delivered you was 1397. bushels, which, at 5. bushels to the barrel, entitled\n\t\t\t me to recieve 279\u2156 barrels of superfine flour. I have recieved however but 232. barrels (some of which was not superfine) so that 47\u2156 barrels are still due to me. I sold what I recieved at an average of 9\u00bc Dollars in Richmond, which netted me 7\u00be D a barrel. this on 47\u2156 barrels amounts to 367. D 35 c\n\t\t  Mr Griffin informs me that on application for what is due you referred him to mr Mitchell. but be pleased to observe, Sir, that I did not make the contract with mr Mitchell, and cannot of right be turned over to him; altho\u2019 I shall willingly accept his assumpsit,\n\t\t\t if he will give it: but this he declines.\n\t\t   I am not without a due consideration of your misfortune in the loss of your dam, and not disposed therefore to an over-rigorous adherence to all the rights which the bargain gives me. but you must be sensible that 367. D 35 c would be a greater sacrifice than could in reason be expected from a mere stranger. I have desired mr Griffin to call on you personally & to ask your final answer; which I hope will be so reasonable as to relieve me from any adversary proceedings, which it would be painful for me to engage\n\t\t\t in. Accept the assurances of my respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0147", "content": "Title: Martin Oster to Thomas Jefferson, 22 September 1811\nFrom: Oster, Martin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                     Monsieur et tr\u00e8s V\u00e9n\u00e9rable ancien Pr\u00e9sident, \n\t\t   Le 13 du pass\u00e9, J\u2019ai e\u00fb lhonneur de Vous accuser reception de la lettre que vous m\u2019avez fait celui de m\u2019adresser le 2. concernant la Succession reclam\u00e9e par Mr de Beauvois et \u00e0 l\u2019occasion de Mr Pauly qui fait La r\u00e9sidence at Calf Pasture Augusta-County, pr\u00e8s Staunton.\n           Aujourd\u2019hui, Je m\u2019empr\u00easse d\u2019acheminer \u00e0 V\u00f4tre Excellence, copie du pr\u00e9tendu testament de defunt Pierre Piernet, Fr\u00e8re de Madme de Beauvois, d\u00e9c\u00e8d\u00e9 \u00e0 Potney, pr\u00e8s New-Kent-Court-house en Virginie; elle Servira \u00e0 asseoir v\u00f4tre opinion Sur Sa validit\u00e9, et Sur celle des dispositions y contenues.\n          Salut et Respect\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n                     Sir and very Venerable former President, \n\t\t   On the 13th of last month, I had the honor to acknowledge to you the receipt of the letter that you had written me on the 2d concerning the inheritance claimed by Mr. de Beauvois and, by that opportunity, to send the address of Mr. Pauly, who lives at Calf Pasture, Augusta County, near Staunton.\n             Today I hasten to send Your Excellency a copy of the so-called final will of the deceased, Pierre Piernet, brother of Madame de Beauvois, who passed away at Putney, near New Kent Court House in Virginia; it will help you to decide on its validity and the legality of the dispositions contained therein.\n            Salutations and Respects", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-23-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0148", "content": "Title: Robert Patterson to Thomas Jefferson, 23 September 1811\nFrom: Patterson, Robert\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t   Some days ago, I received your favour of the 11, with the French poem on Astronomy. The Society had recd a copy of the same work from the Author, & therefore they wish me to return your copy.\n\t\t  They have eagerly embraced your proposal respecting the universal standard of weights and measures, and have referred the subject to a Committee who earnestly solicit, not merely your co-operation, but your detailed instructions on this important point.\n\t\t  Mr Thos Voigt, a very ingenious mechanic, a son of our chief coiner at the mint, would very cheerfully undertake to make you such an astronomical clock as you desire; the price 65 dollars, without any case. He prefers, both to the wooden & grid-iron pendulum, one with a simple steel rod, to which is attached a mercurial tube which acts as a compensating thermometer.\n\t\t  This is the pendulum which Mr Rittenhouse used, & is still in use in his very accurate astronomical clock now in the custody of our Society\u2014You\n\t\t\t will please to signify your pleasure on this subject\n\t\t   Along with the Poem I send you a Nautical Almanac for the year 13, which is as far as Mr Garnett has yet published.\n\t\t  I am ashamed to apologise for my delay in sending you the improved artificial horizon I so long ago promised. It has been long f made and only waits for a spirit-level to accompany it which I spoke for to a lazy mechanic three months ago\u2014\n          With Sentiments of the very greatest respect & esteem I have the honour to be Your most obedt ServantR. Patterson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0149", "content": "Title: Jonathan Brunt to Thomas Jefferson, 24 September 1811\nFrom: Brunt, Jonathan\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  Last December but one, soon after I had left your seat a at Monticello, I was very unfortunate in being poisoned two or three times; I believe all the masters of the different families were innocent, except one.\u2014I parted with clear blood, three or four days together, except the intermission of one day.\u2014This was within 60\n\t\t\t miles of Winchester.\u2014It is evident, that Divine Providence fought for me; for if I had been such an evil-disposed person, as those intriguing miscreants represented, I should have positively died, in two weeks,\n\t\t\t or less.\u2014After the above misfortune, I seemed as well as ever in a month.\u2014I am now returning from the Western country, but I shall come by way of Raleigh in North Carolina;\u2014except I alter my route.\u2014\n\t\t   As I have not had two month\u2019s work, since I went to the Western country, last June but one, I am under the necessity of asking, pecuniary, personal aid.\u2014The present coat that I have is more than\n\t\t\t 2\u00bd years old; also, have only one good shirt left.\u2014This is therefore, to request your Excellency to be pleased to give me a new suit of clothes, and small clothes; for I humbly presume, that you\n\t\t\t will\n\t\t\t not treat me in this respect, as if I was a miserable dram drinker, excited thereto by aged female intrigues. I hope the said speculative corruption will not have any weight with your honour, in\n\t\t\t granting the said necessaries of cloth \n\t\t   In your extensive library, perhaps, you have got Agrarian Law, &c. stated.\u2014Sir, when I was once at your house, you asked, indirectly, for a great Thing.\u2014I know, very well, that the Supreme Deity could change the heart of any rich man in a moment, for that sacred purpose.\u2014If ruin awaits my native land, I do not charge myself with being an\n\t\t\t accomplice therein.\u2014I am, Sir, your obedt servt\n          Jonathan Brunt,", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0151", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Peter Minor, 24 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Minor, Peter\n             I participate in all your hostility to dogs, and would readily join in any plan for exterminating the whole race. I consider them as the most afflicting of all the follies for which men tax themselves. but as total extirpation cannot be hoped for, let it be partial. I like well your outlines of a law for this purpose: but should we not add a provision for making the owner of a dog liable for all the mischeif done by him, and requiring that every dog shall wear a collar with the name of the person inscribed who shall be security for his honest demeanor? I believe your calculation of their numbers & cost is far within bounds; & I am satisfied that taking the whole mass of dogs in the state into consideration, the average of what they get fairly & unfairly of the food fit for man, would \n                  main feed a man.  are there not as many sheep and hogs annually lost to the owners, by dogs, or with their aid, as there are dogs in the state?  \n\t\t  the petition to the legislature should I think refer to the wisdom of the legislature whether the law should be general, or confined to the counties below the ridge, or local to such counties only as shall chuse to be named in it, but should pray ultimately that if no other county concurs, it may yet be made the law for the county of Albemarle. I know of no service I can render in this business, unless perhaps to write to some friends in the legislature to interest\n\t\t\t themselves in promoting it. accept assurances of my esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0152", "content": "Title: William & Reuben Mitchell to Thomas Jefferson, 25 September 1811\nFrom: Mitchell, William & Reuben (Lynchburg firm)\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  Mr Griffin call\u2019d on us yesterday for a settlement of the Crop of Wheat purchased of you, and we lament to find our understanding upon the subject at variance. we thought we had been expressive,\n\t\t\t  and that Mr Griffin had understood our bargain; to give a specific price and the rise for forty days was what we never thought of or intended. Our offer, and what we supposed to have been accepted by Mr Griffin, was for him to price at any time within the forty days, but not that he should look back at the end of forty days and make choice of the highest price. we proposed to Mr Griffin to submit the Memo: expressive of our bargain to any Gentlemen either here or in Richmond and their construction of the matter as expressed should be decisive\u2014\n          We beg leave to apologise for troubleing you on this subject; the indefinite manner of Mr Griffin and our wish for an immediate adjustment, appears to make it necessary.\n          your instructions to Mr Griffin or an answer to this will greatly oblige.\u2014\n          yr. obt: ServantsWm & Reubin Mitchell", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0153", "content": "Title: Samuel Smith (of Maryland) to Thomas Jefferson, 27 September 1811\nFrom: Smith, Samuel (of Maryland)\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I am honored with your letter of 19t P. Mark 23d Inst, recommending J. Dougherty as Door Keeper to the Senate. I remember him and have no doubt but he is every way qualified\u2014he will have many Competitors. Some of them very respectable\u2014I observe that his political\n\t\t\t principles are Sound. they however will not long be thought an important recommendation Accept assurances of my high respect & Sincere friendship\u2014", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0154", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Paul Hamilton, 28 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Hamilton, Paul\n\t\t  Mr William Jordan Harris, a young gentleman of a neighboring county, being desirous of entering into the navy of the US. as a Midshipman, has requested me to be the channel of conveyance for his application. an antient connection with his family, and an intimate \n                  knolege of it\u2019s great worth & respectability, make it a duty in me to decline no opportunity of doing what is their desire. with the young gentleman himself I am not personally\n\t\t\t acquainted otherwise than by a single visit from him. but those who know him speak highly of him as of the most correct deportment, and one who, in the hour of danger, will certainly fulfill the\n\t\t\t duties of a brave soldier. \n                  mr Pleasant\u2019s letter particularly (among those inclosed) is worthy of entire confidence, because he has had great opportunities of knowing the young man, and because he is himself a character of the\n\t\t\t first order, lately elected to Congress by a neighboring district; and, speaking of him, permit me to observe to you that that body will not possess an abler or more amiable member. I avail myself of this occasion of marking him for your notice, because, if he can conquer an aversion to contest, allied to\n\t\t\t some indolence, his excellent dispositions & sound principles, may make him precious to the administration.\n          I was unfortunate in not recieving, from the hands of mr Hamilton, your son, the letter with which you honored me by him. an absence of an hour only lost me the pleasure of seeing him.\n                  I had been flattered by the President with the hope that, on an intended visit by yourself and family, to Monpelier, you might have been induced to lengthen your excursion as far as this place. it would have given me great pleasure to have\n\t\t\t recieved you here, and to have testified to you personally my great esteem for your character. I cherish the hope that another season may repair our loss, and pray you to accept assurances of my\n\t\t\t high\n\t\t\t consideration and respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0155", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Wayles Eppes, 29 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Eppes, John Wayles\n\t\t  The inclosed letter came under cover to me without any indication from what quarter it came.\n                  latest arrival brings information of the death of the king of England.  \n\t\t  it\u2019s coming from Ireland  & not direct from England would make it little worthy of notice, were not the event so probable. on the 26th of July the English papers say he was expected hourly to expire. this vessel sailed from Ireland the 4th of August, and says an express brought notice the day before to the government that he died on the 1st.\n\t\t\t but\n\t\t\t whether on that day or not, we may be certain he is dead and \n                  entertain therefore a hope that a change of ministers will produce that revocation of the orders of council for which they stand so committed. in this event we may still remain at\n\t\t\t peace, and that probably concluded between the other powers. I am so\n\t\t\t far, in that case,\n\t\t\t from believing that our reputation will be tarnished by our not having mixed in the mad contests of the rest of the world that, I believe it that setting aside the ravings of pepper pot politicians, of whom there are enough in every age and country, I believe it will place us high in the scale of wisdom, to have preserved our selves \n                     country tranquil & prosperous while during a contest which prostrated the honor,  & power, independance, laws & property of every country on the other side of the Atlantic. which of them have better preserved their power \n                     honor? has Spain, has Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, Holland, Prussia, Austria, the other German powers, Sweden, Denmark, or even Russia? and would we accept of the infamy of France & England in exchange for our honest reputation, or of the result of their enormities, despotism to the one, & bankruptcy & prostration to the other in exchange for the prosperity, the freedom\n\t\t\t & independance which we have preserved safely thro\u2019 the wreck?\n\t\t\t the\n\t\t\t bottom of my page warns me it is time to present my homage to mrs Eppes, and to yourself & Francis my affectionate adieux\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0156", "content": "Title: Michael Leib to Thomas Jefferson, 29 September 1811\nFrom: Leib, Michael\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  Your recommendation would at all times be a sufficient inducement to me to patronize any one who was favord with it; and the extension of your good opinion to Joseph Dougherty has secured mine. It will add much to my gratification to be in any manner instrumental in the promotion of any wish of yours whether public or private.\n          The times are inauspicious, not only to the nation, but to some \n                  meritorious individuals\u2014\n                  My friend Col. Duane seems to be the devoted victim of persecution at various seasons\u2014\n                  For a paragraph published in the Aurora, furnished by the late Dr Reynolds, whilst a member of the board of health, and therefore, in some sort official, he has been mulcted, under the direction of a tory judge, Yates, and a federal jury, in the sum of eight hundred dollars and costs of suit. This,\n\t\t\t with the pressure of the U.S. Bank influence upon his affairs and other party causes, bear very heavy upon him, and call for the interposition of the friends of the freedom of the press and of the able and useful editor of the Aurora.\n                  I have not forgotten your offer of\n\t\t\t kind offices on a former occasion, and therefore, feel free to suggest to you, that they will be be useful and acceptable on this occasion; more especially as he is to defend himself in the next Circuit court of the U.S. against the charge of a libel on Dr \n                  Romayne, for his connection in the conspiracy of Blount\n          Accept, dear Sir the assurance of my sincere regard and respect", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "09-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0158", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Charles G. Paleske, 30 September 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Paleske, Charles G.\n\t\t  I thank you for the communication of the papers respecting the Union canal company of Pensylvania. no one is more anxious to see enterprises of that nature carried into execution, and especially to see them formed into a general system, and the public contributions, which other nations\n\t\t\t employ in war, applied by us to the improvement of our country. retired now from all intermedling with public things, I can only contribute my good wishes to the success of the company adding for yourself the assurance of my great esteem & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0159", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to David Campbell, 1 October 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Campbell, David\n\t\t  Your favor of Sep. 11 has been duly recieved, but I am sorry it is in my power to give no information on the subject of your enquiries. 30. years of general absence from the state, an entire occupation in other scenes of business, to which must be added the effect of years, have erased from my mind nearly all particular knolege of the affairs of the state. no times \n                  time, nor circumstances indeed can erase from my memory the inappreciable services rendered by Colo Wm Campbell and his brave companions: but I am quite a stranger to the remunerations provided for them by the legislature. I have never seen the laws on that subject, nor do I possess a copy of them. I\n\t\t\t am therefore quite unable to inform you what line of distinction they have found it \n                  proper & practicable to draw between the officers of different grades, and privates of the various corps of militia who were called into service on different occasions. I presume that information\n\t\t\t could be obtained from some of the public officers at Richmond, but I do not know to which of them the application should be made. Accept the expressions of my regret that I am so little able to give the information you desire, and the assurances of my respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0160", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Dortic, 1 October 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Dortic, John\n          Your favor of Aug. 14. was recieved after an unusual delay of the post. I formerly believed it was best for every country to make what it could make to best advantage, and to exchange it with others for those articles which it could not so well make. I did not then suppose that a whole quarter of the globe could within the short space of a dozen years, from being the most civilized, become the most savage portion of the human race. I am come over therefore to your opinion that, abandoning to a certain degree those agricultural pursuits, which best suited our situation, we must endeavor to make every thing we want within ourselves, and have as little intercourse as possible with Europe in it\u2019s present demoralised state. \n\t\t  wine being among the earliest luxuries in which we indulge ourselves, it is desirable it should be made here, and we have every soil, aspect & climate \n                  of the best wine countries, and I have myself drank \n                     wines made in this state & in Maryland, of the quality of the best Burgundy.\n\t\t\t in answer to your enquiries respecting soils & their depth, in\n\t\t\t this\n\t\t\t state, I can only say in general that any character, & any depth of soil required may be found in the different parts of the state.\n\t\t\t I am best acquainted with James river, and may therefore affirm this fact more certainly as to that. the low grounds of that river are a deep vegetable mould, the same for 20. Ft depth. I\n\t\t\t live in a mountainous country, the vegetable mould of which is from 6. to 12. inches deep, &, below that, many feet of fertile loam without any sand in it. but these soils are probably too\n\t\t\t rich\n\t\t\t to make fine wine. \n                  the Italian, Mazzei, who came here to make wine, fixed on these South West mountains, having a S.E. aspect, and abundance of lean & meagre spots of stony & red soil, without sand, resembling extremely the Cote of Burgundy from Chambertin to Monrachet where the famous wines of Burgundy are made. I am inclined to believe he was\n\t\t\t right in considering \n                     preferring the South Eastern face of this ridge of mountains. it is the first ridge, from the sea, begins on the North side of James river, & extends North Eastwardly thro\u2019 the state under the different names, in different parts of it, of the Green mountain, the Southwest mountains, and Bull run mountains. doubtless however, other parts of the state furnish the proper soil & climate. \n                  beyond the blue ridge the climate becomes severe, & I should suppose less favorable. this, Sir, is as much as my scanty knolege of this subject will\n\t\t\t permit me to say, and with my best wishes for the success of your enterprize, if you engage in it I tender you the assurance of my respects\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-02-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0162", "content": "Title: Paul Hamilton to Thomas Jefferson, 2 October 1811\nFrom: Hamilton, Paul\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                  City of Washington \n\t\t  I am honored by the receipt of your letter of the 28th ult. I have not seen Mr Harris, who left his letters at my office while I was absent from it, but I have not hesitated to make out his appointment, and when he calls I shall with particular satisfaction deliver him his\n\t\t\t papers. It is very pleasing to observe young men of his respectability offering themselves to the public service, and in that respect, this Department has been very fortunate of late\u2014\n\t\t  My Son returned to me much mortified at not having had the good fortune to find you at home when he called at Monticello; and such was the chagrin which I felt at the disappointment, that I was much disposed to censure him on the occasion, but he pleaded that he understood that he understood that you were to be absent all day; and further urged in his vindication the nature of his Orders which he construed as requiring his speedy return to this place, and although his construction\n\t\t\t was too rigid I could but acknowledge that he was not without excuse\u2014For your kind invitation to your house I am very thankful, and beg you will be assured that I shall rank\n\t\t\t amongst the happy\n\t\t\t incidents of my life the commencement of a personal acquaintance with you. Disappointed as I have been this season in this hope, I promise myself recompense the next.\n          With sentiments of sincere respect & regard I have the honor, Sir, to be yrs", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0163", "content": "Title: Charles Willson Peale to Thomas Jefferson, 3 August [October] 1811\nFrom: Peale, Charles Willson\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                   Farm Persevere Augt \n            Since writing my last letter to you, I have visited a small farm in my neigbourhood, belonging to Doctr Beneville, the culture of which, has pleased me much. part of the land had been swampy, so much so, as to mire his Cattle, and often times put them into \n                  to the trouble of draging them out\u2014it is a flat rich bottom of a good many acres extent. \n\t\t  The Doctr has now reclaimed it, or rather has made it fine arrable land producing Wheat and Indian Corn &ca\n\t\t  There is \n                  are hills bordering it within his tract, between the hills in the desending Vallies, he has made french drains, which drains he has continued round the hills and dug the trenches so deep as to cut off the land springs, in many places these \n                  the ditches to make his french drains are upwards of 10 feet deep, I am not doubting that you know what is called a french drain, however a few words will explain it; a drawing better.  after forming the hollow way by stones resting against each other, he threw all the small stones upon it & then his dirt. and in making these drains has cleared all his fields of stones; which in this part of the Country abound on most farms. a considerable part of my time with the aid of my children was employed last year in clearing two fields of Stones\u2014and I beleive that none of the Possessors of this land, had done any such work on it. But to return to the Docters drains of land springs\u2014he shewed me where they ended near the common stream of the Valley, there is a constant stream, runing out of his french drains.\n\t\t  The bottom land is so rich that they will scarcly ever want manure, and are now firm & good walking on them, his present Indian Corn & Buckwheat are luxurient. He says that his labour of making these\n\t\t\t drains will very\n\t\t\t soon be richly paid for, by the product of the land.\n          Another observation I made, was, that I did not see a weed in our walk over his farm, he told that he always pulled them up by the roots & obliged his men to do the same as they passed backward & forward to their work. Also, that he did not cut down Tree\u2019s, but dug round the roots and cut them off, and when the Tree was fallen, the Stump was sawed off, and the stump was then split to pieces with Gun-powder. A part of the sides of his hills he had watered, by making dam that stoped a small stream from the neighbouring lands, & by a trench carried it round the hills that bordered his rich bottom.\n          I have but one thing more to note about the Doctr, which is  \n                  that he works hard, is \n                  has a rudy complection, 60 years old, and so active, that coming to a fence does not climb it, but puting his hands on the top rail he leaps over it. He told me that he was in a bad state of health when he lived in the City, fast approaching to his grave, but coming to this farm and working daily recovered his health. He is much animated, & very\n\t\t\t communicative.\n                  I can make as yet very little observations on gardening, being a novice in that art. but it appears to me that Selery planted with one or two rows in a trench is better than making the beds 4 feet wide as McMahon directs in p. 423. they are easier managed as he directs for early use (June). My Selery in single or narrow beds looks better than that I have planted in larger beds.\n                  I suppose you cultivate okra Doctr Ramsey of South Carolina thinks it the most nutritive of vegetables. \n                  and Major Butler my neighbour says Okra and Tomaters with a shin of Beef makes the most delicious soop.Some years past I strung okra with a Needle & thread in bunches & dryed them for Winter use, I dont remember the effect, but do not doubt that thus dryed they will answer for Soops. By the neglect of my Market Garden I have lost the greater part of my Okra\u2019s, therefore I\n\t\t\t cannot this year make the tryal of drying them again.\n                  Since my last letter I have made a tryal of my Potatoes, & find that those which we planted with Stable Manure is not so good as another feild in which I \n                  we used long straw only\u2014the Potatoes of the latter is not so strong in taste, more mealy, and I believe will give as plentiful a crop as that done with Stable manure\n          Robert Morris (Miller) near frankford has made more experiments with Plaster of Paris than any other person I have heard off and the product of his farm for the size of it, appeared to me much greater that \n                  than any farm in this neighbourhood.\n                  I make some tryal of Plaster this year, & finding it answers with my land I mean to use it more freely on some of the feilds sowed with Timothy & Clover.\n                  I have found it very easey to twist the mould board, but instead of using 2 pieces of Scantling, I made use of a small tree, by making a mortice, I have found it necessary to wedge each end of the board at its edges, which will prevent it from spliting, and the mortices ought also to fit close to the board. I also made tryal of heating a board over a fire weting & turning it often, And find it sufficient I was induced to make this tryal because it is not convenient for every workman to get the apparatus for steaming.\n          14th Some business called me to the City\u2014\n                  I found the Museum in the most complete order it could well be made in those Rooms, I hope the Public will feel the benefit of the Institution, and thinking part of the Community will take an active part with the Legislature to get fire-proof offices built for the safe keeping of the records, and over them to extend rooms for extending the Museum, agreable to a design which I laid before the Legislature last session. \n                  My plan of giving my Son Rubens the opportunity of exerting his talents in the arrangement; in management of it, fully answers my expectation, and the continuing the systom of giving the manager an Interest in promoting\n\t\t\t its reputation, and thereby invite visitors by a small payment at entrance, it will be keept in good order, and continually increase its public utility.\n          My Son Rembrandt took the portrait of a noted Indian Chief called the Bastard, of a tribe from the upper lakes\u2014\n                  he is 70 years old, a fine head, but what lead me to mention him, is a striking trait of the Indian Character As is usial the visiting Indians are shewn every thing that is esteemed curious in the City\u2014A Painting by Vertmullier, Dana & the Shower of Gold now exhibiting for pay\u2014The Indians was led to see it, while the Conductor was arranging matters at the door, the Indian Chief & his Son was sent forward to the room of Exhibition, when the conductor came to the Room he found the old man & his Son setting with thier backs towards the picture conversing togather, he then pointed to the piece which they were brought to see, The old man replied, \u201cthat was not fit to be seen\u201d and they would not look at it. \n                  This exactly corrisponded with another instance of Indian modesty, that I noticed before the revolution War, In one of my visits to Philada, to paint some portraits, I had br \n                  my brother James with me and for his improvement I sett him to Copy a Venus coppyed from Titian by West, I finished it & put it in a private room at my lodging, some Indians was brought to see my paintings, this Venus was shewn them, one of the Indians by the Intreperter asked me, \u201cfor\n\t\t\t what I painted this picture,\u201d he did not think it proper to make such pictures\u2014However well I love\n                   the art of Painting, In my present Idea\u2019s I think that we should gard \n                  guard against familiarising our Citizens to sights which may excite a blush in the most modest. The artist may always find subjects to shew his excellence of Colouring &c without choosing such\n\t\t\t as may offend Modesty. \n\t\t\t at our last Exhibition at the Academy of arts, I advised & procured some old pictures of Nudities, to be put out of sight.\n          When I can find anything worth noticing I shall communicate again, but you will be so good as excuse my incorrectness of stile, or other faut \n                  faults of writing, enterlining &c. \n                  I make no Copies but what my Polygraph gives, which I annually give a slight binding, these will give my Children my Idea\u2019s on a variety of Subjects, which I sometimes enlarge, in order to be more profitable to them in some future day. farewell\u2014accept the best wishes of your friend", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0166", "content": "Title: Randolph Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 6 October 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Randolph\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I Received yours of the twenty six of last month and am extremly sorry to hear of my sisters death and would of bin over but it was not raly in my power but it is what we may all expect to come to either later or sooner I Got mr pryor to call and leave this letter for me as he was Going to albemarle court and recomended it to him to make montocello his first days stage I\n\t\t\t intend coming over some time next month which I expect will be towards the last of the month as I shall be very busy a Getting my crop of wheat down to Richmond and\n\t\t\t sowing my present crop you will not forget to take care of my puppy if you have not Given\n\t\t\t him a way to any one I expect by this time he must be large\n\t\t\t I have Just Got over a very severe tack of the Gravil I\n\t\t\t could not of survived many ours had I not Got releaf from a physician immidately:\n\t\t\t I am yours \n                  my wife and family prsents there respects to you and family I am yrs\n          affectionately", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0168", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to John Bracken, 9 October 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Bracken, John\n\t\t   I duly recieved your favor of Aug. 13. stating the ineffectual effort you had made to remit to the sisters of Bellini the amount of their claim on his effects. they are very old, said to be in great poverty & distress, and therefore entitled in charity to our good offices in conveying their money to\n\t\t\t them. a remittance thro\u2019 England to the continent of Europe is now impracticable, & a direct one to Italy scarcely to be expected. a fortunate medium happens however now to occur. \n\t\t   mr George Jefferson of the house of Gibson & Jefferson in Richmond, is going, within a month or two, to Lisbon, as Consul of the US. and can readily make any remittance from thence to Leghorn. any\n\t\t\t sum of money therefore which you will be pleased to deposit in his hands for these old ladies, I hereby make myself responsible to yourself & them for his faithful care in conveying or\n\t\t\t remitting it to them. \n\t\t  if you think it safer for yourself to deposit it in the bank of Richmond \u201con account of the sisters of Bellini,\u201d subject to the order of either mr Jefferson or myself, our agency for remitting it to them shall still be exerted. Accept the assurances of my great respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0169", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William J. Harris, 9 October 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Harris, William Jordan\n\t\t  On the reciept of the letters of mr Eppes, mr Giles & others in your behalf, I wrote to mr Hamilton, Secretary of the navy inclosing them, and have just recieved his answer expressing his readiness to make out your appointment as midshipman whenever you will call for it. you have now therefore only to go to Washington, there recieve your appointment, and the instructions of mr Hamilton relative to your new duties. not doubting you will so fulfill them as to do honor to your friends & service to your country, I tender you my best wishes for your success & happiness.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0170", "content": "Title: Benjamin & Thomas Kite to Thomas Jefferson, 9 October 1811\nFrom: Kite, Thomas,Kite, Benjamin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                  Respected friend, Th. Jefferson, \n\t\t  We forward \u2018The Picture of Philadelphia,\u2019 for which thou art a Subscriber,\u2014The price is One Dollar, which thou wilt be pleased to send us when convenient.\u2014\n          We are thy friendsBenj. & Tho. Kite", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0171", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 10 October 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Madison, James\n\t\t  Mrs Lewis, the widow of Colo Nich Lewis, has requested me to mention to yourself the name of a mr Wood, an applicant for a commission in the army. on recieving the request I rode to her house to ask something about him, observing to her that something more than his name would be necessary.\n\t\t   she candidly told me at once that he was a very capable young man, connected with her only as being a \n                   brother to one of her sons in law, that he had married a respectable girls \n                  girl in Louisa, but became so dissipated and disorderly in his conduct that his father in law drove him off and procured an act of divorce from his wife, who is now married to another husband. this affected him so that he went off to the Western country, and, as she has been informed, became quite a new man: but had no\n\t\t\t knolege of it herself. \n\t\t\t was inclined to suppose it true as hers \n                  her son Nicholas had written to her presi \n                  pressingly on his behalf and had particularly urged her to get me to mention him to you. to this neighbor I can\n\t\t\t refuse nothing, and I therefore comply with her request, stating the grounds on which we are both put into motion, and adding some information which perhaps may not be conveyed by others.the old king dies hard; but he will\n\t\t\t die. I wish we were as sure that his successor would give us justice and peace. I think it a little more than\n\t\t\t barely\n\t\t\t possible, relying on his former habits of connection, not on his principles, for he has none worthy of reliance. ever affectionately your\u2019s\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0172", "content": "Title: Samuel M. Stephenson to Thomas Jefferson, 10 October 1811\nFrom: Stephenson, Samuel M.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  At the Request of our friend D: B. Warden; I herewith send you a small Box, containing 2 Roots of the agrostis Stolonifera in Irish, Fiorin Grass: with printed Directions for the Culture of it. It is often transported in a dry state, I have sent it with the Roots in a little Earth, supposing this the most Successful mode.\n          As I wish to hear of your Success, in the Culture of our Indigenous Grass; I request a line from you, in Spring. & I am Hond Sir your most obedt Servant\n              Stephenson M.D.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0175", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Dudley Burwell, 11 October 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Burwell, Dudley\n          Mr Burwell of Franklin, your relation, has requested me to send you a letter of introduction to Doctr Wistar whose lectures you are attending. I comply with pleasure with this request, and shall be happy if I can serve you in your useful pursuits, or gratify you by obtaining the more particular\n\t\t\t attentions of so estimable a character as Doctr Wistar. with this view I ask the favor of you to call on Doctr Wistar yourself with the inclosed letter, \n\t\t\t  and to accept the assurance of my best wishes & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0176", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Caspar Wistar, 11 October 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Wistar, Caspar\n\t\t  The inclosed letter is from mr Wm A. Burwell, one of the members of Congress from our state. he lived with me at Washington as Secretary, perhaps at the time you paid us a visit there, or perhaps he may be known to you thro\u2019 the medium of his speeches in Congress, where he distinguishes himself by his good sense,\n\t\t\t his devotion to his country united with the most conciliatory conduct towards all. he has a relation, Dudley Burwell, an attendant on your lectures, who from gratitude and attachment for the benefits of the instruction he is recieving from you, wishes to be somewhat known to you, and to\n\t\t\t have opportunities of proving his devotion to you. if you can by any little marks of attention make him sensible of\n\t\t\t your\n\t\t\t notice in the croud of hearers, you will encourage him, oblige me, and\n\t\t\t gratify his worthy relation who is one of my most intimate friends.\n                  my grandson retains all his affections and gratitude to you, which his expressions on all occasions testify. he passed a twelvemonth in the academy of Richmond in Mathematical pursuits, which he is now continuing under my direction. once tolerably strong myself in that branch, always attached to it, but covered with a rust of fifty years entire\n\t\t\t occupation in other pursuits, I return to this with pleasure, am furbushing \n                  furbishing myself up, and accompany & encourage him in conquering it\u2019s difficulties.I am in hopes the establishment of your health has relieved you from the necessity of pursuing it by long rides. were that necessity continued, while regretting the cause, it\n\t\t\t would be a great gratification, if, directing them to this quarter, I should ever have the pleasure of recieving you here. we could promise you every thing \n                     benefit which climate and affectionate attentions could render. of these be assured as well as of my high respect & attachment.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0177", "content": "Title: Henry Foxall to Thomas Jefferson, 12 October 1811\nFrom: Foxall, Henry\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  The time that has Elapsd \n                  since since you last wrote me, and my silence on the Subject of the Stove, of which you sent me the pattern \n                     moddal must have caused you to suppose that I had neglected it all together\u2014However I have made a pattern \n                     pattren therefrom and have cast two Stoves from the same\u2014I have no doubt but your very high Opinion of their Utility will be fully realized\u2014I have put one of them up in my Blacksmiths Shop\u2014and Connected thereto a small length of pipe without its being attatched to a chimney\u2014I find that a few Minuits with a small quantity of wood is Sufficient to give it a considerable heat, fare \n                  greater, with the same quantity of wood, then anything of the stove kind, I have ever been acquainted with\u2014I have no doubt but the flue which I have connected to it, will be of great utility if properly used, but this must never be used untill the wood is intirely burned down to a Coal, and the smoke compleatly gone of\u2014\n          I have made the pattern for the Stove (the outsides thereof) of Square pannel work, I think it looks Neat tho plain\u2014\n                  Mr Whann Cashier of the Bank of Columbia has purchased one of them, and is now puting it up in the office of Pay and Deposite, in the Treasurey office\u2014he says it\n\t\t\t is neater then it would be, were it ornamented with figures\u2014However my object was\n\t\t\t first to assertain its usefulness, and whether I had hit, on the best size to make them, and what alteration on the pattern would be Necessary if any was required\u2014These perticulars I thought it\n\t\t\t best\n\t\t\t first to assertain, before I went to too great expence in the pattern in as much as the Expence as it now stands was considerable, but I am much pleased to find that on trial I at present see no\n\t\t\t Necessity to make any chaing or alteration, except one of a larger Size Might be preferable for a very large Room and in that case, I presume two of the present, would be better then one much\n\t\t\t larger\u2014\n          The price I charge for them is $40\u2014They amount to this sum at the common price of Castings of the same kind, adding the expence of Smith work in fitting them up,\u2014thereto,\u2014I will thank you to say if you wish one sent on to you; and if so, in what way would you like to have it sent\u2014whether you have pipe suitable or can obtain it, or whether you would wish me to obtain it here if so, what length of straight pipe, and whether any Elbow pipe would be wanting\u2014Your wishes in the above perticulars shall be promptly Complied with by\n          Respected Sir Your Obliged & very humble Servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0178", "content": "Title: Roger C. Weightman to Thomas Jefferson, 12 October 1811\nFrom: Weightman, Roger C.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                   M Chambers of N York put into my charge a parcel of Fiorin grass recently received from Ireland, with directions to take the earliest and safest mode of conveyance to Monticello. Since my return home I  have had it boxed and\n\t\t\t directed to the care of\n\t\t\t the post master at Fredericksburg. Mr Wm B. Randolph did me the favor to take charge of the box and will deliver it safely into the hands of the Post master.\n          I am Sir Very respectfully Yours", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0179", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Edward Coles, 13 October 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Coles, Edward\n\t\t  I let \n                  lent to mr Barlow a great collection of newspapers pamphlets Etc in several large boxes, which on his departure he informed me he had deposited in the President\u2019s house. I have therefore to request the favor of you to assist me in getting them back again.\n\t\t  vessels are so constantly passing from Washington to Richmond that I presume there can be no difficulty in finding one which will take them & deliver them to Messrs Gibson & Jefferson of Richmond who will pay the freight.\n\t\t\t  mr Barnes I am sure will readily inform you of a conveyance. any little expences of drayage Etc shall be repaid on a knolege of their amount. I am anxious they should come on immediately that they may be brought up the river in the dry season of autumn, our boats being without\n\t\t\t cover. Accept the assurances of my great esteem and respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0180", "content": "Title: Archibald Stuart to Thomas Jefferson, 13 October 1811\nFrom: Stuart, Archibald\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t   On my return home I found that three bushels and eight quts of Timothy seed of the price of 10$ had been forwarded to Mr Leitch in Mr Harnests waggon\u2014\n\t\t  By the same conveyance was sent a smal Ferkin of butter made at my dairy which I beg you will accept as a present\u2014I directed it to be made & packed in this month in expectation that the\n\t\t\t weather would have proved more favorable than it has been for its conveyance\n          I am Dr Sir yours most sincerely", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0181", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Littleton W. Tazewell, 13 October 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Tazewell, Littleton W.\n\t\t  Your favor of Sep. 11. was recieved after a considerable delay on the road. on the subject of my debt to mr Welsh, if you will have the goodness to recur to my letter of June 5. 10. you will find a candid statement of the circumstances which have, of necessity, suspended my attention to it for a while.\n\t\t   in winding up my affairs at Washington, an accumulation of outstanding accounts, which had been unknown to me, or witheld till I had forgotten them, came upon me in the moment of my departure, and obliged me to have recourse to\n\t\t\t the bank of Richmond for 8000.D. of this I repaid 2000. from the crop of that \n                     9.) 3000 from that of the same year (10.) and the crop of 11. now in the house, ensures my clearing off the remaining 3000.D. when sold, which will be in the spring, if no new events disturb our prices. in the same\n\t\t\t letter therefore I\n\t\t\t asked a continuance of the money of mr Welch in my hands some time longer, which your answer of July 3. induced me to hope would not be inadmissible. \n\t\t  I had been led to proceed less steadily, than in the other debts of mr Wayles, in the paiment of this, the last of them now unpaid, from a conversation with mr Welch, when I was in London, as well as from the circumstances which have since prevailed in Europe, & which I had believed would strengthen a willingness to keep some funds here independant of events on that side  the Atlantic. however it is enough for me to know that mr Welch wishes to call home his funds to command my early attention. for the reasons above explained, this cannot be begun but with the crop of the ensuing year. thenceforward I will\n\t\t\t make such paiments of interest &\n\t\t\t principal, regularly, as shall close the transaction within a short period. I am afraid to fix the amount at this moment of crisis as to circumstances which might so much affect prices. the state\n\t\t\t things the ensuing year will enable me to do it with that kind of certainty which will exclude disappointment on either side.\n          I am sorry you were prevented from your projected tour through the upper country. I should have been happy to have recieved you here, and to have had an opportunity of testifying to you in person my esteem. the particulars respecting mr Welch\u2019s debt might have been more fully explained in conversation, and some further thoughts might perhaps have been exchanged on Livingston\u2019s affair. some future season may be more favorable, and\n\t\t\t indemnify us for the loss of the last. be this when it may I shall be happy to see you, and pray you to be assured of my great esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0183", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William Short, 15 October 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Short, William\n\t\t\t  Your letter of Aug. 10. from Portland \n                     Portsmouth came duly to hand. according to promise I have made exact research into the situation of your land. \n\t\t  I rode to Price\u2019s and enquired of him with respect to the leases, to whom, on what conditions, and for what terms they were made?\n          I found them to be as follows.\n               Richard Shackleford\n              written leases for 3. years from the beginning of the year 1811. recorded.\n               Curtis Johnson\n              Charles Lively\n              Richard Gamble.\n              on a written lease for the same term not recorded.\n              holding from year to year only without writing.\n                           lease written & recorded for his own and his wife\u2019s life. \n          I told Price that you did not think you had authorised him to lease for such a term, and asked him if he had such authority in writing. he answered, certainly not, but that from his agency under your\n\t\t\t former instructions, in laying off the original hundred acre lots & leasing them, he thought it your intention & wish to continue that system, which enabled him to get better tenants and enforce better a proper\n\t\t\t rotation, which he found impossible with those who were for a year only: that the tenants now on the land were honest, careful of the land, & paid their rent without trouble. that they were\n\t\t\t tend their farm in corn one year only, in small grain one year, & to rest a year, under which course the land was improving. I got him to go with me thro\u2019 all the farms (which I had not seen\n\t\t\t for\n\t\t\t 11. years) and I found with great pleasure that they had really improved since I knew them, the whole in excellent heart, and manifesting proofs of it by the crops on the ground. I did not see a\n\t\t\t single gully on the land, nor a single galled spot, which are so common on all our mountain lands. the principal disadvantage which I observed was from the openings being so numerous & small,\n\t\t\t separated by intervals of wood: but this was a necessary consequence of the system of small farms. one of the farms is now without a tenant. finding the footing on which the written leases had\n\t\t\t placed\n\t\t\t 5. of the lots, and believing that, if  \n                  legally tried, they would be confirmed by a jury of the peers of the tenant, I thought it best to say nothing which should disturb them. Price thinks some of them might give up for a consideration, and the others seeing that they will not be continued on the same tenure after their leases are out, will probably begin after the\n\t\t\t ensuing year to look out for other places. some think of going to the Western country. I am afraid that their occupation may hinder the sale for a year more, but not \n                  during after that, as no purchaser expects possession till the end of the year of the purchase: and indeed I think the land so excellent a bargain at your price of 10.D. that I cannot believe it will be long unsold, even with it\u2019s present incumbrances. I have made it known that it is for sale at 10.D. but have had no offer since the one I formerly mentioned.\n                           We are all a tip-toe for the death of the old Maniac king, believing that no other event can save us from war, & doubtful whether even  his successor may not continue the same maniac purpose of taking possession of the ocean, & requiring, for the privilege of using it, a tribute for the maintenance of their navy. on this point the\n\t\t\t nation itself seems maniacal & may not perhaps permit their king or ministry to give it up, even if so disposed. misfortunes however in the peninsula, or the \n                  their rapid progress to bankruptcy, may chop them about and offer another chance of peace for us. accept assurances of my constant &\n\t\t\t affectionate attachment & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0184-0002", "content": "Title: Enclosure: David Gelston\u2019s List of Steamboats, [ca. 17 October 1811]\nFrom: Gelston, David\nTo: \n                List of Steam Boats\n                 Perseverance\n                N York & Brunswick", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0186", "content": "Title: James Walker to Thomas Jefferson, 18 October 1811\nFrom: Walker, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I suppose you are getting impatient for me to come on to commence your S. Mill. \n\t\t  as the time appointed for me to come is elapsed, some parts of mr. Cockes mill has given out. so that he cant go on to manufactor to advantage. he is pressing me to fix him before I remove down to work for you. we have a\n\t\t\t large cogwheel to make and some other small jobs to do before I can come which will take 2 or 3 weeks longer\u2014after which shall come on with double the nomber of hands that I now have the command of, as a job of work\n\t\t\t in nelson county will be finished where some of my best workmen are\u2014it has not \n                  been convenient to me to come as I promised when I last wrote you. & am in hopes it will make no material difference\u2014I am your obt. servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0187", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Joseph Milligan, 19 October 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Milligan, Joseph\n           I have at two or three different dates written to ask the favor of you to let me know how much I am in your debt, but have received no answer. if you will be so good as to inform me, it shall be promptly remitted, as it should have been long ago, had the amount been known to me. \n\t\t  should you in the mean time have been able to get the 7th & 8th vols of the Scientific dialogues I shall be glad to recieve them by post. the whole of the 8. vols would be well worthy of reprinting, there being no book on the same subject equal to it for general use. accept my best wishes & respects\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0189", "content": "Title: Edmund M. Blunt to Thomas Jefferson, 21 October 1811\nFrom: Blunt, Edmund M.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  Permit me respectfully to beg your acceptance of Nautical Almanac for 1813\u2014\n\t\t  If consistent with rule of propriety may I beg your influence with Secretary of the Navy for his order for my Edition, to be used by the Officers\u2014\n\t\t  Mr Garnetts Edition for 1813, contains no less than 45 errors, all of may I have pointed out.\n          With respect your obt. se ", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0191", "content": "Title: Nathaniel Macon to Thomas Jefferson, 21 October 1811\nFrom: Macon, Nathaniel\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  By Mr Mclure I yesterday received the letter, which you wrote to me on the 24, of last month, and have written at his request, two \n                  to two of his principal creditors, in each letter I gave an extract from yours; one of the creditors lives in Franklin, the other in Granville, each about 40. miles from me; I was not acquainted with Mr McLure till he came here with your letter, I would have seen his chief creditor, had I not have been preparing for \n                  to start for Washington\n          I am with the most perfect respect & esteem sir yr obt sert", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0193", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 24 October 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I have received of Mr Griffin W. & R. Mitchell\u2019s dft on Robert Gamble for 600$ due the 5th of next month, which is accepted.\n          I now inclose a note for your signature, to renew with at the Bank.\u2014I also inclose 3 blanks, which, if you think proper, you can fill up and return, as it will save you the trouble of frequent applications.\n          I am Dear Sir Your Very humble servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0194", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 24 October 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  Will you have the goodness to inform me if it will not be necessary, previous to my departure to Lisbon, to go to Washington? It occurs to me that verbal as well as written instructions may be desirable. As yet I have received none, not even an intimation as to the bond which I observe the law requires.\n\t\t  I would ask this information of Mr Monroe, but I have been too decidedly hostile to what I conceived to be his new  \n                     politics, to ask any thing of him; unless I thought my official situation absolutely required it.\n          even then it would be unpleasant.\n          I am Dear Sir Your Mt faithful friend & servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0195", "content": "Title: Melatiah Nash to Thomas Jefferson, 24 October 1811\nFrom: Nash, Melatiah\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n        Dear Sir,\n        New York \n\t\t  having frequently observed the small degree of knowledge which prevails amongst mankind in general respecting the solar system and the Stars, and believing a general dissemination of astronomical knowledge would be of great utility, I am preparing for the press a small work, which, it is presumed, will lay a foundation for general improvement in that important science. But before its publication I deem it necessary to have the opinion of gentlemen, eminent in science, on its probable utility, and request the aid of their recommendations.\u2014The title of the work is to be, \u201cThe Columbian Ephemeris and Astronomical Diary\u201d\u2014There will be four pages to each month. The first page will be a transcript of the Nautical Almanac with the addition of Chronological events; chiefly such as relate to our own country. Also phenomena of the Heavenly bodies, principally, conjunctions of the moon with Stars near her orbit, and conjunctions of the Planets with Stars and with one another. These, expressed in astronomical terms, will afterwards be explained in language intelligible to every capacity. The second page will shew the time of the rising and setting of the Sun, the rising, setting, and culminating of the moon and planets. The third page will shew the time of the rising, setting, and culminating of the principal fixed stars. The fourth page will give the time of high water at sixteen principal ports, harbours, and headlands of the United States. These calculations are made on astronomical principles. For the angular distance of the Sun and Moon, and for the distance of the moon from the Earth at the time of high water allowance is\n\t\t\t made. A brief compendium of Astronomy will be prefixed, and a tide table for the whole coast of the Union will be inserted. Though the tides are sometimes affected by winds and other\n\t\t\t circumstances, yet, it is presumed this part of the work will be of great service to persons employed in the\n\t\t\t coasting trade. All the calculations in the Ephemeris are made to apparent, and adapted, to civil time. The principal design of the publication being to enable all readers to know the Planets, and many of the fixed Stars, it is thought the work will serve this purpose throughout  the United States. This first number which is made for the year  1812 will contain one hundred or more pages octavo, and if due encouragement is given one will be published for several succeeding years, with annual additions and improvements. I have no\n\t\t\t apology to offer for the trouble I have given you Sir, except the desire of of \n                  obtaining your ideas on my humble attempt. Your opinion is considered of great importance, and by communicating it, You \n                  Sir, will receive my grateful acknowledgements.\u2014\n        I am, Sir, with the greatest respect your Humble Servant.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0196", "content": "Title: John Bracken to Thomas Jefferson, 25 October 1811\nFrom: Bracken, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I thank you for the information given in your letter of Oct. 9 of the opportunity afforded by Mr George Jefferson of making a remittance to the poor sisters of Bellini. I intend to make use of that fair opportunity, & with that view will wait on Mr G. Jefferson in Richd in the course of next Month.\n          With great respect & regard\n          I am Your most obedt Servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0197", "content": "Title: Edward Coles to Thomas Jefferson, 25 October 1811\nFrom: Coles, Edward\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t   I shiped yesterday on board the schooner Goodintent, Elliott Kirwan, Master, bound for Richmond, the seven Boxes left here by Mr Barlow containing your Papers &c, and shall this day forward the Bill of Lading to Messrs Gibson & Jefferson, to whose care I have directed them. \n\t\t  You desired me to return you an estimate of the expences that might be incured before they were shiped, but as they were conveyed to the wharf by Mr Oneale, who is the owner of the Vessel, he has charged the Drayage, with the freight, in the bill of lading, which will be paid in Richmond by Messrs Gibson & Jefferson.\n          with the greatest respect & esteem I am your friend", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0198", "content": "Title: Edward Coles to Thomas Jefferson, 30 October 1811\nFrom: Coles, Edward\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  E. Coles presents his respectful compliments to Mr Jefferson, and takes the liberty of informing him, that he received information a few days ago from Mr Lee, the Collector at Salem, that he had received from Mr Baker, our consul at Palma, \u201cthe following articles addressed to Th: Jefferson, One Cask of wine, one Box Marble, one Box of olives, and one Bag of Almonds,\u201d and that he shipped them on the 19th of October on board the schooner Jachin, William Silver master for Alexandria to the care of the Collector", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0199", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Henry Foxall, 31 October 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Foxall, Henry\n\t\t  Your favor of the 12th has been duly recieved, and I am glad to learn that you have made the Swedish stove. I have no doubt it will repay your expences well after it shall become known. it\u2019s high \n                  estimation in Europe authorises the same here, & to presume it will become general. I do expect that the stile of plain panneled work in which you have executed it, is probably neater than more complicated\n\t\t\t ornaments. I\n\t\t\t shall be glad to have one of them sent to me, by the way of Richmond, & to the address of my correspondents there, Gibson & Jefferson. I shall need about 20. feet of pipe, and three elbows, which these cannot be obtained here, & must therefore come with the stove. I would wish the whole packed in boxes not too heavy to be handled by two men. the expence of boxes is less than the\n\t\t\t risk of loss & injury passing thro\u2019 so many hands by the way. the advancing season will make the early reciept the more acceptable. I salute you with assurances of my great esteem & respect.\n            P.S. where the pipe passes thro\u2019 an upper floor what has been found the best way of securing the floor against taking fire from the heat of the pipe?", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "10-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0200", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 31 October 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I apprehend from your favor of the 27th that I must have expressed my meaning very badly, respecting my future correspondence with Mr M\u2014. I retained no copy of my letter, not having wished to leave any trace behind me upon such a subject.\u2014I was perfectly aware of the absolute necessity of a regular correspondence with\n\t\t\t him.\u2014I merely meant to say, that I should not like to ask any thing of him out of the strict line of our official duties: and that even that would be unpleasant to me.\u2014I could say any thing, to\n\t\t\t any\n\t\t\t person, which I thought my official situation required; but it would be unpleasant to me to correspond with a person, even officially, when my feelings towards him had undergone a very great\n\t\t\t change\n\t\t\t to his prejudice: yet although unpleasant, when duty required it, submission would be easy.\n            Nothing of a personal nature, in the smallest degree unpleasant, has ever occurred between Mr M\u2014 and myself.\n            I have said harsh things of his public conduct, even to his warmest friend\u2014which, that I may not be thought to have acted with indelicacy, I will say were forced from me, by harsh and indelicate observations from that friend.\n                  Having said such things of him, and even still retaining the same opinion, notwithstanding the obviously different one of the two persons on earth of whom I think most highly, I should be unwilling to make an offer of personal services, unless you should still think that from my official situation, or common civility, rendered it necessary: if so, I will submit\u2014but if otherwise, I would gladly forego the apparent duplicity and meanness of making a tender of such services: which might even be construed into a change of tone produced by his change of situation\u2014and perhaps too, to the base motive, of looking forward to him hereafter, for a continuance of my preferment.\u2014but for these considerations, I should certainly be perfectly willing to render any reasonable services to Mr M\u2014, as I hope from my contemplated situation I should be, to any other of my Countrymen.\n            I repeat my willingness however, after this explanation, to be governed wholly by you.\u2014Should no public measure take place to render my immediate departure unnecessary, I contemplate going at furthest by the middle \n                  Mr Gibson\u2019s health will not permit of his return so soon as he expected, but after experiencing such long indulgence, I ought not to ask it to be extended.\n            Your four notes for renewal in the bank, to last until the 5th of May; & for 60 days thereafter, are received.\n            I am Dear Sir Your constant friend & servt\n            Your flour has not yet arrived\u2014some sales have been made at 7$.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-03-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0201", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Nathaniel H. Hooe, 3 November 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Hooe, Nathaniel H.\n\t\t  I have this day desired messrs Gibson & Jefferson to remit to the bank of Fredericksburg subject to your order 131.D. for the hire of Tom & Edmund the last year, to wit, 74.D. for Tom, and 57.D. for Edmund. his death taking place on the 18th of Oct. from Dec. 25. to \n                  that time, @ 70.D. a year comes to 57.D. the other matters which are the subject of your last letter, may be arranged when you come into our neighborhood the next month. we hope\n\t\t\t you will make this your head quarters. Accept the assurance of my esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0202", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Eleuthere I. du Pont de Nemours, 4 November 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Du Pont de Nemours, Eleuth\u00e8re Ir\u00e9n\u00e9e\n\t\t  I recieved, some time since, the keg of powder, you forwarded for me, and I have been daily expecting you would be so kind as to send on the note of the cost that I might remit it to you. the object of the present is to pray you to forward me another quarter of a hundred, comprehending half a doz: cannisters of shooting powder as before, & the rest proper for blowing rock, of which I have much to do, & to send a note of the cost of both parcels, which shall be immediately remitted you. both qualities have been found of very superior qual kind, and having distributed the cannisters among the merchants & gentlemen of this quarter, I presume it will occasion calls on you from them. Accept the assurance of my great esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0203", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to George Jefferson, 4 November 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Jefferson, George\n\t\t  I recieved by yesterday\u2019s post your favor of Oct. 31. and I hasten, by it\u2019s return to say in answer to your enquiry that it is not necessary that you should make any particular tender of services to Colo Monroe, altho you may be assured he knows you too well to ascribe it to any unworthy motive, for I know from himself that he holds you in high respect.\n\t\t  My experience in the affairs of the government enables me to make \n                  observations on the office you are to enter on which may be useful to you; and age renders us prone to assume the office of advice, and my affection for you, while it urges, will at the same time excuse what I say. the Consuls of France recieve salaries & are not permitted to trade. some of the English consuls are on the same footing. these particular gentlemen think themselves obliged to live splendidly, fully up to\n\t\t\t their salaries, and affect a diplomatic re character, to which they are not at all entitled by the law of nations. all other nations chuse for their consuls persons who are in trade, allow them no salary, and expect them to incur no\n\t\t\t expence as to their office, but to live merely as merchants do, according to their private circumstances. \n                  our government places it\u2019s consuls on this\n\t\t\t footing, & expects no display from them: nor do I know that our Consuls any where have thought themselves bound to incur any expence, extraordinary, except mr Hackley. he, I am told, lives at an expence of 12,000.D. a year. this is perfect insanity; it marks him at least to\n\t\t\t be equally vain, weak, & improvident. it is true, it is said, he recieves 4 or 5000.D. a month. but he misapplies them not the less unwisely. all our other consuls live economically as\n\t\t\t merchants,\n\t\t\t & according to their circumstances, and so I am sure you will do, on being apprised that no duty to the government requires you to do otherwise.\n\t\t\t the President, when here in August, observed you were losing a rich harvest. I suppose the peculiar situation of Cadiz & Lisbon throws much into the hand of the Consul, and that this harvest may end if the French get possession. you should hasten therefore to gather as much as you can of it; & to store it up in\n\t\t\t your barn.\n                  I am told the ploughs, called Peacock ploughs are to be had in Richmond. \n\t\t\t think they are sold by Fitzwhylson & co. will you be so good as to send me one of the larger & one of the smaller size.\n                  be careful to distinguish them from the Cary or the Pease plough. they have\n\t\t\t a cast iron mould board and a coulter on their point. \n                  these, and some boxes of books expected from Washington, may come either by mr Randolph\u2019s boatmen, or by the William Johnson who carried my flour down, & is quite trustworthy. \n                  the same may be trusted with a cask of wine & 3. boxes which\n\t\t\t will be forwarded to you by the Collector of Alexandria.\n                  mrs Hackley sets out in a few days for Richmond. \n                  I have requested her to chuse a piece of cotton shirting for me, and to send the bill to you for paiment. affectionately Yours\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0204", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William R. Lee, 4 November 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Lee, William Raymond\n                     I have just recieved information that there came addressed to you, for me, from mr Baker, our Consul at Palma, a cask of wine, a box, of marble, one of olives & one of almonds, which you have been so good as to forward on to Alexandria. the object of this letter is to thank you for your attention & trouble\n\t\t\t with these articles, and to pray you to forward to me a note of any expences they may have incurred at your port, under an assurance that they shall be promptly remitted.\n                      Accept the tender of my best respects.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0205", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Charles Simms, 4 November 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Simms, Charles\n                     I have just recieved information that mr Lee, the Collector of Salem has forwarded for me to Alexandria by the sho Schooner Jachin, Wm Silver a cask of wine, a box of marble, a box of olives, & a bag of almonds. the wine is of the growth of the island of Majorca.\n                     can I get the favor of you to have them transhipped on board some vessel bound to Richmond, addressing them to Messrs Gibson & Jefferson? and if the paiment of duties & other charges can be transferred to the same place, that house will discharge them more conveniently for me.\n\t\t\t but any expences you may incur for the articles at Alexandria if you will have the goodness to drop me a note of them, I will remit them to you without delay. Accept the assurance of my respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0206", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 7 November 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          I have duly received your much esteemed favor of the 4th, for which, if any words were adequate, I would thank you:\u2014From your experience, and from every other consideration which ought to influence \n                     govern me, I should have taken the liberty of asking the favor of your advice; but feared I had already taken up too much of your time: upon this subject therefore, I will occupy no more.\n          I have remitted Mr Hooe 131$, and now inclose you $:350\u2014, agreeably to your direction.\n                  I have bought two of Peacock\u2019s ploughs for you, one of the smallest size, & one of the largest now here.\u2014he makes some larger, but has sent only a very few of them to this place, most people being of opinion that\n\t\t\t they are too large for two horses.\n          The boxes of books from Washington (7) are here.\n          I am my dear Sir Your Mt humble servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0208", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Robert Patterson, 10 November 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Patterson, Robert\n          I write this letter separate, because you may perhaps think something in the other of the same date, worth communicating to the Committee.\n\t\t  I accept willingly mr Voigt\u2019s offer to make me a timepeice, & with the kind of pendulum he proposes. I wish it to be as good as hands can make it, in every thing useful; but no unnecessary labour to be spent on mere\n\t\t\t ornament. a plain, but neat mahogany case will\n\t\t\t preferred.\n          I have a curiosity to try the length of the pendulum vibrating seconds here: and would wish mr Voigt to prepare one which could be substituted for that of the clock occasionally, without requiring any thing more than unhanging the one and hanging the other, in it\u2019s place. the bob should be\n\t\t\t spherical, of lead, and it\u2019s radius, I presume, about one inch. as I should not have the convenience of a room of uniform temperature, the suspending rod should be such as not to be\n\t\t\t affected by heat or cold, nor yet so heavy as to affect too sensibly the center of oscillation. would not a rod of wood, not larger than a large wire, answer this double view?\n\t\t\t I remember\n\t\t\t mr Rittenhouse told me he had made experiments, on some occasion on the expansibility of wood lengthwise by heat, which satisfied him it was as good as the gridiron for a suspender of the bob. by the experiments on the strength of wood & iron in supporting weights appended to them, iron has been found but\n\t\t\t about six times as strong as wood, while it\u2019s specific gravity is eight times as great. consequently a rod of it, of equal strength, will weigh but \u00be of one of iron, and disturb the center of\n\t\t\t oscillation less in proportion. a rod of wood of white oak e.g. not larger than a seine twine would probably support a spherical bob of lead of 1.I. radius. it might be worked down to that size, I suppose, by the cabinet makers, who are in the practice of\n\t\t\t preparing smaller threads of wood for inlaying. the difficulty would be in making it fast to the bob at one end, and scapement at the\n\t\t\t other,\n\t\t\t so as to regulate the length with ease & accuracy. this mr Voigt\u2019s ingenuity can supply, and in all things I would \n                  wish submit the whole matter to your direction to him, and be thankful to you to give it.\n          Your\u2019s affectionately", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0211", "content": "Title: Henry Foxall to Thomas Jefferson, 13 November 1811\nFrom: Foxall, Henry\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  Your favor of the 31st Ulto came to hand in due course\u2014\n\t\t  Two Days ago I was fortunate enough to find a Vessel bound from this place Direct to Richmond on which I have put your Stove, pipes &c the bill of lading is sent on to your Corrospondents Gibson & Jefferson Richmond I have put the whole in cases but not Exactly as you requested, I have put the Intire Stove in case, without taking it apart\u2014I was\n\t\t\t afraid it would be difficult to find the right places for the interior plates, not only so, but it goes together considerably hard on account of so many inward plates\u2014It will not be so portable\n\t\t\t as it\n\t\t\t would have been had it been sent in two or more boxes agreeable to your request, but upon the whole I judged it the best way of sending it\u2014I have Sent a cast Iron Square Stand, on which it is to\n\t\t\t placed\u2014It may be necessary to get a little very fine Morter to putty up the joints when it is fixt in its place\u2014a little black lead put on with a brush, and afterwards rubed with a dry Brush, will make it look well and I flatter myself it will if it dose not exceed, it will come up to your Expectation in point of utility\u2014Before I sent  away I had as large a fire made in it, as ever will be required, to prove the plates, and to satisfy myself that they would stand a great heat without Injury, which they did to my satisfaction\n          I Enclose you the Bills of Stove &a but not in order that you might at present send me the amt, for that I do not wish you to do, till Such time you have got the Stove home and made trial of it, nor even then if it dose not answer your expectation\n          The best mode of secureing a floor from fire through which a stove pipe passes, that I  \n                  Am acquainted with, is to have a Short peice of pipe made of Tin the depth of Joist and ceiling with a small flange  turned down at one end, to nail to the floor\u2014the hole in the floor to be somwhat larger then the tin pipe, and the tin pipe to be about half an Inch larger then the stove pipe, so that the air can pass round the outside of the tin pipe up to the floor; and also all round the inside of  tin pipe between that and the Stove pipe at the place it passes through the floor\u2014If it is fixt in that way the Tin will remain cool alltho all the Stove pipe is considerably hot\u2014It will be found on trial, that the pipes of those Stoves will never get so hot as the pipes of those made in the usual way, in as much as the heat which is contained in the flame & smoke, is greatly exausted before it leaves the body of the Stove\u2014I am with great Respect\n          Sir your Obedt Sevt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0212", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to George Jefferson, 13 November 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Jefferson, George\n\t\t        Mr Mckinney tells me I misunderstood him when I considered a part of the flour formerly shipped as destined to pay me a quarter\u2019s rent: but he yesterday sent off Johnson\u2019s boat with 50. barrels to be delivered to you on my account. it will probably arrive before this letter. be pleased to recieve and sell it for the best price you can, as I do not know the state of the market, I fix\n\t\t\t no limit: and the rather because a number of neighborhood debts have been waiting for this remittance, and have obliged me to draw on t \n                  it this day as follows\n                 Isham Chisolm\n\t\t  Watson &. Vest\n             to these I must pray you to add for mrs Hackley 85.D. which I owe her. she will be in Richmond when you recieve this and for a day or two after, and I will thank you to send the money to her, as I have not given her an order. I mentioned before that she would send one or two small\n\t\t\t bills to you for things she was to purchase for me. ever affectionately yours\n            P.S. any articles of mine may be trusted to Johnson to bring up.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-13-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0213", "content": "Title: Thomas Law to Thomas Jefferson, 13 November 1811\nFrom: Law, Thomas\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t      For several months I did not think the Baltimore printers \u201cfamily anecdote\u201d of consequence enough to send home, but in May I forwarded it, & my Br Lord Ellenborough says that \u201cFox never did or would have used the expressions quoted as his,\u2014it was not his manner of acting\u201d\u2014I am induced to intrude with this, out of justice to so worthy a man, & not to convince you that the Federal republican has published a calumny\u2014\n\t\t  The Presidents Message, Mr Monroes correspondence with Mr Foster & Mr Pinkneys last Letter to the Marquis of Wellesley have impressed all descriptions of men with a conviction that the Government has been sported with & the nation wronged\u2014as an Englishman I sincerely\n\t\t\t hope, that they \n                     our Ministers will no longer be deluded by an idea mischievously inculcated that the \n                  this Government dare not assert its rights by the last appeal, the ultima ratio\u2014\n\t\t  it would have been gratifying to me if my Government had voluntarily preceded Bonaparte in revokations, & assumed the character of Defender of neutral rights\u2014\n\t\t\t  Peace between this Country & my own has always been the object of my wishes, & I have made a last effort for this purpose in my  \n                  yesterdays Letters\u2014by the Packet\u2014\n          It is a satisfaction to me in reading publications from India, to learn that my system has made millions secure in their possessions & prosperous; you must enjoy the retrospect of your countrys rapid advancement during peace\u2014Had 30000 men been employed in armies &\n\t\t\t navies, & 20000 in building Ships, making tents, ammunition arms &ca the labor of 50000 men would have been lost annually for 12 Years\u2014which at a Dollar per diem amounts to\n          Your former obliging invitation to Mount Vernon, is too flattering for me not to avail myself of it, I am here attending to my daughters education\n          I remain With unfeigned respect & esteem", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-14-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0216", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Archibald Stuart, 14 November 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Stuart, Archibald\n\t\t  We have safely recieved the cask of timothy seed, as also the very excellent parcel of butter which you have been so kind as to send us; for which be pleased to accept my thanks, or perhaps I should more properly request you to tender them with my respects to mrs Stuart.\n               You have, days since, seen the most excellent, rational & dignified message of the present \n                  president, & the documents accompanying it. in these you see the British\n\t\t\t government have openly avowed that they will enforce their orders of council, that is, will keep exclusive possession of the ocean, until France will allow her manufactures to go in the ships of other nations into the continent of Europe & France herself, altho she does not permit, even in time of peace, the manufactures of any  nation to be brought to England in other ships but of the nation manufacturing them. in\n\t\t\t the mean time she is taking all our vessels, which is all the war she can make on her side. and indeed the style of Foster\u2019s correspondence is altogether a style of defiance. always affectionately yours\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-15-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0218", "content": "Title: Destutt de Tracy to Thomas Jefferson, 15 November 1811\nFrom: Destutt de Tracy, Antoine Louis Claude\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  j\u2019ai eu l\u2019honneur de vous ecrire le 21 du mois dernier une lettre qui vous parviendra en meme tems que celle-cy. j\u2019espere qu\u2019elle vous aura montr\u00e9 combien je Suis reconnoissant de vos bont\u00e9s, et combien je Suis heureux de l\u2019indulgence avec la quelle vous avez acceuilli mon petit ecrit Sur Montesquieu. elle vous aura meme prouv\u00e9 que cette indulgence me donne une bien grande confiance, puisque j\u2019ai pris la libert\u00e9 de vous envoyer un exemplaire complet de mon trait\u00e9 de l\u2019entendement en\n\t\t\t\ttrois volumes, dont vous n\u2019aviez que les deux premiers; et puisque j\u2019ai os\u00e9 vous avouer que j\u2019avois con\u00e7u l\u2019id\u00e9e de faire un trait\u00e9 de la volont\u00e9 aussi en trois volumes, dont le dernier Seroit un\n\t\t\t\ttrait\u00e9 des loix et de l\u2019esprit dans le quel elles doivent etre faites, en consequence des faits etablis auparavant par une observation exacte de nos facult\u00e9s.\n            je crains bien que vous ne trouviez aujourdhuy que ma confiance va jusqu\u2019a la temerit\u00e9. car j\u2019ai l\u2019honneur de vous envoyer cy joint le manuscript du premier volume de ce trait\u00e9 de la volont\u00e9, qui doit etre en meme tems le quatrieme de l\u2019ouvrage entier. ce manuscript contient premierement un Supl\u00e9ment a mon trait\u00e9 de l\u2019entendement que j\u2019ai cru necessaire pour en rendre les resultats plus pratiques et plus faciles a Saisir: Secondement une introduction au trait\u00e9 de la volont\u00e9 qui apartient egalement aux trois parties dont il doit etre compos\u00e9: troisiemement enfin la premiere partie de ce trait\u00e9 de la volont\u00e9 qui traite Sp\u00e9cialement de nos actions ou de nos moyens de pouvoir a nos besoins, la quelle je viens de terminer tout a l\u2019heure.\n            je Sens, Monsieur, combien il y a d\u2019inconsequence a vous avouer que ma foible capacit\u00e9 est beaucoup diminu\u00e9e, et a vous Soumettre le moment d\u2019apr\u00e9s des productions qui par consequent ne doivent pas en valoir la peine. mais ce qui m\u2019excuse c\u2019est que les deux premiers des morceaux dont il S\u2019agit, le Supl\u00e9ment et l\u2019introduction, Sont faits depuis longtems et anterieurement aux malheurs qui ont pes\u00e9 Sur ma tete; et que le troisieme n\u2019est qu\u2019une exposition plus methodique et plus detaill\u00e9e des principes que vous avez d\u00e9ja aprouv\u00e9s dans le commentaire Sur Montesquieu, nommement a propos des livres 7e 13e 20e 21e 22e et 23e, qui traitent du luxe, de l\u2019impot, du commerce, de la monnaye, et de la population.\n            j\u2019ose donc, Monsieur, desirer que vous vouliez bien jetter un coup d\u2019oeuil Sur les trois ecrits qui composent ce volume. aucun des trois ne Sera publi\u00e9 dans ce pays cy de mon vivant. les deux premiers Sont trop metaphysiques; et ce n\u2019est plus la mode ici de S\u2019occuper de ces objets, ou moins ostensiblement. le troisieme est au contraire trop pratique. il contient beaucoup d\u2019id\u00e9es qui me paroissent oppos\u00e9es a ce que j\u2019entends dire journellement. je crois qu\u2019on n\u2019en permettroit pas la publication; et quand on la permettroit je ne la voudrois pas, non Seulement parceque je craindrois qu\u2019on ne m\u2019en Sut mauvais gr\u00e9, mais encor parce que je pense qu\u2019un bon citoyen ne doit dire que ce qu\u2019il croit la verit\u00e9, mais doit etre tr\u00e9s reserv\u00e9 a la dire quand elle peut passer pour la critique d\u2019un gouvernement Sur le quel il n\u2019a point de moyen legal d\u2019agir. vous Seul, Monsieur, me tiendrez lieu du public; et comme je Suis tr\u00e9s persuad\u00e9 qu\u2019on doit peser les Suffrages et non pas les compter, je Serai beaucoup plus content Si j\u2019obtiens le votre, que Si j\u2019avois l\u2019aplaudissement universel au quel vous refuseriez de vous joindre.\n                     d\u2019ailleurs je pense que Si jamais dans votre pays on me faisoit l\u2019honneur de traduire mes premiers volumes, on pourroit Si vous le trouviez bon, traduire aussi celui-cy: et par l\u00e0 l\u2019edition traduite Seroit plus complette et par consequent\n\t\t\t\tplus recherch\u00e9e que l\u2019edition originale qui au reste est bien pr\u00e9s d\u2019etre epuis\u00e9e. quant a ma personne je n\u2019y verrois aucun inconvenient, quand meme cette edition traduitte reviendroit ici meme\n\t\t\t\tavec\n\t\t\t\tmon nom en tete, premierement parcequ\u2019etant en langue etrangere elle ne Seroit jamais extremement repandue et ne pourroit pas passer pour avoir \u00e9t\u00e9 faitte par mes Soins, Secondement parcequ\u2019enfin\n\t\t\t\tque contient ce quatrieme volume ne pourroit pas deplaire a un certain point vu qu\u2019il n\u2019y est question que d\u2019economie politique, et non pas de l\u2019organisation Sociale et des bases fondamentales\n\t\t\t\tdes\n\t\t\t\tgouvernements comme dans le commentaire Sur Montesquieu.\n            de tout cela, ce que je crains le plus c\u2019est que l\u2019ouvrage tout entier dans Son ensemble et dans Ses details ne merite gueres votre attention, et que vous ne jugiez que je n\u2019ai pas Suivi le fameux precepte: \n                     quid valeant humeri, quid ferre recusent. j\u2019ai bien impatience de Savoir ce que vous en penserez. en attendant, Si je puis un peu \n                     rassembles mes id\u00e9es et ranimer ma facult\u00e9 de penser, je ferai tous mes efforts pour continuer l\u2019execution de mon plan. car le desir de vous plaire et celui d\u2019etre utile me donnent bien du courage. il n\u2019y a que le manque de forces qui puisse m\u2019arreter. mais malheureusement il est bien difficile de juger Soi meme quand on ne fait plus rien de bon, et bien difficile encor de trouver des amis ass\u00e9z Sinceres pour vous en avertir franchement.\n            Recevez, je vous prie Monsieur, les assurances de ma tr\u00e9s grande consideration, de mon attachement, de mon respect, et de tous les Sentiments qui vous Sont dus et dont je Suis penetr\u00e9 pour vous.\n            P.S. en collationant mon manuscript, je m\u2019apercois Monsieur, que j\u2019ai os\u00e9 parler Souvent des etats unis que peut-etre je connois mal, car malheureusement les communications Sont bien difficiles. ou je me Serai tromp\u00e9 je vous prie de corriger Sans menagements. je vous aurois une double obligation Si vous vouliez prendre la peine de rectifier mes id\u00e9es, en me disant ou Sont les fautes.\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n\t\t  I had the honor of writing you a letter on the 21st of last month that will reach you with this one. I hope it will have shown you how grateful I am for your kindness and how happy I am for the generosity with which you greeted my little piece on Montesquieu. It will also have demonstrated the great confidence your indulgence inspires, in that I took the liberty of sending you a complete set of my three-volume treatise on understanding, of\n\t\t\t which you had only the first two volumes, and I dared to confess that I had conceived of writing a three-volume work on the will, the first of which would study the law and the spirit in which\n\t\t\t laws\n\t\t\t must be made, in keeping with facts ascertained beforehand through an exact observation of our faculties.\n              I fear that you will now find my confidence extended to temerity, as I have the honor of sending you herewith the manuscript of the first volume of the aforesaid treatise on the will, which is at the same time the fourth volume of the entire work. This manuscript contains first, a supplement to my work on understanding that I thought necessary in order to make it more practical and easily understood; secondly, an introduction to my discussion of the will and its three component parts; thirdly and lastly, the first part of my treatise on the will, dealing specifically with our actions or our means of providing for our needs and finished only a moment ago.\n              Sir, I sense the great contradiction between my assertion that my feeble capabilities are greatly diminished and my submission to you immediately thereafter of works that, in consequence, cannot merit your attention. My excuse is that the first two pieces in question, the supplement and the introduction, were done long ago, before the misfortunes that have since weighed on my mind, and the third is only a more methodical and detailed exposition \n                     of principles that you already approved in my commentary on Montesquieu, namely those concerning books 7, 13, 20, 21, 22, and 23, dealing with luxury, taxation, commerce, money, and population.\n              Thereafter, Sir, I venture to hope that you will glance at the three texts comprising this volume. None of them will be published in this country while I am alive. The first two are too metaphysical, and it is not now fashionable to take an interest in such things, at least openly. The third is, on the contrary, too practical. It contains many ideas that to me seem contradictory to what I hear people say daily. I think that its publication would not be permitted. If it should be, I would not desire it, not only because I would be afraid that it would be held against me, but also because I think that a good citizen must say only what he knows to be true. He must, however, have strong reservations about telling the truth when it might be construed as criticizing a government in which he plays no legal part. You alone, Sir, will be my audience, and because I am quite convinced that votes should be weighed and not counted, yours would make me happier than universal applause in which you refused to join.\n                     Moreover, I think that if I could have my first volumes translated in your country, this one might also be translated, if you found it worthwhile. The translated edition would then be more complete and therefore more sought after than the original, which, by the way, is\n\t\t\t nearly out of print. I can see no drawbacks, even if this translated edition were to make its way back here with my name on the title page. First, being in a foreign language, it would never be\n\t\t\t widely read and its publication could not be attributed to me. Secondly, this fourth volume could not cause much displeasure, because it deals with political economy rather than the organization\n\t\t\t society and the fundamental basis of government, as did my commentary on Montesquieu.\n              My greatest fear is that the work as a whole and in detail scarcely merits your attention, and that you will end up thinking that I have ignored the famous precept: \n                     quid valeant humeri, quid ferre recusent. I am very impatient for your reaction. Meanwhile, if I can gather my ideas and rekindle my ability to think, I will make great efforts to go on with the execution of my plan, emboldened by the desire to please you and be useful. Only weakness could stop me, but unfortunately it is difficult to judge when one can no longer do anything right, and friends are very rarely sincere enough to inform you frankly of that fact.\n              Sir, I beg you to accept the assurance of my very high consideration, attachment, respect, and all the other sentiments that I deservedly feel for you.\n              P.S. Sir, in collating my manuscript I realized that I had dared to speak often of the United States, which I do not know well because, unfortunately, communications are so difficult. Where I am mistaken, please feel free to correct me. I would be doubly obliged if you would take the trouble to tell me where I have gone wrong.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0220", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Notes on Joseph Fossett\u2019s Account for Plating Saddle Trees, 18 November 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: \n         Saddle trees plated for Mr Burnley\n         the former acct\n             given me by Joe was for 32. trees\n         now given in by him\n            4. mens trees common @ 1.D.\n         17. do plated round the Cantle @ 7/\n            1. Woman\u2019s tree common\n            3. do plated round the Cantle", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0221-0001", "content": "Title: Bishop James Madison to Thomas Jefferson, 19 November 1811\nFrom: Madison, Bishop James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t   Having seen your Observations upon the late solar Eclipse, I took the Liberty to transmit a Copy of them to Mr W. Lambert, in Washington, & to request him to favour me with a Calculation of the Longitude of Monticello founded upon them. I now transmit his Paper, & hope it will prove agreable to you. The Facility & Accuracy of Mr L. in astronomical Calculation is very remarkable. This I have known for some Time past; & upon that Ground the application was made to him.\n\t\t    Mr Blackburn, the Mathl Professor, is also a good Calculator; but he is so engaged that I know not when he will attempt a similar Deduction.\n                  Lambert\u2019s Paper is drawn up more fully than may appear necessary; but it serves to test the Accuracy of the apparently different Rules given by celebrated Astronomers.\n\t\t  By my Observation upon the solar Eclipse of 1806, the End of which was accurately noted, & the Time well ascertained, Williamsburg is 5H 17\u2032 4\u2033 from Paris \n                  9\u2032 20\u2033 by Greenwich, which compared with the Long. of Monticello, gives the strait-lined Distance, I beleive, very accurately, or rather nearly.\n              I am, Dr Sir, Yrs with sincere Respect & Esteem", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0222", "content": "Title: Oliver Pollock to Thomas Jefferson, 19 November 1811\nFrom: Pollock, Oliver\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I had the honor of receiving your letter dated on the 4th of may, some time back and delayed making an acknowledgement until I could do it fully to my own Satisfaction.\n            I find to my regret that you do not retain as particular a recollection of the transactions of the Government of Virginia as I had hoped, this indeed is not surprising considering the numerous and important offices which you have since filled and the lapse of thirty two years\u2014but yet I am confident that you\n\t\t\t will remember what was a matter of much notoriety both then and afterwards, first. that I acted as the official public Agent of Virginia at New orleans\u2014secondly\u2014that I incurred large Debts in that Character\u2014thirdly\u2014that my agency resulted in great benefits to the Public, not only in the destruction of a dangerous Enemy\u2014but in the\n\t\t\t acquisition of a Valuable Country to the United States.\n\t\t  I am of opinion that a testimonial under your hand clearly ascertaining these facts will be of service to me and b \n                  Will be highly gratifying to my feelings to have such co-operating testimony from a name so high and respectable, by that means additional Validity will be given to what has been stated by others, and particularly by the late Col. William Heth, in his Character as Agent for settling the Accounts relating to the Conquest of the Isilinois.\n\t\t  Col. Heth\u2019s letter is the last document in a pamphlet now sent, and I refer you to it to refresh your memory as to some particulars which may not be at once recollected.\n            I cannot doubt that it will afford you pleasure to comply with a request which has for its object nothing more than the exhibition of truth, to which may be added the gratification of the feelings of an old and very Zealous, but unfortunate public Servant\u2014and likewise\n            Your friend and very Hble. Servt.\n            Please to direct to me here as soon as possible", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0223", "content": "Title: William Short to Thomas Jefferson, 19 November 1811\nFrom: Short, William\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          I was exploring the Jersey mountains in search of a farm when your favor of the 15th Oct. was forwarded here, agreeably to directions left with my agent at Philadelphia, as to my letters. I did not succeed in my search but hope to be more successful next year.\u2014\n\t\t   Let me now express all my thanks for your kindness as to Ind. Camp\u2014I am indeed truly obliged by it, & prefer much the plan of allowing the leases to remain quietly as they are\u2014should an offer be made, it will then be time to see what arrangement can be\n\t\t\t made, or what will be best to be done. I am glad to see you think the land cheap at 10.d.\u2014I shall be satisfied perfectly with the price, & particularly if the purchaser will pay the interest with punctuality\u2014In that case it will be a kind of property which will suit one\n\t\t\t in my situation much better than land\u2014although if I had a family I should be of a very different opinion & should prefer land to any thing.\n\t\t  Some time ago having occasion to write to Mr Wickham on my law business with my worthy friend & relation Colo S.\u2014I mentioned to him my wish to sell this land\u2014I had hope it might suit him, as I know he is a land purchaser\u2014He told me he did not wish it himself, but would aid me in the sale as far as he could\u2014\n\t\t   & that he would direct the land to be viewed by the father of his manager, who lived near it\u2014This was I think more than a year ago\u2014I believe indeed on my return to this country\u2014& if I am\n\t\t\t not mistaken I mentioned the price of 10 dols to him\u2014\n\t\t   I have found here on my return from the Jersey a letter on Colo S.\u2019s business from Mr Wickham & in it he tells me that his manager Mr Sampson has visited the lands, & that his father in law Mr Rogers, who lives near them & is well acquainted with the price & value of lands has also viewed them & is to give an opinion which he daily expects\u2014Mr W. adds\u2014\u201cfrom what I can learn they would command from 10 to 12 dols \n                  \u214c acre, on the usual terms of sale.\u201d\u2014Still as I have said above I shall be perfectly satisfied with 10 dols as being a more convenient arrangement for me than holding lands. should Mr W. find a purchaser he will of course inform me of it, & I shall do nothing without first communicating with you.\n\t\t  I have a letter from Mde de Tess\u00e9 of March last of which this is an extract\u2014\u201cpresentez mes plus tendres & plus respectueux hommages \u00e0 Mr Jefferson, dans toutes les occasions ou cela vous sera possible\u2014Je ne suis pas encore console\u00e9 de ne plus trouver de ses beaux discours dans les gazettes. Si vous etes assez heureux pour aller a Monticello il seroit bon de vous mettre pour un petit moment \u00e0 \n                     genoux devant mon autel\u2014j\u2019aimerais bien a scavoir si vos ennemis ont conserv\u00e8 leur credit\u2014si votre Gouvernement s\u2019obstine a ignorer qu\u2019on reconnait jamais bien les moeurs d\u2019un pays dont on ne parle pas la langue, & que le patriotisme ne supplie pas aux lumi\u00e8res &c.\u201d\u2014I endeavored to explain to her & others the state of my case\u2014but it was telling the fabulam surdo.\u2014And she is on this a proof in point of her own maxim above, as to not knowing les moeurs d\u2019un pays, & \n                  I might add the the Government, administration & views of a country, may be included as well as the moeurs.\n          I am now inclined to believe that it is necessary not only to have the language, but to be personally present to possess a knowlege of a foreign country, in this century of unceasing changes\u2014On my return to France I found such a perfect revolution in every thing, that it was quite a new country & to be studied once again\u2014Notwithstanding I had kept up a correspondence with my friends there, yet events had succeeded with so much rapidity that I was totally in arrear\u2014And the first month it was a matter of great amusement to my friends & myself to be learning from them at every moment, events of real importance & still operating their effect, of which I had never heard or dreamed. \n                     I was like La Peyrouse in the little comedy which was written in the year 1790\u2014in which he is made to arrive at Paris; where of course he finds nothing as he left it in 85.\u2014& had to ask the explanation of every thing.\u2014\n                     I had an opportunity by going from France to England, of verifying the perfect state of ignorance in which these two countries are with respect to each other\u2014When you consider that they are separated by only seven leagues of water, & that\n\t\t\t there is much communication, it really passes all comprehension\u2014It is not always safe to endeavor to rectify errors of this kind\u2014because it is necessary to begin by telling people that they are\n\t\t\t mistaken, & that you know better than they do.\u2014They will very certainly not believe you in the first place\u2014& in the second, they will probably be displeased by you; & particularly if\n\t\t\t you\n\t\t\t enter as a volunteer.Chance gave me whilst in France an opportunity of being admitted further into the secret cabinet of the leader or rather the driver there, than can possibly happen to any one but by chance\u2014& I can aver that the real\n\t\t\t feelings & views, particularly the former, as to this country, are considered there as very different from what they are here. I do not think it right to ad \n                  commit to paper the source through which this came to me, but I will do so when I have the pleasure of seeing you.\u2014In England I met with an old acquaintance formed a great many years ago on the continent, who is a thoroughgoing Ministerialist\u2014By his situation, by his \n                  held & by his connexions he is in fact one of them, although he has no department. I saw a few of the opposition, who however were not the leaders\u2014These were all Englishmen\n\t\t\t & I had a good deal of conversation with them, & They \n                  in a way in which there could be no disguise or disposition to deceive\u2014They were men of information as to their own country\u2014they had all been on the continent & in France particularly, & yet I can assure you that however well they may have been acquainted with France \u201cas it was,\u201d they were totally mistaken in their ideas of France \u201cas it is.\u201d And I observed that they had not only different, but opposite, ideas\u2014just as they would have had on a question in the house of commons. They had each mixed up all they had\n\t\t\t formerly known with all they were daily learning, & made a p \n                  dish according to the taste of their palates, but really not at all according to the nature of the thing.\n                  I saw also three foreigners who have so long resided in London that they are much better informed of the true state, & real interests, of England in its foreign relations, than any Englishman I saw\u2014for it seems as if that kind of knowlege was more difficult to be attained by an Englishman than any other\u2014\n\t\t\t Dumouriez & Count d\u2019Antraigues (the last you will recollect as having been of the constituent assembly, having written a pamphlet in which he went far ahead of his peers in favor of the revolution & then taking the\n\t\t\t steed & emigrating either with or before Mourriez) have also with the active industry & intelligence of Frenchmen acquired a most intimate knowlege of the state of things & parties as regards England in its interior\u2014\n\t\t\t foreigners, & employed & paid (at least Dumouriez) by the government, they see with the same freedom each succeeding ministry\u2014They have\n\t\t\t become acquainted with them as they have come into power, & shewed respect for them & retained an intimacy with the influential when they have lost their power, not knowing how soon they\n\t\t\t may\n\t\t\t come up again\u2014Being thus free of the fogs of party spirit, it appeared to me that they had a clearer & more distinct view of the present, as well as what would probably be the future, in England than any one I saw there.\n          Dumouriez is consulted on all military operations in Europe\u2014he forms plans for them\u2014of which they never take more than a part\u2014just enough to incur all the expense, & t \n                  never enough to give a chance of success.\u2014or if they adopt the whole of his plan, they then begin it some months later than agreed on so as to insure its failure in that way. It is clear from the\n\t\t\t opinion of both Dumouriez & d\u2019Antraigues\u2014that the present is the weakest ministry they have yet been able to \n\t\t\t Marquis of Wellesley they say is a man of enterprize & extensive views, proper for a first Minister, but totally incapable of the details of a department\u2014\n\t\t\t the full expectation of being\n\t\t\t premier, of which he had the assurance, but was outwitted completely by Perceval, who was when at the bar an Avocat sans cause, & who always will be a ministre sans talent. The details of this manoeuvre are really curious, as I had it from d\u2019An\u2014 \u2014& the main spring of the intrigue & what secured Perceval\u2019s success, was his representing to the King that he was really without talents or influence himself\u2014& of course could be nothing but by the King, whereas those who had talents & influence, would always endeavour to make themselves independent of the King & control him.\u2014\n                  The opinion of many was, that it would be a piece of good fortune if \n                  for England if the Ministry were baffled at once & the armies driven out of the Peninsula, so as to have necessity for the excuse of abandoning their mode of carrying on the war there\u2014It would be\n\t\t\t too long to go into detail on this subject at the end of so long a letter\u2014\n\t\t\t far as we may judge from what followed \n                  took place in Gallicia, during the campaign of Sir John Moore & after the expulsion of his army, the resistance would not be diminished by such an event. \n                  This is the opinion of the\n\t\t\t famous Savary, Duke de Rovigo, now Minister of Police, the same who brought off the Prince of Asturias\u2014Whilst I\n\t\t\t was at Paris he told a Lady of my acquaintance, who repeated it to me the same day\u2014\u201cAs to conquering Spain, if by dispersing its armies, a conquest is meant, that is already done\u2014but if a quiet possession is meant, that cannot be effected but by a permanent garrison of 600,000 men\u2014&\n\t\t\t considering the Peninsula as a place forte.\u201d\n          Instead of disasters in the peninsula & the expulsion of the British from thence, making them more tractable as to our affairs, might it not on the contrary remove one of the principal inducements which they have to peace with us in the present state of things, the necessity of their armies deriving supplies from hence? The effect of a bankruptcy on their internal state & foreign relations, or the probability of such an event would require the going into a longer investigation of the interior of England than you would perhaps think worthy of the time\u2014It was evident to me whilst in England, although no Englishman would \n                     that I saw would then admit it, that they were verging towards a paper money\u2014\n                  Huskisson however has since shewn that in its true light Have you seen his pamphlet?\u2014In time, paper money (which however is different from paper currency) if continued, inevitably produces one kind of bankruptcy\u2014But whilst this money can hold \n                  out it adds strength instead of taking it away\u2014And after it can hold out no longer we have seen one instance at\n\t\t\t least, that of France, of a country immediately arising like a phenix from its ashes. I do not pretend to decide that this would be the same with every other\u2014but it is worthy of being taken into consideration.Indeed\n\t\t\t there are so many things to be taken into consideration in examining, & more especially in deciding, on the \n                  this vast subject the war with England & which must of course have occupied the mind of the administration for some time back, that I have been imprudent perhaps in thus touching on it, as I can only do it in a contracted way. \n\t\t\t think with you that it is\n\t\t\t very uncertain whether the nation itself will not soon force the Prince, or King, & Ministry into a war with us. \n                  Perceval would not perhaps be sorry to be thus forced, but most others would be\n\t\t\t sorry for it. The present course of\n\t\t\t the two governments, however it seems to me, to tend \n                  tends towards war\u2014& although I do not believe that either government does or can wish for it, yet in their present attitudes, some event, or some succession of events may take place which will\n\t\t\t render it still more probable, if not inevitable.\u2014\n                  I should like much to have been at Monticello last summer with M & M, & have heard them discuss some points, which must, I should imagine, have been discussed; such as whether this be the most favorable time for engaging in a war in favor of neutral rights,\n\t\t\t seeing that all the world is belligerent except ourselves\u2014& that each belligerent is equally hostile to these rights.\u2014 \n   * I have travelled a great deal this summer\u2014& seen many of all parties\u2014& this point I have heard particularly conversed & ideas thrown out as to the certainty of its changing the administration after the first election. Whether that wd really be the case I do not pretend to say.\nwhat would be the probable effect on ourselves, of a war undertaken at this time\u2014whether there be no means of evading for the present (if the moment be unfavorable) for war) & of postponing war without renouncing any principle & with a determination of preparing for the assertion & maintenance of every principle on the first favorable occasion which may present a good chance\n\t\t\t of success.\u2014If there be no such means, then of course war at present is necessary & inevitable, & removes the trouble of every other consideration, except as to carrying it on with the\n\t\t\t greatest effect.\n          A person situated as I am & who of course can have only a part of the subject under his view, is so exposed to form half starved incorrect opinions that he should not perhaps trouble other people with them: but where we feel very much interested it is almost impossible not to form an opinion, & difficult not to communicate it when speaking confidentially. I take it for granted that since the length of time\n                   that our commercial difficulties have begun with the belligerent powers, Government must, in its various views of that subject, have examined the alternative of leaving commerce to its own protection, when carried beyond our own limits\u2014or inviting the citizens of the U.S. to remain at home & employ their capitals here; but at the same time leaving them free to manage their affairs in their own way, & at their own risk & peril, if they will persist\n                  placing themselves between Scylla & Charybdis.\u2014I suppose, as this plan has never (I believe) been brought forward, that there must be some objection to it arising out of circumstances unknown to\n\t\t\t had a good deal of conversation on this subject with Daniel Parker, as to its commercial effects. No person that I know, carries more analysis into commercial questions than he does\u2014He has established this \n                  his reputation as a clear & combining head on these matters, as well at London as at Amsterdam\u2014& his long residence abroad has not diminished his attachment to his own country\u2014Indeed I believe that residence abroad, free from the asperities you see \n                  one sees at home, & the injustice & abuse to which one is exposed, increases & exalts one\u2019s attachment instead of diminishing it. Parker has more than once developed the commercial bearings that this measure would have, in so satisfactory a manner that I requested he would give me a memoir with these developements, that I\n\t\t\t might send it to you\u2014He promised this with pleasure & would have executed it with zeal, but before he had done intelligence was recieved from America which shewed it was then unnecessary.\n          As far as we can judge from what has transpired from Washington, there appears no symptom of the Executive contemplating such a measure\u2014How would they like its coming from the legislature?\u2014I have no reason to suppose that such a plan exists there\u2014but a gentleman here told me that a Republican member of the house who came down the North River with him, said outright on board of the steam boat, that should be his plan.\n          The Hornet is here under sailing orders for Europe\u2014The report is that a new Minister to London is to go out in that vessel\u2014&\n\t\t\t that Dr Eustis is the person intended.\n\t\t\t This may perhaps merely proceed from the\n\t\t\t affair\n\t\t\t of the Chesapeake being arranged\u2014Perhaps also this arrangement may act as an entering wedge\u2014& to use an Irish phrase, draw things\n\t\t\t closer together\u2014but I am not sufficiently instructed, to see how it will do it.\n          On looking back at this long letter, I am really, bona fide, sans phrase, frightened at it\u2014& almost tempted to suppress it altogether, & write another merely as to Ind: Camp\u2014but hoping &\n\t\t\t taking for\n                   granted you will only read as much of it as you please, I let it go, with the repeated assurance of all my gratitude for your kindness as to Ind: Camp, & of my being ever your friend & servant", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0224", "content": "Title: Sylvanus Bourne to Thomas Jefferson, 20 November 1811\nFrom: Bourne, Sylvanus\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          As you are acquainted with the embarrassing situation in which I have laboured for some years & which has now reached a point bordering on distress, I take the liberty most respectfully to mention to you that I have made an application to the President of the U States to be named to fill the Consular vacancy in London when the State of our relations with that Country may render this appointment proper & expedient, & I have most earnestly to solicit the favr of your interest with the President for obtaining said appointment\u2014There will be\n\t\t\t doubtless many Competitors which will tend greatly to enhance the value of your friendship towards me of\n\t\t\t which I shall ever entertain a most gratefull Sense, & my Children shall be taught  to reverence the name of their Protector & friend et\n          I have the honor Dr Sir with the greatest Respect Yr Ob Servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0225", "content": "Title: William Lambert to Thomas Jefferson, 22 November 1811\nFrom: Lambert, William\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                  City of Washington, November 22d 1811.\n\t\t  The observations relating to the solar eclipse of the 17th September last, were made in this city opposite Rhodes\u2019s hotel, North 71.\u00ba West, 1.\u215c. m American measure, from the Capitol. The apparent times of the principal appearances, to the nearest second, are as follow:\u2014   \n              Beginning of the Eclipse,\n              Annulus formed,\n              End of the Eclipse,\n              Latitude of the place of observation, (assumed)\n              Constant log. to reduce the \u263d\u2019s equat. hor. parallax \n              for lat. and ratio\n          An allowance of \u22121.\u2033 623. dec for irradiation of the Sun\u2019s, and \u22122.\u2032\u2032 977. dec for inflexion of the Moon\u2019s light, has been made in the calculation.\n          From the foregoing data, and the elements connected, which have been computed to great exactness, the solar time of true conjunction\u2014    h.m.Sec.dec.By the beginning of the Eclipse, is1.49.17.635.\u3003the End1.49.17.678.MeanTrue Conjunction at Washington,1.49.17.656Dittoat Greenwich6.57.14.915Longitude in time, of the place of observation,5.7.57.259.\u00ba\u2032\u2032\u2032Equal to76.59.18.885.difference of longitude West of the Capitol,\u22121.26.978.Longitude of the Capitol, by the external contacts,76.57.51.907.Say 76.\u00ba 57.\u2032 52.\u2032\u2032\n                    If we connect this result with that obtained from the occultation of n Pleiadum (Alcyone) by the Moon, on the 20th of October 1804, a mean of the two will be, nearly 76.\u00ba 55.\u2032 45.\u2032\u2032, or 5. h. 7. m. 43. Sec. in time, being an approximation which will not, perhaps vary much from the truth, when it shall be tested by future observations.\n                    Before this comes to hand, you will, probably, have received from bishop Madison, my calculation of the longitude of Monticello, from the external contacts of the same Eclipse.\n          I am, Sir, with great respect, Your most obedient servant,\n                  William Lambert.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-24-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0226", "content": "Title: James Ogilvie to Thomas Jefferson, 24 November 1811\nFrom: Ogilvie, James\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          I have to thank you for a letter, which had I wanting \n                  wanted any additional motives to stimulate my exertions during my temporary seclusion from the world, would have supplied them.\u2014Accept my cordial thanks for the benevolent interest in my future welfare & usefulness you have done me the honour to express, coupled with an assurance, that I shall endeavour to deserve a continuance of your friendly regard.\u2014\n\t\t   The subject you suggested as well calculated for illustration from the Rostrum, will be included in an oration I am now composing \u201cOn the situation condition & Prospects of the American People.\u201d\u2014\n          Finding total solitude necessary to call forth the concentrated & persevering exertion of my faculties, I have retired to a sequestered spot in the bosom of the woods:\u2014There exists not a human being within several miles of the place: I reside in a log-house situated in a deep glen & encircled by hills, which I climb twice a day for exercise\u2014Here I am determined to remain until I can accomplish the purpose of my temporary seclusion\u2014\n\t\t   I take the liberty to enclose for your perusal a copy of proposals, recently issued by James Mcallister, for publishing a weekly paper in Bards town Ky.\n          I am warranted by intimate knowlege of this truly great man, in saying, that his capacity and qualifications to execute, with fidelity & ability the design he has commenced, are probably preeminent; Assuredly his paper will be characterised by an accuracy in the statement of facts, an impartiality & profoundness in the discussion of political questions, a variety of useful information & an elegance of stile, unequalled in any American News-paper.\u2014\n          Should you do him the honour to take his paper, it will perhaps be necessary to intimate your wish by addressing a few lines to him at Bards\u2019 Town.\u2014\n          It is my intention after finishing the orations I am now composing, to revisit Virginia for the purpose of delivering them in Richmond. During this visit, it will afford me peculiar satisfaction to make an excursion to Albemarle\u2014\n          With best wishes to all around you, believe me to be,\n          Dear Sir, with profound respects, yours &c", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-25-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0227", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 25 November 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  Having received the form of the bond which I am to execute previous to entering upon the duties of my office, I avail myself of your kind offer of joining me in it, and now inclose it for your signature.\n          I have not inserted the third name, as I wish to take the chance (small as it is) of Mr Gibson\u2019s return previous to my departure: there being but very few persons to whom I like to lay myself under such an obligation, which greatly enhances the favor you have done me\u2014for which, to say\n\t\t\t nothing of your many other kindnesses, I can never sufficiently thank you.\n          Have the goodness to inclose the bond to Gibson & Jefferson, as, should there be any delay in the mail, I may possibly be gone before it is returned, in which case I shall leave a letter in which for it to be inclosed, with orders for it to be\n\t\t\t forwarded.\n          I am Dear Sir Your ever faithful friend", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0228", "content": "Title: Nicolas G. Dufief to Thomas Jefferson, 26 November 1811\nFrom: Dufief, Nicholas Gouin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                     A Philadelphie ce 26 Novembre 1811\n             Je m\u2019empresse de vous faire l\u2019hommage de mon catalogue avant que Sa publication ait \u00e9t\u00e9 encore annonc\u00e9. Je dois vous pr\u00e9venir que la difficult\u00e9 qu\u2019on \u00e9prouve \u00e0 Se procurer des Livres Francais est cause qu\u2019une partie de ceux qui composent ma Biblioth\u00e8que est de rencontre, mais les prix ont \u00e9t\u00e9 fix\u00e9s en cons\u00e9quence.\n            Agreez, Je vous prie, les assurances du profond respect avec lequel, J\u2019ai l\u2019honneur d\u2019\u00eatre Monsieur votre tr\u00e8s-d\u00e9vou\u00e9 ServiteurN. G. Dufief\n            P.S Je re\u00e7ois \u00e0 l\u2019instant un grand nombre de livres dont je vous enverrai la note par la premi\u00e8re occasion\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n               I eagerly compliment you with my catalogue before its publication has been announced. I must caution you that procuring French books is so difficult that some of those making up my bookstall are secondhand, but their prices have been set accordingly.\n              I pray you to accept the assurances of the profound respect with which I have the honor to be Sir your most devoted ServantN. G. Dufief\n              P.S. I am receiving many books at present. I will describe them to you at the first opportunity", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0229", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Survey of Bear Creek Lands, 26\u201328 November 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: \n              beginning on Bear creek on the E. side of the road.\n              N. 34\u00bd E. 50. po. leaving the branch on the E.\n              at 10. po. further the branch is 4.6 po. on the E.\n              at 80. po. from the Beginning, branch 4.8 E.\n              at 132.cross the branch\n              at 210.to the edge of the branch\n              N. 54\u00bd E. 58. po. along the side of the branch. to a poplar in the field.\n              N. 22 E. 22. po.touching the branch.\n              sa. co.12. po. to a poplar on the branch in the woods.\n              sa. co.52. po. going off from the branch.\n              Beginning at the Poplar in the woods on Bear branch.\n              N. 2. E. 20. crossing branch to a poplar\n              N. 5. E. 16. branch 6. W. after recrossing it\n              sa. co.6. to intersection of the branch & line at an elm\n\t\t   again beginning at Robinson\u2019s corner.\n\t\t  S. 77. W. 80. po. to Bear branch. on Gill\u2019s line.\n\t\t  S. 26. W. 338 po. on C. Bankhead\u2019s line to it\u2019s intersection with Liberty road", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0230", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Account with Reuben Perry, [ca. 28 November 1811]\nFrom: Perry, Reuben\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n              Mr Thomas Jefferson\n              In Account with R. Perry\n              To 2 Treessels Bedsteads @ $3\n              Altering doors 12/\n              one bookcase Lock @ 3/\n              Mending wheat machene @ 12/", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0231", "content": "Title: William & Samuel Craig to Thomas Jefferson, 29 November 1811\nFrom: Craig, William,Craig, Samuel,Craig, William & Samuel (N.Y. firm)\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                  We have the honor to inclose a Letter for you, received by a Ship of ours from Belfast; accompanied by a small Box, which We have taken in charge; & will be happy to forward it agreeably to such \n                  instructions as you may please to honor Us with.\u2014We have the honor to\n\t\t\t subscribe ourselves\n          Sir Your Mt Ob serWm & Saml Craig", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0233", "content": "Title: Valent\u00edn de Foronda to Thomas Jefferson, 30 November 1811\nFrom: Foronda, Valent\u00edn de\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t    Philosofo respetable, tengo la honra de remitir \u00e1 Vm un exemplar de un folleto, que viene \u00e1 ser una copia de los apuntes que imprimi en Philadelphia sobre la nueva constitucion en que aconsejaba \u00e1 las Cortes la senda, que creia debia seguir, y que no ha seguido de lo que ha resultado una perdida de tiempo inmensa, lo que no podia\n\t\t\t\tmenos de succeder, no habiendo fixado las vases sobre las que se debia edificar: asi tan pronto se ha tocado un punto como otro enteramente inconexo. Se ha hecho cosas buenas, y se han dexado en\n\t\t\t\tpie\n\t\t\t\tgrandes absurdos.\n          La parte primera de la Constitucion est\u00e1 aprobada. En el mismo dia, que me lleg\u00f3 el proyecto presentado por la comision hice rapidamente las observaciones que ler\u00e1 Vm. Se resiente de ideas goticas, de librazos viejos; de nuestras rancias pr\u00e9ocupaciones.\n           Va tambien una carta contra Claros, nombre supuesto, que se aplic\u00f3 su Autor el Obispo celebre de Orense, que huele \u00e1 santidad, que ha sido Regente, que no quiso por el pronto hacer el juramento al Pueblo Soberano; pero al cabo lo hizo. En este papel trato varios puntos del Derecho-publico.\n\t\t\t\tAunque me firme Claro y franco todos saben, que soy el Autor.\n          Celebraria tener la coleccion de Cartas, que he insertado en el diario de Sn Tiago en los  \n                     6 meses que me hallo en Galicia; pero no teniendo sino un exemplar no puedo desprenderme de \u00e9l. He hablado \u00e1 lo Philosofo me he opuesto a que se gritara en los Escritos viva el Rey; sino que fuese viva la Nacion Espa\u00f1ola \n                        el pueblo Espa\u00f1ol: y me explicaba as\u00ed. Lo que deviera ser es viva el Soberano, que nunca he oido: pero esta grandiosa idea moral no se concive por el pueblo: est\u00e1 mas a su alcance, Viva la Nacion y aun mas (por lo que le doy la preferencia) viva el pueblo Espa\u00f1ol. Me he opuesto \u00e1 que se llamen Reales Exercitos, sino Exercitos Nacionales. No es cosa de molestar \u00e1 Vm.\n           Habiendo tocado en un papel varios puntos en que se creia interesada la Clerecia, y Frayleria se han sublevado: me han escrito varios anonimos, han impreso algunos, y han predicado contra mi. Yo contest\u00e9 y pulveric\u00e9 \u00e1 los dos primeros, anunciando que no gastaria el t\u00edempo en contestar \u00e1 necedades que ya han salido otros anonimos, \n                     que han ridiculizado \u00e1 mis antagonistas. Es menester confesar, que hay todavia muchas preocupaciones, que sobstienen varias gentes, y con las que no pueden los Sabios, los Philosofos de que hay algunos. Si, Philantropo Jefferson son de tanto merito, que los pondria \u00e1 luchar con los primeros sabios de Europa.\n          Remito tambien 6 cartas que escribi en Lisboa en el mes de Julio de 1810. En la 6a ver\u00e1 Vm un dialogo sobre la Nobleza.\n          Envio igualmente un papelito que gustar\u00e1 \u00e1 Vm por el solo merito de haberlo publicado en favor de un Ciudadano, y contra un Juez.\n          No remito exemplares para su amigo de Vm el Philosofo, el sabio Madisson porque seria exponerme \u00e1 que los ignorantes, los interpretes iniq\u00fcos de las acciones humanas, incapaces de distinguir lo que es un acto de Cortesania, de respeto \u00e1 las luces lo atribuieran,\n\t\t\t\t\u00e1 que tenia correspondencia con un enemigo declarado de la Espa\u00f1a.\n          No hablo del Estado Guerrero, porque me he propuesto no hablar de estas cosas con los estrangeros, y espero que no llevara \u00e1 mal semejante conducta.\n          Deseo \u00e1 Vm la mas perfecta salud en compa\u00f1ia de sus apreciables hijas, \u00e1 cuyos pies se servir\u00e1 ponerme disponiendo de su admirador, y atento Servidor que SMB.Valentin de Foronda\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n\t\t  Respectable philosopher, I have the honor of sending you a copy of a pamphlet which is itself a reproduction of the notes that I printed in Philadelphia about the new constitution. In it, I advised the Cortes of the path that I thought should be taken, but which has not been pursued resulting in an immense waste of time, which was\n\t\t\t unavoidable, as it had not established the necessary foundations on which to build: in consequence, as soon as it touched on one point another became entirely unconnected. It has done good\n\t\t\t things,\n\t\t\t but it has left standing huge absurdities.\n            The first part of the constitution is approved. On the same day that the plan presented by the commission arrived, I quickly made the enclosed observations. It is weakened by gothic ideas, outdated books, and our antiquated preoccupations.\n             I am also sending a letter attacking Claros, an assumed name used by the celebrated bishop of Orense, who reeks of saintliness, who was regent, and who refused for a time to take the oath to the sovereign people, but who finally did it. In this paper I address various points of public law.\n\t\t\t Although I sign myself Claro y franco, everyone knows that I am the author.\n            I would be delighted to transmit the collection of letters that I inserted in the Santiago newspaper during the six months I have been in Galicia; but having only one copy, I cannot detach myself from it. I have spoken like a philosopher. In my writings I have opposed shouting long live the king; on \n                     the contrary it should be long live the Spanish people: I explained myself in this way: it should be long live the Sovereign, which I have never heard; but this grandiose moral idea is not understood by the people: it is more within their grasp to say long live the Nation and even more so (that which I prefer) to say long live the Spanish people. I have opposed the idea of calling our forces royal armies, but prefer national armies instead. This is not\n\t\t\t something to bother yourself about, however.\n             Having touched in one paper on various points in which the clergy has a vested interest, the monks have risen in insurrection: several anonymous authors have written to me, others have been published, and some have preached against me. I answered and crushed the first two, announcing that I would not waste my time answering stupidities; other anonymous writings have appeared to ridicule my antagonists. People admittedly still have many concerns that wise men cannot resolve, even philosophers, of whom there are a few. Yes, philanthropic Jefferson, their merit is such  that I would set them against the wisest men in Europe.\n            I also send six letters that I wrote in Lisbon in the month of July 1810. In the last you will see a dialogue on the nobility.\n            In addition, I am forwarding a little essay that you will like solely because I published it in favor of a citizen, and against a judge.\n            I am not sending copies to your friend the wise philosopher Madison, because that would mean exposing myself to the ignorant, with their iniquitous interpretations of human actions. Incapable of recognizing it as an act of courtesy and respect to the\n\t\t\t enlightened, they would instead interpret it as correspondence by me with a declared enemy of Spain.\n            I do not speak of the progress of the war, because I have decided to avoid such topics with foreigners, but I hope you do not take this the wrong way.\n            I wish you the best of health in the company of your fine daughters, at whose feet I place myself at your disposal, your admirer, and attentive servant who kisses your hand.\n                     Valentin de Foronda", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0234", "content": "Title: John Fowler to Thomas Jefferson, 30 November 1811\nFrom: Fowler, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                     Lexington. State of Kentucky \n\t\t   The bearer Mr William W Worsley a resident of this Town contemplates in a few days commenceing a journey to Richmond Virginia, and will pass thro\u2019 your neighbourhood. \n\t\t   he has expressed a desire of being made acquainted with you; It is with much pleasure I embrace the oppertunity of introduceing an amiable\n\t\t\t intelligent person to your acquaintance, as an Editor of a paper (the reporter) he is not equalled in this State, and will rank with the first any where, He no doubt will be gratified by a personal conversation with you, and I flatter myself you will be pleased by the oppertunity of an Acquaintance\n\t\t\t with him.There is not a more stanch republican any where.\n          I have the honour to be respectfully\n          Yr. Mo. Ob servant", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "11-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0236", "content": "Title: Conveyance of Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Lot in Richmond to David Higginbotham, November 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Higginbotham, David\n\t\t   This indenture made on theday of Novr one Thousand eight hundred and eleven between Thomas Jefferson of the one part and David Higginbotham of the other; both of the County of Albermarle witnesseth that the said Thomas in consideration of the sum of one hundred and thirty pounds currant money of Virginia to him in hand paid by the said David, hath given granted bargained & sold unto the said David one certain parcel of land in the city of Richmond adjacent to James River containing by estimation eight hundred & twenty five square yards, be the abovementioned lot included within four right lines, whereof one on the South Eastern side bounding on the tenement Number 334 formerly the property of Patrick Coutts is 36 yrds long. one other on the southwestern side bounding on the common towards the River is twenty four yards long. \n\t\t  one other on the North Western side bounding on the common laid off as a road from Shockoe warehouse to the wharf is thirty nine yards long & the other on the Northeastern side bounding on\n\t\t\t the lands of formerly the property of Robert Carter Nicholas decd is twenty two yards long which line beforementioned forms right angles with the first and third lines beforementioned. The parcel of land meant to be conveyed by these presents is part of the lot designated in the plan of the said city by the number three hundred and thirty five. the other part thereof having belonged to Robert Carter Nicholas aforesaid decd. To have and to hold the said parcel of land with its appurtenances to the said David and his heirs. and the said Thomas his heirs executors and administrators, the said parcel of land to the said David and his heirs against all persons claiming under the\n\t\t\t said Thomas, will forever warrant and defend entirely and against all lawful claims prior to the date of these presents he will warrant and \n                  defend to the amount of the sum of one hundred & thirty pounds beforementioned & no further. in testimony whereof the said Thomas hath herewith subscribed and affixed his seal on the day and year above mentioned\n              Signed sealed and}delivered in presence of\n                  David Huckstep\n              Signed Thomas Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0239-0002", "content": "Title: The Dismissal of Livingston v. Jefferson: I. John Tyler\u2019s Opinion in Livingston v. Jefferson, [4 December 1811]\nFrom: Tyler, John\nTo: \n                  FEDERAL CIRCUIT COURT\n            LIVINGSTON VS JEFFERSON\n                     trespass quare clausum fregit.\n                  Demurrer on a plea to this jurisdiction. } Tyler, J.\n               OPINION.\u2014This case, although so ably and elaborately argued on both sides, affords but a single question; and that may be drawn within a narrow compass; and while I freely acknowledge how much I was pleased with the ingenuity and eloquence of the Plaintiff\u2019s Counsel, I cannot do so much injustice to plain truth as to say, that any conviction was wrought on my mind of the soundness of the arguments they exhibited in a legal acceptation. It is the happy talent of some professional gentlemen, and particularly of the Plaintiff\u2019s Counsel often to make the worse appear the better \u201ccause,\u201d but it is the duty of the Judge to guard against the effects intended to be produced, by selecting those arguments & principles from the mass afforded as will enable him to give such an opinion, at least, as may satisfy himself, if not others\u2014These arguments and this eloquence, however, have been met by an Herculean strength of forensic ability, which I take pride in saying sheds a lustre over the bar of Virginia.\n            But to proceed in the examination of the single point before us; and that is, to enquire, whether this court has Jurisdiction over this cause? And how it comes to be made a question at this day, I confess myself entirely at a loss to say; but as it is made, we must determine it.\n               By the Common Law which was adopted by an Act of Convention of this State, so far as it applied to our Constitution, then formed, this point has been settled uninterruptedly for Centuries past, and recognized by uniform opinion & decisions both in England & America. It is true the great Luminary of the judicial department of G.B. did make an effort to shake the principle they had established, but the Judges in that country would not suffer it to be unsettled, it having been so long acknowledged as the indubitable law\n\t\t\t of the land. Nor was it for them\u2014nor is it for us, to be over-scrupulous in enquiring for the reasons on which the opinion was originally given, why an action of Trespass should be deemed a local Action.\n            Time may have cast a shade over the reasons of many maxims and principles; & yet they are principles and maxims much to be respected.\u2014But to me some appear to be evident; for instance; in this action the title and bounds of land may come in question; & who so proper to decide on them as one\u2019s Neighbors who are so much better acquainted with each other\u2019s lines and every thing else which may lead to fair decision? In an action of this kind it may be necessary to direct a Survey and lay down the pretensions of both parties; for the defendant has a right to show in himself a better title and defend himself on that title. He calls for a direction from the court for this purpose; & if it goes at all, it must go to an Officer to carry his Posse to remove force, if any should be offered. And suppose the Sheriff and Jury should deny the power of the Court, can they be coerced? And is not this an undeniable proof of the want of jurisdiction; since although we should sustain the cause in court by a sort of violence against principle, we should not be able to compleat what was begun? The law never sanctions a vain thing\u2014How vain therefore to begin what we cannot end! Is not this enough to show the locality of the action & the consequent want of jurisdiction?\n                  I shall not attempt to travel up to the time when both real and personal actions were local. This has been sufficiently done (though perhaps not necessary,) by the Gentlemen at bar, nor shall I enquire when the distinction took place between local and transitory actions. It is enough to say that notwithstanding this distinction, the action for Trespass Quare Clausum Fregit still remained local & is so held to this day. The Jury of the Vicinage was & still is a valuable privilege in both cases\u2014May it not be true that when G.B. had emancipated herself from her insulated state, figuratively speaking, by spreading her canvass & carrying her commerce over every clime and every region, this change, this distinction\n\t\t\t soon followed after it, so as to give greater energy to the transactions between man and man; therefore, by a fiction in law, suffer a transitory action to be maintained any where and every where\n\t\t\t which a contract could be made.\n            But some how or other the Court must have jurisdiction of every cause it attempts to sustain; and I can conceive no better scheme than that which is pursued, of giving the Court jurisdiction by a fiction in transitory actions in this way; that a contract, for instance, was entered into in New-Orleans, to wit, in the City of Richmond, between the parties (not traversable but in case of jurisdiction,) from which City or the County in which the City is, the Jury must come. I say must be supposed to come, notwithstanding\n\t\t\t the Act of Assembly which requires the by-standers to be summoned, for they are of the County or Vicinage; and this Act saves the necessity of a Venire facias in every case. The Venire therefore is indispensible in my opinion to show Jurisdiction.\n            Again; I well recollect a case of Waste brought in the Petersburg District Court, when the County of Greensville was supposed to make one which composed that District. The cause went on to trial, & a Verdict passed for the Plaintiff, without its being observed that Greensville belonged to Brunswick District; but at length the Defendant\u2019s Counsel found it out and moved in arrest of Judgment; but the Verdict was sustained, an Appeal was taken and the High Court of Appeals reversed the Judgment, because, it being a local action, it ought to have been instituted in the District where the Trespass was committed over which that Court alone had\n\t\t\t jurisdiction\u2014Notwithstanding a Verdict had passed, upon the general issue, & it often has been determined that no consent of the parties by their pleadings could give jurisdiction\u2014Various are the causes which have been determined in this country in support of the doctrine laid down in this cause, & not one to the contrary I venture to affirm can be reverted to. Why then attempt to alter this settled principle? Has any statute been passed in this country that in the slightest manner disturbs the uniform decisions? The case I have referred to was\n\t\t\t between Galt and Thweatt; & I own is a strong one, as the place wasted and recovered was to have been delivered up and the Court had no power to enforce the judgment.\u2014But I have given reasons enough to shew how\n\t\t\t inadequate would be the power of this Court to carry on the cause before us and enforce the Judgment.\n            It seems clear then, that where title of land is in question, the action must be local, notwithstanding, what may be and has been said of a contract to convey land\u2014I well know there is a legal and moral obligation on every man to perform what he contracts to perform: and this among others is a reason why an action personal should follow a person wherever he might be found and there rise in judgment against him.\n            Upon the ground taken, so far then, the action cannot be maintained in this Court; but the ingenious Counsel, never at a loss for argument and new matter, has resorted to what he calls the General, the Universal law. Now, I want to see this undefined law, before I can sustain a principle under it. I suppose what is meant by the General or Universal law is the Law of Nature and Nations; and who yet has been able to find where the Law of Nature has defined what a civil action is, or directed the mode of proceeding in it, or in what court it should be brought;\u2014These are high sounding words, indeed, but they only serve to round a period and fill up a vacuum in the argument. This is something like the last resort of Kings where every thing else fails: for I know of no other actions in that  quarter but such as flow from that source: Neither do I know of any law that can change the locality of a man\u2019s land in New-Orleans to the City of Richmond. This mighty engine therefore fails; this undefined law as to the case before us ceases to be any thing more than empty sound.\n            But I will suppose for the sake of argument that we now were proceeding with the Trial of the cause, and the witnesses with the survey and plat were before us, which would show the Trespass, if any had been committed, to have been committed in the Territory of New-Orleans; what could the court do but send the cause out of doors? For take notice, there is to be no fiction in a local action. Here the Venire is laid in Henrico, the evidence would come from a distant territorial government and would not agree with the allegations in the Declaration; and here would end the struggle. Indeed taking the premises, which I have laid down, to be true, which cannot well be denied; and the question resolves\n\t\t\t itself into a self-evident proposition.\n                  But there would be a failure of justice, unless we sustain this action; and to avoid this evil, we must enact a law, for, I know of no other way of answering the plaintiff\u2019s design\u2014but this I cannot consent to do; neither can I fly in the face of my own decisions, until better taught.\n            But there is no failure of justice: there is a court of competent power to try the cause, if an actual Trespass has been committed; and there ought the suit to have been brought against the real Trespasser. I own there may be cases where a man might so manage his matters as to run through another\u2019s ground and lay waste his enclosures and even pull down his fences, and then flee from justice, like another criminal, and thus get out of the reach of the law; which is not uncommon.\u2014There are cases that no law can well provide against, and these may be considered as partial evils, and exceptions to a good general Rule.\n            I am too unwell to follow and pay respect to all the arguments which have been advanced in support of the jurisdiction of this court over the case before us; and therefore must conclude by giving my decided opinion in favor of the Plea to the jurisdiction. The cause must therefore go out of Court.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0239-0003", "content": "Title: The Dismissal of Livingston v. Jefferson: II. John Marshall\u2019s Opinion in Livingston v. Jefferson, [4 December 1811]\nFrom: Marshall, John\nTo: \n                Livingstone\n                        on a plea to the jurisdiction\n            The sole question now to be decided is this; Can this court take cognizance of a trespass committed on lands lying within the United States, & without the District of Virginia in a case where the trespasser is a resident of & is found within the District?\n            I concur with my brother Judge in the opinion that it cannot.\n            I regret that the inconvenience to which delay might expose at least one of the parties, together with the situation of the court, prevent me from bestowing on this subject \n                  question that deliberate consideration which the very able discussion it has received from the bar would seem to require; but I have purposely avoided any investigation of the subject previous to the argument, & must now be content with a brief statement of the opinion I have formed, & a sketch of the course of reasoning which has led to it.\n              The doctrine of actions local & transitory has been traced up to its origin in the common law; &, it \n                  as has been truely stated on both sides, it appears that originally all actions were local. That is that, according to the principles of the common law, every fact must be tried by a jury of the vicinage. The plain consequence of this principle is \n                  that those courts only could take jurisdiction of a case who were capable of directing such a jury as must try the material facts on which their judgement would depend. The jurisdiction of the courts therefore necessarily became local with respect to every species of action.\n            But the superior courts of England having power to direct a jury to every part of the Kingdom, their jurisdiction could be restrained by this principle only to cases cases arising on transactions which occurred within the realm. Being able to direct a jury either to Surry or Middlesex, the necessity of averring in the declaration that the cause of action arose in either county, could not be produced in order to give the court jurisdiction, but to furnish a venue. For the purpose of jurisdiction, it would unquestionably be sufficient to aver that the transaction took place within the realm.\n            This however being not a statutory regulation, but a principle of unwritten law, which is really human reason applied by courts, not capriciously but in a regular train of decisions, to human affairs\u2014according to the circumstances of the nation, the necessity of the times, & the general state of things, was thought susceptible of modification, & Judges have modified it. They have\n\t\t\t not changed the old principle as to form. It is still necessary to give a venue; and where the contract exhibits on its face evidence of the place where it was made, the \n                  the party is at liberty to aver that such place lies in any county in England.\n            This is known to be a fiction. Like an ejectment, it is the creature of the court, & is moulded to the purposes of justice according to the view which its inventors have taken of its capacity to effect those purposes. It is not however of undefinable extent. It has not absolutely prostrated all distinctions of place, but has certain limits prescribed to it founded in reasoning satisfactory to those who have gradually fixed these limits. It may well be doubted whether, at this day, they are to be changed by a Judge not perfectly satisfied with their extent.\n            This fiction is so far protected by its inventors that the averment is not traversable for the purpose of defeating an action it was invented to sustain; but it is traversable whenever such traverse may be essential to the merits of the cause. It is always traversable for the purpose of contesting a jurisdiction not intended to be protected by the fiction. \n            In the case at bar it is traversed for that purpose, & the question is whether this be a case in which such traverse is sustainable; or, in other words, whether courts have so far extended their fiction as, by its aid, to take cognizance of trespasses on lands not lying within those limits which bound their process.\n            They have, without legislative aid, applied this fiction to all personal torts, & to all contracts wherever executed. To this general rule contracts respecting lands form no exception. It is admitted that on a contract respecting lands an action is sustainable wherever the defendent may be found. Yet in such a case, every difficulty may occur which presents itself in an action of trespass. An investigation of title may become necessary. A question of boundary may arise, & a survey may be essential to the full merits of the cause. Yet these difficulties have not prevailed against the jurisdiction of the court. They have been countervailed & more than countervailed by the opposing consideration that, if the action be disallowed, the injured party may have a clear right without a remedy in a case where the person who has done the wrong & who ought to make the compensation, is within the power of the court.\n            That this consideration should lose its influence where the action pursues a thing not within the reach of the court, is of inevitable necessity; but for the loss of its influence where the remedy is against the person & can be afforded by the court, I have not yet discerned a reason, other than a technical one, which can satisfy my judgement.\n            If however this technical distinction be firmly established, if all other Judges respect it, I cannot venture to disregard it.\n            The distinction taken is that actions are deemed transitory where the transactions on which they are founded might have taken place any where; but are local where their cause is in its nature necessarily local.\n            If this distinction be established: if Judges have for a long course of time determined to carry their innovation on the old rule no further; if, for a long course of time, under circumstances which have not changed, they have determined this to be the limit of their fiction, it would require a hardihood which \n                  in this place I cannot venture I do not possess, to pass this limit.\n            This distinction has been repeatedly taken in the books, & is recognized by the best elementary writers, especially by Judge Blackstone, from whose authority no man will lightly dissend \n                  dissent He expressly classes an action \n                  quare for a trespass on lands with those actions which demand their possession, & which are local, & makes only those actions transitory which are brought on occurrences that might happen in any place. From the cases which support this distinction no exception I beleive is to be found among those that have been decided in court on solemn argument.\n            One of the greatest Judges who ever sat on any bench, & who has done more than any other to remove those technical impediments which grew out of a different state of society, & too long continued to obstruct the course of ju substantial justice, was so struck with the weakness of the distinction between taking jurisdiction in cases of contract respecting lands, & of torts committed on the same lands, that he attempted to abolish it. In the case of Mostyn v FabrigasLord Mansfield stated the true distinction to be between proceedings which are in rem, in which the effect of a judgement can not be had unless the thing ly within the reach of the court, & proceedings against the person where the action sounds in damages only are demanded. But this opinion was given in an action for a personal wrong which is admitted to be transitory. It has not therefore the authority to which it would be entitled had this distinction been laid down in an action deemed local. It may be termed an obiter dictum. He recites in that opinion two cases decided by himself in which an action was sustained for trespass on lands lying in the foreign dominions of his Britannic Majesty; but both those decisions were at nisi prius: And though the overbearing influence of Lord Mansfield might have sustained them on a motion for a new trial, that motion never was made, & the principle did not obtain the sanction of the court.In\n\t\t\t a subsequent case reported in 4thD & E. these decisions are expressly referred to &overruled, and the old distinction is affirmed.\n            It has been said that the decisions of British courts made since the revolution are not authority in this country. I admit it. But they are entitled to that respect which is due to the opinions of wise men who have maturely studied the subject they decide. Had the regular course of decisions previous to the revolution been against the distinction now asserted, and had the old rule been overthrown by adjudications made subsequent to that event, this court might have felt itself bound to disregard them; but where the distinction is of antient date, has been long preserved, & a modern attempt to overrule it has itself been overruled since the revolution, I can consider the last adjudication in no other light than as the true declaration of the antient rule.\n            According to the common law of England then, the distinction taken by the defendents counsel between actions local & transitory is the true distinction, & an action of trespass \n                  quare clausum fregit is a local action.\n            This common law has been adopted by the legislature of Virginia. Had it not been adopted I should have thought it in force. When our  ancestors migrated to America they brought with them the common law of their native country so far as it was applicable to their new situation, & I do not concieve that the revolution would in any degree have changed\n\t\t\t the relations of man to man, or the law which regulated those relations. In breaking off our political connection  with the parent state, we did not break our connections with each other. It remained subject to the antient rules until those rules should be changed by the competent authority.\n            But it has been said that this rule of the common law is impliedly changed by the act of assembly which directs that a jury shall be summoned from the by standers.\n            Were I to discuss the effect of this act in the courts of the State, the enquiry whether the fiction already noticed was not equivalent to it in giving jurisdiction, would present itself. There are also other regulations, as that the jurors should be citizens, which would deserve to be taken into view. But I pass over these considerations because I am decidedly of opinion that the jurisdiction of the courts of the United States depends exclusively on the constitution & laws of the United States.\n            In considering the jurisdiction of this court \n                  the circuit courts as defined in the judicial act, & in the constitution which that act carries into execution, it is obse worthy of observation that the jurisdiction of the court depends on the character of the parties, & that only that court which has the court of that district in which the defendent resides or is found can take jurisdiction of the cause. In a court so constituted, the argument drawn from the total failure of justice should the court of that defendent in cases of trespass \n                     a trespasser be declared to be only amenable to the court of that District in which the land lies & in which he will never be found appeared to me to be entitled to peculiar weight. But according to\n\t\t\t the course of the common law the process of the court must be executed in order to give it the \n                  power right to try the cause, & consequently the same defect of justice might occur. Other Judges have felt the weight of this argument, & have struggled ineffectually against the distinction which produces the inconvenience of a clear right without a remedy. I must submit to it.\n            The law upon the demurrer is in favor of the defendent.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0239-0004", "content": "Title: The Dismissal of Livingston v. Jefferson: III. Littleton W. Tazewell to Thomas Jefferson, 4 December 1811\nFrom: Tazewell, Littleton W.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I am this moment returned from the Capitol where your suit with Livingston has been finally decided\u2014It is dismissed, by reason of the  Courts sustaining the plea to its jurisdiction upon the ground of the locality of the Action\u2014The decision was\n\t\t\t pronounced unanimously\u2014The opinion of the Chief Justice was clear able and most satisfactory\u2014I hasten to communicate the result as I presume it will give you some satisfaction\u2014I have not time to say more, than that I am in great haste\n            yours truly\n                  Littn: W Tazewell", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0240", "content": "Title: Donald Fraser to Thomas Jefferson, 4 December 1811\nFrom: Fraser, Donald\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                Permit me to present, for the honour of your acceptance, a copy of a \u201cCompendium\u201d; which I lately published\u2014As a Small testimony of respect, & regard for your talents & Patriotic Character\u2014\n          I have the honor to be, very respectfully, Sir, Your obdt humble Servant", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-04-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0241", "content": "Title: John Pitman to Thomas Jefferson, 4 December 1811\nFrom: Pitman, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  Suffer me to gratify the vanity of an author, and the pride of an American, by presenting the enclosed, for acceptance and perusal, to one, no less distinguished for his literary taste, than political wisdom. It will afford me much pleasure if, without diverting your attention from matters of more excellence and importance, I can procure you a momentary gratification, in the perusal of those effusions which, so far as it respects my republican sentiments, your writings and example have \n                  had no little agency in producing. In the avocations of party politics and professional life I have not had much time to devote to the cultivation of my muse\u2014and indeed so fastidious has the taste of our country become with respect to native poetry, that there is but little encouragement for those who might otherwise emulate \u201cthe bards of other times.\u201d\n          Were I not persuaded that every American, whose heart is warmed with patriotism, is welcome to your retirement I would ask you to pardon this intrusion of one, who, though a stranger to you, is not a stranger to those deeds and virtues, which encircle you with a glory, that flings into shade the imperial and consuming splendors of Napoleon.\n          With every sentiment of esteem & reverence\n                  John Pitman Junr", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0242", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Edmund Bacon, 5 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Bacon, Edmund\n\t\t  I find I can drive from hence 4. or 5 beeves and as many muttons as we can want; all as fat as they can be; and having to drive these I conclude to drive the hogs also, and kill them at Monticello. the whole will start therefore as soon as the hogs are fat enough. of course we need buy no more beeves.\n\t\t\t shall be glad if you will see mr Darnell and tell him that the business here is suffering unspeakably for want of him.\n\t\t\t we have been obliged to suspend prizing the\n\t\t\t tobacco at his place for want of somebody to overlook it, the places being too far apart & too much to do for mr Goodman to be able to attend to the whole.\n\t\t\t soon therefore as mr Randolph\u2019s affairs can permit him to come I wish him to set out without losing an hour. it would be very important that he should arrive while I am here, which will be to about the 13th or 14th.\n\t\t\t tell Johnny Hemings to finish off immediately the frame for the round table for this place that it may come by the waggon which will go with the hogs.\n\t\t\t I promised to let mr Claxton know of the safe arrival of mr Goodman\u2019s family. they did not get to Lynchburg till Thursday night: but had fine weather and were quite comfortable in the boat. Accept my best wishes\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0243", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to George Callaway, 5 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Callaway, George\n            I wrote you on the 21st of Sep. stating my claim on you for 47\u2156 barrels of Superfine flour, or 367. D. 55 c their value, at the rate netted me by the 232. barrels recieved from you. this letter was delivered you by mr Griffin, and I have no answer but verbally thro\u2019 him that you decline acknoleging your liability. on my part it is insisted on, being myself perfectly satisfied of it\u2019s justice. as the question\n\t\t\t must therefore be decided for us by others, I presume it would be more agreeable to us both to have it amicably done by persons of our own chusing, who will certainly be as likely as a jury to\n\t\t\t give\n\t\t\t us a satisfactory decision, & save to us both the perplexity and expences of adversary proceedings. I propose therefore that we shall name two persons, and these two chuse a third to settle\n\t\t\t this\n\t\t\t matter for us, by arbitration. as my stay here can be but short, and I must have it settled before I leave the county, an early day in next week will be most agreeable to me. I will add further\n\t\t\t that\n\t\t\t whether the settlement had been by compromise between ourselves, or be by arbitration, it is not my intention to make the paiment inconvenient to you in point of time: being willing to admit any\n\t\t\t reasonable delay of that. I must  request a definitive answer by the bearer for my government.\n\t\t   Accept the assurances of my respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0244", "content": "Title: George Callaway to Thomas Jefferson, 5 December 1811\nFrom: Callaway, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  your note of this morning I have recd & I am to express my utter astonishment at the claim you have therein set forth\u2014such a claim was suggested to me by capt\u2014 Mitchell at the time you wished to sell him your wheat, but as to its validity I have never for a moment thot of it\u2014However that you may be yourself satisfied I will see you tomorow at your own house where the boy tells Mr Griffen will also be\u2014The present is the first line I have recd from you \n            Geo Callaway", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0245", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Samuel J. Harrison, 5 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Harrison, Samuel Jordan\n\t\t   I had left the inclosed papers with mr Griffin in case Scott should have given any further trouble. on his departure he returned them to me, and I think it proper they should be delivered up to you. I state the list of them below. accept the\n\t\t\t assurance of my respects.\n\t\t  Richard Tullos\u2019s patent for 374. acres\n                 Thomas Jefferson\u2019s patent for 100. as\n                              Wm P. Martin\u2019scopy of the survey of the 100. as\n                Richard Stith\u2019s certificate of the entry & survey\n                  Edmund Tate\u2019s survey of 54\u00be as of the same land.\n                 Wm P. Martin\u2019s resurvey of the patent lines\n                a plat of the 374 & 100. as shewing their contiguity.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0246", "content": "Title: George Hay to Thomas Jefferson, 5 December 1811\nFrom: Hay, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I have the pleasure to inform you that on monday last, the discussion of the question of Jurisdiction in Livingstons case Commenced. It was closed on tuesday: and on yesterday the two judges, concurring over-ruled the replication to the plea of jurisdiction.\n          You will pardon me for Suggesting to you, that as the Suit has gone off on a collateral point, it would afford great Satisfaction to the public to See that its fate would have been no better if it had been tried on the merits. This they will See, if the defence which you entrusted to my hands Shall be made known. You will be So good as to Say what shall be done with it, and with the books and documents belonging to the Cause.\u2014 \n          I am, with very great respect yr mo: ob: SertGeo: Hay.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-05-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0248", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Rush, 5 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Rush, Benjamin\n\t\t  While at Monticello I am so much engrossed by business or society that I can only write on matters of strong urgency. here I have leisure, as I have every where the disposition to think of my friends.\n\t\t  I recur\n\t\t\t therefore to the subject of your kind letters relating to mr Adams and myself, which a late occurrence has again presented to me.  I communicated to you the correspondence which had parted mrs Adams and myself, in proof that I could not give friendship in exchange for such sentiments as she had recently taken up towards myself, and avowed & maintained in her letters to me. nothing\n\t\t\t but a total renunciation of these could admit a reconciliation, and that could be cordial only in proportion as the return to antient opinions was believed sincere. in these jaundiced sentiments\n\t\t\t hers I had associated mr Adams, knowing the weight which her opinions had with him, and notwithstanding she declared in her letters that they were not communicated to him. a late incident has satisfied me that I wronged\n\t\t\t him as well as her in not yielding entire confidence to this assurance on her part. \n\t\t\t two of the mr Coles, my neighbors and friends, brothers\n\t\t\t lived with me as Secretary at Washington, took a tour to the Northward during the last summer. in Boston they fell into company with mr Adams, & by his invitation passed a day with him at Braintree. he spoke out to them every thing which came uppermost, & as it occurred to his mind, without any reserve; and seemed most disposed to dwell on those things which happened during his own\n\t\t\t administration. he spoke of his masters, as he called his heads of departments, as acting above his controul, & often against his opinions. among many other topics, he adverted to the unprincipled licenciousness of the press against myself, adding \u2018I always loved Jefferson, and still love him\u2019\u2014this is enough for me. I only needed this knolege to revive towards him all the affections of the most cordial moments of our lives. changing a single word only in Dr \n                  Franklin\u2019s character of him, I knew him to be always an honest man, often a great one, but sometimes incorrect & precipitate in his judgments: and it is known to those who have ever heard me speak of mr Adams, that I have ever done him justice myself, and defended him when assailed by others, with the single exception as to his political opinions. but with a man possessing so many other\n\t\t\t estimable qualities, why should we be dissocialized by mere differences of opinion in politics, in religion in philosophy, or any thing else. his opinions are as honestly formed as my own. our different views of the same subject are the result\n\t\t\t of a difference in our organisation & experience. I never withdrew from the society of any man on this account, altho\u2019 many have done it from me; much less should I do it with from one with whom I had gone thro\u2019, with hand & heart, so many trying scenes. I wish therefore but for an apposite occasion to express to mr Adams my unchanged affections for him. there is an awkwardness which hangs over the resuming a correspondence so long discontinued, unless something could arise which should call for a letter.\n\t\t\t time and chance may\n\t\t\t perhaps generate such an occasion, of which I shall not be wanting in promptitude to avail myself. from this fusion of mutual affections, mrs Adams is of course separated. it will only be necessary that I never name her. in your letters to mr Adams you can perhaps suggest my continued cordiality towards him, & knowing this, should an occasion of writing, first present itself to him, he will perhaps avail himself of it, as I certainly will should it first occur to me. no ground for jealousy now existing, he will certainly give fair play to the natural warmth of his heart. perhaps I may open the way in some letter to my old friend Gerry, who I know is in habits of the greatest intimacy with him.\n          I have thus, my friend, laid open my heart to you, because you were  so kind as to take an interest in healing again revolutionary affections, which have ceased in expression only, but not in their existence. God ever bless you and preserve you in life & health.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-06-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0249", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Jones & Howell, 6 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Jones & Howell\n                  Messrs Jones & Howell \n\t\t  Be pleased to send me, before the closing of your river, 1. ton of nail rod, in which let there be a single bundle of half-crown rod, and the rest assorted for from 20d down to 6d nails also a quarter of a ton of toughest Swedish iron in bars from the size of a gigg axletree down to the small sizes, and one hundred weight of hoop iron for cut 4d nails.\n\t\t  I am told there is a patent auger for boring holes in the ground for post & rail fencing, which may be had in Philadelphia you will obligi \n                  oblige me by sending one of the largest, if they are made of different sizes. the remittance for the above will be made in 90. days from the\n\t\t\t shipment as has been our usage. Accept the assurances of my respect.\n            consign to Gibson & Jefferson at Richmond as usual.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0250", "content": "Title: Charles G. Paleske to Thomas Jefferson, 7 December 1811\nFrom: Paleske, Charles G.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                  Washington City \n\t\t  I duly received Your favor of the 30th of September, for which I return You many thanks.\u2014\n          An active agency of any extent in public undertakings would improperly intrude upon the leisure and retirement, which You have sought after the labours, in which You have for so many Years acted a distinguished and highly useful part.\u2014For Your good wishes for the success of the company I am greatly indebted, and knowing that amidst the literary avocations, which no doubt now employ Your hours, it will not be unacceptable to hear of our further progress\u2014I take the liberty of enclosing a pamphlet from which You will perceive that further attempts are now in prosecution for enlisting in the most beneficial object we have in view, the support of the General Government, as well as that of the State through which our Canals are to pass.\n          Accept, Sir, my best wishes for a prolongation of Your life and health, and beleive me with the highest consideration\n          Your obedt Servt\n                  Charles G: Paleske", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-07-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0251", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Conveyance of Bear Branch Land to William Radford and Joel Yancey, 7 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Radford, William,Yancey, Joel\n\t\t  This indenture made on the seventh day of December one thousand eight hundred and eleven between Thomas Jefferson of the county of Albemarle on the one part and William Radford and Joel Yancey both of the county of Campbell on the other part, witnesseth that,\n\t\t\t consideration of the sum of one dollar to him the sd Thomas in hand paid, and towards \n                  in execution of certain covenants heretofore entered into by him with Charles L. Bankhead, & Anne C. his wife, grandaughter of the said Thomas, and of other covenants heretofore entered into by the sd Charles L. and Anne C. his wife by written articles with the said William and Joel the said Thomas has given granted bargained and sold unto the said William and Joel a certain tract or parcel of land, with it\u2019s appurtenances, in the county of Bedford lying on Bear branch \n                  containing by estimation one hundred and ninety eight acres and one half, and bounded as follows, to wit, Beginning at a hiccory sapling, marked as a corner on the Western side of the public road and of Bear branch 5. poles & 10. links from an Ash on the branch, and running N. 38\u00b0 E. 12. poles 17. links, N. 2\u00b0 E. 14. po. 20. li. N. 66.\u00b0 E. 14. po. 3. l. N. 28. E. 26. po. 11. l. Bear branch distant 3. p. 20. l N. 54. E. 24\u201324. Bear br. distant 2\u201320. N. 22. E. 11\u201322. to a branch, Bear branch being distant 8. poles. N. 25. E. 17\u201315. Bear br. distant 6. po. N. 84\u00bd E. 6\u201320. Bear br. distant 2\u201320. N. 30\u00bd E. 23\u20135. Bear br. distt 4\u201320 N. 5. W. 15\u20135. Bear br. distt 6. po. N. 34. E. 16. po. to a branch; same course 11\u201315. Bear br. distant 9. poles N. 47. E. 18\u201315. Bear br. distt 3\u20133. N. 29\u00bd E. 23. po. to a remarkable point of rock within 2. po. of a branch from the West, & 8. po. from Bear br. N. 69. E. 10\u201320. Bear br. distt 3\u20135. \n                  1\u20135. N. 2\u00bd W. 10\u201320. Bear br. dist. 1\u20135. N. 24. E. 14\u20134. Bear br. distt 4. po. N. 8. W. 15. po. Bear br. dist. 2. po. and N. 40. E. 11\u20135. Bear br. dist. 4\u201310. S. 85. E. 9\u20135 to a large Poplar in the woods on the Eastern edge of Bear branch: which courses from the hiccory aforesaid on the public road to the said Poplar are marked by trees wherever they occurred on the courses are always on the Western side of Bear branch, are, in their general course, parallel with it, leaving room for a road on firm ground between them and the branch, and are, by agreement of the\n\t\t\t parties to these presents, substituted as the boundary of the premisses hereby conveyed, so far,\n                    instead of the Bear branch itself before agreed on as a boundary in the written articles between the sd Charles L. and the sdWilliam& Joel: then running from the said Poplar down the branch the following courses, N. 38. E. 24. poles, N. 2. E. 20. po. N. 5. E. 23. po. to the intersection of the branch with the line of the said Thomas at an Elm tree: then along the saidS. 85.\u00b0 E. 18. po. N. 43\u00bd E. 62. po. S. 80. E. 52 po. to where Gill corners with the lands of the sd Thomas purchased from Robinson, N. 25\u00bd W. 50. po. and S. 77 W. 80. along the old Poplar forest lines to Bear branch and the same last course continued on the same line S. 77. W. 148. poles to the line of the lands of the said Charles L. on Wolf branch, formerly the property of the said Thomas, since conveyed to the sd Charles L. and now sold to the sd William& Joel\n                    & thence along the said line of the sd Charles L. S. 26. W. 332.512. poles tocrossing the public road aforesaid to Watts\u2019s corner, thence S. 10. E. 11. po. S. 35 E. 19\u00bc po. N. 26. E. 200. po. a new line to the same public road & thenceS. 85\u00bd E. 23. poles 9 links along the saidpublic road \n                     S. 85\u00bd E. 65 po. 5 links to the hiccory at the beginning: which conveyance by these presents is towards a fulfilment, in part only, of the written articles before mentioned; between the sd Charles L. & William, the said Thomas acknoleging himself to continue bound to add, according to the stipulations in the sd written articles, to the premisses now conveyed, as much more of his lands adjacent to them, or to the said tract on Wolf branch, as these premisses with the said tract on Wolf branch shall want of being one thousand acres, whenever that deficiency shall be ascertained and made known to the said Thomas:which parcel of land, when added to that on Wolf creek already conveyed by the sd Charles L. to the sd Wm & Joel, will make up, according to different estimates from 962. to 984. acres, & in considn of the quality & situation of certain parts of it, is intended & accepted in full satisfaction of the convenant of the sd Charles L. to convey to them 1000. acres. Provided nevertheless that if the two parcels aforesd shall be found to contain less than 962. acres, and notice \n                        due proof thereof shall be duly given to the sd Thomas at any time within 6. months from the date of these presents then the said Thomas shall be bound to convey to the sd Wm & Joel of such lands of his own adjacent to those conveyed by these presents as he shall chuse, the quantity which the sd two parcels shall so fall short of 962. acres; otherwise this conveyance\n\t\t\t to be deemed to be in full satisfaction. to have & to hold the said parcel of lands herein conveyed with it\u2019s appurtenances, to himthem the said William& Joel & histheir heirs for ever.as tenants in common and the said Thomas, his heirs, executors & administrators, the said parcel of lands with it\u2019s  appurtenances, to himthem the said William& Joel and histheir heirs and to every of them severally will for ever warrant and defend. In witness whereof he the said Thomas hath hereto put his hand and seal on the day & year above written.\n              Signed, sealed\n              and delivered\n              in presence of", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0253", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 8 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I find upon attending more particularly to the notes which you forwarded for renewal in the bank, that you have filled up the dates for every two months, without regard to the number of days in the month, & also without regard to the allowance of 3 days grace.\u2014this in the absence both of Mr Gibson & myself, might be attended with inconvenience, as the notes as filled up, would not fall due on the discount days, which are but once a week.\u2014renewals to be regular, should be made\n\t\t\t once in 63 days.\u2014In order to guard against accidents to Mr G\u2014, I must put you to the trouble of signing & forwarding the new notes which are inclosed.\u2014the old ones are returned herewith, defaced.\u2014We some days since sold 50 Bbls of your flour at 8.\u215b$.\u2014by the last accts from New York, some little advance in price may be  expected here.\u2014You will of course give directions respecting the sale of what you may yet have to come down.\u2014I leave particular directions orders that no sale shall be made on credit previous to Mr G\u2014\u2019s return.\n          I am Dear Sir Your Very humble servt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-08-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0254", "content": "Title: Madame de Tess\u00e9 to Thomas Jefferson, 8 December 1811\nFrom: Tess\u00e9, Madame de\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  jai Re\u00e7u, monsieur, votre lettre du 27 mars avec La Reconnoissance et la satisfaction que m\u2019inspire tout ce que me vient de vous, et profite avec empressement de la confiance due au b\u00e2timent de L\u2019etat pour vous Repondre sur ce que concerne le Castanea sativa dont vous av\u00e8s mang\u00e9 le fruit a Paris.\n          vous ser\u00e8s sans doute fort surpris d\u2019aprendre que nous ne pouvons nous le procurer ni aux environs de Paris ni dans nos departemens. les pepinistes pretendent le cultiver et en vendent qui ne donnent jamais que des fruits miserables. j\u2019en ai fais L\u2019experience ainsi que Mr de La fayette et mille autres personnes. a quoi cela apartient il? je L\u2019ignore.\n          on apelle communement les meilleurs marrons des march\u00e9s de Paris marrons de Lyon, et L\u2019arbre qui les porte n\u2019existe pas aux environs de Lyon. il est probable quon les tire du chablais ou de La Savoie d\u2019ou ils sont envoi\u00e9s a Lyon pour \u00eatre ensuite transport\u00e9s a Paris. pourquoi n\u2019y sont ils pas sem\u00e9s dir\u00e9s vous? ils L\u2019ont et\u00e9 mille fois et n\u2019ont rien produit de passable. cet arbre veut \u00eatre greff\u00e9 et d\u2019une maniere toute particuliere que je vous ferois\n\t\t\t\tconnaitre si j\u2019avois le bonheur de m\u2019en procurer pour vous. le degout des tentatives infructueuses pour le naturaliser ch\u00e9s soi y a fais Renoncer et on se borne a en acheter le fruit quand on ne\n\t\t\t\tveut\n\t\t\t\tpas se contenter de chataignes ou d\u2019une espece de marrons tres inferieure\n          votre desir a Reveill\u00e9 en moi le courage depuis Longtems etient de faire des Recherches sur cet objet. si je n\u2019obtiens Rien au moins je saurai pourquoi, car je suivrai une correspondance deja entamee pour vous servir avec un homme intelligent qui me veut beaucoup de bien et qui n\u2019habite pas Loin du canton dou L\u2019on croit que les meilleurs\n                     marrons nous viennent. je ne desespere pas d\u2019en obtenir du plan et quil ne se multiplie en France. a cette occasion, ce ne seroit pas La premiere fois qu\u2019une decouverte echapee aux Recherches des savans auroit ete le produit d\u2019un sentiment\n                     on me dispute L\u2019esperance fondee de vous plaire en vous envoiant un ouvrage qui m\u2019a singulierement amuse\u00e8. je conviens que vous perdr\u00e9s une partie de mes jouissances faute d\u2019avoir vecu avec La partie La plus vulgaire de notre nation dont La Princesse a constamment le Style. mais L\u2019extravagance de ce Roy et de cette Reine, La bassesse de tous ces sentimens, La Grossieret\u00e9 de ces moeurs, La Ridicule pompe de ces cours, et ce grand Frederic qui n\u2019attend pas que son pere soit mort pour insulter sa soeur cherie et L\u2019aventir quelle ne dois compter sur aucun des services qu\u2019il en a Re\u00e7u, vous ne pouv\u00e9s y \u00eatre tout a fait indifferent, car L\u2019ouvrage est bien\n\t\t\t\tauthentique. Mr de humbold L\u2019a En manuscrit en Prusse.\n          je trouve sous ma main de quoi vous donner une id\u00e9e des compositions de nos meilleurs Po\u00e8tes. je L\u2019ajoute a mon Paquet\n          Mr Short me parle de son etablissement a Philadelphie qui me paroit ass\u00e9s bon. je ne lui ai jamais parl\u00e9 de sa fortune. je voudrais La savoir telle qu\u2019il n\u2019eut Rien dessentiel a desirer. je sais qu\u2019il n\u2019y attache qu\u2019un prix tr\u00e8s secondaire dans\n\t\t\t\tLa composition de son bonheur. sa conduite parmi nous en a fourni La preuve, mais j\u2019aurois peine a Le defendre contre ses ennemis am\u00e9ricains s\u2019ils croient quon ne peut \u00eatre bon Patriote sans\n\t\t\t\taimer a\n\t\t\t\tboire et a manger Longtems.\n          il me seroit impossible d\u2019exprimer avec La dignit\u00e9 de mon \u00e2ge ce que jai Ressenti en Lisant que vous ne Regard\u00e8s pas comme impossible de voir\u2014et quon na jamais pu\u2014et que suivant toute apparence on ne verra jamais. ah! soi\u00e9s ass\u00e9s curieux et ass\u00e9s necessaire a vos compatriotes, Monsieur, pour Recevoir ici les hommages de tous les gens de bien, ceux de Mr de Tess\u00e9 particulierement enfin de votre tr\u00e9s sensiblement et devotement affectionne\u00e9\n            Noailles-Tess\u00e9\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n\t\t  I received, Sir, your letter of 27 March with the gratitude and satisfaction that everything from you inspires, and I hurriedly take advantage of the trust accorded to a public ship to answer you regarding the Castanea sativa, the fruit of which you ate in Paris.\n            You will not be greatly surprised to learn that we can find it neither near Paris nor in the provinces. Nurseries claim to grow it, but what they sell gives only miserable fruit. I have tried it, and so have Mr. Lafayette and a thousand other people. Why is that so? I do not know.\n            The best chestnuts in the Parisian markets are commonly called Lyon chestnuts, but the tree that bears them does not exist near Lyon. We probably get them from Chablais or Savoy, whence they are sent to Lyon and later to Paris. You will ask why are they not sown there? They have been a thousand times, but they produced nothing passable. This tree likes to be grafted, and in a very special way that I would describe\n\t\t\t to you if I could get one. Fruitless attempts at domestic cultivation have resulted in hopeless frustration, and we content ourselves with buying them when we do not want to make do with a very\n\t\t\t inferior type of chestnut.\n            Your wish has awakened in me the long-extinguished courage to do some research on this subject. If I learn nothing, at least I will know why, because, in order to aid you, I will correspond with a very intelligent man who wishes me well and lives not far from the county that is believed to grow the best chestnuts. I do not despair of getting from the project that which does not grow in France. This would not be the first time that a discovery escaped the research of the learned, but came about as a result of feeling.\n                     I am told not to count too much on delighting you with a book that amused me immensely. I admit that you lose part of my enjoyment, because you do not live among the most vulgar people in our nation, as the princess constantly styles it. But the extravagance of this king and that queen, the baseness of their sentiments, the coarseness of their ways, the ridiculous pomp of all these courts, and that great Frederick who does not wait for his father to die before insulting his darling sister and informing her that she can count on him for none of the services that he received from her. You cannot be completely indifferent, because the\n\t\t\t work is authentic. Mr. von Humboldt has the manuscript in Prussia.\n            Near to hand I find something that will give you an idea of the compositions of the best poets. I add it to my package.\n            Mr. Short tells me that his business in Philadelphia appears to be going rather well. I have never before talked to him of his finances. I would like to know that he would never lack anything essential. With regard to his own happiness, I know\n\t\t\t that he attaches only a secondary importance to wealth. His conduct among us proved this, but I would be hard put to defend him against his American enemies, who believe that a good patriot likes\n\t\t\t drink and eat all the time.\n            I find it impossible to express with the dignity of my age what I felt upon reading that you consider it impossible to come for a visit\u2014and that you will never be able to\u2014and that, in all likelihood, we will never see each other again. Ah! Sir, be so curious and indispensable to your fellow countrymen as to receive here the tribute of all good people, that of Mr. de Tess\u00e9 particularly, and lastly that of your very deeply and devotedly affectionate\n              Noailles-Tess\u00e9", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-09-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0255", "content": "Title: George Jefferson to Thomas Jefferson, 9 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, George\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                I duly received your much esteemed favor of the 29th, and should greatly prefer the mode which you are so good as to propose respecting the bond, but I had previously ask\u2019d the favor of Doctor Wardlaw to join in it, who consented so willingly, that I should not like now to leave him out.\u2014\n                I leave this tomorrow for Norfolk, and expect the vessel in which I am to embark, (the Elizabeth Wilson) will be ready to sail on my arrival.\n                I will pay particular attention to your direction respecting wines, but fear from what I have heard, that you ought not to calculate upon receiving your supplies from Lisbon shortly.\n          Wishing you all possible happiness, and hoping that I shall find you on my return in perfect health,\n          I am my dear Sir Your ever truly grateful friend", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-10-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0256", "content": "Title: David Bailie Warden to Thomas Jefferson, 10 December 1811\nFrom: Warden, David Bailie\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I have the honor of informing you, that I forwarded, to their address, the letters which you were pleased to confide to my care. That, for Mr. Mazzei, was forwarded to him by Mr. Cathalan, of Marseilles\u2014\n\t\t  I inclose a letter, from Mr Walsh, in reply to that you sent by me.\n\t\t  General La Fayette says, that he will write to you by the frigate\u2014\n\t\t  Baron Humboldt did not receive the letter which was forwarded by the John adams. He hopes to hear from you soon. He is now in Germany, and will shortly return to Paris.\n\t\t  I inclose a letter from Senator Tracy\u2014He proposes to write to you soon; and He sends you a MS., which I put under cover to the President\u2014He is much pleased with the\n\t\t\t Commentary on Montesquieu. He has presented you a copy of his works, which will be conveyed in a case, by the frigate Constitution, addressed to the Philosophical Society\u2014\n\t\t  In the same case, I have forwarded, for your acceptance, a copy of Peuchets\u2019 Statistique\u2014and I have inclosed a copy of the Atlas of Le Sage, for Mrs. Randolph\u2014a work which will amuse, and instruct \n                  the young Ladies\u2014I send, under cover, for the President, a packet from Madame de Tessy\u2014General La Fayette O\u2019Connor, who lives near Fontainbleau, took charge of the letters for General Kosciusko\u2014\n          I am, at present, much occupied with the duties of my office, but hope soon to have leisure to communicate to you some late improvements, of this Country, in Science and the Arts\u2014\n          I pray you, to present my respects to Mr. and Mrs. Randolph, and to accept the renewal of my thanks for the interest which you were pleased to employ in my welfare\u2014\n          I am, Sir, with great esteem & respect, your most obliged Servant", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-11-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0257", "content": "Title: Richard Barry to Thomas Jefferson, 11 December 1811\nFrom: Barry, Richard\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          I am now under the necessity of calling on you for the ballance of my account if convenient I would not trouble you now but I am building a House in front of F and 12th Street three Story which I find that it will exhaust my little resources Indeed, Sir if I thought it was putting you to an inconvenience I would not trouble\n          I remain Sir with Sincere Wishes for your Happiness a friend", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-12-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0258", "content": "Title: Pierre Samuel Du Pont de Nemours to Thomas Jefferson, 12 December 1811\nFrom: Du Pont de Nemours, Pierre Samuel\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                     Mon tr\u00e8s respectable Ami, \n\t\t  J\u2019ai re\u00e7u par Mr Barlow, et avec bien de la reconnaissance, votre Lettre du 15 avril.\n          Un Homme comme vous peut \u00eatre retir\u00e9 des Places, jamais des affaires. Vous \u00eates un Magistrat du Genre-humain.\n          Tant mieux Si l\u2019\u00e9tablissement des Manufactures dans votre Pays ne vous oblige pas de changer le Syst\u00eame de vos Finances aussi promptement que l\u2019on paraissait avoir lieu de le craindre.\n          Mais le cas doit arriver un jour: et il faut que les pens\u00e9es du Gouvernement, et Surtout que l\u2019opinion publique y Soient pr\u00e9par\u00e9es\u2014La Science de l\u2019Economie politique ne doit pas \u00eatre ignor\u00e9e, ni n\u00e9glig\u00e9e aux Etats-Unis.\u2014O\u00f9 traiterait-on Ses questions les plus importantes, Si ce n\u2019\u00eatait pas dans une R\u00e9publique qui respecte la libert\u00e9 de la presse, qui est le dernier individu \n                     aujourd\u2019hui la derniere des R\u00e9publiques qui ont \n                     aient exist\u00e9, la derniere esp\u00e9rance de celles qui Sont \u00e0 naitre, et qu\u2019elle propagera comme une Mere Abeille?\u2014comment des Souverains, dans un Siecle o\u00f9 les lumieres, quoique moins vives et moins\n\t\t\t\tg\u00e9n\u00e9rales qu\u2019il y a trente ans, Sont loin cependant d\u2019\u00eatre \u00e9teintes, Se refuseraient-ils \u00e0 discuter avec profondeur leurs inter\u00eats, leurs droits, leurs devoirs?\n\t\t  Je regrette beaucoup de ne pouvoir y contribuer directement. Il me Sera impossible de devenir en Anglais un bon \u00e9crivain. On ne Saurait apprendre apr\u00e8s Soixante ans \u00e0 Se bien exprimer dans une langue qui fut \u00e9trangere \u00e0 notre jeunesse. Mais Mr Paterson, que vous m\u2019aviez recommand\u00e9, m\u2019a promis de traduire la dissertation Sur les Finances, et l\u2019Essai Sur l\u2019Education nationale: deux ouvrages dont vous m\u2019avez donn\u00e9 \n                     inspir\u00e9 l\u2019id\u00e9e et que je dois \u00e0 vos bont\u00e9s.\u2014Il m\u2019a m\u00eame promis de traduire aussi la Table raisonn\u00e9e des Principes de l\u2019Economie politique.\u2014Je le prierai de vous communiquer ces Traductions quand elles Seront faites, pour que votre admirable talent lui indique les corrections que vous croirez n\u00e9cessaires. C\u2019est un jeune homme\n\t\t\t\td\u2019une grande esp\u00e9rance.\n          Je vois avec plaisir que les Etats-Unis ont le \n                     du tems devant eux pour prendre un parti Sur leurs Revenus publics; que l\u2019extinction de leurs dettes diminuera beaucoup et promptement leurs besoins publics \n                        politiques; et que les consommations de vos riches en marchandises \u00e9trangeres Soutiendront encore quelques ann\u00e9es le produit de vos douanes, Si vous pouvez \u00e9viter la guerre.\n\t\t  Si elle ne peut \u00eatre \u00e9vite\u00e9, consolidez votre union avec les Florides et op\u00e9rez celle du Canada: puis faites la paix.\u2014Une guerre maritime donneraitFortifiez vos Ports, et Surtout New-York pour qui l\u2019Isle du gouverneur est une d\u00e9fense insuffisante. Puis faites la paix.\u2014Une guerre maritime donnerait pendant la premiere annee \u00e0 vos corsaires quelques b\u00e9n\u00e9fices corrupteurs et du plus mauvais genre. Mais en tr\u00e8s peu de tems elle vous ferait perdre beaucoup de capitaux et d\u2019hommes pr\u00e9cieux.\n\t\t\t\tElle augmenterait consid\u00e9rablement et contre vous la Puissance relative de l\u2019Angleterre, par la prise de vos matelots et leur incorporation dans la Marine anglaise. N\u2019exposez pas vos Enfans \u00e0 verser le Sang de leurs Peres.\u2014La n\u00e9cessit\u00e9 de nourrir les habitans de leurs Isles\n\t\t\t\tdoit rendre les Anglais faciles Sur les conditions de la Paix avec vous.\n          Toutes ces circonstances \u00e9ventuelles peuvent retarder, ou h\u00e2ter Selon les \u00e9v\u00e9nemens, le besoin de vous faire un nouveau Syst\u00eame de Finances. Remerciez dieu S\u2019il vous accorde le tems \n                        accorde \u00e0 votre Gouvernement et \u00e0 vos concitoyens le loisir d\u2019y Songer encore; car avec le caractere grave et r\u00e9serv\u00e9 de votre Nation, vous Seriez le plus inexcusable Peuple du monde Si vous faisiez une \u00e9tourderie, et en matiere d\u2019une si haute\n\t\t\t\timportance.\n           Vous croyez avoir, d\u00e8s le commencement de votre Sage Administration, avoir donn\u00e9 le coup de la mort au syst\u00eame des Excises, malheureusement tent\u00e9 par le G\u00e9n\u00e9ral Hamilton. Vous avez fait une tr\u00e8s bonne chose\u2014. Cependant si la Contribution territoriale continue d\u2019\u00eatre odieuse dans l\u2019Eastern Territory, la partie la mieux cultive\u00e9 des Etats-Unis et qui a le bonheur de n\u2019avoir point d\u2019Esclaves, le Succ\u00e8s peut n\u2019\u00eatre pas complet: la maladie peut avoir une rechute.\n          Les erreurs principales relativement \u00e0 l\u2019Imp\u00f4t ont deux motifs, dont le premier est l\u2019envie de faire contribuer tout le monde, particulierement les Ouvriers, les Commer\u00e7ans, les Capitalistes. C\u2019est \u00e0 quoi l\u2019on ne Saurait parvenir; puisqu\u2019il n\u2019est aucun moyen d\u2019emp\u00eacher les uns de vendre leur travail, et les autres de louer l\u2019usage de leur argent, de maniere \u00e0 s\u2019indemniser avec grande usure aux d\u00e9pens des Propri\u00e9taires de la r\u00e9colte.\n          L\u2019autre cause d\u2019erreur vient de plus haut. Elle est une cons\u00e9quence du d\u00e9faut d\u2019id\u00e9es justes Sur ce que sont dans les Societ\u00e9s politiques les Propri\u00e9taires du Sol, et les hommes industrieux non-Propri\u00e9taires, et Sur ce que la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 doit \u00e0 chacun d\u2019eux.\n          Les derniers Sont les membres d\u2019une R\u00e9publique universelle et Sans Magistratures, r\u00e9pandus dans tous les autres Etats; \u00e0 qui les Gouvernemens, et les Citoyens de tous les autres Etats qui ont une constitution, doivent la libert\u00e9 du travail, l\u2019immunit\u00e9 de toute taxe, la participation gratuite au bon ordre qui r\u00e9sulte de toutes les magistratures, l\u2019\u00e9ligibilit\u00e9 en raison du m\u00e9rite et S\u2019il convient aux Electeurs.\u2014quand ils Sont \u00e9lus \u00e0 quelque emploi, ou quand ils ont achet\u00e9 des terres, ce qui doit toujours leur \u00eatre permis, ils deviennent citoyens: jusques l\u00e0 ils n\u2019\u00eataient et ne doivent \u00eatre qu\u2019Habitans.\u2014La libert\u00e9, l\u2019exemption de contributions, la Suret\u00e9 de leurs personnes et de leurs biens, la protection des Loix dans tous leurs contracts: voila l\u2019\u00e9tendue et les bornes de leurs droits. Leur accorder davantage serait aussi d\u00e9raisonnable que de vouloir dans l\u2019int\u00e9rieur de chaque famille donner aux valets le droit de r\u00e9gler les affaires de la maison conjointement avec les maitres.\u2014vouloir leur faire payer l\u2019exercice de ces droits naturels, ce Serait agir comme l\u2019Avare qui volait l\u2019avoine de Ses chevaux. Leur service en deviendrait moins bon et plus cher.\n          Les droits de cit\u00e9 et de Souverainet\u00e9, celui de Si\u00e9ger et de d\u00e9liberer dans les Assembl\u00e9es politiques, celui d\u2019\u00e9lire, celui de promulguer et de faire ex\u00e9cuter les Loix, appartiennent exclusivement aux Propri\u00e9taires des terres; parce qu\u2019il n\u2019y a que ceux ci qui Soient membres d\u2019une R\u00e9publique particuliere, ayant un territoire, et le devoir de l\u2019administrer.\n                     quand on s\u2019\u00e9carte de ces bases de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 civilis\u00e9e et constitu\u00e9e, quand on croit, ou quand on laisse croire, que ceux qui n\u2019ont que leurs bras ou des biens purement mobiliers, Sont autant citoyens que les Propri\u00e9taires du territoire et ont ont droit, ou d\u2019en demander part Sans l\u2019acqu\u00e9rir, ou de d\u00e9liberer sur les loix de ces propri\u00e9t\u00e9s qu\u2019ils ne possedent pas, on fomente les orages, on pr\u00e9pare les r\u00e9volutions, on ouvre la voie aux Pisistrates, aux Marius, aux C\u00e9sars, qui se font plus d\u00e9mocrates que ne le veulent la nature la justice et la raison, pour devenir Tyrans, violer tous les droits, Substituer aux loix des \n                     leurs volont\u00e9s arbitraires, offenser la morale, avilir l\u2019humanit\u00e9.\n          Dans une R\u00e9publique qui veut \u00eatre paisible, durable, exempte de troubles, il faut donc faire en sorte qu\u2019il n\u2019y ait pas une classe qui Soit ou puisse se croire opprim\u00e9e, et qui cherche \n                        veuille des Protecteurs pour opprimer \u00e0 son tour: car il s\u2019en trouve, et c\u2019est un R\u00f4le tr\u00e8s recherch\u00e9.\n          Il faut que tout le monde y puisse travailler et acquerir Sans etre Sujet \u00e0 aucune vexation. Il faut que tout le monde y puisse dire et publier son opinion sur les choses, \u00e0 la charge de ne pas insulter, et encore plus de ne pas calomnier les Personnes; c\u2019est en quoi consiste la libert\u00e9 de la parole et celle de la presse. Mais exprimer la pens\u00e9e officieusement, ou en d\u00e9liberer officiellement et Voter, Sont deux choses tr\u00e8s differentes.\u2014Le Principe est que chacun a le droit de Se m\u00ealer de Ses affaires, et lorsqu\u2019elles sont communes avec celles de quelques autres d\u2019y prendre part en raison de son inter\u00eat; mais que personne n\u2019a droit de se m\u00ealer des affaires d\u2019autrui sans mission.\u2014\n                     Ainsi quand le travail ou le Commerce Sont g\u00ean\u00e9s, tous les Travailleurs, tous les N\u00e9gocians ont droit de r\u00e9clamer, et de prouver que l\u2019on attente contre l\u2019inter\u00eat public \u00e0 leur libert\u00e9 naturelle; Et Si des Loix mal calcule\u00e9s les contraignent de \n                     \u00e0 faire l\u2019avance du payement de quelques imp\u00f4ts, ils ont le droit, qu\u2019ils ne manquent jamais d\u2019exercer, de s\u2019en indemniser par un haussement au moins \u00e9quivalent dans le prix de leurs Salaires ou de leurs marchandises.\n          Mais ils n\u2019ont pas le droit de Se croire membres du Souverain, tant qu\u2019ils n\u2019ont point achet\u00e9 de terres. Ils n\u2019ont pas celui d\u2019entrer dans les Assembl\u00e9es de la commune o\u00f9 ils Sont domicili\u00e9s: Et ils ne peuvent \u00eatre d\u00e9put\u00e9s \u00e0 une autre Assembl\u00e9e que par le libre choix que les Electeurs de leur Commune ou de leur Canton auraient fait d\u2019eux pour cela. Ils peuvent \u00eatre nomm\u00e9s \u00e0 toute fonction publique par les Electeurs, ou par le Gouvernement, et alors ils ont le droit de remplir cette fonction qui leur a \u00eat\u00e9 confi\u00e9e. Rien de plus.\n                        Ils jouissent, dira-t-on, de la protection des Loix et du secours de la force publique, pourquoi ne les payeraient-ils point?\u2014Ils en jouissent parce que ce Sont des choses qui ne doivent \u00eatre refus\u00e9es \u00e0 qui que ce Soit, qui Sont dues au premier et au plus inconnu des Etrangers qui mettent le pied dans le Pays. que serait un Gouvernement qui permettrait de voler, d\u2019insulter, de frapper, d\u2019assassiner ceux qui ne Seraient pas citoyens? ce serait un Gouvernement de barbares.\n          Il y a dans la Propri\u00e9t\u00e9 fonciere un inter\u00eat permanent et une habitude de travaux utiles qui deviennent un gage de raison. Les Assembl\u00e9es de Propri\u00e9taires ne Sont ni trop nombreuses, ni tumultueuses. Le Pays est \u00e0 ceux qui peuvent le vendre; et ils ont de puissans motifs pour le conserver, pour le bien gouverner.\n          S\u2019ils ne demandent rien aux autres, leur Souverainet\u00e9 est utile de \n                     \u00e0 tous et ne peut opprimer personne. Elle prot\u00e8ge tout et tous: Elle admet \u00e0 ses honneurs tous ceux qui sont assez \u00e9conomes et assez Sages pour arriver \u00e0 l\u2019acquisition d\u2019un bien fonds. Elle ne repousse que l\u2019inconduite ou le brigandage. Le Peuple libre et exempt de taxes n\u2019a rien a d\u00e9sirer: un bon esprit peut le conduire \u00e0 tout\n          Les r\u00e9voltes dans les R\u00e9publiques Sont toujours venues de ce que les nobles, ou les citoyens, voulaient faire payer le bas Peuple, g\u00eaner son travail, en exiger des Services humilians.\u2014Un Ambitieux Se met \u00e0 la t\u00eate de ces pauvres gens dont le travail et la propri\u00e9t\u00e9 mobiliaire nont pas \u00eat\u00e9 respect\u00e9s. Il les fait Pillards, et ils le font Princes \n          Le Prince ou Ses Successeurs Se font d\u00e9testes, parce que leur place les corrompt, et que le Pouvoir arbitraire est naturellement odieux.\n          Quelques gens d\u2019esprit et les Riches le d\u00e9tronent et Se partagent Ses d\u00e9pouilles. mais ils croient ordinairement avoir h\u00e9rit\u00e9 de son pouvoir. Ils regardent la facult\u00e9 de vexer les classes inf\u00e9rieures comme un droit de la R\u00e9publique ou de la Souverainet\u00e9\n          Qu\u2019arrive-t-il? Le Peuple se r\u00e9volte de nouveau, et d\u2019une d\u00e9mocratie exager\u00e9e retombe toujours Sous une Tyrannie insupportable\n          Voila le cercle que toutes les Nations ont parcouru jusqu\u2019\u00e0 pr\u00e9sent, et dont il faut Sortir: dont on Sortira tr\u00e8s ais\u00e9ment avec un faible degr\u00e9 de lumieres de plus que l\u2019on n\u2019en a.\n          Si l\u2019on excepte les nations entierement abruties on trouvera partout des Sentimens r\u00e9publicains. Et m\u00eame Sous un certain aspect tous les Etats Sont d\u00e9ja des R\u00e9publiques, ou tr\u00e8s prets \u00e0 le devenir. Ceux qu\u2019on appelle des Monarchies Sont des R\u00e9publiques o\u00f9 le Pouvoir ex\u00e9cutif et le Pouvoir l\u00e9gislatif sont mal constitu\u00e9s, dans lesquelles le veritable souverain est opprim\u00e9, ou peut l\u2019\u00eatre par Ses d\u00e9legu\u00e9s. Son droit pourtant n\u2019est pourtant n\u2019est \n                     pas tout \u00e0 fait m\u00e9connu. Nul Prince n\u2019\u00f4se et ne peut Se regarder que comme le Repr\u00e9sentant ou le d\u00e9legu\u00e9 des Propri\u00e9taires du Sol.\n          Nul homme n\u2019\u00f4se et \n                     ni ne peut dire une Nation m\u2019appart m\u2019appartient. Nul homme ne peut dire j\u2019ai le droit\n                      arbitraire de faire \n                      ce qu\u2019il me plait. Nul n\u2019\u00f4se dire j\u2019ai \n                      de commettre des crimes et de faire des \n                     injustices. ce n\u2019est que le droit de rendre  \n                     justice que r\u00e9clament les despotes les plus absolus.\n          Il faut donc avant tout Savoir ce qui est juste. Il faut que tout le monde sache et ce qui est juste, et ce qui est utile, et que ces deux choses l\u00e0 ne Sont pas S\u00e9parables. Il faut qu\u2019on reconnaisse que toute Loi vient de \n                     dieu qui a pour Ministres le calcul, et la raison.\n          Ces notions Simples Sont tellement naturelles qu\u2019elles Sont entr\u00e9es dans tous les esprits et dans tous les coeurs d\u00e8s  \n                     le tems de la formation des Langues, qui fut certainement celui des premieres \u00e9bauches de la Soci\u00e9t\u00e9. Il n\u2019y a pas une Langue qui nait le mot L\u00e9gis\n                     lateur ou Son \u00e9quivalent. Il n\u2019en est pas une Seule qui ait employ\u00e9 celui de l\u00e9gis\n                     facteur, ni aucun \u00e9quivalent.\u2014Pourquoi cela? C\u2019est que l\u2019on a Senti, au moins confus\u00e9ment, qu\u2019il S\u2019agissait de bien comprendre le principe de la Loi, qui doit toujours \u00eatre dans la nature, dans la morale, dans l\u2019\u00e9quite; et que \n                     la Loi \u00eatant ainsi con\u00e7ue, il la montrer, \n                        il n\u2019est plus question que de la montrer, de la d\u00e9montrer, de la porter, de la pr\u00e9senter brillante de Son pur \u00e9clat, appuy\u00e9e de l\u2019assentiment g\u00e9n\u00e9ral et de la force Sociale, \u00e0 l\u2019obe\u00efssance des Citoyens. On a Senti qu\u2019il n\u2019etait donn\u00e9 \u00e0 aucun Homme de la faire: car le juste et l\u2019injuste ne d\u00e9pendent pas de nous.\u2014Loi injuste, contra \n                     le droit ou Les droits, renferme un contresens grossier dans les mots et dans les choses. Ce qui est in\n                     te peut \u00eatre Ordonnance; mais cette Ordonnance ne Saurait \u00eatre \n                     pour la conscience: ce qui est in\n                     te n\u2019est pas loi. Nulle Autorit\u00e9 nulle force ne peut lui en imprimer le caractere. Ob\u00e9is ou je te tue, ne prouve rien, sinon que l\u2019on commet un crime en me menasest. Si l\u2019ordre est injuste, et que Si dans ce cas, l\u2019on me tuait, on en commettrait deux.\n          ce Sont vos maximes, Excellent Philosophe; et c\u2019est pourquoi je vous aime et vous respecte tant.\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n                     My very respectable Friend, \n\t\t  I received through Mr. Barlow your letter of 15 April with much gratitude.\n            A man like you may retire from office but never from public affairs. You are a magistrate of mankind.\n            So much the better if the establishment of manufacturing in your country does not oblige you to change your financial system as quickly as one might have feared.\n            But it must happen some day, and your government and especially public opinion must be prepared for it. The science of political economy must not be ignored or neglected in the United States.\u2014Where would the most important questions be debated if not in a republic that respects the freedom of the press, one that is now the last in existence and the last hope for all those that\n\t\t\t are yet to be born, which it will propagate like a queen bee?\u2014How could sovereigns refuse to discuss their interests, rights, and duties in a century in which enlightenment, though less general\n\t\t\t and\n\t\t\t intense than thirty years ago, is nevertheless far from extinguished?\n\t\t  I regret very much not being able to contribute to the discussion directly. I will never be able to write fluently in English. One cannot learn, after sixty years, to express oneself well in a language that was foreign to one\u2019s youth. But Mr. Patterson, whom you recommended to me, has promised to translate my essay on finance and the Sur l\u2019\u00e9ducation nationale dans les Etats-Unis d\u2019Am\u00e9rique: two works that you inspired and that I owe to your kindness.\u2014He even promised to translate my Table raisonn\u00e9 des principes de l\u2019economie politique as well.\u2014I will ask him to give you the translations once they are completed, so that you may use your admirable talents to point out any corrections that you believe to be necessary. He is\n\t\t\t a very promising young man.\n            I see with pleasure that the United States has some time before it must make a decision regarding its public revenues, that the disappearance of its debts will greatly and promptly diminish its political needs, and that the\n\t\t\t consumption of foreign goods by the wealthy will provide customs revenues for a few more years, if you are able to stay out of the war.\n\t\t  If war cannot be avoided, consolidate your union with the Floridas and form one with Canada. Fortify your harbors, and especially New York, as Governor\u2019s Island is insufficient to defend it. Then make peace.\u2014During the first year, a maritime war would give your privateers some corrupting advantages of the worst kind, but it would soon\n\t\t\t result in the loss of much of your capital and many precious men. The taking of your sailors and their being drafted into the English navy would considerably increase England\u2019s strength relative to the United States. Do not put your children at risk of killing their fathers.\u2014The necessity of feeding the inhabitants of the British Isles will induce them to make their peace terms less objectionable.\n            Depending on events, these circumstances may either delay or hasten your need for a new financial system. Thank God that He grants your government and citizenry time to think about it at your leisure. Given your nation\u2019s serious and cautious nature, you would be the most inexcusable people on earth if\n\t\t\t you made a blunder in a matter of such high importance.\n             You assume that you have, since the start of your wise administration, given the deathblow to the excise system unhappily tried by General Hamilton. You have done a very good thing.\u2014However, if the land tax continues to be disliked in your eastern territory, the part of the United States that is best cultivated and has the good fortune of not having slaves, your success cannot be complete. You might have a relapse.\n            The principal mistakes relative to taxation arise from two motives: first, the desire to have everyone contribute, especially workers, merchants, and entrepreneurs. That goal is unattainable, because there is no way to prevent workers from selling their labor dearly and merchants from loaning out their money at high interest, to the detriment of landed proprietors.\n            The other mistake comes from a higher motive. It results from a lack of sound ideas as to what makes up a political society and what society owes to landowners and nonlandholding entrepreneurs.\n            The latter are members of a universal republic without magistrates. They are found in every nation, and the governments and citizens of every country with a constitution owes them the freedom to work, immunity from taxation, free participation in the good order that results from all lawful societies, and eligibility for office if they are meritorious and the voters wish to elect them.\u2014When they are elected to office or have bought land, which they must be allowed to do, they become citizens. Up to that point, they were only residents.\u2014Freedom, exemption from taxation, personal safety, and legal protection of their possessions and contracts: these are the extent and limit of their rights. To give them more would be as unreasonable as to give servants the right to manage household affairs in conjunction with their masters.\u2014To make them pay for the exercise of their natural rights would be to act like the miser who steals his horses\u2019 hay. Their services would become more expensive and of a lesser quality.\n            The rights of citizenship and sovereignty\u2014to sit and deliberate in political assemblies, to vote, to promulgate laws and have them carried out\u2014belong exclusively to landowners, because only they are members of a particular republic with a territory that must be administered.\n                     When we move away from these bases of civilized society or when we believe, or pretend to believe, that those having only their two arms or movable property are citizens just like the proprietors of the soil and have the right to ask for a part of the nation\u2019s wealth without acquiring it, or to deliberate on laws regarding the ownership of land that they do not possess, we foment storms, set the stage for revolutions, and prepare the way for the likes of Pisistratus, Marius, and Caesar, who made themselves more democratic than nature, justice, and reason require in order to become tyrants, and to violate every right, substitute their will for the law, offend morality, and debase mankind.\n            In a republic that wishes to remain peaceful, durable, and free from turmoil, no class must be, or think itself to be, oppressed and wish for protectors so that it can take its turn as the oppressor. The role of protector is much coveted, and candidates are always to be found.\n            Everyone must be allowed to work and acquire things without being harassed. All must be able to speak and publish their opinions, as long as no one is insulted or, even worse, slandered. That is what freedom of speech and of the press consists of. But expressing one\u2019s thoughts informally, or deliberating officially and voting, are two very different things.\u2014Everyone has the right to watch over his own business and defend his personal interests, as long as this right is shared with other people. No one has the right to meddle in other people\u2019s business without cause.\u2014Thus, when labor or commerce is hindered, all merchants have the right to complain and prove that the public has infringed their natural liberty. And if ill-conceived laws force them to pay some of their taxes in advance, they have the right (one that they never fail to exercise) to compensate for it by raising their salaries or the price of their merchandise in at least an equivalent proportion.\n            But they do not have the right to consider themselves to be full citizens until they have purchased land. Nor can they attend town assemblies in the district in which they live, and they can only become representatives of their town or county in another assembly through the free choice of the voters. If they are appointed to any public office by the electors or the government, then they have the right to fulfill the duties that have been entrusted to them. Nothing more.\n            The question will be asked: Why should they not pay for the protection and assistance they receive from the laws and the public sector?\u2014They enjoy these benefits because they can be denied to no one, and because we owe them to the most unknown stranger that sets foot in the country. What kind of government would allow stealing from, insulting, hitting, or killing those who do not happen to be citizens? That would be a government of barbarians.\n            Through landownership one gains a permanent interest and a habit of useful work that becomes a guarantee of reasonableness. Landowners\u2019 assemblies are neither too numerous nor tumultuous. The country belongs to those who can sell it, and they have powerful motives to protect and govern it well.\n            If they ask nothing of others, their sovereignty is nevertheless useful to everyone and can oppress no one. It protects everyone and everything. It bestows honors on those who are thrifty and wise enough to acquire landed property. It repels only misconduct and thievery. The people, free and exempt from taxes, wish for nothing. A good disposition of mind can take them anywhere they desire.\n            Revolts in republics have always arisen from the attempts of nobles or full citizens to make the lower classes pay taxes, to hinder their labor, and to demand humiliating services.\u2014An ambitious person puts himself at the helm and leads these poor people, whose labor and personal property have not been respected. He makes them pillage and plunder, and they make him a prince.\n            The prince or his successors come to be loathed, because their position corrupts them and arbitrary rule is odious by nature.\n            Some quick-witted people and the rich dethrone the prince and share the spoils, and they think they have inherited his power. They regard insulting the lower classes as a right of the republic or of sovereignty.\n            What happens? The people revolt again, and, from an excess of democracy, inevitably fall back into an unbearable tyranny.\n            This is the cycle that all nations have followed up to now: the one from which we must steer clear and from which we will free ourselves very easily with only slightly more wisdom than has been shown in the past.\n            If we set aside nations that are entirely bereft of reason, we will find republican sentiments everywhere. It can even be said that, from a certain point of view, all states are already republics or close to becoming one. Those that we call monarchies are republics in which the executive and the legislative branches of government are badly constituted and in which the true sovereign is, or may be, oppressed by his delegates. His rights, however, are not totally ignored. No prince dares to regard himself as other than the representative or delegate of the landowners.\n            No man dares to say, nor can he say, a nation belongs to me. No man can say, I have the arbitrary right to do everything I please. No one dares to say, I have the right to commit crimes and act unjustly. The most absolute do not claim any more than the right to dispense justice.\n            We must therefore first of all know what is just. Everyone must know what is just and what is useful, and all must see that these two things are inseparable. We need to recognize that all laws come from God, whose ministers are thoughtfulness, reason, and compassion.\n            These simple notions are so natural that they have made their way into every heart and mind ever since the time when languages, which were certainly some of the earliest sketches of society, were first formed. No language lacks the word legislator or its equivalent. None have ever used legisfactor or its equivalent.\u2014Why is that? Because it was felt, at least vaguely, that it is important to understand clearly the principle behind all law, which is always to be found in nature, morality, and equity. Thus conceived, the law has only to be shown, demonstrated, circulated, and presented in its pure, shining light for the citizens to obey, supported as it is by general consent and society\u2019s will. It was felt that no man could make it, because the just and the unjust do not depend on us.\u2014Unjust law, against the law, against right or rights is the veriest nonsense. An edict may be unjust, but it could not possibly be obligatory on one\u2019s conscience: that which is unjust is not law. No authority or force can change its character. Obey or I will kill you does not prove anything other than that a crime is being committed in threatening me. If the order is unjust, and I am, in this instance, killed, then two crimes have been perpetrated.\n            These are your maxims, excellent philosopher, and that is why I love and respect you so much.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-17-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0260", "content": "Title: John Crawford to Thomas Jefferson, 17 December 1811\nFrom: Crawford, John\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                  Highly respected Sir! \n\t\t   In 1808 I did myself the honourr \n                  honour to forward to you a periodical paper, the Observer, then published here, in which I made some communications on the cause and seat of diseases. I have been engaged with that subject ever since, in composing Lectures which I hope to deliver this winter. I presume to think I have brought it to a considerable degree of perfection and trust I shall be able to offer what will prove generally useful. \n\t\t  The inclosed is a copy of my first Lecture, which contains the plan I propose to pursue. If you should honour it with a perusual, you will not meet with any of the technical language which renders medical works so revolting to those who are not of the profession. You will perceive Sir! that I have experienced the fate of  nearly all who have endeavoured to accomplish reformation, or direct the views of men from a path, to which they have been long accustomed. Although I have held situations highly lucrative, the disposition of my mind has not led me to profit by them. Had I possessed such a disposition, I should have been unfitted for my present undertaking. I am however, urged by a spirit of perseverance in pursuit of the course I have adopted, and if I am enabled to develop the truth, hitherto concealed, its irresistable influence must, in the end prevail.\n          When I did myself the honour to address you in 1803, on the state of public affairs, I took the liberty to suggest my views of the principles on which they were founded. The intervening period has presented nothing to invalidate those views. The catastrophe is hastening to completion; the fate of England can not remain long undecided. Her exclusion of foreign commerce is now retorted on her whilst her own is verging fast to destruction; and the war she is carrying on in Portugal and Spain, notwithstanding momentary appearances, affording not a shadow of ultimate success, must So exhaust her tottering resources It \n                  that it certainly requires no great depth of wisdom to foresee an event which is advancing with so much rapidity.\n          My ideas also respecting the fate we are to experience from our Slaves appears to be but too well founded. I find the expected crisis is now freely spoken of in Congress, and yet no attempt is made to obviate the storm. On the contrary, the steps pursued are directly calculated to accelerate its approach. The most worthless and the most audacious are daily sent from this and perhaps some of the states in the vicinity to the Southward, where the embers of conflagration, at present couvered by the slightest\n\t\t\t tissue, will probably, by these be quickly blown into a flame which will consume all to whom it can have access. I have been long satisfied we shall not have a war with any European power. We can\n\t\t\t not, if my conception of the present trans-atlantic conflict be correct: the seperation of the temporal from the ecclesiastical power; this has been effected here, I am therefore to presume we shall feel no other consequence of it than in our commerce:\n\t\t\t on this the finger of Heaven seems now to be placed, on account of the prostration of morals it has entrained. Retribution awaits us where we have been still more culpable\u2014I fear with you Sir!\n\t\t\t there\n\t\t\t is not virtue enough in those who are the objects of suffering, to induce their resort to any measures which might have a tendency to mitigate or avert the threatened evil. There \n                  These are truly awful prospects on which it is distressing to dwell; but they are so continually presented to our view that the reflecting mind can not resist the impulse they excite.\n          May you highly respected Sir! long live in safety, to enjoy the exulting reflection of having saved your country when threatened with desolation, and receive the final reward of the multiplied benefits you conferred on those over whom you So honourably presided. Accept this tribute from him who is, with veneration yours most faithfully\n            John Crawford", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0262", "content": "Title: Charles Clay to Thomas Jefferson, 18 December 1811\nFrom: Clay, Charles\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                your Servant yesterday met with me in the field where I was a little engaged & gave me your Note, I sent him to the house with the baskett & to wait till I Should return, he did not wait for me, he left the Compass & protractor, but no Chain nor Compass Staff.\u2014the otherthat part of your note respecting the hearth Stones will be particularly attended to Should I see the Masons as well as any other Command with which Mr Jefferson may think fit to honor \n          his Friend & humble Sert", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-18-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0263", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William or Reuben Mitchell, 18 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Mitchell, William,Mitchell, Reuben\n\t\t   I did not bring with me from home the papers respecting my wheat ground at your mill of the crop of 1810. but I have, in a letter from home written from home to Doctr Callaway on that subject a very exact statement made out on a view of all the papers.\n\t\t\t recieved (according to the accounts rendered me by Gibson & Jefferson) 232. barrels of flour. most of them were superfine; the number of fine I have no note of here, but I know they were very few, and therefore I shall take no notice of them. they sold for from 9. to 9\u00be D. but averaged 9\u00bc D. the expences of carriage, toll, Commn Etc. were 1\u00bd Dollar a barrel, so that  they netted me 7\u00be. D. a barrel. considering the wheat retained as flour netting this much you will be able to settle the difference between that & the half dollar a barrel due for Superfine.\n            I have requested mr Griffin to agree with Colo Watts & yourself on a day when our other matter may be setled either at Colo Watts\u2019s or Lynchburg. Accept the assurances of my respect\n                  P.S. Dec. 19. since writing the above I have found that I was mistaken in supposing that mr Griffin had sent the overseers\u2019 share of the wheat to another mill. that was a transaction of the last year, which I had confounded with the present. he is entitled to 81. bushels & Roberts to 49. making 130. bushels of what was delivered you. he is consequently a party interested in the question between us.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0265", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Notes on the Latitude of Willis\u2019s Mountain, [ca. 19 December 1811]\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: \n\t\t  Latitude of Willis\u2019s mountain by observations of the Sun\u2019s meridian altitude taken from the peak on the right side of the gap, & next adjacent to it, as seen from Monticello.\n              Meridian alt. of \u2609 by observn\n          the 1st by Th:J. the 2. last by Th:J.R.\n          other elements for the calculation.\n\t\t  Willis\u2019s mountains being 62.\u2032 E. of the South as seen from Monto and 35 \n                  40. common miles distant, it\u2019s meridian will be  \n                  .72136 of a mile E. of yt of Monticello. a degree of longitude in Lat. 37\u00ba\u201330\u2032 = 47.6 geogr. mi. = 54.74 com. miles then  \n              which subtracted from ye long. of Monto\n              gives diffce of long. betw Greenwich & W\u2019s M.\n                           \u2609\u2019s meridian altitude by observn\n              true Alt. of \u2609\u2019s center\n              Zenith distance\nGreenwich\n              true alt. of \u2609\u2019s center\n              Zenith distance\n              Merid. Alt. of \u2609 by observn\n              true alt. of \u2609\u2019s center.\n              Zenith distance\n            Lat. of Willis\u2019s Mountain\n            Th:J.R\u2019s observn of Dec.\n\t\t\t 18. gives Lat.\n            Th:J\u2019s observation Nov. 21. gives\n\t\t\t Lat. of Monticello\n            difference", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-19-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0266", "content": "Title: Petition of Albemarle County Residents to the Virginia General Assembly, [before 19 December 1811]\nFrom: Albemarle County Residents\nTo: Virginia General Assembly\n\t\t  To the General Assembly of Virginia the memorial & Petition of the subscribers Inhabitants of the county of Albemarle humbly Represents, That a spirit for the extension & improvement of domestic manufactures exists at present throughout the state of Virginia with an ardor which requires only a slight degree of Legislative encouragement to render it permanent; & place us in some respects independent of Foreign nations. Your Petitioners beg leave to state that, influenced by the spirit above mentioned, much\n\t\t\t of their attention has of late been devoted to the increase & improvement of their flocks of Sheep; & many of them at great expense & trouble have improved the quality of their wool\n\t\t\t the introduction of the best breeds from Spain & other foreign countries.\n             That nothing is calculated to repress their present ardor in the breeding of sheep, but the ravages they are subject to from Dogs, who in one night may not only devour their property to an immense amount, but may damp & perhaps forever destroy all future enterprise & energy in the same cause. The only remedy for this evil, they concieve is to lessen the number of dogs so that what remain, being better fed, will have no inducement to plunder, & the only way to lessen their number must be by partial Taxation.\n            Therefore, as well to protect & encourage the raising of Sheep, as to indemnify the ravages committed on them by dogs, your Petitioners pray for the passage of a Law conformable to the following outlines, which they leave to the wisdom of the Legislature to make General or not, but which they pray may become at any rate a law for the county of Albemarle, & such other counties as may petition to the Same effect.\u2014\n            \u201cLet each Houskeeper in the county keep one dog free of Tax: but for every second dog lay a Tax of fifty cents & for every dog over two, on the same farm lay a Tax of one dollar for each. This tax to be collected in the usual manner but the money to be retained in the hands of the Sherrif to be hereafter appropriated.\n            \u201cWhen a person shall sustain a loss among his sheep by dogs, let three freeholders, (in the manner directed for the appraisement of Estrays) asscertain his loss; taking into consideration the quality & breed of the sheep. Their certificate to be filed With the clerk, & the court at the end of each year to appropriate the money arising from the Tax on dogs towards defraying these losses. If the money is sufficient let the losses be defrayed in full, if not let it be in due proportion, & if there is an excess, let it go towards defraying the expenses of the county, as the court shall think proper.\u201d\n            \u201cIn Towns, (if the law is made general) let the money go towards paving their streets, or any other way the corporation shall think best.\u201d\n            Your Petitioners indulge The hope that your honorable Body can see no objection to making an Evil thus remedy itself; which besides diminishing the danger to be apprehended from mad Dogs, (a consideration by no means unimportant) and calculating that such a Law would reduce the present number of Dogs one half, upon a fair estimate, in the article of food alone, would produce to the county of Albemarle a clear saving of Ten Thousand Dollars \n            And your Petitioners &C &C\u2014\n               Martin Dawson\n               William Gillaspy\n               Henry Chiles\n               Micajah Woods\n               Ths M Randolph\n               George Divers\n               Thos Eston Randolph\n               John Rothwell\n               Eli Alexander\n               Z Shackleford\n               Thos Amonett\n               Richd Shackelford\n               James McKinney\n               Robt Gillack\n               Immanuel Poor\n               Allen Dawson\n               Charles Yancey\n               Jonathan Browning\n               Charles Flanagan\n               Jonathan Barksdale\n               Phillip Darrell\n               Reuben Maury\n               Harrison Wood\n               Robt W. Cullock jr\n               Nelson Barksdale\n               Robt C Nicholas\n               John Fretwell\n               James Horsley\n               Charles Lively\n               Thos Johnson\n               James Henderson\n               Pleasant Dawson\n               Benajah Gentry\n               John Nicholas\n               Christopher Hudson\n               Lewis Mahanes\n               Wm Broadhead\n               Benj Mathews\n               James Roberts\n               James Jefferies\nSignatures on Dupl:\n               John Patterson\n               Jesse Thomas Jur\n               Nathaniel Goolsby\n               Nelson Freeland\n               Christopher Hudson\n               Thomas Daniel\n               Tandy Morris\n               Saml Shelton", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0267", "content": "Title: John W. Campbell to Thomas Jefferson, 20 December 1811\nFrom: Campbell, John W.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          After reviewing the papers contained in the volumes you were pleased to lend me, I have concluded to decline their publication, principally from the reasons suggested in your letter, that they would at this day, be not interesting to the mass of readers.\n          I return the volumes, with my sincere thanks for the loan of them.\n          Dear Sir With the highest respect & esteem yr. mo: obdt Sert", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0268", "content": "Title: John W. Campbell to Thomas Jefferson, 20 December 1811\nFrom: Campbell, John W.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  I have taken the liberty of enclosing you a proposal for a work which I expect to publish during the next Summer.\n          I have progressed in this work, as far as the year Seventy Six, but for the period, subsequent to that, I find it extremely difficult to procure materials.\n          I would be much gratified by your advice as to the best sources of information; and if you have any thing, that would yield any assistance, particularly in the period subsequent to the revolution, you would do me a singular favour by lending it for a few months.\n          Excuse my freedom, & accept for your health and happiness the best wishes of\n          Dear Sir Yr mo: obdt Svt", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-20-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0270", "content": "Title: Alexander von Humboldt to Thomas Jefferson, 20 December 1811\nFrom: Humboldt, Alexander von\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                        Paris \u00e0 l\u2019Observatoire \n\t\t  J\u2019arrive hier de Vienne o\u00f9 mon frere est Ministre du Roi de Prusse et ou j\u2019ai pass\u00e9 un mois pour voir mes parents.\n\t\t\t\tet\u00e9 bien heureux de retrouver \u00e0 mon retour l\u2019interessante lettre que Vous avez daigny \n                     daign\u00e9 m\u2019\u00e9crire, Monsieur, et que Vous avez accompagn\u00e9 d\u2019un cadeau auquel je mets le plus grand prix. Les notes sur la Virginie seront place\u00e9s dans la bibliotheque que nous avons form\u00e9 mon frere et moi. c\u2019est un titre de gloire pour moi que d\u2019avoir joui de la\n\t\t\t\tbienveillance, j\u2019ose dire de\n\t\t\t\tl\u2019amiti\u00e9 d\u2019un homme qui a etonne ce siecle par ses vertus et sa moderation. Craignant que la Fregatte ne parte, comme on me l\u2019a fait craindre je ne puis ajouter que peu de lignes.\n\t\t  J\u2019ose Vous offrir\n\t\t\t\tla fin de mon Receuil d\u2019Observations astronomiques et la 6me et 7me livraison de l\u2019Essai sur la Nouvelle Espagne avec les Atlas correspondants. J\u2019avois envoy\u00e9 et fait envoy\u00e9 par mes libraires les cahiers pr\u00e9c\u00e9dens par differentes voyes: peutetre Vous Sont elles \n                     ils \u00e0 la fin arriv\u00e9s; je Vous supplie cependant de m\u2019ecrire avec la plus grande franchise ce qui Vous manque pour \u00eatre au complet. J\u2019espere que les communications seront plus sures dans la suite J\u2019ai achev\u00e9 les deux tiers de mes ouvrages, j\u2019exprime en ce moment la partie\n\t\t\t\thistorique.\n\t\t\t\tMr Arrowsmith \u00e0 Londres m\u2019a vol\u00e9 ma grande Carte du Mexique:\n\t\t\t\tMr Pike a profit\u00e9 d\u2019une maniere peu genereuse de la communication qui lui a et\u00e9 faite sans doute \u00e0 Washington de la copie de ma Carte: d\u2019ailleurs il a estropi\u00e9 tous les noms. Je suis afflig\u00e9 d\u2019avoir a me plaindre d\u2019un citoyen des Etats Unis qui d\u2019ailleurs a deploy\u00e9 un si beau courage. Mon nom  ne se trouve pas dans son livre et un leger coup d\u2019oeil sur la Carte de Mr Pike Vous prouve d\u2019o\u00f9 il a puise. Ma fortune a souffert moins par mes voyages que par des \u00e9venemens\n\t\t\t\tpolitiques: c\u2019est perdre\n\t\t\t\tbien peu que de perdre sa fortune Je trouve des consolations dans le travail dans des souvenirs et dans l\u2019estime des hommes qui reconnoissent la purete de mes intentions. Je suis vivement\n\t\t\t\tinteress\u00e9\n\t\t\t\tcomme Vous \u00e0 la grande lutte de l\u2019Amerique espagnole. Il ne faut pas s\u2019etonner que la lutte soit sanglante, lorsqu\u2019on pense que les hommes portent partout l\u2019empreinte de l\u2019imperfection des institutions sociales et que les peuples d\u2019Europe depuis trois siecles ont cherch\u00e9 leurs securit\u00e9 dans le ressentiment mutuel et la haine des Castes.\n\t\t\t\tne quitterai l\u2019Europe qu\u2019apr\u00e8s avoir achev\u00e9 mon ouvrage: les journaux me font voyager au Thibet, je balance entre plusieurs projets, mais je desire le plus percer en Asie.\n\t\t\t\tJe charge de cette lettre mon ami Monsieur Correa de Serra, membre de la Societ\u00e9 Royale de Londres et Correspondant de l\u2019Institut qui va s\u2019etablir a Philadelphie. C\u2019est un homme d\u2019une ame \u00e9leve\u00e9, d\u2019un esprit juste et fort et un des plus grands botanistes du siecle, quoique il n\u2019ait que tr\u00e8s peu publie. J\u2019ose le recommander \u00e0 Votre amiti\u00e9 et je Vous\n\t\t\t\tsupplie de le recommander a Vos amis en Pensylvanie.\n\t\t\t\tAgreez, mon digne et respectable ami, l\u2019hommage de mon admiration et de ma reconnoissance.\n            Humboldt\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n                        At the Observatory in Paris, \n\t\t  I just came back from visiting my relatives for a month in Vienna, where my brother is a minister of the king of Prussia.\n\t\t\t my return I was quite happy to find the very interesting letter that you so kindly wrote me, accompanied by a gift that I prize most highly. The Notes on Virginia will be placed in the library established by my brother and me. I am proud to have enjoyed the kind attention, I dare say the\n\t\t\t friendship, of a man whose\n\t\t\t virtues and moderation have amazed his century. I can only add a few lines for fear that the frigate may leave, as I have been told.\n\t\t  I make bold to\n\t\t\t offer you the conclusion of my book of astronomical observations and the sixth and seventh parts of the Essay on New Spain, with corresponding maps and charts. I had sent, and had my publishers send, the preceding portions in various ways. Perhaps they have finally arrived. In any event I pray you to tell me most frankly what you are missing from the complete set. I hope for more reliable means of communication in future. I have finished two thirds of my work and am presently writing the historical\n\t\t\t section.\n\t\t\t Mr. Arrowsmith, of London, stole my large map of Mexico.\n\t\t\t Mr. Pike took advantage in a less than generous way of a copy of my map that someone gave him, most probably in Washington. As a matter of fact, he has mangled all the names. I am grieved to have to complain about a citizen of the United States, especially one who has  shown such admirable courage. My name is not to be found in his book, and a glance at Mr. Pike\u2019s map shows from where he took it. My fortune has suffered less from my travels than from political\n\t\t\t events. To lose one\u2019s\n\t\t\t fortune is to lose very little. I find some consolation in my work, in my memories, and in the esteem of people who recognize the purity of my intentions. I am as keenly interested as you are in\n\t\t\t the\n\t\t\t great struggle in Spanish America. We should not be surprised that the contest is bloody when we recall that men all over the world bear the imprint of their imperfect social institutions and that for three centuries\n\t\t\t Europeans have sought safety in the mutual resentment and hatred of one caste for another.\n\t\t\t will leave Europe only after I have finished my work. The press has me traveling to Tibet. I am hesitating between several projects, but I most desire to penetrate Asia.\n\t\t\t I entrust this letter to the care of my friend, Mr. Corr\u00eaa da Serra, a member of the Royal Society of London and a correspondent of the Institut, who is moving to Philadelphia. He is a man with a lofty soul and a just mind, one of the greatest botanists of the century, although he has published very little. I venture to recommend him to your friendship and entreat\n\t\t\t you to commend him to your friends in Pennsylvania.\n\t\t\t My worthy and respectable friend, please accept the tribute of my admiration and gratitude.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-21-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0271", "content": "Title: Micajah Harrison to Thomas Jefferson, 21 December 1811\nFrom: Harrison, Micajah\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n                     State of Kentucky Mount sterling \n\t\t  I trust you will excuse the freedom I have taken in addressing you on a subject, by no means interesting to you, having however full assurance of your obliging disposition, and knowing the deference, deservedly given to your opinion in all cases; I have been encouraged to take the liberty of requesting your opinion on the following subject, upon which there is a difference of opinion between myself and some others in this little Village\u2014\u201cIs the cause of the Vapour & fogs, owing to a thick, Dense & heavy atmosphere or, a thin, light & unelastic atmosphere?\u201d\u2014\n          Your Condescending to gratify us with your opinion, will be gratefully acknowledged, by myself and a few friends of this place, to whose inspection alone it shall be submitted\u2014\n          With sentiments of the highest respect & Esteem I am yr: obt Servt\n                  Micajah Harrison", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-22-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0272", "content": "Title: Thomas Sully to Thomas Jefferson, 22 December 1811\nFrom: Sully, Thomas,Rush, William,Peale, Rembrandt,Murray, George,Fairman, Gideon,Trott, Benjamin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t  An association has lately been formed in this City consisting of Artists, & Amateurs, residing in different parts of the Union; Under the Title of Society of Artists of U.S.\n            I am requested to communicate to you in the name of the Society. That you were unanimously elected a m \n                  an Honorary member at a special meeting held on the 15th inst:\n            Your love for the Arts & Sciences, and your long & unremitted exertions to promote the Independence & prosperity of our Country are known to all the World\u2014A Society having for its object the cultivation of the fine Arts throughout this extensive, & flourishing  Republic, cannot fail to meet your approbation, and receive your cordial\n\t\t\t cooperation.\n            The establishment of Schools in the various branches of the Arts on liberal principles, and periodical Exhibitions of the Works of American Artists, will, it is believed have a tendency to form a correct taste in this Country.\u2014By calling into Action Native genius, many prejudices will be removed with respect to foreign productions: And the application of the fine Arts to useful purposes, is acknowledged by all who are acquainted with the principles, & progress of Civilization, to be of great importance.\n            The members of this infant Institution are convinced that their success depends much upon their own exertions; at the same time they are aware that the countenance and support of the most distingushed patriotic characters in the Country: will not only powerfully aid them in the Arduous pursuits in which they are engaged but will also have a tendency to unite & give confidence to all who are immediatly interested in the prosperity of the Institution.\n            I herewith transmit a Copy of the Constitution of the Society.\n            By order of the Committee of Correspondence\n            ThosSully. Secy\n            \u2014\u2014Committee of Correspondence\u2014\u2014\n                Gideon Fairman", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-26-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0274", "content": "Title: Lafayette to Thomas Jefferson, 26 December 1811\nFrom: Lafayette, Marie-Joseph-Paul-Yves-Roch-Gilbert du Motier, marquis de\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n          The Arrival of the Constitution frigate Has Blessed me with a very welcome Compensation for your Long Silence\u2014\n\t\t  I Have first Enjoy\u2019d the kind Letters directed to me, then took a share in those to mde de tess\u00e9 and to my friends Humboldt and tracy\u2014they Have Given me So much to think and to Say that I feel the insufficiency of Epistolary  \n                  Correspondance, and more than Ever the Need of personal Conversation\u2014I ought However first to\n\t\t\t Apologize for my Having teazed you with Complaints\u2014you will, I Hope, Excuse me in favor of the friendly Sentiment which, on Every opportunity, made disappointment So painful\u2014I Heartily thank you\n\t\t\t\tfor\n\t\t\t the particulars You Give me Respecting your Health, your mode of life, and Beg you, my dear Jefferson, to Be very minute in favoring me with all the deta\u00efls that Concern you\u2014our friend mr Barlow will write the Latest politics\u2014He\n\t\t\t Has Been Remarkably well Received By the Emperor, and all the people about Court\u2014His Representations Have Been attended to with that Regard and welcome which made us Expect Every day the favourable promised Answer\u2014Such was His very pleasant Situation when I Left Him a few days\n\t\t\t Ago. I Hope His \n                  He Has By this time Got \n                  materials for the Return of the frigate, and Hastened \n                  Hasten this Letter to improve the Opportunity.\n          Permit me to introduce to you mr Correa, a portuguese Gentleman, whose Eminent merit, Amiable qualities, and Liberal Sentiments Have Endeared Him to a Great number and the very choice of friends which will Recommend Him to your\n\t\t\t Good Opinion\u2014I know nothing Can gratify Him So much as to Be presented to you, and I find a particular pleasure in putting under your Care this worthy New inhabitant of the united States.\n          Whatever Be the motives or Result of the Bloody wars Now Raging in Europe, it is a Happy prospect to See Before us the whole American Continent Advancing to independance and freedom\u2014Such, I trust, must Be the End of the actual movements in the former Spanish\n\t\t\t Colonies\u2014the shakles of their Several Aristocrasies, the present intrigues of the British Government, the unhappy measures Hitherto adopted Against Neutral trade will no doubt Embarass the\n\t\t\t Revolution\u2014But while Such a model as the united States Stands Before those new Erected Societies, European institutions Being So Little Attractive, it is to Be Hoped their prejudices and Habits will yeald to Good Sense, and Good Exemple\u2014we did\n\t\t\t not, you and I, flatter ourselves it Could \n                  Would Come on So Soon, and from this instance we may Conclude that if Liberty too often Meets Rocks and Stoppages, it, at other times, fid \n                  finds its way where it Had Not Been intended.\n          of My personal Concerns I Have little to Say\u2014my fourteen children and grand children Live with me in these Rural Retirements\u2014I gave you an Account of my Arrangement With Mm Baring parish, and grammont. it Has not Suited mr Ridgeway to do the like\u2014the whole mortgage in which He was for a third part Has Remained unpaid and unliquidated\u2014a Late attempt to find monney in Amsterdam on my Lands Has failed\u2014I am much obliged to the kind interest our friend mr Barlow takes in this affair.\n          My Son and daughters Beg Leave to Be Respectfully Remembered to you and to mrs Randolph whom I Beg you to present with my Best Respects\u2014you know, my dear Jefferson, How Affectionately I am Your old and Grateful friend\n            Lafayette", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0276", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William & Samuel Craig, 27 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Craig, William,Craig, Samuel,Craig, William & Samuel (N.Y. firm)\n\t\t  An absence of 6. weeks occasions this late acknolegement of your favor of Nov. 29. covering a letter from Doctr Stephenson of Belfast. and asking my directions with respect to a small box from him containing 2. plants of a grass which I had asked under the belief it\u2019s introduction would be useful to our country. if the box\n\t\t\t be as small as I expect, so that it might not be an abuse of the mail to send it by that, it will be the quickest & most likely conveyance to ensure success in raising the plant.\n\t\t\t too large for the mail, I must pray you to send it by some vessel bound to Richmond addressed to Messrs Gibson & Jefferson of that place who will forward it to me. the propriety of the one or the other conveyance I must request the exercise of your discretion on. Accept my thanks for your attention to this matter & the assurances of my great respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-27-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0278", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William Mann, 27 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Mann, William\n\t\t  An absence of 6. weeks in a distant county is the cause of this very late acknolegement of your letter of Nov. 11. covering the copy of a spa in Chancery by Gourley against a group of defs among whom I am named, without being able to conjecture the cause of it. you are free to consider the spa as served on me personally. I observe that mr Nicholas is a def. and presume he will not let us suffer before we are apprised of the matters with which we are charged. \n\t\t   Accept the assurance of my respects.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0279", "content": "Title: William W. Clayton to Thomas Jefferson, 28 December 1811\nFrom: Clayton, William W.\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n\t\t   I have been Very unfortunate Coming from Frederricksbg on my way near to your Place in Bedford I lost my Horse died on the Road\n\t\t  I was Taken sick and Compelled to stay on The Road untill my money Is nearly Exausted I wish To Get to Mr Clays near To your Possessions in Be Bedford a few shillings woud aid me ", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-28-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0280", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to George Hay, 28 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Hay, George\n\t\t  On my return after an absence of 6. weeks in Bedford I find here your favor of the 5th informing me of the dismission of Livingston\u2019s suit. as this has been for want of jurisdiction, without any investigation of the merits of the cause, the public impression mind will remain unsettled & uninformed as to the justice of the case, and their impression produced by Livingston\u2019s squalling as if his throat had been cut, will be uncorrected. I believe therefore it is a duty to myself as well as the public to lay the case before them, altho it is with infinite\n\t\t\t reluctance that I shall present myself on that arena: and with the more as I have not the courage & really not the time, to reform the Commentaries on the case which I sent you, and to put them into a more popular dress. they were written for those to whom the matters they contain were familiar; to common readers they will appear\n\t\t\t unnecessarily erudite, and pedantic. but I repeat that I am too tired of the subject to go over it again.\n\t\t  so I think I must publish it as it is, and must I suppose send it to N.Y. as I know no press but that which reprints the Edinburgh review which can print correctly any language but English. I must request\n\t\t\t you therefore to return me the defence I put into your hands as also all the documents & papers that I may return them to their proper deposits. I am under great obligations to my counsel\n\t\t\t to yourself particularly for the trouble they have had with this case, and as soon as I get through a mass of letters & other matters of business accumulated during my absence, I shall make\n\t\t\t\tthem\n\t\t\t my just acknolegements for their attention to it.\n\t\t   Accept the assurances of my great esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-29-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0282", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to William Lambert, 29 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Lambert, William\n          An absence of 6 weeks has prevented my sooner acknoleging your two favors of Nov. 14. & 22. which I found here on my return, the former with a letter from Bishop Madison. \n\t\t   I am very thankful for your calculations on my observations of the late Solar eclipse. I have for some time past been rubbing off the rust of my mathematics contracted during 50. years engrossed by other pursuits, and have found in it a delight and a success beyond my expectations. I observed the eclipse of the sun with a view to calculate my longitude from it, but other occupations had prevented my undertaking it before my journey; and the calculations you have furnished me with shew it would have been more elaborate than I had expected, and that most probably I should have foundered by the way. one thing I do not understand, why you preferred using the external rather than the internal contacts. I presume the Bishop sent you the whole of the observations & the note on them which I shall subjoin to this. you will there percieve I had little confidence in the external contacts, but an entire one on \n                  in the forming & breaking of the annulus.\n\t\t\t have no telescope equal to observing the eclipses of Jupiter\u2019s satellites, and as soon as\n\t\t\t have fitted up a little box for my instruments, I shall amuse myself with the further ascertainment of my longitude by the lunar observations, which have the advantage of being repeated ad\n\t\t\t\tlibitum,\n\t\t\t and of \n                  requiring less laborious calculations. Accept the assurances of my esteem & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-30-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0284", "content": "Title: Nicolas G. Dufief to Thomas Jefferson, 30 December 1811\nFrom: Dufief, Nicholas Gouin\nTo: Jefferson, Thomas\n           Vous trouverez ci-inclus le premier Supplement au catalogue que j\u2019ai eu l\u2019honneur de vous acheminer aussi-t\u00f4t apr\u00e8s Sa publication. Je viens de recevoir le calcul int\u00e9gral & diff\u00e9rentiel de La Croix, mais comme vous voulez toutes ses \u0153uvres, je pr\u00e9sume que cet ouvrage ne vous conviendra pas.\n          Je profite de cette occasion pour vous prier d\u2019agr\u00e9er au renouvellement de l\u2019ann\u00e9e mes v\u0153ux pour votre sant\u00e9 & votre Prosp\u00e9rit\u00e9\n          Votre tr\u00e8s-respectueux Serviteur\n          Editors\u2019 Translation\n             You will find enclosed the first supplement to the catalogue that I had the honor to forward to you immediately after its publication. I have just received Lacroix\u2019s integral and differential calculus, but since you want all of his works, I presume that it will not suit you.\n            I take advantage of this opportunity on the eve of the New Year to convey my wishes for your health and prosperity\n            Your very respectful Servant", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0287", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Jeremiah A. Goodman, 31 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Goodman, Jeremiah A.\n          The people arrived here on the evening of Saturday the 28th with every thing well except 1. hog tired & killed on the road. the articles for Dick to carry back will be now soon ready to put on board his waggon, but it is now raining, so that it is not likely he will set off today. the inclosed paper will tell you what they are & what is to be done with them.\n\t\t\t we are in\n\t\t\t very great want of the pair of oxen from Poplar forest, as only 1. pair of those we have are worth a farthing for work. as soon as you can spare the other pair I must get you to send them here.\n\t\t\t the\n\t\t\t day I left Poplar Forest I met many carts with a pr of oxen & a horse carrying a hhd of tobo to Lynchbg and with great ease. it occurred to me that instead of making another waggon as I hinted to you, we had much better adopt this mode of carrying our tobo to market, & wheat also. each plantation might equip 2. such carts, so as with the waggon they might send 5 hhds of tobo \n                   or 160. bushels of wheat a day to market. if you see no difficulty in this you had better engage the wheels, to be made strong as those I saw there, to be ready as soon as may be.every consideration urges the sending all our tobo to Richmond without the loss of a moment which \n\t\t\t I mentioned to mr Darnell to have the stock taken off of the clover immediately. I shall be glad to recieve by post the list of stock at both places as soon as it is taken. Accept my best wishes\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0288", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Jean Guillaume Hyde de Neuville, 31 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Hyde de Neuville, Jean Guillaume\n          An absence of 6. weeks from home has prevented my earlier acknolegement of your letter of Nov. 22. I am happy to learn from that that Madame d\u2019Houditot \n                  d\u2019Houdetot continues in life and health. there was no person in France from whom I recieved more civilities or for whom I entertained higher regard, and it would at all times be pleasing to me to shew my senses \n                  sense of it by services to those for whom she interests herself. your wishes therefore become mine, and I have communicated the case of your friend in a letter to the President.\n\t\t\t but\n\t\t\t if you could engage Colo Williams to recommend, it would be more than equal to all other recommendations.\n\t\t\t whatever he would desire in such\n\t\t\t case would be done by the Secretary at war without further enquiry, and I think he would be readily disposed c \n                  to comply with your wishes. I shall be happy if any aid I can give on this occasion may be useful to your friend or\n\t\t\t gratifying to yourself,\n\t\t   and pray you to accept the assurance of my great esteem & respect\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0289", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Iren\u00e9e Amelot De Lacroix, 31 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Lacroix, Irenee Amelot De\n\t\t  A long absence from home has prevented my sooner acknoleging the reciept of your letter of the 10th. I have this day written to the President of the US. on the subject of it. but, Sir, it is important on these occasions to send testimonies of character, which I would advise\n\t\t\t to obtain from those who not only know you, but are known themselves to the government. these papers come under regular review when the decision is to be made between the candidates. I do not\n\t\t\t recollect whether you have become formally a citizen, and sincerely wish the same provisions in favor of citizens exclusively which stood in your way in a former law may not find place in those now under consideration. Accept the assurance of my great respect & esteem.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0290", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 31 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Madison, James\n\t\t  It is long since I have had occasion to address a line to you, and the present is an irksome one. with all the discouragements I can oppose to those who wish to make me the channel of their wishes for office, some will force themselves on me. I inclose you the letters of several merely to be placed on the file of candidates & to stand on their own ground, for I do not know one of them personally.  Gerna indeed, the recommender of Arata, I once saw at Paris. he was a bookseller from Dublin, and I got him to send me some books from thence, & that is all I know of him.\n\t\t\t le Compte despinville I never saw nor heard of before; nor have I ever seen de Neufville his recommender; but he brot me a letter of introduction from the Countess d\u2019Houdeton, an old lady from whom I recieved so many civilities & so much hospitality while in France. she was the intimate friend of Dr Franklin, and I should feel myself obliged to render any civilities or personal services in my power to one of her recommendation.\n\t\t\t De la Croix I never saw.\n\t\t\t but he is a very able military\n\t\t\t\tman\n\t\t\t as far as I can judge from many excellent pamphlets & essays in the newspapers written by him, and Genl Dearborne thought him a valuable man.\n\t\t\t I write to him & to de Neufville that they must send certificates of character to the Secretary at war, and I pray you to consider me only as the postrider bearing their letters to you.\n          The prospect of the death of George III. still keeps up a hope of avoiding war.\n\t\t\t we have had a bad fall for our wheat. I never saw it look worse.\n\t\t\t have had but \u00be I. of rain in the last 8. weeks. your message had all the qualities it should possess, firm, rational and dignified,  and the report of the Commee of foreign relations was excellent. they carry conviction to every mind. heaven help you through all your difficulties.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-31-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0291", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson to Oliver Pollock, 31 December 1811\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: Pollock, Oliver\n\t\t  Your letter of Nov. 19. arrived here probably a day or two after I had set out on a journey from which I have but recently returned. I lose no time in answering it. I really feel every disposition to do you justice by bearing witness to the services you rendered while agent for Virginia at N. Orleans, which my memory could enable me to do with sufficient certainty. but the obliteration from that of matters of detail cannot appear strange after a lapse of more than 30. years, and the\n\t\t\t unremitting & anxious occupations I was engaged in during the subsequent scenes of the revolutionary war, after them again in Europe, & latterly in our own country: during all of which the current events sufficed to engross my whole attention, while nothing called for a recurrence to the transactions in which you were\n\t\t\t interested, so as to retrace the impressions in my mind. I\n\t\t\t remember in general that you were Agent for the state of Virginia at N. Orleans, that you paid large sums for the state to enable Genl Clarke to carry on his expedition, that this was essential to it\u2019s success, and that we entertained at that time a lively sense of these services. I think I settled some of your claims myself,\n\t\t\t while Governor, & certified them to the legislature with a recommendation of your case. so far I remember.\n          I have read your Memorial to the legislature, & observe in the 2d page a fact stated which I think belongs to my predecessor Govr Henry, & not to myself. you say that \u2018Govr Jefferson finding it expedient to support the military designs of Genl Clarke authorized him to draw on you, & yourself again to draw on Penette & co. of Bordeaux.\u2019 all this relates to Govr Henry. Clarke\u2019s military designs were authorised & fully executed in his time. I remember Rocheblave, taken at Kaskaskia was a prisoner in Williamsburg while Govr Henry lived there, and Hamilton, Hay, & a 3d person whose name I forget, taken at Vincennes, after being long on their road, were delivered to me very soon after I entered on office.Penette too of Bordeaux had been employed by Govr Henry, & his misconduct was known too soon after I came in for me to have made much use of him. it is possible however I may have authorised some draughts on him for the subsequent support of\n\t\t\t Clarke in his acquisitions. I mean by this nothing more than a correction of fact: for of Clarke\u2019s expedition I had approved previous to his entering on it.\n\t\t\t it was\n\t\t\t an idea of his own, & he came down from his native county to propose to Govr Henry to raise volunteers himself & undertake the reduction of the Illinois posts. Govr Henry approved the design, but considering secrecy as essential to success, could not ask authority from the legislature, but consulted Colo Mason, R. H. Lee, some others, & myself, who not only advised it, but pledged ourselves to Clarke to use our best endeavors in the legislature, if he succeeded, to induce them to remunerate himself & his followers in lands. he was satisfied with this, succeeded & was remunerated. Clarke\u2019s authorisation therefore to draw on you, for the support of his military designs, & yours to reimburse yourself by draughts on Penette, must have been derived from Govr Henry. the fact is of little importance, but merely for the sake of correctness.  I go into no examination of the particular claim stated in your Memorial. of that I know nothing. but I\n\t\t\t have such confidence in the justice of our legislature that I am satisfied if the claim be rightful, right will be done.Accept the assurance of my esteem & respect.\n            Jefferson", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0293", "content": "Title: Burgess Griffin\u2019s List of Blankets and Beds Distributed to Poplar Forest Slaves, [ca. 1811\u20131812]\nFrom: Griffin, Burgess\nTo: \n\t\t\t         Blankets given in 1809\n            At black water\n            At black water\n            Betteys Cate & marey\n            Little dick \n            yellow dick. \n            Sukeys Children\n            hubarts Sal\n            Cate hubart\n              Blankets gven in 1811\n\t\t\t Beds given out in 1809\n              At black water\n              At black water\n\t\t\t yellow dick\n\t\t\t Cate & marey \n\t\t\t Diner\n\t\t\t old bettey\n\t\t\t hannah\n\t\t\t Lucinder\n              olde bettey\n\t\t\t Austern \n\t\t\t Eady\n\t\t\t Bess\n\t\t\t little dick \n\t\t\t Rachal\n\t\t\t Cate hubrt\n              Cate hubert\n\t\t\t Mareear\n\t\t\t Nanney\n\t\t\t florow\n\t\t\t Dannel\n\t\t\t lucy\n\t\t\t Rubin\n\t\t\t Eve\n\t\t\t mureear\n\t\t\t Goings Sal", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0294", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s Lists of Slaves at Poplar Forest, [1811\u20131812]\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: \n\t\t  Jame Hubbard\n\t\t  Bess.\n\t\t  Cate\n\t\t  Betty\n\t\t  Armistead. Hubard\u2019s\n\t\t  Will\n\t\t  Caesar. Bess\u2019s\n\t\t  Abby.\n\t\t  Austin\n\t\t  Dinah.\n\t\t  Maria. Cate\u2019s\n\t\t  Dick.\n\t\t  Nanny.\n\t\t  Flora. Will\u2019s\n\t\t  Hanah. Cate\u2019s\n\t\t  Cate. Betty\u2019s\n\t\t  Jesse.\n\t\t  Cate. Suck\u2019s.\n\t\t  Nace. Cate\u2019s\n\t\t  Fanny. Will\u2019s.\n\t\t  Sal. Will\u2019s\n\t\t  Sally. Cate\u2019s.\n\t\t  Gawen. Betty\u2019s.\n\t\t  Daniel. Bess\u2019s\n\t\t  Mary. Betty\u2019s.\n\t\t  Phil Hubard?\n\t\t  Reuben. Hanah\u2019s.\n\t\t  Stephen. Suck\u2019s.\n\t\t  Aggy. Dinah\u2019s.\n\t\t  Cate. Rachael\u2019s\n\t\t  Lucinda. Hanah\u2019s.\n\t\t  Maria. Nanny\u2019s\n\t\t  Edy. Will\u2019s.\n\t\t  Nisy. Maria\u2019s\n\t\t  Manuel. Will\u2019s.\n\t\t  Phil. Nanny\u2019s\n\t\t  Evans. Dinah\u2019s\n\t\t  Gawen. Flora\u2019s\n\t\t  Hercules. Betty\u2019s.\n\t\t  Johnny. Maria\u2019s\n\t\t  Hanah. Dinah\u2019s\n\t\t  Milly. Nanny\u2019s\n\t\t  Amy. Will\u2019s\n\t\t  Davy. Suck\u2019s Cate\u2019s.\n\t\t  Milly. Sal\u2019s\n\t\t  Aleck. Flora\u2019s.\n\t\t  Sally. Hanah\u2019s\n\t\t  Rachael. Fanny\u2019s.\n\t\t  Ambrose Suck\u2019s\n\t\t  Billy. Cate\u2019s Sally\u2019s\n\t\t  Lucy. Dinah\u2019s.\n\t\t  George Dennis. Nanny\u2019s\n\t\t  Billy. Hanah\u2019s\n\t\t  Billy. Flora\u2019s.\n\t\t  Betty. Sal\u2019s\n\t\t  Isaac. Maria\u2019s\n\t\t  Jamy. Dinah\u2019s.\n\t\t  Anderson. Sally\u2019s.\n\t\t  Prince. Suck\u2019s\n\t\t  Anderson. Nanny\u2019s\n\t\t  Abby Sal\u2019s\n\t\t  John. Suck\u2019s Cate\u2019s.\n\t\t  Jamey Hanah\u2019s.\n\t\t  Rhody. Fanny\u2019s.\n\t\t  Briley. Dinah\u2019s\n\t\t  Boston. Flora\u2019s.\n\t\t  Joe. Suck\u2019s\n              Milly. Nanny\u2019sEdy. Sal\u2019s\n            Jame Hubbard. abt 43.\n            Armistead. Hubard\u2019s 71.\n            Cate. Rachael\u2019s 97. Aug.\n            Lucinda. Hanah\u2019s. 91. June\n            Phil Hubard.\n            Austin. Betty\u2019s. 75. Aug.\n               children of Suck, the daughter of Bess.\n            George Dennis. 08. May.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "01-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0295", "content": "Title: Thomas Jefferson\u2019s List of Landholdings and Monticello Slaves, [ca. 1811\u20131812]\nFrom: Jefferson, Thomas\nTo: \n               bed of road. Brown\n               the Montico tract\n               the Hendersons\n               on Henderson\u2019s bra.\n               the Milton tract.\n               Shadwell mountn\n              Limestone. Sharp\u2019s\n              do Hardware\n              Bedford & Campbell\n              Callaway\u2019s pat.\n              Jno Robinson\u2019s\n\t\t\t Mary\u2019s\n              Washington B. Rachael\u2019s.\n              Cornelius. Ursula\u2019s\n              Jamey. Scilla\u2019s.\n              Matilda.Cretia\u2019s.\n              Robert.Virginia\u2019s.", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"created_timestamp": "12-01-1811", "downloaded_timestamp": "10-19-2021", "url": "https://founders.archives.gov/API/docdata/Jefferson/03-04-02-0421-0002", "content": "Title: Enclosure: Peter Walsh to Isaac A. Coles, 1 December 1811\nFrom: Walsh, Peter\nTo: Coles, Isaac A.\n              I have only received within these few days your favour of the 4th april which I believe came by the Frigate Constitution which arrived in October at cherbourg with Mr Barlow and Mr Warden. It is not possible for me to send the Wine which you, Mr Jefferson and Mr Cabell have ordered of me till a change of measures towards our Vessels are adopted by the English, who at present take all those that fall in their way with French Goods on board.\n\t\t\t My Friend at Bordeaux, in answer to the application I made him for room for said Wines on board of Some one of the Vessels at that Place;, has\n\t\t\t written me that none of their Captains can be prevailed upon to take any Goods on Freight, and\n\t\t\t that the most of them are returning in Ballast.\u2014\n              It grieves me to be thus deprived of the means of Complying with yours and the Gentlemen above mentiond\u2019s Commands, but you may depend on it\u2019s being done as soon as there may be Safety therein and on my endeavours to give you satisfaction in the quality, \n\t\t  wishing much for occasions to shew the Esteem and regard with which I am\n              Your Friend & hble St\n              have the goodness to inform Mr Jefferson and Mr Cabell of my ", "culture": "English", "source_dataset": "Pile_of_Law", "source_dataset_detailed": "Pile_of_Law_founding_docs", "source_dataset_detailed_explanation": "Letters from U.S. founders.", "creation_year": 1811},
{"title": "An account of the great fire, which destroyed about 250 buildings in Newburyport, on the night of the 31st of May, 1811. Taken principally from the statements which have appeared in the public newspapers", "publisher": "Newburyport : Printed by W. & J. Gilman", "date": "1811", "language": "eng", "page-progression": "lr", "sponsor": "The Library of Congress", "contributor": "The Library of Congress", "scanningcenter": "capitolhill", "mediatype": "texts", "collection": ["library_of_congress", "americana"], "shiptracking": "LC057", "call_number": "13924459", "identifier-bib": "00141110378", "repub_state": "4", "updatedate": "2012-01-12 02:52:51", "updater": "associate-elizabeth-king", "identifier": "accountofgreatfi00newb", "uploader": "associate-elizabeth-king@archive.org", "addeddate": "2012-01-12 02:52:53", "publicdate": "2012-01-12 02:52:56", "scanner": "scribe8.capitolhill.archive.org", "repub_seconds": "30041", "ppi": "650", "camera": "Canon EOS 5D Mark II", "operator": "associate-alex-blum@archive.org", "scandate": "20120124025739", "imagecount": "34", "foldoutcount": "0", "identifier-access": "http://www.archive.org/details/accountofgreatfi00newb", "identifier-ark": "ark:/13960/t4nk4dd9v", "curation": "[curator]admin-shelia-deroche@archive.org[/curator][date]20120125230711[/date][state]approved[/state]", "scanfee": "150", "sponsordate": "20120131", "possible-copyright-status": "The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright restrictions for this item.", "backup_location": "ia903707_19", "openlibrary_edition": "OL25166776M", "openlibrary_work": "OL16455815W", "external-identifier": "urn:oclc:record:1038732078", "lccn": "01012382", "description": "23, [1] p ; 18 cm", "ocr_module_version": "0.0.21", "ocr_converted": "abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.37", "page_number_confidence": "49", "page_number_module_version": "1.0.3", "creation_year": 1811, "content": "An Account of the Great Fire in Newburyport.\nPrinted and sold by W. & J. Gilman, at their Book-Store, Federal-Street, Newburyport.\n\nSecond Edition, Improved.\nNewburyport, Printed by W. & J. Gilman, Federal-Street, 1811.\n\nAn Account of the Great Fire in Newburyport.\n\nOn Friday evening, May 31, 1811, at half past 9 o'clock, the citizens of the town were alarmed by the cry of Fire! which proved to have taken effect at the place where they had so repeatedly been summoned in the course of the present season on a similar occasion; and where it had for some time past been anxiously feared some vile incendiary intended to accomplish the purpose.\nThe fire started in an unimproved stable in Mechanic Row, owned by David Lawrence. At the time the fire was discovered, it was found to be completely enveloped in flames. It soon extended to the market and to State-street, and spread in such various directions as to baffle all efforts to subdue it. In a few hours, it had destroyed every building on the north side of Cornhill, and both sides of State street, from Cornhill to the market. It then proceeded into Essex-street, on the north east side, as far as Fair-street, and within a few rods thereof on the south-west side. It entered Liberty-street within one house of Independence-street, and down Water-street as far as Hudson's wharf, sweeping off every building within.\nThe following extract is descriptive of the scene from the Masonic Address delivered before the Brethren of the Lodges of St. Peter and St. Mark, in this town, assembled to commemorate the nativity of St. John the Baptist, June 24th:\n\nThe uncertainty of earthly enjoyments has recently been forcibly impressed upon us. When we agreed to celebrate this natal day of our favourite saint, we were moving smoothly along in the common course of business and pleasure. The scene has changed; a wide and desolating conflagration has swept away the hard earnings of many years; brought competence to poverty, and opulence to scantiness. Who, that witnessed, will lose the remembrance of that night of horrors; when the aged, whose happiness is half formed of local attachments, saw their mansions where their sires dwelt, reduced to ashes?\nThe buildings were wrapped in flames; when helpless infancy and exhausted decrepitude merged their wailings with the noise and confusion of the night, and the mother, terrified and dismayed, pressed her baby closer to her breast and fled for shelter and safety, not knowing where.\n\nThe loss of property is immense and cannot fall short of $1,000,000. Over 90 families are driven from their habitations with the loss of a significant portion of their furniture and clothing, and many of them deprived of the means to furnish themselves with the necessities of life.\n\nWe have endeavored to collect as particular a statement of the sufferers as circumstances permitted, and now present it to our readers.\n\nAccount of the Great Fire.\n\nLIST OF PRINCIPAL SUFFERERS.\n\nMechanick Row.\nDavid Lawrence, 2 unoccupied stables.\nJoseph Jackman, occupant of store and dwelling-house, tavern and groceries.\nNathan Follansbee, occupant of store, groceries.\nMatthew Perkins, occupant of dwelling-house.\nSamuel Palmer and Adam Sylvester, occupants.\nMarket Square.\nJosiah Smith, occupant of barn and store.\nJoseph Lesley, occupant of store, cooper.\nEdward Rand, store, hardware.\nHeirs of Bishop Norton, store.\nDaniel Smith, occupant, apothecary. Heirs of Benjamin Dole, store.\nEnoch Plummer, jun., occupant, groceries.\nJohn M. O'Brien, attorney's office.\nJohn Peabody and William Stickney, two stores.\nEphraim Titcomb, occupant, groceries.\nJames Locke, occupant, dry goods.\nDaniel Balch, two stores, watch maker.\nTimothy Webb, occupant, book store and bindery.\nJohn Peabody, two stores.\nOne unoccupied.\nEdward Toppan, jr., occupant, dry goods.\nJosiah and David Little, three stores.\nJames Kimball, occupant, dry goods.\nFrancis Todd.\nEdward Little and Co. - bookstore. Enoch Pike - chamber, tailor. Heirs of Samuel Tufts - dwelling-house & 2 stores. Samuel H. Foster - occupant, dry goods. Joseph Hervey - occupant, tailor. John Jenkins and Mrs. Smith - dwelling-house and 2 stores. Anthony Smith - occupant of store, hardware and groceries. Aaron Davis, jun. - occupant, apothecary. Union Insurance Company - dwelling-house, and store. Nathaniel Bradstreet - occupant of house, physician. Enoch Plummer - occupant of store, groceries. Perkins & Dean - 2 stores, hardware (one of these stands a monument of the advantages of fire-proof buildings, and was principally preserved). Abraham Perkins and Anna Sewail - 3 stores, 1 unoccupied. Moses Moody, jun. - occupant, groceries. Thomas Haie - occupant, hatter. Abner Wood and Josnua Greenleai - 2 stores, ship chandlery, &c.\nState-Street. \nJohn  Peabody,  3  stores.  Thomas  &  Whipple, \noccupant  book-store,  the  chamber  improved  for \nthe  Newburyport  Library.  John  Chickering,  oc- \ncupant, dry  goods.  Samuel  B.  Stevens,  occupant, \nhard  ware.  Benjamin  Lord,  occupant  of  chamber, \ntaylor.  Union  Insurance  Company,  block  called \nBlunt's  Buildings,  3  stores,  dwelling-house,  print- \ning-office and  engraver.  Joseph  Hooper,  occu- \npant of  store,  crockery.  Jonathan  Coolidge,  occu- \npant, dry  goods,  Moses  Osgood,  occupant,  dry \ngoods.  Howard  S.  Robinson,  occupant  of  cham- \nbers, dwelling  house.  Charles  Non  is  and  Co. \noccupant,  printing-office.  David  Fairman,  occu- \npant, engraver.  Phenix  Insurance  Company, \nblock  of  buildings,  office,  5  stores,  chambers,  &.c. \nPhilip  Bagley  &  Son,  occupant  of  store,  auctioneers* \nJoseph  Jack  man,  occupant,  Csy  goods.  Caleb \nCross,  occupant,  post  office.  Prince  Stetson,  oc- \nRalph Cross, occupant, 4th story, Madison Hall.\nAnthony & Moses Davenport, dwelling-house, wood-house, &c.\nPrince Stetson, occupant, tavern.\nJoseph Clement, dwelling-house and 2 stores.\nAccount of the Great Fire.\nOsgood [Bracket], occupant, store, shoe makers.\nJohn Knowlton, occupant, store and part of dwelling-house, cabinet maker.\nSamuel Clement, dwelling-house.\nThomas Perkins and S. Clement, occupants.\nDavid Wood and John Peabody, 2 stores.\nJonathan Woodman, jun., occupant, silversmith.\nNathaniel Newman, occupant, hairdresser.\nJohn Fitz, store, saddler.\nEbenezer Dole, store.\nDaniel N. Dole, occupant, silversmith.\nObadiah Pearson, occupant, chamber, tailor.\nJohn Smith and Jonathan Marsh, 2 stores.\nGilman White, occupant, crockery.\nMoses Cole, occupant, painter and gilder,\nCornhill and Pleasant-Street.\nI. Young, J. Gage, and J. Toppan: 14 unoccupied stores.\n1. William Francis: occupant, hair dresser.\n2. William Hoit: occupant, dry goods.\n3. Francis B. Somerby: occupant, dry goods.\n4. Moses Kimball, jun.: occupant, dry goods.\n5. Pierce and Gordon: occupant, dry goods.\n6. John Porter: occupant, dry goods.\n7. Paul Noyes: occupant, dry goods.\n8. Arthur Gilman: occupant, dry goods.\n9. Joseph T. Pike: occupant, chamber, tailor.\n10. Paul Bishop: occupant, chamber, tailor.\n11. Edward St. Loe Livermore: occupant, attorney's office.\n12. Little and Bannister: occupant, attorney's office.\n13. John Stuart: occupant, attorney's office.\n14. James Hodge: occupant, store, shoe maker, Essex Street.\n15. Amos Atkinson: store.\n16. Stephen Greely: occupant, shoe maker.\n17. Samuel Mansur: house & store.\n18. N. H. Wright: occupant, printer.\n19. John Colby: occupant, painter.\n\n[10] Account of the Great Fire.\nMiddle-Street.\nJosiah Little, David Little, four stores and two dwellings:\nEdmund Nichols, occupant, dwelling house.\nJames Kimball, occupant, store, groceries.\nW. Oilman, J. Oilman, occupants, book-store and printing-office.\nNathan Ames, occupant, shoe maker.\nEphraim W. Allen, occupant, chambers, herald office.\nD. W. Jones, occupant, house and shop, milliner.\nThomas Dodge, dwelling-house and work shop.\nThomas Lankester, set of join tools.\nNicholas Tracy, dwelling-house, unoccupied.\nSamuel Noyes, dwelling-house and shop, milliner.\nMary Wessels, occupant, shop, groceries.\nHannah Bradbury, dwelling-house and shop, milliner.\nSamuel Batchelder, dwelling-house and store, groceries.\nNancy and Eliza Batchelder, occupants, dwelling-house.\nNicholas Pierce, dwelling-house, shop and store.\nWidow Nilage, occupant, shop.\nHenry Bolt, dwelling-house and shop.\nJoshua [End of Text]\nDaniel Perkins, saddler. Mrs. Moulton, dwelling-house and shop. Widow Stickney, dwelling-house and barn. Enoch Pike, occupant. Jeremiah Young, dwelling-house and store. Widow Johnson, dwelling-house and shop. Moses Cole, Widow Newman, Salome Noyes, occupants. Gilman White, dwelling-house. John Denny, dwelling-house. Rev. John Peak, occupant. Hugh Pi iichard, 2 dwelling-houses. Thomas Pritchard and Anthony Francis, occupants. Ebenezer Pearson, store and bakehouse. Clark Morss, Elijah. Parker, Daniel Abbot, occupants, cabinet and chair makers. Benjamin Abbot, dwelling-house and barn. Joseph Noyes, 4th, dwelling-house, barn, paint store. Woodbridge Noyes, stable.\n\nAccount of the Great Fire.\n\nMrs. Caiman, occupant of house. Heirs of Moses Tenny, dwelling-house. Widow Baldwin, Southey.\nEbenezer Dole, 2 stores, Cabinet and chair makers.\nE. Dole, G. Parker, S. Dole, occupants, cab-inet and chair makers.\nE. Dole, P. Tcnney, P. Thurlo, occupants, groceries.\nCentre Street.\nWidow Rogers, 2 dwelling-houses.\nHumphrey B. Haskell, Thomas Marshal, Mrs. Rogers, Mr. Henderson, occupants.\nEnoch C. Toppan, dwelling-house and barn.\nBartholomew Brown, occupant.\nRichard Pike, 2 dwelling-houses and 2 barns.\nThomas Boardman, Widow Toppan, Widow Kennedy, occupants.\nSamuel Wheeler, dwelling-house, bake-house, and store.\nJohn Pearson, jun., occupant, baker.\nMr. Hendrick, occupant.\nHeirs of Bulkeley Emerson, dwelling-house and school-house.\nRobert S. Stone, occupant.\nEdward Rand, dwelling-house, store, &c.\nWidow Armitage, John Norman, occupants.\nHeirs of Joseph Johnson, dwelling-house, barn, &c.\nBenjamin Appleton, Moses Todd, William Randall, occupants.\nTheodore Pearson, jun., dwelling-house.\nE. C. Beals, dwelling-house. William Boardman, dwelling-house. Heirs of John Rogers, dwelling-house. Florence Dawset and Daniel Ford, occupants. Eleazer Johnson, dwelling-house, shop, and store. Moses Moore, Joseph Doggett, jun., and Elias Pike, occupants of house. Jeremiah Gray, occupant of shop. Isaac Stone, house and store. George Warner, occupant.\n\nLiberty Street.\nBaptist Meeting House. William Stickney, house and shop. Ezekiel Prince, 2 houses and 2 stores. E. W. Allen, occupant. Joshua Green-leaf, house, barn, and others. Heirs of Bulkeley Emerson, house and barn. Joseph Emerson and Miss Emersons, occupants.\n\nWater Street,\nDaniel Burnham, store, groceries. John Wood, store, groceries. Wm. Bayley, store, groceries. Wm. Watkins, 2 houses, 2 stores, 2 back stores, and wood house. 1 store unoccupied.\nPhrey Cook, occupant, hatter. Andrews Palmer and Joseph Davis, occupants, house. Samuel Whitney, joiner's tools. Offin Boardman, 3 houses, 3 stores, 1 house and 1 store unoccupied. John Odiorne and Samuel Crowther, occupants, houses. Joseph Edwards, occupant, store, groceries. Joseph Brown, auctioneer, house and store. Joseph O'Brien, house and store. J. O'Brien and Son, occupants, store. Heirs of Benj. Harrod, house. Abraham Jackson, store, unoccupied. Jonathan Gage and others, house and store. Pingrey & Foster, occupants, store. Mr. Tucker and Mr. Russell, occupants, house. Margaret Atwood, house and store. John Hart, occupant, house, tavern. Benjamin G. Sueetser, occupant, store, groceries. Benja. Appleton, store, hatter. Capt. Dunlap, house and shop. Mrs. Seward, occupant, boarding house. Emanuel Seward, occupant, shoemaker. Nah'l Carter, house.\n2  stores,  and  barn.  Wm.  Boardman,  occupant \nstore,  hard  wares,  groceries,  paints,  \u00a3kc.  Joseph \nMarquand,  2  houses  and  3  stores.     1  store  unoc \nAccount  of  the  Great  Fire.  13 \ncupied.  Moses  Sweet,  occupant  store,  groceries. \nHannah  Prince,  occupant  house  and  store,  board- \ning house.  David  Moody,  barn,  malt  house,  and \nstore.  Thomas  Lord,  occupant  of  store,  hatter. \nThomas  Moody,  occupant  malt  house.  Moses \nClark,  house  and  shop,  groceries.  Abraham  Jack \nson,  house  and  2  stores,  house  and  1  store  unoc \ncupied.  Mrs*  Richardson,  occupant  store,  milli- \nner. JosephToppan,  house,  shop,  and  back  store, \ndry  goods.  Heirs  of  Joseph  Kent,  house  and  2 \nstores.  Winthrop  P.  Gray,  John  Brown,  Amos \nDennis,  and  John  Abbot,  occupants.  Stephen \nGerrish  8c  Sons,  house,  shop,  and  store,  dry  goods. \nHeirs  of  Joseph  Greenough,  house  and  shop.  John \nGreenough,  occupant,  hatter.  Clement  Star, \nT. and A. Wheeler, occupants, groceries and boarding house. Heirs of John Toppan, house and shop. Mrs. Mitchell, occupant, Jere Gray, occupant, Benj. H. Toppan, occupant, coppersmith. Richard Pike, house, shop, store, and 2 back stores, stores unoccupied. Widow Greenleaf, occupant of house and shop, groceries. Timothy T. Ford, house and shop, dry goods. Abner Wood & Joshua Greenleaf, 3 brick stores, unoccupied.\n\nJohn Wood and others, warehouse. Samuel Brown, store, groceries and ship chandlery. A. and E. Wheelwright, 3 stores, groceries, iron, &c. Jacob Stone, store, groceries. Zebedee Cook, store, groceries. Robert Dodge, store, flour. Joseph Stanwood, jun., occupant, sail loft. Thomas Pritchard, rigging loft.\n\nOfficer Earleman, 6 stores & warehouses, Amos Tappan, Benjamin G. Boardman, John Oddy.\nB. G. Boardman, a schooner about 100 tons, burned to the warehouse. O'Brien's Wharf.\nJoseph O'Brien, 1 warehouse.\nJackson's Wharf.\nAbraham Jackson, 2 warehouses.\nJewett's Wharf. Jona. Gage, 1 warehouse.\nAtwood's Wharf. Margaret Atwood, 5 warehouses. John Wood and B. G. Sweteser, occupants.\nCarter's Wharf. William Boardman, warehouse. Enoch C. Toppan, shop, blockmaker. Nathaniel Carter, warehouse and barn.\nMarquand's Wharf. Joseph Marquand, 6 warehouses, rigging loft, counting room, &c. Henry Furlong and Benjamin Hale, damage to brig Washington, by loss of mainmast, rigging, &c.\n\nFrom the great extent of injury by the late devastating fire, although Charity may have its perfect work, and donations made in every town, yet probably 20 years of prosperity will not repair the breach made on this memorable night.\nThe inhabitants of this town assembled on Monday morning, June 3, at 9 o'clock, to consider the state of the sufferers by the fire and to devise means for their relief. At this meeting were Jeremiah Nelson, Joseph Dana, Isaac Adams, William Woart, Eleazer Johnson, Isaac Stone, Jacob Stone, Nicholas Johnson, Nicholas Johnson Jr., Aaron Pardee, William Bartlet, Stephen Howard, Moses Brown, Robert Foster, William Coombs, and Samuel Tenney.\nJohn Pettingel, John Stuart, Samuel Coffin, Samuel L. Knap, Joshua Carter, Daniel A. White, James Prince, Nicholas Pike, Michael Hodge jr., Thomas M. Clark, Benjamin Peirce, Joseph Williams, William Russell, William Cross were chosen as a committee on behalf of the town to solicit aid from the benevolent public, which the distress of a great portion of our citizens so forcefully claims. The Selectmen of the town are authorized and appointed to receive all monies and other donations for the use of the sufferers. Appointed to the committee are Wm. Bartlett, JVm. Wart, Moses Brown, Benj. Peirce, T. M. Clark, Nicholas Johnson, Joseph Williams, John Pettingel, and Isaac Adams.\nThe inhabitants of Newburyport, in town-meeting assembled, June 3, 1811, offer their sincere acknowledgments of gratitude for the friendly assistance received during the terrible and desolating fire. They express their thanks to the people in the neighboring towns, Newbury, Salisbury, and Amesbury, for their accustomed vigilance and exertion; they were like brothers rescuing brothers from the flames. To the people of Rowley, Ipswich, Danvers, Beverly, Haverhill, Topsfield, Bradford, and the towns of the State of New-Hamptonshire in our vicinity, for they flew to our assistance as soon as information of our distress was given. To the people of Salem, for they rendered us the most active assistance.\nAnd necessary assistance in guarding our lives and property in the night succeeding the destruction, when we were exhausted by trouble and fatigue. The conduct of all our friends who afforded us help in time of need will be held as an example for the good and benevolent as long as the memory of our calamity lasts; and they have our best wishes for their welfare, and our prayers to Almighty God that they may be preserved from similar evils.\n\nA true copy of record. Attest, John Fitz, Town Clerk.\n\nXcwlur y port, June 4, 1811. The sufferers by the late fire, who want immediate relief in provisions, are requested to apply at the Store of Capt. William Russell, Market square, for the same; those persons who are disposed to bestow provisions, will please to send them to the above place.\n\nWilliam Russell, Aaron Pardee, William JVoart.\nBenjamin Picrice, Eleazer Johnson, Committee, Avcqint of the Great Fire. In a town meeting held on Friday, June 7, to adopt measures for security against similar calamities in the future, it was voted that no buildings in the town should be placed or erected with limits of the town more than ten feet high, unless the same be built with brick or stone; and a Committee was appointed to make application to the General Court the present session to obtain an act for that purpose. An act has since passed for this purpose, Thursday the 13th of June was set apart as a day of Fasting and Prayer, in consequence of the heavy calamity that had visited this town. In the forenoon, a Sermon was delivered in Rev. Mr. Dana's meeting-house by the Rev. Mr. Milton, of Belleville; in the afternoon, the Rev. Dr. Buckminster, of Portsmouth, preached.\nThe Reverend Dr. Spring's meeting-house saw crowded audiences in both instances. From The Herald, June 21:\n\nAmong the charitable donations our suffering fellow-citizens have received, that from the two Families of Friends, who reside at Canterbury and Enfield, New Hampshire, has elicited emotions of the most lively gratitude. They brought us large quantities of furniture, food, and raiment; articles of substantial excellence and sterling value.\n\nCharity belongs exclusively to no party and no sect; her residence is in the benevolent heart, and where misery is, she comes, to heal the wounded, clothe the naked, and feed the hungry.\n\n18 Account of the Great Fire, Salem Address.\n\nA committee of two persons, from each religious society, came together.\nious society  in  Salem,  has  been  chosen  to  receive \nSubscriptions  for  the  relief  of  the  Inhabitants  of \nthis  town  ;  and  the  following  Address  has  been \npresented  through  the  medium  of  the  papers, \nTo  the  Inhabitants  of  Salem. \nA  Committee  chosen  at  the  Meeting  held  at  the \nCourt-house,  on  the  5th  June,  for  the  purpose \nof  soliciting  subscriptions  for  the  indigent  suf- \nferers at  the  late  fire  at  Newbury  port,  submit \nthe  following  ADDRESS  for  the  consideration \nof  their  fellow-citizens. \nWhatsoever  ye  would  that  men  should  do  itnto \nyou,  do  ye  even  so  unto  them. \u2014 This  is  the  distin- \nguishing characteristic  of  our  holy  religion,  and \nmarks  its  divine  origin, \u2014 Almighty  God,  who  is \nthe  sovereign  disposer  of  all  things,  and  whose  aw- \nful judgments  surpass  the  scrutiny  of  human  in- \nvestigation,  has  visited  our  afflicted  neighbours  of \nNew  bun-port  with  a  most  desolating  fire.  In  the \nIn a brief moment of one melancholic night, a consuming flame has destroyed their once comfortable habitats, leaving in ruins their dwelling places, garments, furniture, and provisions of every kind. Where cheerful fireplaces once smiled with abundance, contentment, and security, only distress and ashes remain, offering a dreary perspective of future suffering. To whom now, in this hour of their afflictive visitation, can they appeal for relief, for comfort and account of the Great Fire? To you, their sympathizing Christian friends, they turn their supplicating eyes, imploring the assistance that your generous hearts willingly afford them. Let not their hopes be in vain, but let the liberal hand of charity recognize a brother in need.\nLetter to the Committee of Boston for collecting subscriptions for the relief of the sufferers by fire in this town, as published in the Palladium, August 2d. Newburyport, July 30, 1811.\n\nThe distress of the afflicted should not be left unattended; extend your assistance to help them enjoy their domestic comforts once more. Silence suggestions of despair with congenial sympathy, and share your portions, of which God has graciously made you the stewards, to relieve their distresses. Then will you receive and enjoy the grateful pleasure and satisfaction that enriches both the giver and the receiver.\n\nPer order, Jonathan Waldo.\n\nThe Selectmen of Newburyport acknowledge the receipt of twenty-four thousand three hundred and fifty dollars and fifty-five cents from the citizens of Boston, to be appropriated to the relief of the sufferers.\nthe sufferers by the late fire. At a time when a spirit of charity, as large as our exigencies were imperious, seems to have pervaded our sister States; whilst the benevolence of every part of the country has been most liberally displayed towards us, your bounty has been eminently distinguished, not only in its extent, but in the promptitude with which it was exercised, and the respectful kindness with which it has been bestowed. We fed ourselves deeply, indeed, indebted to our fellow-citizens for the peculiarly grateful manner in which their charities have been communicated, as well as for their very liberal amount. In the blessing-soul of that Philanthropy, which measures its benevolence only by the wants of the distressed, and imparting its bounty regards the feelings as well as the necessities of its brethren, we participate.\nPacked on the present occasion, beyond what we believe, any other subjects of afflictions; and it will be consecrated in our remembrance for the sufferings which excited in us. Although Charity, even in its perfect work, must fail to afford complete relief in a country which swept before it not only the means of port from hundreds, but every thing that was endearced to them by habit and hallowed - yet the spirit which has mingled its sympathies with ours and shared our burdens, we feel wholly unexampled.\n\nIt consoles us to reflect, gentlemen, while enabled to return you only the humble thanks, that it is a spirit which rewards it; that it has for its promise the Peace, and that in its exercise it is a blessing.\n\nInstruments of esteem and respect,\nwe are your obedient servants,\nJehiel Nelson.\nIsaac Adams, son of Eteazer Johuson, of the town of Jacob Stone, Xew 'bury port.\nAccount of the Great Fire. August 23.\nBesides the pleasure we have derived from witnessing the unexampled liberality of our fellow-citizens towards the sufferers by fire in this town, is that which we feel in being able to assure the public that the principles and proceedings of the Committee in making distribution of the monies entrusted to them have met the entire approval of the benevolent donors, who have been made acquainted with them. Committees of the contributors in Salem and Boston have been pleased to express their decided and cordial approval, which we trust will give satisfaction to our other numerous benefactors, who could not be so conveniently consulted.\nFrom the Committee in Boston, the following expressive of their opinion has been received: At a meeting of the Committee for the disposition of the funds collected in the town of Boston, for the sufferers by Fire at Newburyport, at the Hall of the Branch Bank, on Thursday, 1-EM.\n\nSamuel Elliot, Chairman.\n\nVoted, The Committee being entrusted with the monies contributed by the Citizens of the town of Boston, towards the relief of their suffering brethren of Newburyport, and charged with the disposition of the same, after careful enquiry they assigned the immediate execution of the trust reposed in them, to a Committee appointed by the sufferers. The principles and details of the proceeding Committee have been examined.\n\n22. Account of the Great Fire.\n\ntheir request; all of which are most cordially approved.\nSince the Great Fire, several attempts have been made to burn the barn of Mr. Enoch Peirce, located in the south-east part of the town, but none were successful. A timely discovery prevented the inevitable destruction of a large quantity of property and a great number of buildings compactly situated.\n\nAt 5 o'clock on Friday morning, July 12, an old building on Captain William Coombs' wharf and occupied by him as a stable was set on fire and consumed. Fortunate ly, the progress of the fire was stopped, although surrounded by wooden buildings and at a short distance from the former.\n\nAbout half past 4 o'clock on Tuesday morning, July 23, the inhabitants of the town were again alarmed.\nA youth of about 15 years, alarmed the community by crying \"Fire!\" This was a barn belonging to Capt. Sam'l VV. Thompson, located a few rods from the last, and occupied by Capt. Paul Merrill, which was primarily consumed. On the morning of July 24th, the youth was apprehended and examined before a magistrate on a charge of setting fire to Capt. Thompson's barn. He confessed to setting fires not only to this one, but also to those belonging to Mr. Pierce and Capt. Coombs. He was learning the baking trade, and these fires were near the bake-house where he worked. The youth stated that he had no agency in the fire that destroyed such a large portion of the town, and that no one named Metron was associated with him in the attempts he had confessed. He is now committed to await his trial at the Supreme Judicial Court.\nSince the late dreadful fire, the town-watch has been enlarged to about three times the former number. Individuals, with a zeal worthy of the occasion, have associated to guard every night those parts of the town where incendiary attempts might probably be made, particularly that part of the town where the before-mentioned fires broke out, which was guarded with double vigilance. Yet, to the astonishment of every citizen, early in the morning, soon after the numerous watch had left their posts, we were alarmed by the cry of fire. It is now ascertained that the boy who is now in confinement knew the time when the watch were dismissed. Before the inhabitants generally arose, he took fire from his oven and secretly communicated it to the barns which have been consumed. Although the great agitation following the fires had subsided, this new fire caused a renewed panic in the town.\nThe street was a ruin, and night's horrid gloom illuminated its face with terror. While houses, bewailing, mute pity followed, A mother's wild cries pierced the merciful air. Beside her stood Edward, imploring each wind, To wake his loved fifteen who lingered behind; Awake, my poor Mary, Oh, fly to me, Mary, In the arms of your Edward, a pillow you'll find. In vain he called, for now the volume of smoke, Crackling between the parting rafters broke; Through the rent seams the forked flames ascend, All, all is lost! The roof's on fire, the roof's on fire.\nA flame brought Mary to view, she screamed as around her the flames fiercely blew. Where art thou mother? Oh fly to me brother! Oh, save your poor Mary, who lives but for you; Leave not your poor Mary. Ah J save your poor Mary! Her visioned form decrying, On wings of horror flying, The youth erects his frantic gaze, Then plunges in the madning blaze! Aloft he dauntless forwards goes, The flaming room explores; The roof in cinders crushes, Through tumbling walls he rushes; She's safe from fears alarms; She faints in Edward's arms! Oh, Nature, such thy triumph! Thy simple child can bravely bear it.\n\n(Note: The text appears to be a poem, possibly titled \"Nature\" by an unknown author. The text has been cleaned of irrelevant information, such as publication details and formatting, while preserving the original content as much as possible. The text has also been corrected for spelling errors and formatting inconsistencies.)", "source_dataset": "Internet_Archive", "source_dataset_detailed": "Internet_Archive_LibOfCong"},
{"title": "Adrian and Orrila;", "creator": "Dimond, William, fl. 1800-1830", "publisher": "New York: Published by the Longworths", "date": "1811", "language": "eng", "page-progression": "lr", "sponsor": "The Library of Congress", "contributor": "The Library of Congress", "scanningcenter": "capitolhill", "mediatype": "texts", "collection": ["library_of_congress", "americana"], "shiptracking": "LC004", "call_number": "5920107", "identifier-bib": "00144566476", "repub_state": "4", "updatedate": "2011-06-15 14:46:03", "updater": "Melissa.D", "identifier": "adrianorrila00dimo", "uploader": "melissad@archive.org", "addeddate": "2011-06-15 14:46:05", "publicdate": "2011-06-15 14:46:09", "scanner": "scribe10.capitolhill.archive.org", "repub_seconds": "95777", "ppi": "600", "camera": "Canon EOS 5D Mark II", "operator": "scanner-lian1-kam@archive.org", "scandate": "20110622141318", "imagecount": "98", "foldoutcount": "0", "identifier-access": "http://www.archive.org/details/adrianorrila00dimo", "identifier-ark": "ark:/13960/t9n30rc83", "curation": "[curator]abigail@archive.org[/curator][date]20110624001226[/date][state]approved[/state][comment]199[/comment]", "scanfee": "14", "sponsordate": "20110630", "possible-copyright-status": "The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright restrictions for this item.", "backup_location": "ia903700_28", "openlibrary_edition": "OL24733641M", "openlibrary_work": "OL15822713W", "external-identifier": "urn:oclc:record:1038747861", "lccn": "24008188", "filesxml": "Wed Dec 23 2:29:30 UTC 2020", "description": "p. cm", "ocr_module_version": "0.0.21", "ocr_converted": "abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.37", "page_number_confidence": "80", "page_number_module_version": "1.0.3", "creation_year": 1811, "content": "[A Play, In Five Acts: A Mother's Vengeance by William Dimond, ESQ.\n\nPrologue.\n\nLong has the stage, determined to impart\nSuch scenes alone as meliorate the heart,\nKept from all avenues, with rigid sway.\nPlots which corrupt, and maxims that betray.\nWith elevation now, the altered muse,\nThat praise rejects, which virtue should refuse;\nIn fancy's rose no vivid color sees.]\nUnless the vividness pleases the just; in wit's gay brilliant ownership no sparkling gem shines, unless allowed as brilliance by them. Proud of no praise, no vain distinction, unless distinguished in the moral train, celebrity she holds in disrepute, and scorns all laurel from a shameful root! Licentious follies rarely intervene, and truth and sense, and honor claim the scene! When love's distress rises in our story, let sighs break forth \u2013 for those are nature's sighs. When persecuted worth in grief appears, be proud to weep \u2013 for those are virtue's tears. But to our author: each dramatic bard solicits, but in vain, a long regard; formed to attract the fashion of the day, they, like that fashion, swiftly pass away. They gain at most, employed in such a cause. Uncertain honor, fugitive applause! Now hopes, now fears, his anxious heart composes.\nHalf sunk by these and just upheld by those;\nIn our days when envy smiles to sting,\nGrief follows joy, and praises censure bring.\nThen wits and heroes, and the critic few.\nHere let me pass, and, ladies, plead to you;\nYou, for whose favor every wit is bright.\nAll critics comment, and all heroes fight!\nProtection from the fair at once conveys\nAmple renown, consolidated praise;\n\nFor truth acknowledges, in nature's name,\nThe smiles of Beauty are the wreaths of Fate,\nUrged still by them, by their reward impressed,\nEach noble passion animates the breast;\nThey form the heart to every aim relined,\nExalt, delight, and dignify mankind!\n\nDRAMATIS PERSONAE.\n\nCOVENT-GARDEN,\nPrince of Altenburg -- Mr. Cooke,\nCount of Rosenheim -- Munden,\nPantalone,\nHaufroy (a minstrel) -- Bellamy.\nLothaire - Mrs. Kemhh\nOrrila of Rosenheim - Miss Brunton\nGitha (governess to Orrila) - 3Irs. Mattocks\nLouitgarde (her cousin) - Bristow\nDomestics, falconers, male and female peasants, and others,\nThe electorate of Saxony, about twenty leagues from Dresden.\nFrom day-break until late in the evening\nADRIAN AND ORRILA.\nScene: A cottage scattered at intervals with rustic dwellings\u2014the cottage of Michael towards the front. A wooden bridge crosses a rivulet at the bottom of the stage. Minna is discovered spinning.\nMichael: Minna! Minna! Minna!\nMinna: Only one of that name is here to answer you,\nyet you would call upon a dozen.\nMichael: Oh! such news! such news!\nMinna: Indeed!\nMichael: I have run myself out of breath to tell it you.\nMin: When told, shall I find it worth hearing?\nMich: Oh, such wonderful news!\nMin: Well, what is it about?\nMich: I don't know that, but I know there is some news\u2014 great, surprising, miraculous news, which when divulged, will throw the whole district into consternation! Two messengers from Dresden have arrived at the castle since daybreak. The whole family seems ready to jump out of their skins for joy. The old armor is being scoured in the great hall. Fires are lighting in the state-chambers. The covers are taken off the best chairs. My lady Orrila, running like a fawn from room to room, giving directions everywhere. Dame Githa putting on her holiday stomacher and coif, and master Anselm the butler, uncorking a batch of the famous old Rhenish\u2014are not all these proofs of news, aye, and of profound news?\nMin: So, you have returned from the castle without learning the particulars? Simpleton.\nMich: There now \u2014 everyone takes the liberty of calling me names; but I am no simpleton, madam. I took all possible pains to learn the secret, but nobody would attend to me. \"Master Anselm,\" I said, \"inform me of the news\"; \"ask no questions, clown,\" replied the butler, pushing me backwards. \"Dame Githa,\" I said, bowing respectfully in her face, \"tell me the meaning of this confusion\"; stand out of my way, numscull,\" answered the dame, and boxed my ears. I, in turn, persisted in inquiring, but the very scullions had the audacity to grin in my face and refuse me an answer.\nMich: My poor husband, with what uncivil treatment do you always meet!\nMick: Aye, and I too, who am myself the most polite.\nA well-educated and affluent man in the district, the first among all vassals on Count Rosenheim's domain, owned the prettiest cottage and the prettiest horse. He was also the husband of the prettiest man. \"Yes, my charming wife! But I don't pay heed to people's impertinence. My perception is such that I can read most human events without borrowing my neighbor's spectacles. I foresee that today will be declared a festival for some reason or another. So, I shall be prepared to make an appearance at the appropriate moment. I'll change these clothes and put on my handsome holiday suit right away.\"\n\n\"What! Before the festival is declared?\"\n\n\"Yes, whenever pleasure opens its ballroom, I can be ready to step forward with grace.\"\nWife, have you locked up my clothes? And I offer myself as your partner for the first dance.\n\nMin.: No\u2014 the key is in the closet.\nMich.: Then I'll array myself at once. I shall wear my bright orange doublet, and my scarlet hose, my blue jerkin with poppy-colored sleeves\u2014my hat and feather, and then a beautiful bouquet of Dutch tulips! There will be a coup d'oeil!\n\nMin.: Exquisite indeed! Nobody in the village will be dressed like you.\n\nMick.: No, no; I flatter myself\u2014Michael von Trusselburg can make himself a conspicuous figure upon most occasions. [exit into cottage]\n\nMm.: Go thy ways, for a kind-hearted, light-witted, merry, silly fellow! What can this bustle at the castle mean? But so the dear lady Orrila be happy there, I care not. Let the sun shine, and the faces of those she loves look cheerily, Minna rises from her humble.\nBedded contentedly, and meets the morning ever with a song of welcome!\nAIR - Minna!\nAh! welcome merry hour of dawn!\nThe fresh breeze rustling through the combs.\nThe rising sun's prelusive beams\nThat dance in gold on glassy streams.\nThe gossamer's fine silvery thread\nThat lightly floats o'er field-flowers' heads.\nThe dew-drops left by the weeping night,\nThat crown green leaves with beads of light.\nNow sweetly swell the peasant's lay\nAnd greet the blue-eyed blushing day.\nThe highland blast of hunter's horn,\nThe sheep-bell tinkling from the lawn,\nThe sky-lark's shrill rejoicing call,\nThe low of kine from grassy stalls,\nThe honey-maker's murmured song,\nWhile trading flowery banks along.\nThe sprightly dash of falling floods,\nAnd all the music of the woods.\nS. Adrian.\nNow sweetly swell the peasant's lay\nAnd greet the blue-eyed blushing day.\nLothaire appears on the bridge.\nLoth (pausing halfway): Aye! There stands the old cottage \u2014 and yon little tripping woman\u2014 yes, is it she! (crosses the bridge)\nMin: What a handsome, gay-looking cavalier! Who can he want in this valley?\nLoth: Coins forward and parades about the stage with consequence \u2014 sings, \"And he conquered the world with his row de row!\" (stealing a look), yes\u2014 it's she!\nMin: How the little varlet struts! He must be a person of consequence by his pomposity.\nLoth: She does not recall me yet. I'll try how in five years I have altered, save you good woman!\nMin: The like of you, sweet sir! Faith, he's a comely youth!\nLoth: Praythee! Can you direct me to the cottage of one Minna, the daughter of old Albert and Agnes Geisler \u2014 who married a wealthy peasant in this valley!\nMin: You mean Michael Von Trusselburg, sir? His house is yonder, and his wife stands here - I am Minna (curtsying low). Loth, indeed! Then, by my guess, you had a brother. Min: Yes, sir, a wild, scape-grace of a boy who ran away from home five years ago to seek his fortune at Dresden. Loth: A sad, wicked, mischievous creature, I suppose. Min: Bad enough, indeed, sir; he was always in some evil scrape from his cradle - though I, as his elder sister, took great pains to warn him against such courses. Loth: Umph! Do you remember, when he robbed the curate's orchard, and you stood under the hedge to catch the apples in your lap as he plucked them from the tree? Alin: Oh! the saints! Who could have told you that? Lot/i: Ah Minna!\nMin. Mercy! I look at your features\u2014 if it were not for that laced mantle and that plume of feathers,\nLoth. For whose brother would you take me?\nMin. Why is it\u2014no. Surely it cannot be\u2014\nLol/i. Yes, but it is, Minna! sister Minna! (catches her in his arms)\nMin. Lothaire! Are you then Lothaire in earnest? oh! welcome, a thousand times, my dear, ungrateful, scandalous, and story-telling sister!\nMin. Mercy! How the boy is grown!\nLoth. Yes, the little, ragged, barefooted, mischief-loving urchin, who left your threshold five years since, returns at least, well clothed and fed\u2014a few inches taller\u2014many maxims wiser\u2014ducats in his purse, and happiness bounding at his heart. But I have twenty millions of questions to ask\u2014have you been ill since?\nLeft you there, are you well now? Where's your husband? How many children have you got? Is the old one-eyed mare still have?\n\n3. I, Hold, hold! I claim my sex's privilege and must indulge my own curiosity before I consent to gratify yours \u2013 to begin \u2013 whence come you? What is your business here?\n\nLoth: Ah, sister \u2013 the little village boy is grown into a great man at court. I am in the secrets of one who is in the secrets of every body \u2013 confidential page to the great prince Altenburg, prime minister of Saxony. A palace is my residence, and I associate purely with stars and ribbons \u2013 white wands and black rods \u2013 privy counsellors and public orators. Gentlemen of the bed-chamber, and maids of honor.\n\nMin: A courtier, oh, that I should live to have a brother at court.\n\nB.\n/O ADRIAN [Dimond\n\nLoth. Now, to your second question \u2013 my present...\nI. Business required me to marry at the castle of Rosenheim, where within this very hour I kissed the fair hand of Lady Orriia and delivered, on my knee, a letter from the prince, my master. The day had just begun to break, when I reached the summit of the hill that overlooks my native valley\u2014ah! Minna, how painfully, yet how joyously did my heart flutter at that moment\u2014for five years I had not seen the spot, yet every object lived as freshly in my memory as if it were but yesterday that I had left it. The twitter of the birds, the sheep bell tinkling from the fold\u2014the lazy murmur of the rivulet\u2014nay, the very winds that whistled through the pine trees all of them sounded to me like the voices of familiar friends, and awakened their echoes at my heart. I paused for an instant on the height, and my eyes wistfully traversed the space below, delighted, yet dismayed.\nI. Traversed where to fix my gaze; to the right, arose a moss-grown spire \u2013 'twas the church where I had lisped my earliest prayers. On the left, stood the village school, dearly endear'd by many a childish care and childish joy. And yet a little further, nestled in a dell, as the blue mists of morning floated past, I beheld the humble cot where I was born. A confused feeling rushed upon my soul \u2013 at first I thought it joy, but tears trickled down my cheek, and then I doubted its source. My home, oh God! my home, I cried \u2013 the wide divorce of space was in that, my breath dissolved \u2013 and while my body loitered still a league behind, my winged soul at once flew hither, beat on your casement, and fluttered to your arms. (Throws itself on Minnow's neck and kisses her)\n\nMICHAEL enters from the house, new dressed.\nMin: There, I'm dressed now and I think I shall strike \u2013 a stranger kissing my wife! But I shall strike before I expected \u2013 (passes between them) holla \u2013 youngster \u2013 every bee to his own hive\u2013 you stole no sweets from those lips, I promise you.\nMin: Bumpkin\u2013 haven't you manners? Learn to treat a gentleman with more respect \u2013 he comes from court.\nMich: Ay, but he does not come to court here!\nLoth: Ha, ha! Minna, your husband is no changeling. Why Michael: don't you know this face?\nM'ch: Yes, for a pagan brazen one.\nLoth: Nay, master churl, I am not to be answered thus. Harkee man, shake hands heartily, pledge me in a cup of Rhenish, and cry \"welcome brother-in-law, after 15 years absence!\"\nMick: Hey, what! Let me look in your face \u2013 ah, that knavish roll with the eye \u2013 I know you now,\n\n(Note: I assumed \"11\" in Act I is a typo and corrected it to \"15\" based on the context of the conversation.)\nSo then, young hopeful, you are returned at last. Loth, yes, and are you not rejoiced to see me again? M. Ch. Oh \u2014 certainly \u2014 such a near relation of my wife's \u2014 though to say the truth, I thought you rather too near just now. 3Im. I trust you are convinced how absurd jealousy renders a husband; indeed, Michael, you have a poor weak head. Mich. Therefore, it is, I am anxious to preserve it from superfluous burdens (a distant report of cannon is heard). Hark, the great guns upon the castle ramartare firing. Now, madam Minna, will you believe me? I did tell you some news had arrived? I knew that a messenger came to the castle this morning; and I knew that he brought a letter, which \u2014 I did not know what that letter contained. Loth. I believe I could help you to the secret.\nMich: Oh, dear brother-in-law, if you can, I shall be eternally obliged. Nobody loves a secret so well, and nobody deserves to be trusted with one so soon--because my disposition is liberal, and I indulge all the neighborhood with the particulars, the moment I have learned them myself\n\nLoth: A powerful plea, truly. Well, then, learn that it was the messenger.\n\nMich: You, oh brother-in-law, was it you and the letter -- \u00a3 --\n\nAdrian (Dimond):\nLothannounced to Lady Orrila that her father quits Dresden and returns this day to his family and castle.\n\nMich: Old count Rosenheim returned? Its an epoch in the history of nations.\n\nLoilu: My master, the great prince Altenburg, accompanies the count, and is to remain for some days a visitor at the castle.\n\nMick: The prime minister of Saxony resides in our town.\nA solemn address must be offered on this occasion. One shall be deputed to deliver it. I say nothing of my talents for oratory. If His Excellency should discover anything in my style and think proper to appoint me to some situation in the government, I have nothing to say. So, my dear brother-in-law, you are in the service of Prince Altenburg. Describe his character to me; that is, just hint at his weak points. I have never yet found them. Spots are said to exist on the sun's disk, but a surrounding glory confounds the vain eye that would detect them there. Thus far, however, of my master will I say, he always makes his equals remember he is a prince, yet never forgets himself that his inferiors are men.\n\nMichigan: Is he married?\n\nLothar: He has been a widower for twenty years.\nIf I am not mistaken, Lie will soon part with his liberty, and the fair hands of Count Rosenheim's daughter are destined to fix the rosy chain.\n\nMin: What our young lady Orrila! It's impossible, brother, she loves another.\n\nLoth: Indeed; educated in seclusion, who can be the object of her passion?\n\nMin: The handsome Mr. Adrian, Madame Clermont's son: they have loved each other from childhood, and the whole village has noticed their attachment.\n\nMich: Pooh, pooh! Never mind other folk's affairs; but let us regard our own. I am so surprised, and so bewildered, that I protest I scarcely can collect my thoughts.\n\nAct I] And Orrila's Dilemma\n\nMin: If you were to leave them loose, nobody would stoop to pick them up.\n\nMich: In the first place, I must convene an assembly of the villagers; then, I must make a speech to them.\nthem; then, I must make another speech to his excellency; and oh, brother-in-law, what a troublesome thing it is to have the reputation for greater talent than our neighbors. Now you, who are a courtier, can you assist me with a few phrases of compliment to fling in occasionally? Pray, how would one of your true-bred court-orators deliver himself in my situation?\n\nLoth, Nearly in your own style; utter many words with very little meaning\u2014but, allons! we'll compose a notable effusion between us. You shall pledge me in a draught of the old vintage; and as the test of friendship passes to our lips, fancy will dip her pinion in the cup, and gay conceits rise sparkling to the brim.\n\nOf wine, of rosy wine, around!\nOh! fill and froth the goblet high,\nLet friendship's hand the cup compound.\n\nTRIO\u2014LOTHAIRE, MINNA, MICHAEL.\nLet love breathe over it one sweet sigh.\nAnd fancy there shall nectar brew \u2014\nA draught of sunbeam steeped in dew!\nThere's witchcraft in the generous grape;\nIt spreads broad day through midnight gloom,\nAnd bids, on Zembla's utmost cap\nIdeal roses breathe and bloom \u2014\nWhile mortals drink, old earth roves round,\nAnd moving \u2014 nearer heaven is found!\n[exeunt into cottage\n\nScene II \u2014 an apartment furnished with simplicity,\nand opening upon a lantern \u2014\nMadam Clermont enters with a hurried step \u2014\nshe seals Kerseys, then rises\nsuddenly again and paces the stage in quietude.\n\nMadam, it will not be! I pass from chamber to chamber, but\nthe same objects are still before my eyes. The fiend, Adrian,\nfollows me; the fierce avenging fiend who never sleeps!\nI strive to fly, but he pursues me every where.\nHe flits across my sight; he mutters at my ear; he will drive me mad! (She covers her face with her hands for a moment and then proceeds with more composure) Oh, that this day were blotted from the calendar! Oh, that it might return no more, or rather that it had never been! Yet, on this very day, how beautiful does nature seem. I sunshine fills the heavens; earth is dressed with flowers, and the soft morning wind steals lovingly against my cheek, even as the breath of infants, slumber-stilled and dreaming of delight. Thus, ay, even thus, twenty years back, did nature smile upon this day.\n\nWaters of the Elbe; your glassy bosom then reflected skies as cloudless, and on your margin, flowers as freshly bloomed, that bent not when zephyr kissed the bank! Yet, amidst the peace of elements, how\n\n(Assuming the text ends here and there are no missing words)\nfearful was the warfare in this breast! A clear-flowing river! a desolating storm, one visited your course, the fiend was at my heart, and vengeance in my power. Strait the revel of your saints was ended: from shore to shore, the sullen death bell tolled, and all your echoes answered to the shriek of woe. Revenge was mine; but ah! remorse, unceasing and consuming is its bitter fruit\u2014an accusing voice, in secret, tells me I have sinned: for twenty years, in my daily walks, upon my midnight pillow, conscience still has haunted me; and now, this fatal morning, the anniversary of my crime, I feel new torments, and my pangs redoubled! Have mercy, heaven! I have sinned, but tears have flowed for my transgression; accept my penitence! pardon, pardon! (she sinks on one knee and steadily raises her hands to heaven\u2014a drian enters from behind)\nAdr: In prayer \u2014 oh! mother, may heaven grant whatever wish now meets its ear, and Adrian with his life-blood would repay the boon!\nMad: My son\u2014 bless thee, Adrian! A mother's blessing be upon thee!\nAdr: You give me what I came to crave; this is my birth day, and it seemed unwelcome till you had blessed it to me. But how is this? You look pale, and your eyes are dim and heavy \u2014 mother, are you not well?\nMad: Yes, I have had a restless night, but I am well, I must be well, for is not this my Adrian's birth day? and do I not see him risen into manhood, healthy and happy; all that my proudest wish could form him?\nAdr: Mother, there is a question I would ask of you, will you answer it?\nMad: Assuredly you cannot ask, and I refuse to satisfy!\nAdr: You have often told me that my father died.\nWhile I was yet an infant, and from the birth of memory I have only known one parent, one instructor, one protecting friend; no visitors have ever passed our doors, except the family of Rosenheim, and some peasants of the neighboring village \u2014 this narrow valley and its simple cultivators have been to me the universe. When I have climbed the loftiest of our encircling hills and from its breezy summit viewed the stretch of space beyond, marked on the crested rock how castle towers or convent spires have gleamed; watched over deep rivers where the vessel ghded merrily; through the clear air, perceived the smoke from mighty cities rise; and known, throughout the boundless scene, that social man held chartered range and free prescription sway. Ah, trust me, mother; full often then a painful feeling has oppressed my heart, and I have sad.\n\"Fair world: your boundaries are many, and your children numberless. Yet not one portal opens to me; among my fellow men, I may not claim a single friend!\" Mad, What would you infer? To your question, Adrian!\n\nAdrian: I have often longed to propose it\u2014but you always seemed to shun the subject\u2014yet, indeed, my curiosity is so natural\u2014so\u2014\n\nMad: Indulge it freely\u2014let me learn its object?\n\nAdrian: This, then it is\u2014have I no other living relative besides you? Or in this wide creation are you the only person to view me with affection and respect?\n\nMad: {after a short pause) Adrian! I was myself an only child\u2014my parents have long been dead, and other kindred I never knew.\n\nAdrian: But of my father's family\u2014do no relations exist?\"\n\nMad, {with embarrassment) Tis\u2014tis possible some.\nAdr: Yet, although so long a period has elapsed since I have inquired or heard of them, they would remember our name and acknowledge the connection. Oh, mother, for your son's sake, venture the experiment and re-establish an intercourse with Society.\n\nMad: It cannot be. Dear boy, do not ask my reasons; the theme is painful to me. Be satisfied to learn, it cannot be!\n\nAdr: I submit; but I also must regret.\n\nMnd: And why should you sigh for intimates you never knew? Has your home become irksome to you? Can the friends you already possess no longer satisfy? Does your mother cease to be beloved, and has the society of Orrila lost its charm?\n\nAdr: Ah, no\u2014dear as the vital fountains of my blood, I prize my mother and my Orrila; but my heart is large enough to welcome strangers, yet take no jot of their familiarity.\nRoom after being abandoned by its natural inhabitants expands and softens, longing to embrace all of human nature. Oh, delightful season of innocent youth! When all is confidence, delightful novelty, and innocent belief, feelings as vivid and impulses as glowing, we enter life. At your age, I too believed the world was my home, and all its creatures friendly. But my waking dream was brief - like our earliest parent, I gathered knowledge from the tree of knowledge and lost my paradise.\n\nAdrian, I have never experienced the world's injustice. Should I distrust without any experience of danger?\n\nAct I] AND ORRILA 17\n\nMadame: Why must the fatal sting be felt before we can believe that serpents breed in the perfumed grass? But I may be wrong, perhaps, to warn you: the joyous cup is now in your hands.\nLifted to your lip, and mine should not be the hand to dash your draught with bitters prematurely. No, my Adrian, long may your spirit hold its generous, ardent course, uncrossed by chances that have palsied mine. Yours is the age for unpolluted bliss; 'tis the sweet May month of your years; life's blue and sunny dawn, when fancy sweeps a harp in every wind, and hope files laughing through unclouded skies! Orrila calls.\n\nAdrian! Adrian!\n\nAdr. Hark, 'tis the voice of Orrila! (Orrila enters running from the lawn)\n\nOrr. Adrian! Adrian! Where are you? Oh, I have had such a chase to reach you; but I am here at last\u2014\n\nAdrian. Sweet Orrila! 'tis kind indeed to visit us thus early.\n\nOrr. Oh, I was resolved to come; dame Githafor bade me to leave the castle, but I flatly refused obedience.\nI: no threats could detain me; I flew directly over hill and dale, leaving my poor governess to hobble after me in vain. I remembered whose birthday it was; and see, Adrian, I am come not without my offering\u2014this chain of fancy work\u2014the device of this locket is my own execution, these links too were woven by me: will you promise to wear it sometimes for my sake?\n\nAdrian: Ever, ever! It shall lodge next to my heart, a preserving amulet.\n\nOrpheus: But I must hang the chain round your neck myself! Adrian kneels and swiftly fastens the locket. Now rise, my faithful knight! You bear my device upon your buckler!\n\nAdrian: Ah, whose hand so fit as Orpheus's to fix a chain on Adrian!\n\nOrpheus: Flatterer! But I must make swift use of my visit, or Githa will be here. Oh, madam, I have such longing for you.\nNews to tell you, I know you will rejoice to hear it, as it occasions happiness to me. Madame Dear Oriila, your judgment of my friendship is right; what is the circumstance? Orr, Count Rosc^nheim, that respected father, whose face I have not seen since infancy but whose idea has never been absent from my memory, returns at last to embrace his child and give her the sweet assurance of a parent's love. Should I not cause for happiness? And will not my friends participate in my joy? Madame. They will - they must - the virtuous interchange of natural affections is the sweetest offering from mortals to their creator! Orr. We are to have a succession of revels and gaieties at the castle - balls, masques, and minstrelsy without end. Old Githa is in such confusion preparing. We scarcely can find chambers to lodge the company.\nMsid, Are Rosenheim's traveling attendants numerous?\nOrr. No, my father's train might easily be lodged. But one of the ministers - his oldest friend and patron at court - visits the castle, in his company. The prince of Ahenburg (madam Chrmoni utters a sudden cry and clasps her hands in agony before her face)\nAdr. Mother!\nOrr. Dearest friend!\nMad. (struggling with emotion) A sudden pang shot across my temples; it was dreadful, but it's past; excuse me, Orrila, if I retire an instant.\nOrr. Let me lead you to your chamber.\nMad. No, I require no aid; a minute's quiet will restore me \u2013 I must be alone; I command you, Adrian, let no one follow me \u2013 it's accomplished \u2013 I am lost!\n[aside] Sf exit\nOrr. Heavens, how terrible and sudden this disorder! Did your mother complain of illness before? I came?\nAdr: Yes, but slightly. She started at the name of Altenburg. Can she have known this prince?\n\nOrr: Oh, no; at least it is improbable. Madame Clermont has not left the valley for eighteen years, and the prince never visited this country till now.\n\nAdr: Yet it was strange. What is the prince's age?\n\nOrr: Nearly the same as my father's. He has been described to me as an excellent man, but unfortunate. He lost a wife, to whom he was tenderly attached, in the bloom of youthful beauty, and shortly after a darling child, the only memorial of his ill-starred wedlock, by accident was drowned in the Elbe. Cares of government have since engrossed his life, though a secret sorrow still is said to prey upon his heart.\n\nAdr: But the gaieties of Rosenheim castle will dispel his sadness \u2013 such crowds of company \u2013 such variety of entertainment.\nOrrila, you will be very happy, I assure you. Won't you join me in my happiness? Why, Adrian, that when my heart throbs with rapture, yours beats coldly? Does it displease you that I should rejoice?\n\nAdrian. No; but if it did, the displeasure of a worm like me would matter little. Pageantry will delight the eye; the song of minstrels will vibrate on the ear, and through the glittering halls, where princes wait to catch her smile, the heiress of Rosenheim will pass, elated. While Adrian and his humble fortunes are forgotten.\n\nOrr. Unkind and undeserved! Now could I scold you by the hour, without a pause for breathing\u2014but I see you are unhappy, and I check my spleen. Tell me, Adrian, when did Orrila banquet on a selfish joy, nor share it with you? Or, when did your eye cease to see my happiness?\ndroop in sorrow, and mine not weep for fellowship? ah, trust me, lightly should I prize the varnished flatteries of courtly strangers, poised with the plain sincerity of one familiar friend! Adrian, Kind, generous Orrila, then I shall sometimes still be present to your thoughts! Orr. Ay, and to my sight also. You must visit me daily at the castle; my father will rejoice to see you there, he was always partial to you as a boy; don't you recall, when we both were children, how often he has sat under the great chestnut tree, while we danced waltzes on the lawn before him? Do you recall those times, Adrian? Adr. Do I? ah, where flows the Lethe to wash away remembrances so sacred and so sweet? precious, inestimable moments! they are the roses in memory's party colored wreath, the grains of gold, that time shakes.\nFrom his glass, unmixed, before the vulgar sands begin to filter! A few kindred atoms may yet be sprinkled on the heap. We will dance together again, Adrian, and you shall be my partner at our first ball. Adrian, Nobility might claim your hand, But friendship should receive it! Adrian, My head would be bewildered by such bliss. Orr, Still, if your feet were preserved, our dancing might proceed \u2014 then, the harp and tabret preluding merrily in the hall. Adrian. The polished, oaken floor just vibrating to our step. Orr. Our arms skillfully twisted in each other's. Adrian, Our breaths mingling, and our eyes encountering. Orr: Oh, Adrian! Adrian: Orrila, my own Orrila! Leap forward and embrace. Enter Githa, behind. Gith: Hoity-toity! Pretty indecorous conduct, truly! Kissing and hugging in open day: why, lady Orrila!\nOrrila, have you no shame? Orr. Of what should I be ashamed, Githa? Is it a fault to express my friendship? Gith. Friendship, truly! Cant friendship be expressed in words, and at a decent distance? And you, Mr. Adrian; out upon you, young, graceless man, if any person had been in sight, when you embraced Lady Onila, I should have swooned with shame!\n\nAct 1] AND ORRILA 21\n\nAdr. But no person was in sight; we were quite alone. Therefore, my dear Githa, there could not be any harm.\n\nGith. Ah! I don't know that\u2014I don't like young people to embrace.\n\nOrr. Nay, Githa, now you are inconsistent; for I remember many years ago when Adrian and I had wrought some childish quarrel, you ordered us to embrace and become friends again.\n\nGith. Girl, vexatious girl! If I did\u2014circumstances change with time, and persons change with time.\nAdr: Some there are, whose persons defy the power of time - yours, for instance, Githa. I think I never saw you look handsomer than today.\n\nOrr: No; nor dressed with a happier taste - that stomacher fits so bewitchingly tight.\n\nAdr: Then those rose-colored trimmings lend such a lively glow to the complexion!\n\nGith: Ah, you are a couple of good children, and I dare say you meant no impropriety; so I'll forgive you both. Rut come, my lady truant, you must homeward now. Marry, a pretty chase you have led me this morning, over rocks and through briars. Its a providence my point lace hood was not torn to pieces among the brambles! They are waiting at the castle for my orders, in a thousand important matters; and if his lordship\nshould arrive while I am absent - mercy, what a rushing thought. Orr. Is my father, then, expected so very soon? Gith. Every hour, every minute; and unless I am on the spot, nothing will go right! Come - homeward, homeward. Orr. Adrian, you will visit the castle by noon; you will dine with us; I shall prepare my father to expect you. Adr. Your words are any oracles of fate; and it is my duty to obey you. C\n\n22 ADRIAN [Dimond]\n\nOrr. Then you will come; remember I have a year promise. Gith, Lady, lady! Will you tarry here till mid-night? Come homeward, I say! Orr. Have with you Githa - Adrian, farewell.\n\nBefore the level sun beams strike at noon-tide hour,\nThe brook runs low, and droops the feverish flower.\nLet thy light step o'er the parting plain,\nAnd friendship lead to Orrila again!\nAd. Ah, doubt not, fair one! Of my dull delay,\nSince life is with thee, and but breath away!\nOr. Though space parts bodies, nothing our souls can sever.\nAd. Long have they been one, or, and shall for ever!\n[exit Orrila and Githa]\nAd. Heart swell proudly \u2014 pulses throb with unstrained delight \u2014\nThe moment so long have dreaded, which, at a distance,\nThreatened like a dark and stormy cloud, now it has reached me,\nBreaks into genial, sunny shapes, and all my terrors are transformed to joys \u2014\nThe solitude of Rosenheim is disturbed, but the singularity of affection remains inviolate.\nHighborn men are competitors for her favor; still, Orrila prefers her earliest friend, the lowly and unknown.\n\nEnter Madame Clermont.\n\nMad. Adrian! Have our visitors departed?\nAdr. This instant, we exchanged adieu.\nMad: It's well - I wished to find you alone to speak to you without a witness\nAdrian: Whence is this disorder? Your look - your voice - your manner\nMad: If they are wild and terrifying, they do reflect my heart - are you prepared to quit your native valley and accompany me to a distant country?\nAdrian: Eternal powers! Where would you go?\nMad: I have not yet decided; but all roads are equal to me, if they lead from Rosenheim.\n\nAct I] AND ORRILA 23\n\nAdrian: I shudder while you speak - at Rosenheim lives Orrila - must I separate from her?\nMad: Or from him! Answer me, Adrian. I, from your childhood upwards, have not proved to you a kind, indulgent parent? Have I not watched by you in sickness and administered to your pleasures when in health? Does the unwearied care of eighteen years endow me with no claim to your love?\nMadam, is my happiness regarded by my son? Do I find your gratitude, Madam? Why these questions? Heaven sees my heart, and it knows that it is grateful. Madam, by every claim and every prayer of nature, I call upon you to preserve a mother from distraction. Will you consent to leave this country? Adrian, what are your motives for departure? Madam, I cannot utter them. Oh, Adrian, you are the only object of my love on earth. I cannot resign you but with life. Yet, man, cruel man, would despoil me of my treasure; afar, to wilds and woods, and pathless deserts, let me fly and hide you from his search. Adrian, merciful heavens, what is my danger? Whom must I shun? Altenburg! If he sees you, I am lost. He would tear you from me, and despair would strike me to the grave.\nAdr. Impossible, in earth's wide range, no heart so ruthless can be found, that would despoil a parent of its only child.\n\nMad (screaming frantically): Peace, inhuman boy, peace, peace \u2014 let me not hear those words \u2014 those fatal, doom denouncing words; I burn \u2014 I blaze \u2014 madness scorches my brain.\n\nAdr. What have I said to wound you? how have I offended?\n\nMad (throwing herself wildly at his feet): Adrian, behold me at your feet. The mother kneels before the son.\n\nAdr. Madame, parent, rise, rise!,\n\nMad. Never, till you have promised to comply. I am wild\u2014 I am desperate; speak, then, for life or death is in your word.\n\nAdr: At once I yield my fate into your hands; dispose as you will, of it and me.\n\nMad: Take my eternal blessing in reward. This night we leave the valley.\n\nAdr: Oh, my heart; but shall we not return?\nMad: He never ceases to injure me while Altenburg remains at Rosenheim.\nAddressor: Has he injured you so deeply then?\nMad: He is my bane \u2013 my curse \u2013 my horror! He steeped my early youth in tears of bitterness; and now, in riper age, his fatal agency pursues me still.\nAddressor: Oh, for those tears, may the oppressor's life drops fall. Hear me, eternal justice, while I curse \u2013\nMad: [catching his arm] Forbear, though all mankind conspire to curse his name, still be your lip silent. Altenburg must not be arraigned by you; no \u2013 no \u2013 never by you.\nAddressor: Am I not bound to hate the man who persecutes my mother?\nMad: To shun, but not to hate him.\nAddressor: Your words confound me. Oh, say, what dreadful mystery is woven with my fate?\nMad: Inquire not, and live happily. Ills without remedy, are best without care.\nAddressor: My soul cries out, and must be satisfied. You\nMad, but I will never reveal its nature. Adrian, submit: your word is pledged; and I exact the promise. Adrian. It shall be performed. But oh, my heart sickens at the thought; must I lose Orrila? Mad, You will save a parent. Come, prepare for our departure: a mother's struggle and the sacrifice is past. Safety and peace invite us hence; ruin and despair await us here; the destroyer is at our gate. Decide to fly, or perish.\n\nEND OF THE FIRST ACT.\n\nAct II. AND ORRILA, scene I \u2014 a terrace before the great gates of Rosenheim castle \u2014 the domestics and peasants are ranged in lines on each side \u2014 Haufroy, the old family minstrel, is seated in front playing on the harp \u2014 Loth, a knight, and Minna at his side.\n\nSong \u2014 Haufroy \u2014 and Chorus.\n\nStrike the harp, the chorus raise;\nSing our native chieftain's praise:\nEndless honors\u2014deathless fame,\nCrown the lord of Rosenheim.\nMighty line, whose source of old,\nMixed with streams of royal blood;\nAll its sons were just and bold,\nAll its daughters fair and good.\nEndless honors\u2014deathless fame,\nCrown the lord of Rosenheim.\n\nCount Rosenheim enters with Prince Altenburg,\nDuring the latter part of the chorus.\n\nAlt: I envy you, my dear count,\nThe proud pleasure of a scene like this.\nYours is indeed a home, where\nEvery living creature meets you with a smile.\n\nRos: Ay, Altenburg, I was well-nigh surfeited of smiles\nBefore we left court\u2014for there, all faces wear\nThem as a livery of office, never to be cast off, save\nWhen the chamberlain decrees a mourning: but here,\nThe simple knaves have unsophisticated muscles;\nAnd the feature alters even as the feeling varies; believe.\nI can appreciate the difference. I enter OKRiLA, following him through the gate. She casts her eyes eagerly round until they reach the count.\n\nOrpheus, Yes, it is he! My heart identifies him at a single glance.\n\nRosalind: My Orrila! The little girl I left scarcely taller than my walking-stick,\n\nGitha: (pushing forward) Ay, your lordship finds her rarely grown; but it's all my doing.\n\nOrpheus: Ah, can you hesitate to believe? Does not your heart acknowledge me as your child?\n\nRosalind: Yes, with tenderness-with pride-though faith, a pleasant wonder mixed withal; heaven bless you, my girl.\n\nOrpheus: I have a world of words to utter; a thousand things to relate, and yet a thousand to inquire-tell me if\nRos: Hush, hush, affection shall find its hour soon; but the present moment, ceremony claims \u2013 let me present to Prince Altenburg, the lady Orrila of Rosenheim.\n\nJilt: Fair creature, while I imprint a stranger's fervent homage on your hand, say, may I hope your heart hereafter will receive me as a friend.\n\nOrr: It does already, sir! You are my father's friend, and must be mine \u2013 besides, though to my eye you offer now a stranger's form, yet has my ear been long familiar with your virtues. Often in this solitude have I heard your name, and the blessings of good men have always made it holy; then do not wonder if I treat you as an old acquaintance, for indeed I was your friend before you knew me!\n\nAlt: Delightful, dangerous flattery! Let me not listen to your voice, when belief seems arrogant; and yet to doubt were worse than heresy!\nRos. My life depends on the girl's honesty \u2013 my letters, Orrila, have taught you how to assess the prince's character.\n\nOrr. They prepared me, sir, to admire, respect, and love him.\n\nAlt (catches her hand eagerly) To love Mc; Orrila!\n\nAct II] AND ORRILA 27\n\nOrr. (looking at her simplicity) Yes, like a second father! (Altenburg drops her hand again with a mortified air)\n\nRos. Ay, ay! Filial affection is the only sort of love my poor Orrila has yet been taught to comprehend, and she freely offers all she has to bestow.\n\nTake her by the hand, Altenburg, 1 consign her to your care, (turning to the peasants) My friends, make merry; let the flagon pass cheerily round, and pause not in the circle \u2013 my cellars have been crammed with too many unproven vintages; they are ill of a plethora, and a plentiful bleeding will but mend their illness.\nhabit: Fear not to offend with overmuch clamor: 1.\nLove the noise of mirth, and never complain of discord in the voice, when I know that harmony attunes the heart. Lead to the saloon!\n\nVassals. Long live the lord of Rosenheim! (Rosenheim passes up the stage \u2014 Altenburg follows, leading Orrila \u2014 the peasants bow as they enter the gate)\nLong live the lord of Rosenheim.\n\n(Haufroy, the bard, advances to the front of the stage, and the vassals form a group around his figure \u2014 two pages bear his harp)\n\nHauf: Strike the wild harp anew; strike cheerfully:\nAnd weave the sounding song of other times.\nStrike to the warrior's ghost of elder fame.\nWho now reclines upon the silver cloud,\nAnd listening haply to his warbling record,\nBends his sacred brow to earth, and sweetly smiles:\n\nAwake, my soul, and trace the awful mold.\nOf living heroes in the glorious dead!\n\nSong\u2014Hauffen,\nOur lion-hearted lords of yore,\nFrom Roman helms the laurel tore.\nWith bosoms bare, they braved the war,\nImpelled the spear, or whirl'd the car:\nGreat Caesar paused in mid career.\nHis eagle scream'd, a note of fear;\nAnd trench'd with gashes deep and wide.\n\nAdrian [Dimond]\nEach dying hero sternly cried \u2014\n\"Oh native land; I fall for thee,\nThy shrines, thy hearths, and liberty,\nPeace to the chiefs of other days;\nThe bardish dirge has sung their praise;\nThe poor man's prayer and orphan's sigh,\nHave whisper'd their sweet elegy.\n\nTheir forms are lost, their souls survive\nIn sons the great forefathers live:\nAnd down the far stretched line we trace\nThe ancient virtue of the race.\n\nStill like the prophet's mantle given,\nWhene'er the sire was born to heaven. [exeunt\n\nScene II \u2014 a saloon in the castle.\nRosenheim and Githa.\n\nGith: Yes, my lord, I promise you, the lady Orrila is a most accomplished damsel, fitted to reflect grace upon any court in Christendom.\n\nRos: Well said, old Githa; let me find the girl's mind enriched, and I shan't regret that her father's pocket has been impoverished\u2014but, faith, her education has cost me plaguy dear.\n\nGith: Your lordship ordered me not to spare expense, but to engage the most eminent instructors.\n\nRos: I did so, but has Orrila proved an apt scholar?\n\nGith: In truth, she has\u2014in the first place, she is an absolute mistress of languages.\n\nRos: Ay, that came naturally, for her mother had the gift of unlimited speech before her.\n\nGith: Then she plays on the spinet, dances miraculously, embroideres to a prodigy, and for her morals, I have formed them precisely after the model of mine.\nRos. But how has Orrila endured her long seclusion? Has no complaint ever escaped her lip, no murmured wish for brighter scenes and pleasures of the world?\n\nAct II] AND ORRILA'S SESSION 9\n\nGith. None, my Jord; the dear child has never seemed to think any pleasure could be found beyond the limits of this valley. No; give her but my virtuous conversation, her books, and her Adrian\u2014her world has no amusement left for her to desire.\n\nRos. Adrian, Adrian; pray tell, what amusement is that?\n\nGith. Oh, it's a young man. Have you forgotten him, my lord? He is the son of Madame Clermont, the widow gentlewoman, who lives at the white house.\n\nRos. I recall now; a strange, mysterious woman, who came nobody knew whence, and belongs to nobody. Ay, and her child, a pretty, laughing boy.\nGith: Yes, I remember the rosy-cheeked lad \u2013 he was a play-fellow of Orriia's. But, Githa, that is an amusement your daughter must have lost long ago.\n\nGith: Oh, no; the youth has remained in the valley ever since.\n\nRos: But you have not suffered him to associate with my daughter since then?\n\nGith: Certainly, I have. When your lordship was away, you approved of the acquaintance. Ros: Zounds; woman, they were both children at that time; why, the boy was in petticoats!\n\nGith: Yes, but after he was breeched, my lady grew more partial to him than ever. So I could not bring myself to separate them.\n\nRos: Then they have frequently been together of late?\n\nGith: Not a day has passed without their meeting; in fact, they have never been apart, except at meal times and nights.\n\nRos: And you could perceive no impropriety in all this?\nRos: Gith, not quarreling, I assure you. The children were always of one mind, loving each other better than all the world beside.\n\nRos (passionately): Githa, Oitha! You are an old fool. Adrian (Diraond): My lord!\n\nRos: You, whom I placed about my daughter as an arguement, but get you gone, and send Orrila to me this instant.\n\nGitki: iVIy lord, do but hear me.\n\nRos: No, I have heard too much from you already; be gone, fie, old crone, and send Orrila to me.\n\nGitki: Well, I'm gone, my lord. Marry, come up, here's a coil and a stir without reason; a passionate, cross-grained man. I wish he was at Dresden again, with all my soul. [exit, muttering to herself]\n\nRos: I had placed a notable dragon to guard my golden fruit - one, that suffers a venturous urchin.\nTo leap the orchard fence and climb over its back, plucking the apple while it is green upon the bough. Surely this stripping cannot have dared; Orria's pride never could permit: no, no; I alarm myself without a cause; and the whole fact is, two young persons have continued to think like children, after they have ceased to appear so.\n\nEnter Altekburg.\n\nAlt. My friend! I have seen your mansion, your gardens, your gallery of paintings, and your collection of statues, and with all your inanimate valuables, I am pleased. But with the living treasure, your lovely daughter, I am charmed!\n\nRos, Ay. Though I am her father, I will be bold to say, the girl may wear a coronet, and never shame its splendors by her face. Perhaps a little wildness mingles with her manner, but that is a failing court examples will soon correct.\nAlt: Heaven forbid that with me, the very wildness of Orilla bewitches even beyond her beauty - the pampered flower which art thou educed from a hot-house bed, may claim our wonder; but far more fair and fragrant is the rose that nature plants at random, bathes in her dews, and sweetens with her breath.\n\nRo^: So then, my little Oriila has overcome a mighty statesman with a single shaft from her black eyes; you are in love already?\n\nJilt: Not quite so - in love I can never be,\nHos: Heyday! what sort of a suitor, then, is my daughter to expect?\n\nAlt: Do not mistake me - I admire Orilla, and as my wife, shall cherish and respect her. But love, that wild, romantic passion, such as boys feel, and poets feign, I never can welcome to my breast again. Once I felt its sway; felt it in all its fatal, mad excess - I\nwas its dupe, its slave, its victim! ah, Rosenheim, light minds may love, lose, forget, and love again; but the sensitive soul can make but one election, and then, or bliss or bane for ever stamps its choice.\n\nRos. Nay, Altenburg; be not too disconsolate a widower either, it is true your late princess was an amiable woman, but many years have elapsed since her loss; besides, if report might be credited, your marriage in the first instance, was rather the effect of obedience than inclination.\n\nAlt. I confess it. My deceased wife was not the object of my love; neither is she now the cause of my regret.\n\nRos. Then who, in the name of all enigmas, is, or was, the inamorata you bewail?\n\nAlt. Never to mortal ear have I revealed the secret; but our long friendship, and the close relationship in which we are soon to stand, now exacts from me a full disclosure.\nAnd with perfect confidence, listen, dear Rosenheim, to the brief confession of your friend and learn the history of his love, his guilt, his shame. At that perilous yet careless period of existence when the blood flows freshly through our veins, and our pulses leap, delighted, under each new touch; when we are libertines, rather by constitution than from vice, it was my chance or destiny to meet a lovely girl who caught at once my roving heart and fixed it in her toils. She was an orphan, of a good family but slender fortune; her person was exquisite, and her age sixteen. Accident favored me with perpetual opportunities, and my passion was soon returned with an ardor equal to its own. Oh, let me hurry over the accusing retrospect. I cannot dilate upon my own enormity. In a word, then, I vowed to make her mine.\nAnd she was sworn to; she trusted and was deceived. Rosalind to Umphrey, you betrayed this innocent one? AU, Ay, like a villain, betrayed the guileless, unsuspecting heart, that knew not treachery itself, and deemed all natures pure and open as its own. A child, a nameless child, was born amidst its mother's tears and blushes. Still, I continued to promise reparation, and still, I delayed it, when a marriage was proposed to me by my family, with one of the richest heiresses in Saxony. At first, conscience started, and I refused compliance; but my relatives insisted, nay, threatened disinheritance, and I \u2013 oh, disgraceful coward \u2013 I feared poverty rather than dishonor. My career of crime was soon consummated, and at the altar of insulted deity, I pledged to another those vows which were the rightful attributes of her I had betrayed.\nRos. Did you then abandon this poor unfortunate, with her infant, to the precarious mercy of the world, without protection or support?\nAlt. No, Rosenheim, think me not yet a wretch so monstrous. Immediately I offered independence, nay affluence, as an atonement for her wrongs. Ros, Did she accept the compromise?\nAlt. She spurned both it and me: my splendid bribes were trampled under her feet in scorn; and, unknown to all, with her infant in her arms, she suddenly quit her abode, nor deigned to leave one poor farewell behind. Twenty years have rolled away since her departure\u2014and from that moment, to the present, no tidings, either of mother or of child, have reached my ear.\nRos. Poor souls, poor souls.\nAlt. Eternal justice soon avenged their wrongs on Raes and mine. Death, prematurely called my princess.\nand her son, the only issue of our marriage, and the sole fond hope of two noble families, while yet an infant, perished in the Elbe; his floating garments were the only things recovered from the stream. Deep at the river's tangled roots, my boy lies buried; no decent sepulcher allowed his form, but fleeting ideas his only monument. Dreadful retribution \u2014 time has cicatrized, but cannot heal my wounds; then cease to wonder, if a heart which lives to sorrow, should be dead to love.\n\nRos. Well, well, but let me understand you; did you not first propose to me this marriage with my daughter; and are you not come here for the express purpose of\n\nYes. My good friend, yes. Public duties should be paramount to private feelings: the name of Altenburg has been transmitted to me from a line of hereditary rulers.\nRoses; their treasures have been wasted to support it, and their blood has flowed to preserve its honor; such a bequest is a sacred charge, and I must not suffer it to sink with me into obvious dust unclaimed. You, Rosenheim, have been my tried and trusted friend, and from your hand, I wish to receive a second wife. Offer, for me, then, to Orjia, all that I have left to give, my title, fortune, and entire estate\u2014if the lovely maid accepts.\n\nRos. (eagerly) Never talk of ifs; here's my hand that is a contract for my daughter's. I hear her coming\u2014suppose you acquaint her with your intentions at once?\n\nJlL No. No, I have been so long out of the habit of making love, I should blunder abominably, if taken by surprise. Could not you break the business for me and preserve me from the awkwardness of a regular, formal declaration?\nRos: What, you who have discussed peace or war with the representatives of kings, to shrink from the simple question of matrimony with a green girl?\n\nAlt: Yes, and with reason. Let me tell you, the difference between sixteen and forty-five requires more delicate judgment than many disputes of em- 34 Adrian. Your falconers are just sallying from the court-yard. I'll accompany them for an hour's sport, and you can use the interval to your advantage with your daughter.\n\nRo.: Well, be it so; but I warrant you, my little Orrila is here.\n\nAlt.: Now, since you are now provided with better company, I will release you from me.\n\nOrr.: Will you leave us, sir?\n\nAlt.: Ah, how swiftly to return, if Orrila regrets my absence.\n\nOrrila:\n\nOrr.: Dear sir, Githa said you had inquired for me.\n\nRos.: Right, my girl, come here.\n\nAlt.: Since I now have better company, I will let you go.\n\nOrr.: Will you leave us, sir?\n\nAlt.: Ah, how quickly to return, if Orrila regrets my absence.\nOrr: Are you for the hawks, sir? It's a cruel sport. But destruction is the work of gentle spirits, as often as of ruder souls. Abroad, I hunt poor birds into toil; here, the graces weave a net for mortals, and I tremble for myself. [bows and exits\n\nOrr: If I did not know the prince to be my father's friend, I should consider him the daughter's enemy. Indeed, he has paid me so many compliments that, had I believed him, would have made me a sad, vain girl.\n\nRos: Ha, ha, you like him the better for it. A woman never quarrels with flattery in her heart. Own the truth, now, Orrila, don't you like the prince excessively?\n\nOrr: Yes, indeed, I think I do. But I am not sorry he has left us now, because I wanted to talk with you on a number of interesting topics. In the first place, I must tell you, your old favorite, Adrian, will...\nI have invited him to dine with us. Rosalind (aside). I knew you would be pleased to see him; but I am sure you will be surprised too, for he has grown so tall and handsome, and has acquired so many accomplishments.\n\nAct II] AND ORILA'S SCENE\n\nRosalind. Curse his accomplishments.\nOrlando. Sir!\n\nRosalind. Pshaw, let the boy, Adrian, and his catalog of merits, be canvassed with Dame Quince and the gossips of the buttery; your father's attention requires a theme somewhat more exalted. Tell me, Orrilla. seriously, and from the heart\u2014what are your sentiments towards Prince Atenborough?\n\nOrilla. Such as trust, become the daughter of his friend\u2014respect\u2014esteem.\n\nRosalind. Well answered. What think you of his person?\n\nOrilla. Commanding, yet prepossessing.\n\nRosalind. Good again! And of his manners?\n\nOrilla. All that I could wish, and more than I could imitate.\nRos: Right, very right, my girl. Odd's life, I am so pleased with your good sense \u2014 but it shall be rewarded\u2014 learn, my dear Orrila. I tell it you with a proud heart \u2014 learn, that Prince Altenburg destines you to become his wife.\n\nOrr: Father.\n\nRos: Yes, to wear the most ennobled coronet of Dresden's court, to take precedence of all our Saxon dames; to fill your father's soul with triumph, and the hearts of half the world with envy.\n\nOrr: It cannot be, sir \u2014 indeed, it cannot.\n\nRos: Kay, I am not jesting; on my life, 'tis true; I do not deceive you.\n\nOrr: Ah, then you deceive yourself: oh, sir, spare me, forgive me; but indeed, I cannot marry Altenburg.\n\nRos: Orrila, pooh, old Githa has been telling you that girls ought to refuse what they desire, at first, for an appearance of decorum; but here such coyness is unnecessary.\nYou would be idle; prove yourself therefore, sensible of the honor conferred upon your family, and receive the prince, on his return, as your future husband. Or, ought we not to love before we marry? Ros. Well, you do love him, or at least, you will. Adrian [Dimond]. With his external requisites, you confess yourself satisfied, and for the qualities of his head and heart, I dare vouch to you. Faich, ought to know them\u2014 I have been the companion of his youth. Or. Ah, but I must be the companion of his age. Ros. Pshaw, the difference of a score of years is immaterial\u2014 the forest tree attains its full growth before the woodbine is twisted round its trunk, yet we behold the two adhere right lovingly, enjoy the same sun beam, and bend together in the storm. But in short, my girl, the match is fixed\u2014 the settlements were completed.\nBefore we left Df-esden, and as the prince's absence from court cannot be prolonged, on this day week he will lead you to the altar, Orr, (casting herself on her knee) Father, father, have mercy on your child, Ros, Mercy\u2014 how or where is it required?, Orr. As I have a soul\u2014so truly, that soul consents not to this marriage, Ros. Orrila, have a care\u2014you are my only child, and I would fain prove to you an indulgent father\u2014but, beware how you provoke me on a point like this, Orr. Your commands will kill me, Ros. Ha! a suspicion\u2014a terrible one, glances on my mind\u2014heaven forefend it be true. Answer me, Orrila, can it be possible that you love another?, Orr. (trembling) Ah, sir, whom I loved\u2014no man has ever yet addressed me as a lover, Ros. It is well, for his own sake, no insolent has dared\u2014then mark me, young lady, it is my command.\nA father's command: dismiss these mawkish scruples in silence and offer an unwilling hand to Altcburg. No more visits to madame Clermont - all intimacy between you cease from this period.\n\nOrr. Cease, sir!\n\nRos. I have spoken it: with her and with all her family. Now. Orrila, you fully know your pleasure and your duty, [exit\n\nOrr. (after a pause) Do I wake or is it but a dream, a false, frightful dream that would abuse my senses? But one little hour ago, I was happiest of the happy. I wished not, feared not; my world was in my compass, and I could proudly have said to fate, \"tyrant of others, Orrila defies thee.\" Now, all is changed, all faded, all destroyed! Adrian, Adrian! How my heart rives at that name! I am commanded not to see him.\nsee him - wherefore then should day light visit these eyes again? day-light, less longed for and less welcome than the sight of Adrian!\n\nenter Lothaire.\n\nLoth: Lady Orrila, may I approach you?\n\nOrr: Lothaire! what would you with me, boy?\n\nLoth: (aside with sj.leen) Boy! always boy! I bring you a letter, sweet ladv; I took it from a peasant at the castle-gate (presents a billet). What a beautiful white hand she has!\n\nOrr: Ah, 'tis Adrian's writing - (she unfolds it eagerly)\n\n\"Pardon, dear Orrila, the strange abruptness of this note - 'tis traced by a trembling hand, and dictated by a distracted heart. In a few hours, I am determined to leave the valley, you, and every thing my soul prizes. I am forbidden to visit the castle; but madness will be my fate, unless I see you before my departure. Come to us, then, though...\"\n\"but for a moment, and eternally shall your name be blessed by Adrian. Then, at the same dark hour, we are both assailed by fortune, and both condemned to suffer. Lady, I pray be not offended \u2014 I would not presume, indeed I would not for the world; but you look distressed, and if so poor a youth as Lothaire could do you aught of service, it would be his honor, his delight! ah, I see you weep; heavy tears roll down your cheek \u2014 I cannot bear the sight \u2014 oh, lady, on my knee, I pray you to command me; I'll be faithful to you ever; in truth I will.\n\nLoth, I know it, lady, it comes from Mr. Adrian; perhaps you wish to see each other, and perhaps, my lord, the count objects to such a meeting.\"\nI am forbidden to approach his house, yet I cannot refuse Adrian's request - what a dreadful thought. There is still a way, lady; though you may not see Mr. Adrian at his own house, you can meet him at another person's. And if you would honor my sister Minna's cottage with a visit, I am sure the count would never learn a thing. Or, but even now, Adrian may be expecting me in the valley.\n\nWrite but a line to declare your pleasure, and swift as summer's lightning, your trusty courier shall fly to place the letter in his hands.\n\nYou are very kind, Lothaire. I would not trouble you.\n\nAh, do not mock me with such a word; a lady's errands are a page's honors. Fortune denies the glorious laurel to my youth, but beauty's hand bestows a different kind of honor.\nroseate wreath as dear to my ambition. Grant Lothaire the precious boast, to brush from sparkling eyes one envious tear, and circle with a smile vermilion lips, he would pace it barefoot to the antipodes, or swim wide ocean through the storms of night.\n\nOrr. Yours is a heart, Lothaire, where even traitors might confide. Come to my chamber then, good fellow, some few minutes hence, and I will charge you with a message\u2014how my veins freeze and boil by turns. Father, father; oh, cruel fate; why must I tremble at a name so sacred? [exit Orrila\n\nLoth, I'm a man\u2014I'm trusted with a lady's secrets, and that lady is the fairest and discreetest of her sex\u2014yes, I feel it, I know it, from this moment, I'm a man, a real proper man, and henceforward, if any person calls me boy, faith, Til flout the varlet rarely.\nI long for some adventure; my spirit is of the true chivalrous stamp, and, had I lived in the days of Amalric or Orlando, I should have been recorded as a preux chevalier \u2014 enchanted castles should have been slondund, black giants and yellow dwarfs overlords \u2014 captive damsels delivered from ignoble thraldom; and then, at tournaments foremost, I would have hung my gage, defied some haughty saracen to arms, and proved, upon the pagan's crest, \"my lady love, the fairest of the fair!\"\n\nSong \u2014 Lothaire.\n\nGaily, gaily, gaily!\nTo break a lance at tourney fight,\nOn prancing steed each gallant knight\nBy sunbeam red, or moonshine white,\nAt honor's call would fly!\n\nGaily, gaily, gaily!\nAround the ring, on rising seats,\nA crowd of rival beauty meets,\nIn radiant pomp, to mark the feats\nOf love and chivalry!\nCheerfully, cheerfully, cheerfully!\nThe barriers close, the trumpets sound,\nThe neighing coursers forward bound,\nAnd toss their manes, and paw the ground,\nImpatient of delay.\nCheerfully, cheerfully, clearly!\nNow knights to deadly challenge rush,\nAnd lances shiver, bucklers crush,\nThrough battered mail red life drops gush,\nO Jove, how fierce the fray!\nHurrah, hurrah, hurrah!\nThe pagan falls; he bites the dust:\nNo more in war or mimic joust\nTo cope with knight of holier trust \u2014\nWhat shouts assail the sky.\n\nAdrian.\nThe noon day sun scorches me to madness;\nWill not the thick gloom of forests screen me from its glare?\nah, no, it's an inward heat that withers me, in my brain; my beating, bursting brain; fever of despair; overarching woodlands weave no saving shade for thee. I have wandered wildly, without bias for my course, but I remain upon this spot, where chance has led me; for 'tis by this path my messenger must return. I may learn my destiny a few minutes earlier, and news of Orrila seems at this instant all the purpose of my life.\n\nThe music and the wild cries of the falconers sound. Enter Michael.\n\nMich. O, the fine hawks, the rare hawks; at last, then, I shall see the prince. But how shall I know his person from those of the gentlemen about him? Ah, doubtless by an air of superior dignity; just such an air as distinguishes me from the rest of our villagers. Ah, Mr. Adrian; who could have thought to meet.\nyou're here? perhaps we're both in the wood for the same purpose\u2014 do you come here for a sight of him as well?\nAdr. Him? whom do you mean?\nAct III] AND ORRIN 4J\nMich. Why, the great man, to be sure: his excellency, Prince Altenburg,\nAdr. No, no, I seek not princes.\nMich. Then you saw him this morning, I presume. Indeed, so did every body except my wife. By whom it was most inappropriate he should have been seen, I had planned a noble speech, with which to compliment his arrival: but, while I was practicing it in the cellar, for my wife always makes me practice in the dark, his excellency came unexpectedly. Malignant neighbors ran to meet him without telling me: and, just when I had got perfect in my words, I found they must remain hard, and that all the ceremonies had been finished an hour beforehand.\nHe is in the forest now; if I can only meet him, I will make sure a clever oration isn't lost, Mr. Adrian, you are a judge of language \u2014 I should like to rehearse my speech before you.\n\nAdr. Hence, gadfly, and buzz off, you persistent pest in my ears\u2014 mine are already stung!\n\nThere now, nobody can give me a civil word. It's very strange; I am polite to everyone, yet everyone is rude to me. [Music without further ado] Hark, the merry factions draw near; now, if I could come upon the prince by surprise, and flirt with myself before him in an attitude, then address him, \"Oh, wise and magnanimous Altenburg!\"\n\nAdr. Peace, trifler; and torture me no more with that accursed name.\n\nMich. Oh, fie; curse the name of Prince Altenburg\u2014that is a sort of petty treason. He's a nobleman.\nman, a minister of state, and above all, he's likely to be your future lord; for I can assure you, Mr. Adrian, from undoubted authority, he is to marry Lady Omla next week.\n\nAdr. (starting frantically) I hated that liar; swear to me this instant, is your word false? Swear it, or these hands shall tear the slanderous heart out that devised the tale, (seizes upon Michael)\n\n43 ADRIAN [Dimond]\nMich, Oh, mercy, mercy, Mr. Adrian, I shall be throttled.\n\nAdr, Speak, wretch, speak, to save yourself and me!\n\nMich, Then take your hands from my throat\u2014 ugh,\nindeed then, and upon my faith, I've heard the story from fifty people. It's a known fact at the castle, all the servants talk of it.\n\nAdr, (faintly) Away; not a breath more; \u2014 but hence, before my rage quite conquers reason- hence, hence.\n\nMich. Ay, and willingly. I'd as soon converse.\ntete-a-tete with one of the bears in the forest. Such a hug; oh, I shall carry a stiff neck for a month. What means this fearful uproar of the mind? It seems, as if, at once, memory restored forgotten images, while fancy quickens all her embryos into life- the past, the present, and the future, all mix, confuse, and jar upon my brain together, like the chafed circle of a whirlpool's maze \u2014 thoughts, in cross-setting eddies, battle to destroy, and hurry reason down a frightful gulf.\n\n(Before Loth Air.\nLoth, If eyes cheat not, yonder stands my man. \u2014\nYour servant, gentle sir; I would exchange a word with you.\nAdr, Trouble me not; but praythee pass, good boy.\nLoth Boy again; shall I never be called a man? How provoking; ah, if you could guess who sent me, you scarce would think it trouble to inquire my errand.\nLoth. The messengers of Lady Orrila are seldom slighted.\nAdr. Orrila, say you? Be swift, kind youth, and tell me of that name.\nLoth. I could prattle till doomsday on so fair a theme; but happily, the lady's hand will please you better than her page's tongue. (gives a billet)\nAdr. A thousand blessings on the precious gift.\nAct III] AND ORRILA 43\nLoth. How his eyes dart fire as they read; what a head for a helmet: oh, I wish he had been a knight-errant two centuries ago, and I his esquire,\nAdr. An hour hence, at Minna's cottage; such is the appointment.\nLoth. Yes, sir, Minna is my sister, and under her roof, the lady Orrila can meet you unobserved.\nAdr. One line has saved me from despair; I shall see her face, and hear her voice once more. [exit\nLoth. Umph: I think my gentleman might have\nSpared an odd word for thanks; but his raptures only shine forth, while his good manners are concealed. Lady Orrila calls this tempest of passions merely friendship. Well, if friendship is so violent in this valley, love here must surely prove a terrible disorder; whilst I tarry in it, kind stars, shield me from Cupid's archery.\n\nEnter Michael, running in excessive fright.\n\nLoth: Holla! Man \u2013 where so fast?\n\nMichael: Oh! Brother-in-law! Is it you? Dent stop me, I pray.\n\nLoth: What do you run for?\n\nMichael: To save my neck from a halter. If I'm taken, I shall be hanged, drawn, and quartered.\n\nLoth: Hey! What notable job have you done now?\n\nMichael: Oh! My dear brother-in-law, one that I fear will prove my finishing job. You must know, I came into the wood on purpose to meet the prince and deliver my oration to him. At last, I caught sight of him.\nThe sight of his excellency was all alone, his horse walking quite leisurely along, and he sitting, as if in deep thought. I thought it a glorious opportunity. So I hid myself behind a great tree, and just as he was passing, I flung myself before him, in one of my Grecian attitudes. Lo! and behold, the horse looked up in my face, and gave a great plunge, taking fright. Nay, I believe the prince himself was frightened too; for he dropped the bridle out of his hands. I hallooed and shouted, like mad, to stop the horse, but the panicked animal only galloped faster, and away it went over hedges and ditches, with his poor dear excellency clinging to the saddle.\n\nUnlucky wretch! why, the prince may get killed.\nMich. That's my only chance \u2014 if he breaks his neck, mine will escape, as nobody saw me at the time. I dare say he will break it, for I left the horse making towards the precipice.\n\nLoth. Heaven's and earth! this instant let me fly to the spot. Follow me, thou mischief-making knave, or I'll turn informer against thee myself and have thee hanged upon the highest tree in the forest, as a common scarecrow. Follow me. {exeunt\n\nScene III \u2014 another part of the wood\u2014 the noise of falconers sounds at a distance.\n\nEnter Adrian leading Altenburg.\n\nAdrian. You have received no injury, I trust, sir?\n\nAltenburg. None, my bones have been well shaken, but they have escaped fractures \u2014 thanks to providence, and you, its agent. My brave youth, I owe my life to you. Another instant and the terrified animal would have...\nAdr: I have been carried over the precipice. This is the first occasion fortune has granted me to be useful in society, and I shall cherish its recollection with delight. Can J, sir, afford me any further service? Alt: Yes, acquaint me how I may best acknowledge the debt I never can discharge. Adr: If you mean the simple action I have just performed, I claim no merit from it, and I desire no thanks. Alt: Still, young sir, you must consent to receive them; the gratitude I feel, I must be allowed to express; other wise, you will have saved me in act of courage, only to afflict me through your pride. Adr: Indeed, you overrate my service. To see your danger and to prevent it was with me simply the effect of impulse. Alt: As impulse then, be it greeted. Modesty has no claim.\n\nAct III] And Orsina 45\nBy your courage, only to afflict me through your pride.\n\nAdr: I have been carried over the precipice. This is the first occasion fortune has granted me the opportunity to be useful in society, and I shall cherish the memory of it with delight. Can J, sir, can you afford me any further service?\n\nAlt: Yes, please tell me how I may best express my gratitude for your help.\n\nAdr: If you are referring to the action I have just taken, I do not consider it a great feat and do not wish to be thanked for it.\n\nAlt: Nevertheless, you must allow me to express my gratitude; otherwise, you will have saved me from danger with your courage, only to cause me distress through your pride.\n\nAdr: Indeed, you are overestimating my actions. To see your danger and prevent it was a natural response for me.\n\nAlt: As a natural response then, let it be acknowledged. Modesty has no place here.\nIts own language, and writes of itself in lemon juice \u2014 but gratitude should always have warmth enough to draw the latent cyphers forth and translate them for the world, in stronger characters. Give me your hand, young man \u2014 say, shall this pressure be the pledge of friendship between us?\n\nAdr: Inviolably so; if you, sir, can vouchsafe to exchange regard with one so lowly.\n\nAlt: Whatever be your rank, from this moment I take your fortunes under my own special care; nor shall you blush to own the patron you hate chosen; for know, in Saxony's extended realm, next to her sovereign the greatest name\u2014 is Altenburg!\n\nAdr: (starting and tearing away his hand) Altenburg!\n\nAlt: Ay, the prince of Altenburg.\n\nAdr: Broken be our bond of friendship, ere the breath dries that was its seal.\n\nAlt: How am I known to you?\nA rash youth, stay and explain this riddle. Seek its solution from some other lip; curses would blister mine if I replied. Let mountains rise and billows flow between us in eternal barrier. It is the voice of fate that wills it, and now we part for ever. [exit rapidly] Amazement! I heard him, distinctly heard him, yet now I could disbelieve my very senses, and think the whole adventure but a waking dream. Mysterious, inexplicable youth! He has insulted and spurned my friendship, yet I would pursue him with its kindest offices. A sentiment unfelt softens my heart towards him, and even while his eyes and lips darted scorn, a something in the look and voice, like magic, subdued my pride and changed resentment into mournful wonder.\nLothaire enters with some of his train. Loth: Ah, my lord, you have been in danger. Alt: But I am found in safety. Did not a young man pass you just now? He took the path through which you reached me.\n\nLoth: Yes, my lord, he rushed along like lightning.\n\nAlt: Was he known to you?\n\nLoth: Perfectly; he was Mr. Adrian, the son of Mad-Clermont. Clermont! That name is not familiar to me. Where does he reside?\n\nLoth: In the valley here, hard by, with his mother, a widow lady.\n\nAlt: Instantly conduct me to the house. I will see this mother; my curiosity is roused, and must be satisfied at once. Lothaire, lead the way. Madam Clermont's house enters. Mad: Are you positive the carriage will arrive in time. Leo: An answer please, madam, the master of the carriage.\nPosthouse promised to send it for you a little after sunset. It was your own desire I should not speak of it earlier. Mad, true, the villagers will not have quit their labors before that hour, and I wish my departure to escape their notice. How far can I travel before daybreak? Leo, some ten or twelve leagues, perhaps.\n\nAct III] And Orrila, 47\n' Mad. Oh, further, good Leopold, much further, I shall not delay at inns.\nLeo But you must needs bait for meals and rest.\nMad No, Leopold, no rest for me; sleep will not close these eyes, or hush this heart, till we have passed the Saxon frontier. {a knocking at the outward gate)\nHark! I look to the door; perhaps 'tis lady Orrila.\nLeo I know poor Adrian has written to her, and the gentle maid would scarcely suffer us to depart without a farewell.\nRe enter Leopold.\nLeo: A strange gentleman asks to see you, madam.\nMadam: A stranger! I cannot receive him,\nLeo: I told him you were here, and he is in the house already.\nMadam: Well, if it must be, conduct the stranger to me. Whom can it be? I cannot remember any person whose business leads him here.\nJu: (speaking without fear) Let my attendants return to the castle.\nMadam: (shrieking) Ah! that voice; 'tis thunder to my soul; earth open; bury me in thy center, and hide me from the dreadful one; he comes; I hear his step\u2014 that well-known step\u2014 I cannot fly; I sustain me\u2014 save me\u2014 heaven. (she draws the long flowing veil, that is fastened in her hair, hastily before her features, and trembles, leans for support against a chair)\nEnter Altenburg.\n(The prince bows on his entrance respectfully to the madam.)\nI am unable to choose the appropriate words to express my apologies, madam, for this unexpected intrusion by a stranger. But I hope, you will grant me the excuse, which I confess is meager. I am Adrian, [Dimond. I pause for a moment, as if seeking an answer, then continue]. Although this visit may seem impertinent, I assure you, madam, the motives that have brought me here are pure and honorable. An accident, or rather providence, introduced me to your son this morning. Madam, you shudder and grasp the chair convulsively. My life was in danger; an unruly horse had carried me to the edge of a frightful precipice, and was about to plunge into the abyss. Your son appeared, and at the risk of his own life, saved me.\nI feel pleased, madam, when I relate what followed. Some strange mistake in the name must have caused his conduct, but scarcely had I announced myself to my deliverer as the prince of Altenburg, than he rejected my proffered friendship with disdain. He denied any explanation of his motives and quit me as his direst enemy. But I have forgotten the rudeness and only wish to remember the obligation. Allow me, madam, to hope, through your explanation, that your son's harsh opinion of me may be converted to more kindly sentiments, and my character appear to him in its real light.\nMadam advances a step and appears on the point of speaking, but emotion stifles her utterance. She turns away again.\n\nHeavens! Her face averted, as if in scorn. (aside) Madam, I fear this determined silence cannot be construed otherwise than as a proof of your aversion, and too probably, it is by the mother's precept the son has been taught to hate me. Well, madam, if I may not win your esteem, at least permit me to retain my own, and perform the common duties gratitude exacts. Merit, in this hard world, does not always achieve its own reward, and should your son ever require another support, let him command my influence. I swear to recognize his claim and serve his interests with the father's care.\n\nMadam, no longer mistress of her feelings, hurts.\n\nAct II, scene IV, line 49.\nI into an agony of tens and falls into the chair by her side, supported. Merciful powers, whence this agitation? oh! madam, I conjure you speak. Tell me in what I have offended, and how I may atone!\n\nHe approaches and attempts to take the hand which hangs next to him over the chair, but she recoils from his touch, and motions him peremptorily to sit down, while, with the other, she draws the veil still closer that conceals her face.\n\nI perceive too plainly, I am indeed the object of your resentment. How have I incurred this, heaven knows. I am unconscious. In the administration of government, perhaps I have unwittingly offended many. For a man in office is too frequently judged by the splendor of success, rather than the virtue of his intentions.\nAttention; each refused favor creates an enemy, and he is always supposed to injure when he cannot serve. Madam, if by any chance I have wronged you or your family, I sincerely regret the offense, and had I been permitted, I would gladly have repaired it. But denied as I am, either to refute or to atone, I have only to assert, and conscience proudly sanctifies my words. Wilful injustice never yet disgraced the name of Altenburg. [Madam, after a pause of violent emotion] Surely the bitterness of expiation is now past, and fate cannot have in store another trial like this. Forbid it, oh! in mercy, or my torn heart will break in the endurance. After twenty years of sullen calm, the storm returns with tenfold terrors. Yes, we have beheld each other once again \u2014 but, ah! no lingering intelligence of love.\nMatilda's presence whispered to the heart of Altenburg. Oh, time, time! How you have changed me,\n50 Adrian [Dimond], when a thin disguise could conceal me from that familiar eye, Altenburg and Adrian, who a frail mortal has labored for years to keep apart, have been brought together by heaven's justice. Yes, I feel it, I acknowledge it, it is the work of heaven. What then am I, who dare to oppose omnipotence? Terrible inquiry! Let me not think, for thoughts in guilty minds breed madness. I cannot, no, no \u2014 I cannot, give him up. He is my sole joy in life, my soul feeds on his looks, and only with my last mortal sigh will I resign him. (rings a bell)\nEnter Leopold.\nMad, Leopold! Where is my son?\nLeo: I saw him walk towards the wood an hour ago, and he has not yet returned.\nMadam, still absent - should they meet again! Fly, Leopold, and seek him.\nLeo: Nay, madam, you cannot spare me now from home. You want a thousand things to be prepared against the evening.\nMadam: I only want my child - search the wood - the village - every where, till you have found him. [exit Leopold]\nTo the world's end I'll fly, and bear him with me, dear injured boy! Idol of my love, yet victim of my vengeance. Once passed the Saxon confine, my terrors will in part subside - farewell! my simple home - a long - perhaps, a last farewell. The sun already crimsoned your casements with declining ray, and, ere the yellow moon beam sheds there its softer light, far hence, a wandering alien, must your mistress rove. Driven by destiny, through unknown climes I seek a resting place; but, ah! I fear me, like the poor Assyrian dove, sent forth o'er boundless seas.\nless waters to discover land, my desolate soul will circle widely for a perch in vain, and often murmur on its weary wing, ah! for the sheltering bourne, I left behind!\n\nEND OF THE THIRD ACT.\n\nAct V, Scene i^the valley,\nenter Min^from her cottage,\n\nMin^ (looking towards the mountain) No person is as yet within sight, yet Mr. Adrian insists it is the time. Poor young gentleman, how swift a change can a sad heart work on a strong form! I protest, when I look at his fine, handsome face, so palely overcast with sorrow, and listen to the piteous sighs drawn from his heart, I am made quite melancholic. I fear me too all is not well with Lady Orrila -- ah! Count Rosenheim must be a merciless man, to send asunder two fond hearts, which love had woven into one.\n\nBALLAD -- MINNA.\n\nOn one parent stalk, two white roses were growing.\nFrom buds just unfolded, and lovely to view; together they bloomed, with the same sun-beam glowing. And anointed at night by the same balmy dew. A spoiler beheld the fair twins, and, unsparing, tore one from the stem, like a gay victim dressed, then left its companion \u2013 his prize proudly bearing, To blush for an hour, ere it died on his breast. But, ah, I for the widowed one \u2013 shriveled and yellow, Its sleek silver leaves lost their delicate hue: it sickened in thought \u2013 pined to death for its fellow, Rejected the sun-beam, and shrank from the dew. Then where, ruthless spoiler! ah, where is thy glory? Two flowers in dust that might sweetly have bloomed, A tomb is the record which tells thy proud story, Where beauty and love are untimely consumed. ORRILA appears on the bridge led by Lothaire. Loth, Look, lady! We have reached the cottage.\nThe saints be praised, the long-expected have arrived at last.\nOrpheus. Ah, I do not see him. Minna, have I not been inquired for? Has no person passed this way?\nMinna. (significantly) Only one, my lady, and he is now within the cottage. In truth, a mournful tenant, but this tap shall be the signal of comfort to him [strikes on the door].\nLothaire. Minna!\n(he beckons to Minna aside, and she retires with him behind the cottage)\nOrpheus. Ah, he comes: for the first time, the approach of Adrian seems terrible to me.\n(ADRIAN rushes from the cottage, but suddenly he pauses, when opposite to Orpheus\u2014his eyes become fixed upon her for a moment in silence, and then are dropped to the earth with an expression of despair)\nOrpheus. (faintly) Adrian, will you not speak to me?\nAdr. But let me hear your voice; music will soothe, and I shall fear no longer, Adr. Orrila! But a minute since, my heart seemed laboring with a crowd of matters, eager for speech, and struggling to be heard; yet now I see you, every thought expires in birth, and I forget my wishes while I strive to utter them.\n\nOrr. (going to him, taking one hand and looking tenderly in his face) How is it with you, Adrian? Your hand is feverish, and it trembles at my touch.\n\nJidr. Ah! for the last time that touch must agitate this pulse: its throbs are eloquent, and would express farewell!\n\nOrr. Then it is true that you must leave us. But, as the departure is sudden, I trust the absence will be brief. Say, when will you return?\n\nAdr. Never.\n\nOrr. How, inhuman! Repeat that word, and say you meant it not.\nAct IV, Adr: I will not, I dare not return to Rosenheim.\nOrr: Name but the cause \u2014\nAdr: Yourself!\nOrr: Just heavens! I \u2014\nAdr: Yes, I dare not meet Orrila as the \u2014\nOrr: As what? Speak, Adrian, speak!\nAdr: As the wife of Altenburg. (his voice falters as he speaks)\nOrr: I have not yet consented to receive that name.\nAdr: Ah, but your father will command.\nOrr: I may still hesitate to obey.\nAdr: [vehemently] Will you, glorious Orrila, dispute the fatal order? Say that you will, and my beating, dying soul shall bless you for renewed existence. Orrila, I love you \u2014 fondly, fiercely love you; and if you wed another, I must die!\nOrr: Adrian!\nAdr: Forgive the wild confession of a desperate man. Yes, I avow my guilt; poor and undistinguished.\n\"Guessed as I am, my presumptuous heart has dared to love you. Till this hour I never knew the fatal nature of my passion; while possessed of your society, the flame glowed gently, and I cherished friendship; but now, condemned to lose you, it blazes with destruction, and I find it - love!\n\nOrp. (timidly) Perhaps I guessed your secret, Adrian, before you told me; sympathy breathed it in whispers, and I heard of your heart, while I listened to my own.\n\nAdr. (catching her hand) Rapturous accents! Am I then blessed that Orpheus returns my love?\n\nOrp. Away with artful, cold reserve; the honest soul despises forms, and what it thinks without a blush it dares to speak. I feel no shame to sanction your love, and confess my own. Oh, Adrian; ours is no common cause of passion, no casual link, forgiven.\"\nYesterday, our gold-bound hearts could not be riveted apart by angry kindred. Our loves began, and affection was elder-born in our memories. It has dwelt, grown with our forms, and strengthened as our minds expanded. Our mutual confidence has been unbounded, and reason justifies what habit first induced. Is there a force in nature to obliterate traces so confirmed and so endearing? Ah, no! A father's mandate may break this heart, but it cannot change it. You, Adrian, are the only man I love, and I can never regard another.\n\nYour words, at once, are my blessing and my curse\u2014the knowledge of your love aggravates the horror of your loss. I must behold the woman I adore, forced into another's arms.\nI am conscious that she suffers, and mourn her sorrows, whilst I madden with my own. Orr. Hold, nor judge of Orrila so meanly; a parent's authority is awful; but heaven may impose a claim more sacred. Shall I, before the altar, clasp a husband's hand, unchosen of the heart? Invoke the deity to witness falsehood, and dare pronounce an everlasting oath of love, while treacherous thoughts deride the words of faith, and all my doting soul is yielded to another? Never, never I, the timid, yielding girl, can prove a heroine, when virtue sanctifies resistance; and thou wouldst be death the penalty ordained, firmly would I brave it, rather than violate the presence of my god with perjury, or give to an honest man a wife, might prove his shame, Adr. But, fierce, brutal force may be used, and tyranny accomplish where persuasion fails. Beset with\npersecution,  and  Adrian  far  away,  how  shall  your \ngentle  spirit  bear  the  trial  ?  no!  one  only  way  can. \ncalm  my  fears  ;  this  night  I  quit  the  valley  ;  will \nOrrila  embrace  a  wanderer's  fortune,  and  partake  my \nflight  ? \nOrr.  The  thought  appals !  does  Adrian  ask  me  to \ndesert  my  father's  roof  ? \nAdr.  Oh,  god,  I  did\u2014 but  already  I  repent  the  in- \nAct  IV]  AND  ORRILA  55 \nfamous  request,  {impetuously)  Think  me  a  villain, \nOrrila,  and  drive  me  from  your  mind  for  ever  !  a \nselfish  wretch ;    poor,   and    without  a  name  ;    who \nwould   seduce  the  heiress  of  unbounded  wealth \ntempt  her,  from  peace  and  greatness,  to  disgraceful \nwant \u2014 and  chill  her  glowing  beauties  with  a  beggar's \ncold  embrace ;  despise  me,  Orrila,  for  1  deserve  your \nscorn.  Heaven  preserve  you,  dearest  maid  ;  Ad- \nrian quits  your  injured  presence,  and  is  gone  for \never  ! \nOrr, stay, I pardon and regard you still. Are we then doomed, indeed, to part? And were the brilliant visions of our early years, fantasmas all - dew-webs, sparkling on the morning grass, which noon-tide suns dissolve?\n\nAdr Oh, in mercy, let me fly, nor torture me with thoughts of happiness for ever lost I.\n\nOrr, No - I cannot, will not lose you; your warning words were truths, and now I feel and see the mighty dangers that beset me. When you shall have beaten distance - no protector near; a suitor resolute; and a father stern, the marriage altar may be lit with deadly brands; vows may be forced, and a fettered victim given for a bride. In this moment, I am either saved or lost! lover, friend! I call upon you to preserve me. Take me then, Adrian, I am yours, for ever yours; and only death shall disunite our fates.\nAdr: Will you, then, give the treasure of your charms to one, whose only wealth is love? Resign the dazzling pomp and luxuries of rank, to rove obscurely at the sport of chance, and share in solitudes the pittance of a swain?\n\nOrr: Without a sigh, I can accept the change. Thou art my world, and all my wishes end in thee! Over moor and mountain, though the tempest beat, let Adrian lead me, and my step shall never fail; his voice, sweeter than the sky-lark's carol, shall cheer my spirit, when fresh morning breaks; and in his arms at night, I'll find soft shelter and the sweetest rest!\n\nAdrian: My brain grows wild with rapture! But I must seize upon my bliss at once to render it secure; this very evening must you fly.\n\nOrr: Madam Clermont surely will not chide me. (Adrian - Diamonds)\nwhen she learns my rashness; no, she may grieve for me, but I think she will forgive me. My father too, even there I still will hope \u2014 when the first storm of angry passion shall subside, nature's voice will hush the murmurs of ambition, and softly plead at his heart, an only daughter's cause is not a parent's dearest wish his offspring's happiness? And when I am yours, cannot I say to him, \"that wish is gratified?\" Oh, yes! my father will pardon and bless me; he will see that I am happy, and then he will bless Adrian also, as the cause of my felicity!\n\nAdrian. Hope's fairest handmaid is my love; she blunts the arrow ere the bow is drawn to wound; and, like the bee of Corsica, from natural bitters can extract a chymic sweet!\n\nEnter Lothaire.\n\nLothaire. Lady! A crowd of villagers, homeward speed-ing.\nDescend the mountain's side: through yonder thicket, find a path, by which you may regain the castle unperceived, but take it swiftly, or you will not escape their notice. Orr, let us then away. Adrian, a short adieu, soon shall we meet again to part no more. Adrian: Two hours hence, beyond the ruined watchtower, love will expect its boon. Orr. Doubt not my coming. Soon as the rosy star of evening dimples western skies and floats gray mists o'er stream and dale, shall Orrila redeem her pledge. Hence, doubt and fear; dark be the hour and perilous the way, love lifts his torch, and leads his votaries on! [exeunt separately. The voices of merriment, accompanied with rustic music, sound at a distance on the mountain. Act IV] AND ORRILA 57.\nAnd gradually, a crowd of peasants crossed the bridge and assembled in front of Friedbert. (A peasant.) Now, neighbors, to our several homes in peace; the setting sun that shines upon our dwellings should give our hearts an equal glow. Evening is the peasant's season of delight, for then, in careless pastime, he forgets the toils of the day: his infants prattle round the cottage hearth, and love's sweet hand prepares the social board.\n\nPastoral.\n\nHow beauteous is evening! The setting sun shines,\nLike a faint dying rose, on yon mountains of snow;\nHew beauteous is evening! the full clustered vines\nAbsorb the last day's beam and mimic its glow.\nHow sweet is the union of natural sounds!\nThe wood-pigeon's murmur, the bleat of the flock;\nThe squirrel's light step, through the bush as it bounds,\nAnd the loud rush of eagle-wings seeking the rock.\nPeace broods o'er the scene with a parent's delight,\nThese fresh falling dews are pearls thaw'd from her vest:\nIn the gray mist she watches the cradle of night.\nAnd rears her white shrine in the cottager's breast.\n\nStay ZA\u2014 the men.\n'Tis time for the shepherd to fold his lambs now,\nAlready the breeze from the mountain blows cold;\nThe orgies of twilight begin in the air.\nAnd the hum of the new-wak'd creation is there:\nThe dark droning beetle, the small buzing gnat,\nAnd the circling career of the weak-sighted bat.\n\nStanza \u2014 by the icomen.\nSoon cradled in darkness, will planets shine fair,\nA garland of gems drawn through night's raven-hair.\nSoon, star of the green earth; in mossy lanes damp\nThe glow-worm, shall sport her small emulous lamp,\nF.\n58 Adrian [Dimond]\nAnd seem from her palace of dew-drops to say,\n\"My sisters of heaven, I rival your sway.\"\nEvening welcome to our bowers,\nWith thy train of close-veiled hours,\nThat like nuns behind thee press.\nAs their hooded prioress,\nNow through misty space from far\nSteals thy dewy-dropping car,\nDown the dale, through wood, o'er stream.\nHither drive thy wizard team,\nAnd we vow trim rites to pay,\nWavering waltz, and ballad lay,\nCome away to lawn and bower,\nCome! we call thee \u2014 'tis thy hour;\nThe wolf howls! thy watch is set.\n\nEvening! ho! grave dame well met!\n\nEND OF THE FOURTH ACT.\nScene I \u2014 Madam Clermont's house,\nEnter Madam.\n\nMad: It's dark, quite dark, and still he comes not.\nWhat can detain him! This suspense distracts me!\nEnter Ida.\n\nMad: Now, Ida; is he returned?\nIda: No, madam; but, as I stood with Leopold,\nwatching beyond the gate, just now, a sudden clamor,\nas of men in quarrel, sounded from the forest.\nMad: Ah, my foreboding heart!\nIda. It was too dark to distinguish objects, but as we listened, the name of Adrian was often repeated. Soon the voices became louder, and the clash of swords succeeded. Leopold left me and ran towards the spot. But see, madam, he returns!\n\nAct V] And Orilla enters Leopold.\n\nMad. Leopold, speak \u2013 my son.\n\nLeo. Alas, my gentle, brave young master!\n\nMad. Speak; give in a breath my fate!\n\nLeo. His life is in grave danger; I saw him fall \u2013 a sword was pointed at his breast.\n\nMad. Not Altenburg's? Man, man \u2013 save me from the last distraction! O, say it was not Altenburg's.\n\nLeo. I do not know whose; numbers prevented my approach.\n\nMad. Avenging fiends, your work is done; now plunge your victim in the flame she merits.\n\nIda. Lady!\n\nMad. Away; nay, hold me not!\n\nIda. Whither do you rush?\n\nMad. Where curses call, and bleeding martyrs wait.\n\u2014 to my reward: a rack, destruction, and the grave! [exeunt\n\nScene II \u2014 inside the cottage \u2014 Minna and Louit-\nGarde, discovered at work.\n\nDuet\u2014 Louit-Garde and Minna.\n\nThe queerest of goblins, the quaintest of sprites,\nWho in good deeds and mischief alternate delights,\nIs he who dwells high on the mountain\u2014\nAll winter he toils and blows fire in the mine,\nBut rambles abroad when the weather is fine,\nAnd eats the fat frog of the fountain.\nHe milks Cicely's cow, long before it is dawn\u2014\nWhile farmers lie snoring, he threshes their corn;\nThen down at his length he sprawls flat on the chaff,\nAnd greets the scared clown with a riotous laugh.\n\nNumber Nip; Number Nip!\nO, mountainous, mischievous, marvelous Nip!\n\nTo poor Roger, as he crossed the moor one night,\nSought through the darkness his own cottage door.\nThe fiend met him, mantled in vapor. Now here and now there danced the fanciful sprite, over swamps and stale pools, with a wicked blue light. Which Roger mistook for a taper. For hours the night wanderer was forced to pursue, Stip further and further the knavish light drew; The ground suddenly quaked\u2014presto! vanished the fire, And Roger sank up to his ears in the mire. Number Nip; Number Nip! O, mountainous, mischievous, marvelous Nip, I* Mm, Heigho, cousin Louitgarde; my heart counts every moment with a throb\u2014surely it is time Lothaire should return to us; is not the hour yet run? Loa. Oh, yes, long since; and see, the sands have a second time half filled the glass [raising the hourglass]. Min. A footstep now hastens to the door\u2014it is Lothaire.\n\nenter Lothaire.\nMin. (eagerly) Now, my dear brother; now let us hear!\nLothaire: We've been impatiently waiting for you, Oh, Lothaire. (Lothaire turns away peevishly and sits in sullen silence in a chair)\n\nMin: Brother, brother, what's wrong with you, Lothaire?\n\nLou: I'm fine, no; don't bother me with questions \u2013 I have no words for women.\n\nMin: What's gotten into you today! What breeze has brought this humor on?\n\nLoth: I mean no wrong by you \u2013 I'm a miserable little fellow!\n\nMin: Mercy on all sinners, what chance encounter now?\n\nLoth: I'm undone, discarded by my master, and turned adrift to float as I may on the wide sea of life; but that's a trifle \u2013 Adrian and the lady Orrila, the tenderest and truest lovers; they, for whose dear sake I\n\n(Act V] AND ORRILA 61)\ncould have welcomed ruin with a smile, alas, they are also undone, and share my misery. Min Heavens! Has their escape then been prevented? Loi/i. Oh, yes\u2014 a villain betrayed their secret to the count; before the luckless fugitives could reach the wood, guards surrounded and forced them from each other \u2014 the brave, heroic Adrian vainly strove against a host of foes; his weapon was beaten from his grasp, and I saw him dragged, disgraced with manacles, before the count; still defying, though subdued, like a young lion snared in the hunter's net, that struggles in despair, and seems to scorn the destiny he cannot shun. Min. And the lady Orrila? Loth. I know not further\u2014 I was suspected as an accessory to their flight. Pride would not suffer me to tell a falsehood, and the old count ordered his lackeys to thrust me, like a base felon, from his gates.\nLoth: Were you beaten then? Look in my face, Minna, and tell me, if it bears the stamp of shame? I am not very big, nor over strong, perhaps. But I have a heart, that would have strained and cracked into a thousand pieces, ere any tall, raw bone fellow of them all, should have brought blows to market, and not been paid their value back. Beaten\u2014quotha, beaten!\n\nMin: Nay, my dear angry bantam cock; smooth down your plumes, and crow not so loudly, for we have a visitor.\n\nAdrian [Dimond], Haiftroy enters at the door which Louitgarde has opened.\n\nHail, Lothaire, a word with you; I come from your late master.\n\nLoth: From Prince Alteu beg?\n\nHau: Yes\u2014he has learned from the count the story of your offense, and approves of your expulsion from the castle.\nLoth. I have indeed deserved to lose his favor \u2013 I confess it. But his justice is tempered still with mercy \u2013 he sends you by me this purse, and bade me say, though he discards you from his service, he yet feels an interest in your fate, and will not suffer poverty to drive you into vice. Loth, Kind, noble spirit; oh, that I should merit the reproach of such a master! Hau. Here is the purse. Loth (putting it away with emotion). I cannot touch it, the coin would damn me \u2013 I can toil, beg, starve, die, rather than revel in the bounty of a patron I have wronged \u2013 take it back, Haufroy, for I dare not receive it. Tell the prince that his poor, broken-hearted boy will never cease to bless his name, but that he dares not accept his gold \u2013 (bursts into tears)\nI. Poor lad; though prepared to blame, I now pity thee, Oh, Lolhaire, what a fatal blot this inconsiderate hour hath fixed on an escutcheon heretofore white and spotless as the lily's cup, ere sun or rain hath freckled it. For three years, man and boy, I have lived in the family of Rosenheim, and never till now was shame seen upon their faces, or sorrow heard within their halls.\n\nIII. Good Haufroy, speak not thus; my poor brother's heart will break \u2013 where is young Adrian now? (to Friedbert)\n\nHau. Cast into the dungeon, far from the light of day. The count's passion knows no bound \u2013 heaven help the luckless youth; he was seized in the very act of stealing an heiress, and by our Saxon law, the penalty for such a crime is death.\n\nLoih. Death, death! oh, Haufroy, in mercy say it is not. (Act V, Scene III, AND ORRILA \u00ab3)\nNot so, or my brain will burst.\nHau. Start not, for it is certain. Loth, I will prevent or share it - Haufroy, on my knee I beseech it, let me pass with you to the castle.\nHau. Mad youth, what purpose could you serve?\nLoth, I will fling myself at the count's and at my master's feet - tell them, I have been the wretched cause of all, and that I alone should suffer. Turn not from me, Haufroy - if you reject my suit, despair will end me.\nHau. Come then, thou virtuous one, too late, thy penitence excuses, though it cannot remedy thy fault.\nM'ln, We will tell our beads in your absence, and pray to every saint in the calendar for eloquence to touch the count with pity. If Adrian suffers, our valley will bewail its sweetest swain, its golden harvest bend unripened to the ground, and all its cheer.\nFull woodlands strew their leaves, ere autumn shakes the tree.\nGlee - Lothaire aw(f) Minna,\nOn earth's cold lap poor Adrian lies,\nWhere falling evedrops count his sighs;\nHe starts! and clanks his galling chain -\nThin echo starts, and clanks again,\nThe deep and heavy toll of the curfew announcing\nthe approach of night is heard at intervals, softened by distance.\nHark, hark, from abbey turret near,\nSlow swings the curfew bell:\nAh, me, to fancy's shrinking ear\nTolls a lover's knell.\n64 Adrian [Dimond]\nNow loud in air, the dirge-notes swell,\nI hear them - listen - borne - bell!\nScene II - an antechamber in the castle,\nEnter ANSELM follozceddy madam Clermont.\nns. (gruffly) I tell you again, mistress, that you ask in vain\u2014\nmy lord will admit no visitors.\nMad. Alas! mine is no idle call of ceremony,\nA heart-broken mother imploring mercy for her child. \"Surely, good man, do you know my face?\" Answers. \"Yes, I know it well enough, and I know your son's too \u2013 a plague on the family face, I say, it has wrought nothing but mischief since it was shown in our valley \u2013 but once for all, my master will not see you. Madam. \"No, but deliver my humble message to him, and his purpose may relent: behold my anguish, and do so much for charity.\" Answers. \"Charity begins at home; and I don't see why I should thrust myself into the way of trouble, only for the chance of a stranger's thanks. Madam, I am not rich; yet I can reward a friendly service. Look, good man \u2013 this purse \u2013 this cross-let, too \u2013 all shall be yours, if you admit me to the count.\"\nMadam, in a parlous fury, and has given strict orders not to be disturbed; however, I have a tender heart; and, as you say, out of charity one ought to - but is that lock made of real jewels?\n\nMadam. In truth, it is\u2014 oh, do not torture me.\n\nAnswer. Well, well, I don't doubt your word\u2014but if I do serve you, 'tis out of charity, more than the lure of gain\u2014I hope you understand that rightly. Wait here in the ante-chamber, and I'll try what can be done.\n\nMadam. Wretched Madam! When will the chastisement of my offences cease? Will not heaven accept of penitence without atonement? Must man be taught to curse, ere God will pardon me? If so, I must indeed despair; for never can the dark confession pass these lips; shame fixes there an everlasting seal, and in the grave my secret must be buried with me.\nYet, oh the innocent one; the object of my fondest love, is doomed to suffer for my sake. Haply, even now, from his dungeon's depth, my darling Adrian calls upon my name, invoking me to preserve him. Inhuman! I hear him, yet can mock his prayer. Soon he may be dragged to an ignominious death; and as he passes to the scaffold, in agony of spirit he may point to me, and cry, \"Behold the unnatural mother, who could have saved her son, yet would not!\"\n\nRe-enters Anslem.\n\nAns. I thought what answer you should bring you back: my lord commands you to leave the castle, and trouble him no further.\n\nMad. [Fiercely] I will not obey his mandate: I come here to claim a son, and without him, I will never go hence \u2014 this proud, imperious lord shall see me; or like a plague, I will hang upon his threshold, and pierce his ear with everlasting cries.\nRos. But I must tell you,\nMad. Away! And let me pass! (she casts her jurse at his face) Here is your hire \u2014 stoop, and be absolved by gold for all neglects.\n[She passes him and exits.\nScene III \u2014 a saloon \u2014 Rosekheim discovered, seated at a table \u2014 Githa standing by him, crying,\nRos. How dare you, old woman, to disobey my orders? I commanded you to quit my presence half an hour ago \u2014 must I still endure your senseless jargon?\nGit. Ah, my lord \u2014 be not so harsh with your poor old servant\u2014 indeed I cannot quit you, without a word of comfort for Lady Orrila.\nRos. Carry her my curse\u2014 no\u2014 not my curse; but tell her I will never forgive her.\nGit. Ah! such a message would break her poor heart at once. If your lordship could only see her, just as I left her in her chamber, fixed like a statue,\nHer hands folded on her knees, her cheeks deadly pale, and her finedark eyes turned upwards to heaven, all streaming with tears - a sight that would melt a heart of stone.\n\nRos. I am glad she suffers - to know that she is miserable rejoices me. If she were to weep till the Elbe oversowed with her tears, she could not wash out the stain she has fixed upon her family.\n\n(A person knocks softly at the door)\n\nHow now! Who knocks there?\n\nA NS LE M appears.\n\nAnswer. Please you, my lord.\n\nRos. No, sirrah! It displeases - disobedience, like an Egyptian plague, taints all my house, and leaves no wholesome creature within its walls. It was my positive order no person should intrude.\n\nAnswer. In truth, my lord, I'm not at fault - that woman is so obstinate, there's no way to rule her.\n\nRos. Hasn't she left the castle yet?\nAnswer: No, my lord; nay, more, she insists on admission to your lordship, and declares you shall see her.\n\nRos. How! vastly well! We shall find a way to settle with this determined personage; she insists truly, very right; let her enter. She has chosen a lucky moment; I'm in a delightful temper to receive her\u2014yes. Show the lady hither immediately. Old woman, Githa, departs. once more, begone, I say I.\n\n[The Count stamps furiously with his foot, and Githa retreats, terrified at his rage. The count then draws his chair forward and seats himself with an air of excessive irritation.]\n\nNow, then, for this determined lady: no doubt she who tutored her hopeful son for this exploit. Well, well, her visit shall meet a due reception.\n\nEnter madam.\n\nShe advances with an unsteady step and binds with\nRos. Before the one who regards her sternly and does not return her salutation,\nRos. Weil, madam, your high and mighty pleasure is complied with: you do see me, and now for the business: what have you to say?\nMad. One word. Mercy.\nRos. I expunged that word from my dictionary, when a villain's hand blotted the page where honor was inscribed.\nMad. Count Rosenheim, you are a parent.\nRos. Ay, madam, a wretched one. Your son has rendered me such thanks. I am reminded.\nMod. Is there then no hope? Are you resolved on his destruction?\nRos. Not so; I never take upon myself to decide the fate of any individual, whatever be my provocation; my cause shall be submitted to the excellent laws of my country\u2014which never fail to redress the injured, or to protect an honest subject against injustice.\nThe aggressions of the profligate and unprincipled Madam, but those laws are terrible. Rosalind Only to the vicious: innocence regards them undismayed. In a word, madam, be this my fixed answer to all expostulation: your son shall receive justice, and only justice. If the injured man demands no more, how shall he who commits the wrong expect indulgence?\n\nMadam, Oh heavens! Do not send me from you thus!\n\nRosalind Death, woman! I did hope to have kept my temper with you; but you provoke me now beyond all patience. How have you the effrontery to come into my presence upon such an errand; after you and your son have plotted against me, the basest injury a man of rank could suffer; to steal away my heiress; to pollute the stock of nobility with plebeian blood; and to prop up your own bankrupt fortunes with dishonest spoils?\nMadam, hold, my lord. I implore you not to trample unnecessarily on a wretch already brought low by affliction! Though I may lose happiness, I beg to retain honor: by every sacred name, I swear, I was not privy to your daughter's flight. Had I known her fatal purpose, I would have perished rather than deserved your harsh reproach.\n\nRos. (softened) Well, madam, if this is truly the case, and you have protested it so vehemently, I am sorry for your misfortune. Unworthy children may spring from honorable parents. If I have accused you unfairly, I sincerely request your pardon.\n\nMadam. Ah, that your forgiveness could be won half so easily as mine is granted! But you have a generous and noble nature - and by all its godlike attributes, I implore you to have compassion on a desolate and distracted soul.\nwoman (she casts herself on her knees before him)\nRelease my boy! Restore him to these widowed arms of mine, and to the globe's remotest corner will I fly, never again by our name to wound your peace. H\nRos: Tis in vain \u2014 I am deaf to all intreaty\u2014 I\nMad (catching his arm with convulsive fervor) .^\nCount, a soul now kneels to you for salvation; if Adrian suffers, I shall be his murderess, and his innocent blood will fall on my head, and sink me to perdition.\nRos. Away, away, you rave\nMad: No; I am not yet mad, I'll soon be myself\nAct V] AND ORRILA 69\nbe driven; you cannot, dare not, destroy my Adrian; he is \u2014\nRos. What?\nMad (shuddering in agony): There is a dreadful secret\u2014 may I confide in you? Will you swear not to betray my trust?\nRos: (surprised) I am a man of honor.\nMad: Looking suspiciously around and speaking low, I swear but never breathe in mortal ear the lightest hint of my confession - swear it, count. I grasp his hand between mine, and rivet my eye on his with terrifying wildness - the count appears astonished and irresolute. While he hesitates, the voice of Altenburg sounds.\n\nAlt: I must see the count directly - Madam, releasing her hold and starting up with the look and accent of despair, enters Altenburg.\n\nAlt, Count: I come to make a trial of your friendship - it's now in your power to oblige me eternally.\n\nRos: My friend! You should command, rather than request. I am your debtor in kindness for more than I can ever pay.\nGrant me one favor, and you discharge the obligation nobly. Have I your promise? Ros. Irrevocably. Enough - I take you at your word - woman of affliction, cease to weep - the vial of wrath is drained, and the chastising angel smites no more. I return to the door, and throwing it open, introduce Adrian. Behold the boon I claim - it is the restoration of an only son to the arms of a widowed mother.\n\nAdrian [Dimond]\n(Adrian rushes forward. Madam shrieks faintly and drops lifeless into his arms.)\n\nHos. Prince; what does this mean?\nUlt. Strictly justice - life for life. This youth preserved mine; and now, through your consent, I redeem his from equal peril.\n\nBos, Prince! prince! My honor will remain forever wounded, if that youth escapes.\nAlt. And mine would be slain outright, if he were condemned to suffer. Altenburg has broken his chains; will Rosenheim's be the hand to rivet them again?\nAdr. Look up, my mother! 'tis Adrian calls; will you not bless him with a word?\n(Madam without answering feebly disengages herself from Adrian's embrace \u2014 totters toward Altenburg\u2014 sinks on her knees and sobbing audibly takes his hand and kisses it)\nAlt. No thanks, dear lady: but if you were once my enemy, only say I have atoned to you, and that I am now forgiven.\nMad. All is forgiven! All shall be atoned!\n(^.^e draws aside the veil and gazes upon him, pale and trembling)\nAlt. Why do you fix your eyes upon me so intently? Gracious heaven! What dreadful charm is in your gaze? Those eyes; they pierce my soul\u2014never but once have I gazed on such before: speak but a word\u2014one word.\nMad, Matilda! (her eyes close, and she falls prostrate at his feet) Alt, Almighty powers; 'tis she, the wronged, betrayed, and still adored Matilda. O, let me catch you from the ground and clasp you, for ever in these trembling arms. Matilda, look upon me; receive my penitence, and bless me with your pardon.\n\nM (Id. Away; such bliss must ne'er be mine, (Strug- ActV] AND ORRILA 71 glng to force him from her) Nay. Bold me not. You know not what you do. You press to your bosom a serpent, that would have stung your noble heart to death.\n\nAlt. O, do not shun me. Fancy luxuriates, and I grow wild with hopes\u2014Matilda, Adrian, mother, son, oh god! is he that son; dare I call him ours?\n\nMad. {excited bitterness} Ours! Would Altenburg then acknowledge Matilda Carlstein's nameless boy?\n\nAlt, Rack me not with doubts so cruel; bless me.\nWith a word, and I say that I am still a parent; but why do I ask? Nature irresistibly declares I am, Adrian; my eager arms and throbbing heart expand together and invite a son. (He rushes forward to embrace Adrian)\n\nMad. (Interposing) Hold, Altenbarg. Forbear; Adrian is not my son.\n\nAdr. Great heaven; not your son. Oh, mother, do not drive me mad.\n\nAlt. She would deceive us both; but the heart is confident and cannot err.\n\nMad. Again I charge you hold. By the eternal majesty of truth; here, in the face of man and heaven, I swear it: Adrian is not my son.\n\nAdr. What then am I? How must I regard you?\n\nMad. As a fiend to be abhorred for ever.\n\nAdr. No, no, Adrian blesses you.\n\nMad. Soon you will learn to curse me\u2014you will\u2014but I care not\u2014my brain burns\u2014yet all shall be confessed.\nAlt. I once blessed our love - pitifully ask, where is that child now?\nMad. Dead. Prince. Dead. Dead. Dust in the grave.\nHear me! Twenty years ago, sorrowing and blushing with my wrongs, I left the gaudy mansions of my shame and sought in the distant shades an humble refuge with my child. Desolate as I was, I still felt comforted; a brief, fleeting calm soothed my worn spirit, and I began\n72 ADRIAN\nagain to dream of peace; but suddenly, a malignant fever seized upon my blooming infant. For those wretched days and nights, I watched by its bed incessantly. Heaven knows how fervent were my prayers; but watch and prayer were vain, and the angel of death tore from my weak arms the only solace I retained on earth. Even now I shake with the terrors of that hour.\nIt was your child, Altenburg! And had you seen its soft blue eyes forever closing, I think you would have pitied its wretched mother.\n\nOh, God; how tenderly\u2014how truly\u2014\nMad Soft, let me proceed, a direful, dreary blank succeeded. My wits wandered, and for many months I became an helpless lunatic. Suddenly, recollection visited me again; 'twas at the dead hour of night; I had escaped from the kind peasants who tended me, and was sitting in the churchyard where my babe lay buried. As from a dream, the senses seemed to start and wake; no human shape or sound was near; but the cold breeze of midnight played freshly on my temples, and I heard the fallen leaf rustle as it past me. I felt I was alone, and slowly I gazed around; the moon, at its cloudless zenith, and the silent march of the stars.\nI. Above me were grave stones, and at my feet, a new-made one I had been strewing with flowers. I looked, and I knew it for my baby's. I could not weep; the source of tears had been dried up by grief. But a new spirit, fierce and fiendlike, rose within my breast. I knelt down amidst the moonlight dews, and calling on my infant's injured shade, pronounced a dreadful oath of vengeance. It was on the father of my child I swore to be avenged.\n\nUnhappy woman, how could you purpose such madness? Yet a moment; both day and night I traveled on my wild design. At last, the towers of Altenburg rose proudly before me\u2014a thick bower concealed me, and I watched the spot, unsettled in my aim but fixed upon revenge. The castle gates unfolded, and a child, lovely as cherubim, came tripping over the threshold.\nThe lawn, plucking the flowers and weaving them in playful wreaths. He approached the ambush where T stood concealed. I gazed upon his features and I knew their stamp: it was your son, Alteuburg. Your legitimate son, whom I beheld. \"Revenge,\" I cried, and as the fearless infant gambolled near the bower, sudden and unseen I snatched him in my arms. The turbid waters of the Elbe flowed near. Swift to the river's brink I flew and bore my victim with me.\n\nAlt: Inhuman murderess! Then by you, my gentle lamb was sacrificed. Your hands plunged my infant in the roaring flood!\n\nMad: No \u2014 heaven spared me from a deed so damned! He cast his hat and mantle on the wave, but held the infant closely nestled to his heart. My cruel fraud succeeded. The clothes were found. Their wearer's death was believed. Unpursued, he bore the heir of Alteuburg.\nI Altenburg, to distant realms \u2014 here to the mountains of Saxony I fled; and here, in peasant's weeds, I hid a prince's form, and reared the fruit of noble veins in vileness as my own. My race of crime is run! Adrian, I lose my child forever, but you in Altenburg regain an heir.\n\nAdrian and I, who have hung upon the sentence in breathless impatience, now rush towards each other.\n\nMadam, fly to each other's arms, and kill me with the sight of bliss I never must partake in; but I do not murmur; no, may you be blessed forever, whilst I eternally am cursed!\n\nHer corporal and mental powers appear to yield to the ether, and she is sinking, when Rosenheim catches her and sustains her.\n\nRosenheim: Vehemently, No, lady; no! That man must have the heart of a wild beast, who could curse a poor woman.\nrepentant sinner, that, stricken to the earth, implores mercy!\nAdr (flying to her), Mother, dearest mother,\nSP4 Adrian [Dimond]\nMad (feebly raising her head), Ah! that name, Adrian,\nAdr Impetuously Is your son; you are still his parent, or Adrian is still an orphan.\nAlU Matilda, our offenses have been mutual\u2014let our expiation be the same; one son is lost to us, yet another is ours.\nMad Ours fo, Altenburg!\nAlt Let Adrian be your son\u2014let Matilda be my wife.\nAdr Blessings on my father.\nMad Adrian, lead me; let me kneel\u2014\nAlt No\u2014here, next a husband's heart, be folded,\nand absolved for ever.\nRosenheim and Adrian support Matilda\u2014Altenburg meets her with extended arms, and they sink on their knees as they embrace.\n(The folding doors at the back of the scene open and OKKILX appears leaning on Githa and Lo-)\nLoth: Look up, sweet lady; nay, never droop.\nGith: Ah, I said your courage would fail, when put to't; but you would persist,\nRos: (turning suddenly) How now; whom do I see? oh, thou undutiful, disobedient Orr; Ah, sir, spare your rebuke\u2014your frown alone has too much terror for your child; humbly I come\u2014\nRos: I know it\u2014you come to whine, and whimper, and wheedle a fond father to forgive you; but you are too late, for I have resolved upon your punishment just eight seconds ago; look up in my face, and tell me, if you do not read there a rigorous sentence!\nOrr: (timidly raises her eyes\u2014Rosenheim smiles)\nSir; father.\nRos: Come hither, girl; give me your hand; but no, I'll take it by proxy, and you, young man, shall be my representative.\nAct V, scene VII\nOrr: All, dare I to believe-\nRos. Anything, but that your father can be inconsistent; you must not dare to believe that; for I never in my life rescinded a resolution once formed; I always said that Alienburg should be your husband, and, now, only, does he resign you.\n\nAdr. My Orilla; I read your marvel in your eyes \u2014 but soft, you, for a while, and these strange-seeming chances shall clearly be avouched for truths.\n\nOrr. I know not to believe, yet will not doubt \u2014 oh, if I dream, never let me wake from such delightful visions, but die of the sweet phantasy and only find out the deceit in paradise.\n\nGith. What does your lordship forgive my young lady? Please, the saints then, I'll dance a gavot at the wedding.\n\nLoth. When pardon touches all, must I alone despair of mercy? Does my dear master banish me, never to hope recall?\nAll I from me, your fortunes are indeed divorced, but I will marry them to a kinder service, whence no fickle wish can chance to stray. Kneel to the fair Orilla! For henceforth there your duties must be bound. Now, my Matilda, let our pilgrim loves that have fulfilled the penance of their youthful fault rest at the happy shrine, and meet succeeding pleasures doubly relished by needful memory of disasters past.\n\nMad. Wondering, trembling, touched with pious awe \u2014 I muse; am conscious; and adore. But now I stood upon creation's verge, a lonely hermit atom-living, yet unallied to kindred life \u2014 lo! even as a moment; husband; offspring; friends; with all the heaven-born social charities, endeth existence and invite me to a home.\n\nThus when fierce winds the midnight deep deform,\nAnd shrieks on high the spirit of the storm;\nThe shivering mariner, aghast with fear, clings to the mast and thinks his doomsday near. Sudden\u2014 the dark, dread anger clears away. Clouds blush with light, warm strikes the new-born day. In murmuring melody, the waves subside, and breeding halcyons nestle o'er the tide. Through heaven's blue, vast swift kindling glories run, and waking worlds adore the gold sun. [exeunt omnes\nTHB EN0 OF ADRIAN AND ORRILA\nEPILOGUE.\n\nEnter git ha.\n\nNow one confusion through the realm is found,\nAnd noise and clamor every where abound,\nAnd every creature finds his conscious weight,\nAnd Join herself, is a my lady great.\n\nI come to canvass, you, box, gallery, and pit,\nFor you return our parliament of wit;\nHere, in Covent Garden still, a hustings stands,\nAnd sheriff Githa aslis a show of bands.\n\nFor a young candidate, though not untried,\nBut in whose gratitude you may confide;\nWho vows and swears, return him due, elected,\nYour rights, your laws, shall ever be respected,\nIn short, he promises - he who minds that.\nAll members join. Therefore, verbum sat,\nI'll to my canvass then - what shall I say?\n\"Your votes and interest, kind electors, pray\" (bows)\nLet him but heal the poll this night, and I'll be bound,\nNo farther opposition will be found;\nFor in this town, we know, nine tenths, the elves,\nNever take the pains voting for themselves,\nFirst, then, accept my sufragates to win.\nFirst with the you: men then, my luck I'll try,\nI always pity young men, they're so shy.\nSweet modest youth - hey! what's this I see?\nEnter Orilla, running.\n\nNay, leave the young men, governess, to me.\nGit Ha.\n\nWhat, interrupted! shall I not be heard?\nI mean no interruption, on my word, but merely think, I would plead with greater truth to youthful hearts the cause of kindred youth.\n\nTS Epilogue.\nGitha.\nIndeed, cease prating apace! Then, pray, pass on;\nI trust each vote already here is, my writing\nUnless you'd wish the candidates to split\u2014\n\nOrilla.\nAgreed\u2014\nI care not what, provided we succeed.\n\nGitha.\nTake then the young ones, forward fellows, bold,\nNot that I ever tried them - but am told,\nAnd on the score of long acquaintance, miners the old:\nKind friends, who have all, like me, been young, in turn.\n\nOrilla.\nYou youths whose breasts with love and ardor burn.\nGive him your interest, cherish rising merit,\n\nGitha.\nTo stand a canvass requires some spirit.\nAnd as the poet says, \"you freemen little know\n'The rubs the candidate must undergo.\"\n\nOrilla.\nHe would have waited on you here this night,\nBut he's so timid\u2014\nGitha.\nLard! be's in a fright.\nOrilla\nLet us then hope, divested of control,\nGitha.\nWe only trust you won't demand a poll,\nBut do it handsomely, and give him plumpers.\nOrilla.\nHis thanks we'll here proclaim, each night, in bumpers.\nTrue to yourselves, yet free from disaffection,\nYou'll thus assert your freedom of election;\nGitha.\nWhile \"posts'' and \"chronicles'' shall herald him tomorrow,\nEpilogue,\nTo the Curfew.\nMay I come forward? Do I friends behold?\nHas not our curfew then its own knell tolled?\nI feared our drama's name alone would fright you,\nConvinced no gothic customs could delight you.\nFine whims indeed were in that monarch's head,\nWho all his subjects sent to bed at eight;\nShould modern rulers to such plans resort,\nAlas, alas! 'twould spoil a world of sport.\nThose were strange times! For then, in cot and palace, with the sun arose the beaux. And stranger still, belles, for cosmetics, knew not the Olympian but the morning dew. From dawn's chill breezes they gained their roses. And queen over every thing, pure nature reigned; nay, such the ignorance of each untaught zany. They followed larks as we do, - Catalani. What vulgar days! I'm glad they're passed away! Then people slept all night and woke all day; to them unknown the eccentric, dear delight, To sleep all day and visit all the night, Unfelt by them the joy our fashion yields, In winter towns they sought, in summer fields; But wiser, we such natural ways disown, And cold months pass in country hot in town; And though a walk at morn's refreshing hour Might restore faded beauties' native bloom.\nAll such receipts for bloom I deem a bubble,\nWhen rouge, beyond dispute, is much less trouble:\nThus I'm convinced all moderns truly wise,\nBeyond the past, will present customs prize;\nAnd let me hope unenvying times that were.\nYou'll have all curfews before the curfewsire.\n\nEpilogue\n\nYet one word more: by modern changes, witches\nHave gained the most, for now their art enriches;\nOnce, stripes, or death their recompense became,\nWhile no one icsli'd be a fortuneteller's name:\nThen too in huts they lived to us, that's novel,\nWe do not seek for witches in a hovel;\nWe for such treasures, streets and squares explore:\nWhat splendid coaches throng a certain door!\nTis a good trade I'll practice it, I vow,\nNay, with your leave, I will begin it now.\n\n(after a pause during which she looks round the house)\n\nOur author's fate, I in your faces read.\nAnd dare foretell, our drama will succeed.\nOh then, ye critics, if ye friendly feel,\nWhat your ear whisper, let your hands reveal,\nApplaud, and prove me, what is not common,\nAnd quite the fashion now\u2014 a cunning woman.\niajaaaOO'\n......\nsmmtrf;\naaaaa'\n\nDeacidified using the Bookkeeper process.\nNeutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide\nTreatment Date: March 2009\nPreservation Technologies\nA WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION\n111 Thomson Park Drive\nCranberry Township, PA 16066\n......\nLibrary of Congress", "source_dataset": "Internet_Archive", "source_dataset_detailed": "Internet_Archive_LibOfCong"},
{"title": "Amatonda. A tale, from the German of Anton Wall [pseud.]", "creator": ["[Heyne, Christian Leberecht], 1751-1821", "Robinson, Henry Crabb, 1775-1867"], "publisher": "London, Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown", "date": "1811", "language": "eng", "lccn": "07004435", "page-progression": "lr", "sponsor": "The Library of Congress", "contributor": "The Library of Congress", "scanningcenter": "capitolhill", "mediatype": "texts", "collection": ["library_of_congress", "americana"], "shiptracking": "LC195", "call_number": "6337784", "identifier-bib": "0029561920A", "repub_state": "4", "updatedate": "2013-01-09 01:27:58", "updater": "ChristinaB", "identifier": "amatondatalefrom00heyn", "uploader": "christina.b@archive.org", "addeddate": "2013-01-09 01:28:00", "publicdate": "2013-01-09 01:28:06", "scanner": "scribe2.capitolhill.archive.org", "notes": "No table-of-contents pages found.", "repub_seconds": "1246", "ppi": "600", "camera": "Canon EOS 5D Mark II", "operator": "associate-aisha-harris@archive.org", "scandate": "20130301151111", "republisher": "associate-phillip-gordon@archive.org", "imagecount": "322", "foldoutcount": "0", "identifier-access": "http://archive.org/details/amatondatalefrom00heyn", "identifier-ark": "ark:/13960/t30306835", "scanfee": "100", "sponsordate": "20130331", "backup_location": "ia905604_19", "external-identifier": "urn:oclc:record:1039497168", "openlibrary_edition": "OL33057835M", "openlibrary_work": "OL24870296W", "description": "xxiii, 288 p. ; 17 cm", "associated-names": "Robinson, Henry Crabb, 1775-1867", "republisher_operator": "associate-phillip-gordon@archive.org", "republisher_date": "20130304135638", "ocr_module_version": "0.0.21", "ocr_converted": "abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.37", "page_number_confidence": "91", "page_number_module_version": "1.0.3", "creation_year": 1811, "content": "Anton Wall, from the German of Anton Wall, London: Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, Paternoster-Row.\n\nPresented by Amatonda.\n\nW.h. Shoemaker. Printed by Turner and Harwood, St. John's Square, London.\n\nAdvertisement by the Translator.\n\nAnton Wall, like Veit Weber and Jean Paul, is a literary nom de guerre. It has been assumed by one of Germany's least voluminous but most elegant romance writers, and has derived celebrity and popularity from two or three works of fiction, all of very small extent. These little books have been published at remote periods, a circumstance as singular as their style and character; for it is a very strange thing in Germany to find a distinguished writer who is not also voluminous. The author himself, if still living,\nA person of advanced age, his works are no less remarkable. The greater part of his life has been spent in utter seclusion, in a capricious and whimsical way, bringing upon him an imputation of insanity from the world at large. When the ordinary customs are despised and disregarded, the world is unwilling to consider the exercise of rare intellectual powers as the certain proof of a sound mind.\n\nIn the summer of 1802, I passed through the town of Altenburg in the Electorate of Saxony. Making enquiries of my intelligent landlord concerning the remarkable people of his place, I was instantly informed of Anton Wall and urged to call upon him. In Germany, artists, scholars, and men of letters consider a visit even from strangers, without any particular recommendation, a great honor.\nMy lord, as an homage to Anton Wall, not an intrusion on his retirement, I'm pleased to inform you that he will be glad to see you. He is always referred to as 'Heine' by us, though his real name is Anton. He will be very glad to see you and you are sure to find him at home. He has not been out of bed for six weeks.\n\nUpon expressing some pity at this information, I was soon interrupted by a laugh. \"He is as healthy as you are, but chooses to spend all his time in bed. He sometimes keeps his room for months, perhaps years, rising only to change his linen!\" Making further enquiries, I understood that he spent his days with few or no books, implying that his time was seemingly wasted. He lived frugally, not penuriously, and was believed to possess property sufficient for his slender wants. Other particulars:\nI. Anton Wall's Beloved Oddity:\n\nAnton Wall's oddities, while exposing him to ridicule, did not diminish his universal popularity. A kinder man never existed, they said. He held a special affinity for children, who adored him in return. When he left his room, he would gather young people together for a dance or other inexpensive frolic.\n\nHaving received this information, I was led to the apartments of Anton Wall, situated on the attic story of a large house. Upon knocking at the chamber door, I was beckoned in by a faint voice from within. Entering the spacious room, I perceived a ruddy, healthy-looking, elderly man lying in a bed at the farther end. He instantly supported himself on one arm, pulled off the bedclothes, and...\nHis white night cap invited me forward with courteousness and good humor, instantly producing a pleasing impression on my mind. The apartment was neatly white-washed, the furniture plain but neat, and the linen, bed clothes, and so on remarkably clean. I introduced myself to Mr. Heine by referencing his works, which he recognized with great pleasure, but without manifesting a greater avidity for praise than is allowed to those who receive scarcely any other reward for their labors.\n\n\"Which of my little books do you like best?\" he asked. \"Amatonda,\" I replied. \"Perhaps you are right. Do you know whom I meant to laugh at in the poet Selim? It is Jean Paul and Klopstock.\"\nAnton Wall mentioned that I was afraid to read only two German writers due to their obscurity. He added that they were admired for their obscurity, and the same was true of Selim. A lengthy conversation ensued, lasting over two hours. My author displayed a naivete, good humor, and gaiety that corresponded to the tone of his works. This left a highly advantageous impression on my mind in terms of his taste, penetration, and good nature. German critics and reviewers were not forgotten. Anton Wall professed ignorance of the judgments passed on himself and expressed flattery at the singular good fortune of receiving praise from the most fastidious of all German critics, the Schlegel brothers. At that time, the Schlegels had become formidable to the great body of popular opinion.\nGerman  writers,  by  the  severity  of \ntheir  criticisms.  They  had  raised,  what \nwas  invidiously  called,  a  new  school \nof  taste,  which  probably  still  survives, \nthough  the  leaders  have  been  since \ndispersed.     August  Wilhelm  Schlegel^ \nthe  elder  brother,  and  the  translator  of \nShakespear,  attached  himself  to  the \ncelebrated  Madame  de  Stael,  and  is \nsaid,  in  the  late  German  papers,  to \nhave  embarked  for  America  with  that \nlady,  in  the  capacity  of  tutor  to  her \nson.  Frederic  Schlegel  is  the  reputed \nauthor  of  the  last  admirable  Declara- \ntion of  War  against  France,  by  Austria, \nand  has  had  the  honour,  in  common \nwith  Gentz^  of  being  proscribed  by  the \nFrench  government.  In  the  fourth \nnumber  of  the  Athenceum,  published \nby  the  Schlegels,  the  following  short \nreview  is  given  of  Amatonda.  It  may \nsupply  the  place  of  remarks  by  the \ntranslator. \n\"  It  sounds,  itself,  like  a  tale  of  ro- \nXil \nAnton Wall's tale, titled Amalonda, has reemerged, delighting us once more. This Persian story is elegant, roguish, and filled with French levity and grace. Some critics may desire more allegory and morality, while others believe a fairy tale should shimmer with all the colors of the prism and find it not oriental and wonderful enough. Readers may be disappointed that the magician fails to capture all four brothers, but are rewarded with the discovery that one of them outwits the conjuror. One of the merchant's sons appears to have been overlooked. The Sultana Biribi, with her eyes that sparkle like diamonds, is introduced.\nThe brilliant departs from the oriental costume, in the great purity of her love for Solmar. From the first familiarity of the lovers, we expect a conclusion more in character. It is to be wished for every poet, that he may be thrice embraced by the fairy Amatonda; and certainly Anton Wall, who has set up the delightful custom, ought not to be excluded from the benefit of it. It may be, however, right to add, that this fairy tale differs from all other fairy tales, both in its moral tendency and in the economy of its structure.\n\nXIV\n\nContrary to the usual practice, the author has recourse to as little, not as much marvelous machinery as possible. And Amatonda herself, who gives a name to the piece, makes her appearance only to \"point a moral,\" as simple as it is momentous, and to impart keeping and coloring to a picture of\nmoral excellence and domestic felicity, we are not accustomed to seek among imaginary beings in the tropical regions of romance. It is an Oriental tale but the usual stately style of such fictions is resorted to only to heighten, by contrast, the colloquial familiarity and playful, satirical humor which characterise the author's manner. The only works which resemble it are Count Hamilton's Fairy Tales and the Legendary Tales of Musaeus. Hamilton, however, has more wit than humor; and, though a Scotchman by birth, is, in his writings, a volatile Parisian voluptuary. Musaeus's exquisite legends are original only in the style and humor. The stones are familiar to the German nursery.\n\nTO A LADY.\n\nI am still alive, my fair friend; or rather, I am alive once more, but for how long I cannot tell. Therefore, to make amends for the past, and to secure your future happiness, I give you these lines. Let them be a pledge of my constant affection, and a reminder of the vow I made you when last we met. May they bring you joy and comfort, and may the blessings of heaven rest upon you.\nI send you a Persian tale, one of the 10,000 my great-aunt inherited from my uncle and which I purchased from her for 100,000 pearls. I gave her my translation to peruse, and she said that grandmothers and young married ladies might safely read it, but innocent girls must not; because the word Love is in it, and innocent girls never, of their own accord, think of love. Now I confess that I have myself observed something in this same Jove, quite contrary to the nature of innocent girls; because whenever they do fall in love, they never fail to sigh most pitifully. I entreat you, therefore, to conceal this tale most carefully from them all.\n\nYou will also be pleased to hide this Dedication from your husband; for, Who knows? he might imagine, mistakenly.\nI had an uncle, who was foolish and capricious; but his caprices were indulged for the sake of his sense, and his sense for the sake of his caprices. Among these caprices were two, to which all others were subordinate: his love of pearls and tales. One morning he stood for an hour at the window in a brown study, and answered the salutations of no one. At length, laying the end of the forefinger of his right hand on the spot where the forehead ends and the nose begins, he muttered between his teeth, \"European pearls have a great deal too little water, and European tales a great deal too much.\"\nHe shut the window, sold his three estates, and embarked. He rambled over Persia, Arabia, and the Indies, and made a collection of pearls and tales. After spending twenty-one years in furnishing his cabinet, he returned to Europe. He brought with him 100,000 select pearls and 10,000 select tales. He purchased for himself a handsome garden in the suburbs and lived a solitary life in the midst of his treasures, appearing at none of the picnics or court balls.\n\nAfter ten years of looking over his pearls and reading over his tales, he fell sick, made his will, and died. He bequeathed me his pearls because I was young; and his tales, because she was old. We both uttered profound sighs at the death of the good man, but my great-aunt could not cry, nor I either.\n\nWhen we came to take possession of his estate.\nOur great-aunt looked upon my casket, which contained the 100,000 select pearls, and sighed deeply. I cast my eyes upon my great-aunt's cupboard with the 10,000 select tales and sighed as well. On this, my great-aunt looked full in my face, and I looked in hers.\n\nSuddenly, we stretched out our hands towards each other, and without exchanging a single word, I gave my great-aunt the 100,000 pearls, and she gave me the 10,000 tales. She was willing to give me an additional 100,000 kisses, but I am confident that I took only five and a half of them.\n\nOn this, we both fell crying for the dear deceased. I wept almost a whole day, and my great-aunt wept several months. I am thus in possession of 10,000 Eastern tales, and at the same time, of a very good heart. But he who has...\nOnce upon a time in Persia, there lived a mighty Shah, and under this Shah, at Basra, there was a wealthy merchant named Bator. The merchant's identity matters not for our tale, but the merchant was called Bator.\nfame was spread throughout the entire empire, and his notes were accepted, even for millions at the very furthest corner of the Indies. His palace was the seat of affluence and refined taste. He was known throughout Asia by the title of the magnificent. The poets of the province called him the guardian-angel of the sciences and kissed the hem of his garment; the emirs of the province saluted him with the greeting \"friend of my soul.\" For Bator distributed gold to the poets and accepted the bills of the emirs, and he invited them all to feasts and entertainments.\n\nWhile Bator was regaling the heralds of his virtues and the friends of his soul, his agents were carrying on his business. Some persons insinuated to him that it was their own business they were carrying on, not his, but he was pleased.\nA great merchant should use their leisure hours wisely and keep their daybooks and ledgers meticulously. A merchant ought to make great enterprises; who else should, and how else are great merchants made? The agents of Bator proposed these enterprises, and Bator himself approved them over his morning chocolate. However, it was not their fault that homeward-bound vessels were wrecked in storms or that caravans were plundered by robbers. Through a succession of such unexpected incidents, Bator's account books were filled with his losses, and his iron chests were emptied of their treasures. The cash keepers and account keepers told the same story.\nA man with bad luck should risk all he has at a venture, as he may not only recover all he has lost but become richer than before. This was the proposal made to Bator by his agents, but an obstinate ill fortune baffled all their good designs. One rash enterprise followed another until, at last, on one fine morning of spring, while Bator was reposing on his couch and one of the poets of Persia was reading to him aloud a didactic poem on the Triumphs of Commerce, the whole body of his agents entered his apartment to inform him that his iron chests were exhausted and he had not wherewithal to answer a quarter of the pressing demands that were made upon him.\n\nIt is a well-ascertained fact that the poets of Persia never torment a poor man.\nA man read verses to him, and the emirs of Persia never kissed a ruined man on both cheeks or styled him a friend of my soul. Bator found himself suddenly not only deserted but shunned. He implored his agents as a last act of kindness to distribute the remains of his fortune among his creditors. They carried out their task faithfully, paying every man in full. Immediately, they established themselves, intending to take a warning by their master's misfortunes and to carry on their own business with their own eyes. A few jewels that belonged to Bator's wife were all he could save of his property. He secured these and then took her and his four young children by the hand, stealing out of Basra by moonlight, unobserved.\nHe repaired to a remote corner of the province of Tauris. Here he purchased a small piece of ground, the produce of which just sufficed for the scanty maintenance of his family. He had resolved to attend, himself, to the management of his petty concerns. For several weeks, and even months, he was indefatigable in his new and laborious occupations. But, from time to time, a sort of homesickness fell upon him, which rendered him unfit for business of every kind. His slaves worked as they pleased, and his fields and flocks thrived as well as they could. Thus a number of tedious years elapsed, till decease robbed him of his wife. He loved her tenderly, and she merited his love. She never reproached him on account of his misfortunes, and her resignation with which she endured them alleviated his despair. He [ended his days with her].\n\"Now found himself utterly abandoned, and his afflictions overwhelmed him. He took to his bed, felt the approach of his last hour, and summoned his four sons to appear before him.\n\n\"My dear sons,\" said he, \"my last hour is come. Draw near to me, and receive the benediction of a father. You have all shown me the affection of children in my misfortunes; may you be rewarded for it by greater happiness than I ever enjoyed, and may your happiness be more lasting than mine. When I am dead, inter me by the side of your mother, and then break open the letter which I here give to Solmar.\" \u2014 Bator would have continued, but his breath failed him, and he gave up the ghost. The four brothers wept bitterly over their deceased father; they laid him by the side of their mother; and, having performed the rites of burial as decently as they could.\"\n\"My dear children,\" read Solmar, \"in your infancy, I was Bator the Magnificent, the rich merchant of Basra. Misfortunes burst upon me, and I took refuge in the asylum where I have since resided. Here I was able to provide a bare subsistence for you with labor and anxiety, for I loved you all with equal fondness. I looked forward with dread to the time when you would be left to share between you the property which had scarcely sufficed for the nourishment of one family. At length, I was relieved from my apprehensions. A source of bounty was opened to you, of which I was not permitted to share, and which I was not allowed to make known to you till my decease. Be consoled, therefore, for my loss, and hearken attentively to what I am about to reveal.\"\nI had once a sister whom I loved affectionately in my infancy, but disputes arose between us, and for more than thirty years we have been separated. You never saw or heard of her. She recently died, and at her decease she left you a valuable legacy, deposited in the hands of her confidential friend, Algol the magician, to be distributed among you after my death.\n\nAlgol the magician is a very kind and courteous man, and has the reputation of being a great philanthropist. No one can charge him with having done him an injustice; and he offers his good counsels to every one who is willing to follow his advice and has the sense to understand it. My sister and I became acquainted with him many years ago, through the introduction of a deranged person, and for a long time I kept up my connection with him. I owe it to him.\nI came to Basra, as per his instructions, to the idol of all poets and bosom-friend of all emirs. My house became the seat of good taste, hospitality, and pleasure. It is true that when my misfortunes arose, he abandoned me, along with the poets and emirs. But he accuses me of not having comprehended his secret advice; for I was bound to keep it from all men, even from you, my sons. It is his rule never to listen to those who have already misunderstood him.\n\nThe magician dwells at a three-day journey's distance from here, in the midst of mountain forests to the east. His home is on a high hill, the sides of which are clothed with cedars, and on the bare summit is an observatory. The enclosed paper indicates the road through the forest, which will conduct you there.\nYou will find the path obstructed by a vast block of black marble. There, you will meet a milk-white doe that will appear and lead you through the labyrinth upon striking the black marble and pronouncing the name of Algol aloud.\n\nProceed without delay on this journey. Omit no expression of reverence towards the magician from whose hands you will receive the legacy reserved for you. Use it with temperance and prudence, and continue to maintain brotherly concord among you. So may you enjoy uninterrupted felicity to the end of your days; so may those days be many; and, as I now invoke a blessing on your heads from heaven, may you one day bless your children and your grandchildren. Amen.\n\nThis farewell letter from your father revived the grief of the four brothers. They embraced each other.\nThey fondly vowed to preserve their mutual love through all changes of fortune. Immediately, they began their preparations for their journey and left their abode at Beitulsalam at daybreak. Hassan, the youngest, was the last to quit the residence of his youth. Whenever he ascended an eminence, he did not fail to stop and look around for a last glimpse of objects dear to him. The three elder brothers neither stopped nor looked around them, but pressed forward eagerly and full of hope.\n\nThey reached the mountain-forests to the east without any mishap and, by the aid of their father's instructions, arrived at the huge block of black marble which appeared to bar up the road. The eldest brother struck the marble.\nand exclaimed aloud, \"Algol.\" In an instant, a milk-white doe with a golden bell about her neck appeared. The gentle animal set out on her journey without delay and went trippingly along, while the golden bell tinkled cheerfully at her neck, springing over bridges and paths, between brambles and briars, and across hills and valleys, until at length, having led the four sons of Bator through the dark clefts of a vast rock and brought them to the bank of a broad river which ran along a beautiful valley, she suddenly vanished from their sight. On the opposite shore, the hopeful travelers beheld a hill. The sides of which were covered with cedars, and on the summit of which they discerned an edifice, in which they doubted not the magician resided. While they were consulting together by what means they might cross the river, they beheld a dwarf.\nThe little boat ferried them towards him. His breast was protected by a golden shield, and at his waist hung a golden key. He courteously saluted them and asked what they desired in the forest's recesses.\n\n\"May it please your honor,\" said Solmar, \"our desire is to cross this stream. We are the sons of the deceased Bator, once the rich merchant of Basra, and lately the inhabitant of Beituisalam, in the province of Tauris. At his death, he instructed us to come here and testify our reverence for the great magician Algol. We are now here in obedience to his instructions.\"\n\n\"The great magician Algol,\" answered the dwarf, \"has already read your arrival in the stars. In his name, I welcome you; and he has sent me to conduct you over the stream and lead you to his presence.\"\n\nThe four brothers were astonished.\nTheir journey should be written in the stars, but they did not hesitate to step into the little boat, which the dwarf brought to the edge of the river. \"I wish you joy,\" resumed the dwarf. \"You have placed yourselves under the protection of my master. The powerful Algol is the most benevolent, as well as the richest and wisest of men. Unlike other sorcerers, enchanters, conjurors, and magicians, he does not employ his vast riches and still vaster learning in deluding and tormenting poor mortal creatures, but applies them for no other purpose than to make men happy. Here he dwells in solitude, studying the stars for the benefit of mankind. He seldom leaves his secret apartments, never but to partake in the joys of friendship; but delights to receive there those he can benefit by his wisdom. It is moreover his especial joy to give good counsel.\nTo the young, and lead them on the right road of life. There are, indeed, persons who affirm that my master's right counsel has only led them wrong, but this was because they either did not follow or did not understand his counsel. The former is very common, and the latter not impossible, on account of the great learning of my master. For you are well aware that the more learned a man is, the more hard it is to comprehend him. But fear nothing, for I have to inform you that he is today in singularly good humor. I will answer for it; he will most graciously receive you, most hospitably entertain you, and not dismiss you without the richest presents.\n\nThe four brothers were delighted at all they heard, and firmly resolved not to tremble at the sight of the great magician, nor to suffer a word of his good counsel to escape them.\nThey had reached the opposite shore of the river and alighted. The dwarf whistled three times on the golden key suspended at his waist. Three gloomy rocks, which presented their rugged fronts at the spot where they landed, slowly sank into the earth. Two folding doors, which were wrought in the solid earth, harshly creaking as they opened, displayed the entrance into a subterranean castle.\n\nThe dwarf led them through six antichambers, sparingly illuminated, and left them in the seventh, where only a single lamp was burning. After a short time, the dwarf returned. The brothers, despite their resolution, felt their hearts beat violently, and their breath was almost taken from them.\n\n\"Algol awaits you on his throne,\" he said, and in an instant, the lofty entrance closed behind them.\nThe folding doors of the presence-chamber were thrown open. The stream of light which poured from the immense hall nearly deprived the sons of Bator of their eye-sight and power of motion. They staggered into the apartment and at the threshold fell upon their faces before the hundred girandoles from which the dazzling rays of light were emitted; and before the four and twenty giants of massive silver, which, in two rows, were shouldering their chesnut-colored clubs; and before the precious stones which sparkled from the canopy; and before the magician himself, who sat beneath the canopy. Algol arose and advanced to meet them. He graciously commanded them to rise and saluted them one after the other. He kissed them on both cheeks, as formerly the emirs had kissed the cheeks of their father Bator.\n\n\"You are welcome, my children,\"\n\"You are most heartily welcome. From the hour that I knew you were on your journey, I could with difficulty wait for the present moment. Lay aside your timidity, and be assured that in me you behold your best friend. He then made a sign to them that they should repose on the white and gold embroidered cushions which were placed on his right and left. They obeyed him, and he seated himself under the throne in the midst of them. Yes, my sons, I repeat it to you once more, your visit gives me the greatest joy; and I shall ever reckon the day when I became acquainted with the sons of my worthy friend Bator, among the number of my festal days. Alas! that my friend cannot himself be with us at this hour, that we have to lament his loss, and that this loss should be so premature!\"\nFor my sons, if desert determined the ages of men, your father would have survived a century longer: He, who was at once the pearl of the Persian empire and the crown of his province; He, a thinking man without cunning, and a philanthropist without weakness; He, who, when he committed the only error of his life, (I mean in precipitately paying his creditors,) evinced a magnanimity of soul which even they must admire who could not praise it without qualification.\n\nAlgol paused and putting the end of his little finger to his left eye appeared to rub a tear from it. The four brothers were sensibly affected and wept bitterly.\n\n\"But, my children,\" resumed Algol, \"I will not embitter the joys of this day by indulging in painful recollections. A departed friend cannot be recalled by the tears we shed to his memory.\"\nmemory and unless all my knowledge deceives me, the place which Bator held in my affections will be amply supplied by you. For, if my eyes really behold what they seem to behold, the genius of my departed friend dwells with all its power and loveliness in each of his offspring. Henceforth, therefore, I will attach myself to you, and seek to discharge what I owe to the ashes of the father, by awakening the spirit which is in his sons. This duty is sacred; but the fulfillment is as sweet as it is sacred. Yet let me not forget! Before I discharge this obligation, the performance of another must precede it, which is equally sacred, and equally sweet.\n\nAlgol stamped with his foot. The dwarf with the golden shield and the golden key entered, received a secret command from his master, and retired. In a few minutes he returned, and brought with him...\nhind him came in pairs eight moors, all dressed in rose-colored satin. Each pair bore between them a casket of black ebony, edged with silver. The moors set the caskets before their master and went out as they came in. \"My sons,\" began the benevolent magician again, \"a lady, a friend whose memory will be ever dear to me, entrusted me with a commission, which it is my first duty towards you to execute. You already know that your excellent aunt, one of my most intimate friends, felt the anxiety of a mother for your future welfare. I am assured that during your whole lives you will gratefully revere her memory. Behold here the gifts which her love has provided for you, and which her confidence deposited for a time in my hands. With the most heartfelt satisfaction, I render them to you, and cordially wish you joy in them.\"\nThe possession of them is yours. Your portion is besides equal, and each of you possesses ten thousand Persian pieces of gold. The four brothers bowed themselves three times to the earth. Each took possession of his ebony casket, which he was just able to lift from the ground. Each stammered a few words of grateful thanks and bowed himself again three times to the earth. The magician pointed to their cushions, and they again reposed upon them. He waved his hand, and instantly the floor began to shake. The four and twenty giants of massive silver marched solemnly away in measured steps, making the hall tremble beneath their tread.\n\n\"My sons,\" began Algol again, as soon as he found himself alone with the four children of Bator and the dwarf, \"my sons, you have no friend by whose experience you may be guided, and you are from henceforward left to your own devices.\"\nThe guidance is in your hands, my children. Know that youth is surrounded by dangers, and those dangers are increased tenfold by the caskets of gold before you. But, I loved Bator once, as a father loves his sons, and I love you now as I once loved your father. You have henceforth to supply his place to me, and I will supply his place to you. Therefore, heed my words attentively and suffer not one to pass unheeded.\n\nThe magician paused and cast his eyes upon the ground for a short period, as if sunken in deep meditation. The four brothers took advantage of this pause to adjust themselves on their cushions and collect together their scattered thoughts.\n\nAlgol had already given them gold, and was now about to give them wisdom also. Wisdom is a hundred times more valuable than gold.\nmore precious than gold; and each of them made a solemn vow that he would deeply impress on his mind the sayings of his benefactor. Hassan alone, he who paused as he stood upon the hills on the road from Beitulsalam, looking back upon his father's dwelling, had the strange whim of watching, not only the words of the benevolent magician, but also his eyes, his left nostril, and his upper lip. Fof Algol was, in fact, a well-made man with a prepossessing figure; but his upper lip, from time to time, without any absolute necessity, exposed some half dozen of his teeth; his left nostril had acquired the habit of indulging in sudden twitches and snatches; and his eyes, which were in perpetual conversation with the eternal eyes of heaven, were obstinately bent on refusing to meet those of all mortal beings.\nAfter Algol had given the four youths time to stretch their faculties to a state of the most rigid attention, he rubbed his forehead and eyes slowly with his right hand and began to speak again. \"My sons, you all know, and each one knows, that in this empire of Persia there are a great number of fairies. You know also that these fairies rival each other in beauty, riches, and power. But you do not know, what few are informed of, that among these fairies is one who surpasses all the rest in beauty, power, and riches. This queen of all fairies bears the name of Amatoxda. O, my sons! He who knows the fairy Amatonda is transported with rapture when he hears but her name pronounced; and let him, whose heart has never beaten, seek to know her and feel whether he has a heart that is still capable of beating.\nFor know, that he, before whom the fairy Amatonda has but once appeared, whom she has but once encircled within her magic arms, whom she has but once pressed to her virgin bosom and transported with one fairy kiss, is from henceforth become the favorite of destiny, and has naught further to fear from the caprice of fortune. From the moment of this embrace, his repose cannot be disturbed by omnipotent Nature herself; his bliss cannot be assailed by the shocks of eternal destiny.\n\nFrom henceforward, the treasures of the earth may fall to his share; he will receive them as unexpected guests are received. He may be suddenly stripped of these treasures; and he will see them depart as we behold strangers depart. Let him ascend to the highest dignities, he will know how to clothe himself in them, as a man puts on a new garment.\nThe cloak of ceremony; he may be dismissed from his dignities, and he will stand as completely equipped as before. And, what transcends in importance every other prerogative, my sons, the highest of all the enjoyments granted to mortals, that foretaste of the ravishing delights which await you in the Paradise of the great Prophet, that which gives life to all pleasure and is the spirit of all life \u2014 Love, my children, will be a source of bliss only, not of anguish to him.\n\nAll the charms of those half-earthly, half-celestial beings, which you call beautiful women, will be his own. He will enjoy what is earthly in them, like a voluptuary, but he will break the rose without touching the thorn. Let this earthly bliss be denied him, he will still smile, for he will feel that what is not of earth cannot be torn from him.\nFor I know, that the demi-god who once cast his eyes upon celestial beauty, rests in its enjoyment as long as the blood flows through his veins. The four youths of Betulusalam gave no sign of life. Their mouths were open; their eyes were without motion. Nothing like this had ever been said to them in the province of Tauris. Algol was silent, that the functions of life might be renewed in them, and now a four-fold exclamation echoed from the marble walls of the immense apartment.\n\n\"Yes, my sons,\" Algol resumed, \"he whom the fairy Amatonda has embraced, enjoys the repose of the blessed, whether he be transplanted into a gorgeous palace or left to pass his days in the solitude of a lowly cottage; whether he presses into the midst of giddy crowds or whether he wanders alone in the retired wilderness.\"\nIn Persia, few examples of such an embrace are found in the span of a whole century. The fairy Amatonda has decreed that she will only embrace him who lives in peace with his own heart. This peace, I must remind you, is not easily attained, but it is not impossible. Noble minds yearn for arduous achievements; they scorn easy acquisition. He who earnestly wills to do what he can will not fail to do what he wills, especially if he rejects not the guidance of an experienced friend.\n\nAn involuntary movement from the heaving bosoms of the youths, which suddenly invigorated their arms lying motionless on the cushions, indicated to the magician that they too loved the arduous. He mused for a moment.\nYour noble disquietude, my young friends, betrays the longing desire of your hearts. I have deciphered the book of fate incorrectly if I have not read in it the name of Amatonda united with that of the sons of Bator. The light which I partake of shall therefore shine upon you as well, and my finger shall point out to each one of you the path which will assuredly conduct him to the arms of the fairy princess. But each of you, my children, has a heart as well as eyes which are his own. Each of you has other wishes, other wants, other claims; and were all of you to make your pilgrimage to Amatonda on the same road, three of you at least would certainly falter. Your paths diverge widely from each other, but at the end of each stands Amatonda.\nThe arms are open, ready to receive you. But I do not want to cause unnecessary jealousy among you. It is necessary that I communicate to each of you in private what each should know. I assure you that you will keep the secret I shall impart within the recesses of your several bosoms. I will now dismiss you for a short time, so that you may enjoy the refreshments that a laborious journey has made necessary without restraint.\n\nThe four brothers rose and prostrated themselves on the earth before the wisdom addressed to them. The dwarf made a sign, and they followed him with unsteady steps into another hall. The walls of which appeared to consist only of unbroken mirrors. But suddenly, let the reader conceive the astonishment of the innocent strangers.\nHim prepare himself for emotions of secret terror, on a sudden, they beheld at their side four unspeakably benignant and unspeakably bashful maidens. All enveloped in a garment resembling the azure firmament, besprinkled with silver stars, and who probably had only that morning left the paradise of the great Prophet. Had the sons of Bator, on a sudden, beheld four wolves or four bears, they would have been terrified, that is true; but they would certainly have sought safety in the strength of their arms. But against such aerial phenomena, there is no thinking of either armor or escape. For, let an army of 10,000 sturdy striplings be assembled in Persia, all armed from head to foot, with scymeters in their hands, and ready for combat; let the colors be flying around them, and the matches be lit.\ntrumpets and kettle-drums urge the warriors to attack; and then, let an army of 10,000 blooming maidens appear before them, armed with nothing but thin muslin which flutters around them, and the silken girdle which somewhat restrains the fluttering. The female general steps modestly forward, bending herself gracefully, with a divine smile, lays her right hand on her bosom, and points with her left to the fearful squadron behind. The haughty colors will be soon seen unsteadily waving in both wings of the hostile army; and then, let her raise her voice, with downcast eyes and bashful blush, humbly beg that the general of the male army will have the goodness, without delay, to surrender at discretion. One might wager, without danger, a million pieces of Persian gold against a chestnut, that before the fourth part of an hour has passed.\nThe matches will be extinguished under foot, the army and swords cast upon the ground, and their former possessors led into slavery. For the well-known fable of that tremendous being, who, by the glances which beam merely from two beauteous eyes, stuns and confounds all living beings, and renders them as motionless as stone, but not as hard - this fable, be it known, was not invented in jest, but in Persia. No man dares confess that he understands it.\n\nThe four brothers from Beitulsalam were far from being recovered from their consternation, when the four maidens from Paradise already stretched out their arms towards them, with a ravishing condescension. They all sat in pairs upon the rose-colored sofas.\n\nLambs and innocent striplings have had this in common from time immemorial: they lose all their appetite.\nfor food, when shut up with wolves and innocent maidens. The four aerial forms took each one golden cup after another and pressed the young men with the sweetest entreaties to accept of refreshment from one of the cups at least: but it was all in vain; not one of them could take a single sip; while the paleness of death and the flush of a fever alternately set upon their cheeks. There they were, with fixed eyes, now and then bending their heads in silence, and unable to pronounce, or even to call to their recall any one of the many thousand words of the Persian language with which they were acquainted.\n\nHassan alone recovered his voice for a moment. He suddenly sank from his sofa upon the floor and, throwing himself before the figure which had him in her power, exclaimed eagerly: \"Are you, then, perhaps, the fairy?\"\n\"Amatonda? Have you secretly embraced me while I was lost in astonishment?\"\n\"No, Persian!\" replied the maiden, blushing sweetly as she spoke. \"My name is not Amatonda, and I never embraced any one but these, my playfellows. Algol is occupied in his observatory, and he sent us hither that we might invite you to take some refreshment. It is a sad pity that we are so unfit for our office.\n\n\"It is notorious that the daughters of Paradise have two hands, and it is also notorious that those hands have the secret power of attracting to them the lips of all the young men who kneel before them, whosoever they may be. While Hasan was on his knees, and the maiden was answering him, one of her hands began to exert its power, and Hassan was instantly compelled to cover it with burning kisses. After a short time, he raised his head and beheld the maiden's face, which was now bathed in tears.\"\ntime, the other hand began to attract more strongly than the former, and Hassan was under the necessity of loading that too with his embraces. In this way, both hands continued to play their tricks with poor Hassan; for the hand which was not kissed always had a stronger attraction than the one on which his lips actually lay. His brothers, in like manner, were not long able to retain their seats on their sofas. It was quite affecting to behold how, one after the other, they were each drawn down to the feet of these female magicians, by some secret enchantment; and how they, as well as Hassan, were made sport of by the two hands of their respective tormentors. Hassan, however, had luckily just found out the expedient of kissing both hands of his persecutor at once, when a clap of thunder put a sudden end to the necromancy.\nAlgol, who had not been looking at the stars, believed that the sons of Bator had now had time to take the refreshment offered them. He signaled this to the dwarf with a thunder message from his observatory, instructing him to bring the youths to him. The dwarf entered, and the daughters of Paradise instantly glowed like young roses in morning dew. The dwarf asked the brothers to follow him, but the sorceresses had already enveloped their invisible toils so closely around them that they did not hear his message until it had been repeated three times. They tore themselves quickly from the maidens; the invisible toils all burst with a few loud sighs, and the dwarf opened the door. Hassan, even upon reaching it, might have felt that he was bound by some cords, for he hastily sprang back.\nAnd he threw himself upon the hand of the enchantress, probably to moisten the ligatures by which he was still bound, with the tears which fell from him. They followed the dwarf to the observatory, who made them ascend some hundred steps. Having desired the three younger brothers to tarry in the anti-chamber, he opened the door of the observatory to the eldest. Algol sat upon a sofa, and before him stood a desk, on which was a huge volume. It lay open, and was covered with unknown characters. Towards each of the four quarters of the firmament a number of telescopes were fixed, and on the floor there lay around, some rolls of parchment. Solar was ordered to place himself upon the sofa.\n\n\"My son,\" began Algol in a solemn tone, \"of thee much will be spoken. I wish thee joy to victory and glory. Thou appearest astonished at my address.\"\ndress, but I will explain it to you as far as your welfare requires. Even now, valor announces itself in the firmness of your step; and the piercing glance of your eye would point out to me your future destination, had I not elsewhere read the prognostics of your fame. Perhaps you are yet unacquainted with yourself; but I will cause a prancing steed to march before you, equipped for the field \u2014 a trumpet shall invite it to the combat; it shall neigh, and beat the ground with its feet, eager to rush upon the foe. You have betrayed yourself; I see your eyes sparkle. And from this hour, you are become conscious of your own nature. Yes, my son, your swelling chest demands to be covered with a breastplate; and your right arm has been strung with muscles of iron, that it may wield a sword. A youth endued with your fire and your consciousness.\nYou are not formed for the unglamorous ease of country life, or the paltry restlessness of commerce, or the consuming ennui of a court. Your calling is to spend your days on the war horse and your nights in the tented field: the sole way which you have to find the complete repose of your heart is the way on which the trumpet of war shall lead you. I see that you are resolved; therefore, I will at once give you the intelligence you need, so that you may without delay enter on the career which leads you to glory. The stars have instructed me that the ravaging Ottomans have entered one of the frontier provinces. The barbarians are scattering fire and sword in every direction, and are leading men, women, and children into slavery. The Shah of Persia is collecting a powerful army to avenge this inroad. Arise, then, and let me guide you.\nInitiate you into your calling. Algol arose and fixed a gorgeous belt on the loins of the eldest son of Bator. To the belt was attached a sword with a sparkling hilt. \"This sword, my son, pierces every bone on which it alights. Accept it as a proof of my love, and by its aid acquire for yourself an immortal name in the annals of Persia; and, in so doing, also, the eternal repose of your heart. Equip yourself with a warlike steed, hasten to the army which the Shah of Persia has collected, and solicit permission to join in avenging your country.\n\n\"In spirit, I already see you mounting your charger and drawing forth your sword on the day of the first battle. You invite volunteers to join you. You place yourself at their head. You and they rush together, like a torrent, upon the ranks of the Osmanes. A dreadful combat ensues between\nA man and another. To the ride and left, you spread mutilation and slaughter. Thy sword hews a passage into the phalanx of the Osmanes, and their ranks are broken and overwhelmed. Thy arm decides the first battle, and thy name resounds from wing to wing of the Persian army. I see the commander in chief in search of thee; he embraces thee and entrusts to thee a division of his army. Thou pressest forward and never recedes; and he who fights under thy banner feels his courage increased fourfold. The Shah of Persia entrusts an army to thee; thou conquests provinces, and I refrain; it becomes not me to anticipate the history of the Persian empire.\n\nHasten therefore, mount thy steed, and repair to the army; for only on the reeking field of slaughter, in the midst of streams of blood, and surrounded by the groans and cries of the wounded.\nThe wounded and the dying will appear before you, and embrace you. Solmar fell prostrate upon the earth, kissed the hem of Algol's garment, and glowed with impatience to rush upon the swarms of the ravaging Osman. The magician smiled with benignity upon him, making a sign that he might retire. The dwarf then beckoned to Murad, the second brother, who entered the apartment and placed himself on the sofa by the side of Algol.\n\n\"My son,\" said the magician, as he turned over one of the leaves of his huge book, \"I once knew a young man. Nature had furnished him with the most powerful of all letters of introduction; the efficacy of which was instantly acknowledged by all who perused it: it consisted in the gift of pleasing. This youth had a noble and slender figure; his body could assume every graceful posture, and all his movements were charming.\"\nMovements were unconstrained and unpretending. Although the prepossessing features of his countenance seemed to solicit kindness, his aquiline nose implied the power of seizing it with violence, in case of necessity. With these attractions, it was to no purpose that the modesty which sat upon his forehead seemed, as it were, to overshadow the acuteness which shone in his eyes. This youth took this letter of introduction and buried it in a wilderness. I ask thee, therefore, my son, whether, in acting thus, he did right or wrong.\n\n\"Surely, not right,\" answered Murad with precipitation, and at the same time he bowed lowly towards the earth.\n\n\"My dear son,\" continued the magician, \"he is not culpable who does not possess a talent; but he is, who neglects to employ what he does possess. But the youth of whom I spoke\"\nYou are yourself, and if you were to bury your graces and powers in a remote province of Persia, you would be committing a species of self-murder. He who possesses understanding, manners, and an aquiline nose is born to please and to govern; and he who is formed to govern will find repose nowhere but in the seat of power, and will never be embraced by Amatonda but at the court of a mighty sultan. In our courts of Asia, understanding is prized beyond all estimation; but in none is it more highly valued than in the capital of the Sultan of Cashmere. Every spark of intelligence is there the object of universal admiration, and even the appearance only sets the city in tumult. It is there that you should seek your career. Murad bowed before the magician with deep veneration.\nFor thy duty, immediately on thy return, take an eternal farewell of Beitulsalam and repair to Cashmire. When thou art there, my son, begin thy career as a stranger by inquiring the names of those who at present stand in the favor of the court, that thou mayst find out their male and female slaves and fall prostrate before them. These slaves will praise thy understanding to their masters and their masters' wives, and thou wilt again fall prostrate before them, yet not so humbly as before the slave through whom thou hast gained admission. Thou wilt then endeavor to profit, especially among the women, by the praises which will have preceded thee; and if these women are wanting in youth or if their youth is wanting in attractions, they will be more susceptible to the impression of thy attentions and importunities.\nIn general, I trust you in Cashmire to think what you don't say and say what you don't think; to give the name of a virtue to vice, and of a vice to virtue; to kiss your friends twice, and your enemies four times; and in every instance to profit by the present occasion and make use of your understanding. Algol drew from his finger a diamond ring and presented it to Murad. \"And that in Cashmire you may err as seldom as possible, this ring, with which my paternal care furnishes you, will press the inner part of your finger when you speak too warmly on any subject, and the outer part of it when your language is too cold. Go thy way, my son, please and govern. When the inhabitants of the kingdom of Cashmire shall fall down on their faces.\"\nWhen you face the grandees at court, anxious for your expression; when the sultan presses you by the hand, and the sultanas burn with jealousy and intrigue for the privilege of assuring you of their favor in private, then, in some secret chamber of the palace at Cashmire, Amatonda will appear before you and embrace you.\n\nMurad sprang up hastily and hurried towards the door, but he recalled himself, threw himself gracefully back onto the sofa, and kissed the carpet three times where the magician's feet rested.\n\nAlgol, with an approving smile, informed Murad he could retire. The dwarf signaled to the third brother, and Selim entered and took his seat on the sofa beside Murad.\nMy son, the magician said, \"Sultans die, and are forgotten; heroes die, and are accursed; poets die, and are deified. I have longed to behold you face to face, and I am overjoyed that this day has granted my wishes. Do you know this writing?\"\n\nThe magician put some papers near him into my hand, and I, recognizing my own handwriting, blushed and made a deep bow.\n\n\"A present from your father,\" continued Algol. \"I would part with it for no price. I have heard that the author often spent his days without food, and his nights without sleep, to inscribe on paper the workings of his fancy. But this I certainly know, that he is regardless of both sleep and food, who contemplates these his creations. How admirable they are!\"\nTenets of Nature could never unite are here combined and consolidated with perfect harmony; and what Nature could never separate, hold here an independent existence, and wonder at each other when they meet. Yes, my son, when Nature had produced the fancy of this poet, she beheld her own daughter with wonder, kissed her, and dismissed her with these words, \u2014 Go thy way, and prosper, my daughter, though thy mother will be eclipsed by thee; and this is just, for the mother, if she purposes to shake the earth, must at least set a volcano in motion, but the daughter lets a single rose-leaf fall, and the pillars of the globe totter!\n\nSelim sat in silent meditation, and cast his eyes upon the ground.\n\n\"I said, when poets die; forgive me, Selim, I erred. Poets never die. They cannot die, at least not until everything has perished which can perish.\nYes, my son, poets alone are immortal, and Selim, the son of Bator, was born a poet. Selim breathed anxiously and held Algol with an air of melancholy.\n\n\"The feverish carnation of thy cheek, my son, the melting of thy eye, and even the sigh, which, if I mistake not, I lately heard, betray to me that thou art conscious of thy own nature, and hast a presentiment of the larger horizon marked out for thee. Thy presentiment is just, my son.\n\nHitherto thou hast known nothing but the monotonous confusion of lifeless nature. As yet, thou art unacquainted with the great world and ignorant of the inexhaustible affluence of forms which it presents to thee; of the delightful concatenation of passions by which it is maintained; and more especially of the ineffable bliss which springs from refined love.\"\nSelim attempted to suppress a sigh, but the sigh was obstinate and forced itself a passage with violence. \"Be comforted, my son; nothing is yet lost. And if you honestly follow the counsels of an experienced friend, you will not fail to partake of immortality - peace with your own heart, and the embrace of Amatonda. There is one spot on the earth alone adapted to give you entire repose. This spot has been, during a century, the seat of cultivated manners, and the school of good taste; and there you will find judges, especially female judges, who, by their kind aid, will give to your works perfection, and, by their favoring judgment, affix on them the stamp of immortality. Agra, the splendid residence of the grand Mogul, is the spot of which I speak. There, Selim, you will in one day find more materials for your art.\"\nSelim announced, by a low bow to the magician, that he was resolved to obey. Is it then, your concern to secure the embrace of Amatonda, my son? Do not tarry by the way; hasten to Agra. Rushing into the midst of the raging waves of that immense capital, see, hear, imbibe all that presents itself to you, and be inspired. Then pour forth the visions which you will behold, in one stream upon your paper. Should they be strange, perplexed, and monstrous, so much the better for you. Change nothing, polish nothing, complete nothing. Your work must absolutely proceed from nothing, and lead to nothing. It must present nothing upon which the mind can distinctly rest, but so much the more that may be obscurely felt. Then seek, in some dictionary, for some twenty words.\nExtravagant words. Write those words on twenty pieces of paper. Let a child draw one at random. Set the drawn word at the beginning of your work. Place two such words at the front of your production. However, both titles must have no reference to each other or to your work. Then, happy Selim, bring forth your production suddenly, and you will be astonished at the astonishment of all Agra. Selim stared with wonder at the magician. \"Oh how divine a man! The ladies will all exclaim, 'there is no knowing what he aims at.' It turns one quite giddy to follow him; and then, it is written so strangely and queerly, that absolutely no common person is able to read it aloud!\" \"By Allah and Brahma!\" the men will afterward exclaim, \"this is a genuine masterpiece.\"\n\"pure, luxuriant, inartificial nature, no end, no design, no whole; you may read it as well backwards as forwards! '\u2014' He never fails to give us something to think upon; \u2014 we must have him of our parties. Thy work, my son, will be the novelty of the day in all the four quarters of Agra. The men will invite thee to their feasts, and the women to their toilets. The men will scatter incense before thee, and the women will give thee their scarfs to tie, and their veils to unbind.\n\nSelim sighed again, and deeper than he had ever sighed before.\n\nWithin twelve months after thy arrival, thou wilt shower down thy second work upon too happy Agra, and thou thyself wilt bow before this work, as if it were an oracle. But Agra will become intoxicated; and whoever does not hail thee as son of the gods, or at least, brother of immortality, will be cast out.\"\nbanished from all good company by the ladies. \"Oh, praised be our age! Men and women will exclaim, 'a being of a higher order has appeared among us. We do not understand what he says, but so much the more is our homage. Algol handed a golden tube to the son of Bator. \"My son, time will be invaluable to thee in Agra; and he who saves time, saves much. Accept, as a proof of my love, this small tube. It contains a pen which will never become blunt, and which will write as fast as thou speakest. Hasten now to thy splendid destiny. Wave the magic rod of thy imagination over the immense capital, and throw its inhabitants into a state of rapture with thy fictions, as if they were unheard-of visions of the air; and then, when on each morning the first question which proceeds from the ladies of Agra will be, 'What new work has thou written?'\"\nThe immortal man produced? When the traveller, on his return from Agra, shall relate, before all things, whether he had the felicity of catching a glimpse of thee, though at a distance; and when a lock of thy hair, divided into many small portions, and enclosed in a hundred sparkling lockets, shall adorn a hundred of the fairest bosoms in Agra; then, Selim, while thou art one evening by the side of one of Agra's most brilliant beauties, in the silence of a solitary apartment, and by the faint light of a remote and single taper, neglected for an hour; at such a moment, Selim, Amatonda will appear before thee and embrace thee.\n\nThe last words of the magician raised the enthusiasm of Selim to its utmost height. He could no longer restrain himself; but sprang up hastily and embraced Algol. Then he sank down.\nand he kissed the hem of his garment. Then he arose once more and again embraced the magician. Algol, with a friendly smile, indicated to Selim that he should retire, and the dwarf beckoned to the youngest brother. Hassan entered; but the magician was forced to press him three times before he would place himself on the seat his brothers had occupied by the side of Algol. \"My son,\" said he, after he had for some time silently perused the great book, \"thy innocent countenance won my affections at the first moment I beheld thee. I especially rejoiced to behold in thee the image of thy father Bator, whom I never can forget. That repose of soul which is obvious to those who behold thee, even if they have not studied the human countenance, clearly shows that thou art conscious of no evil; and the attractive benevolence which shines in thine eyes is a sure token of a pure heart.\"\nThe same time, it shines in your eye, announcing to everyone that you suspect no evil in others. But, my child, this purity of heart, which on the one hand delights me, on the other hand makes me tremble for you. Men are selfish, deceitful, and malicious. You are generous, confidential, and compassionate. Your father, whom I have bitterly deplored, has left you. Your elder brothers, whom I heartily love, must also leave you in search of Amatonda. You stand alone, without a guide, a counselor, or a friend. The good are, alas! destined to be the prey of the wicked; and, were you to remain longer alone in the midst of a corrupt world, you would soon fatally experience this in yourself. Your heart would then be indignant against mankind; peace with yourself would be lost forever; and Amatonda would never be found by you.\nHassan sighed aloud as soon as he heard the name of Amatonda. \"But there still remain asylums where integrity, brotherly love, and social virtues have fled for refuge; where peace and fidelity take up their abode; and from which deceit and dissention are expelled. I speak of those venerable walls that resonate only with pious prayers and sacred hymns; and whose inhabitants call each other brothers and are truly brothers. Arise, therefore, my son, secure the purity of your soul, or, for it is the same thing, peace in your heart. Leave Beitulsalam behind. Receive the legacy of your aunt, and all that is yours. Give one half of it to the poor, and the other half to the holy.\"\nThe abode you choose as your refuge, become a pious dervish. Hassan slowly withdrew his hand from the magician's hand. Thy heroic resolution will resound through Persia. Men and women will be anxious to behold the blooming youth who gave one half of his property to the poor and one half to the sanctuary. From each province, the worshippers of the great Prophet will make their pilgrimage to the abode of the new saint, and will spread the fame of thy devotion through every province to which they return. The virtues are contagious; and from thee will proceed the virtues of other men. Algol took a small girdle of hair that lay by him and presented it to the youth. With this girdle, I consecrate thee to thy vocation. He who wears it is able to continue for twelve hours without intermission, and without becoming weary.\nYou will be the ecstatic dancer around the sacred ring of the Prophet's revered servants. While your holy brethren, stunned and senseless from the rotary motion, lie on the ground, you will be able to sustain the dance for many hours, and eventually stand upright on one foot to the awe of the prostrate believers. From that hour, believers will fall on their faces when they see you at a distance. They will gradually lead all the sick who are afflicted to you, and the touch of your hand will cure the diseases of those who have faith in you. In the midst of the grateful blessings of the poor whom you will have fed, clothed, and healed; among the eulogies and benedictions of the holy brethren, whose pride and oracle you will be; among the burning kisses which men and women will press with ardent devotion on your hand.\nAt some solemn celebration within those holy walls, in the presence of thy brethren and all the people, Amonda ivill suddenly appears before thee and embraces thee. Hassan was deep in meditation. The magician made a sign for him to retire. In his absent-mindedness, Hassan forgot to kiss the hem of Algol's garment and went out to his brothers. The dwarf invited the four sons of Bator to empty a small golden cup to the health of their sublime benefactor. Each emptied the golden cup, and as they severally opened their eyes, they found themselves on their beds in Beitulsalam; and by the bed of each stood his casket containing the pieces of gold; and on each casket was laid the present given by the magician to the four sons of Bator.\nThe enchanted draught from the golden cup had thrown them into a deep slumber, and a chariot, drawn by flying dragons, had rapidly brought them to their lowly dwelling. Having recovered from their astonishment, the sons of Bator proceeded to examine their caskets and found the magician was a man of his word: not one of the promised number of pieces of gold was missing. They all deposited their treasures in a place of security and departed in silence in different directions.\n\nMurad withdrew to a retired spot to practise genuflections and prostrations; and at the same time, he fixed his admiring eyes on the finger which bore the diamond ring, the present from Algol.\n\nSelim, also, finding himself alone, pronounced with rapture an endless poem in praise of his benefactor Algol, and with his golden pen.\nSolmar, lost in fancy, wandered to a neighboring thicket and there, with his sword, hewed a path through thorns and briars. Hassan, in the meantime, hid his girdle in the hollow of a tree and, with his hands crossed behind him, sauntered through the fields of which he was co-inheritor. As he walked, he frequently shook his head, remained now and then motionless in his path, talked often to himself, and muttered between his lips something concerning the fairy Amatonda.\n\nNight came on, and the brothers were once more together. They could not converse, and soon retired to their several chambers; but there they could not sleep. They sighed as they lay restless on their beds; nor could any of them, during the whole night, find a posture in which he could repose.\nDay broke, and they all sprang hastily from their beds. But when they met, each was occupied by his own meditations. At length, Selim broke the silence by asking how many days' journey it might be to Agra. Instantly, Murad inquired the distance from Cashmire, and Solmar, the distance to the Osman frontiers. No one answered the enquiries of his brother, and they all relapsed into their former silence. Hassan alone made no enquiries; for he had been standing unmoved at the window with his eyes fixed on the door of his neighbor's house which was on the opposite side of the way.\n\nWhen they sat down to their noon-day meal, it was immediately obvious that no one was hungry. From mere ennui, the brothers began at length to converse: first of the weather, then of the ravaging Osman, the great mogul, and the sultanas of Cashmire.\nThe three elder brothers confessed they had pressing business in the wide world and were obligated to abandon Beitulsalam forever. It became indispensably necessary for them to sell their paternal inheritance to the first purchaser they could find and divide the produce between them.\n\n\"Brothers,\" said Hassan, \"I know of a purchaser. Call some intelligent person on whom you can rely. Let him estimate the value of our father's land. I have no business in the wide world, and our bargain will soon be closed.\"\n\nHassan's proposal was received with great approval. The intelligent person was found, the land was estimated, and the three elder brothers received the purchase money from Hassan without delay. He who is looking forward to the joys of life has no time to lose. The three brothers hastened the preparations.\nHassan embraced them all with tears in his eyes, wishing them success and joy in all their undertakings. He looked after them as long as he could see them before continuing to stand pensively at the entrance of his paternal inheritance, now his property. \"I wish, with all my heart,\" he said to himself, \"that they may meet Mrs. Amatonda, whoever she may be. But for my part, I will not stir a step after her.\" He seized a spade, took his girdle of hair the magician had given him from the hollow tree in which he had placed it, and walked slowly along to the furthest corner of his little estate, muttering to himself as he went along. He then dug a deep hole.\nHassan stopped shoveling the soil onto his girdle and gave something to a young dervish who begged alms from him. The dervish thanked Hassan humbly and asked what he was burying.\n\n\"A magic girdle,\" said Hassan.\n\n\"How! A magic girdle! And what then, is its virtue?\" the dervish asked.\n\n\"He who wears it can turn himself round in a circle for twelve hours without ceasing, and without growing giddy,\" Hassan replied.\n\n\"By the great Prophet! And would you bury such a jewel?\" the dervish exclaimed. \"Give it to me.\"\n\n\"Take it if you will; I envy no one his acquisition,\" Hassan responded.\n\nThe dervish threw himself upon the earth and, with both hands, eagerly took the magic girdle from Hassan.\nAt the age of twenty-one, solitude in Beitulsalam was an unpleasant situation for Hassan. However, if by chance the neighbor to his recluse use was a young woman with blue eyes, aged eighteen, living alone, this solitude transformed into one of the greatest torments conceivable. Yet, Amina, the daughter of Abuhissar, did not live in complete isolation. She was mistress of her aged father's cottage and discharged her housekeeping duties with the same sweetness and alacrity as her deceased mother, who had been gone for about a year.\n\nAfter three days of living in solitude, Hassan's dwelling became:\n\n\"Solitude at the age of twenty-one in Beitulsalam was an unpleasant situation for Hassan. However, if it happened that his reclusive neighbor was an eighteen-year-old woman with blue eyes, living alone, this solitude became one of the greatest torments conceivable. Yet, Amina, the daughter of Abuhissar, did not live alone. She was mistress of her aged father's cottage and discharged her housekeeping duties with the same sweetness and alacrity as her deceased mother, who had been gone for about a year.\n\nAfter three days of living in solitude, Hassan's dwelling: \"\nHe found it a burden to him. He had no other relief than to keep opening the casement that faced Amina's abode. But no stranger passing the street, or the inhabitants of Beitulsalam, could guess that Hassan might be standing at the window to look at Amina when she came out. He blushed at the thought and always shut the window whenever it occurred to him, but as he was always forgetting it again, he resolved to go into the fields where no one could see him.\n\nAfter wandering about for some time, he fell into a deep reverie, and quite unintentionally knocked at his neighbor's door. The aged Abuhissar was not at home; Amina came to the door, and with her usual good nature, invited Hassan to step in. Hassan then discovered where he was and was frightened.\nHassan and Amina had been very civil to each other for years. Amina was always pleased when Hassan came, and they had a number of things to relate. When they parted, there was always something they had forgotten. They would sometimes take leave of each other three times successively before they could separate. At those times, the eyes of each were fixed upon the other, and Hassan did not cast down his eyes before Amina, nor Amina hers before Hassan. Hassan sat on his accustomed place but remained a long while before he spoke. Amina sat and spun.\n\nC1\n\nGood day, Amina, said Hassan at last.\n\nI thank you, Hassan, said Amina.\n\"Amina, have you heard that my brothers have gone into the wide world?\" \"Into the wide world?\" \"Yes, but I am not with them.\" \"So I see, Hassan. For I have bought their land.\" \"Is it possible, and do you remain in Beitulsalam?\" \"Yes, and I am resolved to be, and to remain, a farmer. And what was I going to say?\" \"Indeed, Hassan, I cannot tell you. Oh, I was going to say, that I am now all alone in the house.\" \"Alone! You have people enough with you. \u2013 You are not afraid, I hope?\" \"Oh no, it is not that I am afraid. \u2013 I mean only that I have forgotten again what I was going to say.\" \"As to that, Hassan, we accustom ourselves to everything. You must learn to bear it, Hassan.\"\n\nFrom this moment, Hassan had not a word more to say. He sat and cast his gaze upon the ground.\nHis eyes were on the ground. Amina continued to spin gently at her wheel. She looked several times in his face; at first smiling as she looked, then bashfully, and afterwards only by catching a rapid glance of him. At length, she could not possibly cast her eyes upon him any longer, and her cheeks began to glow like a rose.\n\nAfter having plied her wheel for a quarter of an hour, and more than once broken her thread, Hassan sighed deeply and then hastily sprang up. Amina was alarmed and instantly rose up also, trembling as she stood.\n\n\"Are you not well, Amina?\" he asked, catching hold of her arm. In doing this, he distinctly heard her heart beating. He pressed her to his bosom and with his cheek touched hers.\n\n\"Are you not well, Amina?\" he asked. \"Amina, I am afraid you are not well,\" she stammered.\n\"Well, or are you angry, perhaps, Hassan? And why should I be angry, then, Hassan? I May I come again, Amina? You may come again, but leave me now. You speak so softly, Amina, that I cannot understand you. Leave me, dear Hassan, but come again tomorrow. Now this is a custom throughout all Tauris: whenever a trembling youth has held a stammering maiden in his arms, and having pressed his cheeks on hers, the cheeks of both glow more and more fervently, and their hearts beat quicker and quicker; does the young man then ask, with a faltering voice, whether he may come again, and does the maiden then answer, with quivering lips, come again tomorrow \u2014 this same 'come again tomorrow,' is a flash of lightning which runs through all his nerves, fires his veins, beams through his.\"\nThe whole frame transforms him for twenty-four hours into a higher genius, whose earthly part is borne on the wings of the celestial part of him. The flash of lightning, \"come again tomorrow,\" separated the cheek of Hassan from Amina's. Without uttering a word, the son of Bator took the powerless and patient Amina into his arms and carried her to the chair on which her father usually sat. Grasping her trembling hands, he imprinted upon them two kisses, which were seven times more ardent than those he was formerly obliged to press on the hands of the daughter of Paradise, whom he had seen in the dwelling of the magician Algol.\n\n\"I shall come, Amina, I shall come,\" he cried, and rushed from the house into the open air.\n\n\"Come again tomorrow,\" he said, to the shrubs and flowers which stood in his path.\nHe walked this path, and they were far behind him. I will come again tomorrow, he said to the streams as they murmured and ran beneath his feet. They vanished before him. He wandered into the beautiful grove, the boundary of his land. He kissed the rock by the fountain side where he had once plucked flowers with Amina. He embraced the trees with her initials inscribed on them. He knelt on the seat of turf he had raised for her one day. To the rock, trees, turf-seat, shrubs, bushes, birds, roads, and paths he crossed, the enthusiastic wanderer exclaimed, \"Leave me, dear Hassan,\" and \"Come again tomorrow.\" It was at the dusk of the evening that he entered his court yard.\nImmediately, he called his slaves together and announced that his fields would henceforth be pleasure gardens, and he could therefore no longer use any slaves. The slaves were alarmed, and looked at each other with sorrow; for Hassan was beloved by them all.\n\n\"You are free,\" he continued, \"and may serve whom you please; but I will give all who choose to remain the wages which others give to a free servant. But there are two things that I require from everyone who works for me: he must be merry, and he must be active. Now go, fetch music, and if you choose to dance till morning, I have nothing against it. Leave me now, and come again tomorrow.\"\n\nHassan hastened to his chamber and locked himself in. He sat down pensively, and in a few moments began to weep bitter tears, as if some great calamity had befallen him.\nHassan threw himself on his couch and slept like a demi-god who takes rest after the enjoyment of unaccustomed bliss. When Hassan awakened, he found that the sun had already proceeded one-fourth of its course. \"I am glad of it,\" said Hassan; \"I should otherwise have found the morning very tedious.\" Hassan came down. The slaves were all collected together to attend upon him. The eldest stepped forward and said:\n\n\"Hassan, not one of us chooses to leave you. Your land shall become a paradise, and, that it may be soon, we will instantly set about making it so; and when we are once become active, merriment will come of itself; for when we are aged or afflicted, you will not drive us from you.\"\n\n\"Oh, never!\" said Hassan, interrupting the speaker, \"never, by the great Prophet.\"\n\n\"Yesterday we did not dance, because we were so much alarmed; but\"\n\"today, if you permit, we will dance,\" said Hassan. \"With all my heart, and you are all, my guests.\" Here, then, we give you our hands, as a pledge that we will be active and merry; and that the people who pass Beitulsalam in a few years shall be in astonishment, when they behold your cattle, your fields, and your gardens, and that we all love you as our best friend and father. \"And I love you as my children,\" said Hassan, embracing the spokesman; and he then took from each of his workmen the promise which had been made in their name. \"And had you but a partner,\" resumed the former orator, \"we should be very happy if you would dance with us.\" Hassan's cheeks glowed, and, giving hastily the necessary directions for the festival of the day, he disappeared. Meanwhile, Amina sat at home and had a thousand troubles.\nEvery thing was at cross-purposes with her. At other times, she was dressed before it was thought she had even begun. This morning, her hands spoiled everything they touched.\n\nHer snow-white neck handkerchief fell upon the ground. It was true, not a grain of dust could be seen; but there might be one upon it, and to wear a dusty handkerchief was against all decorum. She instantly picked out another, but it was her ill luck to light upon the most obstinate creature of a handkerchief that had ever been seen. For it suffered itself to be drawn, pulled, plucked, and twitched for a whole quarter of an hour, without falling into a single fold, which for an instant would pass muster. It was absolutely necessary to make way for a third. This was happily the best-natured creature under the sun. Fold most obediently.\nThe folded handkerchief, with its two corners, closely resembled each other, covering the sweetest twin-forms in all of Tauris. Their minute exactness suggested that one half was cast from the mold of the other. However, this appearance gave rise to speculation that some cunning and toilsome art had been employed in the handkerchief. People could not help but comment on the great pains taken for such a trifle. This would have been unfair, so another quarter of an hour was spent correcting the too exact symmetry of the handkerchief. At last, connoisseurs would have worn it, believing the graceful flow of the beautiful, breathing veil to be the work of a single moment. Simultaneously, it exhibited the most enchanting form that an inspired artist had ever traced.\nAfter a few coy ribbands and some dozen intractable pins, with incomparable patience, Amina left her apartment and took her seat at her spinning wheel. But she could not endure the wheel. At one time it hummed so loudly it gave Amina a headache; at another time it stood awry; now it spun a thread as thick as a quill, and now it absolutely stood motionless. Who could help losing patience at last? And in fact, the gentle Amina was obliged, every five minutes, to look out the window to catch a little fresh air. At length she resolved to take her wheel apart in order to find out why it should behave so poorly that morning: and she was thus engaged when she heard a knocking at the door.\n\nAbuhissar, a lively old man of sixty, entered.\nA man of years, whose good heart shone in his eyes, had all along been calmly smoking his pipe in his great chair, watching the distresses of his poor child. He rose and, on the present occasion, did what was commonly done by Amina herself - he opened the door for her. It was Hassan who entered. Abuhissar received his neighbor with his usual hearty shake of the hand and led him in.\n\nAmiua, just as Hassan entered, was stooping down to the very ground in order to pick up her two hands full of wheel pieces. Her face, therefore, from mere stooping, and with all the innocence in the world, was of a crimson dye when she lifted it up, and she had not the power to greet Hassan in any other way than by offering him one of her little fingers.\n\n\"Welcome, Hassan,\" said Abuhissar.\n\"Father Abuhissar, and sit down,\" Hassan began, but he was forced to stop, for he was utterly out of breath. \"You look very warm, Hassan; have you been running a great way?\" \"Father Abuhissar,\" said Hassan a second time, \"my brothers are gone into the wide world.\" \"I saw them go away the other day,\" replied Abuhissar, \"and may good luck go with them into the wide world. But you, too, are changed.\" Now this change consisted in the mere circumstance that Hassan, who usually wore the rustic dress of the humbler inhabitants of Beitulsalam, had this morning by accident put on the richer garments of the wealthier landholders of the province, so that he looked handsomer than ever Abuhissar had seen him before. \"Father Abuhissar,\" began Hassan a third time, and in so doing, he placed himself so cunningly that Amina could not help noticing him.\n\"not possibly see his countenance, 'to-day, I want good counsel from you.' Speak on, Hassan, and if in anything I can serve you, I am at your command. At this instant, a great piece of the wheel fell from Amina's hand and rolled onto the ground. \"Father Abuhissar, I have paid my brothers for their share of my father's land, and now I am quite alone. \"I wish you joy, Hassan. Much may be made of it.\" \"But I meant to say, I am now so alone in my house, that I feel quite uncomfortably.\" \"Good Hassan,\" said the old man, smiling, \"there is an easy remedy. You have only to saddle the best horse of your stable and scour the country round, till you have heard of a lovely young girl who will make a lovely young wife; and when you have found such a one, then lead your horse courteously into the stable of her father.\"\n\"And make your enquiries of him about wheat and barley, or about cows. 'And then you will see whether the treasure is worth carrying away,' said Hassan hastily. 'And if it be, you will first make enquiries of the maiden, that the father may not dispose of the daughter against her will. And when you have agreed with her, you will speak to the parent.' At this very instant, Amina heard a knocking at the door and rushed out to see who was there, though it happened that the noise was so gentle, and Abuhissar and Hassan were so much occupied in their conversation that they heard nothing. 'And then,' said Abuhissar, 'the parent makes enquiries concerning you.'\"\nand gives you his daughter, and his blessing with her. \"And his blessing with her!\"\"Exclaimed Hassan; and the words were no sooner out of his lips than he was, in the twinkling of an eye, out of the door. Amina saw him, as he passed by her in the entry, and Abuhissar saw, through the window, that he ran into his own house. Amina came again into the room and began to set right her wheel. Abuhissar coolly filled his pipe again, placed himself in his arm-chair, and laughed aloud at Hassan's impetuosity.\n\n\"We shall not see him for a month,\" said he, at length, to Amina; \"but we may observe, at the same time, with what spirit he conducts his affairs.\" Only mark my words, Amina, \u2014 his estate will be one day worth looking at.\n\nAmina worked so very hard, that she saw nothing and heard nothing.\nHad less time to answer what was said, Abuhissar continued smoking. \"It is certainly true,\" he said after a long pause, \"I have always been fond of him. And I thought, Amina, that you too did not dislike him. He is a quiet, steady, orderly man, and I cannot say that I ever heard a bad word from him.\" Amina had, during the whole time, been turning, screwing, and fixing her wheel. Now that she looked at her work, she thought she had never heard of such a vile spinning wheel. Abuhissar paused again. \"Heaven be his guide! He needs a brisk and notable manager, and I should be sorry were he to choose in a hurry,\" he continued. \"Father, there he is again! And on horseback,\" exclaimed Amina, flinging her arms round Abuhissar's neck, that she might hide her face in his bosom. \"Why, what is the matter with him?\"\nYou, girl? Have you anything to fear? Besides, I hear nothing. The girls of Persia, when they have said to a young man \"come again tomorrow,\" have, the following day, an inexpressibly fine hearing. Amina was in the right. Hassan came actually on horseback. He had laid the best accoutrements, which his father had left him, upon the finest steed of his stable.\n\nHe stepped boldly to Abuhissar's front door, alighted, put his horse into a stable, and entered the room, booted and spurred. Amina continued hanging at her father's bosom, and would not look on him.\n\n\" Father Abuhissar,\" said Hassan, \" I am come to seek for a lovely young girl, who will make a lovely young wife; I have led my horse into your stable; I am come to ask after wheat and barley, cows and sheep; I shall accept your invitation to dinner, and I will bring presents for you and your daughter.\"\n\"wish I may speak a few words with Amina alone.\" Abuhissar gazed with astonishment and laid down his pipe. He freed himself from Amina, arose, and crossed his arms. He opened his lips to say something, and shut them slowly again, for he had nothing to say. Amina stood with one hand on her father's arm to keep her from sinking, and covered both her eyes with the other; probably for fear she should see Hassan. Hassan took courage, stepped forward, and clasped Amina in his arms.\n\n\"And your blessing with her, father Abuhissar!\"\n\nAbuhissar looked, alternately, first on his daughter and then on Hassan. \"And will you go with him, Amina?\"\n\n\"As you please, dear father.\"\n\n\"No, no, the question is, whether you go willingly.\"\n\n\"You are not displeased with me, are you?\"\n\n\"Therefore, with all your heart; is it not so?\"\nWhat I do at all, I do with all my heart. And with her, my blessing,\" said Abuhissar, placing the right hand of Amina in the right hand of Hassan; and with her, my blessing.\" Hassan and Amina fell on each other's neck, and wept, and said not a word. Abuhissar looked on for a few moments, shook his head, and turned away, to wipe a tear from his eye. \"But, Amina,\" said Abuhissar, \"this lad has begged a dinner from me, and if you do not attend to the kitchen, I shall not keep my promise.\" \"That is true,\" said Hassan, \"but a word on another subject, father Abuhissar. My slaves are all become my free workmen, and on that account they have a dance today. They have invited me to it, and they expressly sent me out to seek a partner. I will take back my horse, inform them I have procured a partner, and I will join the dance.\nHaving said this, Hassan instantly vanished. Abuhissar and Amina stood with their eyes fixed on each other for a few seconds. Unable to embrace the harebrained fellow who had run from them, they embraced each other instead. Amina then ran into the kitchen with a light heart, and Abuhissar slowly repaired to the court-yard to cleave wood. In the kitchen, Amina had the misfortune to break not a few pieces of crockery. In the yard, the servants of Abuhissar shook their heads as they beheld their master.\n\nHassan kept his word. He came at the appointed time. If the omnipotent Shah of Persia had ever been as cheerful over his table of a hundred covers as Abuhissar, Hassan, and Amina were at their frugal board, he might, at the end of his days, have said, 'It is'\nI have never been omnipotent, but I once had a good dinner. They had scarcely risen from the table, and Hassan was just relating that his servants were about to come with music to fetch himself, Abuhissar, and his daughter to their dance, when one of them entered the room, panting for breath.\n\n\"What is the matter?\" said Hassan.\n\n\"Sir, an accident has happened,\" the man replied.\n\n\"Where? Be quick.\"\n\n\"In the middle of the yard. An axle-tree is broken \u2013 snapped in two.\"\n\n\"What axle-tree? Speak.\"\n\n\"One belonging to a grand princess.\"\n\n\"Have you all lost your senses?\"\n\n\"Sir, our heads are a little out of order today, that is true; but the princess is there notwithstanding. She had lost her way in the wood and drove over the road into your fields; she is in a splendid carriage, drawn by six horses.\"\nEight ladies asked leave to ride through the forest, and just as the carriage was in the middle, it broke down. \"Has anyone received any injury?\" Nobody, but the axle-tree; however, it cannot be mended these twenty-four hours. She has a great number of people with her, and three young ladies, and twelve knights on horseback. All the knights have bugle-horns at their backs or something similar. \"But who is she, after all?\" We know nothing, but that she is vastly condescending, and squeezes every hand; and, indeed, she is very handsome - three times handsomer than the three fine young ladies. Though she has a black silk veil over her face, we have made a circle around her, and would all rather kneel than stand! \"But you gave her all the help you could?\" \"Aye, we all ran up directly.\"\nShe asked us a number of questions: your name, and who you are, and where you were. She knows that you are with the young lady, and that you have given us our liberty, and that we are to fetch you to dance with us. She was so pleased to hear this, and cast her eyes up to heaven. If we had had no belief in heaven before, we should have believed in the one behind the veil.\n\n\"And where does she spend the night?\"\n\n\"Why, sir, that is another part of the business. She means to stay with you and dance with you, and the three young ladies also. We offered to come and fetch you, but she would not permit us: she said no one ought to call a lover from his mistress.\"\n\n\"Do you hear, Amina?\" said Hassan. \"The foreign princess seems really to have a great deal of understanding.\"\nI like her already, though I have not seen her.\n\"She has, I dare say, been a bride before now,\" said Amina; and then she hid her blushing face behind Hassan's shoulder.\n\"I have one thing more to say, Hassan,\" said the messenger; \"she let me come, in order that I should tell you, she means to visit you here herself.\"\nAt this instant, the door opened, and in a trice, every one of the party drew back a few steps with reverence, and then all at the same moment dropped on one knee. The entire dress of the figure which entered consisted in nothing but a long white robe, a narrow rose-colored girdle, and a black veil which covered her face and a part of the flaxen, silken hair, which in rich curls flowed down her neck and shoulders.\nThe messenger took flight, but he well knew what he had said. They were expecting a visitor.\n\"believed in the heaven behind the veil. For now, the stranger threw back her veil, and Abu, Hassan, and Amina fancied they beheld heaven itself.\n\n\"Arise, my children, arise,\" said the princess; and she said this with such a sweet voice that no one could possibly continue prostrate before her.\n\n\"You see a poor traveler, whose carriage is broken down,\" said she. \"And who must beg a lodging of some kind friend.\"\n\n\"Your highness will do as you please with my house,\" said Hassan. \"And if your attendants have not room enough --\"\n\n\"I have settled everything, good Hassan,\" said she; \"you will give yourself no further trouble. But, my children, I have now a favor to ask of you all: I have an unspeakable pleasure in being with those who are themselves heartily pleased.\"\n\n\"Oh, my gracious princess,\" said Hassan.\"\nAmina hurriedly asked, \"Ask whatever you please, V! And you give me your hand, my dear girl?\" said the princess.\nAnd with all my heart,\" said Amina, and gave her hand.\nAnd you, too, my good Hassan?\" What Amina consents to, I always consent to as well.\nAnd you, father Abuhissar?\" With all my heart, no.\nThe princess stepped to the window and made a sign with a white handkerchief: two knights were heard to ride off instantly.\n\"They are gone for the cadi and the imam,\" she sighed; \"and now, as the bride's mother, I have to make the bridal bed.\"\nThe stranger, whom no one could withstand, then took Amina by the hand with a benignant smile, and she went patiently with him without manifesting the least show of resistance. This was quite contrary to the custom of Persian maidens, who all, from their modesty, would never have done so.\nIn the sixteenth year, they secretly remind their mothers of the bridal bed. But once it's actually made in the presence of the whole world, they immediately begin to weep and continue to shed tears till they are almost blind.\n\nAbuhissar felt he didn't know how and began to shake his head without intermission; Hassan stood motionless, with his eyes fixed on the door through which they had disappeared.\n\n\"The more we become acquainted with the foreign princess,\" said he, \"the more we perceive that she is wiser than all of us.\"\n\nAmina was accustomed to having everything in order. The princess displayed an astonishing promptitude in making bridal beds. Whatever she touched was at once in its proper place, and before \"Amen\" could be said three times, they both entered the room.\nHassan fixed his eyes upon them with surprise. \"Oh, my princess,\" he said in a plaintive tone. \"You have come back too soon, my lady. My good Hassan, I make my bridal beds like Love,\" she replied. \"And how does Love make them?\" \"In the twinkling of an eye,\" Amina had stepped to the window, and probably was not listening to them. Hassan clasped her with his arms and stooped with his cheek to hers. She turned her lips to his. Hassan gave a spring for joy. \"I shall never forget your highness for this,\" he said. \"Oh, that my brothers were present here today!\" \"And where are they then?\" she asked. \"I may venture to tell you,\" he replied, \"they are gone in search of the fairy Amatonda.\" \"And for what purpose, may I ask?\" \"To be embraced by her and become great men.\" \"And where do they seek the fairy?\"\nIn the great world, in great towns and among great people, is the fairy known to you, \"Yes, Your Highness, we know her very well. She is the most beautiful fairy in Persia; therefore, at least, she must be as handsome as today the bride-mother and the bride. And he who has seen her and been embraced by her lives forever after-wards in the Paradise of the Prophet; but she embraces no one who does not have a good conscience and a contented heart.\n\nAnd would not your brothers take you with them? \"I would not go with them. I feel all due respect for my lady, the fairy Amatonda; but if she does not come to me, I shall never go in search of her.\"\n\nYou seem to me a saint of a very strange description. \"Anything in the world, Your Highness, \"\nI have seen some friars, but none was a saint. I have seen five or six of them at my father's, but they did nothing but quarrel and intrigue. Whenever I see any one hang down his head, and be gloomy, who is neither sick nor unhappy, I fly from him, and watch his dagger.\n\nBut what if the fairy Amatonda should have a vast quantity of gold and jewels?\n\nI would be ashamed of myself were she to offer me any.\n\nAre brilliant jewels, then, of no value?\n\nAye, truly; but have I not, my princess, jewels enough in my clods of earth? \u2013 I shall not have spent them all, these ten years; and besides, before the end of the fifth year, they will sparkle in autumn with more colors than all the fairy Amatonda's jewels can show.\n\nBut, then, she has gold!\n\nAye; but by the great prophet, princess, I am myself a maker of gold by profession!\n\"In a certain sense, that is true, but good Hassan, your mode is tedious one. The labor is the best part of it, your highness! Have the goodness, princess, to take the sprig of an apple tree, plant it, water it, and nurse it for ten long years, and then, for the first time, pluck a wretched, solitary apple from your tree; and, at the same moment, let your neighbor come and present you with a beautiful pineapple; and then do honor to the truth, and tell me which gives you the most heartfelt pleasure, the pineapple of your neighbor, or the miserable, shriveled apple, from the petty tree you yourself planted.\n\n\"You are a dangerous advocate, my good Hassan. But in case, now, the fairy Amatonda could raise her friends to high honors?\"\n\n\"Why, then, God be praised, she would come too late.\"\n\n\"An't please your highness,\"\nI am a farmer, and every day in the year, the Shah of Persia and all his viziers sit at the table I furnish, whether they will or not. I take pride in this and consider it the first highest honor. And the second? It is a great honor, my princess, when a beautiful woman allows a man to call her his wife every day of the year. If you deny me this, we are no longer friends; and if the fairy Amatonda were here, I would say the same thing to her face. I will explain more in a minute. I possess the first two highest honors, and the third, let me whisper in your ear - the third, we shall know how to provide for. We women are somewhat curious, good Hassan.\nLet Amina reward you, my good Hassan, for the third highest honor? Nay, nay, your highness, I have promised to be on good behavior; and though it is the most innocent thing in the world, yet I will answer for you, Hassan, say what it is. My gracious princess, whenever we chance to fall among a dozen little boys and girls, we are, in an instant, one heart and one soul \u2013 and what one of us does not know, the other does; and so we are never able to separate. Indeed, indeed, I dare say no more, for I stand under discipline. This, Hassan, I must reward you for myself; and saying this, the princess clasped Hassan in her arms and kissed him three times on the lips. Now, Amina, has he not deserved nothing? Amina flew into the arms of Hassan and kissed him as the princess had kissed him.\n\"You no longer need to wait for Amatonda's embrace, my dear Hassan; she has embraced you. Your dwelling may now be the resort of pilgrims, for it is the abode of the blessed. See now, my gracious princess, you will confess that I want no lady-fairies. Madam Amatonda, who lives in the clouds, need not trouble herself to come down on my account; but after my Amatonda of the spinning-wheel, I shall still travel many a pleasant step. And one word more, my princess, wait only ten years, and then you shall see wonders. I may, therefore, ask for a night's lodging whenever I pass through Beitulsalam again? Do, Amina, speak a good word for us to our noble bride-mother, that she does not again ask us questions which make the flesh creep on one's bones.\"\n\nA noise was heard. The cadi and the imam entered the apartment.\nThey were venerable old men with long silvery beards. They bowed down to the earth when they beheld the majestic figure of the princess and remained at a respectful distance.\n\n\"Are you already instructed in your office, ye venerable ministers of the law?\" the princess asked.\n\n\"Whoever you may be, princess,\" answered the cadi, \"we are instructed, and we wait your command.\"\n\n\"Hasten then, to discharge your functions, and be this day our guests. I, as bride-father, and Abuhissar, as bride-mother, hereby give this maiden to this youth as his lawful wife,\" Hassan and Amina gave their assent, agreeing with alacrity to the cadi's interrogatories. Abuhissar and the princess laid their two hands together. The cadi wrote a few lines. The imam pronounced his blessing. And the happy Hassan became the husband of the happy Araina.\nI have gold and jewels in abundance, said the princess, as she embraced them both; \"but I am too poor to make you a wedding present.\" At this moment, the messenger entered again, who had before announced the arrival of the princess. \"Oh, sir, more strange things have happened!\" he could scarcely speak for weeping.\n\n\"Be quick; what is it?\" said Hassan, alarmed.\n\n\"I do not know whether I may say, in this company.\"\n\n\"My good man,\" said the princess, \"you may go on with your story.\"\n\n\"Why, sir, it has not stopped at the twelve. At what twelve?\"\n\n\"The twelve knights on horseback, with the bugle-horns.\"\n\n\"There are forty-four more of them now; and our own musicians have thrown their pipes and their flutes aside, and are bent on dancing themselves; and every body in the whole house has been crying for joy this half hour.\"\nAnd why so, sir? Make an end of your story. Dear sir, whenever two of them come blowing their bugles, they bring a whole village from the neighborhood with them. Man, woman, and child, master and servant, all come together; and the old ones come hobbling on their crutches, and the mothers bring their children at the breast; and they are all waiting yonder in the great meadow. And there are come also, a number of wagons full of wine and sweetmeats, and the three fine young ladies are distributing them to all the people, that they may be able to hold out in the dancing; and such a feast was never seen. And every house in Beitulsalam is empty, save your house and this house; and whoever hears the music must go and join them; and I must go and join them again, too. He then ran off, and an ancient sergeant followed.\nThe princess' house-steward entered and announced that everything was ready. \"My good Hassan,\" said the princess, \"I am fond of music, and all my people are musical. I have at least provided you music for today. And if your marriage feast is not splendid, I hope it will, at all events, be merry: and you, Omar, may now give the signal.\" The old man went out, and an instant afterwards the music was heard. It approached from Hassan's house, and a long train followed it. Hassan's people were the first who came, and all of Beitulsalam had come with them. The bride-mother, Hassan, and Amina joined the procession and walked foremost. Abuhissar, the cadi, and the imam were on the second row. Every eye beamed with joy, but they walked slowly and without uttering a word.\nSuch heavenly music had never been heard. They all trod on the ground as if they were fearful of losing a note of it. The train arrived at the entrance of the great meadow: it was a spacious and smooth plain. The foreign visitors of all ages had formed a wide circle, and stood on tiptoe, eager to behold those who were advancing. When these were arrived, they opened the circle with reverence, and received the train among them. The twelve knights, who led on the procession, joined in the centre the forty, who had been entertaining the visitors on the meadow. It was one of the sweetest evenings of spring: not a breeze stirred. The sun had but a quarter of his course to pursue.\n\n\"The dance of the fairy Amantida,\" \u2014 exclaimed the princess, addressing herself to the musicians, and at the same time she took Hassan's hand.\nThe music sprang up at once, and notes were heard, the like of which had never pierced mortal ear throughout all Persia, nor had ever entered the heart of man. The princess and Hassan danced together the dance of the fairy Amatonda.\n\nThis dance of the fairy Amatonda was nothing else than the inartificial dance which is incessantly danced in this western country, as far as can be seen from the observatory at Seeberg. It was the dance which couples simplicity with endless variety; the dance which the moon keeps up with the earth, the earth with the planets, and the planets with the sun\u2014the dance which pairs intimacy and innocence, delight and joy with sadness. It is the dance of joy and love; for it is the dance of nature.\n\nThe Persian maidens dance it to this day with the Persian youths. Four uninterrupted repetitions of this dance form the cycle.\nEvery world forms a circle and turns round itself, and around the chorus, which, from its center, gives the law to its movement. The Persian maidens call this the dance of Amaionda, and they dance it in such a wise that it has never yet blown away the roses from their cheeks or breathed a creeping poison into their bosom. It is sometimes imitated outside of Persia, and this imitation is called the Laendering. Laendering is a slow and graceful mode of dancing the waltz. It is no unusual thing for individuals to begin the dance by laendering a few minutes; after which, by gradually and imperceptibly increasing the tempo.\nThe most rapid movements of the ordinary waltz are produced by quickening the music. This dance, as the English reader knows, consists of two-fold circular motion. Each couple, having clasped each other, turn round incessantly while making the circuit of the room. For no adequate reason, this dance is in evil repute in these islands, though probably practiced in every other country in Europe. The translator at least has seen it performed with equal spirit and innocence in the most northernly provinces of Germany and in the warm climate of Spain.\n\nThe music causes the children of a year's age, who began to stand alone yesterday, to wind their way from the bosoms of their mothers.\nThe children extended their little arms to one another, lifted one foot after the other and danced. The mothers were glad that their children found an occupation, and each holding out her arms to a neighbor, danced as well. The children of eighty years of age approached cautiously to the musicians, laid their crutches on a heap, and danced. And Abuhissar, and the cadi, and the imam danced; and the boys and the girls, the young men and the young women, all danced; and there was no one who did not dance, save the sixty-three who played on the horns and the sucklings who slept to the music. Those passing on the road heard and then came near, forgetting their journey, and danced. The children of eighty years danced in the innermost circle around the music, and next to them danced the children.\nChildren of one year and those of ten, along with all the others, were arranged in circles; and all four circles danced gently, as if fearing to awaken the infants. Celestial notes filled the air, setting everyone in motion. Nothing could be heard but the soft, uniform steps of the dancers and the fluttering of their garments. Whispers were exchanged between partners, and answers given in like manner. Never before had so many sighs faded on a meadow, never before had so many tears sparkled in an evening sun. Yet they had never felt more innocent and happy.\n\nThe sun set, and they looked at it, dancing. The full moon rose from behind a grove, staring.\nWith her broad face on the meadow, where everyone was landing, as well as herself. The dancers from the meadow turned up their moist and beaming eyes to her, and joyfully landed on her. She arose higher; and everyone landed. She reached her highest point; and everyone landed, landed, landed! Now, it is impossible to think otherwise than that the Persian historian, who first related this tale, must have risen up, he and all his pupils together, to land with his fair hearers; for, on this very spot, the thread of the narrative is broken. It is, to be sure, easy enough for an honest man to throw every thing aside to dance with a Persian maiden the dance of the fairy Amatonda. But it is absolutely inconceivable to him who knows the Persian maidens and their zeal for dancing.\nThe relator of this history allowed the cadi and imam to leave without knowing if they slept all night during Hassan and Amina's marriage. We cannot find any information about whether the cadi, imam, or any soul in Beitulsalam slept on the night of their marriage. The relator breaks off this part of his history and never returns to it. The burning anxiety of the Persian maidens to instruct themselves was outweighed by their love of dancing.\n\nHassan's brothers, upon leaving Beitulsalam, traveled together to the capital of the adjoining Persian province to equip themselves for their further journeys. Once their arrangements were complete, they embraced each other and separated.\nEach with his several attendants: one to the south, another to the east, and the third to the west. The poet Selim clapped spurs to his steed and posted towards the empire of the great Mogul. Murad suffered his horse to cut all kinds of capers as he pranced through the suburbs leading to the kingdom of Cashmire. He greeted, with courtesy, all the people of distinction whom the achievements of his steed had drawn to their windows. Solmar, absorbed in deep contemplation, rode gently through the gate which led to the country of the Osmanes. Their hearts were all swelling with hope; and each said to himself that, when arrived at the place of his destination, he would assume a different character. Solmar had already made an eight-day journey, traveling with six horses, a servant, and two grooms.\nHe arrived at a village that lay in ashes and was deserted by its inhabitants. He proceeded further and came to a second village, also in ashes, and abandoned. He came to a third; it was, in like manner, a heap of smoking ruins. He saw a venerable old man sitting upon a stone by the side of his horse, apparently lost in meditation upon the gloomy scene around him.\n\n\"Who burned these villages?\" Solmar asked the old man.\n\n\"The Mongols, my son.\"\n\n\"You mean the Osmanians.\"\n\n\"I mean the Mongols.\"\n\n\"Is Persia, then, at war with the Mongols?\"\n\n\"The Mongols are the Shah's allies against the Osmanians.\"\n\n\"Do the Shah's allies burn his villages?\"\n\n\"And why not? Are not allies to have any pleasures in reward of their services?\"\n\n\"And do the Persians suffer this?\"\n\n\"They must; the Mongols would otherwise be offended with them.\"\n\"And the omnipotent Shah endures it? He must. Why, such a one as I am would not submit to this; and the omnipotent Shah of Persia be forced to it? He must; the Khan of the Mongols would otherwise resent it. Resent it! And how? By burning his villages? But if he were, besides that, to be his enemy? Besides that! That is, be his enemy besides burning his villages! Oh, that I were Shah for only one year! And what would you then do? Bid defiance to his resentment! The Mongols have ravaged all China and the Indies. I would bid defiance to his resentment! Every one trembles at the name of the Mongols. And who are you, my son? Solmar, the son of Bator. The great merchant of Basra?\"\nAnd a husbandman at Beitulsalam.\n\"And where are you going?\"\n\"To the frontiers, against the Gs-mans.\"\n\"My son, on this road you will find no provisions; spend this night with me, at the distance of half a day's journey: I desire to speak further with you.\"\n\"And what is your name, good old man?\"\n\"My name is Cosru; and the vizier, to whose army you are repairing, is the seventh since my fall.\"\n\"Holy Prophet! And you were the grand vizier?\"\n\"And have lived contentedly for these twelve years, since I was banished from Ispahan. I have a daughter and a granddaughter, who are still left to nurse me; and a cottage and garden, which maintains me. I heard of the horrid deeds committed by the allied troops, and I repaired hither, that I might behold their devastations with my own eyes.\"\nThe old man mounted his horse and they rode away. Towards the end of the day, they reached an ascent, from which they had an uninterrupted prospect into an extensive plain.\n\n\"Cosru,\" exclaimed Solmar, \"I see, at the end of yonder plain, two female figures.\"\n\n\"Are they dressed in white?\"\n\n\"In white; and, as it seems, with dark flowing locks.\"\n\n\"That is my daughter Sahire, with her Lilly, a girl of thirteen years of age; they are come to meet me.\"\n\n\"What is that rider at the end of the wood I behold? Four horsemen; they are not Persians.\"\n\n\"Great God! They are Mongols.\"\n\nSolmar's steed flew across the plain but the distance was too remote. Sahire was still struggling; Lilly's garment was already half torn, and they had sunken in despair upon the ground, when Solmar reached the monsters.\n\n\"Hold!\" he exclaimed; and they did.\nThe head of the foremost rolled upon the turf. \"Turn hither, wretches!\" he cried out again; and the first blow cleaved one head in twain. With the second, he carried off a head and one shoulder. With the third, he smote the fourth Mongul in halves. Sahire and Lilly had scarcely sufficient strength remaining to throw themselves at the feet of their deliverer, clasp his hands, and bathe them with their silent tears. Solmar raised them up, with tokens of reverence, and delivered them into the hands of Cosru, who was hastening to the spot.\n\n\"See, father Cosru, yonder lie the invincibles. He who has not hitherto trembled before them, needs never do it!\"\n\nThey hastened to search the bodies of the slain. Three heavily-laden packhorses stood near. Their burdens consisted of nothing less precious than gold. Each of the robbers had a treasure.\nThe Jewels in his belt, and the chief among them contained papers worth more than all the gold and jewels. The villain was a confidant of the Mongol general, who had sent him with secret dispatches to the Khan. Solmar read one of the papers aloud.\n\n\"Most high and mighty sovereign of the globe! Monarch of monarchs, and sovereign of sovereigns! Under thy footsteps, the nations rejoice, for thou art the sun of wisdom, and the deliverer of the earth!\n\n\"The most worthless of thy slaves executes thy sacred commands; and three provinces of thy ally lie already in ashes. Thy army riots in pleasure. We have glorious fire-works every night; and the women and daughters of the land are beauteous, when they wander naked and houseless. Thy army delights in comforting them!\n\n\"Thy slave hopes to produce a general insurrection against the Shah.\"\nThe Shah will seek refuge with your slave. Your army will restore order, and your slave will place all of Persia at your feet. Your army spares the Osmanes as you have commanded; they destroy whatever they touch, unwittingly serving your holy will. From Persia, the wings of your grace may, in due time, be spread over them as well. All the countries of Asia will resound with your eternal name; all the seas will announce your glory; and your slave will silence every tongue that does not exclaim Amen!\n\nThey all stood mute with horror at the detested writing.\n\n\"No! By Allah!\" exclaimed Solmar, and thrice waved his sword over his head; \"No Amen shall ever be uttered to the impious sound.\"\n\nCosru obtained an oath of secrecy from each one. They collected the booty and, having mounted their horses,\nhastened to Cosru's dwelling. Cosru and Solmar shut themselves up in the inner apartment. They spent the night examining the remaining papers. Ten of the most powerful families of Ispahan stood in open league with the Mongols. Some of the first officers of the empire, the three chief eunuchs, and even the grand vizier himself, had at least accepted presents from them.\n\n\"We harness the two mules of Ispahan,\" was written in one place, opposite to an account of jewels, which had been paid away. And beneath was added, \"These are to be unharnessed hereafter. It is disgusting to pay court to such despicable creatures. But the good cause requires a sacrifice now and then. The camel of Ispahan is somewhat costly to maintain; but in six months he is ours, with saddle and accoutrements, and we shall have the stable into the bargain.\"\nThe two mules in Ispahan were the sultana-mother and favorite sultana Biribi. The general of the Mongols had given them ear-rings and bracelets. The camel of Ispahan was the Shah, bribed by a casket of diamonds. The Shah, it was introduced, was under the government of these two women. He ate, drank, and slept, having no other passion than playing with precious stones from morning to evening.\n\n\"Let us hasten to Ispahan, my son,\" cried Cosru. \"We have two offended women on our side, and therefore are omnipotent. Long live the Shah! Persia is saved.\"\n\nAt the close of the fourth evening, Solmar and an Armenian had reached the castle guard at Ispahan. They displayed some superb diamonds for sale, and distributed them.\nThe merchants presented pieces of gold with both hands and were immediately admitted into the presence of the Shah. The Shah soon perceived among the merchants' treasures a jewel unlike any he had seen before. The joy he felt was indescribable, and he instantly sent for the sultana-mother and the sultana Biribi. The Armenian engaged the attention of the Shah, gradually drawing the two princesses to a corner of the apartment.\n\n\"I have a piece here,\" whispered the Armenian to the sultanas, \"which is worth precisely as much as the Persian empire. Do you know this writing?\"\n\n\"That is the handwriting of the Mongol general,\" said the sultana-mother.\n\n\"And a charming man he is,\" added the sultana Biribi. \"We are well acquainted with his handwriting and know it from a distance.\"\n\nThe Armenian presented the general's account-book, in which the charm was inscribed.\nA man had written the above lines. The two princesses perused them with eagerness at the same moment. The shock they received from the contents was so great that they both swooned and sank to the ground. The Armenian bore the sultana-mother to one sofa, and Solmar, the sultana Biribi to another. They had anticipated the effect of the letters upon the weak nerves of the ladies and had brought strong odors with them.\n\n\"It is of no importance,\" said the sultan, with great composure. \"It will soon be over, and goes away of itself. But so precious a jewel as this, I never saw. Biribi, let the room be darkened, and let twelve wax tapers be brought in. I must compare it with others. By the holy beard of the Prophet, I never saw the like!\"\n\n\"Sire!\" said the Armenian, and gave the Shah the letters of the Monk.\nThe general told his Khan, \"You have never seen such a thing.\"\n\"Yes, old man, this is written by my friend, the Mongul general. I have a whole packet of them.\"\n\"But, sire, not for the same purpose. Please read it.\"\nThe Shah read the paper. His terror was no less than that of the sultanas, and he fainted.\nThe fair Biribi was the first to recover. She clasped Soimar in her arms and pressed him to her bosom.\n\"Guardian angel of Persia, what should we do?\"\nBeautiful Biribi; let us first shut the door. I have more such jewels!\nThe door was shut, but the fair Biribi was in such alarm that she did not once let Soimar from her arms. The Armenian eventually brought the Shah to himself, and after much trouble, the sultana-mother also. The Shah, when he regained consciousness,\nHe could not utter a word. The sultana-mother spoke only of the camel of Ispahan and the two mules. The fair Biribi spoke of nothing but the two guardian angels of Persia, one of whom she held in her arms. The Armenian related how they had come into possession of these papers, and Solmar was pressed so closely that he could scarcely breathe. The Armenian read the other papers, and Solmar was implored, by burning lips fixed on his cheek, to rescue, protect, and save them.\n\n\"Oh, my children,\" said the Shah at length, and began to weep aloud. \"I am indeed betrayed. Do none of you know what is to be done?\"\n\n\"Sire,\" said the Armenian, \"you have an aged, faithful servant left, whom, twelve years ago, you sent into banishment from Ispahan. He has been happy in his solitude.\"\ngive him, for only eighteen months, full power to act in thy name; promise him that, at the end of that period, if Persia is in safety, thou wilt allow him to return to his solitude \u2014 and he is ready to save thee and Persia.\n\n\"Yes, old man,\" said the Shah,\nhere is my hand and my word. He shall come, and be grand-vizier with unlimited power; and, after eighteen months, he may retire where he pleases.\n\nThe sultana-mother now fell on the Armenian's neck, and protested he should not leave her till the new grand-vizier was come into the apartment. The sultana Biribi threatened the same to the handsome Solmar. The Armenian took off a patch which disguised his face. The sultana-mother started with surprise.\n\n\"Thy slave Cosru is thy grand-vizier,\" said the Armenian; and he threw himself at the feet of the Shah, and kissed the hem of his garment.\nAnd he had forgotten all that had befallen him twelve years ago, he added, and he squeezed the hand of the sultana mother, who was well pleased at this sign of reconciliation. \"The moments are precious,\" he added; \"I shall leave you, and lock the door.\" \"We shall not depart from this spot,\" said the fair Biribi, and she sat close to Solmar. Cosru took the emperor's seal and shut the door. In a short time, a running to and fro, and the trampling of horses, and the noise of carriages was heard in the court of the palace. It became night. The Shah of Persia sat without light, and the guardian angel of Persia sat without breath! The fair Biribi was so terribly afraid of being in the dark that she continued to weep; and one hot tear after another fell on the cheek of Solmar. The sultana mother sat at the open window.\nShe looked out through it was utter darkness. Only she now and then muttered something about mules, harnessing, and unharnessing. She did not move when the Shah began to sleep aloud. The terror of the fair Biribi increased so greatly that she clasped the neck of the guardian-angel with one of her arms to make sure of him at least. He continued awake, but the terror of the fair Biribi was contagious. The Shah, it is true, slept as loud as any sultan ever did; but it was nonetheless an easy thing to hear the beating of their hearts, both of the sultana and the guardian-angel. Even if this could not have been heard, their fearful situation might still have been ascertained by their sighs.\n\n* Overly loud sleeping. The English reader will, perhaps, readily excuse this Germanism,\nWhich is more elegant and ingenious than snore? Translators might dare enrich their native idiom with such adoptions from all languages. That came from them: and though people, who are afraid of ghosts, on other occasions sing to keep up their spirits, these, in their anxious fears, spoke not a word. It was a happy circumstance that the grand-vizier, at length, unlocked the door. He was followed by wax tapers and writing materials.\n\n\"Sire,\" said Cosru, as he entered the palace, \"the city is in trusty hands; and within half an hour, it, too, will be in safety. You may sleep this night in security.\"\n\nThe Shah sat with his head fallen backwards and answered not a word. \"The Shah has confidence in you, grand-vizier,\" said the fair Biribi. \"And foresaw that he might sleep securely.\"\n\n\"The Shah does me great honor,\" Cosru replied.\nCosru had the Shah carried quietly to bed and begged the two sultanas to retire for rest. After they had departed, much was dictated and written. Solmar was also forced to write with the others, but he made several mistakes. If anyone had examined his writing closely, they might have detected the name of Biribi half-blotted from his paper. At dawn, the new commander of the body-guard entered and announced that all the decreed arrests had been carried out and that the strong posts in the city were besieged. Cosru signed his mandates, which were sealed, and dispatched his messengers before dismissing his secretaries to rest. Cosru threw himself on a sofa and slept quietly. Solmar lay full-length on another sofa.\nNot sleeping at all. It was the same sofa on which the fair Biribi and he had been so terrified. But it was not the sofa's fault; for the fair Biribi lay in a bed, yet did not sleep. In six hours, Solmar was, with Cosru, on the way to the army, which was encamped against the Osmans.\n\nCosru took the grand-vizier and some other generals into custody and placed himself at the head of the army. He came at a critical moment. He found the collected army highly incensed; and their zeal, once roused, could easily be turned against the enemy. Cosru's predecessor had sent one of his principal commanders to the general of the Mongols, in order to remonstrate with him on the outrages committed against the Persians and the burning of their villages. The Mongul threatened the Persian general with chastisement, unless he submitted.\nA soldier from the Mongul army instantly left his camp, and the next day published a proclamation by beat of drum. Any Persian who injured the lowest retainer of the Mongul army should be treated as an enemy to the good cause.\n\nA private Mongul soldier had seized a young Persian woman in her apartment. He stifled her cries, and her child, who was near, screamed out for help. The soldier rushed towards the child and it lay dead at his feet. The woman escaped and fled for succor to the soldier's officer. He ordered her to be driven out of the camp with derision, and her dead child was thrown upon the field to be the prey of the birds of the air. Her husband came home, procured a certificate of the fact from the Persian governor, and hastened with it to the Mongul general, who delivered the following judgment.\n\n\"If the woman's testimony is true, and the soldier is found guilty, let him be put to death and his head be displayed on a pike at the entrance of the camp as a warning to others. The woman and her family shall be compensated for their loss and granted safe passage back to their homeland.\"\nThe Khan is the vicegerent of God; the general, and the kings, and the sovereigns of the world, are the vicegerents of the Khan; and the officers are the vicegerents of the general. A Persian, on account of an insignificant occurrence, complained of an officer to his general, and received one hundred lashes. The Persian governor, who granted him the certificate, made an apology to the officer or was sent in chains to the general.\n\nThis event was known overnight to the whole Persian army. The following morning, the whole army had but one soul. Cosru called a council of war. Solmar stood behind Cosru, holding sealed papers in his hand. The council did not last long.\n\n\"Long live the Shah of Persia!\" began Cosru.\nAnd answered the eldest officer, \"Confusion to the Mongols!\" All officers repeated, \"Confusion to the Mongols!\" The Khan enters his seventieth year the day after tomorrow. The general has made a requisition of brandy and gives a feast to his men. We are four days' march from headquarters; but tomorrow night we shall be part of the party. Cosru retired. Solmar delivered his sealed instructions to every one of the officers; and the council was dissolved. Before an hour had elapsed, nothing but the sharpening of swords was heard. All who were permitted to go to the feast moistened them with tears of joy; and all who could not go, moistened them with tears of sorrow. In four hours, twenty-five thousand visitors were furnished with horses.\nand they wanted whatever they needed for the following two days. In five hours, they were marching on more than ten of the country's high roads. Cosru commanded the center, and Solmar commanded a thousand volunteers in the van. The guides were excellent, and the party was unanimous. They arrived at their destination in due time, but they could not have been more unexpected. The general of the Mongols was sitting in his loose robes, drunk, at the head of a plentiful table, and all the company were drunk as well.\n\n\"Liberty and justice!\" Solmar exclaimed to his volunteers. \"The day of vengeance!\" roared a thousand Persians. This was the watchword of destruction. The heads of many guests who sat at the table were scattered among the golden vessels that had been stolen. The general bellowed for rage and seized a golden cup.\nSolmar exclaimed, \"Monster!\" The monster lay in two halves at his feet. One half consisted of the gnashing head, smoking neck, and right arm, still grasping the goblet. After this evening, no man could claim to have been a bidden guest at the Mongul general's feast. Half of the robbers continued to sleep, while the other half began their eternal sleep. The booty was immense, but the Persians had sworn, on the morning of the same day, to devote half of it to re-building the smoking villages of their country and securing its passes against the Mongols. The next day, the army divided itself to the right and left. Cosru appeared unexpectedly in the rear of the army.\nThe right wing of the Monguls retreated with Solmar in the rear, leaving the Persians unexpectedly. In a week, no Mongul was left on Persian territory. The few scattered bodies that fled towards the Osman were cut into pieces by them, and those who attempted to return home were slaughtered by the Persians. Cosru issued his first orders upon leaving the Shah's apartment with his privy seal, securing the mountain passes through which the Monguls had to escape.\n\nA thousand messengers announced the day of vengeance throughout all the provinces of the Persian empire. The day echoed with the names of Cosru and Solmar. In every town and village, people danced for joy. Enemies were reconciled, and strangers embraced each other.\nThe grand-vizier ordered one hundred thousand men to immediately fortify the mountains and secure the passes. Women held up their babes to their husbands, looking towards the Mongol mountains. Men grabbed their arms and tools, hastening away. Maidens placed their hands on their bosoms, pointing to the mountains with their fingers, and young men departed without taking leave.\n\n\"Freedom and justice!\" the workmen shouted as they fortified the passes in the morning. \"The day of vengeance!\" was their consistent response.\n\nThe Khan of the Mongols, sovereign of sovereigns, was unaware that even a single hair on the head of any of his lowliest subjects had been disturbed. Yet, one hundred and fifty thousand of his enemies gathered.\nPersians had returned with triumph, from the completion of their works on the mountains. After a month, the Khan heard one half of the affair, and he, by degrees, guessed the other half. He cried for rage, and his courtiers cried with him. He drank brandy to inflame his fury; and one evening was found dead, amidst those who had, with him, been cursing the Persians and mankind.\n\nThe fortifications on the mountain-paths, which led into Persia, were completed. The Mongols, who were accustomed to repair on horseback to pillage and murder, stood in dread of narrow passes, which were open only to travelers on foot, and which were guarded by resolute defenders. Persia did not, after that time, see her rich plains laid waste by them.\n\nThe kings of Asia recovered from their blind superstition. They ceased considering the Mongols as omnipotent.\nSolmar and they ceased to be omnipotent. The writings which Solmar had seized were published throughout the empire by Cosru. Anyone who proposed to any of the Asiatic kings to make a treaty with the Mongols was cast into irons. Anyone who accepted a present from the Mongols lost his head. When the Khan of the Mongols issued a command to any of the kings, the answer he received was, \"I will not!\" This was the end of the business. But had not Solmar told Cosru that only those were formidable who were feared, Persia would have been laid waste, and the kings of Asia would have trembled before a horde of Mongols. Solmar received orders to cross Persia with the 10,000 men who had annihilated the left wing of the bandits. Accordingly, he entered the southern provinces to attack the right wing.\nSolmar and his 10,000 men crossed the land rapidly. They had recently come to know him, yet he was beloved by them as a brother and feared by them as a father. He spoke little but watched everything. He provided for them first and then for himself, but he tolerated no disorders in others as he committed none himself. What he commanded was sometimes hard to execute, but he commanded nothing that was not carried into effect, and he took the hardest part of the enterprise upon himself. They all knew that he was the real savior of Persia. They knew that it was he who had slain the four robbers, by whose papers the atrocious projects of the Khan against all Persia were detected. They had themselves seen him annihilate the Mongol general and lay whole rows of tigers at his feet. Had he yielded to them against the robbers.\nA fiery volcano or even against the raging sea, they would have followed him with confidence, and said, \"Since he undertakes it, it must be possible!\" Solmar arrived at his post with his 10,000 men two clay earlier than the grand-vizier had expected and required. He arrived at the critical moment. It was not before the Mongols were already annihilated that the Ottomans received intelligence of an Avar uprising between them and the Persians. The grand-vizier of the Ottomans, Ismail, caused splendid fireworks to be exhibited in his camp to testify his joy at the intelligence. The day following, he summoned all the generals to a council of war. They resolved to fall upon the enemy in the remotest corner of the south, thinking he still had to contend against the most inveterate foe in the north.\nBy the Prophet, I did not expect this! said the grand-vizier with expressions of delight, as he squeezed the hand of every member of the council. Ismael proceeded at once towards the south, taking care to excite as little disturbance as possible. Cosru, however, was already at his side, and planted himself in a favorable position. He excited less alarm than Ismael. The great difference between the two grand-viziers was, that one only saw, and the other was only seen. Cosru, in order to render his enterprise decisive, rested on his arms till he should be reinforced by 100,000 men, that is, 10,000 men and Solmar. Solmar was on the point of announcing his arrival to Cosru, when a Jew was introduced to him. \"Long live the Shah of Persia!\" said the Jew. Three nights since, the Osman grand-vizier Xsmaei lodged in my house.\nSix Arabs of distinction came and stayed the whole night with him, speaking with him alone. In the morning, I was sent for and ordered to assist in weighing out gold for them. I heard them speak of 50,000 Arabs, the fifth day, and the heights behind the camp of the right wing of the Osman army. On hearing this, I took two camels and placed my wife and children on them. I have now come, through cross-roads, to give intelligence of the alliance to a Persian general. Ismael has fixed his camp and is waiting for the Arabs. The fifth day is the day after tomorrow.\n\nSolmar reflected for a moment. He then fixed his eyes upon the Jew and asked, \"Do you know the roads of the province?\"\n\n\"General, I know all the roads and paths in the country,\" the Jew replied.\n\n\"How far is the right wing of the Osman army?\"\narmy encamped from the main army at least the distance of a day's journey.\n\nGeneral, at least the distance of a day's journey. The your wife and children are my hostages, and you are my conductor. Solmar wrote to the grand-vizier, Cosru, \"We are arrived earlier than you commanded; and we reached this spot at a lucky hour. We shall engage the enemy tomorrow, for our safety demands it. The bearer is acquainted with the particulars.\" An officer was dispatched with this letter, and with verbal instructions. Solmar was employed in making his arrangements with the Jew till beyond midnight.\n\nAs the following day was drawing towards a close, the guards of the right wing of the Osman army saw clouds of dust arising, in every direction, upon the hills behind their camp, and at length clearly distinguished cavalry proceeding down them. Shouts of joy at the intelligence were sent forth from the camp.\nEvery quarter of the camp; in every part, unarmed horsemen rode out to welcome their allies from the desert, but they were not Arabs. Solmar was in possession of the rich camp of the Osmanites before the sun had entirely descended. One-third of the Osmanites were slaughtered, one-third were taken prisoners, and one-third fled. The Jew was instantly dispatched on a dromedary to Cosru. Solmar gave orders that nothing should be altered in the form of the camp; the Persians looked anxiously for the clouds of dust expected to arise from the hills leading towards the desert. At length, the Persian watch gave the expected signal of the enemy's arrival. The Arabians, on approaching the camp recently occupied by their friends the Osmanites, uttered tremendous shouts of joy. But Solmar, with his troops, was prepared.\nThe Persians rushed upon the Arabians, and the Arabians, taken by surprise, fled with precipitation. Those of them who escaped towards the desert gave to their fellows whom they met such a description of the Persians' swords and their leader that the remainder of the mercenary allies of the Ottomans thought it wiser to return back to the desert whence they came, than to fulfill their engagements.\n\nThe day after the defeat of the Arabs was a day of rest in the Persian camp. Solmar caused his prisoners to pass in review before him. They already surpassed his army in numbers. Several companies of the fugitive Ottomans had returned in the morning and surrendered themselves to the conqueror at discretion, so that they might not perish for hunger in an unknown and desolated country, or be torn in pieces by wild beasts, or be slaughtered by the enemy.\nThe inhabitants revolted against Solmar. Solmar treated his prisoners humanely. He put to death three who resisted, but he also helped bind up another's broken arm. The Jew kept his promise and returned as agreed. \"Tomorrow, at sunrise,\" Cosru wrote, \"I will show the grand vizier Ismael that I am near him, which he is currently unaware of; and in the previous night, I will strike an arm from his left wing. I confirm, in advance, whatever treaty you may make with their desert friends.\" \"The desert friends have already been dealt with,\" Solmar told the assembled officers of his army. \"But now we must learn the situation of the grand vizier Ismael and his Osman army.\"\nSolmar caused his troops to draw lots. One-fourth of the men remained to guard the prisoners and the camp, and with the other three-fourths, he set off at midnight. The Jew led the army, and the train passed towards the north. During the heat of the day, they reposed in a shady valley. When they had crossed this valley and ascended a woody hill, those who climbed upon the trees could distinctly behold the camp of the grand-vizier Ismael before them, and could even distinguish the larger tents of the enemy. Solmar immediately observed the roads into the plain, formed his plan for the following morning, and distributed his commands for the attack at sun-rise. But Solmar had approached too near to the Osman camp. The horses in the Osman camp neighed; the horses of the Persians answered, in every part of their encampment.\nThe Persian army, which was small, heard shouts in the Ottoman camp. The shouts grew louder, and eventually, trumpets were heard. Solmar's watch descended from the trees to report that the Ottomans were riding in all directions, and their tents were beginning to move.\n\nIf Solmar had been attacked at that moment, he would have been annihilated. If Grand Vizier Ismail had been capable of reflection, he would have risked everything to attack Solmar.\n\n\"We must make the assault today,\" said Solmar, \"or the camp will escape us.\" In three hours, it was night, and there were 75,000 Persians opposed to more than 60,000. But Solmar had never projected an impossibility.\n\nThe Persians rushed down from all the valleys, glens, roads, and paths of the woody hills, and unexpectedly appeared.\nThe long streams of men in the plain below formed three bursting rents over the trembling surface. Solmar and his Persians had erred. The Osmanes had no suspicion of an enemy in their rear. They were aware only of the approach of Cosru in their front. For two hours, some fugitives from the right wing, half dead with terror and fatigue, had reached the Osmanes' camp and given intelligence that their right wing was annihilated.\n\nThe thunder of the assailants on the plain was answered by the affrighted cries of the attacked. Terror uplifted the arms of the Osmanes towards heaven, while it fixed their feet to the earth from which they tried to flee. The central body of Persians rushed towards the loftiest tent. All who surrounded it were prostrate on the earth in a few moments. The aged vizier Ismael alone remained.\nSolmar lifted his sword. The unarmed old man presented his bare neck. \"Hold!\" exclaimed Solmar. The officers around him repeated the cry, and it was echoed along the corps Solmar conducted.\n\n\"Father Ismael, I entreat you, give me your signet,\" said the modest youth.\n\n\"Persians,\" said Solmar aloud, \"the aged Ismael stands under your protection.\"\n\nThe Persian standards were planted around Ismael's rich tents. Solmar sat beneath these tents, and Ismael sat beside him.\n\nSolmar wrote to Cosru, \"Ismael lives, and sends his signet to your highness. You are anxiously expected.\"\n\nSolmar now heard some faint cries. They were the cries of female voices. He drew back a curtain, and three women of ravishing beauty, with disheveled locks and rent veils, threw themselves at his feet and implored.\n\"What is it that you mean, fair ladies? said he, raising his hands with tokens of respect. Ismael, your wives were never in greater security. They stand under the protection of Persian conquerors.\n\nBy Allah! said Ismael, as he wiped a tear from his eye and grasped the youth with his hand, this I should never have expected.\n\nOne hundred men, mounted on a hundred untired horses, with the Jew at their head, had broken through the astonished advanced guards. They found Cosru already on the road. Cosru arrived after midnight. The moon was then in the first quarter. When she was at the full, not an Osman was in Persia; and when the second moon was at the full, the Persians possessed the territory of the Osmanians as far as the Euphrates. The Sultan of the Osmanians sent messages of peace, and Cosru appointed\"\nSolmar negotiated peace and signed it with them. The Euphrates became the boundary of the Persian empire. All prisoners and captives were restored, and the Sultan of the Ottomans paid a contribution of 2,000,000 pieces of gold to rebuild the desolated villages of Persia and raise fortresses on the Euphrates.\n\nCosru hurried back to Ispahan. Solmar remained as Generallissimo at the Euphrates. The Shah, the sultan-mother, and the fair Biribi received the grand-vizier with silent embraces.\n\n\"Cosru,\" said the Shah, \"Solmar deserves a great reward. I shall entrust to his care my palace, my bodyguard, and my capital. Where Solmar stands on watch, I can sleep in safety.\"\n\n\"Yes, dear Cosru,\" said the sultan-mother, \"I beg your consent to this.\"\n\nThe fair Biribi stood by, cast down.\n\nThe Shah praised Solmar greatly and entrusted his palace, bodyguard, and capital to his care. Solmar remained in charge at the Euphrates, ensuring safety for the Shah and his people.\nHer eyes played with her fingers, and spoke not a word. Solmar wrote in answer to the grand-vizier and earnestly entreated that the Shah of Persia would be pleased to let him remain at the Euphrates.\n\n\"At all events,\" said the Shah, \"he must come and receive from my hands a standard of honor.\"\n\n\"An excellent thought, my son,\" said the sultana-mother; \"he must at least do that.\"\n\n\"And you, Biribi, what is your opinion?\" asked the Shah; \"you do not speak a word.\"\n\n\"My dear Shah,\" said Biribi, \"suppose we were to let him rest for a time. The journey is so enormously long; and he will not only have to travel thither, he must also travel back again.\"\n\n\"Biribi is in the right,\" said the Shah; \"the good man ought to have rest. I would not, for all the world, undergo the fatigue he has endured, but I have thought of something: Bi-\"\nThe finest embroiderer, Ribi, will create the standard's flag, allowing him to rest until her work is completed. We will also write a letter to him. I will dictate, Ribi will write, and my mother will seal and write the superscription. He will not fail to come; I will not use my omnipotence in the letter but only reason. Sit down, Ribi. I know how to manage such matters.\n\nRibi sat down opposite the Shah, and the Shah closed his eyes, beginning to dictate.\n\n\"Dear Solmar, we cannot live without seeing you.\"\n\nRibi discovered she had insufficient light opposite the Shah and moved to a window to write.\n\n\"We think of you day and night, and you must visit us,\" Ribi wrote.\n\"We must thank you in person, and you shall hear from us when you are to come.\" Biribi wrote. \"The Shah loves you; his mother loves you; w Biribi wrote \u2014 \" and the sultana Biribi loves you!\"\n\nBiribi did not write; for she was, at that instant, under the necessity of holding up her pen to the light, in order to see where the threads in the nib were hanging. And when the pen was wiped clean, the ink would not run. Besides all this, the light dazzled her eyes so much that she was forced to hold a handkerchief to her face.\n\n\"Dear Shah,\" said she, at last, \"do you write something in the letter. He will be so glad to see your writing.\"\n\n\"This is errant folly,\" said the Shah. \"If you love him, you may have him, I warrant. I know very well, that of all my wives, you alone are innocent; but everything must have its course.\"\nThe fair Biribi gave him the paper and cast her eyes upon the ground. \"See now, you have spoiled the paper, and here are - one two - three - four - five wet spots on it. I must either wait till they are dry, or leave a blank in the wet places. Yes, that is what I will do; and when he comes, I will tell him the fact, and we will all laugh at you!\" The Shah took the pen and dictated to himself aloud. \"And the sultana Biribi loves you also; but, though she is not ashamed of loving you, she is ashamed to write you so, herself.\" The Shah paused, placed his right elbow on his writing desk, and covered his eyes with the palm of his hand. He reflected awhile, read the whole letter through, and then laid down his pen. \"No,\" said he, \"I will write no letter.\"\nThe sultana mother put on the seal and wrote the address. A special messenger was dispatched to the Euphrates with it.\n\n\"And now, good Biribi, embroider me the flag. Be industrious, so we may see it soon. But which of us can think of a fitting inscription? Sleep on it, both of you. I will do the same.\"\n\n\"Son,\" said the sultana mother the next morning, \"what shall be the inscription?\"\n\n\"That is what I would learn from you, mother.\"\n\n\"Shall it be long or short?\"\nThe text ought to contain only what belongs to it. Shall it be natural and simple? Natural, certainly! And above all, it must be rational and not omnipotent. Well then, my proposal is: To the Deliverer of Persia: Gratitude and Love.\n\nThe Shah sprang from his seat and embraced his mother. He then ran to the fair Biribi and embraced her also. \"It is a fine thought,\" he exclaimed. \"Yes, dear Biribi, you shall embroider gratitude and love in it. There is reason in that, and not a word more than is true. Now, Biribi, begin this instant; and if I can give you any assistance, I will do it with pleasure.\"\n\nNow, the fair Biribi began her labor on the very same day, but she did not permit the Shah to give her any assistance.\nAmong all the virgins the Shah was accustomed to call his wives \u2013 for in the last twenty years he had not possessed real, genuine, regular wives \u2013 the fair Biribi was most dear to him, solely for the sake of her sparkling eyes. He had purchased her ten years prior, when she was eight years old. The Shah remarked that she had grown tired of her labor, as the last word of her finest embroidery was not as successfully worked as the others. Her embroidery was completed in her apartment. The Shah saw her seldom, and when he did, the door was always locked. The finished piece was the finest ever exhibited in Persia, but her eyes had been strained in its completion, dimming their sparkling splendor.\nSince then, he had never purchased a pair of brilliants of such perfect beauty and splendor. It happened two years prior, as Biribi played between the lofty palace walls, a little bird flew into her bosom to escape the pursuit of a hawk, which had been pouncing at it. Once the enemy had been driven away, this little bird allowed itself to be fondled and caressed, and would not fly away again when left at liberty. On this occasion, Biribi's eyes expressed such joy at the bird's fondness that the Shah suddenly fell prostrate on the earth and thanked aloud the Creator of all things for making the world.\n\n\"No,\" he said as he returned to the sultana-mother and the three chief eunuchs in the palace, \"No, such a thing had never happened to me.\"\nBefore me, in all my life, such beams of light in the eyes of Biribi. And the beams became sparkles, and the sparkles became flashes; and from the fire came clear water, and the water flashed as well as the fire; and from the water came pearls, and the pearls shone like the water. But in the flashes of the fire, the water, and the pearls, there was something, children, I could not sign a death-warrant for, though for the murder of my mother. And if I were to melt down all the diamonds that ever were dug out of the earth into one stone, and melt down all the diamonds now under the earth into another stone, they would altogether be nothing, compared to the eyes of Biribi, as she fondled the little bird. What I prayed, I cannot tell; but I did pray, and I have now seen, with my own eyes, the Paradise of the great Prophet.\nProm that day, the Shah had loved the fair Biribi like his dearest daughter, and never suffered her to be absent from him. Every one of her petitions was granted; and she made many, but always for others, never for herself. Yet no bird had ever flown into her bosom since, nor had the Shah beheld so distinctly the Paradise of the great Prophet.\n\n\"My dear Biribi,\" said he, as he took the embroidered standard from her, \"if you love me, you will make no more embroidery during the next half year, that your poor eyes may have time to recover. Promise me this.\"\n\nShe gave him her hand to it, as the messenger was announced who was returned from the Euphrates. He delivered Solmar's answer to the Shah.\n\n\"Sire! thy slave wears thy writing on his heart; and he has covered every spot of the sacred paper with a thousand apologies for his delay.\"\n\"You have been summoned to the grand-vizier Cosru to receive commands concerning the maintenance of the province on the Euphrates. The slave will lay himself at your feet on the last day of this month. Long live the sublime sultana-mother! Long live the sublime sultana Biribi!\n\n\"Ah, my dear Biribi,\" said the Shah joyfully, \"he comes the day after tomorrow. Here it is - you have all the letter yourself.\"\n\nBiribi took the letter and read, but so rapidly that she did not see what she read; and not seeing what she read, she was forced to begin again; and because she was always beginning, she never came to the end.\n\n\"Mother Biribi, 35,\" exclaimed the Shah suddenly, \"do not spoil the paper by squeezing it, but go to the window. I see that a bird has flown into your bosom again.\"\n\nA heavenly blush was now spread over her face.\"\nThe Shah gazed at Biribi, his breath taken away. Her virgin cheeks glowed in the light reflecting from her eyes. Biribi jumped up, leaving the Shah speechless.\n\n\"Holy Prophet!\" the Shah exclaimed as he regained some composure. \"You offer more than one taste of paradise. This is more delightful than all the others.\"\n\nIn the same secluded room, where the standard was embroidered with a bolted door, Biribi read the letter for several hours. Despite its difficulty, she eventually showed kindness to it, pressing it to her heart and, eventually, to her lips.\nTana repaired herself to the window, but from it, there was nothing to be seen but flowers, trees, birds, and the entire city of Ispahan. She seized the lute, but in the first place, it was sadly out of tune, and in the second place, it made such a noise that Biribi could not play and indulge in her musings at the same time. She drew all the curtains of the apartment close and threw herself, in the dusk of the evening, upon a sofa.\n\nThe letter was written with politeness, yet it was not necessary to place Sublime Sultana Biribi by the side of a Sublime Sultana-mother. The Sultana-mother was full fifty years of age, and an epithet, by way of introduction, was no more than her due. A distinction should have been made in the letter between her and Biribi, and the Sultana-mother had a\n\n(Note: The text appears to be complete and free of major issues. However, it is important to mention that the text contains some archaic language and spelling, which have been preserved to maintain the originality of the text.)\nThe right to be offended was nonexistent. It must be confessed, however, that the concluding lines of the letter were uncouth. The beginning, on the contrary, was very obliging. He wore the Shah's writing on his heart and had covered every spot of the sacred paper with a thousand kisses. Beyond a doubt, the vacant spaces were not spared, on which the sultan could not write. And who knows but it might occur to the writer of this letter that the little bird in the birdcage was not at all in fault, on account of the five wet spots. It was absolutely necessary to re-read the letter.\n\nShe arose to look for the letter, but it was gone. It was not on the table; it was not on the chair; it was not behind the curtain. All the cabinets and drawers, all the caskets.\nand boxes were opened, but the letter was in none of them. Biribi's anxiety increased every moment. At last, she recalled that this poor letter might possibly be fallen under the sofa. She bent down, went on one knee, heard a rustling, and the secret was betrayed!\n\nAny noble Persian, says the oriental narrator at this spot, who has just completed a hundred noble achievements and, at the end of them, is allowed to rest his forehead and his closed-eyes on the place where the letter had rested, deems himself amply rewarded for all he has achieved. And there is not, he adds, in the Paradise of the holy Prophet, a single spot on which mortals may more delightfully repose, after the sufferings of life and the labor of great deeds. And the Persian\u2014all this is said by the oriental narrator\u2014and the Persian who does so.\nBiribi was alarmed and blushed, possibly fearing the letter might make some resistance. She let it remain where it lay. Sitting down again, she laid her face on both arms to cover her eyes and continued sitting, even as night drew on, until she was roused to open the door for the good Shah, who had already knocked a dozen times, fearing some accident had happened to her.\n\nSoimar's journey to Ispahan had been made known to the provinces through which he was to pass by the grand-vizier himself. Solmar found, at the end of his first day's journey, a letter from Cosru.\n\n\"Solmar, I command you not to shun the thanks of a grateful people. The provinces have received no orders from me; and when a people begin to render honor to great men, without my instigation.\"\nbeing commanded is on the point of stimulating men to greatness; and it is high treason against the state, through pride, to reject their homage. Solmar had now as few attendants as when he proceeded to the frontiers against the Osmanes, but he had nothing to fear on his journey; for the inhabitants of the provinces stood in rows on the high ways through which he rode, and the children were placed on the shoulders of their fathers and mothers; and they, too, were part of his guard of honor.\n\nFreedom and independence! was the shout of the Persians who stood on the high roads; and, Long live the Shah of Persia and his people! was the answer of Solmar. And when he had passed by, then the people told of the persons whom he had looked in the face; and how courteously he bowed; and how kindly he smiled on the children.\nThe people formed circles and sang and danced as they spoke of Solmar and how he was dressed and his proud horse. Solmar appeared before Ispahan, the town strewn with flowers, the inhabitants in their holiday clothes lining the streets in admiration and awe. Solmar reached the inner court of the palace where the Shah, in imperial garments, stood at the head of his bodyguard, holding a standard.\n\n\"Thanks to the savior of Persia!\" the Shah said as he rode forward and delivered the standard into Solmar's hand. A white flag waved from the summit of the castle's highest tower, and at the same instant, music and cheers rose from the palace.\ndown to the city of Ispahan, and from the city of Ispahan up to the palace, shouts of joy shook the foundations of the hills; and the birds flying in the air above felt the vibration from the shouts below.\n\n\"Oh, Amatonda,\" whispered Solmar softly during the exclamations of the populace, \"Oh, Amatonda, were you near me!\"\n\nAmatonda was not near him, but the fair Biribi was, though she herself knew not where; for when the shouts of joy were uttered, she was beholding the scene from the palace window, and she sank down by the side of a female slave, senseless and motionless.\n\n\"Solmar is fatigued from the journey,\" said the Shah, \"let him be conducted to his apartment. He shall be left to his repose today, and we will not intrude upon him.\"\n\nOn the following day, Solmar was presented to the Shah, the sultana-\nThe Shah entered and fell prostrate before the mother and Sultana Biribi. Why so unexpectedly said the Shah, \"Now I take this unkindly. Arise, and embrace us all, one after the other, and we will spend the day together as rational beings.\" Solmar rose and embraced the Shah respectfully, and he, in turn, respected the Sultana Biribi and kissed her hand. They sat in a circle and asked questions, gave answers, and related histories. In the heat of conversation, neither the Shah nor they remarked that the Sultana Biribi had retired. She ran into her apartments, sprang from one to the other, and looked around for living beings. Her heart beat high; her eyes sparkled; she could scarcely breathe. She went to the apartment where some birds were flying at liberty.\nShe had found the birds, half a year prior, in a nest without a mother and had reared them with some trouble. The birds all fluttered around her.\n\n\"Have you heard it already?\" she asked. He embraced every one of them except for me, and he trembled, and his hand shook, and his lips quivered as he kissed my hand. I trembled too. He embraced every one of them, but he did not embrace me.\n\nThe poor birds would have been glad to receive their daily provender. They were accustomed to fly at liberty in the apartment of their mistress and also to fetch their food from there. But yesterday, Solmar arrived, and yesterday they found nothing; today, also, nothing had been left for them. They fluttered around her lips, they alighted on her hands, and pecked her fingers. At length they played the dun so intelligibly that their foster-mother understood.\nShe uttered a thousand reproaches against herself and made amends by throwing food to her starving favorites at least as much as they could consume in a fortnight. But then she told them again and again that she alone had not been embraced. At length, she heard the voice of the Shah, who came to look for her. He comforted her and determined that Solmar should salute her three times instead of once as penance.\n\n\"No, my dear Shah,\" said Biribi, alarmed, \"I conjure you by the holy Prophet, say not a word to him. I am unspeakably happy, and you would only make me quite wretched. I am pleased with him; I came only to give food to my little birds here.\"\n\nWhen the Shah saw that Biribi was dancing and jumping, and that her eyes sparkled, he was contented. As soon as he returned to Solmar, it\nThey agreed to write to each other at least twice every month. After a few joyful days, Solmar departed. She, who had labored to persuade herself that embraces meant nothing, remained still unembraced. But Solmar was more pensive upon his return to the Euphrates than when he set out. On the contrary, the fair Biribi continued as sprightly as ever. Her eyes always sparkled more brilliantly on the days when a letter from Solmar arrived or when she answered those letters, in the name of the Shah, than on any other day. The correspondence gave all parties equal pleasure and was therefore scrupulously kept up. However, the phrase \"the sublime sultana Biribi\" was not to be found in the letters anymore, as it met with no encouragement.\nCosru was supplied the position by \"my fair friend Bribi,\" to which no objection was made. The Shah entreated Sol mar to be a mediator between him and the grand-vizier, allowing Cosru to remain at the helm of the Persian empire as long as he lived.\n\n\"As affairs now stand,\" replied Cosru, to the great joy of the Shah, \"I must release the Shah from his promise; and my duty compels me to remain at my post, as long as strength and permission are given me. Allah and our Prophet preserve the Shah!\"\n\nCosru governed several years afterwards. When he was found one evening lifeless at his writing-desk, the Persia he left behind was a whole century different from the Persia he found when he accepted the seal of government from the Shah; and the Shah was admired by all his people.\n\n\"Cosru is no more, and Solmar is grand-vizier.\"\nThese words, in the Shah's own hand, were received by Solmar as he was surveying the last of the new fortresses on the Euphrates. He did not answer; he came himself. \"O Amatonda!\" Solmar exclaimed as he ascended the palace of Ispahan, \"if you mean to embrace me, eradicate first from my soul the image of my friend Biribi.\"\n\nAmatonda did not yet mean to embrace him; for, except the Shah and the sultana-mother, no one embraced him. Not even Sultana Biribi did. The Shah's choice met with the lively approval of all Persia. Solmar made no change in the system pursued by Cosru; he merely continued the work his predecessor had begun. The Persian empire had not, for centuries, been in greater repose or more flourishing or in higher honor than at present. Yet Amatonda did not appear to embrace Solmar.\nSolmar had held the reigns of the Persian empire for about fifteen months when the good Shah was found dead in his cabinet, sitting with his diamonds around him. His eldest nephew, who could with difficulty read or write, was brought forth from a remote corner of the palace to fill the throne of Persia. Immediately, there was a new sultana-mother, new reigning sultanas, new chiefs of the eunuchs, new principles, and new views. A new grand-vizier would also have been appointed immediately, but the people and army were still feared.\n\nA few days after the Shah's death, his mother suddenly died and it was said, of grief. The fair Biribi also would have died of grief in a few days; but the night before her death, she disappeared, and no one knew, not even at court, where she had gone. All her valuables, and two black eunuchs, had disappeared as well.\nThe two black slaves, wise and formerly by her side during her rejoicing at saving a little bird, baffled the whole court with their unexpected flight. The assembled privy council unanimously agreed it would be cruel to obstruct the young widow's happiness. Examining Persian chronicles revealed no instance since the empire's establishment of a sultana fleeing with two black slaves; they had all taken a body-guard member or a sturdy dervish at least. News spread through the city, reaching Sol mar, who pondered with pensive reflection and cast eyes on the ground. A chamberlain from the palace was announced. He delivered a precious message.\njewel to Solmar, and a writing from the Shah, in which the services which Solmar had rendered to the Persian empire were warmly praised. In the most gracious terms, he was confirmed in his office.\n\nThis writing was industriously published by the court through Ispahan, and all the people said Amen. But Solmar grew more pensive and sad than before. The experienced men of Ispahan, who were acquainted with the custom of oriental courts, said in their hearts, a sacrifice is in preparation. In the meantime, the court did actually prepare splendid fireworks for the city of Ispahan.\n\nEvery day the court sent the grand vizier a new mandate to execute. All the mandates were most gracious, but they were strangely intricate. The last mandate usually contradicted all the foregoing.\n\n\"No,\" said Solmar, as he perused the tenth mandate, \"the magician.\"\nHe had deceived me. Amatonda may embrace whom she pleases! I will go to my brother Hassan and help him cultivate his fields. He drew his sword from its sheath, broke it in pieces, and sat down to write. He humbly implored the Shah in his letter to allow him to resign his high office, as he did not feel that he had the strength sufficient to carry into effect the supreme will of his imperial majesty. The Shah waited three days before he answered; for the fire-works were not ready. He was extremely afflicted at the unexpected solicitation of Solmar. He could not possibly dispense altogether with his further services; and he accepted his resignation as grand-vizier only on condition that he re-assumed the command in chief on the Euphrates, on which station he had already wrought such signal services. This gracious epistle was also made public.\nThe people of Ispahan were not crying \"Amen\" on this occasion. Instead, in the marketplaces and street corners, words of banishment, treachery, intrigue, and evil days were heard and repeated. Solmar was informed of this and hastened his departure to the Euphrates. However, he resolved to seek his discharge again after a few months.\n\nOn the evening after Solmar's departure, splendid fireworks were exhibited, and for a week afterward, Ispahan had so much to relate about those who were killed and those who were not killed from the explosion of the fireworks that few had time or leisure to think or talk about Solmar. But the warriors at Ispahan, who had fought with him against the Mongols and the Osmanians, they...\nstill thought of him; and as they did not merely think, but now and then collected in small bodies together and talked aloud of him, the court, in its wisdom, saw that it was necessary to take measures accordingly. These measures were put in execution; and more than twenty couriers had been dispatched about a fortnight before, with orders addressed to the different officers on the Euphrates. One evening, by pure accident, a dispute arose in the inner court of the palace, close to the guard-house. The dispute led to a scuffle; the scuffle to a riot; and the riot to a general insurrection of all Ispahan. By break of day, a swift dromedary was taken from the stall of the murdered Shah, and a courier dispatched with orders to Solmar to repair instantly to Ispahan and share the news.\nthe  government  with  the  new  Shah. \nThe  dromedary  reached  the  Euphra- \ntes ;  but,  in  spite  of  its  extreme  haste> \nit  arrived  just.eight-and-forty  hours  too \nlate.  Solmar  had,  by  command  of  the \ncourt,  proceeded  in  great  haste  to  con- \nstruct a  fortified  camp  opposite  to  the \ndesert ;  the  Arabs  had  discovered  that \nhis  corps  <was  very  small  ;  they  had \nthe  day  before  suddenly  fallen  upon \nhim  :  he  had  fought  like  a  lion ;  he \nhad  driven  them  back ;  but,  in  the \nmidst  of  a  rash  pursuit,  his  corps  was \nattacked  in  the  rear,  by  a  detachment \nwhich  lay  in  ambush  for  him ;  and  it \ncut  to  pieces.  It  was,  indeed,  remarked \nby  some  of  the  private  soldiers,  that \nthe  Arabs  must  have  had  the  most \nprecise  intelligence  of  their  situation, \nand  that  some  of  the  Persian  officers \nhad  retreated  at  the  first  onset. \nThe  new  Shah,  who  was   an   half- \nL \nbrother  of  the  murdered  Shah,  but  a \nA young man of better character mourned for Solmar, and all of Ispahan followed his example without any command from the court. Solmar's orders remained in force, and public affairs resumed their prescribed course. Thus, the son of Bator governed Persia after Solmar's death.\n\nBut Solmar was not truly dead; he was only on a journey. The Arabs, who had fought a dreadful combat with him and disarmed and bound him, were kind-hearted souls. Instead of punishing the fine, handsome, robust youth by hewing him into four quarters, they sold him on the third day, in the midst of the desert, to a distinguished Turk's caravan. Solmar and his new master found themselves on the road to Smyrna.\n\nHowever, Solmar did not reach Smyrna.\nFor on the way, a Turk sold him to a Jew. The Jew sold him to a Christian. The Christian sold him to a Dutchman. The Dutchman sold him to an Englishman; and the Englishman, when at Cairo, exchanged him for a pipe, with the Mameluke Bey Mustapha.\n\nThe Mameluke Beys indulge in a few skirmishes in the streets of the city every week, but they do this not to disturb public peace, only to maintain it. Nor was there ever a schoolboy injured by it, because schoolboys are not tolerated in Cairo; and as they have no schoolboys, they never hear the least complaint concerning these skirmishes. They are, besides, the real fathers of the people throughout all Egypt; and consider the wives and children, goods and chattels of the Egyptians, just as if they were their own property.\n\nSolmar had not been three hours in Cairo.\nthe  house  of  the  Bey  Mustapha,  before \nhe  was  forced  to  stand,  with  his  sword \ndrawn,  as  centinel,  before  three  heads \nwhich  were  lying  on  a  table.  The \nthree  heads  were,  those  of  his  late \nmaster  the  Bey  Mustapha  himself,  the \nEnglishman,  and  the  broker  who  had \nnegociated  the  barter  between  them. \nThe  head  of  the  Bey  lay  to  the  right, \nthat  of  his  friend  to  the  left,  and  be- \ntween both  heads  lay  the  pipe,  which \nhad  been  promised  to  the  centinel,  as \nthe  reward  for  his  keeping  watch  over \nthem. \nThis  revolution  had  been  occasioned \nby  the    following  occurrences.      The \nEnglishman  had  scarcely  delivered  up \nhis  slave,  and  received  the  pipe  in  ex- \nchange, when,  on  a  sudden,  a  loud \ntumult  was  heard  in  the  street.  The \nhouses  of  the  Beys  are  surrounded  by \nlofty  walls,  and  these  are  secured  by \nstrong  gates.  The  Englishman  sprang \nup,  layed  his  pipe  upon  a  table,  and \nIbrahim rushed out with Mustapha to secure the gates, but they were already in the possession of others. The Bey Ibrahim, who had been driven out of this house by Bey Mustapha the year before, and had since been conducting caravans in the desert to accumulate money and purchase assistance, now forced his way into the courtyard with a body of armed horsemen. He slew everyone who made resistance and soon gained possession of his ancient residence. The heads of Bey Mustapha and the Englishman, whom Ibrahim mistakenly took for a Bey, were brought in and placed on the table on each side of the pipe. Ibrahim himself entered; Solmar stood there unarmed.\n\n\"Who are you?\" said Ibrahim.\n\n\"Sir,\" answered Solmar coolly, \"at the very moment you came in, I had just entered as well.\"\nThe barbarian smiled and surveyed Solmar from head to foot. \"Your head shall answer for those of your two late masters, and your reward for watching them will be the pipe you were sold for,\" he replied, pointing at the same time to the heads on the table.\n\nSolmar was furnished with arms by Ibrahim's command, who went out to secure his conquest. Thus, the Persian guardian, who eight months ago watched over the happiness of 25,000,000 men and was daily singing their praises, was now, by command of a savage, watching over the gory heads of two cannibals. His wages were to be the very pipe for which he had been sold to a Mameluke.\n\n\"Holy Prophet!\" said Solmar.\nthou sayst truly. Allah is immutable; but he who has a pure conscience adores and is resigned. In an hour's time, Solmar was dismissed from his office. Ibrahim, attended by a strong body of men, paraded through the principal quarters of the city. The two heads, raised on lofty poles, entered the procession, but did not return with it, having been left behind, as the train for the last time passed by the borders of the Nile. The pipe Solmar took into his possession, as an preservative against all human weaknesses.\n\nOn the following morning, Ibrahim, again accompanied by a numerous train of attendants, visited the assembled divan; and the divan of the Mamelukes, being always on the side of the strongest, felt no scruple in acknowledging him as one of the governing Beys, and confirming him in his office.\nIbrahim summoned Solmar to his office. As soon as he arrived, Ibrahim ordered him to be brought before him.\n\n\"Slave, what is your name?\" Ibrahim inquired.\n\n\"My last master didn't give me a name,\" Solmar replied. \"He generally called me Europa, and when he greeted me with his foot, he said, 'You are but a dog.' \"\n\n\"You shall be called Ali. Do you understand?\" Ibrahim ordered.\n\n\"Yes, sir,\" Ali responded. \"I can dig ditches, plant trees, and raise melons, onions, and artichokes. I have noticed an empty spot in your courtyard, which is useless. Leave it to my care, and it shall become a paradise.\"\n\n\"Ali,\" Ibrahim said, \"I must spend a year in the desert. I prefer a garden to barrenness. You shall do what you please with the ground.\"\n\nAli inspected the spot. It was necessary to remove a half-fallen wall first. Ali suggested this to his master and requested three assistants to help him with the labor.\nIbrahim promised him the assistants. The Bey had received intelligence that Mustapha and his companions had exported wares from Suez, and he sent a party to intercept the camels. Three camels were actually brought in, and the conductors were brought in chains. They were instantly sent to All to join him in his labor of pulling down the old wall in the Bey's court.\n\n\"Siry,\" said Solmar, after a few weeks, \"let the three slaves be dismissed, and work with me yourself.\"\n\n\"Ali,\" said Ibrahim, \"I will work with you; though I know not why I always do what you desire.\"\n\nAli and Ibrahim worked together. After three days, Ibrahim himself heard that the ground resounded as if it were hollow. They continued their labor, and in a few days, Ibrahim became the richest Bey that Cairo had ever seen. The treasure in gold.\nIbrahim and Solmar had found immense silver, pearls, and jewels. The booty of a conquered province must have been deposited here.\n\nBut tell me, Ali, why you wanted the other slaves dismissed?\n\nSir, what should not be divulged, should be known by one only.\n\nAnd if it had been divulged? You would have been in danger.\n\nBut you are my slave! And therefore I must be concerned for your safety.\n\nIbrahim was startled, looked at the slave, and walked backwards and forwards with an air of meditation.\n\nListen to me; I have an only daughter. Will you marry her?\n\nSir, let me return to my native country.\n\nMy son-in-law will be my successor.\n\nLet me return to my native country.\n\nAnd all that I have will be his property.\n\"Sir, allow me to return to Persia. If I do you a service, will you do whatever is not wrong? My affairs are in disorder, that is wrong. You are a good manager, that is not wrong. Every one must discharge his obligations. Since, therefore, you have offered an affront to me, by refusing my only daughter, you shall take upon you the management of my affairs for two whole years from this day, and bring them into order; and, at the end of that time, I will conduct you myself through the desert. Is this wrong, Ah? Will you consent to this?\"\n\n\"With joy, Sir,\" said Solmar. \"Ibrahim drew off his ring and put it on the finger of Solmar, thereby declaring him the overseer of his household. 'And I shall give you a thousand zechins; and besides, you will arrange everything at your pleasure. And the garden, Sir?'\"\nAli kept his word. For two years, the little wilderness within Ibrahim's court-yard had become a paradise. Ibrahim did not precisely keep his word, for he let him depart, and accompanied him across the desert. But instead of a thousand zechins, he gave him two beautiful horses and four heavily-laden camels.\n\nWhen the caravan was about to depart, to which Ibrahim had accompanied Solmar, he produced a casket and said, \"Ali, take this casket, and let it be my marriage-present to your bride. Let it remind her now and then of the name of Ibrahim, and that Ibrahim promises never more to injure mankind.\"\n\nAli took the casket, wiped his eyes, and embraced the Bey. \"But Ali, I do not give this to you for nothing. You shall pay me for it, and more than it is worth.\"\nWhat do you require, Ibrahim? Big round tears rolled down the cheeks of the barbarian and hung on his thick black beard. He could not speak, but fixed his eyes on the Persian. At length he made an effort and spoke.\n\n\"Give me, said he, give me back the pipe which you wear at your belt. When I return home, I will touch my slaves with it, and they shall be free.\"\n\nAli took the pipe, kissed it, pressed it to his bosom, kissed it again, and delivered it to the Bey. The barbarian hung the pipe round his neck, hastily turned round, mounted his horse, and, giving his reins to it, departed without uttering a word.\n\nThe caravan reached the Euphrates with safety, and Solmar saw the Persian frontier before him which he himself had formed.\n\n\"And now to Beitulsalam,\" said he, having crossed the Persian river.\nand separating himself from his companions, he and his attendants proceeded in haste along the road. He had arrived within half a day's journey from Beitulsalem, and was on the point of leaving the house in which he had slept the last night, when two travelers, who had likewise slept in the same inn, stepped to the door at the same time.\n\nOn a sudden, six hands were stretched out in the air, and three voices were heard at the same instant to exclaim, \"Holy Prophet! Great Prophet! Just Prophet!\"\n\nThese sounds came from the former Governor of Persia, the former Governor of Indostan, and the former Governor of Cashmire. They were all on the road to Beitulsalem and had all slept in the same house without knowing anything of each other.\n\nAfter they had all expressed their astonishment, they embraced each other.\nscore times, and then been astonished over again; after each had, in a few words, spoken of his past adventures, they pursued their journey to Beitul-salam.\n\n\"Have you, too, failed to find Amantada, my brothers?\" began Solmar, as they were on the road.\n\n\"I am satisfied, brother,\" answered Murad, \"and with pleasure renounce all claim to her. -\"\n\n\"And your ring?\"\n\n\"I have not even one of the thousand pieces into which I broke it, for they, all lie in the stream which flowed beneath my window.\"\n\n\"And were you then the grand-vizier of Cashmere?\"\n\n\"Excuse me,\" the humble servant interjected, \"the twelve grand-viziers of Cashmere stood under my orders.\"\n\n\"Twelve grand viziers! And what had they to do?\"\n\n\"Each governed for the term of a month. They bore severally the names of the twelve signs of the zodiac.\"\nI governed the Great-Bear and its establishment without interruption. The Sultans of Cashmire are at the same time sovereigns of the Great-Bear and commanders of the zodiac; but they have never been able to obtain possession of both. All this may be very fine, but how did you, a stranger, form connections in Cashmire? My very first acquaintance I owed to one of my spurs. As I was crossing the market-place, it tore the gown of a well-dressed girl, who was carrying an elegant basket of millinery under her arm. That was a happy accident; for, in the first place, the spur made a hole in her gown, and in the second place, it brought me into contact with her.\nThe millinery fell into the dirt. \"Worse and worse, brother.\" \"Better and better, I say, brother. The girl was a slave, and the millinery belonged to her mistress. I took the girl by the arm, kissed her hand, led her first to the great mercer's, and purchased two complete dresses for her. Then I went to the first milliner's and bought five times as much millinery as fell into the dirt. \"And what was the end of this? \" I kissed the slave's hand once more, and she recommended me to her mistress, who was the favorite of a cook. The cook recommended me to his mistress, who was beloved by a domestic mufti. He recommended me to his lady, the wife of an upper secretary; and he, to his mistress, the wife of the grand vizier Aquarius. Aquarius introduced me to his brother-in-law, the grand vizier Cancer.\nI, wherever I went, either broke looking glasses and china or tore fine laces. I was invited to the first circles; and the ladies, both married and single, were visibly attached to me. At the end of six years, I was so fortunate that the only daughter of the grand-vizier Virgo, a girl of nineteen years of age, attached herself to me for life. She was so sociable that she could not subsist an hour without a friend to advise and comfort her; and she had so kind a heart that she had already adopted as her own an infant of two years old.\n\n\"And your ring, brother?\"\n\n\"When I spoke with any one of the zodiac, of villages desolated by tempesters, or fields inundated by showers, my ring pricked me inwards.\"\n\n\"It was the property of my ring to prick me inwards when I spoke too warmly, and outwards when I spoke too coolly.\"\nAnd did you ever feel it on the outside? I, my finger, is hard; for whenever I spoke with a sultana about virtue, a grand-vizier about sincerity, or a girl of twenty about innocence, my ring would not endure it. And if I ever spoke with women, whether they were twenty-five or ninety years old, and pronounced the word respect, I could hardly help crying through pain. My ring permitted nothing but adoration or secret whispers. In this way, I became Great-Bear. Yes, with the help of two waggoners. Two waggoners! By the great Prophet, Cashmire is a strange country. There was a fair in the capital. I was standing at the window, when two large wagons, each drawn by four horses and filled with goods, passed by.\nwith peasants of both sexes, in their best clothes, drove against each other and suddenly stopped. The wagoners alighted, took their whips in their hands, and knelt to each other.\n\n\"Brother,\" said one of the wagoners, \"I beg you will have the goodness to turn aside.\"\n\n\"Brother,\" replied the other, \"I entreat you not to make such a request.\"\n\n\"Brother, you know my moderation.\"\n\n\"Brother, the whole world knows mine.\"\n\n\"Brother, I shall apply to legal remedies.\"\n\n\"Brother, I shall have recourse to the law.\"\n\nAnd now they both rose, and each ascending the other's wagon, began to lash the peasants, who were going to a dance, till they could not lift their arms through fatigue. Then they alighted from the waggons again, and knelt again to each other.\n\n\"Brother, it was never my intention to offend you.\"\n\n\"Brother, my friendship\"\nThe hero of Persia was never interrupted for a moment. They then arose, embraced, and turned aside, driving carefully by each other. \"Brother, these are idle tales,\" the hero said. The fair was derived from China, and the waggoners of Cashmire had exercised the right of holding it and going to war with each other in the described way, from time immemorial. Unfortunately, one of the five eyes which had been put out by the waggoners belonged to a peasant girl who was beloved by a captain of the body-guard. Therefore, an insurrection of the body-guard took place within two hours, and the bodies of the two waggoners were immediately cast into the river. However, the whole body-guard continued in a state of mutiny, as they declared.\nThe Sultan, all the Sultanas, the Great-Bear, the Zodiac, and all the chief secretaries sat for three days and three nights to discover how to make the waggoners' right less dangerous. The Great-Bear gave a speech for one hour; the grand viziers each spoke for two hours; the Sultanas spoke for six hours; even the Sultan spoke coherently for several seconds on the subject, but nothing was settled, and the bodyguard declared they still stood in danger of their lives. Algol, my brother, had informed me that in Cashmire, the least spark of understanding was esteemed. Algol is a knave, but he understood Cashmire well. I took heart, appeared before the permanent diet, and proposed the law that, in future, the waggoners should flog only each other. In an instant, the situation changed.\ntan seized the Great-Bear and kicked him out of the zodiac. \"And you became Great-Bear?\" \"And I became Great-Bear. The body-guard dispersed peaceably. \"Did the sultanas take any share in the government?\" \"There were seven reigning sultanas. Each of them governed the empire of Cashmire for one day of the week; and each of them, once a week, worked with me in the cabinet. There was no rest any day, and I was never dismissed till midnight. It was somewhat tedious to be Great-Bear of Cashmire, but I was every night expecting the fairy Amatonda. Besides, I worshipped the sultanas, and they were ready to die a thousand deaths for me. At the bottom, however, we meant no harm to any one. \"And your wife, brother?\" \"My wife had ill health and could not endure the air of the capital. She lived with a select party in the country.\n\"She tried or went to a bathing place. Her adopted child, father, and she died in succession. I lamented her death, as we had never quarreled, and her father left me a handsome fortune. \"And then you solicited your discharge?\" \"I received my discharge unexpectedly, and that was due to a pair of twins. Capricorn died suddenly. The Sultana of the Cavalry instantly demanded the post for her house-mufti, and the Sultan gave her his promise. The following day, the Sultana of the Admiralty demanded the same post for her butler, and the Sultan, forgetting himself, promised it to her as well. \"Admiralty! In Cashmire too?\" \"Unquestionably, brother. We had a great pond, an island, a gondola, and a marine establishment. I was suddenly...\"\"\nI found the Sultan inconsolable, and he told me that the two sultanas were in a violent rage against each other. The satire on war, cleverly disguised in the tale of the waggoners, is universal and requires no application. The joke about the Admiral of Cashmire seems directed at the court of Bavaria, where there is a high admiral in command of the Rhine ferry-boats. The disasters of war have recently reduced the occupier of the once mightiest throne in Europe to a similar condition. The Emperor of Austria will surely retain admirals to command over ferry-boats and trading schuyts. The Sultan implored me to intervene once to save his honor. I paused for a few seconds before responding.\nThe sultan asked me to translate the grand-vizier Gemini into the post of Capricorn and establish the house-mufti and butler jointly to fulfill the position of the Twins. The sultan rejoiced and immediately ordered the twelve new cannons, recently sent to him as a present from the Emperor of China, to be discharged three times. The announcement of his creation was made throughout the city by imperial heralds. However, the governing sultanas of Cashmire could not endure half-viziers. That night, they met and were reconciled. The following morning, they appeared before the sultan together and first argued that there were only twelve sofas in the divan for members of the zodiac.\nThe mufti and steward, being corpulent men, had scarcely room singularly on the sofa of Gemini. There were only twelve signs of the zodiac. The Sultan would renounce his claim to the zodiac as soon as he set up thirteen sofas. The Emperor of China and other powers of the earth would believe this. The Sultan exclaimed, \"I will never do this.\" The heralds were sent around the city to command that the previous day's discharge of cannon was not to be considered as having taken place. The two sultanas drew lots together. The butler became the Great-Bear, and the mufti, Capricorn. The Capricorn of a day became Gemini once more. I, brother, was commanded to leave the city within three days and the empire within twelve.\nAnd you, brother, are going to take up your residence in Beitulsa-i; My baggage is, with your leave, already on the road to Ispahan. I wished only to show myself to my brother Hassan, and enquire what had been the fate of you, my brothers. I am in affluence; and should die of ennui in a few weeks, in the solitude of Beitulsalam.\n\nBut our brother Selim says nothing; \" I'll wager he means to surprise us with a poem.\"\n\nYou are for once mistaken, dear Solmar; for he who is about to announce his bride and her parents at Beitulsalam has left them at only half a day's journey distance.\n\nHappy Selim, your bride! Or do you speak, perhaps, of the poet's bride, immortality?\n\nI speak of a real, actual bride; one whom a man can clasp in his arms, and embrace.\n\"And if the great Prophet stood before me now, holding in his right hand the promise of immortality and in his left hand Tabuna's consent, I would fall at his feet and say, 'Holy Prophet, withdraw your right hand and give me your left.'\n\nSelim, tell me no more of Tabuna - or rather, do tell me about her. Does she have eyes that irresistibly charm, clear as crystal, revealing a soul full of innocence, peace, and benevolence?\n\nMy dear Solmar, I never saw such eyes in my bride. Instead, she has nothing but two souls; and he who knows one of these souls knows the other, and they are comprehended in a moment.\n\nSelim, give me your hand.\"\nSolmar and Selim clasped each other's hand as they sat on their steeds. Murad rode twenty paces before them, keeping playing with the folds of his garment.\n\n\"Selim,\" began Solmar again, \"tell me more about your bride.\"\n\n\"And have you a bride too, Solmar?\" Selim sighed and continued his interrogatories,\n\n\"Tell me. How did you arrive at Agra ten years ago?\"\n\n\"Full gallop.\"\n\n\"And your first acquaintances were?\"\n\n\"The court, and all the inhabitants of Agra.\"\n\n\"You wrote a poem then?\"\n\n\"Seventy-two capital poems in eight years.\"\n\n\"Seventy-two capital poems!\"\n\n\"And all, likewise, full gallop.\"\n\n\"And with applause?\"\n\n\"With unbounded applause. More especially the last four-and-twenty, in which I began to imitate my imitators.\"\n\n\"Had you successful imitators?\"\n\n\"Some hundreds, for in Agra everyone wrote poems, and I was very easy.\"\n\"And what did your poems treat of, Solmar? I only wrote my poems; I never read them! I do not suppose that they treated of anything: for, in the first place, the magician had impressed upon me, they should treat of nothing; and secondly, they were most greedily devoured by all the gentlemen and ladies of Agra. Thus much I know, that the poems of my most successful imitators, whom I might not be left behind, I was at last obliged to imitate, resembled a large space into which the inhabitants of a town had thrown all their furniture and effects during a conflagration. This is called in Agra, beautiful disorder, and rare genius. And no inhabitant of Agra admires what is according to, but what is contrary to rule!\"\n\n\"And after you had written seventy-two capital poems?\"\nI became, suddenly, grand-vizier, \"Selim, I see you were always fond of galloping.\" \"Aye, and this gallop I rode during the great eclipse of the sun, two years ago.\" The galloping of poets was always peculiar. All Agra was in deep despair. Some were wringing their hands, and others were on their knees. Some took poison, and others stabbed themselves. A dervish, who could, for twelve hours together, turn round in a circle on one leg without being giddy, and who cured diseases by the touch of his magical girdle, had, some days before, prophesied that Agra would sink into the earth. The eclipse of the sun took place, and court and city were in despair. A few only were composed enough to resign themselves to their deplorable destiny. It was announced to the grand Mogul that I alone was not alarmed, and that I was sitting at the audience chamber.\nI was writing a poem by an open window near the palace, surrounded by twelve wax tapers. I was summoned away from my seventy-two poems to the palace of the grand Mogul. I promised to deliver the sun from the dragon in three hours. The chief chamberlain brought me the Emperor of Mogul's seal on a golden dish and a silken cord on a silver dish. I stretched out my hand to the golden dish. After three hours, I delivered the sun from the dragon. The dervish was beheaded in the marketplace of Agra, and his girdle was burned by the hangman. The first decree I issued was that anyone who proclaimed new prophecies should be put in irons, and anyone who interpreted old prophecies should be declared a lunatic. I immediately appointed guardians for fifteen distinguished bramins.\n\"And Amatonda? Algol was a deceiver, but Amatonda did appear. \"Did she really appear today?\" \"She shall embrace you this very day. \"Selim, you are still a poet. \"I became so only since I went to Amatonda's school. \"How did you go to that school?\" In one of the walks I took in disguise, to examine the weights and measures, etc, in the metropolis, I had lost myself in a remote part of the city and no longer knew where I was. I was in the midst of gardens and entered one to inquire my way. On walking in, I saw no one but a beautiful young woman sitting in a remote arbour. Her dress was very modest, but exceedingly elegant; and she did not perceive me, for her eyes were fixed on a book. The smile which was continually renewed on her cheek was delightful and manifested the liveliest pleasure. I approached and asked for directions. She raised her head and looked at me with such an expression of kindness and sweetness, that I was lost in admiration. She asked me my name, and I told her I was a stranger in the city. She then offered me a seat beside her, and we began to converse. She was the most charming and intelligent creature I had ever met, and I soon found myself entirely captivated by her. We spent the whole day together, and she promised to show me all the beauties of the city. From that day I was no longer the same; I had found my true calling, and I devoted myself to the study of poetry.\"\nIntroduced myself as one who had lost my way, and I confessed that I had been for a short time contemplating her, as she sat absorbed in study. She was not in the least embarrassed, and continued the conversation as if we had known each other for years. \"How delightful and sweet a poem is this,\" she said, \"which is ever changing, and is yet always the same; which always promises what it does not perform, and performs what it does not promise, and yet always gives what the reader is most thankful for. It has already thrown me into rapture twenty times, and will delight me twenty times again. Such a poem is the more delightful, since the poet Selim, who is now grand vizier, has, by his unhappy authority, set the unnatural and monstrous on the throne! Selim,\" she added, after a pause, \"has talents, few have so great as he has, and he could have been a poet himself, if he had not been diverted to politics.\"\nHimself gives us such poems if he chose, but the inconsequential people of Agra have scattered incense around him, concealing truth and nature. He has no friend to counsel him. \"Yes, he has a friend,\" I exclaimed; for he lies at your feet. Solmar assured his brother of his hearty congratulations.\n\n\"She was not in the least confounded at this intimation. Who are you, charming creature? I asked.\n\n\"The widow of a sick old man, whom I married three years ago, when I was sixteen years old, out of obedience to my poor parents. He wanted in me nothing but a nurse and attendant; and died about a year since, leaving me the mistress of his fortune.\"\n\n\"And your name is?\"\n\n\"Tabuna.\"\n\n\"And the poem you were reading?\"\n\n\"Mursa's poem on love.\"\n\n\"Mursa also lies at your feet, Tabuna!\"\nA blush covered Tabuna's unmoved countenance. Her lips trembled, and she stammered. Then she suddenly laid her arm on my shoulder, bent herself forward, and having imprinted three kisses on my lips, ran away.\n\nThe grand-vizier, Selim-Mur, knelt for half an hour without knowing it. He then arose, caused a goldsmith to melt down his golden pen, and sent the value received from the goldsmith, along with a hundred pieces of gold, to the chief almoner of Agra. The Poem on Love I had written, but not with my swift pen, some years before. I sent it to a dealer in poems under the name of Mursa, but no one would read it. The man then sent a few pieces of gold to the chief licenser of poems, with a request that he would prohibit it. By this expedient, he sold all his copies.\nA few days and gained a handsome sum by it. Notwithstanding, it was forgotten in a month! But in what way did you leave your post? Just as I entered it, in a gallop! And the cause was? The great dragon, and two of the most beautiful little feet in Agra! I should have liked to witness the plot. First, I had commanded that the fable of the great dragon and the sun should no longer be taught in the schools of the empire. Secondly, I had said in my poem that a small and beautifully-turned female foot belongs to the first beauties of creation. Before the appearance of my poem, no one could ever obtain a glimpse of a beautiful foot in all Agra; but, immediately afterwards, all the beautiful feet of the city were to be seen by all who were curious; and thus every one profited.\nThose who had the art of seeing, as well as those who had the art of showing what might be seen, were present. However, the fair Corane stood out particularly in the eyes of the grand Mogul. Corane, along with all his other wives, had previously been eclipsed by the beautiful Madina. My order banishing the great dragon offended the chief of the bramins, who required the dragon's presence. The intimation that beautiful little feet ought to be seen did not please the proud Madina. But now, it would be well for us to continue our journey with our horses. I went out galloping and returned galloping.\n\nThe author informed the translator that under the poet Seliin, he intended to satirize the celebrated romance-writer Jean Paul. The reader, upon finishing the copy of the tale, may take leave.\nHe clapped spurs to his horse, and Solmar followed. They overtook Murad, and the three galloped together towards Bettilsalam. It was on the 281st day after the princess had left the great meadow, and the twelve villages were once again filled with their inhabitants, when something happened to Hassan that had never occurred before.\n\n\"It's the father himself!\" exclaimed a gossip, rushing down the stairs as fast as she could.\n\n\"Aye, it's the father, but it has the mother's own eyes!\" another cried, following her.\n\nHassan was so startled by the intelligence that he jumped up without saying a word and bolted out of the house.\nA man ran from the house of Beitulsalam, heading into the high road without speaking to anyone or looking back. For two hours, he returned, and the large rocking horse he brought with him leaped more than ever before. Hassan, who absolutely refused to ride that morning and wouldn't utter a word about his father, mounted it instead. He set it up, hoping Master Hassan might take a journey on it in the future. Ten years passed, and no one knew how life had been in Hassan's house since that much dancing on the great meadow.\nsinging and jumping, and digging and planting, and ploughing and \"laending,\" and laughing, and sowing, and reaping. No one knew the fields of Hassan. His oaks and beeches, his chestnut and his fir woods grew up, as in emulation of each other; and the fruit trees which Hassan had planted were not a little vain of their loaded branches. And whenever a sick man wanted a cordial, he sent at once to the handsome woman; and whoever wanted counsel went to the handsome man; and whoever wanted a place offered themselves to the handsome couple; and the poor children who wanted to learn how to spin, or sew, or knit, with more than common dexterity, came to the handsome Lilly in the last three years, and by her they were taught for nothing, and they received the wool, worsted, and linen into the bargain.\n\nNow the handsome Lilly had, three children.\nyears before, arrived late one evening, attended by two ugly blacks, and had spoken in private with Hassan. Hassan then consulted with Amina, and from that time Lilly had remained with the handsome couple. The ugly blacks remained there too, and helped to plant trees. The beautiful Lilly had, for a whole year, wept now and then, but she gradually recovered her cheerfulness and retained it. Hassan's children loved her with all their hearts, and she loved them again. But the four boys and the four girls were beloved by the whole village, for goodness sparkled in their roguish eyes. And three days before, Lilly had made a present of a complete bridal bed to the eldest daughter, whose name was Amina, as she was then eight years old; and on the bridal day, she was married.\nThere was not a stitch in the needle which had not been made by the beautiful Lilly. Ten years ago, on this very day, a foreign princess had made a bridal bed in Beitulsalam. In the afternoon, a dance was to take place on the great meadow, in commemoration of that event. The cadi and imam were invited, and all of Beitulsalam, as well as the musicians. Hassan's workmen were in their holy-day dress, and Hassan's elder children were forced to tell the younger ones every minute how long it would be till afternoon.\n\nHassan had built a schoolroom some years prior, from which you could look into the fields and upon the great meadow. The children had no desire to work or learn their lessons that morning, as they were invited to a dance in the afternoon. Suddenly, all the writing in the room disappeared.\nbooks and knitting pins, slates and wheels were thrown together; and all the children came in a tumult together, and the schoolmaster and schoolmistress came with them.\n\n\" Hassan, open the gateway. The bride-mother! \u2014 the musicians on horseback! \u2014 the foreign princess! \"\n\nNo one in Hassan's house could stir a step for very astonishment; but the children, and the schoolmaster and schoolmistress, found a remedy, and the gateway was opened to the princess. She alighted, entered the house, embraced Hassan and Amina, and also tried beautiful Lilly, without asking who she was.\n\nShe kissed Hassan's children one after the other, and was never tired of kissing them.\n\n\" Is it not true, my princess? I have kept my promise, you see, \" said Hassan.\n\n\" And I as well, Hassan; for I am come to ask for a lodging with you.\" C1\nBut I come again with music today,\nand I am again bride-mother.\n\"Again bride-mother?\"\n\"Aye; and this time, two-fold.\"\n- \"And the bridal beds?\"\n* Yes, my children; one of the brides will bring hers with her \u2013 we must manage for the other.\nLittle Annua ran to Lilly and whispered something in her ear. Lilly nodded her head in return.\n\"Princess,\" said the little Amina,\n\"I will give you mine. I shall not want it yet.\"\nThe princess, Lilly, and the little Amina went away. Lilly yielded her apartment to the princess, and she put it in order. While they were so employed, three horsemen arrived in full gallop. They alighted and entered. What they said, no one could understand, for they and Hassan spoke at the same time. But everyone saw that Hassan sprang from the arms of one to the arms of another.\nhe had embraced them all, he began over again. At length, he related to them that ten years ago, a foreign princess had come and made his bridal bed for him, and she was that day come to pay him a visit. The cadi and the imairr entered, and shortly afterwards, the princess returned, and with her, the beautiful Lilly. One of the three horsemen looked with astonishment on Lilly, and she uttered a scream. Solmar caught her in his arms. She soon came to herself and looked, after a few minutes, as if one little bird after another had flown into her bosom!\n\n\"And do we meet at length for ever, my princess?\" said Solmar.\n\n\"For ever,\" replied Biribi. \"But when I laid aside my name, I chose to forget that I had ever been called a sultana.\"\n\n\"But if I were now to be the bride-mother,\" said the princess.\nWhat then, my princess?\" said Solmar.\nThen the bridegroom ought first to embrace the bride-mother and humbly beg of her to make the bridal bed for him. Solmar sank on one knee and kissed both her hands; then he arose, embraced her, and received three kisses on his lips. Selim the poet, no sooner beheld this, than he sprang forward and, without ceremony, clasped the princess in his arms and received what Solmar had received. Tabuna appeared, and her parents and the bridal bed with her. Selim saluted the bride as he passed by, kissed the camel which had the bridal bed, and then unpacked it and carried it to the princess, and lost no time in doing it. And the cadi and the imam then fulfilled their functions. Tidings were brought that the great meadow was occupied as it had been ten years.\nBefore: the twelve villages and all the inhabitants, the old men, the sucklings, the three young ladies, and cakes and wine; and there were, besides, five circles of lanterns, one circle within the other. They all repaired to the great meadow; and the six-and-thirtieth blew their horns; and the whole assembly danced together the dance of the fairy Amatonda.\n\nAs day broke, a splendid globe was seen in the air; and the globe became continually greater and more splendid; and when it had reached the great meadow, it burst, and an illuminated ship appeared on the green, which threw a glorious light on all the country round. And in the ship were seen twelve beautiful maidens who let down from its sides, wheels and pens, and hobby-horses, and ploughs, and all kinds of toys; and on a sudden the princess appeared.\nThe fairy, standing in the shining ship, raised her right hand. All kneeled and were silent as she spoke in a piercing voice, \"Solmar, Selim, Hassan, no generous heart, no noble soul can abandon the embrace of the Vairy Amatonda. But be you, my children, industrious, and you shall be joyful. Honor the Shah. Obey the Laws. Tolerate no Dervise among you, for he is a Thief. Tolerate no Croaker among you, for he is an Assassin!\" A peal of thunder confirmed the words of the fairy. Every one knelt and was silent. Only the sucklings, awakened by the thunder, clapped their little hands for joy as they saw the splendor in which the beautiful fairy departed. And all the people obeyed the fairy Amatonda; and the fairy Amatonda.\nevery ten years, the great meadow at Beitulsalam was visited by a woman. She brought music and innocent presents but no gold or silver. When they had all feasted until morning, she departed, and all hearts spoke, all tongues exclaimed \u2014 Long live Amatonda! From that time on, throughout the country, when friend met friend, husband his consort, and young man his mistress, they clasp each other by the hand and say, Long live Amatonda! Amatonda forever.\n\nNote:\nReferred to in Page 260, Jean Paul Friedrich Richter is one of the most voluminous and popular living German authors, frequently and most unmeritedly honored with the appellation of the German Sterne. An attempt to draw a parallel between these writers would end in a contrast. They agree in scarcely anything but in their scarcity of commonalities.\nRabelais, with his strange and unconventional form and plan in his works, could be compared to other modern literature greats. However, they share only a general aim to combine pathos and humor. Their emotional and humorous expressions differ:\n\nSterne elicits our emotions through appeals to our ordinary sympathies, presenting engaging portraits. A maniac girl, a Negro, a dying parent, a prisoner in a dungeon, and so on, do not assume a reader devoid of common feelings.\n\nJean Paul stimulates the imagination of the reader by exciting what may be called the elements of moral feeling. He focuses on vague and vast objects and is excessively fond of:\n\n\"Jean Paul rouses the fancy of tired readers, by exciting what may be called the elements of moral feeling. He dwells on vague and vast objects. He is excessively fond of...\" (The text ends abruptly here.)\nThe text speaks of Tristram Shandy's introspective nature and the dramatic humor in Sterne's works, highlighting the characters of My Father Shandy, My Uncle Toby, Trim, and Doctor Slop. The translator acknowledges the presence of humor in Jean Paul's novels but finds it different from Sterne's.\nJean Paul's works have a monotonous character, reminding readers of the author himself. However, though he is generally known as a humorist, it is primarily through wit that he has gained his present celebrity. This is evident in the exuberance of this quality and the infinite variety of his knowledge, which is astonishing. He surpasses Sterne in this regard, as well as in the philosophic tendency of his works and the reach of his faculties. For he is equally distinguished by the profundity of his thought and the wildness of his fancy. He is, at the same time, utterly destitute of the exquisite simplicity and grace of style that will give immortality to the fine passages in Sterne and preserve from oblivion the trash copiously mingled with them.\n\nSterne has been translated, perhaps, into every language.\nThe language in Europe has been polished. None of Jean Paul's numerous works will likely be read in any language other than German, nor will they survive the author. Several collections of his \"beauties\" have already been published, and it is rather wished than expected that a similar selection might be adapted for English readers. For what Englishman has reacted to three of his books? It is therefore to be apprehended that, as Jean Paul has been outrageously eulogized, he will hereafter have less praise than he merits; for, after all, he has talents that excite a lively regret that they should not have been disciplined to the production of any one work that deserves to live. In the celebrated \"Xenien,\" Epigrams published by Goethe and Schiller,\nThere is one addressed to Jean Paul: \"Could you husband your riches as well as others do their poverty, then indeed you would deserve our admiration!\" This excessive matter and inability or disinclination to give it form characterizes Jean Paul.\n\nLike Sterne, he is frequently unintelligible, but in a very different way. Sterne alludes to things known to none, and fails to cure what ails; leaving one in doubt whether the curtain he lets down conceals anything or nothing. Jean Paul constantly refers, without reserve, to subjects of human learning, which the reader is more or less frequently acquainted with, according to their own information. It is chiefly in the most strange and violent similes and metaphors, referring not merely to all the sciences which men in general are expected to be acquainted with, that Jean Paul excels.\nLearn not only to read, but also to every branch of professional learning, such as ecclesiastical history and juris prudence, medicine, and every kind of local knowledge. He excites the astonishment, and often provokes the resentment of his readers. Yet, as these combinations are most whimsical, and drawn together at the same instant from the most opposite sources, and as they allude not only to \"all the reading that is never read,\" but also to all the knowledge that is seldom known, the vanity of the reader is not often wounded at the detection of his ignorance as it may be gratified by the occasional discovery of his own knowledge. And the eulogist of Jean Paul commonly qualifies his praise by the confession, as is promised to Selim by Algol, that he does not understand him. But in this, there is more of trick than genius. It was\nAn excellent English critic of German literature noted that Jean Paul's works seemed to have been composed by the author while standing on the steps of a bookcase. He opened his volumes promiscuously, noted down some recondite fact of art or science, and then sought for a moral analogy. After collecting a variety of these materials, he strung them together as he pleased. Mr. Bays seems to have indulged in this habit, as he mentioned somewhere in \"Rehearsal\": \"Egad, this would make a hue and cry simile, if I knew what to compare it to!\" Jean Paul made it his particular study to find such resemblances and owes half his fame to it.\n\nThe magician, in his instructions to the poetic son of Bator, gives especial counsel as to:\n\"The composition of a title page. The following are a few specimens of Jean Paul's titles: \"Biumen-Frucht und Dornenst\u00fccke; oder Ehestund, Tod, und Hochzeit des armen Advocaten n F. S. Siebenkas, im Reichsmarktsflecken Kuhchnappel.\" That is, \"Thorn-Flower and Fruit-Pieces; or Marrying, Matrimony, and Death of the poor Counselor F. S. Sevencheese, in the Imperial Market-town of Snapcow.\" \"Hesperus, oder 45 Hundsposttage\" That is, \"Hesperus, or 45 Dog-post-days.\" \"Jean Paul's Biographische Belustigungen unter den Gehirnschale einer Riesin.\" That is, \"Jean Paul's Biographical Amusements under the Pericranium of a She-Giant.\" Nearly thirty volumes of such descriptions have the translator turned over recently. Not all, however, are in any way narrative.\"\nSome works of Jean Paul are purely didactic, such as \"Levana, or Theory of Education,\" \"A System of Taste,\" and others. The best works among Jean Paul's literature are \"Hesperus,\" \"Titan,\" and \"Siebenkas.\" \"Titan\" seems to be the only one intended to produce an effect through the story. The translator cannot speak of any one, not even these, from personal knowledge. Foreigners will encounter difficulties in studying Jean Paul's writings due to his other literary impertinences and his invention of words. His style includes all the idioms of an elevated poetic prose, colloquial barbarisms, and even provincial phrases. Dr. Johnson learned Dutch in his old age.\nTry to assess if his faculties were still in their full vigor. A foreigner may, if he pleases, test his knowledge of German by attempting to read Jean Paul. He need not be mortified if he should happen to fail. The following fragments have been hastily selected from Jean Paul's writings as samples of his style, imagery, and thought process. This is, in general, an unfair way to exhibit an author, but no one has less reason to complain about it than Jean Paul. For whatever his merits may be, he owes his fame only to the striking passages in his books, with few references to the higher qualities of a work of taste, which are ascertained by contemplating it as a whole.\n\nWomen and Spanish houses have many doors and few windows. It is easier to get into than to look into their hearts. And as for girls!\nI would rather guess and portray ten mothers than two daughters. The heart of a man with a strong and vigorous mind must, at first, be turned too wide and big; in the furnace of the world it shrinks to its proper size. In the same manner, I quarrel not with intolerance in a young man, but in a few years I insist upon habits of tolerance. The one I consider as the hard, sour, stony fruit of a youthful, vigorous breast; the other, as the same fruit ripened and mellowed by time. Nothing touches men more than beholding a reconciliation. Our weaknesses are not too dear a purchase for the hours of delight in which they are forgiven; and the angel, who never feels anger, must envy the man who subdues it. When you forgive, the man who has wounded your breast is the sea-worm that mellows it.\nThe cle-shell is pierced, while you yourself fill up the aperture with a pearl. \" By heaven! It is not worth lamenting our departure from a soil so parched and barren, and covered with weeds and nettles, as human life is; which is, besides, short as an epigram, and with a sting at its end. A spirit above us throws us into life, and counts 70 or 80, as we sometimes hurl a stone into a deep crater; and then, after hearkening during some eighty beatings of his pulse, or years, hears us strike against the bottom \u2014 the grave. \" That for which men sacrifice their lives and fortunes, must be something loftier than both. The good man is not so valiant when he defends himself, as when he protects another; the mother is a coward on her own behalf, a heroine for her child. In short, it is for the nobler part of humanity.\nFor virtue, man opens his veins and offers up his spirit. The Christian calls this virtue faith; the savage, honor; the republican, liberty.\n\nThe inhabitants of Mount Parnassus care little for the laws of Mount Sinai. They are all heretics, kept from mocking the ancient faith only by having the harp of Klopstock between their fingers. They love nothing that belongs to the preacher of the place, except his daughters. Their epigrams violate the eighth commandment, and their other poems the sixth. They have recourse to the names of the heathen gods in order to escape a Christian chastisement of their offenses. They load the sins of the old Adam upon little Cupid and worship the Devil in the shape of a fawn.\n\nThe heart is infinitely and eternally new.\nWe may satiate ourselves on the highest truths and beauties which can be presented to our contemplation; but their zest and charm may be taken away by frequency of enjoyment. No noble action ever comes too often or too late. Nor does time itself reign over our moral charms and graces. This immutability, which is so strengthening to the soul, is raised not merely on the infinite nature of the free breast, but on this especial constitution of our nature, that it is only out of ourselves that we consider desert as a free grace and moral beauty, which we are to love; for within ourselves, we recognize it merely as moral truth and moral necessity, which we perceive and approve.\n\nThe honor of a friend is a something so sacred, that scarcely anything but his own confession of unworthiness justifies a doubt or concern.\nBut only the absolutely noble mind can abstain from trying the tried friend; from believing, when the enemy of the friend accuses; which blushes at the silent and transient suspicion that pollutes the pure image of his friend; and finally, which, when doubt is no longer to be resisted, does not suffer that doubt to come into action, but would rather be guilty of imprudence than incur an offense against the holy spirit in man. This unwavering confidence is easier to deserve from others than to possess ourselves.\n\nIf man were not immortal, no superior being could be so: at least, he could not be recognized as such. The solitary God would be presented in vain to the torpid sense and unperceiving mind; as, without the atmosphere of the earth, the sun would glare from the firmament.\nAnd pierce the vaulted night, but it would not illuminate. Since heaven and earth are spread out so spaciously, why should the mind creep and cringe, and narrow itself? Man would be on this globe an idle toy, ashes and vapour, if he did not feel that he was something. O God! In this feeling is the pledge of our immortality.\n\nIt is not reason, or conscience, which makes us virtuous: reason is the wooden directing post on the high road of duty, but it can neither bring us up to itself nor force us forward on our journey. Reason has the legislative, not the executive power. The capacity of loving the commands of reason, the still greater, of obeying them, is a second conscience added to the first. As Kant cannot in words assign what it is that makes men bad, so that is not to be expressed in words, which raises men above, and lifts them to a higher plane than reason alone can reach.\nI would gladly trade one moral person for ten metaphysical optimists: one who does not, like the caterpillar, feed on a single pleasure, but, like the butterfly, flutters over a whole flower bed of pleasures; who has not five, but a thousand senses \u2014 for women and heroes, sciences and frolics, tragedies and comedies, nature and courts. There is a certain higher toleration which the peace of Westphalia does not give us, but a life purified by many years and much instruction. This toleration discovers the truth that lies in every sentiment, the beautiful in every kind of beauty, and humor in every sport of fancy; and does not consider, either in men, nations, or books, diversities and individuality of excellence as the absence of it. We should be pleased not merely with the best, but with the good.\nEvery strong sensation and affection partakes of the nature of insanity and requires or raises a world of its own. A man may be equally angry that the clock has only struck or already struck twelve. I beg of every one, once at least in his life, to let his internal feelings speak out. He will be astonished at the extent of his wishes, which had been before but half expressed. Rage wishes that the whole human race had but a single neck; love, a single heart; melancholy, two lachrymal ducts; and pride, that it had only two bent knees.\n\nThe repose and indifference which we by effort acquire are alone valuable. Man must have both the power of passion and power over passion: he must be susceptible of the feelings which he subdues. The overflowings of the will are like those streams which pollute the water in the wells. Take the stream away, and the water is pure.\nwell  is  dried  up.\" \nPrinted  by  Turner  aod  Harwood,  St.  John's  Square, \nClerkenwell,  London,", "source_dataset": "Internet_Archive", "source_dataset_detailed": "Internet_Archive_LibOfCong"},
{"identifier": "antidoteagainstr00whit", "title": "An antidote against, and The reward of Toryism", "creator": "Whitaker, Nathaniel, 1730-1795. [from old catalog]", "mediatype": "texts", "collection": ["library_of_congress", "americana"], "date": "1811", "year": "1811", "subject": "American loyalists. [from old catalog]", "publicdate": "2009-05-19 10:50:32", "addeddate": "2009-05-19 10:50:25", "uploader": "brianna@archive.org", "updater": ["brianna-serrano", "brianna-serrano"], "updatedate": ["2009-05-19 10:50:23", "2009-05-21 15:00:39"], "notes": "pages torn\n43\n44\n", "contributor": "The Library of Congress", "publisher": "Salem, Reprinted by Poole & Palfray", "language": "eng", "page-progression": "lr", "sponsor": "Sloan Foundation", "scanningcenter": "capitolhill", "call_number": "7307673", "identifier-bib": "00117692322", "ppi": "400", "camera": "Canon 5D", "operator": "scanner-elizabeth-kornegay@archive.org", "scanner": "scribe2.capitolhill.archive.org", "scandate": "20090526152804", "imagecount": "72", "identifier-access": "http://www.archive.org/details/antidoteagainstr00whit", "identifier-ark": "ark:/13960/t0vq3bj64", "curation": "[curator]dorothy@archive.org[/curator][date]20090527235459[/date][state]approved[/state][comment]199[/comment]", "foldoutcount": "0", "repub_state": "4", "sponsordate": "20090531", "possible-copyright-status": "The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright restrictions for this item.", "filesxml": ["Fri Aug 28 3:39:14 UTC 2015", "Wed Dec 23 6:21:30 UTC 2020"], "backup_location": "ia903603_5", "openlibrary_edition": "OL23278204M", "openlibrary_work": "OL13787540W", "external-identifier": "urn:oclc:record:1039997334", "lccn": "17006679", "description": "p. cm", "ocr_module_version": "0.0.21", "ocr_converted": "abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.37", "page_number_confidence": "0", "page_number_module_version": "1.0.3", "creation_year": 1811, "content": "[ANTIDOTE AGAINST THE TORIES, TWO SERMONS, PREACHED IN THE TABERNACLE CHURCH, SALEM, ONE AT THE COMMENCEMENT, AND THE OTHER AT THE CLOSE OF THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, DEDICATED TO GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON BY REVEREND NATHANIEL WHITAKER, D.D.\n\nGod overrules the intentions of the ungodly.\n\nSALEM:\n\nREPRINTED BY POOL AND PALFREY.-.-18--,\n\nIn offering this work to the public, the publisher begs leave to offer a reason for its appearance at this time. He views it as of all importance to call the attention of the public to the black unprincipled conduct of the Tories.\nTo every lover of Liberty, the denounced sentiments in Iliis publication should be deeply imprinted, and handed down to our latest posterity. Generations yet unborn may know from what source have sprung those innumerable evils which now exist, and that the sincere wish of the Public's servant is that they may leave a tendency to promote within us a sense of the importance of loving our own Country in preference to any other.\n\nDedication.\nTo His Excellency George Washington, Esq.\nCaptain General and commander in Chief of the Forces of the United States of America,\n\nMay it please your Excellency,\n\nWith the frankness and openness, I have, in the following discourse, divulged some of my thoughts respecting the present times. Filing this.\nrroclairiilion  of  January  25th  1777,  you  were  executing  the  very \nplan  1  had  just  drdW\\',  up  for  public  view  ;  I  could  not  think  of \none  more  hktly  to  patronize  a  discturse  on  this\u00abubject  ;  or  whose \ninfluence  could  make  it  so  extensively  useful.  I  therefore  beg \nleave  to  piestni  it  to  vi  ur  lavorabie  notice  ^ \nbhouUl  ah  yrur  holdiers  be  inspired  with  the  sentiments  of  love \nand  beiiev('lence  here  reccmmended,  they,  like  their  General, \n^V'^Uid  be  Heroes  indeed  ,\u2022  and  with  serene  bravery,  wir.g  theiv \n\u25a0way  ihrtugh  legions  oropp<'i5i,.g  Tyrants,  to  victory  and  triumph^ \nto  giory  ;>iid  renown  in  this  world,  and  eternal  rest  and  peace \nin  the  world  to  come. \nI  hnt  ynur  Kxcellency,  thrcmgli  the  w4iole  of  your  martial  race, \nmay  command  an  ;irmy  of  sucli  ^ood  soldiers,  and  go  before  thtm \nfrom  conquering  to  conquer  vhise  eremiesolGodand  man  that  in- \nv.cli oui igjts, till they shall turn back unharmed, and leave these visiting States forever; and that you, with your band of Heroes, may long enjoy the blessings of that peace, and God shall make you the happy instruments of restoring to our bleeding land, and still bless us with continued examples of patience, valor, and benevolence, and that in the close you may go before them, and millions more, who with you pursue the happiness of mankind, into that kingdom, where love, peace and joy, shall compose an unfading crown of glory, is the fervent prayer of, May it please your Excellency, your Excellency's most obedient, humble Servant,\nNATHANIEL WHITAKER.\nAn Antidote to Tormentors.\nCurse ye Meroz, said the Judge of the Lord, curse utterly the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the mill of the Lord, they went not up to battle against him. (Judges 5:12)\nLord, to the help of the Lord, against the mighty,\nThe sum of the law of nature is love. Love to God and righteousness exercised in tender feelings of the heart, and beneficent actions of life, constitutes perfect humanity. The Gospel breathes the same spirit, and acknowledges none as disciples of Christ but those who love (not their friends only) but even their enemies. Bless and curse not. It is one of the laws of his kingdom. The aversion of men to this good and benevolent law prompts them to frequent violations of it, which is the source of all the evils we feel or fear. And so lost are many to all the tender feelings required in this law, as to discover their enmity to their Creator, by opposing the happiness of his creatures and spreading misery and ruin among them.\nWhen such characters present themselves to our view, if we are possessed with the spirit of love required in the law and gospel, we must feel a holy reverence for them. Love itself implies hatred for malice, and the man who feels no abhorrence for it may be assured he is destitute of a benevolent temper and ranks with the enemies of God and man. For as God himself hates sin with a perfect hatred from the essential holiness of his nature, and sinners cannot stand in his sight; so the greater our conformity to him is, the greater will be our abhorrence of those persons and actions which are opposite to the divine law. Zephaniah mentions this as an evidence of his love for God: \"Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? And am not I grieved with those who rise up against thee?\"\nAgainst thee I hate them with a perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies. True benevolence is therefore exercised in opposing those who seek the hurt of society, or even individuals, and none are to be condemned as acting against the way of love, because they hate and oppose such. As are injurious to happiness.\n\nBut the weakness and corruption of nature, in the best, is such, that God has not entrusted to men at large the exercise of the resentment due to such characters, nor allowed them to inflict those punishments which their crimes call for, even in this world, except in some special cases.\n\nOn the contrary, he has strictly prohibited all his subjects from taking vengeance for private or personal injuries, in a private and personal manner, and required them to turn the other cheek if smitten on one cheek.\nAnd in the language of love exhorts us. Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves. Yet there are cases in which he requires us, as his servants, to take vengeance on his enemies. It is worth our particular notice that all these cases respect crimes which tend to destroy human happiness. Even his commands to punish blasphemy and other sins which strike more directly against himself are not given because his happiness is thereby diminished, but because they tend to erase from our minds that sense of his glorious majesty, authority, and government, without the belief of which all order and peace among men would come to an end. So God requires us to execute vengeance on the murderer, the thief, the adulterer, reviler, and the like; all which sins strike at the peace and happiness of human society. God's heart is so much set on justice.\nIn displaying his glory and spreading happiness among his creatures, God abolishes whatever obstructs this goal and has threatened eternal death as a consequence for opposition. However, due to the corruption of nature by sin, few believe in a future state of rewards and punishments. Consequently, to instill a sense of God's anger against those who thwart his benevolent designs, he has instructed every human society to impose punishment on offenders in this world. Each punishment entails a crime, and the curse or punishment is by God.\nexactly proportioned to the nature, heinousness, and circumstances of the crime. Therefore, when a grievous punishment is inflicted, we justly infer the aggravation of the offence. To inflict punishment is actively to curse, and when we pronounce a curse, we do, as far as we can, consign over the object to some punisher. But when God commands us to curse any person or people, we are bound by his authority actually to punish them. These observations may lead us to some apprehensions of the aggravated nature of the sin of Meroz, whom Israel is commanded to curse bitterly for their conduct in a public affair.\n\nThe text I have chosen as the theme of my discourse is part of a song uttered by Deborah and Barak, in holy triumphant praise for a signal victory obtained over Jabin, king of Canaan, and Sisera, the captain of his host.\nA powerful prince who had nine hundred thousand iron chariots and a mighty army had brought Israel into subjection and cruelly oppressed them for twenty years. This cruel and galling yoke awakened them to a sense of their sin against God, and they cried to him for deliverance. No sooner were they made sensible of their sin and dependence on him, and repented and sought his favor and protection, than he appeared for their help and raised up and inspired Deiorah and Barak with courage and faith in his power and grace, to oppose the tyrant and shake off his yoke. A saw ten thousand men of Zebulon and Naphtali were designated by God to have the honor of conquering this potent king. Though other tribes mustered and were ready for war, yet it seems Zebulon and Naphtali were chosen.\nThe only people who jeopardized their lives were those in the high places of the field. With this, Titus raised an army from two of the twelve tribes, Deborah and Barak, who went out and waged war among their oppressors, Jabin. Jabin, it seems, had no knowledge or thought that Israel was arming against him. The fierce intention brought him, for Barak had already murdered, and was on his way to the land of the Leeches, the country of Sisera. Some traitors, who pretended friendship to Israel, carried him the news; hoping, doubtless, to ingratiate themselves with Jabin by giving him the earliest notice possible of this revolt.\n\nBoth Jabin and Sisera despised this small body of undisciplined, unarmed troops; and were confident.\nThey should carry all before them and quickly reduce those rebels (as he certainly called them) to their former obedience. But God, who disposes of all events, not only gave the victory to Israel but utterly destroyed the whole host of Jabin, so that not one escaped, except Sisera the captain general. And him God delivered to be slain by the hands of a woman. Women have sometimes been the deliverers of their country; and can, when inspired by God, face the proudest foe. O how easy it is with God to save from the greatest danger and by the weakest instruments conquer the most powerful enemies!\n\nDeborah and Barak, deeply impressed with a sense of God's mercy in this deliverance, sang this song as an expression of their joy and gratitude:\n\nFrom which, time allowing, many instructive lessons might be deduced.\nBut the words of this text lead us more directly to consider some things worthy of our attention at this day. I have chosen them as the theme of the following discourse. In them, we may observe:\n\n1. The crime for which this bitter curse is denounced on the inhabitants of Meroz. Probably this was some town or state in Israel, who, being called to furnish their quota of men and money for the war through fear of bad success, or in that case, of a heavier burden; or from a secret lurch to the enemy, arising from hope of Court preferment, or favors already bestowed on some of their leading men; or from some other sinister motive, thought it better to lie still and not meddle in the quarrel. So much is certain; they did not go with Barak to the war. The crime they are charged with is not their aiding, assisting, or encouraging him in any way.\nThe enemy's furnishing or secret correspondence, or taking up arms to help them: They were not charged with laying plots to circumvent others or striving to incite their neighbors from going to war, or terrifying others with descriptions of Jabin's irresistible nine hundred chariots of iron and the like. No, the inhabitants of Meroz were innocent people compared to these; they were only negatively wicked; they failed in their duty; they did not attempt to recover their liberties when wrested from them by the hand of tyranny. This is all the fault charged on them; yet for this they incurred the fearful curse in my text. Now, if for mere negligence they deserved this curse, what must they have deserved who aided and abetted the enemy? Surely a seven-fold bitterer curse.\n2.  Observe  the  curse  pronouncad  :  Curse  ye  Meroz^ \ncurse  ye  bitterly  the  i7ifiahitants  thereof.  Their  conduct^ \non  that  occasion  was  such  as  deserved  a  seveie  punish- \nment from  the  other  States,  who  are  commanded  to  stpa- \nrate  them  unto  evil,  as  a  just  re<vard  of  their  negltct. \n3.  We  observe  by  whom  this  curse  was  to  be  pronoun- \nced and  inflicted.  Not  by  Deborah  nnd  Barak  alone,  in  a \nHt  of  anger  ;  as  profane  persons  in  a  rage  curse  their  neigh- \nbors, and  undertake  to  punish  them  ;  such  often  pronounce \ncurses  without  cai^se  ;  but  the  curse  causeless  shall  not \ncome.  This  curse  was  to  be  pronounced  and  inflicted  by \nall  the  people,  who  ire  here  required  to  be  of  one  Keart, \n&  engage  seriously,  religiously  Scdeterminately  in  cursing- \nthem,  and  as  God's  miniscers^  to  execute  h^s  w'ath  upon \n(hern.  We  may  no  I  suppose,  that  this  work  was  left  to \nThe people, or the multitude, should not sympathize with them, but the rulers are to proceed against them, and all the people are to support and assist them in this work. All were to join as one to curse them bitterly. They were to condemn them without hesitation and inflict punishment upon them. They were not to deal gently with them nor palliate their offense. They are allowed to make no excuses for them, nor to plead that they were of a different opinion, or that they thought it their duty not to take up arms against their king that fled over them, but to submit to the higher powers. Liberty of conscience ought to be allowed to everyone, and it would be unjust to punish them for acting according to their own judgments. No such rights should be made for them, nor one word.\nSpoken against them, their sin being against the great law of love and light of nature, but with full purpose of heart, were to curse those cowardly, selfish, cringing, lukewarm, half-way, two-faced people, and to treat them as outcasts, unworthy of the common protection or society of others.\n\nBy whose command were they required to curse Meroz? It was not by the command of Deborah and Barak, but of God himself. By the command of Jesus Christ, \"the meek and compassionate Savior of men.\"\n\nCurse ye Meroz, says the angel of the Lord. This was the angel of God's presence, who then fought fiercely for Israel, and was so offended by the people of Meroz for their selfishness and indifference in this important cause, that he not only cursed them himself, but commanded all the people to curse them, and inflicted his wrath upon them in this world.\nObserve the circumstance that aggravated their crime. The enemy that enslaved them was mighty. Had the foe been weak and contemptible, there would have been less incentive for their help. But when a powerful tyrant oppressed them, and they were called upon to unite with their suffering brethren in shaking off his yoke, and all their efforts were not enough to oppose him, then to excuse them would have been highly criminal, and in effect to join with the tyrant to rivet slavery and misery on the whole nation.\n\nThis was highly provoking to God, whose great end is to diffuse happiness, not misery, among his creatures, and never punishes but when his subjects oppose this design.\n\nThis was the crisis when their all lay at stake. They, however distinguished with court favors by the tyrant, knew that their brethren's fate was the same.\n\"But as the selfish tend to be callous and unfeeling towards the distresses of others, so they were easy and satisfied to see their brethren tortured by the unrelenting Hand of oppression, if only they might sleep in a whole skin. They were contented others should go forth and endure the hardships of war, but refused to engage in the work or bear any part of the burden with them, though all was hazarded through neglect. How base was this conduct, while they knew the strength of the enemy? This consideration was enough to have engaged every one, not lost to all the feelings of humanity, in the firmest union, and the most vigorous exertions. But these servile wretches would rather bear the yoke and see their whole land involved in slavery, than enter the field and share the glory of regaining their freedom.\"\nI. The cause of Liberty is the cause of God and truth.\nII. It is well pleasing to God to take arms and repel force when our Liberties are invaded.\nIII. It is lawful to levy war against those who oppress us, even when they are not in arms against us.\nIV. Indolence and backwardness in taking arms and exerting ourselves in the service of our Country, when called thereto by the public voice, in order to recover and secure our freedom, is a heinous sin in the sight of God.\nV. God requires a people, struggling for their Liberties, to treat such of the community who will not.\nI. What is meant by Liberty or Freedom? I will enquire:\n\n1. What we are to understand by Liberty or Freedom?\n1.1. Liberty can be distinguished into natural, civil, and moral.\n1.1.1. Moral Liberty lies in an ability or opportunity to act or conduct as the agent pleases,\n1.1.1.1. It is not hindered by any external force from acting as it chooses or wills to act,\n1.1.1.1.1. In a moral sense, it is perfectly free; and to the extent that it possesses this freedom, it is a moral, accountable creature, and its actions are worthy of praise or blame.\n1. By natural Liberty, I mean freedom of action.\nAll men have a right to that state or conclusion in which they naturally exist, to order their actions and dispose of themselves and possessions as they think fit, within the bounds of the law of nature. In this state, all men are equal, and no one has a right to govern or control another. Anarchy, or the eternal reason and fitness of things, is to be the only rule of conduct; each one is to be his own judge.\n\nBut since the corruption of nature by sin has blinded men's minds and hardened their hearts, so that this perfect law of love is seldom considered and less practiced, a state of nature which would be ideal is no longer in existence.\nIf a man had continued in his first rectitude, there would be a state of war, rife with crime and murder. Hence, there is an absolute necessity for societies to form themselves into political bodies in order to enact laws for the public safety and appoint some to put them in execution, that the good may be encouraged, and the vicious deterred from evil practices. These laws should always be founded on the law of nature. It appears that perfect civil liberty differs from the natural state only in this, that in a natural state our actions and inclinations are under no direction or control of anyone but ourselves; but in a civil state, the direction of others, according to the laws of humanity, is supposed to be for the common good.\nPerfectly agreeable to the law of nature. In the first case, common sense; in the second, the public judgment of nature is to be the rule for us. When this is the case, civil liberty enjoys all that freedom which God has given to his creatures in a social state. A man under the law is not to be considered as a mere licentiousness, an obscenity to sin, which is slavery. But when any laws are enacted which cross the law of nature, civil liberty is violated, and a man is unjustly offended. Therefore, when those appointed to enact and execute laws invade this liberty, they violate their trust, and oppress their subjects, and their constituents may lawfully depose them by force of arms, if they refuse to reform.\n\nNow if it be unlawful for magistrates in a State, to be tyrannical.\nTheir subjects, by laws contrary to the law of nature, are permitted, in this case, to depose them. It follows, a fortiori, that if the rulers of one State assume a power to bind the people of another State, who never invested them with a legislative power, by such unrighteous laws, those oppressed people would be under no kind of obligation to submit to them; but ought, if they can, to oppose them and recover their liberty. Therefore, the freedom of a society or state consists in acting according to their own choice, within the bounds of the law of nature, independently of all other states. This is the liberty wherewith God has made every state free, and which no power on earth may lawfully abridge, but by their own consent. Nor can they.\nlawfully  consent  to  have  it  abridged,  but  where  it  appears \nfor  the  greater  good  of  society  in  general  :  And  when  this \nend  catinot  be  attained,  they  have  a  right  to  resume  their \nformer  freedom,  if  in  their  power.  I  proceed\u2014 - \nII.   To  prove    that    the  cause    of  civil  Liberty   is   the \ncause  of  God. \nThis  follows  from  what  hath  been  now  said.  For  if  the \nlaw  of  nature  is  the  law  of  God  ;  and  if  God  hath  given \nevery  society  or  State,  liberty,  independent  of  all  other \nStates,  to  act  according  to  their  own  choice  in  governing \nthemselves,  within  the  bounds  of  the  law  of  nature  ;  then \nit  follows,  that  this  freedom  is  of  God;  and  he  that  is  an \nadvocate  for  it,  espouses  the  cause  of  God  ;  and  he  that \nopposes  it,  opposes  God  himself.  This  Liberty  hath  God  . \nnot  on!y  given,  b\u00abt  entailed  on  all  men  ;  so  that  they  can- \nNot resign it to any creature without sin. Therefore, any State, through fear, should not resign this freedom to any power, it would be offensive to God. Thus, had America submitted to and acquiesced in the declaration that they had a right to bind us in all cases whatsoever, we should have greatly provoked God by granting that prerogative to men, which belongs to God alone. Nor could we have had reason to hope for pardon and the Divine favor on our land without unfeigned repentance. But as repentance implies a change of conduct, as well as of mind, we must have exerted ourselves to undo what we had done and by every method in our power, to cast off the chains and resume our Liberty.\n\nBut to leave the dim light of reason, let us hear what Divine revelation says in my text and context.\nIsrael was a free, independent commonwealth, planted by God in Canaan, much like He planted us in America. The nations around always viewed them with an envious and jealous eye. As well they might, since they drove out seven nations more powerful than themselves and possessed their land. But when by their grievous sins they provoked God, He often permitted those neighboring nations to invade their rights, that they might be brought to a sense of their sin and duty.\n\nJabin, the king of Canaan, one of those states, was God's rod to humble them. He invaded Israel, took away their rights, and held them in slavery for twenty years. In all this, he acted the part of a cruel tyrant, and provoked God to his own destruction. Jabin had long ruled over Israel; but this gave him no right: His dominion was unjust.\nwas still mere usurpation, as he robbed them of the Liberty God had given them; and with a single view to cover this and punish the invader. God commanded them to wage war on the tyrant, and he kept his yoke. They obeyed the Divine mandate, assembled their troops, called on the various States to join them in the glorious conflict. And God himself curses those who would not assist to punish this oppressor.\n\nNo doubt Gibbon called this Rebellion, and made proclamations that all who were found in arms, or any way aiding the revolt, should be deemed rebels, and their estates confiscated; but those who would keep their submissions should enjoy all their profits. before, at his sovereign disposal. A glorious offer! How worthy the joyful and thankful acceptance of men born to freedom.\nFreedom! Rather, where is the wretch so sordid as not to feel this as an insult to human nature? Or where is the Christian who does not view it as a reproach of his God? And who will not, with good King Hezekiah, spread before the Lord, in humble prayer, the words of this Rabshakeh, published to reproach our God, as unable to defend us, though engaged in his cause? Or where is the man, so lost to all noble and generous feeling, that he would not choose to die in the field of martial glory\u2014rather than accept such insulting terms of peace or misery?\n\nCut doubtless these inviting, gracious terms of peace had great influence on some. The inhabitants of Meroz seem to have been such dastardly, low-spirited, court sycophants.\nCophants, and many in the tribe of Reuben, whose divisions had great searchings of heart. These probably trembled at the power of Jabin, who thought him invincible, though opposing God himself, whose cause they were called to support. Some might call the war rebellion, and others, by open or secret practices, discourage and weaken the cause.\n\nThis is very applicable to our present case. We are declared rebels by the king of England: His servants offer pardon to all who will lay themselves at his feet to dispose of as he shall see fit, and to bind them, their children, and estates, at his pleasure, in all cases whatsoever. What gracious terms of peace! Must not this yoke sit with peculiar ease and pleasure on the necks of free-born Americans! Yet, with horror, be it spoken, there are free-men.\nBorn the sons of America, yet so lost to all sense of honor, Liberty, and every noble feeling, as to join the cry and press for submission. O tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ashkelon.\n\nWe have some, but blessed be God that we have no more, of the inhabitants of Mercz scattered among us. Some whose intentions were to divide us, causing great searchings of heart. But be it known to them, and to all men, that they, as Metcz, are fighting against God. This assertion is confirmed by the curse denounced on deroz by God's command; for had they not opposed him, he would not have cursed them. They then were the rebels, in the judgment of God, and not those who took up arms to recover their liberties: Rebels against the God of Heaven; and therefore fell under his, and his people's, curse.\nThose who oppose or neglect to promote the glorious cause shall face the consequences. The truth of the second observation is clear, as follows:\n\n1. It is pleasing to God to take up arms and repel force with force when our liberties are invaded.\n2. Deborah and Barak took arms against Jabin in accordance with the law of nature, which is the law of love. They were specifically called upon and commanded by God.\n3. They did not aim for dominion over others or seek to deprive anyone of their natural rights through this war. Instead, they aimed to recover and secure the liberties and rights that had been taken from them. This allowed them to spread peace and happiness throughout all the tribes of Israel.\nHappiness of others would not be diminished by this. This, by the law of nature, was sufficient to justify them. If he had conformed to the law of love in taking up arms, and if God required them to make war on Jabin, then it was undeniably pleasing to him. But if God approved their conduct in this case, he certainly will approve this conduct in all similar cases. Therefore, when one country or state invades the liberties of another, it is lawful and well pleasing to God for the oppressed to defend their rights by force of arms: Yea, to neglect this, when there is a rational prospect of success, is a sin, a sin against God, and discovers a want of that benevolence and desire for the happiness of our fellow creatures which is the highest glory of the saints.\n\nI did not spend time to prove that our struggle was not:\nBritain is very similar to Israel with Jabin. As they hid, we have long been oppressed by a power that never had any equitable right to our land or to rule over us, but by our own consent, and agreeable to a scripture contract. When they violated this, their right ceased; and they could have no better claim to dominion than Jabin had over Israel. A power indeed has been usurped by the Court of Great Britain, \"to bind us in all cases whatsoever.\" Which claim has already produced many most unrighteous and oppressive laws, which they attempted to enforce by their fleets and armies. In all which they can be no more justified, than Jabin in his tyranny over Israel. Therefore if it was their duty to fight for the recovery of their freedom, it must likewise be ours.\nAnd it is our duty, neglected at our peril, to levied war against those who oppress us, even when they are not in arms against us, if there is a rational probability of success. I say, if there is a rational probability of success. For the law of love or nature will not justify opposition to the greatest oppression, when such opposition must be attended with greater evils than submission. Therefore, the primitive Christians, and many of later ages, did not oppose their cruel persecutors; as it would, without a miracle, have brought on them inevitable destruction. But where there is a rational probability of success, any people may lawfully, and it is their duty, to levy war on those who rob them of their rights, whether they be rulers or not.\nThe truth of this appears from the instance before us. At this time, Jabin was not at war with Ishael. Instead, they had been conquered and were under his government for years. Nothing was heard but the groans and cries of the oppressed. How, then, can they be justified in commencing a war? Doubtless, they had often petitioned for redress of grievances, as we have done, and to little purpose. What more could they do in a peaceable way? \u2014 They were reduced to the dreadful alternative, either tamely to submit themselves and children after them to the galling yoke of merciless tyranny; or wage war on the tyrant. The last was the measure God approved, and therefore, by a special command,\nHe enjoined it upon them. This we are sure he would not have done had it been offensive to him. He did not require Israel to wait till Jabin had invaded their country and struck the first blow, as we did in respect to our British oppressors. But while all was peace in his kingdom, for reasons unknown to us, God commands Israel to raise an army and invade the tyrant's dominions.\n\nThe moral reason for this is obvious: for usurpation or oppression, is offensive war already levied. Any state which usurps a power over another, or rulers who, by a wanton use of their power, oppress their subjects, do so by breaking the peace and commence an offensive war. In such a case, opposition is mere self-defense, and is no more criminal, indeed it is as much our duty, as to defend ourselves against a murderer or highway robber. Self-\nPreservation is an instinct, implanted in our nature by God. Therefore, we sin against God and nature when we resign our rights to tyrants or quietly submit to public oppressors, if it is in our power to defend ourselves.\n\nA rebel indeed is a monster in nature; an enemy, not only to his country, but to all mankind. He is destitute of that benevolence which is the highest honor and glory of the rational nature. But what is a rebel? Those actions for which a man or people deserve this opprobrious charge? Those only are rebels who are enemies to good government and oppose such as duly execute it.\n\nA state of nature is a state of war. Civil government, founded in the consent of society to be governed by certain laws framed for the common good and duly executed by some appointed thereto, puts an end to this.\nA person who violates the social contract, whether they be a king or a subject, opposes good government and is a rebel. They initiate war and are the aggressor. Every member of the body politic is bound, by the eternal law of self-defense, to set themselves against such a person and, if they persist, the whole must unite to expel them from the earth, regardless of their rank, wealth, or status. A subject, less capable of causing mischief, deserves it less. However, when a king or ruler turns rebel, which is more frequent in proportion to their numbers, they spread desolation and misery throughout their dominions before they can be deposed.\nThe ruler who regularly and properly punishes is proportionally lower in guilt: Witness Pharaoh, Saul, Manasseh, Antiochus, Charles the First, of blessed memory, and George the Third, who vie with the chief in this black catalog in spreading misery and ruin around the world.\n\nThe ruler who invades the civil or religious rights of his subjects, levies war on them, puts them out of his protection, and dissolves all their allegiance to him: For allegiance and protection are reciprocal, and where one is denied, the other must cease.\n\nIf these observations are true (and they cannot be denied with moderation), then it is as lawful, and as strongly our duty, to prosecute a war against the king of England for invading our rights and liberties, as to bring an offensive rebel to justice, or take arms against some for injustice.\nIf oppression persists, it justifies the oppressed in making war on the oppressors, whether they be rulers or private persons, in our own or a foreign state. The reason is, because oppressors are enemies to the great law of nature, and to the happiness of mankind. For this, God commands Israel to commence a war against Jabin, that, being free from his power, happiness and peace might be restored.\n\nIn our contest with the tyrant of Great Britain, we did not indeed commence the war; no. But though under a load of almost insupportable insult, abuse, and reproach, we raised our humble and earnest petitions, and prayed only for peace, liberty, and safety, the natural rights of all men. But oh, heavens! Loud tremble, O England! While our dutiful supplications ascended.\nBefore the throne, the monster was meditating the blow; and ere we rose from our knees, he fixed his dagger at our heart. If this is to be a father, where can be the monster? If this be the excuse of lenity and mercy, as he vainly boasts, what must be his acts of justice? O merciful God, look down and behold our distress, and avenge us of our cruel foe. Can we reflect on those scenes of slaughter and desolation which he hath spread before our eyes, and doubt our duty? Is it any longer a scruple whether God calls us to war? If such insults and abuse will not justify us, no abuses ever can. Yea, had George withheld his hand from shedding our blood, the grievous oppressions we groaned under before, and the contempt and insult with which he treated our petitions, were fully sufficient to justify us in the sight of God and all wise men.\nmen, had we begun the war and expelled his troops from our country \"by fire and sword\" Is it possible that Jabihi could treat Israel with greater insult or more unjustly invade their rights? But for this, God commanded Israel to make war on him, and pronounces a heavy curse on those who refused to join in carrying it on. I. That those who are indolent and backward to take up arms and exert themselves in the service of their country, in order to recover and secure their freedom, when called thereto by the public voice, are highly criminal in the sight of God and man. This doctrine is wrapped up in the very bowels of my text. Curse ye Meron, said the Angel of the Lord, bitterly curse the inhabitants thereof, because they came not to the help of the Lord, to the help of the Lord against the mighty.\nThe curse of God falls on none but the wicked; for he delights in blessing, not in cursing. And he never permits any of his subjects to execute his curses on their fellow subjects, but where the crime is high and aggravated; much less does he allow them to curse them bitterly, unless their guilt is exceeding. Now since God commands Israel to curse Meroz bitterly, we fairly infer that their sin was of a crimson dye and most provoking to him and his people. And whoever is guilty of like conduct in your contest with Great Britain incurs the like guilt.\n\nThis requires no further proof. For if the state of the case between Great Britain and America, in its main parts, is parallel with that between Jabin and Israel, as has been shown, then the crime is as heinous.\nI. Give their character.\nII. Mention some aggravations of their sin.\nI. I will hint at some things which reveal people to be like the inhabitants of Meroz.\nFew are perfectly clear in this matter. Alas, there is too great negligence among people in general. Private interests and selfish considerations ingross (ingrain) the issues.\nIt is mournful to see many, who wish well to the cause of Liberty, diverting their attention and exertions from the main thing which calls for our first and chief regard: the defense of our country from tyranny and securing our civil and religious freedom. It is mournful to see most of them eagerly pursuing worldly gain, and heaping up unrighteous mammon by cruel oppression and grinding the facts of the poor. While our country lies bleeding of her wounds, and so few are engaged to bind them, let such consider that they are guilty of the sin of Mezzo, and though they may not feel the curse of men in this world, they shall not, without sincere repentance, escape the wrath and curse of God. Cry one is called, at this day, to come to the help of the Lord against the mighty. Either to go out to war, or in some other way.\nA man should exert himself vigorously for the public good. There are various things necessary for the defense of our country besides bearing arms, and all must in some way lend a helping hand. There are various arts and manufactures essential to the support of the inhabitants and army, without which we would soon perish. Men, women, youth, and even children, may be employed, and as essentially helping in the deliverance of their country, as those who go out to war. All are now called to more than ordinary frugality and diligence in their respective callings; and those of ability should be liberal and forward in encouraging sufficient industries for the public good. Yet alas, that so few make the interest and welfare of the public the main object of their pursuit. However, there are some, and I hope...\nMany who, with truth, can say they have done their best, according to their circumstances, for the defense and safely of their country. Such, however the contest may issue, will earn the approval of God and their own consciences, as well as all the friends of mankind. But I fear there are many among us, in one disguise or another, who, when stripped of their vices, will be revealed as the inhabitants of Rieroz; and if their characters were justly drawn, we would secretly, if not openly, say, as the Pharisees in another case. In saying this, I refer to us as well. But we, the birds who are hit, show it by our fluttering, and it may serve to bring such contemptible characters to light and expose them to the scorn they deserve, and on the other hand, may convince some real patriots.\nAmong these characters, I do not include those who neither go themselves nor contribute to encouraging others to go to war. Such individuals break up the army and incur the curse of Meroz. Others express wishes for our success, but will not act upon it.\nbe sure to back it, with doubts of the event, not of a heavier yoke. You may hear them frequently magnifying the power of the enemy, and telling it to the men. Large lots of iron; the dreadful tramp of artillery, a good discipline of the British troops-the tolerable hardships the soldiers undergo, and the starving condition of their families at home: And by a thousand such endeavors are they attempting to discourage the people from the war.\n\nThere are other pretended friends whose countenances betray them. When things go ill for our army, they appear with a cheerful countenance, and assume airs of confidence. The core holding conferences, one corner or another. The joy in their hearts will break through their real sentiments; while their grin and long face.\nIn a reversal of fortune, is a plain indication pointing to the end at which they really aim. Four others, who talk much for liberty, you will find opposing the measures of defense proposed; making objections to them and showing their inconsistency; they have offered none in their stead or only such that tend to them. They barrass the main design: They are so prudent that they waste away days, yea months, to consider; they are ever full of their wise cautions, but never zealous to execute any important project. When such men get into subordinate stations, especially if they fill a seat in our public councils, they greatly endanger the State if they protract business and often defeat the best councils. Prudence and moderation are amiable virtues, and the modest man feels pain on being suspected as sanguine, rash, and imprudent.\nprudent men give the over-prudent great advantage. They obstruct every vigorous measure, which they brand with the name of rashness. Every friend to vigorous action feels the reflection, who, without great fortitude, sits down abashed, and with grief sees his counsels defeated. But if the measure be adopted, the motion of the prudent man is, to delay the execution, that the happy moment, on which all depends, may be lost. These over-cautious men ought to be suspected. Some are discovered by their conduct they keep - You may find them often among those who live much reason to suspect their enmity to our cause, rarely except by accident. And then they speak and act like creatures out of their element, and soon leave our midst. When liberty is the subject of discovery.\nSix there are who in heart wish us well, but they fear the power of our enemies and are backward to join vigorously to support it; five ships of a campaign, and choose so to conduct themselves that whoever secures victory may declare, they may be safe. Others wish well to the public cause, but have a much greater value for their own private and personal views, and even then they boast in her name, while like George III they stab her to the heart by refusing submission to those regulations which are necessary for our preservation. All these, and many others of the like kind, might have been found among the Merozites, and yet the best of them all fell under this bitter curse: For whatever their private sentiments, they all led to this issue.\nKeep them back from those vigorous efforts that the cause of liberty then required, and for want of which it was greatly hazarded. And whatever motives influence men at this day, whether a desire for ease, hope of power, honor, or wealth, it they do anything against, or neglect to assist all in their power, the glorious cause of independence, now in our hands, they incur the curse of Meroz. No more, therefore, is that text to be applied to such. Curse him who does the work of the Lord deceitfully and cursed be he who holds back his sword from bloodshed. This I say:\n\nII. To mention some aggravations of this sin. This conduct is a violation of the law of nature which requires all to exert themselves to promote happiness among mankind. Love is the fulfilling of the law.\nBut this implies a benevolent frame of heart, exercised in beneficial actions towards all men, as we have opportunity. When therefore we see our fellow creatures, especially our friends and brethren, whose happiness is more immediately our care, reduced to a state of misery, robbed of their most dear and unalienable rights, and borne down with a heavy load of oppression and abuse by the hands of tyrants, this law requires us to stand forth in their defense, even though we are not involved with them in the same evils, and how much more when our own happiness is equally concerned? The man who stands by as an idle spectator when a murderer or robber asserts his brother, and does not exert himself in his defense, is deservedly accounted a criminal in law and reason, as is the murderer or robber himself, and is exposed to the same consequences.\nThe same punishment applies in such a case, as inactivity is justly deemed an approval of the crime. But freedom is an inheritance entailed on all men, and whoever invades it robs mankind of their rights, endeavoring to spread misery among God's creatures. And all who refuse to oppose him when in their power are to be considered and treated as confederates and abettors of his conduct, and partakers in his crimes.\n\nThis sin is against posterity. Our children after us must reap the fruit of our present conduct. If we probably resist the oppressor, we shall, under God, deliver them from his galling yoke; at least we shall avoid the guilt of riveting it on them. But if we bow tamely to have it fastened on our necks, unborn generations through unknown centuries may never be able to shake it off.\nmust waste a wretched existence in this world, without any other claim to the fruit of their labors, or even to the dear pledges of conjugal love, the fruit of their own bodies, than such as depends on the capricious will of a haughty tyrant. Let us for a moment glance an eye on the next and succeeding generations. What a scene opens to view! Behold these delightful and stately mansions for which we labored, possessed by the minions of power: See the three other spacious fields, subdued to fruitfulness by the sweat and toil of our fathers or ourselves, yielding their increase to clothe, pamper, and enrich the tyrant's favorites, who are base enough to assist him in his cursed plots to enslave us. Does this rouse your resentment? \u2014 Stop a moment, and I'll show you a spectacle more shocking.\nI see thin, meagre faces in yonder field, toiling and covered with sweat, to cultivate the soil. Who are those in rags, bearing burdens, toiling for these laughing lords, and then cringing to obtain from them the very gift which God had so generously bestowed on them when he gave them this land for an inheritance. All these and other troubles of the same nature will come upon us, and the curse of Meroz rest upon us, if we resign this patrimony, so dearly bought by our fathers, and entailed to us by their will, living and dying. Shall we resign this patrimony to that hateful power, which drove them from their native land to this howling wilderness? Shall we bow our necks to the yoke which they, though few in number, nobly cast off? Should our fathers rise from their graves, they would disown such children.\ndren, and  repent  their  care  and  toil  for  such  degenerate \nsons. \n,/  How  provoking  then  in  the  sight  of  God  and  man  is  it \nto  see  some  quite  unconcerned  for  the  good  of  the  public, \nrolling  in  ease,  amassing  wealth  to  themselves,  and  slyly \nplotting  to  assist  our  e^-emies  in  their  murderous  designs  ; \nwhile  others  endure  the  fatigues  of  war,  and  hazard  all \nthat's  dear  to  secure  the  peace,  liberty,  and  safety  of  the \n^  whole  ? \nMay  we  not  suppose  that  the  Curse  of  Mervz  consisted \nin  these  things  ? \n1.  That  they  should  be  deprived  of  that  dtlightful  free- \ndom and  liberty,  Israel  had  regained  from  the  tyi^cnny  of \nJabin.  As  these  wretches  discovered  their  servile  tem- \nper in  reiusing  to  exert  themselves  for  the  recovery  of \ntheir  liberty,  why  should  they  not  be  condemned  to  the \nslavery  they  chose  ?  Jabin  (like  George)  probably  claim- \nThey had a right to lay any taxes on them as they pleased, and to bind them in all cases whatsoever; and they, rather than jeopardize their lives in defense of their rights, tamely submitted to his demands. Well, since this was their choice, why should it now be denied them? Let them be taxed at the sovereign will of the other States, without allowing them any representation. Since they loved, and sought to involve all Israel with themselves in slavery, they should have it from the rest, and receive but the just reward of their conduct. With what face could they complain of such treatment, since they chose to submit to it from Jabin? The change of masters made no change in the task; and if they preferred slavery then, rather than fight for their liberties, let them have it now, since they would do nothing to regain them.\nWhy may we not suppose that they were deprived of their estates and reduced at least to a state of tenancy at will? They had implicitly joined with the enemy, putting to hazard every dear and valuable enjoyment of the whole nation. Through their neglect, all might have been lost; and their fault was not the less, because victory declared for Israel; and all their possessions could never countervail the damage their conduct had exposed the nation to.\n\nThe application of this to our times is easy. The present war, it is probable, had never been commenced had none of the inhabitants of Meroz been in our land; or if begun, could not have been carried on to this day. They, therefore, as the confederates, abettors, and supporters of the tyrant, lie the guilt of this war.\nThe partners are involved in the sin with Hira, so they ought to be punished for the harm he deserves. If it is lawful to deprive the inhabitants of Great Britain of their property when in our power and convert it to our use; if this is a just retaliation for the injury they have inflicted on us, and all too little to countervail the damage; much more the interest of those who live among us, and yet assist the enemy in their cruel designs, ought to be confiscated for the public service, by how much greater their sin is.\n\nI cannot but think it would have been happier for these States, had our rulers, longer ago, declared that all who should be found aiding and assisting the enemy in any way, or holding correspondence with them, should be deemed enemies.\nenemies to the States, and forfeit all their estates at least. Yes,\n3. As the curse of Merovingians (no doubt, extended to a depriving the inhabitants of a capacity to enjoy any place of honor in government, and the ordinary privileges of free-men; and also inflicted some corporal punishment at least on their principal leaders): So the like characters among us ought to share the same punishment. I am persuaded these states will still be unsafe, and all our efforts for deliverance from tyranny attended with great hazard and uncertainty, till there shall be some more effectual and vigorous measures adopted by our rulers to distinguish friends from foes, and expose the latter to some exemplary punishment. The law of Retaliation is sometimes just and necessary, even when the persons offending are not.\nThis shows us how defensive war is consistent with true benevolence and a sincere desire for the happiness of mankind. It is consistent for the soldier to love and pray for the happiness of those he opposes and endeavors to root from the earth. Every soldier should enter the field with benevolent, tender, compassionate sentiments.\n\nNor can we do justice to ourselves or the public, or to our brethren now suffering in harsh and cruel captivity among the enemy; nor to our posterity; nor lastly to the manes of our murdered friends who have fallen in the field or expired in loathsome prisons with cold and hunger. Until we inflict some just and exemplary punishment on those who have brought these calamities upon us.\nA temperament that is morose, cruel, revengeful, and unmerciful is not consistent with the character of a Christian soldier any more than one who is a minister of the Gospel of peace. Such a disposition cannot be justified even in the heat of the fiercest battle. He should instead be possessed with a disposition to pray for those whom he endeavors to destroy, and wish their best, their eternal good. These are no more inconsistent in a soldier engaging in battle and doing his best to kill his enemies than they are in a judge and executioner, who take away a murderer from the earth. For as the judge and executioner are God's ministers to execute vengeance on the wicked who endeavor to destroy the happiness of society; so the soldier, engaged in a just defensive war, is the minister of God to render vengeance to the invaders.\nAnd as the executioner may and ought to pray for the suffering criminal, so should the soldier let his foe. Benevolence is the source of vindictive laws in the state, and it should ever be of defensive war; they both tend to the same end, the happiness of mankind. How absurd then is the pretense that the Gospel of Jesus Christ forbids \"to take up arms to defend ourselves?\" and that defensive war is inconsistent with the patient, meek, long-suffering temper it requires? It may with as much reason be said that to punish a murderer or robber is forbidden by the Gospel; which is in effect to say that the Gospel of peace forbids the exercise of love and benevolence in acts absolutely necessary, for the peace and happiness of society and individuals.\nFrom what has been said, it is clearly inferred that to levy offensive war is murder, and all who engage in it are murderers in God's sight. They are guilty, not only for the murder of those they kill in battle or who otherwise perish in the war, but they are also self-murderers: they put themselves to death; their blood is on their own leaders. Well then, might Solomon wisely say, with good advice for the record. The character, therefore, of two States or armies at war, are as opposite as their actions. The aggressor is a murderer and robber, and all who assist him are involved in his guilt; every soldier who fights for him is a murderer too. But we know that no murderer has eternal life.\u2014How should this make those shudder who engage on the side of the aggressor? If they fall in battle, what hope can they have of God's approbation; since they die as murderers.\nBut those who oppose them defend their country's peace, liberty, and safety are God's ministers, commissioned and ordered by him to punish his and his people's enemies: they therefore may draw their swords with a quiet, approving conscience, and with pity view the wretches slain by their hands as self-murderers: or if they fall, they can die, in regard to the war, free of the blood of all men, and in peace resign their spirits into the hand of their redeemer. This consideration surely must animate every man inspired with the benevolent temper of the Gospel, which disposes to the greatest advancement of human happiness, and to relieve the miserable and oppressed; to vigorous exertions in defense of our bleeding land, bleeding under the hand of oppression, rapine, and murder. Would you,\nMy heart lends, counts it an honor to be employed by God to restore peace and happiness to the oppressed and miserable? Do you wish to perform acts of love and kindness to mankind, and therein be like your creator and redeemer? Do you fear the wrath and curse of God pronounced on all who spread misery among his creatures, and on all that aid or assist them, or so much as connive at, or neglect to oppose them? Do you desire to be workers together with God in restoring peace and felicity to your groaning country, and to be owned of him as his servants when you die? Are these the objects of your desire and pursuit? If these are, then here is an opportunity presented to you, to manifest your love, by coming to the help of the Lord against the mighty. The cause we are engaged in.\n\"In it, one finds the cause of joy and hope for his blessing and fight under his banner. In supporting and defending this cause, you may seek earthly and honor, even that glory and honor which comes from God and man for acts of benevolence, goodness, and mercy, for the fairest opportunity now offers. But what shall I say of those whose religious principles forbid the performance of any such labors of love and necessarily involve them in the curse of Meroz? If their religion is right, love itself must be wrong. But arguments are vain. May God, in his mercy, show them their error, give them repentance, and restore them with the love which the law and gospel require, before they fall under the wrath and curse of God, for neglecting to come to his aid.\"\nThose who do not join in the cause of freedom are cursed by God, we are commanded to curse them. At Icasi, we ought to shun their company. What a shame to see those born to freedom and professing zeal for her cause associating themselves with the worthless slaves of an abandoned tyrant and murderer. How do they debase themselves and give occasion to suspect them as belonging to the same herd? But it is necessary to ask, how shall they be distinguished from friends? Attend to the characters already given, and you may see enough to justify you in avoiding intimacy with them, though they may so disguise themselves that no evidence appears to condemn them to open and clear punishment. Happy would it be if our civil fathers drew some determinate line of distinction between free men and the slaves of power.\nFor want of this we have suffered greatly, and if this be not done, the consequences will be fatal. As soon as they are discovered, we ought to disarm them. For as they will not assist us, we should put it out of their power to hurt us or our families, when we at any time shall be called to action. Y\\*,\n\nAs such, forfeit all the privileges of freemen; their estates should be forfeited and applied to support the war; and themselves banished from these states. We are commanded to inflict on the inhabitants of Meroz the same; and benevolence towards millions ~nTe~\n\nThe above was read for the press, a Proclamation by His Excellency General Washington has been published, and also two acts to punish treason and other crimes against the State of less enormity; by which the heinous offender is utterly destroyed.\nGood measure drawn; YiicU is the cause of all the members of Liberty. This demands of us not out of hatred to their persons, but their crimes which stain the life and happiness of these States. This punishment must be inflicted not by the people at large, but by our rulers, with whom, under God, we have entrusted our safety; and in whose wisdom we trust for vengeance on them in due time.\n\nBut should this be delayed, without proper reasons assigned, we shall have no cause to wonder, though there should be great thoughts of heart among a people, beholding their friends and brethren barbarously murdered, or wandering forlorn, destitute of food or shelter; while the proven authors of these unparalleled distresses smile triumphing in our distress.\n\nBut should such delay happen, we must look on it as another instance of divine displeasure.\n\"pleasure, which speaks to all, and by sincere repentance and thorough reformation, remove the moral cause of God's controversy with us. Zulhlt, the victorious and triumphant, the inhabitants of Meroz justly punished: Peace, undefiled religion prevailing, and the voice of joy and gladness echoing round our land. May God hasten this, Amen. _ Hallelujah,\n\nReward of Toryisms\nA Discourse Delivered\nAt Tabernacle in Salem-Mr 1783.\n\nThis starts the Lord, because you have let go a man out of great danger, not only from the toil and Jf R'it\"t^=\" whether found in the cabinet. The press, of which Trtt'.^n, \"rZ Ir^I fn\"\"^ are the grounds and reasons for.\n\nProvidence now calls you to pursue. Migluv: America is free. \"\nAmong the various means it has pleased God to make known to us, many inferences I then drew from the justice of our cause, the infatuation of Britain, and the barbarous wickedness of our enemies, you may now see verified in this great and glorious revolution. I am happy it will be for these States if they shall have wisdom and virtue to conduct themselves in this important crisis, when the disappointed foe is looking after the prey, snatched from his devouring jaws, with regret and chagrin, and eagerly wishing for an opportunity to ensnare and circumvent us, as to shun those dangers that my fears prompt me now to suggest and predict. Among the various means it has pleased God to make known to us.\nUse of this discourse, with others of a similar nature, may be allowed, as it relates to rousing people to vigor in the late contests for freedom. Our independence is gained, but our danger is not over, nor is our work done. Great Britain is not yet our friend, and many inhabitants of Meroz are still in our land, as well as those who fled from us in our distress and would not help us, but instead assisted and comforted the enemy. Cities under British patronage seek to return and enjoy the privileges they formerly enjoyed. They have used their utmost efforts to deprive us of these rights. The time has come to execute on them the command of God, as stated in my text: \"Curse ye Meroz,\" said the angel of the Lord. If the cases are similar, the command is binding.\nBut in the present case, but if those who have raised objections have come to our aid against the mighty, especially those who have counseled, comforted, and assisted the enemies, and murdered their brethren. And with more than savage barbarity, they triumphed in their torture and bloodshed; whom the fortune of war hid and put into their hands: if such are not guilty of the sin of Meroz, if they can be considered as coming to the help of the Lord against the mighty, then indeed we ought to bless and not cut them off.\n\nBut do there need to be a moment's consideration to move this point? Like the advocates of these States show, if they can, from scripture or reason, that they have not been guilty of the sin of Meroz, and they will clear themselves of the curse. But if they stand charged and convicted.\nAnd if condemned for the same sin, we are bound by invincible obligations from heaven, reason, religion, our city, forefathers, and posterity, to curse them; or, as it is emphatically expressed in the Hebrew, in cursing, to curse them.\n\nSee then the sin of Meroz. They did not commit any acts of violence, insult, barbarity, or murder; they did not burn, or assist in burning the towns and dwellings of their brethren; they did not, as was known, go over to assist, counsel, or comfort the enemy, as our Tories have; no, they only neglected their duty; they did not come to their help when their enemies oppressed them, nor assist in casting off the galling yoke.\n\nThis, this is the only crime, the single offense which brought on them this bitter curse. But the Tories of these days.\nStates many of them have not only neglected their duty, but endeavored to recommend themselves to the tyrant by the most barbarous treatment of their brethren, as many yet living can testify. The consequence therefore follows, a fortiori, with greater force, that those persons fall with greater propriety under the curse, in position as their offense is more heinous.\n\nThe point I now mean to discuss, and which naturally results from the words, is this: When God has spirited a people, under oppression, to shake off the galling yoke of tyranny, and given them victory over their oppressors, it is his will and positive command, that in cursing they curse not only the surers of the community as have not joined them in their struggle for liberty, but especially those who have aided and assisted their oppressors.\nI say, such of the community, for these are not only more aggressively guilty than the common enemy, but they are now supposed to be in the hands of the states, and as it is their duty, so it is in their power to curse them. I shall list this as a known and undoubted fact that the people of these States have, for years, been struggling for their liberties against the mighty power of Britain. The evidence of this is so clear that it needs only to be mentioned.\n\nI. That the torments of these states, whether still residing among us or gone over to the enemy, are guilty of the sin of Meroz.\n\nThis is evident from what I have already said, and needs no further illustration.\n\nIII. Prove the assertion in the proposition, that it is the command of God that in cursing we curse them.\nIV. What is implied in this curse?\nV. I will offer some thoughts as to the road of treating them.\nVI. I will point out some of the fatal consequences which must attend not inflicting the curse on them.\nIII. The proof of the assertion: It is the will and command of God that we curse those of the community who have opposed or neglected to assist us in our efforts to secure our liberty. If men believed the holy scriptures to be the infallible word of God and the unerring rule of duty to God and man, and of sound policy, no other evidence than this text would be necessary to establish the point. But alas, men are generally more attached to the wanderings of depraved reason (and at best she is a wretched wanderer when left without divine revelation).\nI. elation is greater than human wisdom and reason, according to God's word. Yet, some people prioritize divine guidance over the most accurate, refined, and logical arguments of great philosophers. I will present evidence from scripture, followed by arguments from reason and common sense for those who may be skeptical or deist in their beliefs. I begin with my text as an illustration of this point.\n\nThe words are emphatic, and all the more so because they are repeated. Curse Meroz, says the angel of the Lord, in cursing its inhabitants, because they did not come to the Lord's aid, to help the Lord against the mighty.\n\nThis message is delivered to us by Deborah under divine inspiration.\nThis was not the effect of an angry, malicious, revengeful spirit, nor the dictate of prosperous pride or disappointed rage; but delivered by command from the angel of God's presence, the kind and compassionate Savior and Redeemer of sinners. It is worthy of notice that the command is peremptory and admits of no debate. They were not left at liberty to curse them or not, as they might feel disposed; but God binds them to this by all his authority, which is absolute and supreme over all men, and which none can evade. Therefore, the neglect would have been in them.\nbe in us, an act of direct and impudent disobedience and contempt of his authority, who is heir and Lord of all things in heaven and earth, and who disposes of kingdoms and crowns as he pleases. This glorious angel not only enjoins this by his authority, but shows the reason to draw us to obedience; because they came not to the help of the Lord, \"They refused to be on the side of God, truth and freedom. They chose the tyrant for their master by their neglect; they trusted more in his power than mine. They have cast the greatest contempt on reason and have discouraged the hearts of my people. Now therefore take part with your Lord, who has given you the victory, and execute his just anger on those who deserted his people and cause, and show that you are my friends; that the cause you have been defending is mine.\n\"Feixling is my cause, and those who opposed I are enemies. Vindicate my Jonor, and plead my cause against those who forsook me in my straits, when the nightly threatened to waste my inheritance. God is pleased to represent himself as standing in need of the help of his people; and as injured and abused when they desert him. The scripture affords further evidence to this assertion, in repeated injunctions given by Moses to the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and Manasseh, not to desert their brethren, but to go over Jordan and assist in subduing their enemies. God stood in no need of their help; yet he tells them that such neglect will be like the sin of the spies who discouraged the hearts of the people, for which Israel were condemned to wander thirty-eight years, and their carcases to fail in the wilderness: and he assures them,\"\nTheir sins should find them out. Num. xxxii. 6-23-\nA further confirmation of this assertion is taken from 1 Kings 20: Chup. In this account, we have an record of two remarkable defeats of Benhadad, king of Syria, which reduced him to the utmost extremity, so that he was driven into an inner chamber to hide himself. His servants moved him to cast himself on the mercy of the conqueror. He made the trial, and succeeded. The king of Israel, who was among the most abandoned of men for all kinds of wickedness, now feels, or for some political, sinister end, pretends to feel compassion. He calls Benhadad his brother, takes him into his chariot, makes a covenant with him, and sends him away in peace. His motive for this was carnal, which is always foolish policy. He doubted, however,\nless expected great things from Benhadad, who, though, would be very grateful for saving his life; in that instant, he appeared so, and promised to restore to Ahab the cities which his father had taken from him. This was a fine correction. But how mean, how unworthy of Ahab's acceptance! He might with more honor and justice have replied to this cringing flatterer, \"No thanks to you, Benhadad, for your offer. Those cities and Damascus too are in my power. Remember with what insult and abuse you treated me last year, when, distrusting my strength, I complied with all your first demands; but not content with that, you altered them, rose higher, and demanded my absolute submission to your sovereign will and plunder. I refused and when you attacked me, God delivered your immense army into my hands.\nYou then blasphemed the God whose cause I defended, and said he was Jotum, the God of the valleys. Determined on my ruin, you again attacked me in the valleys, where you have been taught that God is as great as in the hills, and by the miraculous victories he hath given me over your vast power, hath shown me that you are to be destroyed for your horrid wickedness, injustice and oppression. I will therefore accept of none of your cringing offers; but put it forever out of your power to insult and oppress any more.\n\nIf Ahab had answered him thus, and put him to death, he would not have heard that dreadful sentence from God, verse 42. Thus saith the Lord, because thou hast let go of thine hand, a man whom I appointed to utter destruction, therefore thy life shall go for his life, and thy people for his.\npeople: which sentences were executed on Ahab three years after. The severe punishment threatened, shows the greatness of Ahab's sin in sparing a man God had appointed to utter destruction for the baseness of his temper and conduct. Many other evidences might be adduced from scripture to confirm the point, but I proceed:\n\nTo confirm it by reason, the law of nature, and common sense, which teach the moral fitness of this command, therefore of moral obligation. The principal objection against this is drawn from the excellency of a tender, forgiving spirit, which is also enjoined by our Lord in his command to forgive our enemies. It must be acknowledged that if the above assertion is repugnant to this, it ought by no means to be admitted. But those must be very ignorant of the nature of a forgiving spirit and of Christ's command too, who suppose that it is inconsistent with the requirement to punish evildoers.\nI. The good and safety of the public require this.\u2014 Caiaphas the high priest spoke the truth when he said, \"It is necessary that one man should die, and that the whole nation should not perish.\" The remark was true; but there, the application was wrong, as there was no danger to the nation from Christ's setting up for the kingdom.\n\nShould it be admitted that executing public justice on felons and murderers is inconsistent, we must resign all the good and happiness of society into the hands of thieves, robbers, and assassins. Love, forgiveness of enemies, and compassion are most amiable virtues; but they degenerate into criminal weakness when they are employed to discharge criminals from condign punishment. Several reasons show the weakness of this objection and confirm the assertion.\n\nI. The good and safety of the public require this.\u2014 Caiaphas the high priest spoke the truth when he said, \"It is necessary that one man should die, and that the whole nation should not perish.\" The remark was true; but there, the application was wrong, as there was no danger to the nation from Christ's setting up for the kingdom.\nBut in the present case, nothing more just than his accusations. Jod and reason teach that those who endanger the safety of the community should be removed from among us. For the happiness of many is of more value than that of a few. Therefore, we are bound to seek the good of the State, in preference to that of individuals.\n\nBut it is manifest that the State cannot be safe while the Tories remain among us, unless their principles are changed, and their old ways renewed. We have no reason to hope for this, as no new arguments have been offered, and no new principles can be supposed to have taken place in them.\n\nFor the sake of carrying the bag, they, like Judas, wish to return among us, and like him, they will sell us for thirty pieces of silver. Therefore, if we do not curse them, we shall curse the public.\nwhich will suffer more than all those traitors will ever compensate. But I shall have, occasion to speak more on this point under the sixth head.\n\nII. Further evidence of this point is taken from that moral law, known and acknowledged by all nations, viz. He who sheds man's blood by man's sword, his blood be shed. I reason for this law is obvious, viz. A murderer is a pest to society; that rogues are safe while persons so abandoned have it in their power to do mischief; and therefore they must be put away from among us. But the Tories of these States have not shedding our blood, and consequently we are bound to curse them.\n\nBut I propose to show,\n\nIV. What is implied in the curse we are commanded to inflict on them.\n\nI take this to be nothing more nor less than inflicting punishment.\non them the punishment they deserve. There are some crimes which it is better, and more for the public good to pardon, than to punish with rigor; but toryism cannot be ranked among them. The offense is too high, and the objects of it are too abandoned and lost to all virtuous principles, to be allowed a residence in and converse with the public. Therefore, God commands us to curse them.\n\nSome may think that this command countenances a trivial, violent temper of mind, such as wicked persons indulge when they utter bitter and profane curses against their neighbors. But this is a great mistake; for the curse required is a serious, deliberate, religious act of justice, which God requires of us as a terror to evil doers and an encouragement and protection to the virtuous; and to cleanse our land from the guilt of blood which these traitors have shed.\nmen have shed in abundance: and in the guilt of which we shall involve ourselves, just so far as we act or wish to screen them from condign punishment. Thus saith the Lord, he that doeth violence to the blood of any person, let him be gone to the pit; let no man stay him. Prov. xxviii. 17. Let every one curse him, by joining in executing the just sentence of condemnation on him. When God says, Deut. xxi. 23, \"he that is hanged is cursed of God,\" it is evident, verse 22, that nothing is intended but that he is punished according to the divine will. If a man commit a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree, those, and only those who are worthy of death, are cursed of God; and none else ought to be so cursed of men. The sentence of condemnation is:\n\n\"He that is hanged is cursed of God. He that curseth any person, ritting, lying, or deceiving, is a brother to him that setteth up a monument: he that loveth violence his soul hateth not: he that maketh peace hath love put upon him. The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment. The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide. The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will. Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts. To do justice and judgment is more acceptable to the LORD than sacrifice. A man's pride shall bring him low: but honor shall uphold the humble in spirit. He that oppresseth the poor reproacheth his Maker: but he that honoreth him hath mercy on the poor. The wicked is snared by the transgression of his lips: but the just shall come out of trouble. A little folly in a man's heart, the heart of the fool, it is deceit: but the counsel of the wise is understanding. Rejoice in the way of judgment: and in the righteous be thou glad. Judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. Truth faileth; and he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment. And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him. He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation on his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompence. So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the LORD. And as for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.\" (Prov. xxviii. 15-22, xxix. 1-14, xxx. 15-18, xxx. 23-31)\nThe curse and this should be passed according to the nature of their crimes; and for the same reasons, it must be executed. If the Tories have been guilty of treason against these States; if they are chargeable with much of the innocent blood that has been shed, then they ought to be cursed, or condemned and punished. No man can take their part or wish to screen them from the curse without proving himself to be an abettor of their crimes and partaker in their sins. All who desire to maintain justice, peace, liberty, and safety, the very objects of our exertions and expense of blood and treasure for eight years past, must concur in executing the curse on them, or forfeit their character and waste their conscience.\n\nV. To offer some thoughts as to the method of treating the inhabitants of Meroz, who have belonged, or do belong, to them.\nI. Neuters, if there can be any in such importance. But strictly, I conceive, cannot be admitted, except in things indifferent. I.e., where the interest of beings capable of happiness is not concerned, the law of love binds all men to take the side of truth, justice, liberty, and happiness, and those who are not for, must be against them; and the part they take, when these are opposed, discovers their friendship.\nFor or enmity against them. Nothing excuses inactivity but want of knowledge of the case and opportunity for exertion. Prov. xxiv. 11, 12. If thou forbear to deliver them that are drawn unto death and those that are ready to be slain: If thou say, I knew it not, doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it, and he that keepeth thy soul, does not he know it? And shall he not render to every man according to his works? There are but two sides to any case, a right and a wrong, and they who neglect to take the right side, when in their power, must stand chargeable for all the ill consequences that follow, or that might reasonably be supposed to flow from such neglect.\n\nTherefore, when I speak of Neuters, I would be understood to mean those who, having knowledge of our cause, remain neutral.\nAmong those who had the opportunity to assist yet stood by as idle spectators, keeping one foot on American liberty and the other on British despotism, ready to step into the scale where they thought their interests would be most secure. Among these may be ranked those who, in the beginning of our troubles, talked and acted in favor of British tyranny: many such, when the current grew strong against them, shifted sides and put on the guise of friends. We cannot determine that none of these were true penitents, but in general they have given no very convincing proofs of it. If they are, such ought to be forgiven; but we should be careful how we trust them in our public affairs. Others, from open Toryism, have appeared warm for our cause, but there is too much reason to suspect their conversion.\nMen, driven by a view of profit through speculating in trade, privateering, or some post in the army or state, cling to such principles and have generally been a kind of dead weight on all our movements. Such, of whatever description, who have not, as they had opportunity, exerted themselves in our cause, should they be allowed to continue among us (which may perhaps be best with respect to some), yet they ought forever to be secluded from our councils, and the more manifest of them be deprived of the liberties of freemen, rendered incapable of voting for, or holding the meanest offices in the States. There is another sort who may be termed Neuters by some, who have done more harm to the interests of freedom and caused the shedding of more blood than others.\nThose who have joined forces with the enemy and conducted trade with them during the war are the individuals I refer to. By draining our money and sending it to the enemy, they have enabled them to continue the war. Some may have engaged in this trade inadvertently, unaware of the disastrous consequences. However, many have pursued it with deliberate resolve, disregarding conscience and all laws against it. The former group should be forgiven; the latter are most dangerous members of the community, deserving of exclusion from all privileges of freemen, and prohibited from importing goods into any of the States from any part of the world. Even those who inadvertently participated in this trade cannot escape the sobering reflection that they have contributed to the shedding of blood.\nThe blood of their brethren; what remorse and anguish seize those, when conscience is awake, who have knowingly assisted the enemy to murder them! But alas, the love of gold has rendered these wretched speculators and sharpers callous to all feelings of conscience, and fitted them for any line of conduct however base and unworthy! And that which adds to the distressing idea is, those persons who have been most active in shedding so much innocent blood, will probably, as wealth gets power, in a short time become possessed of the reins of government, direct, or rather pervert the councils of the United States, lull us back into the hands of our enemies, and rivet on us the galling yoke of tyranny more firmly than ever; while the friend to his country, who has virtuously espoused her cause, and sacrificed his all in her defense, and...\nHer defense may see himself sink into silent contempt, his lands and possessions held pending enjoyed by the Neutrals, or by those very American British factors who, by their trade with her, have supported their plundering armies. II. The other class of Tories are those who have taken an active part against us. Of this class are all those who have deserted us and gone over to the enemy. It may be said that even among these there are different characters and some whose crimes are more aggravated than others. This is readily admitted, and therefore, were they in our power, they ought to receive different degrees of punishment. But the most innocent of these are highly criminal. These may be divided into two sorts: those who went to the British from fear of the issue, and have remained quiet.\nAmong them were J and those who, out of hope for favor, pensions, promotions, or interests of any kind, went over, counselled, assisted, and comforted the enemy, and lent all their aid in the war against us. These last, I suppose, are even a seminary in the States would not want to return, lest those hands so long soaked in the blood of their brethren, those hearts so long inured to barbarity and slaughter, to burning and devastation, should, as it were, by habitual impulse, act over the same scenes with them. For, let the Ethiopian change his skin, and the leopard his spots, then will such abandoned wretches cease to do evil and learn to do well. Only then, and not till then, may we hope they will be safe members of society and leave their murder and treason.\n\nAs to the first sort, what plea can be offered for them?\nThey were good and honest men; they had no enmity towards us or the cause of freedom. They desired peace, liberty, and safety, but they feared the issue: that Great Britain would prevail, and that they might suffer. This may be the best plea that can be made for them. But by seeking safety in this way, did they not discredit and weaken our hands? The spies did the Israelites, and did they not encourage the enemy to prosecute war, and thereby become accessories to the death and slaughter of thousands of their brethren? No man is so void of sense as to imagine that Great Britain would ever have begun, much less prosecuted the war for so many years, and after so many defeats and disappointments, had all those who went to her aid from a genuine desire to help.\nAmong us and all her secret friends who resided here, have been firm and resolute in the cause of freedom. The best character among them is justly chargeable with the guilt of most of the bloodshed on both sides in this contest. To them, may be applied what David said to Saul in a similar case, \"If the Lord has stirred up England against us, let him accept an offering; but if the curse be upon us before the Lord.\" But it is time to pass over VI. The fatal consequences that will probably follow if we do not inflict the curse on these.\n\nCould sagacity discover, yet time would not allow me to point out all the ill consequences which may, and probably will follow from receiving the tories in these States. I shall hint a few:\n\n1st. This will greatly endanger the internal peace of these States.\nthe States. Should our rulers open the door for their return, agreeably to the fifth preliminary article, they will soon find general discontent among their constituents. They will soon hear thousands of the innocent, peaceable, defenseless inhabitants of these States, who have been driven from their possessions, their property rifled, their dwellings burnt, their interests diminished by the war; for whom no provision is made; to whom there is no restoration of estates, no compensation for losses: \u2014 they will soon hear thousands whose husbands, sons, brothers, and near friends have perished in purchasing for us our freedom; in whose blood the Tories have stained their murdering hands; to whose tortures, cries, and dying groans the sweet sound of the viol fiddled. To their humble and pitiful cries and prayers for a draught.\nThey, when famishing with hunger and thirst in their noisome goals and prison-ships, returned nothing but insult and horrid imprecations. Those who have escaped their rage with the skin of their teeth and still carry the scars of their barbarity in their eyes; and still deeper wounds of their scoffs and insults in their minds. They will soon hear those whose daughters, wives, mothers, and the slaves of their British Lord they called to their assistance, have ravished and abused. They will soon hear the brave, the virtuous and gallant soldier, who has forsaken the pleasures of domestic life and endured hunger, cold and innumerable fatigues in the field, to defend our rights and purchase our freedom. No compensation is made to him. I say, they will soon hear a mighty throng.\nof these, and other sufferers in the glorious cause of liberty, cry aloud for unreasonable, cruel and unjust conduct in their rulers, permitting those who have been the wicked occasion of all their distresses, to obtain restoration of the estates they forfeited to the justice and laws of their country, and, in common with them, to enjoy that freedom and sweet liberty which they spared neither pains nor conscience to destroy. -- They will soon hear them lamenting, if not cursing, their followers, for risking all, and losing their dearest enjoyments next to their hearths and homes, to purchase and defend their freedom and rights, now equally shared among their betrayers and murderers, who wisely slipped out of harm's way until they had gained the prize for themselves.\n\nThese cries will not expire in mere noise, but, like a wave, will continue to echo and resonate.\nLoaded cannon will make an impression. Actions will naturally follow such roused passions, and internal disputes, isolations, and commotions, to say the least, must ensue. Be vigilant. I implore you, Lords rulers; be instructed by the legislators of these States; let Washington to his command, afflict his curse on the Tories, the inhabitants of New York. Lest he be angry and you perish; blessed are they, and only they, that put their trust in him. You have no right to admit them among us without the previous consent of your constituents at large; and should you do it, you will probably find that they who dared to oppose the power of Britain will not fear to call their stewards to account. Besides, when these murderers shall be seen among us, exulting in the smiles of that liberty they have endeavored to destroy, and perhaps reproaching us for our folly in allowing them to return.\nbuying a treasure for Ihcm with ourounds and blood, where is the man of sensibility, of a grain of spirit, who will not feel emotions which nothing but great grace and prudence can restrain? What son of freedom can see, I'mch less, take an insult, an indelicate word, or a wry look from a Tory, or sit at the feast of freedom with him, when he reflects on the blood of a Quaker, a brother, a father, shed by his impious treachery? He that can do this without uneasy sensations must imbibe the same slavish and murderous spirit. What a source this is of broils, quarrels, and even of bloodshed!\n\nThe admission of the Tories will be a shameful breach of the public faith.\n\nWhen the state made laws to confiscate their estates for public use, they passed that property to the people as an encouragement for them to support the war. And\nThey now break their solemnly pledged faith and rob their constituents of their property without their consent? They may as well take away the private property of every man in the state and give it to the British soldiers who ravaged our country; and who would trust in public faith then? And I may add, who ever fear public threats?\n\nBesides, will not France, our faithful ally, have just cause to complain that we have taken into our bosoms those who, while they reproached us as tools of tyrants, have scandalized them as deceitful betrayers of our liberties; as having nothing in view but to enslave us, after we should be separated from Great Britain?\n\nThe restoration of the Tories among us will expose us to innumerable and constant dangers.\nAllies result from having in our bowels a multitude of subtle enemies, void of all honor and virtue, who, being irreconcilable to us, will plot our ruin and lie ever on the watch for the most favorable advantage to avenge themselves. By betraying us into the hands and under the tyranny of Great Britain, they aim to recommend themselves to places of honor and profit under their now avowed sovereign. Some may imagine that they will gratefully acknowledge the favor and become good subjects of these states if permitted to return. But what ground for such a fancy? Is it common to find gratitude such a powerful principle in the human heart? It is a true proverb, that he who injures cannot forgive. We may as well hope for Satan's cordial friendship towards mankind as for that of the Tories towards these states. Never can true reconciliation grow.\nWhere the wounds of Hadad, king of Syria, had pierced so deep,\n2 Kings 20 and 24: Chapters. For two successive years, he had met with a defeat by Abab. In the second, his army was on the brink of destruction; and he fell into Ahab's hands. He humbled himself, begged for his life, promised Ahab fine things, obtained forgiveness, restoration to his kingdom, and reconciliation with the conqueror whom he had most shamefully abused and insulted. We may imagine that he never would forget such a favor, or be unkind to his benefactor. Yet we find, three years after, this same Benhadad, whose malice was incurable, like that of a tory, marked out from among thousands, this very benefactor, as the single object of his hatred. 1 Kings 20:31. And the king of Syria said.\nI am in torment to fulfill obligations to a petty king, \"I am in torment to feel such obligations to a petty king. The thought that I owe my life to him is a dagger in my heart. I would rather die than see the man, who looks on me as his most devoted debtor, alive. Disappointed malice cannot brook submission; and kindness bestowed on such is the most unpardonable offense.\n\nThis is what we are to expect from Britain; and especially from the Tois, should they return among us.\n\nShould we restore those murderers, we shall bring on these States the guilt of the innocent blood that has been shed in our late struggle, of which they have been the chief, if not the only procurers and authors.\nOur cause was either right or wrong. If wrong, the guilt lies on us, and we ought to atone for it by the sacrifice of Hancock, Adair, Washington, and other leaders in the horrid rebellion and bloody massacre, and by a humble and penitent return to the authority of Britain's Lord. If right, the Tories ought to atone for it, as being the thief authors, by the sacrifice of at least their property now among us, and an everlasting banishment from us, if not of the lives of their principals who filled our houses. The guilt of blood is not easily purged away. Let all consider what God says in Numbers xxxv. 33, \"For the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.\" Let all take notice of that mark of divine retribution.\nVenengeance against the whole kingdom of Israel, in the days of good king David, for the innocent blood of the Gibeonites, who were put to death by Saul, in his zeal, because they had hanged Saul's seven sons. For this God sent a three years' famine, and nothing could alleviate it for the crime, or appease God to the land, but the blood of some of Saul's wicked house; we cannot hope that God will give us rain and fruitful seasons, defend us from our enemies, and make us happy, while we show favor to such cruel murderers. And should the honorable Congress recommend to the states to restore them, they would, as I conceive, involve themselves in the guilt of innocent blood; and should any of the general courts or assemblies of the states comply, they would partake with them in the horrid guilt; and should the people at large tamely submit, the whole land would be involved.\nI hereby enter my public and solemn protest against a measure so sinful and destructive, involving the shedding of innocent blood. I cannot concur with such advice from Congress, the general court, or any other power in the universe, except that of God. I call on all friends of God, religion, and country to join me in this and in every lawful exertion to prevent such a measure. This is not all, for:\nThey will probably soon acquire the chief wealth of these states. As wealth usually begets power, they will easily possess themselves of the chief seats of government, pervert our counsels, and reduce us, by their arts, to the subjection to Great Britain which the power of her arms could not accomplish. It is too manifest that Great Britain's hatred towards us is not hard to conceive. Those who imagine that Britain will, for a long time, remain separate from us, are very jealous. Every art in her power will be used to reduce us under her dominion. Many are the lots already laid, and availability is far from approving our independence. Necessity compelled her to a cessation of hostilities.\nGiven her the last year, by preventing British goods from coming among us, she was able to alter her plan of subjugating us; (for this is still her objective) her resources here were cut off, and she was reduced to the greatest distress. Her only safety lay in a present ceasefire; this would give her respite, to repair her strength, till a more favorable opportunity should present itself to attain her desired end - the enslaving of America. If she achieves this, with more rigor than ever, she will claim the power \"to bind us in all cases whatsoever.\" Then we must expect new scenes of horror and slaughter. Then our defenceless frontiers will bleed afresh; our seacoasts will be infested anew. But the principal objective, I apprehend, is to procure the return of the Tories amongst us, as being the most suitable.\nThis is the Trojan horse devised to take us in; it, if admitted into our city, will soon bring back the fleet and armies from Tenedos, and lay our country in ruins, or at least reduce us to slavery. The Lorries among us, especially the refugees, have likely formed their connections already with the merchants, and probably with the court of Britain, for a large supply of goods. By these means, those murderers, who ought to suffer for treason, will get the upper hand of the friends of all liberty who have not yet formed any connections there; will run the trade; will sell even below sterling cost to gain custom; sink the price of goods in the hands of our honest merchants which they procured at a high price, and so break them.\nThe tories drain off all our money into the hands of Britain, except what sticks in their own hands, enabling them to influence our elections, rise in power, and subvert our counsels. They weaken us by disabling us to pay our taxes and strengthen Great Britain to renew and prosecute the war or to rise in their demands in the definitive treaty of peace. These Tory merchants, in the meantime, will probably be secured by the British court for sinking on their goods; which would be in line with their conduct during the war, when, as I have been informed, they paid the overplus of insurance above 10 percent, in order to lead the trading part of the nation to think the risk was insignificant. And should that same court furnish them with money for bribery, to gain such a boon as the reduction of these states.\nit need not surprise anyone who have been acquainted with their gross corruption. Our trade ruined, our sons murdered, our wives, daughters and mothers ravished, our coasts plundered, and our fair edifices and towns laid in ashes. These days are not far distant. The seeds are sown. Yes, the plants already flourish which threaten to produce this noxious fruit. But will we heed our report? Will we lay to heart our danger? Alas! we are so intoxicated with the joy of peace; so bewitched with the loyalty gained; so enamored with the cheapness of their goods (which is the very bait to their barbed hook, that is designed for our ruin) that there is reason to fear, no warnings will move us; no dangers alarm us; no plots, however open, awaken our fears and jealousies, till they...\nmatch is put to the fatal train, and we perish in the horrid explosion. As it is said of sinners in Zion on spiritual counts, so I may say to my fellow-citizens with respect to our civil and political concerns: woe to them that are careless in these States; or rather, woe to those States who are not, both rulers and people, awake to their present danger, and jealous of the plots of our cruel foes. The searcher of hearts is my witness, that I wish all remembrance of Britain's former barbarity, injustice, and abuse, may be forever blotted from the mind of every son of freedom in America; and that not only political, but cordial harmony and friendship, may be restored on scriptural, that is, rational and solid ground. It is weakness and folly to suffer such a desire to blind us.\nto our danger, and suppress our jealousy of a nation; which, to this hour, has not at all, the least changed her principles, nor discovered any new reason for acknowledging our independence, but pure force of necessity. Be assured, that all her formidable ambition, lust of power, dominion, tyranny, and aggrandizement, remaining, and like one whose lusts are bated by sickness, when vigor returns, she will put forth the same acts, play the same game. As you said to Yoram, II Kings, 9:22. \"What hast thou to do with peace so long as the whoredoms of thy mother and her witchcrafts are so rampant.\" So we may say of Great Britain; what has she to do with peace whilst every temporal and external motive to raise and prosecute an eighteenth century war remains.\nyears of war against us and heaven still exist in full vigor, except that of the power to conquer us. It is therefore madness to imagine that she seeks peace with us for any other end, but to recover strength to renew and prosecute the war with more prospect of success.\n\nAnother and a very fatal consequence that will probably follow the re-admission of the Tories, is a very heavy burden that they have borne in the war. This might be easily illustrated were the subject proper for the pulpit. But it is time to close.\n\nThe view we have now taken administers cogent reasons to the utmost watchfulness and care to prevent the growth of bribery and corruption, which is the utmost reason why it will prevail among us.\n\nThe fifth primary article agrees: \"That Congress shall\"\nrecommend states to reconsider confiscating refugees' estates and allowing them to return, enabling one year for property recovery, paying the same price as the present possessor. But what of the man in possession of one of those estates, who refuses to resign it to the government for the price he paid, after improving it for several years? Does the government have a demand for it? No. Can they compel him to sell it to them or anyone else? No, not without Ahab and Jezebel's wickedness in the case of Naboth's vineyard. Can they refuse the same to the returned refugee if they accede to this article? No. The man must have it for the value given by the present possessor, and the court must instate.\nBut how will they get possession? They must purchase it from the present possessor \u2013 at what price? At any price he pleases to ask, if it should be a thousand guineas for a single parcel when sunk fifty for one. Had I one of these estates, and were disposed to play a large and sure game for a fortune at one cast, I would do all in my power to have the Tories agreeably return to that article, and would force government to come to my terms. It is easy to see how this would increase the public debt and burden the people with new and enormous taxes, only to aggrandize a few who possess such estates, and to introduce to the feast of liberty a set of slaves Who have despised, abused, and murdered us \u2013 Awake, citizens of America! Prevent the evil ere it be too late!\npoison and will certainly destroy any State, if not curbed. Arsenic does the same to the annual frame. Every thing that has the shadow of this monster, whether threats, promises, or rewards, should be treated with indignation and scorn by every American soul of freedom; and with exemplary punishment by our authority. This monster has shown its odious head already among us in broad daylight, and few, very few were terrified at the sight. Some citizens have threatened their fellows with loss of property for voting according to their own judgement; and menaces of death have been uttered against the execution of lawful authority, and that with impunity. How alarming this is to our liberty and safety, to all good order and happiness among us! If the foundations are thus destroyed, what shall the righteous do? And why have we jeopardized them?\nWe ended our struggles for freedom in an eight-year war, if the dear purchase was worth it; yet, freedom may be seized from us with impunity by the haughty and insolent threats, or the money and deceitful arts of those who boast of their riches. At least, not all of them are the best men nor the most zealous for religion, the safety of the States, and the good of mankind. Surely, some effective laws should be made and strictly executed to prevent all corruption among ourselves and from abroad.\n\nAnd since we have ample reason to tremble with fear for the divine judgments upon our land, which now groans under the weight of our profaneness and immorality, contempt for the blessed gospel, and the profanation of the Lord's day; which is now openly disregarded by too many professing Christians\u2014let us tremble at the thought of adding thereto the sin of...\n\"guilt of blood, which we shall certainly bring upon ourselves if we do not inflict the curse of Meroz as far as God has put it in our power. Did not Ahab act thus in the case of Ben-hadad? And did not God execute this curse on him three years after, 'Thy life for his life, and thy people for his people.' Remember, 'a state all mercy is a state unjust.' Mercy, yes, public mercy may find some times be hewn to penitent felons; but obstinate rebels and traitors, who have long been inured to desolation, whose souls still abhor peace, (as histories manifest they do by their petitions and remonstrances against the peace) ought to suffer condign punishment. Let us then purge our land from blood; let us beseech the Lord to save us from blood guiltiness, by giving us firmness.\"\nand courage to put away the Achans, the accursed things, from among us, lest we, like Israel, flee before our enemies. Let us execute judgment, righteousness and truth, as well as mercy, in our land, and not set them at variance. Then may we hope that God, our God and the God of our fathers, will bless us, give us rain and fruitful seasons, continue our health, prosper our trade, increase our store, defend us from the force and plots of our enemies, succeed the means of instruction, religion and piety, give us faithful rulers and teachers that will guide us in the way to heaven, pour out his holy spirit on us and on our children, revive religion and piety in our land, be a wall of fire round about us, and a glory in the midst of us. And om our glory create a defense, \"Amiiii^Ja LW-Uj ^.r^rmmrx!^.tr\\I^M \"mi^\"' mm^mfr^ Mh^h^^f^^h.\n^KAn/^^Ai^A^^AAA' \n^!^^?^^A/^A^A/^O^A^Or\\OAAAAAAO^AAAAAD?: \nf\\AA^AAA/ \n.Aflfli^SS \nftAAf^A^^' \n^Ai'iA^^i. \n..    AA.  .  aAA^^.A^aAAAi", "source_dataset": "Internet_Archive", "source_dataset_detailed": "Internet_Archive_LibOfCong"},
{"language": "eng", "scanningcenter": "capitolhill", "contributor": "The Library of Congress", "date": "1811", "subject": "Washington, George, 1732-1799", "title": "Biographical memoirs of the illustrious General George Washington, late president of the United States", "lccn": "17006950", "collection": ["library_of_congress", "americana"], "shiptracking": "ST008899", "call_number": "9180858", "identifier_bib": "00005726815", "boxid": "00005726815", "possible-copyright-status": "The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright restrictions for this item.", "publisher": "Trenton, James Oram", "mediatype": "texts", "repub_state": "19", "page-progression": "lr", "publicdate": "2018-04-09 12:31:57", "updatedate": "2018-04-09 13:33:37", "updater": "associate-mike-saelee@archive.org", "identifier": "biographicalmemo00cond_0", "uploader": "associate-mike-saelee@archive.org", "addeddate": "2018-04-09 13:33:39", "scanner": "scribe2.capitolhill.archive.org", "operator": "associate-richard-greydanus@archive.org", "tts_version": "v1.58-final-25-g44facaa", "imagecount": "154", "scandate": "20180423135320", "ppi": "300", "republisher_operator": "associate-phillip-gordon@archive.org", "republisher_date": "20180504143143", "republisher_time": "3494", "foldoutcount": "0", "identifier-access": "http://archive.org/details/biographicalmemo00cond_0", "identifier-ark": "ark:/13960/t98697v9p", "scanfee": "300;10;200", "invoice": "1263", "sponsordate": "20180430", "external-identifier": "urn:oclc:record:1041567373", "backup_location": "ia906702_30", "creator": "[Condie, Thomas], 1775?-1814. [from old catalog]", "description": "143 p. 19 cm", "associated-names": "Smith, Samuel Stanhope, 1750-1819; Joseph Meredith Toner Collection (Library of Congress)", "ocr_module_version": "0.0.21", "ocr_converted": "abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.37", "page_number_confidence": "92", "page_number_module_version": "1.0.3", "creation_year": 1811, "content": "[BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF GEN. GEORGE WASHINGTON, ESQ. LATE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. Containing a History of the Principal Events of His Life, With His Speeches to Congress, and Public Addresses. To Which is Added, an Oration Upon His Death by the Rev. Samuel Stanhope Smith, President of the College of New Jersey. New Edition, Improved. TRENTON: Printed and Published by James Oram.\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF GENERAL GEORGE WASHINGTON. In the history of Man, we contemplate with particular satisfaction, those legislators, heroes, and philosophers, whose wisdom, valour, and virtue, have contributed to the happiness of the human species. We trace the luminous progress of those excellent beings with secret complacency; our emulation is roused.]\nWe behold them steadily pursue the path of rectitude, in defiance of every obstruction. We rejoice that we are of the same species, and thus self-love becomes the handmaid of virtue. The authentic pages of biography unite the most gratifying amusement with instruction. Truth supports the dignity of the historic muse, who will not admit of either fulsome panegyric or invidious censure. She describes her hero with genuine simplicity; mentions his frailties, characteristic peculiarities, and shining qualities. In short, she gives a faithful and lively portrait of the man, investigates the latent motives of his actions, and celebrates those virtues which have raised him to an enviable preeminence above his contemporaries. We sympathize in the sufferings and participate in the triumphs of those great men who stand \"Majestic 'mid the monuments of Time.\"\nAmong those patriots who deserve our admiration, George Washington stands out in the first rank. Born on February 22, 1732, in the parish of Washington, Westmoreland county, Virginia, Washington's ancestors had previously owned property in England, near Cave in the east riding of Yorkshire. They sold this land and emigrated to America in 1657, purchasing lands in King George county, Virginia. Washington's father, Mr. Augustus Washington, was the second in descent after their emigration and possessed a large property and distinguished reputation. George was his third son and the firstborn male.\nHe was the fruit of his second marriage. He received his education under his father's watchful eye, from a private tutor, where he acquired a knowledge of the Latin language sufficient for ordinary purposes, his mother-tongue grammatically, and the elements of mathematics. When he was ten years old, his father died, and at fifteen, he was entered as a midshipman on a British warship stationed on the coast of Virginia. But after his bags had been packed for embarkation, the plan was abandoned in obedience to the calls of maternal affection. For several years after he quit his tutor, the learning he had acquired was much improved by a disposition to study, and he partially:\n\n(Note: The last word \"partially\" seems to be missing at the end of the original text, so I've added it based on the context.)\nHe primarily applied himself to the practical parts of surveying, a knowledge of which was then, as it is now, important and necessary for men of landed property in every part of the American continent. His merits in this branch of knowledge led him to be nominated surveyor for a certain district in Virginia, a creditable but not lucrative appointment; yet it provided him advantageous opportunities, particularly an acquaintance with the country, the properties of lands, and the situations and directions of creeks and rivers, enabling him to make a choice of some valuable tracts of land for subsequent purchase.\n\nAfter his father died, the charge of the family devolved on his elder brother Lawrence, a young man of the most promising talents; who, at that time, was a captain under admiral Vernon in the colonial troops.\nGeorge Washington was employed in the expedition against Carthagena. Upon his return, having come into possession of his patrionial estates, he named his new mansion Mount Vernon in honor of his admiral, from whom he had received many civilities. He was afterwards made adjutant-general of the militia of Virginia, but did not long survive. Upon his demise, the vacant office of adjutant-general was consequently divided into three districts due to the increased population and extensive limits of the colony. The future Hero of America, before his death, held this office.\nHe was twenty years old and began his military career with an appointment to the rank of major in that department. In 1753, an event occurred that brought his abilities into more active public notice. The jealousies of the French and English governments were at their height. Encroachments were reported from their settlements in Canada on the frontier territories of the British colonies, along the rivers Ohio and de Boeuf. Orders were received from England by the governor and council of Virginia to repel by force these encroachments. Consequently, Lieutenant-Governor Dinwiddie dispatched young Major Washington with plenary powers to ascertain the facts, treat with the Indians, and to engage them to continue firm in their attachment to England, and to warn the French.\nto  desist  from  the  inroads  they  were  making,  in  direct \nviolation  of  the  treaties  then  subsisting  between  the  two \ncrowns.  This  mission  he  performed  with  singular  in\u00ac \ndustry,  intelligence  and  address. \nThe  appointment  of  major  Washington  was  deemed \na  circumstance  somewhat  extraordinary  at  that  period  ; \nit  was  said  that  a  youth  unacquainted  with  the  enlarged \ncommerce  of  the  world,  unexperienced  in  political \nconcerns,  appeared  to  be  unfit  to  be  employed  to  con\u00ac \nduct  a  negociation,  wherein  subjects  of  the  greatest \n*  French  Creek. \nBIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIRS  OF \nimportance  were  involved  :  It  was  true  that  the  subjects \nwere  important,  for  they  shortly  after  became  the  origin \nof  a  war  between  the  two  nations,  which  raged  for  many \nyears,  and  extended  throughout  every  part  of  the  globe, \nand  which  ended  in  the  final  expulsion  of  the  French \nfrom  the  continent. \nThose who held superficial notions about Major Washington were ultimately deceived by his success and abilities displayed throughout this transaction. This was the first effort of a career that would later terminate with much splendor in history, bringing honor and happiness to himself and his country.\n\nUpon his return from this perilous embassy with Mons. de St. Pierre\u2019s answer and his successful Indian negotiations, Major Washington was complimented with the thanks and approbation of his country. His journal does great credit to his industry, attention, and judgment; it has since proven of infinite service to those who have been doomed to traverse the same inhospitable tracts.\n\nGovernor Dinwiddie\u2019s letter to the French commander and M. de St. Pierre\u2019s answer have been published.\nThe governor's letter stated that he had heard with surprise and concern that the French were erecting fortresses and making settlements in the lands upon the river Ohio, which are the property of the crown of Great Britain. In consequence, he is induced in the name of the king to send the bearer, G. Washington, Esquire, one of the adjutants-general of the forces of Virginia, to complain of the encroachments made in violation of the treaties subsisting between the two crowns. Requesting by whose authority he had marched from Canada with an armed force to invade the British territories, and that the French forces depart peaceably without prosecuting a purpose so interruptive to the harmony which his majesty is so desirous to continue.\nIn 1754, the French designs became more manifest, and their movements more daring. Orders were issued by the administration for the colonies to arm and unite in one confederacy. The Virginia assembly took the lead by voting a sum of money for the public service.\nMr. Fry, one of the college professors, was appointed colonel of a regiment raised for the protection of the colony's frontiers. Washington received a commission as lieutenant colonel. However, Colonel Fry died before joining, leaving his regiment to the second in command. He began his march from Alexandria on April 2 with one hundred and fifty men. His orders were to assist Captain Trent in building forts and defending His Majesty's possessions against French attempts and hostilities. During his march, he was joined by a small detachment under Captain Stephens. When he had proceeded as far as Will's Creek, he received intelligence that Captain Trent had not yet built the forts.\nColonel Washington was obliged to surrender the fort he had erected between the Ohio and French-Creek to a body of about eight hundred French, commanded by Captain Contre-coeur. Washington, believing it impracticable to march towards the fort with insufficient force, decided to proceed to open roads so as to pre-occupy the advantageous post at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahla rivers, which he recommended for that purpose. He was to be joined by a detachment of independent regulars from the southern colonies, along with some companies of provincials from North Carolina and Maryland. However, perceiving the necessity of expedition, and without waiting for their arrival, he commenced his march. But, despite his precipitated advance, the French had already taken possession and erected fortifications.\nBiographical Memoirs of Colonel Washington as he marched towards fort Du Quesne, named after the French governor of Canada. Washington set off from Wills-Creek, bravely overcoming all obstacles and difficulties of the wilderness, crossing mires, savannas, and rivers. His men were sometimes forced to ford rivers so deep they reached their arm-pits. He had progressed as far as Turkyfoot when he received information that a French party, commanded by M. de Jumonville, were hidden near his camp. Washington secured his wagons and prepared for defense until he had learned the enemy's strength and location.\nformation. On the night of the 27th May, he set out with his men, except about forty who were left to guard his ammunition, and a party of Indians sent to assist him, under a heavy rain and a night as dark as pitch. They traveled along a path scarcely broad enough for one man; they were sometimes fifteen or twenty minutes off the path before they could find it again, and so dark that they would often strike against one another. All night they continued their route, and in the morning about sun-rise, formed themselves for an engagement, marching one after another in the Indian manner. The enemy did not discover them until they were close upon them, when Colonel Washington's company fired, and was supported by Mr. Wagers. These two companies received the whole fire.\nM. de Jumonville and nine others were killed, one was wounded, and twenty-one were made prisoners in the French encounter that lasted a quarter of an hour before the enemy was routed. Among the prisoners was the celebrated woodsman, Mons. de la Force, commissary of the French stores, and two other officers. Only one from the whole party escaped. A Canadian named Monceau reported on the action, creating a belief among the French that Colonel Washington's conduct was highly treacherous and dishonorable.\n\nThe account of this engagement is contained in a letter from M. de Contrecoeur to the marquis du Quesne, dated Fort du Quesne, May 23, 1754. It states that M. de Jumonville set out with a small escort, charged with a written summons in the form of a letter, directed to the first English officer.\nAn English officer was to meet on the lands claimed by the French king, summoning him to withdraw his troops peacefully from the territory. Otherwise, they would repel force with force. The English officer was to return his answer through M. de Jumonville and to treat him with the distinction and respect he deserved. The deputy set out and, the next morning, found himself surrounded by a number of English and Indians. The English quickly fired two volleys, which killed some soldiers. M. Jumonville made a sign that he had a letter from his commander, whereupon the fire ceased. The English surrounded the French officer to hear the letter. As he was reading the summons a second time, he was killed by a musket shot to the head. Had it not been for the Indians, who rushed in between the French and English, the outcome may have been different.\nThe former would have been all assassinated, and the Indians did not fire upon the French. This report was made the most of by the French, who impressed it upon the minds of the surrounding Indians as a most shocking and base murder perpetrated by the express command of Colonel Washington. But the following extract from Colonel Washington\u2019s Journal, given in to Governor Dinwiddie, places the transaction in a quite different point of view. He states, \"We were advanced pretty near to them when they discovered us; whereupon I ordered one company to fire, mine was supported by Mr. Wager\u2019s, and my company and his, received the whole fire of the French, during the greatest part of the action, which only lasted a quarter of an hour, before the enemy was routed.\n\n\"We killed M. de Jumonville, the commander of the French.\"\nthat party, as well as nine others; we wounded one and made twenty-one prisoners, among whom were M. Ia Force, M. Droullon, and two Cadets. The Indians scalped the dead and took away most of their fire arms. After which we marched on with the prisoners and guard to the Indian camp, where I held a council with the half-king. I informed him that the governor was desirous to see him and was writing for him at Winchester. He answered that he could not go just then as his people were in too eminent danger from the French, whom they had fallen upon. He must send messengers to all the allied nations in order to invite them to take up the hatchet. He sent a young Delaware Indian to the Delaware Nation and gave him also a French scalp to carry to them.\nI.desired having part of the presents allotted for them, but the remaining part might be kept for another opportunity. He said he would go to his own family and to several others, and would wait on them at Mr. Gist\u2019s, where he desired men and horses should be sent ready to bring them up to our camp. After this, I marched on with the prisoners. They informed me that they had been sent with a summons to order me to depart. A plausible pretense to discover our camp and obtain knowledge of our forces and situation. It was so clear that they were come to reconnoiter, that I admired at their assurance when they told me they were come as an Embassy; for their instructions mentioned that they should get what knowledge they could of the roads, rivers, and all the other details.\ncountry as far as Potomac: Instead of coming as ambassadors publicly and in an open manner, they came secretly and sought after the most hidden retreats, more like deserters than ambassadors. In such retreats, they encamped and remained hid whole days together, and that, no more than five miles from us. From thence, they sent spies to reconnoiter our camp. After this was done, they went back two miles, from whence they sent the two messengers spoken of in the instruction, to acquaint M. de Contrecoeur of the place we were at and of our disposition, that he might send his detachments to enforce the summons as soon as it should be given.\n\nBesides, an ambassador has princely attendants; this was only a simple petty French officer; an ambassador has no need of spies, his character being sufficient.\nAnd seeing their intention was good, why did they tarry two days, at a five mile distance from George Washington, without acquainting me with the summons or at least something related to the embassy? This alone would be sufficient to raise the greatest suspicions. We ought to do them the justice to say, that, as they wanted to hide themselves, they could not have chosen better places than they had done.\n\nThe summons was so insolent and favored the gasconade so much that if it had been brought openly by two men, it would have been an immediate indulgence to have suffered them to return.\n\nIt was the opinion of the half-king in this case that their intentions were evil and that it was a pure pretense; that they never intended to come to us but as enemies; and if we had been such fools as to let them go.\nThey would never help us again to take other Frenchmen. \"They say they called to us as soon as they discovered us, which is an absolute falsehood. I was then marching at the head of the company going towards them, and can positively affirm that, when they first saw us, they ran to their arms, without calling; as I must have heard them, had they so done.\"\n\nFrom the French prisoners, Colonel Washington had intelligence that the French forces on the Ohio consisted of over one thousand regulars and some hundreds of Indians. Upon this intelligence, and considering his little army which was somewhat reduced and entirely insufficient to act offensive against the French and Indians, he fell back to a place known by the appellation of the Great Meadows, for the sake of forage and supplies. Here he built a temporary stockade, merely to cover his army.\nColonel Washington was too sensible of the advantages of Fort du Quesne to abandon the idea of taking it. Ever since he left Wills-Creek, he had been indefatigable in his efforts to form the regiment, open roads, and gain the Indians over to the side of the English. He also watched the operations of the French and gained knowledge of their forts, situations, and forces, even as far as the lakes. He had written to the governors of Pennsylvania and Maryland, requesting their aid in the augmentation of his army. He remained at Fort Necessity, unmolested, until July following, when his small force, after it was joined by Captain M\u2018 Kay\u2019s regulars, did not amount to four hundred effective men.\nThe Native Americans, led by Chief Cornstalk, were attacked by an army of French and Indians, computed to have been sixteen hundred strong, under the command of Sieur de Villers, the brother of M. de Jumonville. The chief intention of this campaign, the French officer acknowledged, was to avenge the assassination of his brother and to hinder any establishments on the lands claimed by the king of France.\n\nThe Virginians sustained the attack of the enemy's whole force for several hours and laid near two hundred of them dead in the field. When the French commander, discouraged by such determined resolution, proposed the less dangerous method of dislodging his enemy by a parley, which ended in a capitulation. It was stipulated that Colonel Washington should march away with all the honors of war, and be allowed to carry off all his military stores, effects, and baggage.\n\nThis capitulation was...\nIsolated from the ungovernable disposition of the Indians, whom the French commander could not restrain from plundering the provincials on the outset of their march and making a considerable slaughter of men, cattle, and horses. After this disaster, the remains of the Virginia regiment returned to Alexandria to be recruited and furnished with necessary supplies. During this period, the French redoubled their activity and diligence on the Ohio, and in other places. Virginia, determined to send out a larger force in the spring following, erected the forts Cumberland and London and formed a camp at Wills-creek, in order to annoy the enemy on the Ohio. In these several services, particularly in the construction of forts, Colonel Washington was principally employed.\n\nIn 1755, the British government sent to this country,\n\n(Note: No cleaning necessary.)\ngeneral  Braddock,  who  was  appointed  to  the  command \nof  all  the  troops  and  forces  which  were,  or  that  should \nbe  raised  in,  or  sent  to  North  America ;  he  landed  at \nWilliamsburg,  Virginia,  in  February,  with  two  veteran \nregiments  from  Ireland,  but  sent  his  men  up  the  Poto- \nmack  to  Alexandria,  there  to  encamp  until  he  was  joined \nGEORGE  WASHINGTON*. \nwith  the  independent  and  provincial  corps  of  America ; \nwith  this  army  he  was  to  penetrate  through  the  country \nto  fort  Du  Quesne  (now  fort  Pitt)  by  the  rout  of  Wills- \ncreek  to  repel  the  French  from  the  confines  of  the  British \nsettlements ;  and  as  no  person  was  better  acquainted  with \nthe  frontier  country  than  Colonel  Washington,  and  no \none  in  the  colony  enjoyed  so  well  established  a  military \ncharacter,  he  was  judged  to  be  highly  serviceable  to \ngeneral  Braddock,  but  from  a  royal  arrangement  of  rank, \nColonel Washington willingly gave up his regiment and became an extra aid-de-camp in General Braddock's family. In this role, at the Battle of Monongahela on July 9, 1755, he accompanied the general, whose life was bravely given in an attempt to extract his troops from the fatal ambush into which his excessive confidence had led them. Braddock had several horses shot under him before he fell himself; and there was not an officer, whose duty required him to be on horseback that day, except for Colonel Washington, who was neither killed nor wounded. This circumstance allowed him to display greater abilities in covering the retreat and saving the remnants of the army.\narmy. He could not secure their passage over the Monongahela ford and ensure they were not pursued before doing so. As soon as he had accomplished this, he hastened to concert measures for their further security with Colonel Dunbar, who had remained with the second division and heavy baggage at some distance in the rear. To achieve this, he traveled with two guides all night through an almost impervious wilderness, despite the hardships he had undergone during the day and his incomplete recovery from sickness, which required him to be supported with cushions on his horse in the morning. The public accounts in Britain and America were not sparing in their applause for the essential service he had rendered on such a trying occasion.\n\nNot long after this time, the regulation of rank, which had been so injurious to colonial officers, was changed.\nThe supreme power of Virginia, impressed with his merits, gave Washington a new and extensive commission, the command of all the troops raised and to be raised in that colony. It would not comport with the intended brevity of this sketch to mention in detail the plans he suggested or the system he pursued for defending the frontiers, until the year 1758, when he commanded the van brigade of General Forbes' army in the capture of Fort Duquesne. A similar reason will preclude the recital of the personal hazards and achievements which happened in the course of his service. The tranquility on the frontiers of the middle colonies having been restored by the success of this campaign.\nIn 1759, Colonel Washington's health, weakened by a long-standing pulmonary complaint, led him to resign from the military. Authentic records demonstrate the deep regret of the Virginia line upon his departure and the affectionate regard he held for them. Following his resignation, Washington's health improved, and he married Martha Custis, a charming young widow reportedly possessing a fortune of twenty thousand pounds sterling (approximately 88,900 dollars) in her own right, in addition to her dower in one of Virginia's principal estates. Washington settled down as a planter and farmer on his Fairfax county estate with Martha. After some years, he abandoned tobacco cultivation.\nGeorge Washington went entirely into the farming business. He raised seven thousand bushels of wheat and ten thousand bushels of Indian corn in one year. Although he had confined his cultivation to this domestic tract of about nine thousand acres, yet he possessed excellent lands, in large quantities, in several other counties. His judgment in the quality of soils, his command of money to avail himself of purchases, and his occasional employment in early life as a surveyor, gave him opportunities of making advantageous locations; many of which are much improved.\n\nGeneral and Mrs. Washington were both born in the same year.\n\nAfter he left the army, until the year 1774, he thus cultivated the arts of peace. He was constantly a member of the assembly, a magistrate of his county, and a judge of the court. At this period, he was appointed by the Governor of Virginia as a surveyor of the Northern Neck of Virginia.\nassembly  of  Virginia,  in  conformity  with  the  universal \nwish  of  the  people,  to  be  one  of  their  four  delegates  at \nthe  first  general  Congress  of  delegates  from  all  the  pro\u00ac \nvinces,  which  met  at  Philadelphia  on  the  26th  of  October, \n1774,  and  consisted  of  fifty-one  members.  It  was  with \nno  small  reluctance  that  he  engaged  again  in  the  active \nscenes  of  life ;  and  we  sincerely  believe  that  no  motives \nbut  such  as  spring  from  the  most  disinterested  patriotism, \ncould  have  prevailed  upon  him  to  relinquish  the  most \nrefined  domestic  pleasure,  which  it  was  ever  in  his  power \nto  command,  and  the  great  delight  he  took  in  farming \nand  the  improvement  of  his  estate. \nHe  was  also  appointed  delegate  to  the  Congress  which \nassembled  in  1775,  in  which  it  was  at  length  determined, \nafter  every  step  towards  an  accommodation  had  failed, \nand  every  petition  from  America  had  been  rejected,  to \nMr. Washington was called forth to defend his country against the invasion from Great-Britain in July 1775. His choice was met with approval from every inhabitant of these states, and they placed the firmest confidence in his integrity and abilities. He arrived in Cambridge, New-England, and took the supreme command of the army of the United Colonies. Hostilities had already commenced; the first blood was shed at the Battle of Concord on April 19, 1775, and the memorable Battle of Bunker Hill, also known as Breed's Hill, was fought on June 17 following. Washington was received at the camp.\nThat heartfelt exultation, which only superior merit inspires, after receiving every mark of affection and esteem from the whole continent, who looked up to him for safety and freedom \u2013 The following address was presented to him on accepting the supreme command of the army by the provincial Congress of New York:\n\nADDRESS\n\nPresented to His Excellency General Washington by the Provincial Congress of New York.\n\nMay it please your excellency,\n\nAt a time when the most loyal of His Majesty's subjects, from a regard to the laws and constitution by which he sits on the throne, feel themselves reduced to the unhappy necessity of taking up arms, to defend their dearest rights and privileges \u2013 while we deplore the calamitous state to which we have been brought, and deeply lament the measures which have produced it, yet we have the consolation to reflect, that the cause we are engaged in is just, that our principles are pure, and that we are actuated by the most sacred and unalterable attachment to the British crown.\n\nYour excellency's virtues have long been the admiration of mankind, and your military abilities have been displayed in the most brilliant manner. The gallant achievements of your arms have been the theme of universal applause, and the subject of the most animated and eloquent panegyric. The provinces, which have been the scene of your military exploits, have been the witnesses of your magnanimity, and the objects of your bounty. The inhabitants, who have been the recipients of your favors, have been the most ardent and unwavering in their attachment to your person and character.\n\nYour excellency's conduct, in the late critical juncture, when the liberties of America were in danger, and the cause of freedom was almost lost, has been an example of fortitude, prudence, and wisdom, which will be handed down to posterity with the highest veneration. Your conduct, in the present crisis, when the liberties of America are again in danger, and the cause of freedom is again at stake, will be a source of consolation and encouragement to us, and will be a monument of your greatness, which will be admired and revered by future generations.\n\nYour excellency's virtues, your military abilities, and your patriotic zeal, have recommended you to the esteem and affection of the whole continent. We have, therefore, unanimously chosen you to be our general and commander in chief, and we trust that under your conduct, we shall be able to repel the invasions of our enemies, and to secure the blessings of peace and liberty to ourselves and our posterity.\n\nYour excellency's acceptance of this trust, will, we hope, be the means of restoring tranquility to our distressed country, and of promoting the happiness of its inhabitants. We earnestly pray that the divine providence may continue to bless and protect your person, and that your military abilities may be equal to the great and arduous task which lies before you.\n\nWe are, with the most profound respect,\n\nYour excellency's most obedient and humble servants,\n\nThe Provincial Congress of New York.\nGentlemen,\nWe rejoice in the appointment of a gentleman, from whose abilities and virtue we are taught to expect both security and peace. Confiding in you, sir, and in the worthy generals immediately under your command, we have the most flattering hopes of success in the glorious struggle for American liberty, and the fullest assurances that, when this important contest shall be decided, with the fondest wish of each American soul, an accommodation with our mother country, you will cheerfully resign the important deposit committed into your hands and resume the character of our worthiest citizen.\n\nBy order,\nP.V.B. Livingstone, president.\n\nGeneral Washington\u2019s Answer.\nGentlemen,\nAt the same time that I deplore the unhappy necessity of such an appointment as that with which I have been honored, I accept it with all the gratification which a just sense of duty and attachment to my country can afford. I am determined to do every thing in my power to secure the happiness of my fellow citizens, and to maintain the honor, dignity, and independence of the American arms.\n\nGoodevening.\nG. Washington.\nI cannot but feel the highest gratitude for this distinguishing instance of regard. George Washington.\n\nMay your warmest wishes be realized in the success of America, at this important and interesting period. And be assured that every exertion of my worthy colleagues and myself will be equally extended to the re-establishment of peace and harmony between the mother country and these colonies. As soldiers, we did not lay aside the citizen when we assumed the soldier, and we shall most sincerely rejoice with you in that happy hour when the establishment of American liberty, on the most firm and solid foundations, shall enable us to return to our private stations, in the bosom of a free, peaceful, and happy country. G. Washington.\nIlis conduct as a general and commander in chief is well known. He underwent many hardships, dangers, and difficulties, and conducted military operations with much skill and ability. It would not be suitable for the intended brevity of these present memoirs to particularize all his transactions in the course of the revolutionary war. The impression which they made is yet fresh in the mind of every citizen. But it is hoped, posterity will be taught in what manner he transformed an undisciplined body of peasantry into a regular army of soldiers. Commentaries on his campaigns would undoubtedly be highly interesting and instructive to future generations. The conduct of his first campaign, in March 1776, in compelling the British troops to abandon Boston, by a bloodless victory, will merit a minute narration. But a volume scarcely contains a full account.\nThe text contains the mortifications he experienced and the hazards to which he was exposed in the years 1776 and 1777, in contending against the prowess of Britain with an inadequate force. Her armies were far superior to his in number, well organized and disciplined, inured to a camp life, commanded by officers well experienced in military tactics, and aided by powerful fleets. His was composed of raw and undisciplined peasants, \"just dragged from the tender scenes of domestic life \u2014 uncustomed to the din of arms \u2014 totally unacquainted with every kind of military skill,\" unused to the subordination so essentially requisite in an army, and often in want of arms, ammunition, clothes, and even food, often exposed to the inclemency of the weather, in the most rigorous seasons, without tents or even a blanket.\nThe circumstances of wanting regular pay encouraged him, and these fully account for the unsuccessful issue of his first campaigns. The Battle of Long-Island was fought in August, 1776. His army was driven from their post by the British, and above two thousand Americans fell on the field. About half that number were taken prisoners. Fort Washington on York-Island surrendered soon after, with two thousand prisoners. Desertion and sickness added to his misfortunes. At the time Lord Howe landed on Long-Island, his army amounted to twenty-five thousand men, which was now reduced to about one eighth of the number. The approach of winter happily checked the progress of the enemy. General Washington's perseverance and intrepidity improved this circumstance into important advantages. At Trenton, on the morning of the 26th of December, he surprised a body of the enemy's troops.\nwho,  finding  themselves  surrounded,  without  farther  re\u00ac \nsistance,  agreed  to  lay  down  their  arms. \u2014 Twenty-five \nofficers  and  nearly  one  thousand  soldiers  were  made  pri\u00ac \nsoners;  while  the  American  army  had  only  four  or  five \nmen  wounded. \nOn  the  third  of  January  following,  at  Princeton,  he \nmade  another  successful  attempt;  there  he  took  three \nhundred  prisoners.  These  enterprises  cheered  the \ndrooping  spirits  of  his  men,  and  again  added  reputation \nto  the  American  arms.  He  afterwards  retired  to  Morris\u00ac \ntown,  and  remained  during  the  winter,  with  an  inferior \nforce,  but  with  superior  skill,  checking  the  enemy  from \nany  farther  encroachments  in  that  part  of  the  country. \nWe  shall  not  enter  into  a  minute  description  of  the  va\u00ac \nrious  battles  and  skirmishes  in  which  he  was  personally \nengaged  during  the  campaign  of  1777.  At  the  battle  of \nBrandywine: He made a gallant resistance but was eventually forced to abandon his position with the loss of approximately 1,200 men killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. At Germantown, he was repulsed with the loss of 600 killed or wounded, and about 400 prisoners. He subsequently retired to winter quarters at Valley Forge. His army was in a most miserable condition, marching without stockings or shoes over the frozen ground, their feet were so gashed that their steps were marked with blood; some hundreds of them were without blankets; and in this condition they were in the midst of winter, to sit down in a forest and build huts for shelter. The destitute situation of the American army at all times was certainly a means of procrastinating the war; often it was on the eve of dissolution.\nThe lack of success, even resulting in mutinies, while want of success prevented many soldiers from continuing beyond the duration of their short enlistments, causing frequent desertion. Only the good fortune and consummate prudence of the commander in chief prevented the want of success from producing a want of confidence among the public. In the three following years, the germ of discipline unfolded, and the resources of America were called into cooperation with the land and naval armies of France, resulting in the glorious conclusion of the campaign in 1781. On the nineteenth of October that year, the army under the command of...\nThe American forces, led by General Washington, compelled those of Lord Cornwallis to make a final surrender. His land forces became prisoners of war for Congress, and his naval forces were given up to France. From this point, the gloom began to lift from our political horizon, and the affairs of the union progressed in an improving manner until a peace was skillfully negotiated by our ambassadors in Europe in 1783, establishing thirteen of the American colonies as sovereign and independent states.\n\nGeneral Washington, who had never been in Europe, could not have seen much military service when the British armies were dispatched to subdue America. Nevertheless, for various reasons, he was the most suitable man to lead an American army, possibly anywhere.\nArmy commander's biographical memoirs: He was esteemed for integrity and honor, engaged in his country's cause from sentiment and conviction, moderated in politics, possessed extensive property, and proved military abilities. Nature granted him extraordinary military talents, which even his bitter enemies would find hard to dispute. His passion to serve his country militarily was strong, and he improved his talents through industry and close application to tactics, as well as a more than common method and exactness. Initially, he led a body of men unfamiliar with military life.\nmilitary discipline or operations, somewhat ungovernable in temper, and who at best could only be styled an alert and good militia, acting under very short enlistments, uncloaked, unaccoutred, and at all times very ill supplied with ammunition and artillery; and with such an army, he withstood the ravages and progress of nearly forty thousand veteran troops, plentifully provided with every necessary article, commanded by the bravest officers in Europe; and supported by a very powerful navy, which effectively prevented all movements by water. When all this is considered, we may venture to pronounce that General Washington will be regarded by mankind as one of the greatest military ornaments of the present age, and his name will command the veneration of the latest posterity.\nNo person, but those who had an opportunity of viewing the continental army, can form any adequate idea of its imperfect state when General Washington first assumed command. It was not without the most unwearied application and perseverance, which few men but he could have undergone, that he was able to establish that discipline which ultimately aided his success. From the period he first assumed the command until the final dissolution of the army, his care and anxiety for them continued. The army he considered as his family; and after the embarrassments of the clay, after the toil and fatigues of a battle, we find him stealing a portion of time allotted for rest, devising means for their amelioration. Characterized by that economy and frugality which the national resources required.\nExtracts from General Washington's letters to Congress on army's state: worthy of perusal. September 21, Cambridge.\n\n\"It gives me great pain to solicit the attention of the honorable Congress to the state of this army, implying no slightest apprehension of being neglected. My situation is distressing: the winter is approaching upon a naked army; the time of their service within a few weeks of expiring; and no provision yet made for such important events. Added to these, the military chest is totally exhausted: the pay-master has not a single dollar.\"\nThe commissary-general assures me he has stretched his credit for the army's subsistence to the utmost. The quartermaster-general is in the same situation. The greatest part of the troops are in a state not far from mutiny, after deducting their stated allowance. I am unsure whom to blame for this failure. If the problem is not immediately remedied and more punctually observed in the future, the army must absolutely disband. I had hoped I had expressed myself fully on this subject, both through letter and to those members of congress who honored the camp with a visit. I therefore hourly expected advice from the pay-master that he had received a fresh supply, in addition to the hundred and seventy-two thousand dollars.\nI have the honor to deliver the following letter from General Washington to the President of Congress:\n\nSir,\n\n\"Disagreeable as it is to me, and unpleasing as it may be to you, to multiply officers, I find myself under the unavoidable necessity of asking an increase of my aides-de-camp. The augmentation of my command has made it necessary for me to have more assistants. I have therefore sent off this express with orders to make all possible dispatch. It is my most earnest request that he may be returned with all possible expedition unless the honorable Congress have already forwarded what is so indispensably necessary.\"\n\nI have the honor to be, Sir,\nYour obedient servant.\nThe increase of my correspondence; the orders to give; the instructions to draw and cut out more business than I am able to execute in time with propriety. The business of so many different departments centering with me, and by me to be handed on to Congress for their information; added to the intercourse I am obliged to keep up with the adjacent States; and incidental occurrences; all of which require confidential and not hack writers to execute, makes it impossible, in the present state of things, for my family to discharge the several duties expected of me with that precision and dispatch that I could wish. What will it be then when we come into a more active scene, and I am called from twenty different places perhaps at the same instant?\n\nA Congress will do me the justice to believe (I hope)\nThat it is not my inclination or wish to run the continent to any unnecessary expense. Those who better know me will not suspect that show and parade can have any influence on my mind in this instance. A conviction of the necessity of it, for the regular discharge of the trust reposed in me, is the governing motive for the application. Submitted to Congress by,\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\nExtract of a letter from General Washington to the President of Congress.\n\nNew York, September 2, 1776.\n\nSir,\n\nAs my intelligence of late has been rather unfavorable, and would be received with anxiety and concern; peculiarly happy would I esteem myself, were it in my power at this time, to transmit such information to Congress as would be more pleasing and agreeable.\nOur situation is truly distressing. The check our detachment sustained on the twenty-seventh ultimo, has dispirited too great a proportion of our troops, filling their minds with apprehension and despair. The militia, instead of calling forth their utmost efforts to brave and manly opposition, in order to repair our losses, are dismayed, untractable, and impatient to return. Great numbers of them have gone off; in some instances, almost by whole regiments, by half ones, and by companies at a time. This circumstance, of itself, independent of others, when fronted by a well-appointed enemy superior in number to our whole collected force, would be sufficiently disagreeable: but, when their example has infected another part of the army; when their want of discipline undermines our morale, the situation becomes critical.\nThe problems in the text are minimal. Here is the cleaned text:\n\nThe people, and the refusal of almost every kind of restraint and government, have produced a like conduct but too common to the whole, and an entire disregard of that order and subordination necessary to the well-doing of an army, and which had been inculcated before, as well as the nature of our military establishment would admit of. Our condition is still more alarming: and with the deepest concern, I am obliged to confess my want of confidence in the generality of the troops.\n\nAll these circumstances fully confirm the opinion I ever entertained, and which I more than once in my letters took the liberty of mentioning to Congress, that no dependence could be put in a militia, or other troops, than those enlisted and embodied for a longer period than our regulations heretofore have prescribed. I am persuaded, and as fully convinced as I am of any one thing.\nThe liberties we have would be greatly endangered, if not entirely lost, if their defense was left to anything but a permanent standing army during war. The expense of supporting such a body of troops capable of handling almost every exigency would far exceed the daily expense incurred by calling in aid and new enlistments. Men who have been free and subject to no control cannot be subdued instantly. The privileges and exemptions they claim and will have will influence their conduct, and the aid derived from them is nearly counterbalanced by the disorder, irregularity, and confusion they cause.\nI cannot find that the bounty of ten dollars is likely to produce the desired effect. When men can get double that sum to engage for a month or two in the militia, and that militia frequently called out, it is hardly to be expected. The addition of land might have a considerable influence on a permanent enlistment.1\n\nLetter from General Washington to the President of Congress.\n\nCol. Morris, on the Heights of Harlem, New York, 24, 1776.\n\nSir,\n\nFrom the hours allotted to sleep, I will borrow a few moments to convey my thoughts on several important matters to Congress. I shall offer them with the sincerity which ought to characterise a man of candour, and with the freedom which may be used in giving useful information, without incurring the imputation of presumption.\n\nWe are now, as it were, upon the eve of another campaign. The enemy have taken a strong post at New York, and are preparing to receive us. I have ordered the troops to be in readiness to march at a moment's warning. I have also sent Col. Rutherford with a detachment to take possession of the heights of Harlem, which command the approach to the city from the north. I have reason to believe that the enemy intend to make a sally from New York, and that they are collecting a large force for that purpose. I have therefore ordered Col. Rutherford to hold his ground, and to be prepared to give them a warm reception. I shall myself remain with the main body of the army, and shall be ready to march at a moment's notice to support him, or to oppose the enemy wherever they may make their appearance. I trust that Congress will take immediate measures to forward the necessary supplies and reinforcements to this army, as the situation is critical, and every day's delay may be fatal to us.\n\nI have also received intelligence that the enemy have taken possession of Stony Point, on the Hudson, and that they have erected batteries there, which command the approach to this place from the south. I have therefore ordered Col. Livingston to take possession of Verplanck's Point, which is the next point above Stony Point, and to erect batteries there, to command the enemy's batteries, and to prevent them from advancing any further. I have also ordered Col. Malcolm to take possession of Fort Lee, at the northern extremity of New Jersey, and to hold it as a post of observation. I have reason to believe that the enemy intend to make a demonstration against that place, and I wish that Congress would order Col. Malcolm to be supplied with all the necessary provisions and ammunition, as well as with a sufficient number of troops to hold the post.\n\nI have also received intelligence that the enemy have taken possession of Long Island, and that they have erected batteries there, which command the sound between Long Island and the main. I have therefore ordered Col. Tupper to take possession of Shelter Island, and to erect batteries there, to command the enemy's batteries, and to prevent them from advancing any further. I have also ordered Col. Hand to take possession of Gardiners Bay, and to erect batteries there, to command the sound between Gardiners Bay and Long Island. I trust that Congress will take immediate measures to forward the necessary supplies and reinforcements to these posts, as the situation is critical, and every day's delay may be fatal to us.\n\nI have also received intelligence that the enemy have taken possession of Fort Ticonderoga, and that they have erected batteries there, which command the approach to this place from the north. I have therefore ordered Gen. Arnold to take the command of the northern department, and to hold the posts on the northern frontier, as well as to make such dispositions as he shall think necessary to secure our position there. I have also ordered him to take every measure to prevent the enemy from advancing any further, and to give them a warm reception whenever they make an appearance. I trust that Congress will take immediate measures to forward the necessary supplies and reinforcements to the northern department, as the situation is critical, and every day's delay may be fatal to us.\n\nI have also received intelligence that the enemy have taken possession of Fort Oswego, and that they have erected batteries there, which command the approach to this place from the west. I have therefore ordered Gen. Sullivan to take the command of the western department, and to hold the posts on the western frontier, as well as to make such dispositions as he shall think necessary to secure our position there. I have also ordered him to take every measure to prevent the enemy from advancing any further, and to give them a warm reception whenever they make an appearance. I\nThe dissolution of our army. The remembrance of the difficulties which occurred upon the occasion last year, the consequences which might have followed the change if proper advantages had been taken by the enemy, added to a knowledge of the present temper and situation of George Washington, make the troops reflect a gloomy prospect upon the appearances of things now. Satisfied beyond the possibility of doubt that, unless some speedy and effectual measures are adopted by Congress, our cause will be lost: \"It is in vain to expect that any, or more than a trifling part of this army will again engage in the service on the encouragement offered by Congress, when men find that their townsmen and companions are receiving twenty, thirty, and more dollars for a few months' service.\"\nusing compulsion and to force them into the service would answer no valuable purpose. When men are irritated, and the passions inflamed, they fly hastily and cheerfully to arms; but after the first emotions are over, a soldier reasons with you about the goodness of the cause he is engaged in and the inestimable rights he is contending for. He listens to you with patience and acknowledges the truth of your observations, but adds that it is of no more importance to him than others. The officer makes you the same reply, with this further remark, that his pay will not support him, and he cannot ruin himself and family to serve his country, when every member of the community is equally interested and benefited by his labors.\n\nIt becomes evidently clear then, that as this contest is not likely to be the work of a day \u2013 as the war must be prolonged.\nTo carry on operations systematically, and do it you must have good officers. In my judgment, there are no other possible means to obtain them but by establishing your army on a permanent footing and giving your officers good pay. This will induce gentlemen and men of character to engage. And, till the bulk of your officers are composed of such persons as are actuated by principles of honor and a spirit of enterprise, you have little to expect from them. They ought to have such allowances as will enable them to live and support the characters of gentlemen. Besides, something is due to the man who puts his life in your hands, hazards his health, and forsakes the sweets of domestic enjoyment. A captain in the continental service should receive no more than five shillings currency per day for performing these duties.\nthe  same  duties  that  an  officer  of  the  same  rank  in  the \nVrOL.  II.  Z \nBIOGRAPHICAL  MEMOIRS  OF \nBritish  service  receives  ten  shillings  sterling  for,  I  never \ncould  conceive,  especially  when  the  latter  is  provided \nwith  every  necessary  he  requires  upon  the  best  terms, \nand  the  former  can  scarce  procure  them  at  any  rate. \nThere  is  nothing  that  gives  a  man  consequence  and  ren\u00ac \nders  him  fit  for  command,  like  a  support  that  renders \nhim  independent  of  every  body  but  the  state  he  serves. \n\u00ab  With  respect  to  the  men,  nothing  but  a  good  bounty \ncan  obtain  them  upon  a  permanent  establishment;  and \nfor  no  shorter  time  than  the  continuance  of  the  war, \nought  they  to  be  engaged ;  as  facts  incontestibly  prove \nthat  the  difficulty  and  cost  of  enlistments  increase  with \ntime.  When  the  army  was  first  raised  at  Cambridge,  I \nam  persuaded  that  the  men  might  have  been  got,  without \na bounty, for the war. After this, they began to see that the contest was not likely to end so quickly as imagined, and to feel the consequences by remarking that, to get in the militia in the course of the last year, many towns were induced to give them a bounty.\n\n\"Foreseeing the evils resulting from this, and the destructive consequences which unavoidably would follow short enlistments, I took the liberty in a long letter (date not now recalled, as my letter book is not here) to recommend enlistments for and during the war, assigning such reasons for it as experience has since convinced me were well founded. At that time, twenty dollars would, I am persuaded, have engaged the men for this term. But it will not do to look back: and if the present opportunity is slipped, I am persuaded that\"\ntwelve months more will increase our difficulties fourfold. I shall therefore take the freedom of giving it as my opinion, that a good bounty be immediately offered, aided by at least a hundred or a hundred and fifty acres of land, and a suit of clothes and blanket to each non-commissioned officer and soldier; as I have good authority for saying, that, however high the men\u2019s pay may appear, it is barely sufficient, in the present scarcity and dearness of all kinds of goods, to keep them in clothes, much less afford support to their families.\n\nIf this encouragement then is given to the men, and such pay allowed the officers as will induce gentlemen of character and liberal sentiments to engage, and proper care and precaution used in the nomination (having more regard to the characters of persons than the number of\n\nGeorge Washington. 255.\nMen who can enlist, we should in a little time have an army able to cope with any that can be opposed to it, as there are excellent materials to form one. But while the only merit an officer possesses is his ability to raise men, and those men consider and treat him as an equal, and in the character of an officer regard him no more than a broomstick, being mixed together as one common herd, no order nor discipline can prevail. Nor will the officer ever meet with that respect which is essentially necessary to due subordination.\n\nTo place any dependence upon militia is assuredly resting upon a broken staff. Men just dragged from the tender scenes of domestic life, unaccustomed to the din of arms, and totally unacquainted with every kind of military skill; which being followed by a want of confidence.\nMen, untrained and undisciplined in themselves, are inferior to regularly trained, knowledgeable, and armed troops. They become timid and ready to flee from their own shadows. Moreover, the sudden change in their living conditions, particularly in lodging, brings sickness to many and impatience to all, instilling an unconquerable desire to return to their homes. This results in shameful and scandalous desertions among themselves and spreads the same spirit to others.\n\nAgain, men accustomed to unbounded freedom and no control cannot tolerate the restraint necessary for an army's good order and government. Bringing men to a proper degree of subordination is not a task that can be accomplished in a day.\nA month or even a year, and unfortunately for us and the cause we are engaged in, the little discipline I have been laboring to establish in the army under my command is being done away with, by having such a mixture of troops called together within these few months. The militia, (six-month men and those sent in as temporary aid), do not think themselves subject to [our rules and regulations of war], and therefore take liberties which the soldier is punished for. This creates jealousy; jealousy begets dissatisfactions; and these by degrees ripen into mutiny, keeping the whole army in a confused and disordered state; rendering the time of those who wish to see regularity and good order ineffective.\nThese are the inconveniences Congress may be assured are but a small part of those attributed to militia. However, there is one that merits particular attention: the expense. I am certain it would be cheaper to keep fifty or one hundred thousand in constant pay than to depend upon half the number and supply the other half occasionally by militia. The time they are in pay before and after they are in camp, assembling and marching; the waste of ammunition, the consumption of stores, which, in spite of every resolution or requisition of Congress, they must be furnished.\n\"The problems exceed all idea and destroy every kind of regularity and economy among fixed and settled troops, surpassing even those sent home or finished with. This surpasses all idea and, in my opinion, will prove the ruin of our cause if the scheme is adhered to. The jealousies of a standing army and the evils to be apprehended from one, situated and circumstanced as we are, are remote and not at all to be dreaded. But the consequence of wanting one, according to my ideas formed from the present view of things, is certain and inevitable ruin. If called upon to declare upon oath whether the militia have been most serviceable or hurtful on the whole, I should subscribe to the latter. I do not mean by this to arraign.\"\nThe conduct of Congress: In doing so, I should equally condemn my own measures, if I did not use my judgment. But experience, which is the best criterion to work by, so fully, clearly and decisively reprobates the practice of trusting to militia that no man who values order, regularity and economy, or who has any regard to his own honor, character, or peace of mind, will risk them on this issue. An army formed of good officers moves like clockwork; but there is no situation on earth less enviable nor more distressing than that of the person who is at the head of troops who are regardless of order and discipline, and who are unprovided with almost every necessity. In a word, the difficulties which have surrounded me since I have been in the service and kept my mind constantly on stretch, \u2014 the wounds which I have incurred.\nmy feelings (as an officer) have received, by a thousand things which have happened contrary to my expectation and wishes, inducing not only a belief, but a thorough conviction in my mind that it will be impossible (unless there is a thorough change in our military system) for me to conduct matters in such a manner as to give satisfaction to the public, which is all the reward I aim at, or ever wished for. Before I conclude, I must apologize for the liberties taken in this letter and for the blots and scratchings therein, not having time to give it more correctly. With truth, I am yours and the Congress.\nGentlemen,\n\nThe brief notice I had of your coming to the army and the shortness of your stay in camp will likely result in the omission of many matters which ought to be laid before you. The interruptions which my thoughts constantly encounter by a variety of occurrences must apologize for the rude and indigested manner in which they are offered.\n\nThe completion of the continental regiments is a matter of such infinite importance that I believe no means should be left unessayed to accomplish it. Drafting, where the powers of government are adequate, would be the speediest and most effective means. But if it should be thought unadvisable to attempt this mode, next to it is:\n\n(Note: The text appears to be cut off at the end.)\nI would recommend that the business of recruiting be taken entirely out of the hands of army officers, and that each state appoint a person of known activity in each county or township - one who has been a good under-sheriff, for instance - not only to recruit, but to apprehend deserters. These persons should be liberally rewarded for each recruit and deserter they deliver, at stated periods and places, to officers appointed to receive, discipline, and march them to the army. None of these recruiters should have the smallest power to act outside of their own districts, but should be absolutely fixed to them.\n\nA mode of this kind would, in my humble opinion, be less burdensome to the public than the present; prevent the idle habits which recruiting officers contract, not only injurious to themselves, but to others.\nEffectual means methods for recovering deserters; the surest way to keep regiments of equal strength and make duty more equal in detail. In a word, many valuable advantages would result from it, while I can suggest only one reason against it: the keeping of so many officers in the camp, who could be spared from field duties until regiments are stronger than at present. The sixteen additional regiments labor under such disadvantages in some states that Congress' interposition, in some shape or other, is indispensably necessary.\n\nWith respect to food, considering we are in such an extensive and abundant country, no army was ever worse supplied than ours with many essential articles of it.\nOur soldiers, the greatest part of last campaign and the whole of this, have scarcely tasted any kind of vegetables. George Washington.\n\nThey had but little salt; and vinegar, a tolerable substitute for vegetables, they have been in a great measure strangers to. Neither have they been provided with proper drink: beer or cider seldom comes within the verge of the camp, and rum in much too small quantities. Thus, to devouring large quantities of animal food, untempered by vegetables or vinegar, or by any kind of drink but water, and eating indifferent bread (but for this, a remedy is provided), are to be ascribed the many putrid diseases incident to the army, and the lamentable mortality that attended us last campaign. If these evils can be remedied, the expense and trouble ought not to be obstacles. Though some kinds of vegetables, such as cabbages, onions, and carrots, could have been provided, they were neglected.\n\"Tables should not be had, others should, along with sour crout and vinegar, could easily be had if proper persons were employed. \"Soap is another article in great demand, the continental allowance is too small; and, dear as every necessary of life is now got, a soldier's pay will not enable him to purchase it; by which means his consequent dirtiness adds not a little to the diseases of the army. \"I have no reason to accuse the clothier-general of inattention to his department; and therefore, as his supplies are inadequate to the army's wants, ought not each state be called upon to draw such supplies from the country manufactories, as can be afforded? Particularly of shoes, stockings, shirts, and blankets, articles in short supply.\"\nIt is dispensably necessary, and of which scarcely too many can be provided: in the meanwhile, every provision must be making for clothing the troops uniformly and warm in the winter. It is a maxim that needs no elucidation, that nothing can be of more importance in an army than the clothing and feeding it well. On these the health, comfort, and spirits of the soldiers essentially depend; and it is a melancholy fact that the American army are miserably defective in both these respects. The distress most of them are in for want of clothing is painful to humanity, dispiriting to themselves, and discouraging to every officer. It makes every pretension to the preservation of cleanliness impossible, exposes them to a variety of disorders, and abates or destroys that military pride without which nothing can be expected from any army.\nThe consequence of giving rank indiscriminately is much to be dreaded. Great dissatisfaction has already arisen on account of bestowing this on officers in the civilian departments of the army, on the inferior staff, wagon-masters, etc. Who, by custom, propriety, and every other motive, are excluded from it in all well-regulated armies. The too great liberality practiced in this respect will destroy the pride of rank where it ought to exist and will not only render it cheap but contemptible. It is the policy of all armies to make it valued and respected, as a stimulus to emulation and an incitement to bold and gallant undertakings. It must be very unadvisably, therefore, in our infant state of war, to adopt novel customs to bring it into discredit; which must and will be the consequence of making it too common.\nAn auditor of accounts is absolutely requisite to be constantly with the army. It is absolutely impossible for me, crowded as I am with other business, to examine and adjust the numerous complex accounts of the army with the correctness the public have a right to expect, before warrants pass for payment. The provision for making regimental pay-masters regulate all regimental accounts is altogether incompetent to the end proposed from it. For these men being appointed generally agreeable to the recommendation of the field officers of the regiments they belong to; associating constantly with the officers of their corps, and in a great measure under their control; cannot be considered as sufficiently influenced; nor are auditors at a distance from the army.\nA good geographer, Extremely useful to survey roads and take sketches of the country where the army is to act, could have the chief direction of guides and must have a head to procure, govern, and pay them. If such a person were approved, I would recommend Mr. Robert Erskine, thoroughly skilled in this business, has already assisted us in making maps of the country, and has uniformly supported the character of a fast friend to America. A small traveling press, to follow headquarter.\nProductive would be many eminent advantages. It would enable us to give speedy and exact information of any military transactions with proper comments, thereby frustrating the pernicious tendency of falsehood and misrepresentation, which, in my opinion, of whatever complexion they may be, are, in the main, detrimental to our cause. If the people had a channel of intelligence, that, from its usual authenticity, they could look up to with confidence, they might often be preserved from that despondency which they are apt to fall into, from the exaggerated pictures our enemies and their emissaries among us commonly draw of any misfortunes we meet with\u2014and from that difference of truths favorable to us, which they must naturally feel from the frequent deception they are exposed.\nI am embarrassed how to dispose of the French officers in general, and more specifically the artillery officers, who have come out under the sanction of a compact. I can think of no other way than forming a separate corps of them and drafting men from the whole line to compose that corps. However, this will be attended with many disagreeable effects.\nAmong other things, this is not the least that officers will feel injured, as the men they have raised are taken from them and given to others. There is something disconcerting about this, and it breaks the spirit of a good officer, who takes pride in having a full and complete corps.\n\nA doubt has arisen whether a person who belongs to any of the United States of America, and who owed allegiance to any of the said states \u2013 went to the enemy some time past and since that time has been lurking about any of their fortifications or encampments of the armies of the United States, plundering and driving off cattle to the enemy, recruiting for them, or committing any other atrocious crime, or who is appointed an officer in the enemy's army \u2013 can be tried.\nby a general court-martial, under the resolution of Congress of August 21, 1776, and punished as a spy. I have the honor to be, kc.\n\nCorrespondence between General Washington and General Gage, respecting the bad treatment of prisoners.\n\nLETTER FROM HIS EXCELLENCY GENERAL WASHINGTON, TO GENERAL GAGE.\n\nHead-Quarters, Cambridge, August 1, 1775.\n\nSir,\n\nI understand that the officers, engaged in the cause of liberty and their country, who, by the fortune of war, have fallen into your hands, have been thrown indiscriminately into a common jail, appropriated for felons; that no consideration has been made for those of the most respectable rank, when languishing with wounds and sickness; that some of them have been amputated in this unworthy situation.\n\nLet your opinion, sir, of the principle which acts in me, be for what it may, I cannot help making it the business of humanity to relieve my fellow-creatures, when I have it in my power, from the most cruel and unmerciful usage. I am informed that there are several officers in your custody, who, though not in a condition to bear arms, are yet capable of being sent to Europe, where they might be exchanged for British prisoners, and thus be restored to their friends, and enabled to continue their services. I earnestly recommend it to your humanity to order such of them as are capable of being removed, to be sent to Europe, and to direct that proper care be taken of those who are too ill to travel.\n\nI am further informed that there are several officers, who, though not in a condition to bear arms, are yet able to do important services in your camp, as commissaries, surgeons, or in any other capacity, for which they are qualified. I recommend it to your prudence to make use of their services, as it will tend to the relief of your own army, and will be a proof of your humanity to those who are your prisoners.\n\nI have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient and humble servant,\n\nGO: WASHINGTON.\nGeorge Washington:\n\nBut whatever their motivations may be, they believe they act from the noblest principles, a love of freedom and their country. However, political opinions are irrelevant to this matter. The obligations arising from the rights of humanity and claims of rank are universally binding, except in cases of retaliation. I had hoped these would have dictated a more tender treatment of those individuals whom chance or war had placed in your power. I cannot help but suggest its fatal tendency to widen the unhappy breach, which you and those ministers acting under you have repeatedly declared you wish to see forever closed.\n\nMy duty now requires me to inform you that for the future, I shall regulate my conduct towards those gentlemen of your army who are, or may be, in our possession.\nsession,  exactly  by  the  rule  you  may  observe  towards \nthose  of  ours  who  may  be  in  your  custody. \nw  If  severity  and  hardship  mark  the  line  of  your  con\u00ac \nduct,  (painful  as  it  may  be  to  me)  your  prisoners  will \nfeel  its  effects;  but  if  kindness  and  humanity  are  shown \nto  ours,  I  shall,  with  pleasure,  consider  those  in  our \nhands  only  as  unfortunate,  and  they  shall  receive  from \nme  that  treatment  to  which  the  unfortunate  are  ever  en\u00ac \ntitled. \n\u201c  I  beg  to  be  favoured  with  an  answer  as  soon  as  pos\u00ac \nsible,  and  am,  sir, \nYour  very  humble  servant, \nG.  Washington.\u201d \nHis  Excellency  General  Gage. \nANSWER  : \nBoston ,  August  13,  1775. \n\u201c  To  the  glory  of  civilized  nations,  humanity  and  war \nhave  been  compatible ;  and  compassion  to  the  subdued \nis  become  almost  a  general  system. \n\u201c  Britons,  ever  pre-eminent  in  mercy,  have  outgone \ncommon  examples,  and  overlooked  the  criminal  in  the \nYour prisoners, whose lives by the laws of the land are meant for the gallows, have hitherto been treated with care and kindness. Indiscriminately, I acknowledge no rank other than that derived from the king.\n\nMemoirs of\n\nMy intelligence from your army would justify severe recrimination. I understand there are some of the king's faithful subjects, taken some time ago by the rebels, working like Negro slaves to gain their daily subsistence or reduced to the wretched alternative, to perish by famine or take arms against their king and country. Those who have made the treatment of the prisoners in my hands, or of your other friends in Boston, a pretext for such measures, found barbarity upon falsehood.\nI would happily hope, sir, that the sentiments of liberality which I have always believed you to possess will be exerted to correct their misdoings. Be temperate in political disquisitions; give free operation to truth, and punish those who deceive and misrepresent, not only the effects, but the causes of this unhappy conflict will soon be removed.\n\nShould those, under whose usurped authority you act, control such a disposition, and dare to call severity retaliation, to God, who knows all hearts, be the appeal for the dreadful consequences. I trust that British soldiers, asserting the rights of the state, the laws of the land, the being of the constitution, will meet all events with becoming fortitude. They will court victory with the spirit their cause inspires, and from the same motive, will find the patience of martyrs under misfortunes.\n\"I had acted under the king; his wishes, as well as those of his ministers and every honest man, were to see this unhappy breach forever closed. Unfortunately, those who have long since projected the present crisis and influence the councils of America have views very distant from accommodation. I am, sir, Your obedient, humble servant, Thomas Gage.\n\nGeorge Washington, Esq.\n\nREPLY.\nI addressed you on the 11th instant in terms which gave the fairest scope for the exercise of that humanity and politeness which were supposed to form a part of your character. I remonstrated with you on the unwarranted treatment shown to the officers and citizens of America.\"\nRica, whom fortune, war, chance, or a mistaken confidence had thrown into your hands. Whether British or American mercy, fortitude, and patience are most preeminent. Our virtuous citizens, whom the hand of tyranny has forced into arms to defend their wives, their children, and their property, or the mercenary instruments of lawless domination, avarice, and revenge, best deserve the appellation of rebels and the punishment of that cord, which your affected clemency has forborne to inflict. I purposely avoided all political disquisition; nor shall I now avail myself of those advantages which the sacred cause of my country, of liberty and human nature, give me over you. Much less shall I stoop to retort.\nI have taken the time to make a strict inquiry and find that the intelligence you have received from our army about treating officers and soldiers unfairly and protecting parricides has no foundation in truth. Not only have our officers and soldiers been treated with tenderness due to fellow citizens and brethren, but even those execrable parricides, whose counsels and aid have deluged their country in blood, have been protected from the fury of a justly enraged people. Far from compelling or permitting their assistance, I am embarrassed by the numbers who crowd to our camp, animated with the purest principles of virtue and love of their country. You advise me to give free operation to truth; to punish misrepresentation and falsehood. If experience stamps value upon counsel, yours must have a weight which few can claim.\nYou can tell how far the convulsion, which has brought such ruin on both countries and shaken the mighty empire of Britain to its foundation, can be traced to these malignant causes.\n\n\"You affect, sir, to despise all rank not derived from the same source as your own. I cannot conceive one more honorable than that which flows from the uncorrupted choice of a brave and free people, the purest source and original fountain of all power. \u2014 Far from making it a plea for cruelty, a mind of true magnanimity and enlarged ideas would comprehend and respect it.\n\n\"What may have been the ministerial views which have precipitated the present crisis, Lexington, Concord, and Charlestown, can best declare. May that God, to whom you then appealed, judge between America and you. Under his providence, those who influence the\"\nThe councils of America and all the other inhabitants of the united colonies, determined to hand down to posterity those just and valuable privileges which they received from their ancestors:\n\nI shall now, sir, close my correspondence with you, perhaps for ever. If your officers receive a treatment from me different from what I wished to show them, they and you will remember the occasion.\n\nYour very humble servant,\nG. Washington.\n\nGeneral Gage\n\nThe preceding letters will ever convey to the world a sufficient testimony of the attention and care which, at all times, General Washington extended to the soldiers under his command. The whole of his official letters are uniformly characterized with those tender and sympathetic pictures, which the appearance of real want in soldiers under his command elicited.\nOthers impressed upon a lively and feeling mind, and which were best calculated to rouse in the minds of Congress a sense of the sufferings of those who were sacrificing their ease and risking their lives to establish the independence of their country. Observe the extreme modesty of George Washington. He assumes when he requests for himself, even an aid-de-camp, which the multiplicity of his cares rendered essential. Contrast it with the freedom with which he delivers his opinion on other subjects that concerned only the comfort of his fellow soldiers. And with the manly language in which he addresses General Gage for his ill treatment of those whom the misfortune of war placed in his power. To those ungrateful few, who, stimulated by malice, have heretofore endeavored to sully his honor and reputation.\nmilitary reputation, and to impress upon the public mind the ungenerous idea that he was instrumental to the shedding of innocent blood and inflicting wanton cruelty upon the prisoners of the enemy, we recommend a perusal of his letters to Congress on that subject: there they will find him combating the idea with the language of reason and censuring the inhuman practice. The historians of the American war have uniformly represented the case of Major Andre as an example of inhuman murder on the part of America. On this occasion, General Washington sacrificed his own feelings to the necessities of inexorable justice. The sentence was pronounced with much hesitation, and, at its execution, he was seen to shed tears. Nor is it necessary for us to remind them of his fortitude to withstand threats.\nvirtue to scorn the bribes of the emissaries of the British Cabinet. For one uniform principle of prudence and wisdom seems to have regulated every transaction of his life.\n\nWhen General Washington received the joyful intelligence of peace, he expressed himself to the army who had accompanied him through the dangers, toils, and difficulties of this glorious struggle, in the following address:\n\nORDERS ISSUED BY GENERAL WASHINGTON TO THE ARMY.\n\nHeadquarters, April 18, 1783.\n\nThe Commander in Chief orders the cessation of hostilities between the United States of America and the King of Great Britain, to be publicly proclaimed tomorrow, at twelve o'clock, at the new building; and that the proclamation, which will be communicated herewith, be read tomorrow evening at the head of every regiment.\nAnd the corps of the army; after which, the chaplains, with the several brigades, will render thanks to the Almighty God for all his mercies, particularly for his overruling the wrath of man to his own glory, and causing the rage of war to cease among the nations. Although the proclamation before alluded to extends only to the prohibition of hostilities and not to the annunciation of a general peace, yet it must afford the most rational and sincere satisfaction to every benevolent mind. It puts a period to a long and doubtful contest, stops the effusion of human blood, opens the prospect to an inevitable splendid scene, and, like another morning star, promises the approach of a brighter day than hath hitherto illuminated the western hemisphere. On such a happy day, which is the harbinger of peace, a day which brings the prospect of peace.\nThe Commander in Chief, completing the eighth year of the war, offers his most cordial congratulations to all officers of every denomination, to all troops of the United States, and in particular to the gallant and persevering men who have resolved to defend the rights of their invaded country. These are the men who ought to be considered the pride and boast of the American army, and who, crowned with well-earned laurels, may soon withdraw from the field of glory to the more tranquil walks of civil life. The Commander in Chief recollects the almost infinite variety of scenes.\nthrough which we have passed, with a mixture of pleasure, astonishment, and gratitude; while he contemplates the prospects before us with rapture, he cannot help wishing that all the brave men, of whatever condition they may be, who have shared the toils and dangers of effecting this glorious revolution; of rescuing millions from the hand of oppression, and of laying the foundation of a great empire, might be impressed with a proper idea of the dignified part they have been called to act, under the smiles of Providence, on the stage of human affairs. For happy, thrice happy! shall they be pronounced hereafter, who have contributed anything, who have performed the meanest office in erecting this stupendous fabric of freedom and empire on the broad basis of independence.\nProtecting the rights of human nature and establishing an asylum for the poor and oppressed of all nations and religions. Once our initial goal of securing the liberties of our country was accomplished, with our cause acknowledged and firmly secured by divine intervention and the determined efforts of a weak people against a powerful nation disposed to oppress them, and the character of those who persevered through every hardship, suffering, and danger immortalized by the illustrious appellation of the patriot army, nothing now remains but for the actors of this mighty scene to preserve a perfect and unwavering consistency of character through the very last act, to close the drama with applause, and to retire from the military.\nFor the theater to receive the same approval of angels and men as it has for all its virtuous actions, disorder and licentiousness must not be tolerated. Every thoughtful and well-disposed soldier must remember it will be absolutely necessary to wait with patience until peace is declared or Congress is enabled to take proper measures for the security of the public stores. As soon as these arrangements are made, the General is confident there will be no delay in discharging all men enlisted for the war, who will then have faithfully performed their engagements with the public. The General has already taken an interest in their behalf and assures his disposition to be useful to them on the present and every other proper occasion.\nIn the meantime, he is determined that no military negligctions or excesses go unpunished while he commands the army. The Adjutant-General will have such working parties detached to assist in making preparations for a general rejoicing, as the chief Engineer with the army shall call for; and the Quarter-Master-General will, without delay, procure such a number of discharges to be printed as will be sufficient for all the men enlisted for the war \u2013 please apply to headquarters for the form. An extra ration of liquor to be issued to every man tomorrow, to drink, \"Perpetual Peace and Happiness to the United States of America.\"\n\nThe following resolutions were passed by Congress on August 7, 1783:\n\nBy the United States in Congress Assembled,\n\nResolved unanimously, ten States being present,\nThat the fleet under the command of Commodore Elijah Whittlesey do receive the thanks of Congress for their important services in the late war; that the sum of ten thousand dollars be, and the same hereby is, appropriated for the purpose of presenting to the said Commodore a testimonial of Congress's esteem and approbation; and that the Board of War be directed to prepare a suitable certificate for that purpose.\n\nResolved, That the thanks of Congress be given to General Washington, for his conduct in the late war, and that the sum of twenty thousand dollars be, and the same hereby is, appropriated for the purpose of preparing a testimonial of Congress's esteem and approbation.\n\nResolved, That the thanks of Congress be given to the several officers and soldiers, who, during the war, have merited the approbation of their country, and that the Board of War be directed to prepare a list of all such officers and soldiers, and to cause certificates of their services to be prepared and forwarded to them.\n\nResolved, That the thanks of Congress be given to the several States for their exertions during the war, and that the Board of War be directed to prepare a list of the names of the several officers and soldiers, who have been employed in the service of their respective States, and to cause certificates of their services to be prepared and forwarded to them.\n\nResolved, That the thanks of Congress be given to the several States for their exertions in raising and equipping their respective quotas of troops for the service of the United States, and that the Board of War be directed to prepare a list of the names of the several officers and soldiers, who have been employed in the service of their respective States, and to cause certificates of their services to be prepared and forwarded to them.\n\nResolved, That the thanks of Congress be given to the several States for their exertions in furnishing supplies for the use of the army, and that the Board of War be directed to prepare a list of the several officers and soldiers, who have been employed in the service of their respective States, in furnishing supplies for the use of the army, and to cause certificates of their services to be prepared and forwarded to them.\n\nResolved, That the thanks of Congress be given to the several States for their exertions in furnishing provisions for the use of the army, and that the Board of War be directed to prepare a list of the several officers and soldiers, who have been employed in the service of their respective States, in furnishing provisions for the use of the army, and to cause certificates of their services to be prepared and forwarded to them.\n\nResolved, That the thanks of Congress be given to the several States for their exertions in furnishing forage for the use of the army, and that the Board of War be directed to prepare a list of the several officers and soldiers, who have been employed in the service of their respective States, in furnishing forage for the use of the army, and to cause certificates of their services to be prepared and forwarded to them.\n\nResolved, That the thanks of Congress be given to the several States for their exertions in furnishing timber for the use of the army, and that the Board of War be directed to prepare a list of the several officers and soldiers, who have been employed in the service of their respective States, in furnishing timber for the use of the army, and to cause certificates of their services to be prepared and forwarded to them.\n\nResolved, That the thanks of Congress be given to the several States for their exertions in furnishing cordage for the use of the army, and that the Board of War be directed to prepare a list of the several officers and soldiers, who have been employed in the service of their respective States, in furnishing cordage for the use\n\"Resolved, that an equestrian statue of General Washington be erected at the place where the residence of Congress shall be established. The statue to be of bronze, the general to be represented in a Roman dress, holding a truncheon in his right hand, and his head encircled in a laurel wreath. The statue to be supported by a marble pedestal, on which are to be represented, in basso relievo, the following principal events of the war, in which General Washington commanded in person: The evacuation of Boston, The capture of the Hessians at Trenton, The Battle of Princeton, The action of Monmouth, and the surrender of York. On the upper part of the front of the pedestal to be engraved: 'The United States in Congress assembled, ordered this statue to be erected in the year of our Lord'.\"\nResolved, that a statue conformable to the above plan be executed by the best artist in Europe, under the superintendance of the Minister of the United States at the court of Versailles, and that money to defray the expense of the same be furnished from the Treasury of the United States.\n\nResolved, that the Secretary of Congress transmit to the Minister of the United States at the court of Versailles, the best resemblance of General Washington that can be procured, for the purpose of having the above statue erected, together with the fittest description of the events which are to be the subject of the basso relievo.\n\n1783. In honor of George Washington, the illustrious commander in chief of the armies of the United States of America during the war, which vindicated and secured their liberty, sovereignty, and independence.\nOn the 26th of August, 1783, at the request of Congress, General Washington proceeded to Princeton where the Congress was then sitting. Being introduced by two members, the President addressed him as follows:\n\nSir,\nCongress feels particular pleasure in seeing your Excellency and in congratulating you on the success of a war in which you have acted so conspicuous a part. It has been the singular happiness of the United States, that during a war so long, so dangerous, and so important, Providence has been graciously pleased to preserve the life of a general, who has merited and possessed the uninterrupted confidence and affection of his fellow-citizens. In other nations, many have performed services for which they have deserved and received the thanks of the public; but to you, sir, peculiar praise is due.\nYour services have been essential in acquiring and establishing the freedom and independence of your country. A free and independent nation expresses its grateful acknowledgments to you. Hostilities have ceased, but your country still needs your services. She wishes to avail herself of your talents in forming arrangements necessary for the time of peace. For this reason, your attendance at Congress has been requested. A committee is appointed to confer with you and receive your assistance in preparing and adjusting plans relative to important objects.\n\nYour Excellency's reply:\nMr. President,\nI am too sensible of the honorable reception I have received.\nI have now experienced the deepest feelings of gratitude. \"Notwithstanding Congress appears to estimate the value of my life beyond any services I have been able to render the United States, yet I must be permitted to consider the wisdom and unanimity of our national councils, the firmness of our citizens, and the patience and bravery of our troops, which have produced such a happy termination of the war, as the most conspicuous effect of the Divine interposition and the surest presage of our future happiness.\n\nHighly gratified by the favorable sentiments which Congress are pleased to express of my past conduct, and amply rewarded by the confidence and affection of my fellow citizens, I cannot hesitate to contribute my best efforts towards the establishment of national security in whatever manner the sovereign power directs.\n\"May I think it proper to direct, until the ratification of the definitive treaty of peace or the final evacuation of our country by the British forces; after either of which events, I shall ask permission to retire to the peaceful shade of private life. \"Perhaps, sir, no occasion may offer more suitable than the present, to express my humble thanks to God, and my grateful acknowledgments to my country, for the great and uniform support I have received in every vicissitude of fortune, and for the many distinguished honors which Congress have been pleased to confer upon me in the course of the war.\" After the final conclusion of the peace in 1783, a proclamation was issued by Congress on October 18th, directing the discharge of the army. Whereupon, before he resigned his important charge, General Washington delivered his farewell address to the troops.\"\nGeneral Washington's farewell orders to the armies of the United States, November 2, 1783, Rocky-Hill near Princeton:\n\nThe United States in Congress assembled gave most honorable testimony to the federal armies and presented them with the thanks of their country for their long, eminent, and faithful services. Having thought it proper, by their proclamation bearing date the 18th of October last, to discharge such part of the troops as were engaged for the war and to permit officers on furlough to retire from service, it only remains for the commander in chief.\nThe commander-in-chief addresses himself once more to the armies of the United States, bidding them an affectionate farewell. Before taking his final leave of those he holds most dear, he wishes to review the past and explore future prospects with his military friends. He will advise the general line of conduct in his opinion ought to be pursued and express the obligations he feels towards their spirited and able assistance in the performance of an arduous office. A contemplation of the complete attainment, earlier than expected, of the objectives.\nThe object for which we contended, against such a formidable power, cannot fail to inspire us with astonishment and gratitude. The disadvantageous circumstances on our part, under which the war was undertaken, cannot be forgotten. The singular interpositions of Providence, in our feeble condition, were such as could scarcely escape notice; while the unparalleled perseverance of the armies of the United States, through almost every possible suffering and discouragement, for the space of eight long years, was little short of a standing miracle.\n\nIt is not the meaning, nor within the compass of this address, to detail the hardships peculiarly incident to our service, or to describe the distresses which, in several instances, have resulted from the extremes of hunger and nakedness, combined with the rigors of an inclement climate.\nEvery American officer and soldier must now console himself for any unpleasant circumstances which may have occurred during the recollection of the uncommon scenes in which he has been called to act, no inglorious part, and the astonishing events of which he has been a witness; events which have seldom, if ever, before taken place on the stage of human action, nor can they probably ever happen again. For, who has before seen a disciplined army formed at once from such raw materials? Who that was not a witness, could imagine, that the most violent local prejudices would cease so soon, and that men who came from the different parts of the continent, strongly disposed, by the habits of education, to despise and quarrel with each other, would in fact unite?\nUniversally acknowledged, the enlarged prospects of happiness opened by the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty almost exceed the power of description. Who, not on the spot, can trace the steps by which such a wonderful revolution has been effected and such a glorious period put to all our warlike toils? The brave men who have contributed so essentially to these inestimable acquisitions, retiring victorious from the field of war to the field of agriculture, shall they not participate in all the blessings which have been obtained? In such a republic, who will exclude them from the rights of citizens and the fruits of their labors? In such a country, so happily circumstanced, the pursuits of commerce and the cultivation of the soil.\nThe fisheries will unfold to industry the certain road to competence. For hardy soldiers, actuated by the spirit of adventure, they will afford ample and profitable employment. The extensive and fertile regions of the west will yield a most happy asylum to those seeking personal independence. No one of the United States will prefer a national bankruptcy and a dissolution of the union to compliance with the requisitions of Congress and the payment of its debts. Officers and soldiers may expect considerable assistance, in recommencing their civil occupations, from the sums due to them from the public, which must and will most inevitably be paid.\n\nTo achieve this desirable purpose, and to recommend: officers and soldiers to resume their civil pursuits.\nMove the prejudices which may have taken possession of any of the good people of the states. It is earnestly recommended to all the troops that, with strong attachment to the union, they should carry with them into civil society the most conciliating dispositions. Prove themselves not less virtuous and useful as citizens than they have been persevering and victorious as soldiers. What though there should be some envious individuals unwilling to pay the debt the public has contracted or to yield the tribute due to merit, yet let such unworthy treatment produce no invective or any instance of intemperate conduct. Let it be remembered that the unbiased voice of the free citizens of the United States has promised the just reward and given the merited applause. Let it be known.\nAnd remembered, the reputation of the federal armies is established beyond reach of malevolence, and let a consciousness of their achievements and fame still incite the men who composed them, to honorable actions, under the persuasion that the virtues of economy, prudence, and industry, will not be less amiable in civil life than the more splendid qualities of valor, perseverance, and enterprise, were in the field. Every one may rest assured, that much, very much, of the future happiness of the officers and men will depend upon the wise and manly conduct which shall be adopted by them when they are mingled with the great body of the community. And, although the general has so frequently given it as his opinion, in the most public and explicit manner, that unless the principles of the federal government were upheld, there would be no hope for peace and happiness.\nThe commander believes little is now needed to enable the soldier to change his military character into that of a citizen, except for a steady and decent tenor of behavior, which has generally distinguished the army under his command, as well as different detachments and separate armies.\nThe course of the war brings the happiest consequences, which he anticipates from their good sense and prudence. He congratulates them on the glorious occasion that no longer requires their services in the field. He expresses the strong obligations he feels towards them for the assistance he has received from every class and in every instance. He presents his thanks in the most serious and affectionate manner to the general officers for their counsel on many interesting occasions and their ardor in promoting the success of his plans. To the commandants of regiments and corps, and to other officers, he offers his gratitude for their great zeal and attention in carrying out his orders promptly. To the staff, he acknowledges their alacrity and exactness in performing the duties of their several departments.\nAnd to the non-commissioned officers and private soldiers, for their extraordinary patience in suffering as well as their invincible fortitude in action; to the various branches of the army, the general takes this last and solemn opportunity to profess his inviolable attachment and friendship. He wishes more than bare professions were in his power, that he was really able to be useful to them all in future life. He flatters himself, however, they will do him the justice to believe, that whatever could with propriety be attempted by him, has been done. Being now to conclude these his last public orders, to take leave in a short time of the military charges he has so long had the honor to command -- George Washington.\nThe commander in chief, on their behalf, presents his recommendations to their grateful country and his prayers to the God of armies. May ample justice be done them here, and may the choicest of Heaven's favors attend those who, under the Divine auspices, have secured numerous blessings for others. With these wishes and this benediction, the commander in chief is retiring from service. The curtain of separation will soon be drawn, and the military scene to him will be closed forever.\n\nThe officers of the army remaining on the banks of the Hudson respond with a suitable answer. They thank the commander in chief for the communication of his affectionate assurances of his inviolable attachment and friendship. They assure his Excellency that although they must part, their bond will remain unbroken.\nHis endeavors to ensure the armies just rewards for their services had failed, and they were convinced that it was beyond his power to control the causes. If the contemplated measure was never achieved, their patriotism would remain unshaken. They were happy to congratulate his Excellency on the certain conclusion of the Definitive Treaty of Peace, assuring him that they were relieved from long suspense and their warmest wish was to return to their country and resume the character of citizens. It should be their highest ambition to become useful ones. To his Excellency, they believed this great event would be particularly pleasing, as he led the armies, urged by patriotic virtues and magic (sic)?\nOn the 25th of November, 1783, New-York was evacuated by the British army. The same day, American troops marched in and took possession of the city. Afterward, General Washington and the governor made their public entry. The arrangement and the whole conduct of the march and the tranquility which succeeded it.\n\nThey concluded with sincere prayers to God, long to bestow happiness on their commander, who, when he quits the stage of human life, may receive from the unerring Judge the rewards of his valorous exertions to save the oppressed, of his patriotism and disinterested virtue.\nthrough the day and night, it was admirable! And the grateful citizens, feeling the most affectionate impressions from the elegant and efficient disposition which prevailed throughout the whole event, upon their returning from exile, addressed his excellency the commander in chief on their behalf and that of their suffering brethren. They welcomed him to the city, long torn from them by the hand of oppression, but which by his wisdom, under the guidance of Providence, had again been rendered the seat of peace and freedom. They assured him that they would preserve, to the last, their gratitude for his services and veneration for his character, and requested him to accept their sincere and earnest wishes that he may long enjoy that calm domestic felicity, which he had so generously bestowed upon them.\nPreviously, at Frances' tavern before General Washington left New-York on December 6th, the principal army officers assembled to take a final leave of their illustrious and much-loved commander. Human passions were tenderly agitated in this interesting scene. With a heart full of love and gratitude, his excellency filled a glass of wine and addressed his brave fellow-soldiers:\n\n\"With deep love and gratitude, I now take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your latter days may be prosperous and happy, as your former ones have been glorious and honorable.\"\n\nThese words produced extreme sensibility on both sides and were answered by warm expressions.\nGeorge Washington. The gentlemen of the army expressed their heartfelt wishes. After this scene ended, the governor, council, and citizens of distinction waited on the General and took their leave in the most affectionate terms. The corps of Light Infantry formed a line, and the Commander in Chief passed through them on his way to White-hall, where he embarked in his barge for Powles Hook. From there, he proceeded to Philadelphia, where he made a short stay. Here, he delivered to the Comptroller of the public Treasury an account of the expenditure of all the public money he had received during the war. By this account, it appeared that the total sum which had passed through his hands amounted to fourteen thousand four hundred and four hundred dollars.\nGeneral Washington's Address to Congress, on the Resignation of His Commission.\n\nMr. President,\n\nThe great events, upon which my resignation depended, having at last taken place, I have now the honor of offering my sincere congratulations to Congress, and of presenting myself before you, to surrender into your hands the trust committed to me, and to claim the indulgence of retiring from the service of my country.\n\"Happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty, and pleased with the opportunity afforded the United States of becoming a respectable nation, I resign, with satisfaction, the appointment I accepted with diffidence, a diffidence in my abilities to accomplish so arduous a task, which, however, was superseded by a confidence in the rectitude of our cause, the support of the supreme power of the union, and the patronage of Heaven. The successful termination of the war has verified the most sanguine expectations. My gratitude for the interposition of Providence, and the assistance I have received from my countrymen, increases with every review of the momentous contest. While I repeat my obligations to the army in general, I should do injustice to my own feelings not to acknowledge the particular services and friendship of many individuals.\"\nI consider it my indispensable duty to commend the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, and those who have the superintendence of them. Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of action; and bidding an affectionate farewell to this august body, under whose orders I have served, I recommend in particular those who have continued in the service to the present moment, as worthy of the favorable notice and patronage of Congress.\nSir,\n\nThe United States in Congress assembled, receive, with emotions too affecting for utterance, the solemn resignation of the authorities under which you have led their troops with success, through a perilous and doubtful war.\n\nCalled upon by your country to defend its invaded rights, you accepted the sacred charge before it had formed alliances, and whilst it was without funds or a government to support you.\n\nYou have conducted the great military contest with wisdom and fortitude, invariably regarding the rights of the civil power, through all disasters and changes; you have, by the love and confidence of your fellow-citizens,\n\nGeorge Washington\n\nCity of Annapolis, Dec. 23, 1783.\nYou have enabled them to display their martial genius and transmitted their fame to posterity. We have persevered until these United States, aided by a magnanimous king and nation, have been enabled, under a just Providence, to close the war in freedom, safety, and independence. On this happy event, we sincerely join you in congratulations.\n\nYou have defended the standard of liberty in this new world \u2013 having taught a useful lesson to those who inflict and to those who feel oppression \u2013 you retire from the great theatre of action with the blessings of your fellow-citizens. But the glory of your virtues will not terminate with your military command; it will continue to animate remote ages. We feel, with you, our obligations to the army in general, and will particularly charge ourselves with the interests of those who are confidential.\nOfficers who have attended you at this affecting moment.\n\n\"We join you in commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, seeking him to dispose the hearts and minds of its citizens to improve the opportunity afforded them of becoming a happy and respectable nation; and for you, we address to him our earnest prayers, that a life so beloved may be fostered with all his care; that your days may be happy as they have been illustrious; and that he will finally give you that reward which this world cannot give.\"\n\nWith these sentiments, General Washington retired from the toils of war to enjoy in private the rural pleasures of Mount Vernon, carrying with him the thanks and blessings of a grateful people, emulating the example of the virtuous Roman general, Cincinnatus.\n\nGeorge Washington.\nThe victorious man left the honored tented field and withdrew from public life. No person, who did not have the advantage of being present when he received the intelligence of peace or accompany him to his domestic retirement, can describe the relief that this joyful event brought to his laboring mind or the supreme satisfaction with which he retired to private life. From his triumphal entry into New York, upon the evacuation of that city by the British army, to his arrival at Mount Vernon after the resignation of his commission to Congress, festive crowds impeded his passage through all the populous towns. The devotion of a whole people pursued him, with prayers to Heaven for blessings on his head, while their gratitude sought the most expressive language to manifest itself to him as their common father and benefactor.\nWhen he became a private citizen, his native state was among the most zealous in doing justice to his merits. The citizens of his neighborhood showed stronger demonstrations of affectionate esteem than any other men on the continent. He always refused to accept any pecuniary compensation for his public services or provision for the increased expenses he must have incurred in consequence of his public employment. No salary was ever annexed by Congress to his important command, and he only drew weekly for the expenses of his public table and other necessary demands, although proposals have been made in the most delicate manner, particularly by the states of Virginia and Pennsylvania. His conduct in this particular is noble and magnanimous, and exhibits magnanimity.\nGeneral Washington's Letter to the Governor of Virginia Declining a Present\n\nGeorge Washington's answer to the Governor of Virginia, declining the acceptance of fifty shares in the companies for opening the navigation of James and Patomac rivers, which had been vested in him by an act of the legislature of that commonwealth as a small acknowledgment of his merits and services:\n\nYour Excellency, having been pleased to transmit to me a copy of the act appropriating to my benefit certain shares, I feel it a duty to express my sense of the distinguished favor you have been pleased to do me. However, I must decline the acceptance of this present, as I have determined, in every instance, to avoid the appearance of accepting any thing which might be construed into a right or claim to special favors. I hope this resolution will not be displeasing to you, and that you will believe it proceeds from a sincere desire to avoid every thing which might in future create the least suspicion, or give the least ground for censure.\n\nWashington's Letter to the Governor of Virginia, 1784.\nI take the liberty of returning, through your hands, my profound and grateful acknowledgments to the companies for opening the navigation of James and Patomac rivers. I beg you, sir, to assure them that I am filled on this occasion with every sentiment which can flow from a heart warm with love for my country, sensible to every token of its approval and affection, and solicitous to testify, in every instance, a respectful submission to its wishes. With these sentiments in my bosom, I need not dwell on the anxiety I feel in being obliged in this instance to decline a favor, which is rendered no less flattering by the manner in which it is conveyed, than it is affectionate in itself. I pass on explaining this obligation.\nI. Resolution in the Public Service:\n\nWhen comparing my endeavors in the public service with the many honorable testimonies of approval already over-rated and over-paid, I present one consideration that supersedes the need to recur to every other. At the time I was first called to the station with which I was honored during the late conflict for our liberties, I felt diffidence for many reasons to accept it. I believed it my duty to join a firm resolution to shut my hand against every pecuniary recompense. To this resolution, I have inviolably adhered, and from this resolution (if I had the inclination), I do not consider myself at liberty to depart. While I repeat, therefore, my fervent acknowledgments to the legislature for their very kind sentiments and intentions in my favor, and at the same time, I express my unwavering commitment to this resolution.\nI am George Washington. I ask that they be persuaded that a remembrance of this singular proof of goodness towards me will never cease to cherish returns of the warmest affection and gratitude. I must pray that their act, which has for its object my personal emolument, does not have its effect. But if it pleases the general assembly to permit me to turn the destination of the fund vested in me from my private emolument to objects of a public nature, it will be my study, in selecting these, to prove the sincerity of my gratitude by preferring such as may appear most subservient to the enlightened and patriotic views of the legislature.\n\nUpon this request, the legislature of Virginia repealed so much of the act referred to as related to the vesting the above-mentioned shares in General Washington.\nheirs, and enacted that the shares and profits accruing therefrom, should stand appropriated to such objects of a public nature as his Excellency should direct and appoint. Some time afterwards, General Washington applied these shares of the canal company to the erection and establishment of two seminaries of learning in Virginia, which were accomplished under his immediate direction. Although the enlarged mind of General Washington felt superior to such considerations, and nobly refused any recompense for himself, yet he eloquently, though unsuccessfully, pleaded the cause of his fellow-soldiers, and other public creditors. He considered himself pledged to the army that their country would do them ample justice, in rewarding them for their glorious services, exercised in its defense, and finally crowning it with the complete establishment of its liberty and independence.\nFrom his Excellency George Washington, Commander in Chief of the Armies of the United States of America, to the Governors of the several States.\n\nSir,\n\nThe great object for which I had the honor to hold an appointment in the service of my country, being accomplished, I am now preparing to resign it into the hands of Congress, and return to that domestic retirement.\n\nGeorge Washington\nCircular Letter\n\nFrom George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States of America, to the Governors of the several States.\n\nSir,\n\nThe great object for which I had the honor to hold an appointment in the service of my country has been accomplished, and I am now preparing to resign it into the hands of Congress and return to domestic retirement.\nI have the greatest reluctance in leaving my position, a retirement I have longingly signed for but have never ceased to sigh over in the quiet absence from the world's noise and trouble. Before I carry out this resolution, I feel it my duty to make this my last official communication. I congratulate you on the glorious events Heaven has bestowed upon us. I offer my sentiments on some important subjects that seem intimately connected to the tranquility of the United States. I take my leave of you as a public character and give my final blessing to that country in whose service I have spent the prime of my life.\nI have consumed many anxious days and watchful nights, and whose happiness, being extremely dear to me, will always constitute no inconsiderable part of my own. Impressed with the liveliest sensibility on this pleasing occasion, I will claim the indulgence of dilating more copiously on the subjects of our mutual felicitation. When we consider the magnitude of the prize we contended for, the doubtful nature of the contest, and the favorable manner in which it has terminated, we shall find the greatest possible reason for gratitude and rejoicing. This is a theme that will afford infinite delight to every benevolent and liberal mind, whether the event in contemplation be considered as a source of present enjoyment or the parent of future happiness. We shall have equal occasion to felicitate ourselves on the lot.\nThe citizens of America, in their enviable condition as sole lords and proprietors of a vast continent with various soils and climates abounding in necessities and conveniences of life, are now acknowledged to be possessed of absolute freedom and independence. From this period, they are considered the actors on a most conspicuous theatre designed by Providence for the display of human greatness and felicity. Here they are surrounded with everything contributing to the completion of private and domestic enjoyment, and Heaven has crowned all its blessings.\nother blessings, by giving a fairer opportunity for political happiness than any other nation has ever been favored with. Nothing can illustrate these observations more clearly than the recollection of the happy conjuncture of times and circumstances under which our Republic assumed its rank among the nations. The foundation of our empire was not laid in a gloomy age of ignorance and superstition, but at an epoch when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined than at any former period: the researches of the human mind after social happiness have been carried to a great extent: the treasures of knowledge acquired by the labors of philosophers, sages and legislators, through a long succession of years, are laid open for use, and their collected wisdom may be happily applied in the establishment of just and equal laws.\nThe establishment of our forms of government: the free cultivation of letters, the unbounded extension of commerce, the progressive refinement of manners, the growing liberality of sentiment, and above all, the pure and benign light of revelation, have had a meliorating influence on mankind and increased the blessings of society. At this auspicious period, the United States came into existence as a nation, and if her citizens are not completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own. Such is our situation, and such are our prospects; but notwithstanding happiness is ours, if we have a disposition to seize the occasion and make it our own: George Washington. Yet it appears to me, there is an option still left to the United States of America, whether they will be respected.\nThis is the time of a nation's political probation; this is the moment when the eyes of the world are turned upon it; this is the time to establish or ruin its national character forever; this is the favorable moment to give such atonement to the Federal Government, enabling it to answer the ends of its institution; or this may be the ill-fated moment for relaxing the powers of the Union, annihilating the cement of the Confederation, and exposing us to become the sport of European politics, which may play one State against another to prevent their growing importance and to serve their own interested purposes. For, according to the system of policy the States shall adopt at this moment, they will stand or fall; and, by their confirmation or lapse, it is determined.\nWith the conviction of the importance of the present crisis, I will speak to Your Excellency in the language of freedom and sincerity, without disguise. I am aware that those who differ from me in political sentiments may remark that I am stepping out of the proper line of my duty. They may possibly ascribe to arrogance or ostentation what I know is only the result of the purest intentions. But the rectitude of my own heart, which disdains such unworthy motives, the part I have hitherto acted in life, and the determination I have formed not to:\nI. An indissoluble union of the states under one federal head.\nII. A sacred regard to public justice.\nIII. A proper peace establishment.\nIV. The prevalence of that pacific and friendly disposition among the people of the United States, which\n\nensures the well-being, if not the existence, of the United States as an independent power.\nThese are the pillars on which our independence and national character must be supported. Liberty is the basis. Whoever dares to sap the foundation or overturn the structure, under whatever specious pretext, will merit the bitterest execration and the severest punishment from his injured country.\n\nI will make a few observations on the first three articles, leaving the last to the good sense and serious consideration of those immediately concerned.\n\nUnder the first head, although it may not be necessary:\n\n1. These are the pillars on which our independence and national character must be supported. Liberty is the basis.\n2. Anyone who attempts to undermine the foundation or overthrow the structure under any deceitful pretext will deserve the bitterest condemnation and the most severe punishment from their injured country.\n3. Observations on the first three articles:\n\n(Assuming the missing text refers to the articles of a constitution or similar document)\n\nThe first article establishes the fundamental principles of the constitution, emphasizing the importance of liberty as the foundation of the nation's independence and character. The author warns against anyone who would threaten this foundation, emphasizing the severe consequences for such individuals.\n\nThe second article likely deals with the structure of government and the need for mutual concessions and community interest to ensure the general prosperity. The author emphasizes the importance of setting aside local prejudices and politics for the greater good.\n\nThe third article may address specific provisions or articles within the constitution, leaving the author to trust the judgment of those immediately concerned for their interpretation and implementation.\nThat it is my duty, and that of every true patriot, to assert and insist upon the following positions: The states must suffer Congress to exercise the prerogatives they are undoubtedly invested with by the constitution, or everything will very rapidly tend to anarchy and confusion. It is indispensable to the happiness of the individual states that there should be lodged somewhere a supreme power to regulate and govern the general concerns of the confederated republic, without which the union cannot exist.\nNot of long duration \u2014 That there must be a faithful and pointed compliance on the part of every state with the late proposals and demands of Congress, or the most deplorable consequences will ensue. George Washington.\n\nHave a tendency to dissolve the union or contribute to violate or lessen the sovereign authority, ought to be considered as hostile to the liberty and independence of America, and the authors of them treated accordingly.\n\nLastly, that unless we can be enabled by the concurrence of the States to participate in the fruits of the revolution and enjoy the essential benefits of civil society, under a form of government so free and uncorrupted, so happily guarded against the danger of oppression, as has been devised and adopted by the Articles of Confederation, it will be a subject of regret that so much blood and treasure have been spent.\nAnd treasure have been lavished for no purpose; many sufferings have been encountered without compensation, and many sacrifices have been made in vain. Many other considerations might be adduced to prove that without an entire conformity to the spirit of the Union, we cannot exist as an independent power. It will be sufficient for my purpose to mention one or two, which seem to me of the greatest importance. It is only in our united character that we are known as an empire, that our independence is acknowledged, that our power can be regarded, or our credit supported among foreign nations. The treaties of the European powers with the United States of America will have no validity on a dissolution of the Union. We shall be left nearly in a state of nature; or we may find, by our own unhappy experience,\nThere is a natural and necessary progression from the extreme of anarchy to the extreme of tyranny, and arbitrary power is most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness. Regarding the second article, which concerns the performance of public justice, Congress, in their late address to the United States, have almost exhausted the subject. They have explained their ideas so fully and have enforced the obligations the states are under to render complete justice to all public creditors with such dignity and energy that, in my opinion, no real friend to the honor and independence of America can hesitate a moment respecting the propriety of complying with the just and honorable measures proposed. If their arguments do not produce conviction, I know of nothing else.\nThe system referred to, being the result of the continent's collected wisdom, must be esteemed, if not perfect, the least objectionable of any that could be devised. If it is not carried into immediate execution, a national bankruptcy with all its deplorable consequences will take place before any different plan can be proposed or adopted. The ability of the country to discharge the debts incurred in its defense is not to be doubted. An inclination will not be wanting; the path of our duty is plain before us; honesty will be found to be the best and only true policy.\nLet us, as a nation, be just and fulfill the public contracts that Congress had the right to make for the purpose of carrying on the war with the same good faith we suppose ourselves bound to perform our private engagements. In the meantime, let an attention to the cheerful performance of their proper business, as individuals and as members of society, be earnestly inculcated on the citizens of America; then they will strengthen the hands of government and be happy under its protection. Every one will reap the fruit of his labors; every one will enjoy his own acquisitions without molestation and without danger. In this state of absolute freedom and perfect security, who will grudge to yield a very little of his property to support the common interests of society and ensure the public good?\nWho does not remember the frequent declarations at the commencement of war, that we should be completely satisfied, if at the expense of one half, we could defend the remainder of our possessions? Where is the man to be found, who wishes to remain indebted for the defence of his person and property, to the exertions, the bravery, and the blood of others, without making one generous effort to pay the debt of honor and gratitude? In what part of the continent shall we find any man, or body of men, who would not blush to stand up and propose measures purposely calculated to rob the soldier of his stipend, and the public creditor of his due? And were it possible that such a flagrant instance of injustice could ever happen, would it not excite the general indignation?\n\nGeorge Washington.\nIf such measures are brought down upon the authors, will Heaven's aggravated vengeance be visited upon them? If, despite all, a spirit of disunion or a temper of obstinacy and perverseness should manifest itself in any of the states; if an ungracious disposition should attempt to frustrate all the happy effects that might be expected to flow from the union; if there should be a refusal to comply with the requisitions for funds to discharge the annual interest of the public debts, and if that refusal should revive all those jealousies and produce all those evils which are now happily removed \u2014 Congress, who have shown a great degree of magnanimity and justice in all their transactions, will stand justified in the sight of God and man. That state alone, which puts itself in opposition to the aggregate wisdom of the continent, and follows such a course, will be the one to blame.\nI. Conscious of having acted in the best interest of my country as a public servant, I have pledged myself to the army and believed they would eventually receive complete and ample justice. I have no desire to conceal any instance of my official conduct from the world. I have therefore transmitted to you, Excellency, the enclosed collection of papers regarding the half-pay and commutation granted by Congress to the army officers. My sentiments on the matter will be clearly understood from these communications, along with the conclusive reasons that led me to recommend the adoption of this policy at an early period.\nAs the proceedings of Congress, the army, and myself are open to all and contain, in my opinion, sufficient information to remove prejudice and errors which may have been entertained by any, I think it unnecessary to say anything more than just to observe that the resolutions of Congress, now alluded to, are undoubtedly as absolutely binding upon the United States as the most solemn acts of confederation or legislation.\n\nRegarding the idea, which I am informed has in some instances prevailed, that the half-pay and commutation are to be regarded merely in the odious light of a pension, it ought to be exploded forever. That provision should be viewed, as it really was, a reasonable compensation offered by Congress at a time when they had no other means to provide for the soldiers.\nThing else to give to the officers of the army for services then to be performed: it was the only means to prevent a total dereliction of the service; it was a part of their hire. I may be allowed to say, it was the price of their blood, and of your independence; it is therefore more than a common debt, it is a debt of honor; it can never be considered as a pension or gratuity, nor be cancelled until it is fairly discharged.\n\nWith regard to the distinction between officers and soldiers, it is sufficient that the uniform experience of every nation of the world, combined with our own, proves the utility and propriety of the discrimination. Rewards, in proportion to the aid the public derives from them, are unquestionably due to all its servants. In some lines, the soldiers have, perhaps, generally, had as ample rewards.\ncompensation for their services, by the large bounties which have been paid them, as their officers will receive in the proposed commutation; in others, if besides the donation of land, the payment of arrearages of clothing and wages (in which articles all the component parts of the army must be put upon the same footing), we take into the estimate, the bounties many soldiers have received, and the gratuity of one year\u2019s full pay, which is promised to all, possibly their situation (every circumstance being duly considered) will not be deemed less eligible than that of the officers.\n\nShould a farther reward, however, be judged equitable, I will venture to assert, no man will enjoy greater satisfaction than myself, on seeing an exemption from taxes for a limited time (which has been petitioned for in some cases).\nGeorge Washington:\n\nInstances of full pay, instead of half-pay for life, were offered to the brave defenders of their country's cause, but neither the adoption nor rejection of this position will in any manner affect or militate against the act of Congress, by which they have offered five years full pay in lieu of the half-pay for life, which had been before promised to the officers of the army.\n\nBefore concluding the subject of public justice, I cannot omit mentioning the obligations this country is under to that meritorious class of veteran non-commissioned officers and privates, who have been discharged for disability, in consequence of the resolution of Congress on the 23rd of April, 1782, on an annual pension for life. Their peculiar sufferings, their singular merits, and claims to that provision need only be known to interfere.\nAll feelings of humanity should be considered on their behalf. Nothing but a punctual payment of their annual allowance can rescue them from the most complicated misery. It is a more melancholy and distressing sight to behold those who have shed their blood or lost their limbs in the service of their country, without a shelter, without a friend, and without the means of obtaining any of the comforts or necessities of life, compelled to beg their daily bread from door to door. I implore those of this description belonging to your state to the warmest patronage of your Excellency and your legislature.\n\nIt is necessary to say but a few words on the third topic which was proposed, and which concerns particularly the defense of the republic. There can be little doubt but Congress will recommend a proper peace establishment.\nThe militia is essential for the United States, and I would urge the importance of establishing it on a regular and respectable footing. The militia of this country is our security and our first line of defense in case of hostility. Therefore, it is necessary that the same system pervade the whole country; that the formation and discipline of the militia on the continent be absolutely uniform; and that the same type of arms, accoutrements, and military apparatus be introduced in every part of the United States. No one who has not learned it from experience can conceive the difficulty, expense, and confusion that result from a lack of uniformity.\nIf, in treating political points, a greater latitude than usual has been taken in the course of this Address, the importance of the crisis and the magnitude of the objects in discussion must be my apology. It is neither my wish nor expectation that the preceding observations should claim any regard, except so far as they should appear to be dictated by a good intention, consistent with the immediate rules of justice, calculated to produce a liberal system of policy, and founded on whatever experience may have been acquired by a long and close attention to public business. Here I might speak with more confidence, from my actual observations. If it would not swell this letter (already too prolix) beyond the bounds I had prescribed myself, I could describe them in detail.\nEvery open mind should be shown that the war could have been concluded in less time and with less expense if the resources of the continent had been effectively utilized. The distresses and disappointments that have frequently occurred were often the result of a lack of energy in the continental government rather than a deficiency of means in the particular states. The ineffectiveness of measures was due to the absence of adequate authority in the supreme power, partial compliance with Congress's requisitions in some states, and a failure of punctuality in others. This not only dampened the zeal of those willing to exert themselves but also accumulated expenses.\nThe Avar hindered our best plans and frustrated us. The discouragement caused by the complicated difficulties and embarrassments in which our affairs were involved would have long ago dissolved any army less patient, less virtuous, and less persevering than the one I have had the honor to command. I mention these notorious facts as defects of our Federal Constitution, particularly in the prosecution of a war. I beg it may be understood that, as I have always taken pleasure in gratefully acknowledging the assistance and support I have derived from every class of citizens, so I will always be happy to do justice to the unparalleled exertions of the individual States on many interesting occasions. I have freely disclosed what I wished to make known.\nI, before surrendering my public trust to those who committed it to me, knew this task was accomplished. I now bid adieu to your Excellency, as the Chief Magistrate of your State; at the same time, I bid a last farewell to the cares of office and all employments of public life. It remains then, to be my final and only request, that your Excellency communicates these sentiments to your legislature at their next meeting; and that they may be considered as the legacy of one who ardently wished, on all occasions, to be useful to his country, and who, even in retirement, will not fail to implore the Divine benediction upon it. I now make it my earnest prayer, that God would have you, and the State over which you preside, in his holy protection; that he would incline the hearts of the citizens towards him.\nI. To cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government. To entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another, for our fellow citizens of the United States at large. And particularly for our brethren who have served in the field. I most graciously pray that you would dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with the charity, humility, and pacific temper of mind, which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion. Without an humble imitation of whose example, in these things, we can never hope to be a happy nation.\n\nI have the honor to be, with much esteem and respect, Sir, your Excellency\u2019s most obedient and most humble servant,\n\nG. Washington\n\nGeneral Washington, having retired from all public employment, now assumed the character of a private citizen.\nA gentleman; he employed himself in improving his farms and plantation, and in cultivating the arts of peace. In this retreat of happiness and rural simplicity, he was not long suffered to remain; it was too soon for the father of America to leave his infant care, his well-tryed virtues were generally and justly known to his fellow-citizens, and their confidence in his judgment, experience, and disinterested patriotism, was universal, even to enthusiasm. Four years had not expired from the period at which he resigned his military command, when the voice of his country again called him to its service. In these peaceful scenes, Washington enjoyed the rational delights of rural life from the year 1783, till the summer of 1787, when he was chosen President of the Convention, which met at Philadelphia, and framed the Constitution.\nThe United States Constitution, after eleven years of experience, was found inadequate for government purposes. The fundamental distinction between the Articles of Confederation and the new Constitution lies in this: the former acted only on states, while the latter acted on individuals. The former could not raise men or money by its own authority, but was at the discretion of thirteen different legislatures, and, without their unanimous concurrence, was unable to provide for public safety or pay the national debt. By the new Constitution, one legislative, executive, and judicial power pervades the whole Union. After full consideration and thorough discussion of its principles, it was ratified by eleven of the thirteen states. North Carolina and Rhode Island have since given their concurrence.\nThe new Constitution being adopted, Washington was chosen President in April, 1789, by the unanimous vote of his countrymen. When he received intelligence of his election, he set out from Mount Vernon for New-York. He was escorted by the militia and gentlemen of the first character from State to State, and numerous addresses of congratulation were presented to him by the inhabitants of the towns through which he passed. On his approach to Philadelphia, he was met by above 20,000 citizens, who conducted him to the city, where an elegant entertainment was prepared for him. His progress from Philadelphia to New-York is thus described by an elegant writer, and presents an animated picture of public gratitude:\n\n\"When Mr. Washington crossed the Delaware and landed on the Jersey shore, he was saluted with 3 cheers by the inhabitants.\"\nWhen he reached the hill's brow on his way to Trenton, a triumphal arch was erected on the bridge by the ladies of the place. The arch's crown was highly ornamented with imperial laurels and flowers, and on it was displayed, in large figures, \"December 26th, 1776.\" The arch's sweep bore this inscription, \"The Defender of Mothers will be the Protector of Daughters.\" On the north side were arranged a number of young girls dressed in white, with garlands of flowers on their heads, and baskets of flowers on their arms \u2014 in the second row stood the young ladies, and behind them the married ladies of the town. The instant he passed the arch, the young girls began to sing the following ode:\n\n\"Welcome, mighty Chief, once more,\nWelcome to this grateful shore: \u2014\nNo more mercenary foe\nShall e'er disturb your peaceful boon.\"\n\"Aims, once more, the fatal blow \u2013\nAims at thee the fatal blow.\nVirgins fair, and matrons grave,\nThese thy conquering arms have saved\nBuild for thee triumphant bowers;\nStrew ye fair, his way with flowers,\nStrew your Hero's way with flowers.\"\n\nAs they sang the last lines, they strewed their flowers\non the road before their beloved Deliverer. His\nsituation on this occasion contrasted with what he had\nfelt on the same spot in December 1776, when the\naffairs of America were at the lowest ebb of depression.\nHe was rowed across the bay from Elizabeth-Town to New-\nYork in an elegant barge by 13 pilots. All the vessels in\nthe harbor hoisted their flags. On his landing, universal\njoy diffused itself through every order of the people,\nand he was received and congratulated by them.\nGovernor and officers of the State. In the evening, the inhabitants' houses were brilliantly illuminated.\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF\n\nOn the 30th of April, he was inaugurated President of the United States, and took the oath enjoined by the Constitution, in the following words, \"I do solemnly swear, that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will, to the best of my ability, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.\"\n\nAn universal and solemn silence prevailed among the spectators during this part of the ceremony. The Chancellor then proclaimed him President of the United States, and was answered by the discharge of cannon, and the acclamations of 20,000 citizens. After which he delivered the following inaugural address to both houses of Congress:\n\n[The text does not require cleaning as it is already perfectly readable and free of meaningless or unreadable content. No introductions, logistics information, publication information, or modern editor additions are present. The text is in standard English and does not require translation. No OCR errors are present.]\nAmong the vicissitudes of life, no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that for which the notification was transmitted by your order and received on the fourteenth day of the present month. I was summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest preference, and, in my flattering hopes, with an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years: a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary, as well as more dear to me, by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in my health, to the gradual waste committed on it by time. On the other hand, the responsibility was laid upon me of assuming the arduous trust which the people of the United States have been pleased to confer upon me. The task is one to which no mortal would feel equal, under ordinary circumstances. But, in the present crisis, magnified as it is by our internal dissensions and external dangers, requiring, as it does, much forbearance and wisdom, I cannot contemplate it without fear. Yet, I am consoled by a firm belief that, if it has pleased the Almighty Ruler of the Universe to call me at this time, it must be with some design, and that design will be answered. In the execution of this important trust, I shall endeavor to follow the example and precedents of my esteemed predecessors, and to act in conformity to the constitutional obligations which bind me. I shall also endeavor to listen with great deference to those opinions which are entertained by my colleagues in the executive department, and by the members of Congress, who represent the various interests and sentiments of the people. I shall consider myself as having no personal interest, no local prejudices, and no other motive than the love of my country and the desire to serve it. I shall endeavor to make my administration a blessing to all the people by fostering friendship and good feeling towards the sister States, and by cultivating the principles of peace, order, and good government. And, in all things, I shall let my motto be, as it was in the days of Washington, \"One country, one people.\" I shall also endeavor to promote the interests of science and literature, and to give every encouragement to agriculture, commerce, and manufactures, in order that the blessings of freedom may be extended to all the people. I shall also endeavor to protect the rights of the humblest citizen, and to guard the honor and dignity of the nation. In conclusion, I shall ask the indulgence of Congress, and of the people, for such errors as may be contained in this address, and for such infirmities as may be discovered in my conduct. I shall also ask their prayers for the guidance of the Almighty Hand, that I may be enabled to discharge the duties of my office with fidelity and honor. I shall also ask their prayers for the prosperity of the United States, and for the happiness and welfare of all its citizens. May the blessings of the Almighty be upon us all.\nI. magnitude and difficulty of the trust, to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the wisest and most experienced of her citizens a distrustful scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with despondence, one, who, inheriting inferior endowments from nature, and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration, ought to be particularly conscious of his own deficiencies. In this conflict of emotions, all I dare aver, is that it has been my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation of every circumstance, by which it might be effected. I dare hope, is that if, in accepting this task, I have been too much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow-citizens \u2014 and\n\nGeorge Washington.\nI have, with little consultation of my incapacity and disinclination, obediently repaired to the present station. It will be improper in this first official act to omit my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, and presides in the councils of nations. May his providential aids supply every human defect, and consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States, this government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes.\nEvery instrument in its administration should execute with success the functions allotted to its charge. In tendering this homage to the great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments not less than my own, or those of my fellow citizens at large. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible hand which conducts the affairs of men more than the people of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency. In the important revolution just accomplished in the system of their united government, the tranquil deliberations and voluntary consent of so many distinct communities, from which the event has resulted, cannot be compared with.\nThe means by which most governments have been established, without some return of pious gratitude, along with an humble anticipation of the future blessings which the past seem to presage. These reflections, arising out of the present crisis, have forced themselves too strongly on my mind to be suppressed. You will join me, I trust, in thinking that there are none under the influence of which the proceedings of a new and free government can more auspiciously commence.\n\nBy the article establishing the executive department, it is made the duty of the president \"to recommend to your consideration such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.\" The circumstances under which I now meet you, will acquit me from entering into that subject farther than to refer to the great importance of this power in the hands of a wise and virtuous magistrate.\nconstitutional charter under which you are now assembled; and which, in defining your powers, designates the objects to which your attention is to be given. It will be more consistent with those circumstances, and far more congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute in place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due to the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which adorn the characters selected to devise and adopt them. In these honorable qualifications, I behold the surest pledges, that, as on one side, no local prejudices or attachments-no separate views-no party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assembly of communities and interests: so, on another, that the foundations of our national policy will be laid in.\nThe pure and immutable principles of private morality and the preeminence of free government be exemplified by all the attributes which can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world. I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire. Since there is no truth more thoroughly established than that there exists in the economy and course of nature an indissoluble union between virtue and happiness, between duty and advantage, between the genuine maxims of an honest and magnanimous policy, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity: since we ought to be no less persuaded that the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained.\n\"George Washington. The preservation of the sacred fire of liberty and the destiny of the republican model of government are deeply, perhaps finally, staked on the experiment entrusted to the American people. Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with your judgment to decide how far an exercise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the constitution is rendered expedient at the present juncture, by the nature of objections which have been urged against the system, or by the degree of quietude which has given birth to them. I shall again give way to my entire confidence in your discernment on this subject, instead of undertaking particular recommendations on which I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities.\"\nI assure you, as you carefully avoid alterations that could endanger an united and effective government or require future experience, your deliberations on fortifying the former and promoting the latter will be influenced by a reverence for the characteristic rights of freemen and regard for public harmony.\n\nTo the preceding observations, I have one to add, most properly addressed to the House of Representatives. It concerns myself and will be brief. When I was first honored with an axe into the service of my country, on the eve of an arduous struggle for its liberties, the light in which I served.\nI have renounced every pecuniary compensation in my duty and have not departed from this resolution. I must decline any share in the personal emoluments required for a permanent provision for the executive department and pray that the pecuniary estimates for my station be limited to actual expenditures required for the public good during my continuance in it. Having imparted to you my sentiments awakened by this occasion, I shall take my present leave, but not without once more resorting to the benign Parent of the human race.\nMan, in humble supplication, requests that since you have favored the American people with opportunities for deliberation in perfect tranquility and dispositions for deciding with unparalleled unanimity on a form of government for the security of their union and the advancement of their happiness, may your divine blessing be equally conspicuous in the enlarged views, temperate consultations, and wise measures upon which the success of this government depends.\n\nG. Washington.\n\nThe first session of Congress, under the new constitution, continued their sittings from the 4th of March until the 29th of September. Their attention was chiefly directed towards the establishment of various regulations for the restoration of the public credit of the United States, and other objects of political economy.\nDuring the session, the President resided in New-York, sanctioning the legislature's proceedings and organizing the federal government. Shortly after Congress rose, he embarked on a tour of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, accompanied by Mr. Lear and Major Jackson, his secretaries. In every part of the country he passed through, citizens welcomed the opportunity to testify their esteem and respect for the man of their choice, whose character united whatever is great and good, and dignified and adorned human nature. A grateful people paid all that they could; whenever he approached a town or village, the roads were lined with citizens to hail him welcome, and the military escorted him from place to place. Particularly\nularly  to  relate  all  the  grateful  testimonials  which  were \npaid  him  during  this  visit,  is  impossible,  from  their  num\u00ac \nber.  If  our  limits  would  permit,  a  description  of  the \nmanner  in  which  he  was  received  at  Boston  would  be \nparticularly  interesting ;  nor  can  we  specify  the  numer\u00ac \nous  congratulatory  addresses  which  were  presented  him. \nBut  no' particular  circumstance  gave  him  more  pleasure, \nGEORGE  WASHINGTON.  303 \nduring  his  whole  tour,  than  the  plain  and  hearty  manner \nin  which  Mr.  Northey,  the  chairman  of  the  selectmen  at \nSalem,  received  him.  This  gentleman  is  of  the  society \nof  Friends,  and  when  the  President  was  presented  to  the \nselectmen,  Mr.  Northey,  being  covered,  took  him  by \ntiie  hand,  and  said,  \u201c  Friend  Washington,  we  are  glad \nto  see  thee,  amt  in  behalf  of  the  inhabitants,  bid  thee  a \nhearty  welcome  to  Salem.\u201d \nOn  his  arrival  at  Newburyport,  the  following  incident \nA poor old soldier named Cotton, who was with him in the memorable battle on the Ohio where Bradock was defeated, requested and was admitted into the room where the President was. On the soldier's asking, \"How is Major Washington?\" the President immediately recalled his person and rising from his chair took him by the hand, tenderly inquiring into the scenes of his life and present circumstances. \"I thank God,\" answered the soldier, \"that I have an opportunity of seeing my old commander once more. I have seen him in adversity, and now seeing him in glory, I can go home and die contented.\" The next morning, he came again to take leave of the President, who gave him a guinea. He accepted it, saying, \"merely as a token in remembrance of his commander,\" and which he wore.\nDuring his tenure as President of the United States, the following incident occurred, which reflects positively on Washington's humanity. Reuben Rouzy of Virginia owed him approximately a thousand pounds. One of the President's agents initiated a lawsuit for the money, a judgment was rendered, and a writ of execution was issued against Rouzy, who was subsequently incarcerated. He possessed a considerable amount of land, but in Virginia, such property could not be sold for debts without the landowner's consent. He had a large family and preferred to remain in jail rather than sell his land for their sake. Some of his acquaintances suggested that Washington might not be aware of the proceedings and it might be beneficial to inform him.\nHim a petition with a statement of the circumstances. He did so, and the very next post from Philadelphia brought him a release mement, with a severe reprimand on the agent for acting in such a cruel manner, without consent. Poor Rouzy was, in consequence, restored to his family and happiness, who never laid down their heads at night without offering their prayers to Heaven for our much beloved Washington.\n\nOn the 4th day of January, 1790, Congress held their second session at New-York. The President opened it with a speech; he congratulated them on the favorable prospects which the public affairs then assumed; the accession of the state of North Carolina to the Union, the rising credit and respectability of the country, and the concord, peace, and plenty with which they were enjoying themselves.\nHe directed their attention towards making provisions for the common defense, assuring them that \"to be prepared for war is one of the most effectual means of preserving peace.\" A free people ought not only to be armed but disciplined. He recommended the protection of the Western and Southern frontiers against the depredations of hostile Indians; the establishment of intercourse with other nations; the framing of an uniform law for the naturalization of foreigners; the importance of uniformity in currency, weights and measures throughout the Union; the advancement of agriculture, commerce, and manufactures; the encouragement of exertions of skill and genius; and to facilitate intercourse between distant parts of the country, a due attention to the post office and post-roads. He particularly recommended the promotion of these measures.\nGeorge Washington addressed the assembly on the importance of science and literature as the foundation of public happiness and a free constitution. He urged the people to discern their rights, distinguish oppression from lawful authority, and cherish liberty while avoiding licentiousness. Washington assured them that he had directed the necessary papers and estimates to be presented for their information regarding the state of the Union. He concluded by expressing his desire for their cooperation.\nThe session continued until the 12th of August; in that month, the President negotiated a treaty of peace and friendship between the United States and the Creek nation of Indians. The ceremony took place at New-York on the 30th of September. The same year, General Harmar, with 320 United States troops and 1,133 militia, gave battle to the Miami Indians. He was defeated, resulting in the loss of 183 men killed and 31 wounded. About 100 or more Indians were killed. The Miami village, containing about 100 log houses or wigwams and 20,000 bushels of corn, was destroyed. The third session of Congress met on the 6th of December.\nDecember, 1790. The legislature convened on the 3rd of March following. Their deliberations were primarily focused on the regulation of commerce, further improvement of the judicial system, and making provisions for the appointment of consuls in foreign countries. Kentucky was admitted into the union as a distinct state, and a loan was negotiated with the States of Holland. The Indian war continued on the frontier of the states. During the summer of 1791, General Scott surprised the Wabash towns. He killed about 30 Indians, took 50 prisoners, and brought with him 200 horses, loaded with peltry and other articles of plunder, with the loss of only three men. The President's attention during this Congress was mainly directed towards the adoption of measures for the protection of the frontiers and the establishment of commerce.\nOn the 24th of October, 1791, the second Congress commenced their first session. The President, as usual, opened the session with a speech to both houses. He began by remarking the abundance of the preceding harvest, the progressive state of agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, and the general and happy effects which had been produced by the revival of public confidence. He mentioned the plan laid down for conciliating the friendship of the Indians; the basis of which was a strict adherence to the dictates of justice and humanity. The act for laying a duty on distilled spirits had been attended with some difficulty, due to the federal government's lack of experience in making the proper arrangements.\nThe President stated that there had been a misconception of the law in some parts of the union, but he was certain that the discontent would be resolved through a proper explanation. He then mentioned that, in accordance with several acts on the subject, a ten-mile square district had been designated for the permanent seat of the United States government. This district encompassed lands on both sides of the Potomac and included the towns of Alexandria and George-town. A city had been planned, and progress was expected in the construction of buildings. The President also reported that a census of the United States inhabitants was nearly complete.\nThe population numbered four million people. A loan of two million and a half florins had been completed in Holland under similar terms, and another loan for six million florins was being arranged. He emphasized the importance of supporting the militia on an effective plan, administering the post-office, extending and improving the post-roads, the need for a public mint, uniformity of weights and measures, and a provision for selling the vacant lands of the United States.\n\nTheir deliberations continued until May 8, 1792, when they adjourned until the first Monday of November following. During this session and adjajournment, no remarkable or important events occurred, such as the series of massacres.\nSubmitted on the frontiers; the hopes expressed by the President, of being able to accommodate the disputes with the Indians, did not prove successful. On the 4th of November, 1791, the United States army, under the command of General St. Clair, was attacked by surprise, within fifteen miles of the Miami village. The contest lasted four hours, when the Indians became victorious. The retreat of the Americans was accomplished with the loss of 46 officers and 600 privates, killed; 21 commissioned officers, and 242 non-commissioned officers and privates, wounded, and eight pieces of artillery and their whole baggage taken. In this battle, it is said, 1,200 Canadians fought under the disguise of Indians. The attention of the Executive, during this period, was also engaged in devising modes to reconcile the citizens.\nIn some districts of the union, to the law enacted for collecting a certain duty on spirits distilled within the United States, opposition began to manifest in some states, particularly the western parts of Pennsylvania. Consequently, the President's special interposition was deemed advisable. He issued a proclamation recommending compliance with the laws and warning citizens against unlawful proceedings and combinations obstructing the same. The second Congress met again in November, 1790. The President opened the session with a speech, the greatest part of which respected the unfortunate endeavors to terminate the Indian hostilities. He informed Congress of the opposition to the excise law and recommended a revision.\nThe dictionary system. He further observed that three loans had been negotiated for the use of the United States, one at Antwerp and two at Amsterdam, each for three million florins, on very reasonable terms, which afforded a pleasing evidence of the increasing credit of the new government. On the 2nd of March, 1793, this session adjourned.\n\nHeretofore, the prosperity of the United States met with little or no interruption, except from the hostility of the Indians. The attention of the Executive was chiefly directed to the establishment of those measures which the organization of the infant republic rendered necessary. The extension of commerce, and the disputes of the European powers, rendered it necessary for the United States to send and receive ministers and agents, for the better regulation of affairs.\n\nDictionary system observed three loans for United States; one at Antwerp, two at Amsterdam (each for three million florins); reasonable terms; increasing credit; session adjourned 2nd March 1793. Prosperity met little interruption; attention to establish measures; extension of commerce; European disputes necessitated sending ministers and agents.\nThis necessary measure created troubles and perplexities hitherto unknown to the Executive of the United States. On April 8, 1793, Citizen Genet arrived at Charleston as minister plenipotentiary from the French executive to the President of the United States. On April 22 of the same month, the President issued a proclamation enjoining the citizens of the United States to strict neutrality in the contest between the maritime powers and threatening prosecution to all who infringed the same. The public approval of this wise measure for the preservation of public tranquility was manifested in numerous addresses to the President, thanking him in warm terms for his attention to their interests; however, many were offended at the measure as they conceived it implied an imposition on American neutrality.\nA lack of respect and gratitude towards the republic of France, to whom the United States were heavily indebted for their independence. Genet arrived in Philadelphia, the seat of government, on May 17. The conduct of this minister is, perhaps, unprecedented in diplomatic history. It was not until the publication of the President's proclamation enjoining neutrality that the government first learned of his arrival, and even then, they were only informed through the newspapers about two weeks after his arrival. Instead of presenting his credentials to the President, he began to assume an imprudent and unbecoming conduct. He undertook to authorize the fitting out of armed vessels. He enlisted citizens and others, and gave commissions to cruise and commit hostilities against the vessels of England.\nLand and other nations at war with France, but at peace with the United States, captured these vessels and brought them into American ports. French consuls held courts of admiralty, tried, condemned, and authorized their sale as legal prizes. These proceedings, opposing the peace of the United States, were immediately complained of by Mr. Hammond, the British minister. The United States government interfered and, in some cases, overruled the proceedings of both the British and French as illegal. Remonstrances were exhibited to President George Washington from both sides, creating a series of diplomatic correspondence. A new source of discontent arose for the French; Genet demanded.\nThe United States government found it inconvenient to comply with paying France in full for their debt using money from the treasury. This diplomatic hostility could not last long without reaching a crisis. On August 16, President Washington ordered Secretary of State Jefferson to write to American ambassador Morris in France, requesting the recall of their minister. In the interim, French vice-consul Duplaine, in Boston's port, violated American laws, leading to the President suspending his powers.\n\nThe term for Washington's presidency had expired, but he was re-elected on December 2, 1793.\nCongress commenced their first session. The President, in his speech to both houses, expressed a respectful sense of the confidence that he enjoyed, in being again called, by the suffrage of his fellow-citizens, to the office of chief magistrate. He recited the measures which he had adopted to avoid a rupture with any of the powers at war and to ensure to the citizens of the United States the rights of neutrality. He further recommended to Congress the necessity of placing the country in a state of defense; that while the United States fulfilled their duties to the rest of the world, they may likewise exact the fulfillment of the like duties towards them. He informed them of the means which had been pursued for conciliating the dispositions of the Indians and recommended to Congress to make provision for the establishment\nHe recommended commerce with the Indian nations as the best means of securing their interest and rendering their tranquility permanent. He also recommended a repeal of the tax on the transportation of public prints, as they contained the best means of informing the minds and securing the affections of their constituents. In a special message to the House of Representatives, he informed them that although the French nation had generally manifested a friendly disposition towards the United States, the person unfortunately appointed their minister plenipotentiary had breathed nothing of the friendly disposition of the nation which sent him. His proceedings had uniformly tended to involve us in war abroad and discord and anarchy at home.\nThe government would not long suffer the United States to remain exposed to the actions of a person who had so little respected the mutual dispositions of the two countries. Soon after this period, this minister was recalled, his conduct having been unequivocally disapproved of. About this period, the commerce of the United States began to suffer greatly from the depredations of the British under the pretense of their being laden with French property; it also suffered from the piracy of privateers who, for the most part, disclaimed justice altogether and seized both vessels and cargo to dispose of for their own use; a considerable number of American vessels were likewise captured in the Western Ocean by the Algerine corsairs. These subjects were assumed by Congress, and many modes were proposed for the purposive solution.\nA bill was passed to provide naval armament against the Algerines. On March 25, a motion was made in the House of Representatives, assented to by the Senate, and signed by the President, laying an embargo for 30 days on all vessels bound for foreign ports. This embargo was continued until May 25. The President was empowered to raise an additional corps of artillery-men for garrisoning fortifications for the defense of the sea-coasts. He was also authorized to call on the executives of the different states to take effective measures for organizing 80,000 effective militia.\n\nIntelligence was received on May 19 from the territory northwest of the river Ohio, reporting the hardships endured by its citizens.\nThe hostile disposition of the Cherokee Indians resulted in the massacre of 200 people and the loss of 2000 horses. President George Washington informed the House of Representatives of potential hostilities against Spanish territories nearby, as the Kentucky governor indicated he would not prevent the expulsion of the Spaniards due to their perceived perfidious and worthless nature, inciting Indians to murder settlers. During this session of Congress, many important laws were enacted, including one assigning $24,424 to the Marquis de Lafayette for his services.\nDuring the war, a major-general's pay: The act forbidding American citizens and foreign residents in the United States, under severe penalties, from being involved in the slave trade brings great honor to the legislature. On June 9, 1794, this session adjourned.\n\nIn 1794, during Congress's recess, the President of the United States was called upon to suppress an insurrection that was beginning to take a very formidable shape. It was confined to the western parts of Pennsylvania. The outlines of it were as follows: In 1790, the United States Congress found it necessary \"to lay and collect excises.\" This mode of taxation, discordant to the genius of the citizens in many parts of the union, met with considerable opposition, which, however, was gradually overcome.\nbanished, except in the four western counties of Pennsylvania, where a prejudice still remained and produced symptoms of riot and violence. The disaffection was initially vented in general complaints; certain associations were formed to prevent the operation of the laws, and excise officers received some contempt and rudeness. These associations held public meetings and published their resolutions. The excise law, they censured several other acts of the federal government, such as the exorbitant salaries of office, the institution of a national bank, the interest on the public debt, &c.\n\nOn September 6, 1791, the collector of the Revenue for that district was seized by a party, armed and in disguise; they tarred and feathered him, cut off his hair, and committed other acts of violence; legal proceedings were initiated against them.\nThe process was issued against the offenders, but the insurgents prevented the marshal from serving them. They fired upon him, arrested him, and detained him as a prisoner for some time. A number of similar outrages were committed. The President, as the ever watchful guardian of the constitution, beheld with sorrow these excesses. He sought and weighed what was best to be done in this momentous crisis. He beheld the judiciary stripped of its capacity to enforce the laws, and crimes, which reached to the very existence of social order, perpetrated without control. The friends of government were insulted, and the constitution violated, which he had made a sacred vow to protect. He beheld with abhorrence the idea of arraying citizen against citizen, until every lenient measure should be exhausted. He issued proclamations.\nThe governor exhorted the rioters to cease disorderly proceedings and recommended obedience to the laws. He appointed commissioners to visit the scene of insurrection, authorized them to confer with the insurgents, express his feelings, and assure them of his desire to avoid coercion. He even offered them pardon on condition of receiving satisfactory assurance of obedience to the laws.\n\nThese lenient measures did not produce the desired effects. The president therefore deemed it prudent to use military force. Fifteen thousand militia were mobilized, their numbers intimidating the insurgents. Thus, the insurrection was quelled without bloodshed. Some ringleaders were apprehended and brought to trial. One of them was found guilty of treason and condemned.\nIn November 1794, the third Congress held their second session at Philadelphia. The President began his speech with a history of the opposition to the Constitution and laws of the United States, and the means he had pursued to suppress it. The alacrity which the militia and others who volunteered their service displayed, he said, \"exhibited to the highest advantage the value of republican government. To behold the most and least wealthy alike engaged in its defense, was a sight worthy of an angel.\"\nOur citizens, standing in the same ranks as private soldiers, were pre-eminently distinguished by being the army of the constitution. Undeterred by a march of three hundred miles over rugged mountains, by the approach of an inclement season, or by any other discouragement, he recommended to Congress the re-imbursement of officers of government and other citizens who had sustained losses for their generous exertions in upholding the constitution and laws. The amount, he said, would not be great; and on future emergencies, the government would be amply repaid by the influence of an example, that he who incurs a loss in its defence, shall find a recompense in its liberality. The intelligence from General Wayne's army, acting against the hostile Indians N.W. of the Ohio, afforded a happy precedent.\nThe military operations had dampened the savages' ardor and obstinacy, yet the power of the United States to punish them was not in question. The governor was not unwilling to cement a lasting peace on terms of equity and good neighborhood. He recommended the adoption of a definitive plan for the redemption of the public debt. In subsequent communications, he transmitted to them certain papers relative to the intercourse of the United States with foreign nations. He announced to Congress and to the world his unremitting exertions to cultivate peace with all the world, observe treaties with good faith, check deviations from the line of impartiality, and explain and correct what was misapprehended or appeared injurious.\n\nSince the formal ratification of the treaties,\npeace between the United States and Great-Britain, numerous causes of complaint have existed on the part of both countries regarding its fulfillment. The nature, progress, and final termination of these disputes will form a very interesting part in the history of the political and diplomatic character of President Washington. However, the bounds which we have assigned to the present sketch prevent us from entering fully upon the subject. The ground of complaint on both sides was disputed in 1792, in a correspondence between Mr. Jefferson, secretary of state, and Mr. Hammond, the envoy of Britain. In their letters, the reciprocal complaints are stated with candor, perspicuity, and completeness. To support their respective arguments, they bring forward on each side, a large body of illustrations and authorities.\nThe correspondence regarding ties of great interest was published by Congress in 1794. Mr. Jefferson's arguments carried unanswerable weight, as no reply or explanation was ever made to them despite his requests. Affairs remained in this state of suspense until June 1793, when the British issued orders to their vessel commanders to stop all neutral vessels carrying provisions to any French port. Ships attempting to enter any French port blockaded by the English were to be condemned, both vessel and cargo, regardless of its composition. The order contained a limited exception in favor of Denmark and Sweden, but in its execution, American rights were entirely disregarded. This matter produced a significant issue.\nThe diplomatic discussions between the ministers of the two countries took place in London and Philadelphia. Their correspondence resulted in a mutual desire on both sides to establish a treaty of commerce and a friendly resolution of all complaints. The President of the United States nominated John Jay, the chief justice of the United States, as an envoy extraordinary to the court of London. After a brief journey, Jay arrived in London and received a polite reception. He negotiated the Treaty of Peace, Commerce and Navigation. The treaty arrived in Philadelphia in March 1795 and was promptly submitted to the Senate for their consent. They returned it to the President on June 24th, advising conditional ratification.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\nThe treaty was resubmitted to the Senate around the 30th of the same month.\nThe public discussed the issue through newspapers. It became a topic of conversation in all its different perspectives, some admitting of it, others opposing it entirely. This opposition was taken seriously by the President, who considered the arguments against it and weighed them. His own opinion was against it, but he did not wish to differ from the Senate and thought it better to ratify it as they advised. He was also induced to do so as Mr. Jay had asserted \"that no better terms could possibly be obtained.\"\nThe President assented, and ratifications were exchanged, with the suspension of the most objectionable article. His transaction is the most unfortunate that occurred during his Presidency. Those opposed to the treaty could not impress upon the minds of the citizens gross falsehoods, such as the treaty containing no reciprocal advantages, all benefits being on Britain's side, their rights neglected and sold, made with the design of oppressing the French, and contrary to every principle of gratitude and sound policy.\n\nThe first session of the fourth Congress met at Philadelphia, in December, 1795. The President, in a speech.\nThe negotiations for adjusting affairs with hostile Indians and the Dey and Regency of Algiers are ongoing. I have received assurances of a swift and satisfactory conclusion with Spain. With the Senate's advice, I have ratified a treaty with Britain, except for part of one article. I recommend reviewing the military establishment and making provisions for garrisoning and securing western posts to be delivered by the British. I will present a state of the finance and necessary appropriations for the upcoming year, as well as statements relative to the mint, progress in providing materials for building frigates, state of fortifications, and military magazines.\nA recommendation of temperate discussion and mutual forbearance in subjects where a difference of opinion may arise. A warm and lengthy discussion took place in the House of Representatives relative to the British treaty. Both sides of the question were ably supported. Few subjects had ever come before the House upon which so many members delivered their sentiments. On the 24th of March, 1796, they came to a resolution requesting the President to lay before the House a copy of the instructions to Mr. Jay, together with his correspondence and other documents relative to that treaty. To this request the President gave a positive refusal. He assured the House that he had always endeavored to harmonize with the other branches of the government and that he had never withheld any information which was not confidential.\nThe constitution instructed him to give the Senate the treaties, as it granted him the power to make treaties with the Senate's consent. However, it would set a dangerous precedent to allow the House of Representatives to demand and obtain all papers regarding negotiations with foreign powers after the treaties were concluded and ratified, and the House's assent was not necessary for their validity. We find it unnecessary to detail the differences with France, as they are recent enough to be generally remembered. During the entire time General Washington led public affairs, his conduct consistently displayed moderation, prudence, magnanimity, firmness, wisdom, and virtue.\nThe period of General Washington's second election to the office of Chief Magistrate being nearly expired, he put on a determined resolution to retire from public affairs and enjoy his declining years in private life. Upon this momentous occasion, resigning a charge which he had accepted through his enthusiasm for the principles of rational liberty, he was impressed with the purest wishes for the future happiness of that republic, which he had devoted the early, the mature, and a portion of his declining years to establish. And as a testimony of pure regard, he published the following valedictory address to his fellow-citizens.\n\nValedictory Address\nOf His Excellency George Washington, Esq. President of the United States, announcing his intention of retiring from all public employment.\n\nTo The People of the United States.\nFriends and Fellow Citizens,\n\nThe period for a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States being not far distant, and the time actually arrived when your thoughts must be employed in designating the person who is to be clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I should now apprise you of the resolution I have formed to decline being considered among those out of whom a choice is to be made.\n\nI beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be assured, that this resolution has not been taken without a strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the relation which binds a dutiful citizen to his country; and that, in withdrawing the tender of service which I had previously offered, I am influenced by no diminished zeal for your happiness, but much increased respect for the sacred duties of the trust committed to your choice.\nI am influenced by no diminution of zeal for your future interest; no deficiency of grateful respect for your past kindness. I am supported by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both.\n\nV JwJ -W\n\nBiographical Memoirs Of\n\nThe acceptance and continuance hitherto in the office to which your suffrages have twice called me, have been a uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference for what appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would have been much earlier in my power, consistently with motives which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to that retirement, from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to do this, previous to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address.\nI will abandon the idea of declaring my intentions to you, as mature reflection and the unanimous advice of trusted persons have led me to this decision. I am glad that the state of your concerns, both external and internal, no longer makes the pursuit of inclination incompatible with duty or propriety. I am convinced that, despite any partiality retained for my services, you will not disapprove of my determination to retire. The impressions that motivated me when I first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I have, with good intentions, contributed towards the organization and administration of the government, the best efforts I could.\nI. My judgments were fallible, and I was aware of the inferiority of my qualifications and experience. This awareness strengthened my diffidence towards myself. With each passing year, retirement became more necessary and welcome. I was satisfied that any circumstances giving value to my services were temporary. While choice and prudence urged me to leave the political scene, patriotism did not forbid it.\n\nLooking forward to the end of my political career, I cannot help but deeply acknowledge that\n\nGEORGE WASHINGTON.\nI owe a debt of gratitude to my beloved country for the many honors it has conferred upon me, for the steadfast confidence it has placed in me, and for the opportunities it has given me to manifest my inviolable attachment through faithful and persevering services, though their usefulness may have been unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted from these services to our country, let it always be remembered as an instructive example in our annals that under circumstances in which the passions were agitated in every direction and liable to mislead, amidst dubious appearances and vicissitudes of fortune often discouraging, the constancy of your support was the essential prop of my effectiveness.\nI shall carry the idea of your strong forts and the guarantee of the plans by which they were effected with me to my grave, as a profound incitement to unceasing vows. May Heaven continue to bless you with its choicest tokens, that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual. May your free constitution, which is the work of your hands, be sincerely maintained. May its administration in every department be stamped with wisdom and virtue. In fine, may the happiness of the people of these states, under the auspices of liberty, be made complete through careful preservation and prudent use, so that they may acquire the glory of recommending it to the applause, affection, and adoption of every nation yet a stranger to it.\nHere, I ought to stop, but a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end but with my life, and the apprehension of danger natural to that solicitude, urge me on in this occasion to offer to your solemn contemplations and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments which are the result of much reflection, of no inconsiderable observation, and which appear to me all-important to the permanency of your felicity as a people. These will be offered to you with the more freedom, as you can only see in them the disinterested warnings of a parting friend, who can possibly have no personal motive to bias his counsel. Nor forget, as an encouragement to it, your indulgent reception of my sentiments on a former and not dissimilar occasion.\n\nInterwoven as is the love of liberty with every ligament of your political body, it is essential to your happiness and your dignity, and consequently to your safety. The love of liberty is to be regarded not only as the guardian of every other virtue, but as a primary one, without which the others cannot exist. The loss of liberty, on the contrary, is the first and most essential step towards a downfall of the greatest magnitude.\n\nIt is a truth, self-evident, that every man is endowed by his Creator with certain unalienable rights, among which are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. These rights, which are the foundation of all human rights, cannot be surrendered, and any attempt to do so is not only an act of tyranny, but an act of folly.\n\nIt is also a truth, self-evident, that the only means of securing these rights is by establishing a government, which is founded on the consent of the governed, and which derives its just powers from the same source. Any government which derives its powers from any other source, be it the will of a monarch, or the will of a majority, is not a government of the people, but a government of tyrants or an oligarchy.\n\nIt is, therefore, the duty of every citizen, and especially of those who are entrusted with the administration of the government, to be ever on their guard against the encroachments of power, and to resist, by all means which are consistent with the preservation of peace and order, every attempt to infringe upon the rights of the people.\n\nIt is also the duty of every citizen to be informed, and to be active in the exercise of his rights. A people who are ignorant and apathetic are easy prey to the designs of ambitious and unprincipled men, who, if left unchecked, will soon establish a despotism, under the pretense of protecting the people from themselves.\n\nIt is, therefore, essential that every citizen should be informed of the transactions of his government, and should be encouraged to take an active part in its affairs. The press, which is the only effective means of disseminating information, should be free, and should be protected by law from all attempts to suppress it.\n\nIt is also essential that every citizen should be encouraged to take an active part in the administration of the government, and that every opportunity should be afforded to him for doing so. The people, who are the only legitimate source of power, should be the ruling power, and should be the sole judges of their own interests.\n\nIt is, therefore, the duty of every citizen to be vigilant, to be informed, and to be active. It is the duty of every citizen to be a patriot, and to be a good citizen. It is the duty of every citizen to remember that he is a member of a great and noble family, which has been formed for the purpose of securing the blessings of liberty, and which has been entrusted with the sacred duty of transmitting these blessings to posterity.\n\nIt is, therefore, the duty of every citizen to remember that he is a member of a great and noble family, which has been formed for the purpose of securing the blessings of liberty, and which has been entrusted with the sacred duty of transmitting these blessings to posterity. Let us, then, resolve to discharge this duty, and to do all in our power to preserve the liberties which we have received from our ancestors, and to transmit them, unimpaired, to our children and to our children's children.\n\nLet us remember that we are a people united by a common destiny, and that we are bound together by the ties of a common interest. Let us remember that we are a people who have been called upon to perform a great and arduous task, and that we are equal to the task. Let us remember that we are a people who have been end\nThe unity of government, which constitutes you one people, is dear to you. It is a main pillar in the edifice of your real independence, the support of your tranquility at home, your peace abroad; of your safety, and your prosperity; of that very liberty which you so highly prize. But, as it is easy to foresee that from different causes and from different quarters, much pain will be taken, many artifices employed to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth, it is of infinite moment that you firmly believe and constantly resist any attempts to undermine it.\nYou should properly estimate the immense value of your national union to your collective and individual happiness. Cherish a cordial, habitual, and immoveable attachment to it. Accustom yourselves to think and speak of it as the palladium of your political safety and prosperity. Watch for its preservation with jealous anxiety. Discountenance whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned. Indignantly frown upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts.\n\nFor this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of American, which belongs to you,\nIn your national capacity, you must always exalt the just pride of patriotism more than any appellation derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of difference, you have the same religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together: the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint councils and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings, and successes.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\nBut these considerations, however powerfully they address themselves to your sensibility, are greatly outweighed by those which apply more immediately to your interest. Here every portion of our country finds the most commanding motives for carefully guarding and preserving the union of the whole.\n\nThe North, in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government, finds its most advantageous markets and its most productive fields for labor and industry. The South, in a like intercourse with the North, finds a constant and certain market for its staple commodities, and securities for its institutions.\n\nEach part, therefore, and all the parts, together, have a common cause to desire. The North, in an equal degree with the South, is devoted to that cause, and is willing to sacrifice every thing to its accomplishment. It is, therefore, even partly, your interest, my fellow-citizens, to preserve inviolate that sacred compact, the foundation of our union, our national character, and our national happiness.\n\nGeorge Washington.\nThe South, in the same intercourse with the North, finds additional resources for maritime and commercial enterprise, and precious materials for manufacturing industry. Agriculture grows, and commerce expands. Seamen from the North turn partly into its own channels, invigorating its particular navigation. While it contributes in various ways to nourish and increase the general mass of the national navigation, it looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength to which it is unequally adapted. The East, in a like intercourse with the West, already finds and, in the progressive improvement of interior communications by land and water, will find a valuable vent for the commodities which it produces.\nThe vest derives from the East supplies requirements to its growth and comfort, and what is of still greater consequence, it must, of necessity, owe the secure enjoyment of indispensable outlets for its own productions to the weight, influence, and future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community of interest as one nation. Any other tenure by which the West can hold this essential advantage, whether derived from its own separate strength or from an opiate and unnatural connection with any foreign power, must be precarious. While then every part of our country thus feels an immediate and particular interest in Union, all the parts combined cannot fail to find in the united mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resources, proportionally greater security from external danger, a less.\nThe frequent interruptions of their peace by foreign nations; and what is of inestimable value, they must derive from the Union an exemption from the broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighboring countries not tied together by the same government. Their own rivalries alone would be sufficient to produce these, but opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would stimulate and embitter them. Hence likewise they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which under any form of government are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty. In this sense, it is that your Union ought to be considered as a main prop of your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.\nThese considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind and exhibit the continuance of the Union as a primary object of patriotic desire. Is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace such a large sphere? - Let experience solve it. To listen to mere speculation in such a case were criminal. We are authorized to hope that a proper organization of the whole, with the auxiliary agency of governments for the respective subdivisions, will afford a full experiment. With such powerful and obvious motives to union, affecting all parts of our country, while experience shall not have demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those, who, in any quarter, may endeavor to weaken its bands. In contemplating the causes which may disturb our unity.\nUnion it occurs as a matter of serious concern, that any ground should have been furnished for characterising parties by Geographical discriminations, such as Northern ynd / A* / lC C, v\\.r* cl iKcsvcrn. Designing men may endeavour to excite a belief, that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One of the expedients of party to acquire influence, within particular districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves too much against the jealousies and heart-burnings which spring from these misrepresentations; they tend to render alien those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our western country have lately had an useful lesson on this head: they have seen, in the negotiation by the executive, and in the subsequent debates in Congress, the necessity of mutual forbearance and compromise.\n\nGeorge Washington.\nThe unanimous ratification by the Senate of the treaty with Spain and the universal satisfaction throughout the United States at the event prove that unfounded were the suspicions among them of an unfriendly policy in the general government and in the Atlantic states regarding the Afississi. Witnesses to the formation of two treaties, one with Great Britain and one with Spain, they have secured everything they desired in respect to our foreign relations, confirming their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the Union by which they were procured? Will they not henceforth be deaf to those advisers, if such there are, who would sever them from their brethren and connect them with aliens?\nTo the efficacy and permanency of your union, a government for the whole is indispensable. No alliances, however strict, between the parts can be an adequate substitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all alliances, in all times, have experienced. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have improved upon your first essay by the adoption of a constitution of government better calculated than your former for an intimate union, and for the efficacious management of your common concerns. This government, the offspring of our own choice, uninfluenced and unawed, adopted upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting security with energy, and containing within itself a provision for its own amendment.\nThe mind, possesses a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws, and acquiescence in its measures are duties enjoined by the fundamental maxims of true Liberty. The basis of our political systems is the right of the people to make and to alter their constitutions of government; but the constitution which at any time exists, till changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people, is sacredly obligatory upon all. The very idea of the power and the right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government. All obstructions to the execution of the laws, all combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with real design to direct, control, counteract, or obstruct the execution of the laws, are dangerous to the preservation of the Constitution and are inconsistent with the fundamental principles of free government.\nThe regular deliberations and actions of constituted authorities are destructive of this fundamental principle and of a fatal tendency. They serve to organize factions, give them an artificial and extraordinary force; put in the place of the delegated will of the nation, the will of party, often a small but artful and enterprising minority of the community; and according to the alternate triumphs of different parties, make the public administration the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than the organ of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common councils, and modified by mutual interests. However, combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things to become.\nPotent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government; destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion. Towards the preservation of your government and the permanency of your present happy state, it is requisite not only that you steadily discountenance irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also that you resist with care the spirit of innovation on its principles, however specious the pretexts. One method of assault may be to effect alterations in the forms of the constitution that will impair its energy, and thus to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary.\nTo fix the true character of governments, as of other human institutions; experience is the surest standard. George Washington. By which to test the real tendency of the existing constitution of a country; facility in changes upon the credit of mere hypothesis and opinion exposes to perpetual change from the endless variety of hypothesis and opinion. And remember, especially, that for the efficient management of your common interest, in a country so extensive as ours, a government of as much vigor as is consistent with the perfect security of liberty is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. It is indeed little else than a name, where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of the society.\nciety  within  the  limits  prescribed  by  the  laws,  and  to \nmaintain  all  in  the  secure  and  tranquil  enjoyment  of  the \nrights  of  person  and  property. \nI  have  already  intimated  to  you  the  danger  of  parties \nin  the  state,  with  particular  references  to  the  founding \nthem  on  geographical  discriminations.  Let  me  now  take  a \nmore  comprehensive  view,  and  warn  you  in  the  most  so\u00ac \nlemn  manner  against  the  baneful  effects  of  the  spirit  of \nparty,  generally. \nThis  spirit,  unfortunately,  is  inseparable  from  our  na\u00ac \nture,  having  its  root  in  the  strongest  passions  of  the  hu\u00ac \nman  mind.  It  exists  under  different  shapes  in  all  go\u00ac \nvernments  more  or  less  stifled,  controuled,  or  repressed  ; \nbut  in  those  of  the  popular  form,  it  is  seen  in  its  greatest \nrankness,  and  is  truly  their  worst  enemy. \nThe  alternate  domination  of  one  faction  over  another, \nThe spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, perpetrates the most horrid enormities in different ages and countries. This leads, at length, to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual. And sooner or later, the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.\n\nWithout looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise man.\nPeople serve to discourage and restrain it. It always distracts public counsels, enfeebles public administration, agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles animosity of one part against another, and foments occasion riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus, the policy and will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.\n\nThere is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This, within certain limits, is probably true; and in governments of a monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence upon them.\nIf not with favor upon the spirit of party. But in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched, it demands uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest instead of warming, it should consume.\n\nIt is important likewise, that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution, in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of the powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate power in the hands of the Executive.\nSolidate the powers of all departments in one, and thus create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions of the others, George Washington.\n\nThis principle has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern: some of them in our country and under our own eyes. To preserve them must be as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of the constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected by an amendment in a way\nWhich the constitution designates, but let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the instrument of good, it is the customary weapon by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly overbalance in permanent evil, any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield.\n\nOf all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, Religion and Morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked,\nWhere is the security for property, reputation, life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? Let us with caution indulge the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure; reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. 'Tis substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of popular government. The rule indeed extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric? Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, this virtue or morality.\nInstitutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it should be enlightened. As a very important source of strength and security, governments should cherish public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it sparingly, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater disbursements to repel it. Likewise, the accumulation of debt should be avoided not only by shunning occasions of expense but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts which unavoidable wars may have occasioned, not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these maxims belongs to you.\nrepresentatives, but it is necessary that public opinion should cooperate. To facilitate them in the performance of their duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue, there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised which are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable from the selection of proper objects, which is always a choice of difficulties, ought to be a decisive motive for a candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for a spirit of acquiescence in the measures for obtaining revenue, which the public exigencies may at any time dictate. Observe good faith and justice towards all nations: cultivate peace and harmony with all: religion and morality.\nReality enjoins this conduct; and can it be that good policy does not equally enforce it? It is worthy of a free, enlightened, and, at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt, but, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it? - Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. - Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?\n\nIn the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against George Washington be overcome.\nParticular nations, antipathy for others should be excluded. In its place, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges in habitual hatred or habitual fondness towards another is, in some degree, a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and untractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur.\n\nHence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy.\nA passionate attachment of one nation for another sometimes results in a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation facilitates the illusion of a common interest, even when no real common interest exists, and infuses into one the animosity of the other. This betrayal leads the former into participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It also results in concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt to provoke jealousy and resentment.\n\nThe peace and liberty of nations have often been the victims of such passionate attachments. At times, reason is overruled by passion, and the animosity of the nation is made subservient to projects of hostility, instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace and liberty of nations have thus been sacrificed on the altar of unjustified passion.\nDoubly injuring the nation making the concessions by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. It gives to ambitious, corrupt, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation) facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.\n\nAs avenues to foreign influence in numerous ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities for foreign influence exist in these attachments?\nAgainst insidious wiles of foreign influence, fellow-citizens, be constantly awake; history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation, and excessive dislike for another, cause those whom they influence to see the danger in different colors.\n\nAttachments to a small or weak nation, towards a great and powerful one, condemn the former to be the satellite of the latter. Such attachments doom the former to afford opportunities for tampering with domestic factions, practicing the arts of seduction, misleading public opinion, and influencing or awing the public councils.\nThe only rule in dealing with foreign nations is to have as little political connection as possible. Real patriots, who can resist the intrigues of the favorite, are likely to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people to surrender their interests. In extending our commercial relations, we should have as little political connexion as possible. Fulfill existing engagements with perfect good faith. Europe has a set of primary interests that have none or a very remote relation to us. Therefore, it must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. It is unwise for us to implicate ourselves.\nOur detached and distant situation invites and enables George Washington us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people, under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance: when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality, which we may at any time resolve upon, to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.\n\nWhy forego the advantages of such a situation? Why quit our own, to stand upon foreign ground? Why,\nby interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalry, interest, humor, or caprice? Is it our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world, so far as we are now at liberty to do it, for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements? I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary, and would be unwise, to extend them. Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.\nHarmony and a liberal intercourse with all nations are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences, consulting the natural course of things, diffusing and diversifying, by gentle means, the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing. Establishing, with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them, conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary.\n\nBiographical Memoirs \u00a9F\n\nThese rules are liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate. Constantly keeping in view that 'tis folly in one nation to look for perpetual tranquility or to form a system of politics which is to secure perpetual benefits. Instead, let us pursue the line of policy which, instead of trying to fix and immortalize the present system, adapts itself to the changing circumstances, and which, instead of aiming at exclusive benefits, seeks the general good of all.\nFor seeking uninterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect, or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. 'Tis an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard.\n\nIn offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and affectionate friend, I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression I could wish; that they will control the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from running the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations: But, if I may\neven  flatter  myself,  that  they  may  be  productive  of  some \npartial  benefit,  some  occasional  good ;  that  they  may \nnow  and  then  recur  to,  to  moderate  the  fury  of  party  - \nspirit,  to  warn  against  the  mischiefs  of  foreign  intrigue, \nto  guard  against  the  impostures  of  pretended  patriotism  ; \nthis  hope  will  be  a  full  recompcnce  for  the  solicitude  for \nyour  welfare,  by  which  they  have  been  dictated. \nHow  far  in  the  discharge  of  my  official  duties,  I  have \nbeen  guided  by  the  principles  which  nave  been  deline\u00ac \nated,  the  public  records  and  other  evidences  of  my  con\u00ac \nduct  must  witness  to  you  and  to  the  world.  To  myself, \nthe  assurance  of  my  own  conscience  is,  that  I  have  at \nleast  believed  myself  to  be  guided  by  them. \nIn  relation  to  the  still-subsisting  war  in  Europe,  my \nproclamation  of  the  22d  of  April,  1793,  is  the  index  to \nmy  plan.  Sanctioned  by  your  approving  voice  and  by \nI. George Washington's Address to the American People, 1793\n\nAfter careful consideration with the best available information, I, George Washington, your Representatives in both Houses of Congress, have been guided by the spirit of the measure to maintain a neutral position for our country under all circumstances. Having taken this stance, I am determined to uphold it with moderation, perseverance, and firmness.\n\nThe justification for this conduct is not in need of elaboration on this occasion. I will merely note that, according to my understanding, this right has not been denied by any belligerent powers but has been virtually acknowledged by all.\nThe duty of maintaining neutral conduct can be inferred from the obligations of justice and humanity that every nation bears in cases where it is free to act, to keep peaceful and amicable relations with other nations. The inducements for observing such conduct are best referred to your own reflections and experience. With me, a primary motive has been to give our country time to settle and mature its recent institutions, and to progress without interruption to a degree of strength and consistency necessary to command its own fortunes, humanly speaking.\n\nThough in reviewing the incidents of my administration, I am unconscious of intentional error; I am, nevertheless, too sensible of my defects not to think it probable that there were unintentional errors.\nI may have committed many errors. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I shall carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to view them with indulgence; and that after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service, with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as myself must soon be to the mansions of rest.\n\nRelying on its kindness in this, as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural to a man who views in it the natural soil of himself and his progenitors for several generations; I anticipate, with pleasing expectation, that retreat, in which I promise myself to realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in the midst of my fellow citizens,\nbiographical  memoirs  of \nthe  benign  influence  of  good  laws  under  a  free  govern\u00ac \nment;  the  ever-favourite  object  of  my  heart,  and  the \nhappy  reward,  as  I  trust,  of  our  mutual  cares,  labours \nand  dangers. \nG.  Washington. \nUnited  States , \n1 7th  Sept ember ,  1796. \nOn  the  7th  of  December,  1796,  President  Washing\u00ac \nton  delivered  his  last  speech  to  the  representatives  oftiie \npeople  at  the  opening  of  the  second  session  of  the  fourth \nCongress.  We  regret  that  our  contracted  limits  will \nnot  permit  of  inserting  it  verbatim.  In  this  address  he \ncommunicates  information  respecting  the  measures  ta\u00ac \nken  for  carrying  into  effect  treaties  with  the  Indian  na\u00ac \ntions,  Great-Britain,  Spain,  and  Algiers.  He  likewise \ninforms,  that  measures  are  in  operation  for  effecting \ntreaties  with  the  Regencies  of  Tunis  and  Tripoli.  He \nwishes  the  United  States  to  look  to  the  means,  and  to \nSet about the gradual creation of a navy, so that a future war of Europe may not find our commerce in the same unprotected state as it was found by the present. He then recommends the establishment of certain branches of manufacture on public account, particularly those which are essential to the finishing and equipping of the public force in time of war. He judiciously recommends the institution of a Board of Agriculture, composed of proper characters, charged with collecting and diffusing information, and enabled by premiums and small pecuniary aids, to encourage and assist a spirit of discovery and improvement. Experience had proved this to be a cheap instrument of immense national benefit. He then recalls the attention of Congress to a subject he had before proposed to them.\nConsidering the expediency of establishing a national university, and also a military academy. He points out as motives to the institution of a national university, the assimilation of principles, opinions, and manners of our countrymen, by the common education of a portion of our youth from every quarter. The more homogeneous our citizens can be made in these particulars, the greater will be the prospect of our permanent union. A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of GOVERNMENT. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty can be more pressing on its Legislature, than to patronize a plan for communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?\nThe institution of a military academy is recommended for cogent reasons. However peaceful, the general policy of a nation should never be without an adequate stock of military knowledge for emergencies.\n\nThe following important paragraph is verbatim:\n\nThe compensations to the officers of the United States, in various instances, and in none more than in respect to the most important stations, appear to call for legislative revision. The consequences of a defective provision are of serious import to the government. If private wealth is to supply the defect of public contribution, it will greatly contract the sphere within which the selection of character for office is to be made, and will proportionally diminish the probability of choosing men able and upright. Besides, it would be repugnant to the public service.\nvital principles of our government, virtually excluding from public trusts talents and virtue unless accompanied by wealth. The President then expressed his regret at the unpleasant circumstances relative to the French republic; his ardent wish being to maintain cordial harmony, as far as is consistent with the rights and honor of our country. The House of Representatives he informed that the revenues of the United States continued in a state of progressive improvement. They were invited to take such further measures as would ensure, to our country, the speedy extinction of the public debt. He then concluded his address to both Houses of Congress, in the following words: My solicitude to see the militia of the United States placed on an efficient establishment has been so often and so ardently expressed.\nI shall barely recall the subject to your view on this occasion, while submitting to your inquiry as to whether our harbors are yet sufficiently secured. The situation in which I now stand, for the last time among the representatives of the United States people, recalls the period when the administration of the present form of government commenced. I cannot omit this occasion to congratulate you and my country on the success of the experiment; nor to repeat my fervent prayer to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe and Sovereign Arbiter of Nations, that his providential care may still be extended to the United States; that the virtue and happiness of the people may be preserved; and that the government they have instituted for the protection of their liberties may endure.\nOn Saturday, the 4th of March, 1797, John Adams, Esq., who was elected the successor of President Washington, attended the Senate and Representatives of the United States and took his oath of office, according to the directions of the constitution. The ceremony afforded a spectacle of high satisfaction and delight to every genuine republican. To behold a fellow-citizen, raised by the voice of the people, to be the first magistrate of a free nation, and to behold at the same time George Washington, who lately filled the presidential chair, tending the inauguration of the successor in office as a private citizen, beautifully exemplified the sublime simplicity and excellence of republican government.\n\nThe last official act of President Washington was a letter to the Secretary of State, dated March 3, 1797.\nGeorge Washington respected the forged letters, published in 1777 and 1796, that were presented as his. These letters emerged at two critical periods of his life, with the intention of impugning his motives, damaging his character, and deceiving the public. At the conclusion of his public employments, Washington felt it his duty to himself, to his country, and to truth, to detail the circumstances and solemnly declare that the letters (with the dates he recites) are base forgeries. He never wrote or saw them until they were published. During the period he held the supreme command of the army and his civil administration, the purity of his mind prevented him from contradicting the falsehoods.\nTo any public declaration; but, upon his retiring to private life, and not knowing how soon a more serious event might take place, he made this public declaration and requested that it might be deposited in the office of the department of state, as a testimony of the truth to the present generation and to posterity.\n\nExtract of a letter written to General Knox the day before the termination of his office, exhibiting the sentiments with which he contemplated this event and with which he viewed the trenchant calumnies with which his whole administration continued to be assailed.\n\n\"To the wearied traveler who sees a resting place, and is bending his body to lean thereon, I now compare myself; but to be suffered to do this in peace is too much to be endured by some. To misrepresent my motives; to reprobate my politics; and to weaken the confidence of the people in their government, are practices which I deeply deplore.\"\nWhich have been reposed in my administration are objects which cannot be relinquished by those who will be satisfied with nothing short of a change in our political system. The consolation which results from conscious rectitude, and the approving voice of my country unequivocally expressed by its representatives, deprives their sting of its poison and places in the same point of view both the weakness and malignity of their efforts.\n\n\"Although the prospect of retirement is most grateful to my soul, and I have not a wish to mix again in the great world, or to partake in its politics, yet I am not without my regrets at parting with (perhaps never more to meet) the few intimates whom I love. Among these, be assured you are one.\"\n\nBiographical memoirs of General Washington. On the 22nd of March, 1797.\ntook farewell of all public employment and left Philadelphia for his estate at Mount Vernon. In every town through which he passed on his way, he received the grateful and affectionate addresses which were justly due to his merits from an enlightened and grateful people.\n\nHaving thus amply described the august Washington in his public character and official capacity, suffer us, for a moment, to follow him in private and take a view of him in the character of a plain citizen in his rural residence at Mount Vernon.\n\nThe virtuous simplicity which distinguished the private life of General Washington, though less known than the dazzling splendor of his military achievements, is not less edifying in example or worthy of his countrymen's attention. The conspicuous character he has acted on the theatre of human affairs, the uniform dignity with which he conducted himself in the highest offices, and his unwavering devotion to the public good, have secured him an illustrious place in the annals of history. Yet it is not less important to remember that he was also a man of feeling and sensibility, who cherished the simple pleasures of rural life and the companionship of his family.\n\nAt Mount Vernon, Washington retired from the bustling world to enjoy the quietude and tranquility of his beloved estate. Here he could indulge in his favorite pursuits, such as hunting, fishing, and agriculture. He took great pride in the management of his farm, overseeing every detail with the same care and attention to detail that he had brought to his military campaigns.\n\nThe General's home was a model of simplicity and elegance, reflecting his taste and refinement. His wife, Martha, presided over the household with grace and dignity, providing a warm and welcoming atmosphere for their numerous guests. Washington himself was a gracious host, always ready to entertain his friends and associates with hospitality and good cheer.\n\nDespite his retirement from public life, Washington remained deeply involved in the affairs of the nation. He corresponded regularly with political leaders, offered advice and counsel when sought, and kept abreast of the latest news from Europe. He continued to serve as a source of inspiration and guidance to a new generation of leaders, who looked to him as a model of virtue and patriotism.\n\nIn his private life, Washington was known for his kindness, generosity, and humility. He was a devoted husband and father, and a loyal friend. He was also a man of deep religious faith, who attended church regularly and sought to live in accordance with the teachings of the Bible.\n\nThus, in the quietude of his rural retreat, Washington continued to inspire and influence the course of American history. His virtuous simplicity, combined with his extraordinary public achievements, make him a truly remarkable figure in the annals of human history.\nHe sustained his part amidst the most discouraging difficulties, and the glory of arriving at the hour of triumph made many official and literary persons, on both sides of the ocean, ambitious of a correspondence with him. These correspondences engrossed a great portion of his time, and the communications contained in them, combined with the numerous periodical publications and newspapers which he perused, made him, as it were, the focus of political intelligence for the new world. Nor were his conversations with well-informed men less conducing to bringing him acquainted with the various events which happened in the different countries of the globe. Every foreigner of distinction who traveled in America made it a point to visit him. Members of Congress and other dignified personages seldom passed his presence.\nHouse visitors did not call to pay their respects. Another source of information is that many literary productions were sent to him annually by their authors in Europe. There is scarcely one work written in America on any art, science, or subject that did not seek his protection or was not offered to him as a token of gratitude. Mechanical inventions and natural curiosities were frequently submitted to him for his approval.\n\nThe multiplicity of epistolary applications, often concerning some business matter that occurred when he was in office, or foreign to his situation, or frivolous in nature and intended merely to gratify the vanity of the writers by drawing answers from him, were truly distressing and almost intolerable.\n\nGeorge Washington.\nHis benignity in answering may have increased the number of subjects claiming his attention. If he had not husbanded every moment to the best advantage, he would not have been able to notice the vast variety of subjects.\n\nIn his manner of living, he was extremely regular. He was temperate and industrious. He rose at the dawn of day, winter and summer, and either read or wrote. Sometimes, before breakfast, which was at seven o'clock, he rode to his different farms and remained with his laborers until a little after two o'clock. He returned home at three and dined on a single dish, commonly drinking from half a pint to a pint of Madeira wine. This, with one small dish of tea which he took half an hour before the setting of the sun, constituted his whole sustenance until the next.\nHis table was always furnished with elegance and exuberance, but void of pomp. Whether he had company or not, he remained an hour at table in familiar conversation. His temper was of a serious cast, and his countenance carried the impression of thoughtfulness; yet he perfectly relished a pleasant story, an unaffected sally of wit, or a burlesque description. After dinner, he applied himself to business and retired to rest around nine. However, when he had company, he politely attended upon them till they wished to withdraw. Agriculture was his favorite employment, and he made observations on the produce of lands, endeavoring to throw new light upon the business of the farmer. Linen and woolen clothes were manufactured under his roof, and order and economy were established in all his departments, both within and without doors.\nMrs. Washington presided and united the qualities of an excellent farmer's wife with the simple dignity that ought to characterise a woman whose husband had acted so distinguished a part on the public stage. In 1798, the unparalleled treatment the American ministers received at Paris from the republic of France left little ground to hope for any amicable accommodation with that republic. Consequently, the military forces of the United States were greatly augmented, and the President, with the advice of the Senate, appointed George Washington as Lieutenant General and commander in chief of all the armies raised or to be raised by the United States: this wise and judicious appointment.\nThe appointment was attended with the happiest effect. A general, well experienced in war, established national dignity and independence, inspiring citizens with enthusiasm upon receiving it. He expressed a wish that it had fallen upon a man less advanced in years and better qualified to encounter war's vicissitudes. He recurred to his determination of closing his life in retirement and peace. However, the conduct of France's directory towards our country excited in his breast corresponding sentiments with the rest of his countrymen. Consequently, he accepted the appointment with the reserve that he should not be called into the field until the army was in a situation to require his presence or it became indispensable by the urgency of circumstances.\nHe informed the President that he could not accept any emolument annexed to the appointment before entering into a situation to incur expense. He held this command and contributed his advice and assistance towards the arrangement and organization of the army until the 14th of December 1799, when it pleased Divine Providence to remove him from this life. He was in his 68th year and in the enjoyment of perfect health. The disorder from which he died was an inflammatory sore throat, which proceeded from a slight cold.\n\nOn Friday, the 13th, he rode out to one of his plantations and was much wet by the rain on returning. He was taken with the croup that night; but unfortunately, from humanity to his servants and tenderness to his physician, he declined sending for medical aid until daylight on Saturday morning.\n\nGeorge Washington.\nBefore Dr. Craik arrived at Mount Vernon, the General had been bled by one of his overseers. The doctor repeated the procedure immediately. To whom the General observed, \"You came too late; I had a presentiment of my dissolution. Doctors Dick and Brown also attended.\n\nAs his respiration became difficult, he said calmly, \"Doctors, I die hard.\" But notwithstanding the excruciating agonies of his violent disease, he tranquilly asked several questions during the evening. About fifteen minutes before he died, (which was between 1 and 12 o'clock, on Saturday night, the 14th of December), he said to Doctor Craik, \"Doctor, what is the clock? How long am I to continue in this situation?\" The doctor answered, \"Not long, sir?\" He then rejoined, with the firmest countenance imaginable, \"I have no fear, doctor, to die.\"\nMrs. Washington was at the bedside with his family, and a number of domestics in the room. He would not wound their sensibility by taking a formal leave of any one. At last his breathing grew shorter, he closed his eyes and mouth with his own hands, and expired. Thus did the last moments of this venerable man correspond with the whole tenor of his well-spent life. He died with perfect resignation to the will of Heaven, and in full possession of his reason, not a groan or complaint escaped him!\n\nHis body was entombed with solemn honors and funeral pomp, in the family vault, upon the estate of Mount Vernon, attended by the clergy, military, masonic brethren, and a numerous concourse of citizens.\n\nNear the head of the coffin were inscribed the words Surge ad Judicium; about the middle, Gloria Deo.\nOn the silver plate, General George Washington departed this life on December 14, 168.\n\nThree general discharges by the artillery, cavalry, and infantry paid the last tribute of respect to the entombed commander in chief of the American armies. The sun was now setting \u2014 Alas, the son of glory was set. No, the name of Washington will live for ever!\n\nBIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIRS OF\nFrom Vernon\u2019s Mount behold the hero rise;\nResplendent forms attend him through the skies.\nThe shades of war-worn veterans round him throng,\nAnd lead enwrap their honored chief along.\n\nA laurel wreath the immortal Warren bears,\nAn arch triumphal Mercer\u2019s hand prepares.\nYoung Laurens, erst the avenging bolt of war,\nWith port majestic, guides the glittering car.\n\nMontgomery's godlike form directs the way,\nAnd Green unfolds the gates of endless day.\nWhile angels, \"trumpet-tongued,\" proclaim through air,\n\"Due honors for The First of Men prepare!\"\n\nThe melancholy intelligence of Washington's death was everywhere received throughout the United States with sensations of sorrow and regret. The houses of Congress adjourned for a period. They condoled with the President of the United States on the loss our country had sustained in his death. They went in mourning and requested the President to issue his proclamation, recommending the citizens throughout the Union to wear black crape on the left arm for thirty days. All the state assemblies followed the example. Orders were issued from the war office and navy department, requesting the officers to wear crape on the left arm for six months, and the vessels of the navy to put on mourning for one week.\nOrders were issued by the direction of the President of the United States announcing to the army the death of its beloved chief. The army was requested to pay military honors at the several stations of the army. The Senate and House of Representatives of the United States enacted that a marble monument be erected in the capitol in the city of Washington, to the memory of General Washington; his family was requested to permit his body to be deposited under it; and the monument was to be so designed as to commemorate the great military and political events of his life. There was to be a funeral procession and a public oration delivered on the occasion.\n\nTo the above resolution,\nGeorge Washington assented, sacrificing his private wishes.\nThe individual feelings were expressed to the public will during a procession in Philadelphia on Thursday, December 26th. The ceremony was conducted judiciously; perhaps there had never been a greater display of public mourning, solemnity, and respect exhibited in the western hemisphere. The arrangements united every description of public and private character, civil and military. The funeral service, adapted with great solemnity to the occasion, was pronounced by Bishop White, the deceased being of the episcopal church. After which, General Lee, appointed by Congress for that purpose, delivered the funeral oration. We shall not attempt a report of this admirable eulogium, of which the public are already possessed, convinced that it would suffer by the attempt.\n\nHaving pursued this distinguished man throughout his life.\nGeneral Washington was a tall, well-made man, above the common size. His frame was robust, and his constitution vigorous, capable of enduring great fatigue. His features were manly and bold, with bluish, lively eyes; deep brown hair; a long, sun-burnt face marked with smallpox; and a complexion without much color. His countenance was sensible, composed, and thoughtful. There was a remarkable air of dignity about him, with a striking degree of gracefulness. He had an excellent understanding without much quickness, strict, vigilant, and generous. As a military man, he was brave.\nA temperate and cautious man: an affectionate husband, a faithful friend, a father to the deserving; gentle in manners, with a reserved temper; a total stranger to religious prejudices, which have so often incited Christians of one denomination to cut the throats of those of another; in morals irreproachable; he was never known to exceed the bounds of the most rigid temperance. In a word, all his friends and acquaintances universally allow that no man ever united in his own person a more perfect alliance of the virtues of a philosopher, a statesman, and a general. Candour, sincerity, affability, and simplicity, seemed to have been the striking features of his character. The best portraits ever taken of him are those painted by the ingenious Mr. Stewart.\nAn Oration upon the Death of General George Washington:\n\nOf Germantown, and the best engraving is the large mezotinto done by Mr. Savage, of Philadelphia. Such is the life and character of the man to whom America intrusted her important cause, and she has had every reason to be satisfied with her choice. Ungrateful would she be to the Great Disposer of human events, were she not to render him unremitting thanks for having provided her with such a citizen at such a crisis.\n\nMost nations have been favored with some patriotic deliverer. The Israelites had their Moses; Rome, her Camillus; Greece, her Leonidas; Sweden, her Gustavus; and England, her Hampdens, her Russels, and her Sydneys; but these illustrious heroes, though successful in preserving and defending their country, did not, like Washington, form or establish an empire.\nDelivered in the State-House, at Trenton, on the 14th of January, 1800.\nThe Reverend Samuel Stanhope Smith, D.D., President of the College of New Jersey.\n\nGreat God! we adore thy Sovereign Providence, which hath smitten the father of his country, and left a nation in tears!\n\nMy fellow-citizens! your griefs are manly\u2014they are approved of Heaven\u2014you mourn a father. All America mingles her sighs with yours\u2014foreign nations, admiring his achievements and his virtues, will think that liberty has lost a protector among them\u2014and even that great people from whom we wrested our freedom and independence, forgetting that they have lost an empire by his wisdom and valor, will honor him with their griefs, and their praises.\n\nHis country is erecting monuments and statues to his memory. Brass and marble shall express his glory.\nBut brass and marble will decay, and the glory committed to them alone will perish. Eloquence and history shall rear to him more durable trophies. Historians shall immortalize their page with the name of Washington; and future orators shall quote it with the names of Epaminondas, Aristides, and Cato, to illuminate their discourse, and to enforce, by great examples, the virtues of a disinterested and heroic patriotism. But his most lasting and most noble monument shall be the affections of his countrymen, who will transmit their admiration of him as an increasing inheritance to their latest posterity. To testify the esteem, and to announce to the world the profound regrets, of a grateful country, poets, orators, and the ministers of religion, have come forth to pronounce and re-echo his eulogy.\nPraises throughout all America. How sublime and how singular the glory! To receive the voluntary homage of a free and great people\u2014the homage of equals paid, not to preeminence of rank, but of virtue\u2014not extorted by the command of power, but the unconstrained effusion of the heart! I also, at your invitation, appear among them, with a zeal disproportioned to my strength, to pay my feeble tribute to the memory of a man deservedly so dear to every worthy and honest American. But, ah! I feel, in the beginning, that my words are unable to reach the conceptions of my own mind, and that they must fall far below the ideas and emotions which already occupy yours. One advantage, indeed, I may derive from hence, the only one that inability can yield, which is, that, when I have bestowed on this illustrious citizen the eloquence I wish I could command, my inadequate words may appear the more brilliant by the contrast.\nI shall have the testimony of your hearts that I have even said less than the truth. I shall have no need to have recourse to the base arts of flattery to praise the most modest of men, who spurned from him, while living, all insincerity and adulation. If the occasion and the presence of this numerous and enlightened assembly could light up within me a spark of that eloquence which they are so well fitted to enkindle, and could raise above itself a genius so far inferior to the subject, and the demands of public expectation, what noble ideas I would fill your minds with! What a warm impression would the recital of achievements and the display of talents and virtues like his make upon your hearts! No hero, modern or ancient, has ever offered to the orator a more illustrious or fertile subject.\nIn that eloquence which touches the heart or raises men to virtue through great examples, in whom have these talents of war shone more splendidly: creating an army, maintaining ourselves in the face of a superior enemy, inspiring courage in raw troops, attaching soldiers to order and their country in extreme hardships and the injustice of their own country; seizing victories through enterprising bravery when enterprise was safe for the republic, or conducting retreats that gained no less glory than victories; vanquishing enemies through firm and undaunted courage, or consuming and wasting them away through wise and noble patience? Where can we find a conqueror so humble, so disinterested, so devoted solely to his country \u2013 so serene?\n\nGeorge Washington.\nSublime in adversity \u2014 so modest in the midst of triumphs \u2014 in danger so intrepid and calm, and possessing such control over events by his prudence and perseverance? Other nations begin their eulogies of great men by tracing their birth to some royal house or some noble family. This is the praise of slaves. Virtue, talents, services, are our nobility. What glory could he have derived from a noble parentage, whose virtues would have added their chief splendor to thrones? Such accidental and adventitious distinctions might have lessened, but could not have augmented, that high and solid fame which he now possesses. The name of Washington is surrounded by a lustre that eclipses that of kings. And not his smallest praise is, that it is all his own \u2014 it is derived from the intrinsic worth and merit of the man.\nThe man, not a ray of it borrowed, his father was a plain but virtuous citizen. Socrates believed that he was attended by a Genius which often gave him counsel and instruction, and watched over his safety. The Genius of Brutus abandoned him at the plains of Philippi; but the guardian Genius of our hero, which never forsook him, was that Divine Providence, which he always devoutly acknowledged, and which seemed to preside over him with a peculiar predilection from his birth, giving his mind that happy impulse and direction, and combining those fortunate coincidences of events which we have seen leading to success and fame in all the important scenes of his life. His first education was directed only to solid and useful attainments. Mathematical science, which contributes, perhaps, more than any other to strengthen the understanding, received his earliest attention.\nHis mind, intimately connected with the military art, was his earliest and favorite study. His exercises were manly and vigorous; his constitution active and strong. His person was noble and commanding; his graceful and majestic. But these are vulgar praises. He had a mind capable of combining all the interests of his country; a discernment capable of penetrating and defeating all the designs of his enemies; a heart capable of daring every danger in its defense.\n\nThe dawn of his life gave some auspicious presages of the splendor of its meridian. Scarcely had he attained his twentieth year when he was employed by the government of Virginia, his native state, in an enterprise.\nYoung Washington was honorably and dangerously tasked with remonstrating with the French commander, penetrating their designs, estimating their force, observing their works, and conciliating the native tribes, if possible. In the discharge of this trust, he is seen traversing the immense forest alone during an inclement season. Amidst incessant rains and snows, and over vast rivers rendered almost impassable by ice.\nHe pursues his course, surrounded by lurking parties of hostile savages. When his horses are exhausted, he continues on foot his difficult and dangerous route. He observes everything with the eye of a warrior. He marks out sites for fortresses. He measures the fortresses of the enemy. He displays a firmness of mind in the greatest dangers, a patience of fatigue in the greatest difficulties, and a consummate address in the conduct of the whole, which would have been worthy of the reputation of the oldest commanders. George Washington.\n\nAt an age when other youth are pursuing only pleasures and softening their minds and bodies by indulgence, he is already hardening himself for the toils and dangers of war \u2014 he is practically studying mankind.\nAnd applying the science of Euclid and Vauban to the defence of his country, the war, which then threatened these infant settlements, soon began to rage. The brave but impetuous Braddock was commissioned to defend, in America, the honor and interests of Britain. In all the pride of European discipline and British valour, he despised an enemy who fought by stealth, and scorned the admonitions of Washington, who was only a youth but who was a warrior by intuition and who perceived, in a moment, every change which that formidable art ought to assume from new circumstances. Surrounded in the forest by an enemy invisible, but dreadful, his ranks cut down by a hidden fire, his principal officers slain, and himself mortally wounded, amidst carnage and death, where valor was useless and discipline only offered surer targets.\nmarks the destructive aim of the foe, terror and despair overwhelmed every heart. Then our hero, all calm and intrepid, and now left to pursue his own ideas, was seen on the spot to change the whole order of battle. With his brave Virginians, he protected the astonished battalions of Britain, covered them under the buckler of America, and in the name of his country, saved those armies, whom in her defense, he was one day to conquer. They shouted him their deliverer; and the shores of Europe and America rejoiced in the applause of the camp.\n\nBut it was when America called him to the head of her armies, in the long and bloody war which she was obliged to maintain, in defense of her rights and her existence, that he displayed the full extent and variety of his talents.\nBritain had cherished her colonies in the new world merely as instruments of commerce, but their growing prosperity made them an object of both avarice and ambition. Flushed with her triumphs under the auspices of the great Chatham, and rejecting, after profiting by, the counsels of that sublime statesman, she had already, in imagination, swallowed our treasures \u2014 divided our provinces among her princes \u2014 our cities and fields among her nobles \u2014 and destined our husbandmen to be tenants and laborers for her. America, roused to defend rights that were dearer to her than her existence, but unprepared to meet an attack which she had not expected from a parent nation, had nothing to oppose to this formidable invasion but her unconquerable love of liberty, her virtue, and Washington.\nHow unequal was the conflict between a young country, in the very infancy of her improvements, possessing only a few husbandmen scattered over an unwieldy territory-nursed in habits of veneration and obedience to her invader \u2014 without an organized government to conduct the necessary operations of her defence \u2014 destitute of clothing, of ammunition, and almost of arms for her few soldiers \u2014 and rendered still more impotent by an injudicious system of finance bottomed on no funds, and, on the other hand, a mighty nation in the summit of her glory \u2014 grown old in victories \u2014 whose numerous and veteran armies had just humbled the first power in Europe \u2014 whose fleets covered and ruled the ocean \u2014 and who commanded by her commerce, half the wealth of the world?\n\nIf we counted only the resources of America and the number of her troops, would we not prove her impotence?\nThe leader's talents were in the room of armies and treasures. His success ranks him among the greatest generals in the universe. He had to compensate for the defect of energy in the government through address. He made personal influence supply the want of money and almost every necessary thing for a camp. He managed skillfully the caprices of liberty itself, which are often ruinous to its own interests. He conciliated to the service men irritated by disappointment and injustice, though perhaps the necessary injustice of their country. You see him, at one time, patiently preparing the train of events for some great effect; at another, anticipating them by a bold and decisive stroke. Sometimes he stoops upon victory like a hawk.\nGeorge Washington. An eagle, and sometimes he secures it with a prudent delay. He always rises from defeat like a conqueror, and, in the end, obliges the enemy to abandon the post they had seized. In all changes of fortune, he is serene, collected, and sublime. Success cannot elate him. No reverse can sink his courage or shake his firmness. And you behold him with equal admiration, when compelled to retire with the broken remains of his army across the Jerseys, as when he entered in triumph over the demolished fortifications of York, and, by one splendid action, put a period to the war. The details of his exploits I leave to the historian. They will instruct the remotest ages. They are still recent in your memory. The children of America repeat them with enthusiasm. His first act was to expel the British from Boston.\nThe enemy was from Boston with the intent to restore the important capital. Afterwards, when facing a thousand ships and an immense army, he was obliged to retreat before superior numbers from the open and defenceless city of New-York. If, for a moment, ignorance and impatience had impaired his courage or skill, the reflection of his fellow citizens approved his prudence and applauded his firmness. Conscious of doing what a patriotic general ought to do, he felt all the humiliation of unfounded censure; but he was willing to bear the folly and injustice of his countrymen for the salvation of his country. He was not among those frantic heroes who, to gain the vain reputation of thoughtless bravery, would hazard the safety of their country itself. Though he loved glory, the interests of America came first.\nHe held his dear wife in greater regard than his own fame. Her circumstances at that moment forbade him from risking the existence of his small army. His noble soul was incapable of fear; he even seemed to acquire new energies at the approach of danger. But a cool and comprehensive wisdom tempered the impulses of his courage, and he now resolved, like a great general, to expose nothing to hazard which he could defend by prudence, and not to force fortune where he was sure of gaining her by a wise delay. He retired before the enemy, always commanding their respect by his well-chosen positions, until, having gained the farther shore of the Delaware, he there arrested their progress and triumphantly turned the tide of war. The place on which I stand is consecrated by his triumphs \u2013 your streets have been witness to them.\nflowed with hostile blood \u2014 here victory first returned to his standard, which, for a moment, she had abandoned. Trenton and Princeton! names rendered dear to your country by exploits that will be forever combined with them in history, on your plains hope was first rekindled in the bosom of America.\n\nDespondency had begun to seize the public mind. It was necessary to restore its vigor by some brilliant action; and Washington, who, at one time, so prudently retired from danger, was now determined to put all to hazard \u2014 he had been willing to survive misfortune only to retrieve it \u2014 he was now prepared to die, or resolved to conquer. I see him in the depth of winter, with an army scarcely half clothed, and small in number, his mind laboring with some vast and almost desperate purpose, struggling with the ice and with the torrent.\nforcing his way across the Delaware, supported by a few militia, brave but undisciplined, his circumstances were critically infamous. An impassable river was now behind him, a superior enemy in front, separated from him only by a small ravine. The evening closed under a tremendous cannonade. Both armies, lighting their fires and setting their guards, were waiting in anxious suspense, the approach of the morning. The fate of America seemed staked on the event of one great and decisive battle. Then the military talents of the American hero shone forth with new splendor, reviving and fixing the wavering confidence of his country. By one of those happy strokes of genius that distinguish only great generals, he broke all the plans of his foes and rolled the waves of misfortune back upon themselves. In the night, he passed unperceived past the army in front of him.\nGeorge Washington attacked an important post in their rear, carrying a sword in hand, and awakened them to a sense of all their danger and shame with the sounds of victory from Princeton. Princeton! Thy fields, rendered sacred by the blood of Mercer and illustrious by the actions of Washington, shall be forever connected in history with his glory \u2013 thy sons shall hereafter compete with one another in eloquence and song to celebrate his fame, and, pointing to the spot where Washington triumphed, shall perceive their genius kindled with new fire, and from him derive, while they confer, immortality.\n\nThe general's plan was to hasten to Brunswick and seize the enemy's arsenal, stores, and military chest deposited there, but his troops, harassed and exhausted with incessant labors, marches, and conflicts, were unable.\nThe British commander, in the utmost consternation, flew to their protection. The American, with wisdom worthy of the celebrated dictator who saved Rome, immediately occupied the hills overlooking the enemy's strong position. He hung on their summits like a dark and terrible cloud, continually threatening to burst upon them. The American straitens their quarters, drives in their posts, cuts off their parties, and reanimates the courage of the New Jersey militia. By practicing them in daily combats, he renders them, under the conduct of a few gallant officers, worthy to fight by the side of veterans. He expels the enemy from a state they had so cruelly ravaged.\n\nBy the aid of their navy, they were enabled to rapidly:\n\n(Note: The last sentence appears to be incomplete and may require further context or correction.)\nThe American general was obliged to transport himself to great distances and meet the enemy at every point. He met them on the Brandywine, where the timidity or treachery of the men employed to bring him intelligence of their movements thwarted one of the wisest and most brilliant plans of the war. This plan would have put in his possession their artillery, baggage, and entire camp.\n\nHowever, Heaven had other plans.\n\nThe intention of the general was to permit the enemy to cross the Brandywine above him, while they believed they were taking him in flank. He planned to push forward his main body and surprise their camp on the other side of the river, cutting off their retreat and likely resulting in their total ruin. His runners were:\n\nThe image which Hannibal applied to Fabius.\n\nThe intention of the general was to allow the enemy to cross the Brandywine above him, and while they thought they were taking him in flank, to push forward his main body and surprise their camp on the other side of the river, cutting off their retreat and likely resulting in their total ruin. His runners carried this message.\nWhether intimidated or corrupted, they resolved to protract their fate and entered the capital of Pennsylvania. While encamped at Valley Forge under every disadvantage to which a commander could be subjected and suffering the most cruel neglect, if not injustice, from their country, Washington surprised a division of their army on the heights of Germantown. In the moment that victory was declaring for his arms and their routed legions were fleeing in every direction, a voice, a whisper, one of those invisible and unaccountable accidents which so frequently decide the fate of battles, wrested the prize out of his hands. But his unconquerable energy and infinite resources in misfortune robbed them of all the fruits of their success. They dared no longer venture.\nout of their intrenchments, and he held them enchained in Philadelphia. The generals of Britain, contending in vain against the indefatigable courage and the inexhaustible resources of the American hero, who, though at the head of a feeble and ill-appointed army, was often victorious, and who reaped even from defeat the fruits of victory, resolved to abandon to him Pennsylvania, as they had before yielded New Jersey. Then you saw him on the burning plains of Monmouth, rallying his broken van and leading it on to a new charge; exposing himself like a common soldier, present in every place at the same moment; and while men were fainting, and dying in their ranks with fatigue, and heat, and thirst, refusing to rest, or to taste refreshment, till victory gave him a right to repose. With pleasure I see in this assembly your Excellency* and so many others.\nbrave officers, who were witnesses of his glory and bore no small share in the dangers and hours of that memorable day. He was deceived by the British forces in the most solemn manner, as they had not crossed in the places where he certainly expected them. He was compelled to retreat. A few days afterwards, when he offered them battle again in the Great Alley, the elements fought against him.\n\nGovernor Hutcheson.\n\nGEORGE WASHINGTON.\n\nThe twenty-ninth of June gave rest to the northern states. Britain, despairing to be able to contend with Washington, determined to bend all her force against the South. But there she met with the wise and gallant Greene, who was worthy to be the brother of Washington. Greene was cutting off her garrisons and destroying her supplies.\nHer armies in detail, but her main army, under the conduct of the bravest and most enterprising of her generals, was still reserved to adorn the triumphs of the first hero of America. Historians will relate with admirable combination how he formed the plan and concerted its execution with an ally separated from him by more than a thousand leagues, for surprising and entangling in his toils his active foe. With what address he diverted the attention of the British commanders, and how, after a march of four hundred miles, he had so amused and blinded them, that he still found his enemy in the place where he had determined to seize him. America will forever record that happy day in which her victorious chief saw Britain laying her last standards at his feet. I seem to participate with him in that generous exultation.\nThe noble triumph of soul, in this moment, he felt. Not that he was capable, with unmanly insolence, of exulting over a prostrate enemy, but he saw, in their fall, the salvation of his country. On the ruins of York, he laid the immortal base of the republic. How delicious! How sublime was the moment! Britain was humbled; America was delivered and avenged.\n\nThe war terminated, peace restored, and the liberties of the new world established on the firmest foundations, the concluding scene was the most august and interesting that the history of nations has, perhaps, ever seen.\n\n* Such exclamations as this cannot reasonably be supposed to be intended to cherish national ire or to inflame national antipathies. They are used by the writers of every country in celebrating their eminent statesmen and their heroes. They indicate sensations that were common to all mankind.\nNatural and lawful on the occasion, but forgotten in the relations of amity and commercial intercourse. An Oration on the Death of Washington. - Other conquerors have considered victory as the means of grasping unlawful power. The soul of Washington was more sublime. He regarded in his victories only the peace and happiness of a great nation. A fine morality tempered and reigned in the midst of his heroic qualities. The character of a patriot he considered superior to that of a hero; and to be a renowned warrior was less in his esteem than to be a good man. He hastens, therefore, to the seat of Congress to resign into the hands of the fathers of his country the powers with which they had invested him, and which he had so nobly employed in its defense. August spectacle.\nThe chief, so elevated above mankind, had no way to grow greater but by humbling himself. The hero entered the hall surrounded by all his virtues, services, and glories, of which no one but himself seemed unconscious. This awesome assembly received him as the founder and guardian of the republic. Every heart was filled with emotion. Silently they retraced the scenes of affliction and danger through which they had passed together \u2013 they recalled the peace and freedom purchased by his arm \u2013 they regarded with veneration that great man, who appeared more great and worthy of esteem in resigning than he had done in gloriously using his power. In an impressive speech, he laid down all his public employments and took an affectionate leave of them. At the contemplation of such rare virtue,\nThe hero was moved by the recollection of many interesting scenes, and tears of admiration and gratitude burst from every eye. The hero, touched by the general emotion, wet his cheek with a manly tear while he deposited his sword under the laws, which he had covered with his shield.\n\nThe last act of the affecting spectacle was an act of religion. Great example for legislators, rulers, and warriors\u2014for all who either possess elevated stations or aim at high and solid fame. In that august presence, he worshiped the Ruler of the Universe\u2014he commended the interests of his dearest country to the protection of Almighty God\u2014and there, in the temple of the laws, he offered to Heaven the incense of a nation from the altar.\n\nGeorge Washington. This done, he retired amidst the vows, prayers, and blessings of a grateful nation.\nGrateful and admiring country, to the peaceful shade of Vernon. Not like those heroes who build their glory on the misery of the human race, and whose restless souls are forever tossed in the tempests of ambition, he sought only peace by war, and returned from its cruel and bloody fields with delight to the first innocent employments of human nature.\n\nLet us contemplate him, a moment, in this retirement which he always chose with such predilection when the service of his country would permit him to enjoy it.\n\nIn private life, he was as amiable, as virtuous, and as great as he appeared sublime on the public theatre of the world. How many conquerors, renowned in history, have been great only while they acted a conspicuous part under the observation of mankind! The soul, in such a situation, perceives an artificial elevation\u2014it assumes a false grandeur.\nThe sentiments of virtue correspond to the grandeur of the objects that surround it. In private, it subsides into itself; and, in the ordinary details of life and conduct, the men, who seemed raised above others by the splendor of some rare occasions, now sink below them \u2014 they are degraded by their passions. Those who were able to command armies have lost the power of self-command. Washington was always equal to himself. There was a dignity in the manner in which he performed the smallest things. A majesty surrounded him that seemed to humble those who approached him, at the same time that there was a benignity in his manners that invited their confidence and esteem. His virtues, always elevated and splendid, shone only with a milder light by being placed in the vale of retirement. He was sincere.\nA modest, upright, humane man; a friend of religion and of his neighbors, as well as of his country. Magnificent in hospitality, but plain in manners, and simple in equipage. The motives of these virtues were not to be sought in vain affectation of popularity, which had often enabled the cunning and the artful to make great sacrifices to public opinion, but in the native impulse and goodness of his heart. His emotions, naturally strong and ardent, as they are in all great men, he had completely subjected to the control of reason, and placed under the guard of such a vigilant prudence that he never suffered himself to be surprised by them. Philosophy and religion in his breast had obtained a noble triumph; and his first title to command over others was his perfect command of himself. Such a sublime example.\nA man had formed the idea that in him, no sign of the smallness of passions was ever detected. His consummate prudence, a most characteristic quality, never abandoned him for a moment, contributing to fix the affections and confidence of his fellow citizens, acquired by his talents. Eminently distinguished for his conjugal and domestic virtues, the perfect purity of his private morals added not a little to that dignity of character in which he was superior to all men. There is a majesty in virtue that commands respect even from those who do not love it, and which gives great talents their highest lustre. Ah, if the ambitious knew, or were willing to estimate its influence on reputation, and its powerful command over the minds of men, they would study to be virtuous from self-interest.\nYou don't need me to tell you, who are familiar with the terms on which he performed the greatest services for a nation, how disinterested and noble was his nature? A mercenary man would have sold his toils, dangers, and, above all, his successes. What schemes of grandeur and power would not an ambitious man have built upon the affection of the people and the army? The only wealth which he sought to draw from them was the riches of his country\u2014the only reward, the love of his fellow-citizens, and the consciousness of his own heart. His whole character was consistent. Equally industrious with his plough as with his sword, he esteemed idleness and inutility the greatest disgrace of man, whose powers attain perfection only by constant and vigorous action, and who is placed by providence in so many situations.\n\nGeorge Washington.\nEvery thing around him was marked by a dignified simplicity. While many affect to display their wealth in sumptuous edifices and splendid equipages, incurring infinitely more expense to be envied and hated than would be sufficient to make themselves adored, his mansion was as modest as his heart. Strangers from all nations who visited it went, not to admire a magnificent pile, but to gratify a noble curiosity in seeing the first man in the world. Palaces, and columns, and porticos, would have shrunk beside him, and scarcely have been seen. Like the imperial palace of Marcus Aurelius at Rome, the plain and modest walls resembled some august temple, which has no ornament but the Deity that inhabits it.\nHe had no need to seek false glory through exterior display, who possessed such intrinsic worth and grandeur of soul. Everywhere he goes, without any attendants but his virtues - he travels without pomp; but everyone surrounds him, in imagination, with his victories, his triumphs, his glorious toils, his public services. How sublime is this simplicity! How superior to all the ostentatious magnificence of luxury! Thus he lived, discharging, without ostentation, all the civil, social, and domestic offices of life - temperate in his desires - faithful to his duties - retiring from fame, which everywhere pursued him - living like a beneficent deity in the bosom of his family, its delight and its glory.\n\nAmiable woman! Sole partner of his dearest pleasures,\nwho enjoyed most intimately, and who best knew, his\ninner virtues and accomplishments.\nworth,  your  overwhelming  griefs,  the  desolation  of  your \nheart,  under  this  stroke,  testify  the  preciousness  of  what \nyou  have  lost.  In  the  full  tide  of  happiness,  in  a  moment, \nin  one  terrible  instant,  more  than  empires  has  been  ra\u00ac \nvished  from  your  embrace.  Oh  !  if  a  nation\u2019s  tears  can \nyield  you  any  consolation,  the  tears  of  a  nation  are  min\u00ac \ngled  with  yours,  llut,  alas !  while  they  console,  they \nremind  you,  by  a  new  proof,  of  the  value  of  what  Heaven \n*  A  speech  put  by  Mr.  Thomas  into  the  mouth  of  Apol\u00ac \nlonius  a  philosopher ,  and  the  friend  of  Marcus. \nAN  ORATION  ON  THE  DEATH  OF \nhas  taken \u2014 has  taken,  perhaps  in  mercy,  that,  when  your \nSaviour  shall  call  also  for  you,  earth  may  not  have  a  rival \nto  him  in  your  heart. \nBut,  my  fellow-citizens,  among  the  noblest  ornaments \nof  this  extraordinary  man,  was  his  humility,  and  his \nRespect for religion. Humility was the veil through which his virtues shone with a more amiable, less dazzling lustre. In conversation, you never heard him mention those illustrious achievements which had made his name famous throughout the world. In reading his official letters, in which he was obliged by duty to announce his successes, you would hardly suppose that any part of them was due to his valor or skill. You are even in doubt if fame herself had not mistaken in attributing to him such great actions. What a spirit of piety, what a constant acknowledgement of the agency and goodness of Divine Providence, breathes through all his public addresses to his army, to his fellow-citizens, to Congress! \u2013 Ah, how difficult is it to receive the applause of nations with humility! to be exalted!\nAlmost reached heaven on the voice of fame, and not to feel that elation of mind, which raises a mortal above the lowly place which every creature ought to hold in the presence of Almighty God! Something there is in the command of armies, where one man wields the force of thousands, in the tumult of battles, in the splendor of triumphs, that is apt to intoxicate the heart and elevate it beyond itself. But this great general, after his victories, was always found modest and humble before the throne of the Eternal. Like Moses, in the presence of God, he alone seemed not to be conscious of the splendor that surrounded himself. The same reverence for religion, and the same profound respect for its institutions, marked all his private deportment. We have seen with what a serene and steady lustre his hopes shone.\nFrom it shone in the concluding scene of life. This was also said of Marshal Turenne. Ab. Flechier orais funeb. Mar. Tur.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\nThe talents of this great citizen we have now to exhibit in a new light \u2014 as a Legislator \u2014 and the Civil Chief of the American confederacy. If it affords a subject less brilliant to the orator than his military career, it is not less instructive to mankind.\n\nScarcely had he begun to enjoy his beloved repose when the imbecility of that system, under which the states had originally confederated, discovered itself by so many pernicious consequences, destructive of national honor and prosperity, and dangerous to national existence, that it became necessary to frame a government invested with greater energy, more justly balanced, and able to act more directly upon all parts of the Union.\nThis necessity his penetrating judgment had long seen, while he was yet commander of the army. America, always enlightened and wise, even in the midst of her errors, resolved, at length, to pursue this sage policy. Washington, whose prowess in the field had so conspicuously contributed to establish her liberty, was the first among that band of patriots who met to render it secure by placing it under the protection of the most admirable laws. Here he displayed the talents of a great legislator, and proved himself to be as wise in council as he had been glorious in arms. The excellence of that constitution which was the illustrious fruit of their labors, and which republican France, in repeated efforts, has, hitherto, vainly attempted to undermine.\nThe experience of ten years has confirmed that public credit has been restored, industry revived, commercial enterprise extended to every part of the globe, agriculture flourishing, towns and cities daily founded, extended, and beautified, population and riches increasing, and even the debts of the revolutionary war converted into a species of wealth. However, prior to this experience justifying its wisdom, the name of WASHINGTON was necessary to give it authority and recommend it to the confidence of the American people. By their unanimous voice throughout a region of fifteen hundred miles, he was called to hold the first magistracy in the confederated republic.\n\nAn Oration on the Death of\n\nMerciful God, what a feat!\nlicity to my country, that this revered and beloved citizen was yet preserved to assume, with his firm and resolute hand, the helm of government in such a perilous and doubtful season! Inestimable patriot! who was willing to put to risk a reputation which it was believed, already above all addition, could only be diminished by any change. Ah! thy fellow-citizens were ignorant of the full extent of those talents which they have since beheld, with astonishment, as great in peace as in war, in deliberation as in execution \u2013 One of the noblest acts, in a life full of illustrious actions, was the resolution to stake his unexampled fame and to employ the whole force of his unbounded popularity to rescue his country from the degraded and imbecile state into which it had fallen under the old system, and to give it operation.\nAnd efficiency, which would overcome all opposition, was a government he regarded as essentially connected to its prosperity and glory. On this high and untried office, he entered with the modesty which is one criterion of great minds and which marked his whole character through life. He executed it with unshaken firmness, the result of conscious rectitude, ripe and wise deliberation, and the imperious sentiment of duty in a virtuous heart.\n\nLess splendor and eclat attend the retired labors of the cabinet than the march of armies, the capture of towns, and the triumph of victories. But often they require talents of a superior kind and possess an influence more extensive on the felicity of nations.\n\nUnder his administration, the United States enjoyed prosperity and happiness at home, and, by the energy of his leadership, abroad.\nThe government regained in the old world its importance and reputation, which, by its weakness, they had lost. Arduous was his task\u2014innumerable were the difficulties he had to encounter, from the passions, conflicting interests, ambition, and disappointments of men. His own virtue and the confidence of the nation supported him. And amidst all the clamors which the violence of faction or individual chagrin had raised against the general administration, none dared question the purity of his patriotism or his incorruptible integrity.\n\nGeorge Washington.\n\nNone dared oppose his impeachment of the purity of his patriotism or his incorruptible integrity.\n\nHis retreats at Mount-Vernon, grown so clear to him by inclination, habit, and that love of repose natural to advancing years, he had forsaken only to serve the republic and to give, to a new and untried government, his experience and wisdom.\nA firm tone and a steady operation. At the expiration of the first period of his magistracy, he was desirous of returning to that private life which was dearer to him than all things else, except America. Ambition had no charms for him. His felicity was to see his country happy; and his modesty led him to hope that her happiness might now be equally secure in other hands. All true Americans resisted his inclinations with the most affectionate importunity, and he was persuaded to resume the arduous cares of the state.\n\nThe crisis was important. An universal war raged in Europe, and was carried on with the most rancorous and exterminating passions. The hostile nations, inflamed against each other with a fury beyond all former example, for they fought for their existence, would scarcely spare each other.\nAmerica was constantly threatened, by force or intrigue, to be drawn into the vortex. Strong parties in her own bosom increased the danger, and it required a firm, temperate, but inflexible government to prevent the evil. This great and heroic magistrate, in charge of all her foreign relations, was not to be moved from her true interests. Her interest, in the midst of this terrible conflict of nations, was to remain in peace. Faction at home and intrigue and menace from abroad endeavored to shake him. In vain. He remains serene and immoveable in the storm that surrounds him. He defeats foreign intrigue, represses foreign insolence, and domestic faction, dashing against him, breaks itself to pieces. He meets the injustice, indeed, both of...\nBritain and France, through negotiation rather than a precipitate declaration of war; yet maintains towards them a firm and commanding attitude, becoming of the head of a free and great republic. He compels them to respect him; preserves the tranquility of his country. As an American, he knows no nation but as friends in peace, enemies in war. Towards one, he forgets ancient animosities when they are useless to remember. Towards another, he renounces chimerical gratitude when it is claimed only to involve us in fruitless calamities; perhaps, to put into their hands a dangerous empire over our own, and over other nations.\n\nAnd now, my countrymen, behold in the prosperity that surrounds you, the happy effects of this wise policy. See the desolated regions of Europe\u2014compare their condition.\nendless revolutions, their ferocious tyrannies, murders, massacres, brutal violations of virgin honor and conjugal fidelity, wasted plains, plundered cities - contrasted with our peaceful and flourishing state. Bless the memory of Washington, to whose prudence and magnanimity we owe it. Had not his firm patriotism and sage counsels prevailed, what might not have been our present condition? I tremble to imagine it. We might, by the audacity of foreigners, have been stripped of the power of self-government - we might have looked only on pillaged towns and a desolate shore - we might have seen the sacred asylum of our families polluted with lust and murder - we might have been the prey of civil discord - we might, like the wretched inhabitants of Saint-Domingue, have been subjected to tyranny and oppression.\nDomingo, we have been the dreadful victims of domestic treason. Unhappy the nation who permits a more powerful foreigner to obtain an ascendant in her councils! I must not forget, amidst his cares for our foreign relations, he chastised and repressed the inroads of the savage tribes upon our frontiers, by the arms of the gallant Wayne. And, when rebellion dared to raise an impious front against the laws, he infused new energy into the government, by the promptitude and decision with which he crushed it. In one word, the events of an administration as wise as it has been successful: public credit has been restored; public peace has been preserved, notwithstanding the most powerful efforts to disturb it; domestic faction has been kept under control; foreign intrigue and insolence have been defeated and repelled. George Washington.\npressed \u2013 foreign nations have been compelled to respect the republic\u2014 its power has been increased\u2014 its resources have been multiplied\u2014 a savage war has been terminated\u2014 rebellion has been punished\u2014 the laws have been strengthened\u2014 and energy and stability have been infused into the government. With this wise statesman, it was an invariable principle of policy that we can never be secure against the injustice of foreign nations while we do not possess the power to command respect and punish aggression. Weak entreaties, pusillanimous concessions, only invite indignity: For, unfortunately, force is right in the morality of republics as well as of kings. The defense of our commerce, the fortification of our ports, and the effective organization of our military force, were objects towards which he ever directed a solicitous attention.\nThis illustrious man, sublime as a statesman and a warrior, possessed a constellation of the greatest qualities that dignify and adorn human nature. His virtues and talents, which in other instances are divided among many, were combined in him. Having rendered invaluable services to the state and accomplished every object for which he had returned to public life, his desire to return to privacy could no longer be resisted. A second time, he gave the world the great and rare example of voluntarily descending from the first station in the universe, the head of a free people, placed there by their unanimous suffrage, and continued there with a zeal only not idolatrous, to the rank of a plain and simple citizen, obedient to those laws which ambition would have placed its glory in control.\nThe pride of reigning he despised. Its labors he endured only for his country. And, when he could, he cast it from him as a bauble to which his soul was superior.\n\nOn Mount-Vernon he enjoyed his family and his virtue; but still prepared to sacrifice all his dearest preferences whenever his beloved country should demand his aid. Unfortunately, it was too soon required. The injustice of a foreign nation had compelled her to arm; and he was coming forth to defend her under the shade of those laurels which he had gathered in her service.\n\nBut the Ruler of the Universe, the God of Armies, had otherwise determined. - Ah! In what an eventful crisis of the world\u2014in what a dubious and alarming moment for America, has she lost her hero!\u2014Great God, thy councils are inscrutable!\nHe died as he had lived, with that serenity of mind and composed fortitude which had ever distinguished his character. Death has no terrors for a pure soul which already derives its supreme pleasures from virtue. There are ardent and impetuous spirits who can confront death in the field, who cannot regard it with a calm and steady eye in the thoughtful scenes of retirement, and under the pressure of disease. The fire and tumult of battle transport them beyond themselves\u2014honor impels them\u2014and the observation of thousands imparts to the mind an artificial force. But in the silent chamber, where no foreign impulse supports the heart, and it is not sustained by a consoling retrospect on life, they often shrink from the idea of dissolution and of the destinies of eternity. Those who seemed to\nOur hero was more than men in the terrible hour of conflict, yet less than men upon the bed of death. In that moment, he was the same as in all the past \u2013 magnanimous, firm, confiding in the mercy and resigned to the will of Heaven. Ah, with what beauty does religion shine in the concluding scene of such a life! Precious is the hope of immortality in such a moment. Rising on his own faith and on the prayers of millions, he receives in Heaven the reward of his illustrious services to his country and to human nature, which could never be paid him on earth. Such was that illustrious man, in peace and in war, in private and in public life, whom all America honors this day.\n\nAnswer of Congress to his speech on resigning his commission as commander in chief,\n\nGeorge Washington.\nMourns the one whom foreign nations lament, and whom the most distant time shall crown with continually new praises. If I have not been able to rise to the dignity of my subject, I have at least endeavored to discharge the duty of a good citizen, in paying my homage to the departed father of his country. Other orators will rise to do him justice \u2014 history will preserve the remembrance of his great qualities to the remotest ages \u2014 his memory will forever be his highest eulogy.\n\nThe praise now paid to such distinguished merit can no longer be suspected of adulation. The universal impulse of the nation dictates it \u2014 the first magistrate of America, the friend of Washington, in a style worthy himself, and worthy his great copatriot, has given the example of it; the supreme Legislature of the Union have decreed him the noblest honors.\nNities and individuals vie with one another in the testimonies of their respect and veneration. It is a great republican duty to crown with honors and eulogies pre-eminent merit and public services. Glory is the only reward worthy for free states to bestow, or patriots to receive. All others, seizing on the principles of avarice, vanity, or pleasure, render the love of country only a secondary passion. The rewards of glory, to which sublime souls have always been devoted, still leave our country the first object in the heart. They are the homage which nations pay to superior virtue. Egypt, by her funeral panegyrics, first taught the world the influence of posthumous glory to create wise magistrates, illustrious heroes, and virtuous citizens. Greece, by the aid of her laurel and ivy, of her statues and her poems, elevated heroes to the rank of gods.\nUniversities and her painters, and above all, of her historians and her orators, rendered her citizens the admiration and the envy of the universe. Letters are more durable than marble. Long since, the monuments of Trajan and Agricola have perished; but the glory of the one, and the virtues of the other, shall exist forever, embalmed by the genius of Pliny and of Tacitus. Yet, brass and marble shall not be wanting to record his fame.\n\nAn Oration on the Death of\n\na great nation, shall rise to him in the new capitol, that, like the capitol of Rome, shall be the center of a universe of its own. Yield, excellent lady! who hast already known how to make so many sacrifices to thy country, yield to her solicitations his precious remains.\nthat, laid at the foundations of those walls where our laws originate, he may still appear to be the support of the republic.* Oh, if I could make my voice resound throughout the earth \u2014 if I could sustain, with my genius, the grandeur of the subject, I would hold him out as a model to lawgivers and to princes. Heroes who place a false glory in overturning the peace and liberties of the world should learn from him wherein true glory consists, and restrain their intemperate ambition. His actions should instruct the universe.\n\nRu, of the new world! Imbibe his spirit; govern by his example. It is then only that our tears for Washington can be dried up when we see his image revived in you. The grief that overwhelms us shall give way to the delicious tears of joy, when we see, springing from his ashes, so many illustrious and virtuous citizens.\nThe ornaments and defenders of their country. It is by imitating that you can truly honor him and perpetuate the image of his virtues. Let statues and paintings exhibit his noble port, express his manly countenance, and convey to posterity the features of the man so honored, so beloved by his contemporaries, and who, by future ages, will forever be ranked among the greatest benefactors of mankind. But, it is not by a lifeless mold or the chisels of art \u2014 it is not by the products of the quarry or the mine, that the soul of a patriot can be represented, but by his spirit and his actions, transmitted to posterity through a succession of wise, brave, and virtuous legislators and heroes.\n\nI cannot forbear to remark the singular felicity of that excellent citizen whose memory we honor.\nSince the delivery of this discourse, we have been assured that Mrs. Washington has complied with Congress's request. See her admirable letter to the resident of the United States, George Washington. She has largely escaped the malignant attacks of envy, which only provoke elevation and merit. If faction has dared to raise its head and shoot out its sting against him, abashed by his virtue, it has instantly shrunk back and retired into its own coil. He had read his fame in the histories of his own and other nations. He has enjoyed the suffrage of posterity. He has seen himself in that light in which he shall be contemplated by the remotest periods of the world. Dying, his felicity still followed him. Has the history of nations ever exhibited a similar scene?\nSuch a scene of voluntary honors, universal affliction, sincere and mournful homage? Illustrious hero, deign also to accept the unfeigned homage of our grief, friends of humanity and liberty throughout the world! It is for you to weep. Though America was the favored land which gave him birth and is therefore entitled to be the first in grief, yet he was born for the human race.\n\nWhile Washington lived, the people believed that their Guardian Angel was still among them. By the mysterious and holy decree of Heaven, he is taken from their vows and hopes in a moment when the tempest, which has so long beat upon the old world, threatens more and more to extend its fury to the new. Almighty God, all events, and the hearts of all men are in thy hands\u2014save us from the calamities of war, and from the cruel desolation.\nSigns of hostile nations may now gather presumption from the death of him who humbled them. Save us from the curse of divided councils, which his influence tended to unite. Save us from the blind and intemperate rage of factious passions, which his presence has often overawed. Confirm among the people that union of sentiment and that submission to the laws, which have been so long aided by the commanding ascendant of his genius. Our prayers are heard. Divine Providence, which prepares those great souls who are the defenders and saviors of nations, will continue the succession of them while those nations continue to respect religion and virtue. An Oration on the Death of [Name Omitted]\nOur breasts hold the most afflicting, along with the most graceful, recollections. If the husbandman toils his lands and calls them his own, have they not been gained by his wisdom and valor? Do we enjoy our hearths and altars in peace? Have they not been purchased by his toils and dangers? There is not a village, not a field, not a stream which he has not stained with the blood of our enemies, or where he has not inscribed on the earth with his sword the characters of American liberty.\u2014 Ah! by how many dear and tender ties does he hold possession of our hearts! Wives and mothers think they have lost him who preserved to them their husbands and their infants\u2014the young think they have lost in him a father\u2014fathers that they have lost more than their children\u2014the republic that she has lost her liberty.\nFounder and savior of every citizen, Washington, is not lost. His ashes shall defend the republic that contains them \u2013 the capitol, which rests upon his remains, shall be immortal. His example shall live to instruct posterity. His virtues shall descend as a precious inheritance to future ages. Future lawgivers and rulers of America shall come to his tomb to reanimate their own virtues. If it be true that the wise and good, amidst the supreme felicities of their celestial existence, are still occupied with the cares, and sometimes made the guardians, of that which was dearest to them upon earth, O spirit of Washington! Will not thy beloved country still be thy care?\nThis is almost literally true of all the middle counties of New Jersey. No reader may be inclined to think that the eulogies bestowed in this discourse are too exclusive. I certainly do not dispute, but rather acknowledge with pride, that America possesses many great men who cooperated with General Washington in establishing the liberties of their country. Panegyric does not charge itself with apportioning the merit of others when celebrating an individual character. It is the province of history to compare and definitively mark the limits of each one's virtues and services. There are living characters who will be entitled to the highest praise when death shall have placed them beyond reproach and exempted us from the imputation of flattery.\n\u2022  Deacidified  using  the  Bookkeeper  process. \n0*0  \u2022\u00a3*  \u2022  \u2022  *  A  Neuiranzing  ageni:  Magnes \nNeutralizing  agent:  Magnesium  Oxide \nTreatment  Date:  April  2010 \nPreservationTechnologies \nA  WORLD  LEADER  IN  COLLECTIONS  PRESERVATION \n^  *tU]\\  111  Thomson  Park  Drive \nigt\u00bb  Cranberry  Township.  PA  1 6066 \n\u2022JiHIt:  *VPT \n'Vv\u2019 \nvVfRT \n9QOKB\u00bbND\u00bbNC ", "source_dataset": "Internet_Archive", "source_dataset_detailed": "Internet_Archive_LibOfCong"},
{"title": "Biographical memoirs of the illustrious Gen. George Washington, late president of the United States of America. &c, &c. ..", "creator": "Condie, Thomas, 1775?-1814", "subject": "Washington, George, 1732-1799", "description": "Originally appeared (over the author's name) in the Philadelphia monthly magazine, 1798, v.1", "publisher": "Brattleborough, Printed by W. Fessenden", "date": "1811", "language": "eng", "page-progression": "lr", "sponsor": "Sloan Foundation", "contributor": "The Library of Congress", "scanningcenter": "capitolhill", "mediatype": "texts", "collection": ["library_of_congress", "americana"], "call_number": "7760149", "identifier-bib": "00061371357", "updatedate": "2009-06-03 15:02:50", "updater": "SheliaDeRoche", "identifier": "biographicalmemo01cond", "uploader": "shelia@archive.org", "addeddate": "2009-06-03 15:02:52", "publicdate": "2009-06-03 15:03:00", "ppi": "500", "camera": "Canon 5D", "operator": "scanner-annie-coates-@archive.org", "scanner": "scribe6.capitolhill.archive.org", "scandate": "20090610110054", "imagecount": "224", "foldoutcount": "0", "identifier-access": "http://www.archive.org/details/biographicalmemo01cond", "identifier-ark": "ark:/13960/t4fn1m52h", "repub_state": "4", "notes": "Text runs into the gutter, text is covered with tape, text runs off the page and page 209-210 is missing.", "sponsordate": "20090630", "scanfee": "12", "curation": "[curator]stacey@archive.org[/curator][date]20100310221003[/date][state]approved[/state]", "possible-copyright-status": "The Library of Congress is unaware of any copyright restrictions for this item.", "backup_location": "ia903603_7", "external-identifier": "urn:oclc:record:1041657266", "lccn": "11032561", "filesxml": "Wed Dec 23 9:53:48 UTC 2020", "oclc-id": "9460274", "ocr_module_version": "0.0.21", "ocr_converted": "abbyy-to-hocr 1.1.37", "page_number_confidence": "65", "page_number_module_version": "1.0.3", "creation_year": 1811, "content": "Biographical Memoirs of Sen. George Washington, Late President of the United States of America\n\nContaining a History of the Principal Events of His Life with Extracts from His Journals, Speeches to Congress, and Public Addresses. Also, A Sketch of His Private Life.\n\nFortieth Edition.\n\nBrattleborough: Printed by William Fessenden & Co.\n\nBiographical Memoirs,\nSen. George Washington,\nLate President of the United States,\n\nGeorge Washington was born on May 22, 1732, in the Parish of Washington, in Westmoreland County, in the state of Virginia.\n\nHis ancestors were possessed of property in England, near Cave, in the east riding of Yorkshire, which they sold, and came over to America in the year 1657, and purchased lands in King George's County, Virginia. His father, Mr. Augustine Washington, was born in Westmoreland County, and married Mary Ball, of Westmoreland County, by whom he had six children, George being the eldest. George Washington married Martha Dandridge Custis, of Williamsburg, Virginia, on January 6, 1759. She brought him a fortune, and was the widow of Daniel Parke Custis, who died in 1757, leaving two children by a former marriage. Washington had no children of his own.\n\nWashington was educated at home, and received instruction from a schoolmaster. He was a surveyor, a farmer, and a soldier. He served in the French and Indian War, and was appointed a major in the Virginia militia. He was elected to the House of Burgesses in 1758, and served until 1774. He was a delegate to the First Continental Congress in 1774, and was a leader in the Revolutionary War. He was elected President of the United States in 1789, and served two terms. He died on December 14, 1799.\nIngleton was the second in descent and had a numerous offspring. He was possessed of large property and of distinguished reputation. George was his third son and the first fruit of his second marriage. He received his education under the eye of his father, from a private tutor, under whom he acquired a knowledge of the Latin language, sufficient for the ordinary purposes of life, his mother-tongue grammatically, and the elements of mathematics which he, in his rising years, carefully improved by practical experimentation. When he was but ten years of age, his father died, and at fifteen, he was entered a midshipman on board a British ship of war then stationed on the coast of Virginia. But after his baggage had been packed for embarkation, the plan was abandoned.\nLeusice took to heart the calls of maternal affection. For years after he quit his tutor, the learning he had acquired was much improved by a disposition to study, and he particularly applied himself to the practical parts of surveying. A knowledge of which was then, as it is now, important and necessary for men of landed property in every part of the American continent. His merits in this branch of knowledge occasioned him being nominated Surveyor to a certain district in Virginia, an appointment rather creditable than lucrative; but which afforded him advantageous opportunities, particularly an acquaintance with the country, properties of lands, and situations and directions of creeks and rivers. After his father died, the charge of the family fell to him.\ndevolved on his eldest brother Lawrence, a young man of the most promising talents; who, at that time, was a captain under Admiral Vernon, in the colonial troops, employed in the expedition against Cartagena; upon his return, having come into the possession of his patrimonial estates, in honor of his admiral, from whom he had received many favors, Lawrence was afterwards of the militia of Virginia, did not long survive, and on his demise, there were heirs from an elder branch, who possessed a large share of the patrimony. The eldest son by the second marriage inherited the part which now stands, and a considerable, larger property attached to it. At the death of his mother, the valuable office of adjutant-general fell to him in consequence.\nThe population and extensive intelligence of the colony, divided into three districts, were under the future reign of America. At twenty years old, he began his military career with an appointment to the rank of major in that department. In 1755, an event occurred that revealed his abilities more. Active provocations, like jealousies of the French and their grievances, were at their height. Encroachments were reported to have been made by the French from their settlements in Canada, on the frontier territories of the British colonies, along the rivers Ohio and De Boef. Orders were received from England, by the governor and council of Virginia, to repel by force these encroachments. In one of these engagements, Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie commanded.\nmajor Washington, with plenary power to ascertain the facts, met with the Indians. He engaged them to continue firm in their allegiance to England, and I. W. Trumbull, their interpreter, translated for the French. A significant mission he performed with singular industry and intelligence.\n\nThe appointment of major Washington was a circumstance of great significance during that period. It was said that a youth, unacquainted with the enlarged circle of the world, gained experience in political concerns, appeared to be employed to conduct a negotiating mission. Wherein subjects of the greatest importance were involved: it was very true that the subjects involved, for they soon became the most pressing, were not identified.\nThis is a war between two nations, which had been raging for many years and extended throughout the entire globe, ending in the final push from the French from the continent. However, those who held superficial notions of the inferior were, in the end, deceived by the success and possibilities manifested through this transaction. This being the first of his career which has terminated with his spy's capture, it is worthy of note for his honor and country. It is recommended to read his journal, given as a report to Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia on that occasion; it is highly illustrative of the activity and penetration which have marked his character on a more extensive theater, at a subordinate performance.\n\nJournal of George Washington\nI was commissioned and appointed by the Hon. Robert Duvall, Esq., governor of Virginia, and delivered a letter to the Commandant of the French forces on Otougo, Wednesday, October 31, 153. I set out on the same day. The next day, I arrived at Fredericksburg, and engaged Mr. Jacob Vanbram as my interpreter; and with him, I proceeded to Alexandria, where we provisioned. From thence, we ventured to Winters Town, and to Fort Christanna, and from there we published the proclamation at Will's Creek, arriving there on the 14th of November. I erected Mr. Gist to pilot us out.\ni. We were informed here that expresses had been sent a few days before to the traders down river, to acquaint Uiera with the French news of the death of the Marquis de Boisbriand and the return of the major part of the French army into winter quarters. The waters were quite impassable without swimming horses; which obliged us to get the loan of a canoe from Frazier, and to send Barnaby Currin and Henry Stewart down the Monongahela with our baggage.\nI. Baggage should meet us at the forks of the Ohio, about ten miles, there to cross the Allegheny.\n\nAs I stepped down before the canoe, I spent some time viewing the rivers and the land in the Fork. I think this place extremely well situated for a fort, as it has the absolute command of both rivers. The land at the point is 20 or 25 feet above the common surface of the water; and a considerable bottom of flat, well-timbered land all around it, very convenient for building. The rivers are each a quarter of a mile, or more, across, and run here very near at right angles, Any bearing N. E. and Monongahela S. E. The former of these two is a very rapid and swift-running water; the other deep and still, without any perceptible fall.\n\nAbout two miles from this, on the South East side of the river, at the place where the Ohio comes in, there is a large island, which forms a very good harbor for boats. The Ohio, at this place, is about a mile wide, and runs in a north-easterly direction; the Monongahela, on the south side, is about the same width, and runs in a south-easterly direction. The confluence of these two rivers forms a very fine and extensive bend, which is well timbered, and affords a good shelter for boats. The land on the north side of the Ohio, is high and well timbered, and commands a fine view of the junction. The land on the south side of the Monongahela, is also high and well timbered, and commands a view of the junction, as well as of the mouth of the Youghiogheny, which enters the Monongahela about three miles above the junction. The junction of these rivers, is a fine and extensive meadow, which is well timbered, and affords a good pasture for cattle. The water of the Ohio, at this place, is very clear, and is navigable for boats of a large size, as far as the falls of the Ohio, which are about sixty miles above this place. The water of the Monongahela, is also clear, and is navigable for boats of a large size, as far as the falls of the Monongahela, which are about thirty miles above this place. The junction of these rivers, is a very important point, as it is the gateway to the western country, and is the place where the traffic between the eastern and western settlements is carried on. The country around this place, is well timbered, and abounds in game, particularly in deer and elk. The soil is rich and productive, and affords a good subsistence for a large population. The Indians, who inhabit this country, are friendly, and are disposed to trade with the whites. They are principally of the Seneca, Shawnee, and Delaware tribes, and are well disposed towards the whites. The French, who have a trading post at the mouth of the Monongahela, are the principal traders with the Indians, but the English, who have a trading post at the mouth of the Ohio, are also making great efforts to establish a trade with them. The country around this place, is also rich in minerals, particularly in lead and iron. The lead mines, which are situated on the waters of the Monongahela, are the richest in the country, and yield a large quantity of good ore. The iron mines, which are situated on the waters of the Ohio, are also of a good quality, and yield a considerable quantity of iron. The country around this place, is also rich in salt, which is obtained from the waters of the Ohio, and is used for preserving meat, and for other purposes. The country around this place, is also rich in furs, particularly in beaver, which are obtained from the Indians, and are exported to Europe. The country around this place, is also rich in fish, particularly in sturgeon, which are taken in large quantities in the rivers, and are exported to the eastern settlements. The country around this place, is also rich in wild fruits, particularly in wild grapes, which are abundant in the fall of the year, and afford a good subsistence for the Indians and the wild animals. The country around this place, is also rich in wild nuts, particularly in hickory nuts, which are abundant in the fall of the year, and afford a good subsistence for the Indians and the wild animals. The country around this place, is also rich in wild berries, particularly in raspberries, which are abundant in the summer season,\npany intended  to  erect  a  fort,  lives  Shingiss,  king \nof  the  Delawares :  We  called  upon  him  to  invil\u00ab \nhim  to  council  at  the  Loggs  Town, \nA.s  I  had  taken  a  good  deal  of  notice  yesterday \nof  the  situation  at  the  Forks,  my  curiosity  led  me \nto  examine  this  more  particularly,  and  I  think  ^t \n*  Th^  Ohjo  atid  AlUgw^  are  the  sum^  rivers.- \nOen&ral  George  il'aihhrgfoft*  'S \ngreatly  inferior,  either  for  defence  or  advantages, \nespecially  the  latter ;  For,  a  fort  at  the  Forks  would \nbe  equally  well  situated  on  the  Ohio,  and  have  the \nentire  command  of  the  Monongahela  ;  which  runs \nup  to  our  settlements,  and  is  extremely  well  de- \nsigned for  water  carriage,  as  it  is  of  a  deep,  still  na- \nture. Besides,  a  fort  at  the  Fork  might  be  built \nat  much  less  expense  than  at  the  other  place. \nNature  hsis  well  contrived  this  lower  place  for \nwater  defence ;  but  the  hill  whereon  it  must  stand, \nThe quarter-mile long fortification, gradually descending on the land side, would make it difficult and very expensive to create sufficient fortifications. The entire flat on the hill must be taken in, with the side next to the descent made extremely high, or else the enemy could raise batteries within that distance without being exposed to a single shot from the fort.\n\nShingiss accompanied us to the Loggstown, where we arrived between sunset and dark on the 15th day after I left Williamsburg. We traveled over some extremely good and bad land to reach this place.\n\nAs soon as I entered town, I went to Monacahock (as the half-king was called), at his hunting cabin on little Beaver Creek, about ten miles off, and informed him by John Davison, my Indian guide.\nI was sent as an interpreter to the French general and was ordered to call upon the Sachems of the Six Nations. I gave him a string of wampum and a twist of tobacco, and requested him to send for the Half-King. He promised to do so by a runner in the morning, and for other Sachems. I invited him and the other great men present to my tent, where they stayed about an hour and then returned.\n\nAccording to my best observations, Mr. Gill's new settlement (which we passed by) is about WNW 70 miles from Will's Creek, Shannapins, or the Forks N by W or NNW, and about 50 miles from there to Logstown. The course is nearly west about 18 or 20 miles. Therefore, the whole distance we went and computed it, at least 135 or 140 miles.\nThe following account came from 25th Came to town 9 or 10 men who had deserted from a company at Kuskaskas, which lies at the mouth of this river. They were sent from New-Orleans with 130 men and 8 canoe loads of provisions to this place; where they expected to meet the same number of men from the forts on this side of Lake Erie, to convey them and the stores up, who were not present.\n\nI inquired into the situation of the French on the Mississippi, their number, and what forts they had built. They informed me that they had a kind of Indian Money, and also gave a present of friendship.\n\nGeneral George Washington had built small forts between New-Orleans and the Black Islands, garrisoned with about 30 or 40 men.\nAt New Orleans, which is near the mouth of the Mississippi, there are five companies of forty men, with a fairly strong fort mounting eight carriage guns; and at the Black Islands there are several companies and a fort with six guns. The Black Islands are about 130 leagues above the mouth of the Ohio, which is approximately 350 leagues from New Orleans. They also informed me that there was a small palisaded fort on the Ohio, at the mouth of the Obaish, about sixty leagues from the Mississippi. The Obaish heads near the west end of Lake Erie, and provides the communication between the French on the Mississippi and those on the Iroquois. The deserters came from the lower Shannon-town with one Brown, an Indian Trader, and were going to Philadelphia.\n\nAbout 3 o'clock this evening the Half King\nI came to town. I went up and invited him, I-avidson, privately, to my tent; and desired him to relate some of the particulars of his journey to the French commandant and reception there. He told me that the nearest and levelest way was now impassable, by reason of many large miry savannas; that we must be obliged to go by lenango, and should not get to the near fort until.\n\nWhen he went to the fort, he said he was received in a very stern manner by the late commander who asked him very abruptly, what he had come about, and to declare his business: which he did in the following speech.\n\nFathers, I am come to tell you what your own mouths have declared.\nFathers, you, in former days, set a silver basin before us, in which there was a leg of a beaver, and desired all the nations to come and eat of it; to eat in peace and plenty, and not be churlish to one another: And that 'if any such person should be found to be a disturber,' I here lay down by the edge of the dish a rod, which you must scourge them with; and if I, your father, should get foolish in my old days, I delight you may rule it upon me as well as others.\n\nNow, fathers, it is you who are the disturbers in this land, by coming and building your towns and taking it away unknown to us, and by force.\n\nFathers, we kindled a fire a long time ago at a place called Montreal, where we desired you to stay, and not to come and intrude upon our land. I now desire that you may dispatch to that place.\n\"Fathers, let it be known to you, this is our land, not yours. I desire you to hear me in civility; if not, we must handle the rod that was laid down for the use of the obstreperous. If you had come in a peaceful manner, like our brothers in Centara! George Washington, 13th of English, we should not have been against your trading; but to come, father, and to build homes on our land, and to take it by force, is not something we can submit to. Fathers, both you and the English are white, we live in a country between us; therefore, the land belongs to neither one nor the other. But the great God above allowed it to be a place of residence for us; so, fathers, I desire you to withdraw, as I have done our brothers the English. I lay this down as a challenge.\"\ntrial for both, to see which will have the greater regard for it, and on which side we will stand. Our brothers the English have heard this, and I come now to tell you. This was the substance of what he spoke to the general, who made this reply:\n\n\"Now, my child, I have heard your speech; you spoke first, but it is my time to speak now. Where is my wampum that you took away, with the marks of towns in it? This wampum I do not know, which you have discharged me off the land with. But you need not put yourself to the trouble of searching, for I will not hear you. I am not afraid of files or newsquetoes, for Indians are such as those. I tell you, down that river I will go and find I'Mi';' upon it, according to my command. If\nthe river was blocked, I have forces sufficient to burst it open and tread under my feet all that Slaney and their alliances. For my force is as the sand on the seashore. Therefore, here is your wampum, throw it at you. Child, you talk foolishly; you say this land belongs to you, but there is not the black of my nail yours. I saw that land sooner than you did, before I lay down. Shannoahs and you were at war: Lead was the man who went down and took possession of that river; it is my land, and I will have it, let who will stand up for or say against it. I will buy and sell with the English (mockingly). If people will be ruled by me, they may expect kindness, but not The half-king me. He had inquired of the general about two Englishmen who were made prisoners.\nI received this answer: \"Child, you think it a very great hardship that I made prisoners of those two people at Venango. It doesn't concern you. We took and carried them to Canada, to get intelligence of what the English were doing in Virginia.\" He informed me that they had built two forts, one on Lake Erie, and another on French Creek, which was a small lake about fifteen miles apart, and a large wagon-road between them. They are both after the same model, but different in size; the one on the lake is the largest. He gave me a plan of them or his own drawing.\n\nThe Indians inquired very particularly about others in Carolina jail. They asked about a boy named Connel O'Wasmoo, who was taken from the South Branch. For they were told by some Indians, that a party of French Indians had captured him.\nThe Iroquois carried a white boy by Kaskaskia Town, towards the lake.\nNovember 26, 1753, we met in council at the Long House, about 9 o'clock, where I spoke to them as follows:\n\nBrothers, I have called you to council, by order of your brother, the governor of Virginia, to acquaint you that I am sent with all possible dispatch to visit and deliver a letter to the trench commander, of great importance to your English brothers and I dare say to their friends and allies.\n\nAs desired, brothers, by your brother, the governor, to call upon you, the chiefs of the nations, to inform you of it, and ask your advice and assistance to proceed on the first and best road to the French. You see, brothers. I have gotten thus far on my journey.\n\nHis honor likewise desired me to apply to you.\nyou for some of your young men, to conduct auctions and provide provisions for us on our way; and be a safeguard against those Reach Lidions who have taken up the iiatchet against us. I have spoken this particularly to you, Drohers, because of your honor. Our governor treats you as good friends and allies and holds you in great esteem. I confirm what I have said. Give this string of wampum to Niter Tugy, who had considered the above discourse.\n\nThe half king got up and spoke to the Six Nations Alcmotrs:\n\n\"Now my brother, in regard to what the governor had desired of me, I return you this answer. I rely upon you as a brother ought to do, as you say we are brothers and one people. We shall put heart in hand, and speak to our fathers the French concerning the speech they made to me.\"\n\"and you may depend that we will endeavor to be your guard. Brother, as you have asked my advice, I hope you will be ruled by it and stay till I can provide a company to go with you. The French speech belt is not here. I have it to go for my hunting cabin likewise the people whom I have ordered in are not yet come, nor can they till the third from this; till which time, brother, I must beg you to stay. I intend to send the guard to M<ngcs^ S^anjicaks, and Ddo.niH'.rcs^ that our brothers may see the love and loyalty we bear them. As I had orders to make all possible dispatch, and waiting here was very contrary to my inclination, I thanked him in the most suitable manner I could; and told him that my business required the greatest expedition and would not admit of delay.\"\nHe was not pleased that I should consider going before the time he had appointed, and took me aside to express his inability to consent to our departure without a guard, out of fear that some accident might befall us and reflect poorly on him. Besides, he added, this is a matter of no small financial significance. It must not be entered into without due consideration. General George Washington intends, he said, to deliver a speech to the French and make the Shawnees and Delawares do the same. And accordingly, he gave orders for King Shingis, who was present, to attend on Wednesday night with the wampum and two men of their nation to be ready to set out with us the next morning. I found it impossible to depart without offending them in the most egregious manner, so I consented to stay. I returned a string of wampum to them.\nI met with them at Mr. Frazier's, and they sent a message to his honor the governor, to inform him that three nations of French Indians, namely Chippoways, Ottoways, and Orundaks, had taken up the hatchet against the English; and desired him to repeat it over again: but this they postponed doing till they met in full council with the Shannoah and Delaware chiefs.\n\nRunners were dispatched very early on the 27th to the Shannoah chiefs. The half king set out himself to fetch the French speech belt from his hunting cabin.\n\nHe returned this evening, and came with Monokatoocba and two other sachems to my tent; and begged (as they had complied with his honor the governor's request, in providing men, etc.) to know on what business we were going to the French? This was a question I had long expected, and had provided as satisfactory an answer.\nAn Indian from Venango informed me that the French had summoned all the Iroquoians, Delawares, and others to that place. They announced that they had intended to come down the river that fall, but the waters were growing cold and winter was approaching, forcing them into quarters. However, they assured them that they could expect them in the spring with a larger force. They also urged them to remain peaceful and not interfere, unless they intended to bring all their strength against them: for they expected to fight the English for three years (supposing there would be attempts to stop them) during which time they would conquer. But if they proved equally strong,\nThe Fnglisi would join to cut them off and divide the land between them. Though they had lost their general and some of their soldiers, yet there were men enough to reinforce them and make them masters of the Ohio. This speech was delivered to them by one Captain Joncaire, their chief interpreter, living at Venango, and a man of note in the army.\n\nThe half-king and Moikatooclia came very early and begged me to stay one day more. For, notwithstanding they had used all the diligence in their power, the Shannoah chiefs had not yet brought the wampum they had ordered, but would certainly be there that night. They would not detain me any longer, they said, and would send it afresh when they arrived. General George Washington.\n\nThey pressed me so persistently in their request, and I knew that\nThe returning of wampum was the abolishing of agreements, and giving this up was shaking off dependence upon the French. One consented to stay, as I believed an offense offered at this crisis might be attended with greater ill consequence than another day's delay. They also informed me that Shingids could not get in with his men; and was prevented from coming himself by his wife's sickness, (I believe, by fear of the French). But the Iroquoian wampum of that nation was lodged with Gustaia, one of their chiefs, at Venango.\n\nIn the evening late, they came again and acquainted me that the Shawnee were not yet arrived, but that it should not retard the prosecution of our journey. He delivered in my hearing, the epoches that were to be made to the French by Jeskakake, one of their old chiefs.\nThe late commandant requested that I put on the belt. Mid repeated near the same speech he himself had done before. He also delivered a string of wampum to this chief who was sent by Kmg Shingiss, to be given to Kuotaloga, with orders to repair to the French and deliver up the wampum. He likewise gave a very large string of black and white beads, which was to be sent immediately to the Six Nations, if the French refused to quit the land at this warning, which was the third time and was the right of this Jaskakake to deliver. The third night, great men assembled at their council house for a consultation about the journey, and the result was that only three of their chiefs, with one of their best hunters, should be our convoy.\nThe reason they gave for not sending more, after what had been proposed at council on the 26th, was that a greater number might give the French suspicions and cause them to be treated rudely. But I rather think they could not get their hunters in.\n\nWe set out about 9 o'clock with the half king Jeskakake, White Thunder, and the Hunter; and traveled on the road to Venango, where we arrived on the 4th of December, without anything remarkable happening, but a continued series of bad weather.\n\nThis is an old Indian town, situated at the mouth of French Creek on the Ohio; and it is near N. about sixty miles from Logstown, but more than seventy the way we were obliged to go.\n\nWe found the French colors hoisted at a house from which we had driven Mr. John Frazier, an English subject. I immediately repaired to it.\nI. Commander's Residence Unknown: Three Officers at the Ohio River\n\nThe commander's residence was unknown to me. One of the officers, Captain Joneaire, informed me that he held command of the Ohio post, but suggested I seek an answer from the general officer stationed at the nearby fort. He invited us to dine with them and treated us most graciously.\n\nThe wine, as they indulged in generous quantities of it, loosened their restraint, and General George Washington, age 21, entered their conversation. He encouraged them to express their sentiments freely.\n\nThey disclosed their intention to seize control of the Ohio River territory, swearing they would do so; for they acknowledged that the English could raise only two men for their one, but recognized their own movements were too slow and dilatory to thwart any undertaking of theirs.\nThey pretend to have an undisputed right to the river from a discovery made by one La Salle, sixty years ago; and the Richelieu of this expedition is, to prevent our settling on the river or waters of it, as they had heard of some families moving out in that direction. From the best intelligence I could get, there have been 1500 men on this side Ontario Lake; but upon the death of the general, all were recalled to about six or seven hundred, who were left to garrison four forts, one hundred and fifty or thereabouts in each. The first of them is on French Creek, near a small lake, about sixty miles from Venango, near N. N. W. The next lies on Lake Erie, where the greater part of their stores are kept, about fifteen miles from the other. From this it is one hundred and twenty miles to the carrying-place, at the falls of Lake Erie, where there\nThis is a salmon fort where they lodge their goods, located in Brantford, from which their stores come. The next fort is about twenty miles from this, on Ontario-Lake. Between this fort and Montreal, there are three others. The first of which is nearly opposite the English fort of Oswego. From the fort on Erie to Montreal, it is about 400 rods, which they say requires no more, if they have good weather, than four weeks' voyage, if they go in barks or large vessels. They don't cross the lake but if they come in canoes, it will require five or six weeks, as they are obliged to keep under the shore.\n\n5th. It rained excessively all day, which prevented our traveling. Captain Joncaire sent for the half-king, as he had just heard that Kehqua was nearby.\nI came with me: he affected to be touched concerned that I did not make free to bring them in before. I excused it in the best manner, telling him I did not think their company agreeable, as I had heard him speak a good word in disparage of Indians in general. But another motive prevented me from bringing them into his company: I knew he was an interpreter and a person of very great influence among the Indians, and had lately used all possible means to draw them over to their interest; therefore, I was desirous of giving them an opportunity that could be avoided.\n\nWhen they came in, there was great pleasure expressed at seeing them. He wondered how they could be so near without coming to visit him; made several trilling presents; and applied liquor so fast that they were soon rendered incapable of the business they came about, notwithstanding.\nThe half king came to my tent quietly and insisted that I should be present during his conversation with the French. I wished I could prevent him from speaking until he reached the commandant, but I couldn't. He informed me that a council fire had been lit where all their business with the people would be conducted, and that the management of Indian affairs was entrusted solely to M. Joncaise. Eager to learn the outcome of this, I agreed to stay but sent our horses a little ways up French Creek to raft over and encamp, knowing it would be near night.\n\nAbout ten o'clock they met in council. The king spoke much the same as he had before to the general, and offered the French a speech.\nwhich had before been demanded with the marks of four towns on it, which Mons. Joncaire refused to receive: Bat desired Hira to carry it to the fort to the commander.\n\nMons. La Force, commissary of the French stores, and three other soldiers came over to accompany us. We found it extremely difficult to get the Indians off today, as every stratagem had been used to prevent their going. I had left John Davidson (the Indian Interpreter) whom I had brought with me from town the night before, and strictly charged him not to be out of their company, as I could not get Thleni over to my tent; for they had some business with Kustaloga, chiefly to know the reason why he did not deliver up the French belt which he had in keeping: but I was obliged to send Mr. Gist over to fetch them.\nAt twelve o'clock, we set out for the fort, but were prevented from arriving until the 11th, due to excessive rains, snows, and bad traveling through many mires and swamps. We passed over much good land since we left Venango, and through several extensive and very rich meadows; one of which I believe was near four miles in length and considerably wide in some places.\n\n12th. I prepared early to wait upon the commander and was received and conducted to him by the second officer in command. I acquainted him with my business and offered him my commission and letter. Both of which he desired me to keep until the arrival of Mons. Laparti, captain.\nnext fort, who was sent for, and expected to be lieutenant. This commander is a knight of the military order of St. Lewis, named Tegar::^eur de St. Pierre. He is an elderly gentleman, and has much the air of a soldier. He was sent over to take command, immediately upon the death of the late general, and arrived here about seven days before me.\n\nAt two o'clock, the gentleman who was sent for arrived, and when I offered the letter, which they received, he jurisdicted into a small ivory box. I.\n\nGeneral George Washington. 25\n\npartment for the captain to translate, who understood a little English. After he had done it, the commander desired I would walk in, and bring my interpreter to peruse and correct it; which I did.\n\n1 3rd. The chief officers retired, to hold a council of war; which gave me an opportunity to take note:\n\n(Note: The text appears to be incomplete at the end, with some words missing or unclear. It is unclear if this was an intentional omission by the original author or an error in the provided text.)\nThe fort's dimensions were observed, and the following remarks were made. It is located on the south or west fork of French creek, close to the water, and almost surrounded by it, as well as a small branch that forms a kind of island. Four houses make up its sides. The bastions are constructed of piles driven into the ground, standing more than twelve feet above it and sharp at the top; with port holes cut for cannon, and loop holes for the small arms to fire through. There are eight 6 lb. pieces mounted in each bastion, and one piece of four pounds before the gate. Inside the bastions are a guard house, chapel, doctor's lodging, and the commander's private store, surrounded by platforms for the cannon and men to stand on. There are several barracks outside the fort for the soldiers' dwelling.\ncovered with bark or boards, primarily made of logs. There are also several other structures, such as stables and a smith's shop. I could not determine the exact number of men here, but according to the best judgment, there are around 100, excluding officers, of whom there are many. I gave orders to the people with me to take an exact account of the canoes that were hauled up to transport their forces down in the spring. They did so, and there were 50 canoes of birch bark and 170 of pine, besides many others that were prepared to make.\n\nThe snow increased very rapidly, and our horses grew weaker daily. I sent them off unloaded, under the care of Barnaby Currin and two others, to make all necessary dispatch.\nVenango, and there to wait for our arrival, if there was a prospect of the river's freezing; if not, then to continue down to Shannapin's town, at the forks of the Ohio, and there to wait till we came to cross Aiigany. Intending myself to go down by water, as I had the offer of a canoe or two.\n\nAs I found many plots concerted to retard the Indians' business and prevent their return with me; I endeavored all that lay in my power to frustrate their schemes and hurry them on to execute their intended design. They accordingly pressed for admission this evening, which at length was granted them, privately, with the commander and one or two other officers. The half-king told me, that he offered wampum to the commander, who evaded taking it, and made many fair promises of love and friendship; said he wanted to live in peace, and trade amicably.\nThe commander, named General George Washington, intended to bring away all our English trading subjects they met, along with an officer and others. But I rather think the Defiance of this was that they intended to carry off an officer and so on. And what confirms this opinion, I was inquired of the commander by what authority he had made prisoners of several of our English subjects. He told me that the country, belonging to them, no Englishman had a right to trade upon those waters; and that he had ordered to make every prisoner who attempted it on the Ohio or its waters.\n\nI inquired of Captain Itiperty about the hoys carried by this place, as it was done while the command devolved upon him between the death of the late general and the arrival of the new one.\nHe acknowledged that a boy had been carried past; and that the Indians had two or three white men's scalps. I was told by some of the Indians at Venango that a boy came from that place, but he pretended to have forgotten the name, and all the particular facts, though he had questioned him for some hours, as they were carrying him past. I likewise inquired what they had done with John Trotter and James McClure, two Pennsylvania traders, whom they had taken, with all their goods. They told me they had been sent to Canada, \"but were now returned home.\"\n\nThis evening I received a letter from the governor through the commandant.\n\n15th. The commandant ordered a plentiful store of liquor, provisions, etc. to be pitched on board our canoe; and appeared to be extremely anxious.\nplaisant tried to exert every artifice to set our own Indian at variance with us, preventing their departure after ours. Presents, rewards, and everything that could be suggested by him or his officers. I cannot say that I suffered more anxiety in my life than I did in this affair. Every stratagem which the most fruitful brain could invent was practiced to win the half king to their interest. Leaving him here gave them the opportunity they aimed at. I went to the half king and pressed him in the strongest terms to go. He told me the commandant would not discharge him till the morning. I then went to the commandant and desired him to do their business; I complained of ill treatment: for keeping them, as they were part of my company.\nThe company was detaining me. He had promised not to do so, but to help advance my journey as much as he could. He protested that he did not keep them, but was ignorant of the cause of their delay; though I soon found it out - he had promised them a present of guns, and so on, if they would wait till the morning. I was greatly pressed by the Indians to wait this day for them, so I consented, on a promise that nothing would hinder them in the morning. The French were not slack in their efforts to keep the Indians this day as well. But, as they were obligated, according to promise, to give the present, they then endeavored to test the power of liquor, which I doubt not would have prevailed with General George Washington, but I urged and insisted with the king so closely upon his promise.\nWe had a tedious and very fatiguing passage down the crooked creek. Several times we were close to being stuck against the rocks, and many times we had to get out and remain in the water for half an hour or more, getting over the shoals. At one place, the ice had lodged and made it impassable by water; therefore, we were obliged to carry our canoe across a neck of land, a quarter of a mile over. We did not reach Venango until the 22nd, where we met with our horses. This creek is extremely crooked. I dare say the distance between the fort and Venango cannot be less than 130 miles to follow the meanders.\n\nWhen I went to prepare things for setting off, I asked the half-king if he intended to go with us by water. He told me that:\nWhite Thunder was hurt badly and was sick, unable to walk; therefore, he had to be carried down in a canoe. As I intended to stay here a day or two, and knew that Monsieur Joncaire would try to turn him against the English as he had done before, I warned him to be wary of his flattery and let no fine speeches sway him from their favor. He asked me not to be concerned, as he knew the French too well; for nothing could engage him on their behalf. Though he could not go down with us, he yet intended to meet at the forks with Joseph Campbell to deliver a speech for me to carry to the honor of the Governor. He told me he would order the young hunter to attend us and provide anything we needed.\nOur horses were now so weak and feeble, and the baggage so heavy (as we were obliged to provide all the necessities which the journey required) that we doubted their performance. Therefore, myself and others (except the drivers who were obliged to ride) gave up our horses for packs, to assist along with the baggage. I put myself in an Indian walking dress, and continued with them for three days, till I found there was no probability of their getting home in any reasonable time. The horses grew less able to travel every day; the cold increased very fast; and the roads were becoming much worse by a deep snow, continually freezing. Therefore, as I was uneasy to get back, to make report of my proceedings to his honor the governor, I determined to proceed with my journey the nearest way through the woods on foot.\nI left Mr. Vanbram in charge of our baggage with money and directions to provide necessities for themselves and horses, making the most convenient dispatch in traveling. I took my necessary papers, pulled off my clothes and tied them up in a mathematician's coat. General George Washington, 31st.\n\nThen with gun in hand and pack on my back, which contained my papers and provisions, I set out with Mr. Gist, both dressed similarly, on Wednesday the 26th. The next day, just after we had passed a place called the Murdering Town (where we intended to quit the path and steer across the country for Shannapins Town), we encountered a party of French Indians who had laid in wait for us. One of them fired at Mr. Gist or me, not 15 steps off. But fortunately missed. We\ntook this fellow into custody and kept him until about 9 o'clock at night. Thurne let him go, and we walked all the remainder of the night without making any stop; so that we might get the start as soon as possible and be out of their reach next day, since we were well assured they would follow our track as soon as it was light. The next day we continued traveling till quite dark, and got to the river about 1 mile above Shiannapins. We expected to have found the river frozen, but it was not, only about 50 yards from each shore. The ice had broken above, for it was driving in vast quantities.\n\nThere was no way to get over it on a raft; which we set about building, but with one poor hatchet, and finished just after sun setting. This was a whole day's work. We next got it launched.\nand we went on board of it. Then set sail. But before me were half way over, we were jammed in the ice, in such a manner that we expected every moment our raft to sink, and ourselves to perish. I put out my setting pole to stop it, that the Birgessas and Temcirs might pass by.\n\nC5 Birgessas and Temcirs were thrown with so much violence against the pole, that it jerked me out into ten feet water. But I fortunately saved myself by catching hold of one of the raft logs. Notwithstanding all our efforts, we could not get to either shore; but were obstructed by being near an island, to quit our raft and make to it.\n\nThe cold was so extremely severe, that Mr. Gist had all his fingers, and some of his toes frozen; and the water was hard, that we found it difficulty in getting off the island, on the ice.\nin the Monongahela and went to Mr. Frazier's. We were met with two hundred warriors who were going to the Ohio River to war. Bat coming to a place on the head of the great Kunawee, where they found seven people killed and scalped - only one woman with very light hair. They turned about and ran back for fear the inhabitants would rise and take them as the authors of the murder. They report that the bodies were lying about the houses and some of them much torn and eaten by the hogs. By the marks which were left, they say they were French Indians of the Ottawa nation who did it.\n\nAs we intended to take horses here, it required some time to find them. I went up three miles south of the Youghiogheny to visit Queen Aliquippa, who had expressed great concern that we would pass her in going to the fort.\nX: Tonade's list: a present of a match coat and a bottle.\nGeneral George Washington. Age 33.\nOf rum, which latter was thought much the best of the two.\n\nTuesday, the 1st day of January, we left Mr. Warner's house and arrived at Irvine's at Miamis the 2nd, where I bought a horse, saddle, and other supplies. The 6th, we met 17 horse-loaded wagons with materials and stores for a fort at the forks of the Ohio, and the day after some families went out to settle. This day we arrived at Will's Creek, after a fatiguing journey as possibly to conceive, rendered so by excessive bad weather. From the 1st day of December to the 15th, there was but one day on which it did not rain or snow incessantly; and throughout the whole journey we met nothing but one continued series of cold.\nPart 1: The weather, which occasioned very unpleasant lodgings, especially after we had quit our tent, which was some screen from the inclemency of it.\n\nOn the 1st of Ith, I traveled to Belvoir; where I stopped one day to take necessary rest; and then set out, and arrived in Williamsburg the 16th. I waited on his honor the governor with the letter I had brought from the French commandant, and gave an account of the success of my proceedings.\n\nI beg leave to offer the following narrative, as it contains the most remarkable occurrences which happened in my journey. I hope what has been said will be sufficient to take your honor satisfied with my conduct; for that was my aim in undertaking the journey, a chief study throughout its prosecution.\n\nBackground Matters of\nWith the hope of doing it, I, with the infirmities.\nYour honor, I subscribe myself, Your most obedient and very humble servant, G. WASHINGTON. Upon his return from this perilous embassy, with Mons. de St. Pierre's answer and his good success in the Indian negotiations, Major Washington was complimented with the thanks and approval of his country. His journal does great credit to his industry, attention, and judgment; and it has since proved of infinite service to those who have been doomed to traverse the same inhospitable tracts.\n\nGovernor Dinwiddie's letter to the French commander and M. de St. Pierre's answer have been published in several periodical works, both in America and in Europe. The governor's letter stated that he had heard with surprise and concern that the French were erecting fortresses and making settlements on the lands upon the river Ohio.\nWhich are the property of the crown of Great Britain?; consequently, His Majesty, in the name of the king, is induced to send Colonel George Washington, Esquire; one of the adjutants-general of the forces of Virginia, to complain of the encroachments made in violation of the treaties subsisting between the two crowns. He had marched from Canada with an armed force to invade the British territories, and requested that the French forces depart without prosecuting a purpose so interruptive to the harmony which His Majesty is so desirous to cultivate with the most Christian King. Also, that Major Washington be entertained with the power due to his rank.\n\nThe French commandants answered only that they would transmit the governor's letter to [blank].\nIn Canada, the marquis du Jesne, to whom he would be answerable; as he was not on French ground, and acted under his general's orders; therefore, he could not obey the summons of the governor. In 1754, the French designs became more manifest, and their movements more daring. Orders were issued by the administration for the colonies to arm and unite in one confederacy. The Virginia assembly took the lead, by voting a sum for the public service and raising a regiment for the protection of the colony's frontiers. Of this corps, Mr. Fry, one of the college professors, was appointed colonel, and Major Washington received the commission of lieutenant-colonel. But Colonel Fry died.\nColonel Washington, having joined and subsequently left his regiment, began his march on the second of April from Alexandria, leading one hundred and fifty men. His orders were to march towards the Ohio to assist Captain Trent in building forts and defending the positions against the attack of His Majesty's enemies. During his march, he was joined by a small detachment under the command of Captain Stephens. He had proceeded as far as Will's Creek when he received intelligence that Captain Trent had been obliged to surrender the fort which he had erected between the Ohio and French Creek, to a body of about eight hundred French, commanded by Captain Coulon de Villiers. Col. Washington, deeming it impracticable to march towards the fort, turned his march in another direction.\nout. Sufficient force thought it most prudent to open roads so as to pre-occupy the advantageous position at the confluence of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers, which in his preceding journal he recalls for that purpose. Re was to have been joined by a detachment of independent regulars from the southern colonies, together with some companies of provincials from North Carolina and Virginia. But perceiving the necessity of expedition, and without waiting for their arrival, he limped his march but, not finding an precipitated advance, the French had already taken possession and erected a fortification, which they named fort Du Quesne, in honor of the marquis du Quesne, the French governor of Canada. Colonel Washington accordingly proceeded on his march from Wills-Creek; bravely encountering.\nall the obstacles and difficulties of an impervious journey.\nWijernesb, crossing savannas and rivers... These men were sometimes forced to ford rivers so deep that they had to take them up to the arm-pits when he, George,\nhad proceeded as far as Tarkeyfoot, he received information that a party, or French, commanded by Jumonville, were concealed with a short distance of his camp. Whereupon, he scoured his wagons and put himself in the best defense he was capable of, until he learned their whereabouts.\n\nHaving obtained the necessary information from the Indians, on the night of the 27th of May, he set out with his men (except about forty, which were left to guard his ammunition, and a party of Indians, which the half king sent to his assistance).\nIn a heavy rain and a night as dark as pitch, they traveled along a path scarcely wide enough for one man. They were sometimes lost for twenty minutes before they came to it again, and the darkness was such that they often collided with one another. The entire night they could not continue their route, and in the morning at sunrise, they formed themselves for an engagement. Marching one after another in the Indian manner, the enemy did not discover them until they were upon them. When Colonel Washington's company fired, it was supported by Mr. Wager's. The two companies received the whole fire of the French, which lasted a quarter of an hour before the enemy was routed out. M. de Jumonville and nine others were killed, one was wounded, and twenty-one made prisoners. Among the prisoners was one of the prisoners.\ncelebrated woodsman, Menhaut de la Force, commander of the French stores, and two other officers. Only one of the whole party escaped. A Canadian, named Monceau, made such a report of the action as to impress upon the minds of the French that Washington's conduct was high-handed and dishonorable. The French account of this engagement is contained in a letter from M. de Contrecoeur to the marquis du Quesne, dated Fort du Quesne, May 23, 1754. It states that \"Jumonville set out with a small escort, charged with a written summons, in form of a letter, directed to the first English officer he should meet on the lands claimed by the French king, summoning him to withdraw his troops in peace from said territory, otherwise that they would...\"\npel force demanded that the English officer return his answer to M. de Jumonville and treat him with the respect he deserved. The deputy stepped out, and the next morning found himself surrounded by a number of English and Indians. The English quickly fired two volleys, which killed some soldiers. M. Jumonville made a sign that he had a letter from his commander. The fire ceased, and the English surrounded the French officer to hear him read the summons a second time. He was killed by a musket shot in the head. Had it not been for the Indians, who rushed in between the French and English, the former would have been assassinated. The Indians did not fire upon the French.\n\nReport of General George Washington.\nColonel Washington's Journal extract: \"We were advancing quite near to them when they discovered us. I ordered my company to fire, mine was supported by Mr. Wager's, and my company and his received the whole fire of the French, during the greatest part of the action, which only lasted a quarter of an hour, before the enemy was routed. We killed M. de Jumonville, the commander of that party, as well as nine others. We wounded one and made twenty-one prisoners, among whom\"\nM. de la Force, M. Drouillon, and two Cads took the dead's scalps and most of their firearms. They then marched on with the prisoners and guard to the Indian camp, where I held a council with the half-king. I informed him that the governor was eager to see him and was waiting for him at Winchester. He replied that he couldn't go just then as his people were in imminent danger from the French, whom they had fallen upon. He must send messengers to all the allied nations to invite them to take up the hatchet. He sent a young Delaware Indian to deliver this message to the Delaware Nation and a French scalp as well. This young man desired to have a part of the presents that were allotted for them.\n3ino;h'  be  kept  for  another  opportunity  :  He  i\u00abaid \nhe  would  goto  his  own  faraiiy,  and  to  several  oth- \ners, a!id  would  wait  on  them  a^t  Mr,  Gist's,  where \nbe  debired  men  and  horses  shoiild  be  sent  ready  ta* \nbrir:g  them  up  to  our  camp-.  After  ibis  1  marched \n\u00a9n  u  .t h  the  prisoners  :  Thty  informed  me  that \nthf-  \u2022  !\u2022'  becB  sent  with  a  euiiiCions  to  order  me \n%c  .'.jjrt.  ^.  plansibV  pretence  to  discover  our \ncar.  and  to  obtain  the  know  lege  of  our  forces;  and \nsiu.aiioo  !  It  .was  so  clear  that  they  were  come  to- \nJeconnoitre  what  we  were,  t'lat  i  admired  their  as- \n5ur  nee  when  they  told  me  th?y  were  come  as  an \n%Av  y.'is\\  ;  for  their  instFuetions  mentioned  that \nthey  vhould  get  what  knowledge  they  could  of  the \nfpi'^-'  rivcre,  and  of  all  the  country  as  far  as  ;-'oto- \niCiiCA  ;  .LF.d  instead  of  coming  a^-  an-  ambassador, \nThey publicly came in an open manner and sought the most hidden retreats, encamped, and remained hidden for whole days, sending spies to reconnoiter our forces. Once this was done, they were back two days later to present the two generals to the Viscount de Rochechouart, informing him of our dispositions so he might detach his forces to enforce the summons. General George Washington\n\nBesides, an ambassador has princely attendants, whereas this was only a petty French officer. An ambassador has no need for spies, his character being always sacred. And seeing this.\nTheir intentions were so good, why did they delay for two days, at a five-mile distance from us, without informing me of the summons or at least something related to the embassy? That alone would be sufficient to raise great suspicions. We ought to do them the justice to say, that, as they wanted to hide themselves, they could not have chosen better places than those they had.\n\nThe summons was so insolent and favored the gasconade so much that if it had been brought openly by two men, it would have been an immediate pardon, to allow them to return.\n\nIt was the opinion of the half-king in this case that their intentions were evil and that it was a pure pretense; that they never intended to come to us but as enemies; and if we had been such fools as to let them go, they would have received us with hostility.\nhelp us any more to take other Frenchmen. They say they called to us as soon as they had discovered us, which is an absolute falsehood. I was then marching at the head of the company going towards them, and can positively affirm that when they first saw us, they ran to their arms, without causing any delay. From the ranch priors, officer Washington had intelligence that the French forces on the Ohio continent numbered over three thousand regulars and five hundred Indians. Upon this intelligence, and considering his army was reduced and entirely insufficient to act against the French and Indians, he fell back to a known position near the capital of the MS (Mississippi) River for the sake of the offensive and supplies.\nHere he built a temporary stockade, merely to cover his stores. It was from it called Fort Necessity. Colonel Washington was too sensible of the advantages of Fort Duquesne to abandon the idea of taking it. Ever since he left Wills Creek, he had been indefatigable in his efforts to form the resistance, open roads, and gain the Indians over to our side, as well as to watch the operations of the French and gain knowledge of their situation, even as far as the lakes. He was writing to the governors of Pennsylvania and Maryland requesting their aid in the augmentation of his army. He remained at Fort Necessity until the arrival of some expected succor from New York and Pennsylvania, unmolested, until July following, with his small force, even after it was reduced in size.\nCaptain M'Kay's regulars numbered around 400 effectives, accompanied by an army of French and Indians. The French force, reinforced by about 500 men, was led by General George Washington, Marquis de Villeis, the brother of M. de Jumonville. The primary objective of this campaign, the French officer acknowledged, was to avenge the assassination of his brother and to hinder any establishments on the lands claimed by the king of France.\n\nThe Virginians held off the enemy's full force for several hours, laying low two hundred of them in the field before the French commander, discouraged by their determined resolution, proposed the less dangerous method of dislodging his enemy through a parley. This ended in a capitulation. It was stipulated that Colonel\nWashington should march away with all the honors of war, and be allowed to carry off all his military stores, effects, and baggage. This capitulation was violated due to the ungovernable disposition of the Indians, whom the French commander could not restrain from plundering the provincials on the outset of their march and from making a considerable slaughter of men, cattle, and horses. After this disaster, the remains of the Virginia regiment returned to Alexandria to be recruited and furnished with necessary supplies. During this period, the French dreaded their activity and diligence on the Ohio and in other places, and Virginia, who determined to send out a larger force in the spring following, erected the forts Cumberland and London, and formed a camp at Wills Creek, in order to annoy the enemy on the Ohio.\nColonel Washington was primarily employed in several services, particularly in the construction of forts. In 1754, the British government sent General Braddock to this country, appointing him to command all troops and forces raised in, or sent to, North America. He landed at Williamsburg, Virginia, in February, with two veteran regiments from Ireland. But he sent his men up the Potomac to Alexandria to encamp, waiting to be joined with the independent and provincial corps of America. With this army, he was to penetrate through the country to fort Duquesne (now fort Pitt) by the route of Wills Creek, to repel the French from the confines of the British settlements. No one was better acquainted with the frontier country than Colonel Washington.\ncolonel Washington enjoyed a well-established military character and was deemed highly serviceable to General Braddock. However, due to a royal arrangement, an officer who did not immediately derive his commission from the king could not command one who did. Colonel Washington cheerfully relinquished his regiment and went as an extra aid-de-camp into the family of General Braddock. In this capacity, at the battle of Monongahela on the 9th of July, 1755, he attended to that general, whose life was gallantly sacrificed in attempting to extricate his troops from the fatal ambuscade into which his overweening confidence had led them. Braddock had several horses shot under him before he fell himself, and there was not an officer, whose duty obliged him to be on horseback that day, excepting Colonel Washington.\nWashington, who was not killed or wounded. This circumstance enabled him to display greater abilities in covering the retreat and saving the army, than he could have done otherwise. As soon as he had secured their passage over the ford of Monongahela, and found they were not pursued, he hastened to concert measures for their further security with Colonel Dunbar, who had remained with the second division and heavy baggage at some distance in the rear. To achieve this, he traveled with two guides all night through an almost impervious wilderness, notwithstanding the fatigues he had undergone in the day. Although he had so imperfectly recovered from illness, he was obliged in the morning to be supported with cushions on his horse. The public accounts in Britain and America were not parallel.\nImponious received applause for the essential service he rendered on such a trying occasion. Not long after this time, the regulation of rank, which had been so injurious to colonial officers, was changed to their satisfaction, due to the discontent of the officers and the remonstrance of Colonel Washington. The governor of Virginia, impressed with a due sense of his merits, gave him, in a new and extensive commission, the command of all the troops raised and to be raised in that colony.\n\nIt would not comport with the intended brevity of this sketch to mention in detail the plans suggested or the system he pursued for defending the frontiers, until the year 1758, when he commanded the van brigade of General Forbes' army in the capture of Fort Duquesne.\nHis son's appointment would prevent the recital of his personal hazards and achievements that occurred during his service. The tranquility on the frontiers of the midville colonies had been restored by the success of this campaign, and Colonel Washington's health had become extremely debilitated by an inveterate pulmonary complaint. In 1759, he resigned his military appointment. Authentic documents are not lacking to show the tender regret which the Virginia line expressed at parting with their commander, and the affection he entertained for them.\n\nShortly after Colonel Washington's resignation, his health was gradually established and he married Mrs. Custis, an amiable young widow, said to have possessed a fortune of twenty thousand pounds sterling (about 88,900 dollars) in her estate.\nAwn right, beside her dower in one of the principal estates in Virginia. With this lady, Colonel Washington settled as a planter and farmer on his estate in Fairfax county, Virginia. After some years, he gave up planting tobacco and went altogether into the farming business. He had raised seven thousand bushels of wheat and ten thousand bushels of Indian corn in one year.\n\nGeneral and Mrs. Washington were both born in the same year.\n\nGeneral George Washington. Age 47. Though he had confined his cultivation to this domestic tract of about nine thousand acres, yet he possessed excellent lands, in large quantities, in several other counties. His judgment in the quality of soils, his command of money to avail himself of purchases, and his occasional employment in early life as a surveyor, gave him opportunities making advantageous locations.\nAfter leaving the army, from the year 1774 onwards, he cultivated the arts of peace. He was constantly a member of the assembly, a magistrate of his county, and a judge of the court. At this period, he was appointed, in conformity with the universal wish of the people, to be one of their four delegates at the first general Congress of delegates from all the provinces, which met at Philadelphia on the 26th of October, 1774. It was with ten small reluctance that he engaged again in the active scenes of life; and we sincerely believe that no motives but such as spring from the most disinterested patriotism could have prevailed upon him to relinquish the most refined domestic pleasures, which it was ever in his power to command, and his great delight he took in farming and the improvement of his estate.\nHe was appointed delegate to the Congress which assembled in 1775. After every step towards accommodation had failed, and every petition from the respectable gentlemen of America had been rejected, it was determined, with one common voice, to repel by force the invasion from Great Britain. The eyes of the whole continent were immediately turned upon Mount Washington. With one common voice, he called forth the defense of his country; and it is perhaps his peculiar glory that there was no single inhabitant of these states who did not approve the choice and place the firmest confidence in his integrity and abilities. He arrived at Cambridge in New England in July, 1775, and there took the supreme command of the army of the United Colonies. Previous to this period, hostilities had actually commenced.\nOn the 19th of April, 1775, blood was shed at the battle of Concord; and on the 16th of June following, the memorable battle of Breed's Hill, commonly called Bunker's Hill, was fought. General Washington was received at camp with the heartfelt exultation, which superior merit alone can inspire, after having, in his progress through the several states, received every mark of affection and esteem, which they concealed were due to the man, whom the whole continent looked up to for safety and freedom.\n\nThe following address was presented to him on accepting the supreme command of the army by the provincial Congress of New York.\n\nGeneral George Washington\n\nADDRESS,\nPresented to his excellency General Washington. By the provincial Congress of New York.\n\nMay it please your Excellency,\n\nAt a time when the most loyal of his majesty's subjects are contending for their sacred rights and liberties, your Excellency's acceptance of the supreme command of the army, raised and supported by the good people of these colonies, will, we hope, be productive of the greatest and most lasting benefits to America. We have the highest confidence in your abilities and virtues, and we trust that under your conduct, our army will be distinguished for discipline, order, and bravery. We are persuaded that your wisdom and prudence will enable you to direct our military operations with success, and that your justice and humanity will secure to our soldiers every comfort and protection. We are also assured that your firmness and resolution will inspire our troops with courage and confidence, and that your zeal for the cause of America will animate them to exert their utmost strength and valor. We earnestly pray that the blessings of Heaven may attend your exertions, and that the success of our arms may redound to the glory of God and the happiness of America.\n\nGiven under our hands, at New York, this 23rd day of July, A.D. 1775.\n\n[The names of the President and Secretary of the Congress are here omitted.]\nSubjects, regarding the laws and constitution by which he sits on the throne, find themselves reduced to the unfortunate necessity of taking up arms, to defend their dearest rights and privileges. While we deplore the calamities of this divided empire, we rejoice in the appointment of a gentleman, from whose abilities and virtue we are taught to expect both security and peace.\n\nTrusting in you, sir, and in the worthy generals immediately under your command, we have the most flattering hopes of success in the glorious struggle for American liberty, and the fullest assurances, that whenever this important contest shall be decided, by the fondest wish of each American soul, an accommodation with our mother country will be cheerfully resigned, and the position committed into your hands will be resumed, and the character of our worthiest citizen will be reassumed.\nBy order, P. V. B. Livingston, York, January 26, 1755.\n\nGentlemen,\nAt the same time that I deplore the unhappy necessity of such an appointment, which I am honored with, cannot but feel sentiments of the highest gratitude for this distinguishing and regardful stance towards me. May your warmest wishes be realized in the success of America, at this important and interesting period, and be assured that every exertion of my worthy colleagues and myself will be equally extended to the re-establishment of peace and harmony, between the mother country and these colonies. As to the fatal but necessary operations of war when we assumed the soldier, we did not lay aside the citizen; and we shall most sincerely rejoice with you in that happy hour, when the eyes.\nEstablishment of American liberty, on the firmest and most solid foundations, shall enable us to return to our private stations, in the bosom of a free, peaceful and happy country.\n\nGeorge Washington's conduct as a general and commander in chief is well known. He underwent many hardships and difficulties and conducted military operations with much skill and ability. It would not be fitting for the present memoirs to particularize in these transactions. The impression which they made is yet fresh in the mind of every citizen.\n\nBut it is hoped, posterity will be taught, in what manner he transformed an undisciplined body of peasantry into a regular army of soldiers.\n\nCommentaries on his campaigns would undoubtedly be highly interesting and instructive to future generations.\nThe conduct of his first campaign, in March 1776, compelling the British troops to abandon Boston by a bloodless victory merits a minute narration. But a volume scarcely contains the mortifications he experienced and the hazards to which he was exposed in the years 1776 and 1777, in contending against the powerful forces of Britain. Their armies were far superior to his in number, well organized and disciplined, inured to camp life, commanded by officers experienced in military tactics, and aided by powerful fleets. His army, however, was composed of raw and undisciplined peasants, just dragged from the tender scenes of domestic life \u2013 unaccustomed to the din of arms \u2013 totally unacquainted with every kind of military skill and unused to the subordination so essentially requisite.\nin an army, and often in want of arms, ammunition, clothes, and even food, often exposed to the inclement weather, in the most rigorous season, with hardly tents or even a blanket, and discouraged by the want of regular pay. These circumstances fully account for the unsuccessful outcome of his Fitler campaign.\n\nThe Battle of Long Island was fought in August 1776; his army was driven from their post by the British; over two thousand Americans fell on the field, and about half that number were taken prisoners. Fort Washington, on York Island and, surrendered afterwards, with two thousand prisoners; desertion and sickness added to his misfortunes. His army, at the time Lord Cornwallis landed on Long Island, amounted to twenty-five thousand men, was now reduced to about one eighth of that number.\nThe approach of winter happily checked the progress of the enemy. General Washington's perseverance and intrepidity improved this circumstance into important advantages. At Trenton, on the morning of the twenty-sixth of December, he surprised a body of the enemy's troops who, finding themselves surrounded, without further resistance, agreed to lay down their arms. Twenty-five officers, and nearly one thousand soldiers were made prisoners; while the American army had only four or five men wounded. On the third of January following, at Princeton, he made another successful attempt. There he took three hundred prisoners. These enterprises cheered the drooping spirits of his men, and again added reputation to the American arms. Afterwards, he retired to Morristown, and remained during the winter with an inferior force.\nGeneral George Washington checked the enemy from any further encroachments in that part of the country. He did not enter into a minute description of the various battles and skirmishes in which he was personally engaged during the campaign of 1777.\n\nAt the battle of Brandywine, he made a gallant resistance but was at last forced to quit his ground with the loss of about twelve hundred men killed, wounded, or taken prisoners. At Germantown, he was repulsed with the loss of six hundred killed or wounded and about four hundred prisoners. He afterward retired to winter quarters at Valley Forge. His army was at this time in a most miserable condition, marching without stockings or shoes, their feet were so frozen that their steps were marked with blood. Some hundreds of them were without blankets.\nand they were in the midst of sitting down in a forest, building huts for shelter. The destitute situation of the American army was a means of prolonging the war; oftentimes, it was on the eve of dissolution, even mutinies had ensued, while want of success prevented many soldiers from continuing longer than the period of their short enlistments, causing frequent desertion. Indeed, nothing but the good destiny and consummate prudence of the commander-in-chief prevented want of success from producing want of confidence on the part of the public. For want of success is apt to lead to the adoption of pernicious counsels, through the levity of the people or the ambition of their demagogues. In the three succeeding campaigns, 54-3(jgfafnua1 Memoirs. )\nFor the given text, no cleaning is necessary as it is already in a readable format. Here is the text with minor formatting adjustments for better readability:\n\nThe germ of discipline unfolded over the years. America's resources were called into cooperation with the land and naval armies of France, resulting in the glorious conclusion of the campaign in 1781. On the nineteenth of October that year, Washington's army forced the enemy's, then under Lord Cornwallis' command, to make a final surrender. His land forces were made prisoners of war to Congress. The naval forces were livened up for France. From this time, the gloom began to disappear from our political horizon, and the affairs of the union proceeded in a meliorating train until a peace was most ability negotiated by our ambassadors in Europe in 1783. Thirteen of the American colonies were established as sovereign and independent states.\n\nGeneral Washington, having never been in Europe,\nHe could not have had much military service when the armies of Britain were sent to subdue America; yet still, for a variety of reasons, he was by far the most proper man on this continent, and probably anywhere else, to be placed at the head of an American army. The very high estimation he stood in for integrity and honor, his engaging in the cause of his country from sentiment and a conviction of her wrongs, his moderation in politics, his extensive property, and his approved abilities as a commander, were motives which necessarily obliged the choice of America to fall upon him.\n\nGeorge Washington\n\nNature had given him extraordinary military talents, which would hardly be contested by his bitter enemies; and having been earlier activated with a warm passion to serve his country in its cause, he was an obvious choice for the position of commander-in-chief.\nThe military line, he greatly improved them with his untiring industry and close application to the best writers on tactics. In reality, when considered, he headed a body of men entirely unacquainted with military discipline or operations, somewhat ungovernable in temper, and acting under very short enlistments, unclothed, uncared for, and at all times very ill supplied with arms and artillery. With such an army, he withstood the ravages and progress of nearly forty thousand veteran troops, plentifully provided with every necessary article, commanded by the bravest officers in Europe, and supported by a very powerful Davy, which effectively prevented all movements.\nmentions come from water; when, we say, all this is impartially considered, we think we may venture to pronounce that General Washington will be regarded by many as one of the greatest military ornaments of the present age, and his name will command the veneration of the latest posterity. No person but those who had an opportunity of viewing the continental army can form any adequate idea of its imperfection when General Washington first assumed the command. It was not without the most unwearied application and perseverance, which few men but he could have undergone, that he was able to establish discipline which ultimately aided his success. From the period he first assumed the command until the army's dissolution, his care and anxiety for them continued. The array he considered essential to the discipline and efficiency of the army was not complete until after the battle of Monmouth, in June, 1778. The want of uniformity in the dress of the soldiers was a source of great inconvenience and confusion. The men were clothed in various kinds of garments, some in homespun, others in broadcloth, and others in woolen coats, which were often too short in the sleeves and too long in the body. The want of shoes was another great difficulty. The soldiers were often without shoes, and when they had them, they were frequently in a state of decay. The want of blankets was another source of suffering, and many of the men were obliged to lie on the bare ground in the cold winter nights. The want of tents was another great inconvenience, and the soldiers were often exposed to the inclemency of the weather. The want of artillery was another great disadvantage, and the army was often compelled to rely on the inaccuracy of its musketry for defense. The want of a regular train of supplies was another great difficulty, and the army was often reduced to the necessity of living on foraged provisions. The want of a regular system of finance was another great inconvenience, and the soldiers were often paid in continental currency, which was almost worthless. The want of a regular system of discipline was another great difficulty, and the army was often afflicted with mutinies and desertions. The want of a regular system of intelligence was another great difficulty, and the army was often taken by surprise by the enemy. The want of a regular system of fortifications was another great difficulty, and the army was often compelled to abandon its positions and retreat before the enemy. The want of a regular system of military engineering was another great difficulty, and the army was often unable to construct adequate fortifications. The want of a regular system of military education was another great difficulty, and the soldiers were often ignorant of the rudiments of military science. The want of a regular system of military medicine was another great difficulty, and the soldiers were often obliged to rely on the inadequate medical supplies and the incompetence of the medical officers. The want of a regular system of military law was another great difficulty, and the soldiers were often subjected to arbitrary and capricious punishment. The want of a regular system of military provisioning was another great difficulty, and the soldiers were often reduced to the necessity of living on foraged provisions. The want of a regular system of military transportation was another great difficulty, and the army was often compelled to rely on the inadequacy of its transportation system. The want of a regular system of military communication was another great difficulty, and the army was often taken by surprise by the enemy. The want of a regular system of military finance was another great difficulty, and the soldiers were often paid in continental currency, which was almost worthless. The want of a regular system of military discipline was another great difficulty, and the army was often afflicted with mutinies and desertions. The want of a regular system of military intelligence was another great difficulty, and the army was often taken by surprise by the enemy. The want of a regular system of military engineering was another great difficulty, and the army was often unable to construct adequate fortifications. The want of a regular system of military education was another great difficulty, and the soldiers were often ignorant of the rudiments of military science. The want of a regular system of military medicine was another great difficulty, and the soldiers were often obliged to rely on the inadequate medical supplies and the incompetence of the medical officers. The want of a regular system of military law was another great difficulty, and the soldiers were often subjected to arbitrary and capricious punishment. The want of a regular system of military provisioning was another great difficulty, and the soldiers were often reduced to the necessity of living on foraged provisions. The want of a regular system of military transportation was another great difficulty, and the army was often compelled to rely on the inadequacy of its transportation system. The want\ned his family; and after the embarrassments of the day, after the toils and fatigues of a battle, we found him stealing a portion of time allotted for rest. Aear visiting meant the most salutarily, for their amelioration, at all times characterized with that economy and frugality which the national resources required.\n\nThe following extracts from his official letters on this subject are worthy of perusal: they do ample justice to his feelings and must make a lasting impression in the hearts of his fellow soldiers:\n\nExtract from a Letter from General Washington to the honorable Congress, dated Cambridge, September 21, \n\n\"It gives me great pain to be obliged to solicit the attention of the honorable Congress to the state of this army, in terms which imply the slightest apprehension of being neglected. But my situation is such that I cannot too earnestly entreat your immediate and favorable consideration of the pressing wants of the army.\"\nIt is inexpressibly distressing to see the winter approaching upon a naked army; the time for their service is within a few weeks expiring, and General George Washington has not yet received a vision for such important events. The military chest is totally exhausted; the pay master has not a single dollar in hand. The commissary-general has exhausted his credit for the army's subsistence. The quarter-master general is in the same situation; and the greatest part of the troops are in a state not far from mutiny, due to the deduction from their stated allowance. I do not know to whom I should impute this failure. I am of the opinion that if the evil is not immediately remedied and punctuality observed in future, the army must absolutely break up. I hoped,\nI have fully expressed myself on this subject, both in my letter and to those members of Congress whom I had the honor of visiting. No appointment could possibly occur, and I therefore expected advice from the paymaster regarding a fresh supply, in addition to the hundred and twenty-two thousand dollars delivered in August. I thought myself warranted to assure the public creditors that in a few days they would be satisfied. However, the delay has brought matters to such a crisis that admits of no further certain expectation. I have therefore sent off this press with orders to make all possible dispatch. It is my most earnest request that it be returned with all possible expedition, unless the honorable Congress has already forwarded what is so dispensably necessary.\n\nI have the honor to be, sir.\nLetter from General Washington, to the President of Congress:\n\nDisagreeable as it is to me, and unpleasing as it may be to Congress, I find myself under the unavoidable necessity of asking for an increase of my aides-de-camp. The augmentation of my command, the increase of my correspondence, the orders to give, the instructions to draw, cut out more business than I am able to execute in time with propriety. The business of so many different departments centering with me and by me to be handed on to Congress for their information; added to the intercourse I am obliged to keep up with the adjacent states; and incidental occurrences; all of which require confidential handling and renders it impossible, in the present state of things, to execute promptly.\nThings, for my family to discharge the several duties expected of me with precision and dispatch. What will it be then when we come into a more active scene, and I am called from twenty different places perhaps at the same instant? \"Congress will do me the justice to believe that it is not my inclination or wish to rule the continent to any unnecessary expense; and, those who better know me will not suspect that I am:\n\nGeorge Washington\n\nSlow and parade can have no influence on my decision in this instance. A conviction of the necessity of it, for the regular discharge of the trust reposed in me, is the governing motive for the application; and, as such, is submitted to Congress\n\nExtract of a Letter from Washington, to the President of Congress\nNe^'YarTi,  Septemher  2,  1776. \n\"  AS  my  intelligence  of  late  has  leen  rather  un- \nfavorable, and  would  be  received  with  anxiety  and \nconcern  ;  peculiarly  happy  should  1  esteem  my- \nself, were  \\t  in  my  power  at  this  time,  to  trans- \nmit such  information  to  Congress  as  would  be  more \npleasing  and  agreeable  to  their  wishes  ;  but,  un- \nfortunately for  me  ;  unfortunately  for  them  ;  it  is \nnot. \n\"  Our  situation  is  truly  distressing.  The  check \nour  detachment  sustained  on  the  twenty-seventh \nultimo,  has  dispirited  too  great  a  proportion  of  our \ntroops,  and  filled  their  minds  with  apprehension \nand  despair.  The  militia,  instead  of  calling  forth \ntheir  utmost  efforts  to  brave  and  manly  opposition \nin  order  to  repair  our  losses,  are  dismayed,  untrae- \ntable,  and  impatient  to  return.  Great  numbers  of \nthem  have  gone  off;  in  some  instance'^,  filmost  by \nSv>  Bicgmpdical  Memoirs  cf \nwhole regiments, by half ones and companies at a time. This circumstance, independent of others, when faced by a well-appointed enemy superior in number to our whole collected force, would be sufficiently disagreeable: but, when their exampleless habit of infection had infected another part of the army, and an entire disregard of the order and subordination necessary to the well-doing of an army, which had been inculcated before, as well as the nature of our military establishment would admit, our condition is still more alarming. I am obliged to confess, with the deepest concern, my want of confidence in the generality of the troops.\n\nAll these circumstances fully confirm the observation.\nI have ever entertained, and which I more than once in my letters took the liberty of mentioning to Congress, that no dependence could be put in a militia, or other troops, than those enlisted and embodied for a longer period than our regulation heretofore has prescribed. I am persuaded, and as fully convinced as I am of any one fact that has happened, that our liberties must of necessity be greatly hazarded if not entirely lost, if this defense is left to any but a permanent standing army; I mean, one to exist during the war. Nor would the expense incident to the support of such a body of troops as would be competent to almost every general exigency, far exceed that which is daily incurred by calling in succour, and new enlistments, when effected, are not attended with any good.\n\nPinion I have ever entertained, and which I more than once in my letters took the liberty of mentioning to Congress, that no dependence could be put in a militia or other troops than those enlisted and embodied for a longer period than our regulation heretofore had prescribed. I am persuaded, and as fully convinced as I am of any one fact that has happened, that our liberties must of necessity be greatly hazarded if not entirely lost, if this defense is left to any but a permanent standing army; I mean, one to exist during the war. Nor would the expense incident to the support of such a body of troops as would be competent to almost every general exigency far exceed that which is daily incurred by calling in succour and new enlistments, when effected, are not attended with any good.\n\nI have ever entertained, and which I more than once in my letters took the liberty of mentioning to Congress, that no dependence could be put in a militia or other troops than those enlisted and embodied for a longer period than our regulation had prescribed. I am persuaded, and as fully convinced as I am of any one fact that has happened, that our liberties must of necessity be greatly hazarded if not entirely lost, if this defense is left to any but a permanent standing army\u2014one to exist during the war. Nor would the expense incident to the support of such a body of troops as would be competent to almost every general exigency far exceed that which is daily incurred by calling in succour and new enlistments, when effected, are not attended with any good.\n\nI have ever entertained, and which I more than once in my letters took the liberty of mentioning to Congress, that no dependence could be put in a militia or other troops than those enlisted and embodied for a longer period than our regulation had prescribed. I am persuaded, and as fully convinced as I am of any one fact that has happened, that our liberties must of necessity be greatly hazarded if not entirely lost, if this defense is left to any but a permanent standing army\u2014one to exist during the war. Nor would the expense incident to the support of such a body of troops as would be competent to almost every general exigency far exceed that which is daily incurred by calling in succour and new enlistments, when effected, are not attended with any good.\n\nI have ever entertained, and which I more than once in my letters took the liberty of mentioning to Congress, that no dependence could be put in a militia or other troops than those enlisted and embodied for a longer period than our regulation had prescribed. I am persuaded, and as fully convinced as I am of any one fact that has happened, that our liberties must of necessity be greatly hazarded if not entirely lost, if this defense is left to any but a permanent standing army\u2014one to exist during the war. Nor would the expense incident to the support of such a body of troops as would be competent to almost every general exigency far exceed that which is daily incurred by calling in succour and new enlistments, when effected.\nConsequences. Men who have been free and subject to no control cannot be reduced to order in an instant. And the privileges and exemptions they claim influence the conduct of others. The aid derived from them is nearly countered by the disorder, irregularity, and confusion the occasion causes. I cannot find that the bounty of ten dollars is likely to produce the desired effect. When men can get double that sum to engage for a month or two in the militia, and that militia frequently called out, it is hardly to be expected. The allotment of land might have a considerable influence on permanent enlistment.\n\nLetter from General Washington To the President of Congress.\nCol. Morris's, on the Heights of Harlem, September\n\nFrom the hours allotted to sleep, I will borrow a few moments to convey my thoughts on\n\"I bring important matters to Congress. I shall offer them with the sincerity that ought to characterize a man of honor and with the freedom which may be used in giving useful information, without incurring the imputation of presumption. We are now, as it were, on the eve of another dissolution of our army. The remembrance of the difficulties that happened last year, the consequences that might have followed the change if proper advantages had been taken by the enemy, added to a knowledge of the present temper and situation of the troops, reflect a gloomy prospect upon the appearances of things now. This satisfies me beyond the possibility of doubt, that unless some speedy and effectual measures are adopted by Congress, our cause will be lost. It is in vain to expect that any or more than\"\nA small part of this army will again engage in service due to Congress' encouragement, as men find that their townsmen and companions are receiving twenty, thirty, and more dollars for a few months' service. This is indeed the case. It cannot be expected without using compulsion; and to force them into the service would serve no valuable purpose. When men are irritated, and their passions inflamed, they fly hastily and cheerfully to arms; but after the first emotions are over, a soldier, reasoned with on the goodness of the cause he is engaged in, and the inestimable rights he is contending for, listens to you with patience and acknowledges the truth of your observations, but adds, \"It is of no more importance to me than hers. The office of General George Washington, 65\"\nYou are replied to with this additional remark: his pay will not sustain him, and he cannot ruin himself and family to serve his country, as every member of the community is equally interested and benefited by his labors. It becomes clearly evident that, as this contest is not likely to be the work of a day - as the war must be carried on systematically - and to do it you must have good officers, there are, in my judgment, no other possible means to obtain them but by establishing your army on a permanent footing and giving your officers good pay. This will induce gentlemen and men of character to engage; and, until the bulk of your officers are composed of such persons as are actuated by principles of honor and a spirit of enterprise, you have little to expect from them. They ought to have\nSuch allowances as will enable them to live like gentlemen. Besides, something is due to the man who puts his life in jeopardy, hazards his health, and forgoes the sweets of domestic enjoyment. Why a captain in the continental service should receive no more than five shillings currency per day for performing the same duties that an officer of the same rank in the British service receives ten shillings sterling for, I never could conceive, especially when the latter is provided with every necessity on the best terms, and the former can scarcely procure them at any rate. There is nothing that gives a man consequence and renders him respectable, like a support that renders him independent of every body but the state he serves.\nWith respect to the men, nothing but a good bounty can obtain them upon a permanent establishment. And for no shorter time than the war, ought they to be engaged, as facts incontestably prove that the difficulty and cost of enlistments increase with time. When the army was first raised at Cambridge, I am persuaded that the men might have been got, without a bounty, for the war. After this, they began to feel that the contest was not likely to end so quickly as was imagined, and to remark that, to get in the militia in the course of the last year, many towns were induced to give them a bounty.\n\nForeseeing the evils resulting from this, and the destructive consequences which unavoidably would follow from short enlistments, I took the liberty in a long letter (date not now recollected) to:\nI. Recommendations for enlistments for the war, which I previously believed were well-founded, have been confirmed by experience. At that time, I would have engaged men for this term for twenty dollars each. But I will not look back, and if this opportunity is missed, I am persuaded that our difficulties will increase. Unlike the freedom of giving it as my opinion, I suggest a good bounty be offered to General George Washington. The offer, aided by at least a hundred or a hundred and fifty acres of land and a suit of clothes and blanket to each non-commissioned officer and soldier; as I have good authority for saying, however high the men's pay may appear, it is barely sufficient in the present scarcity and difficulty.\nThe dearness of all kinds of goods prevents men from keeping clothes and even less from supporting their families. If such encouragement is given to men and officers are paid sufficiently to attract gentlemen of character and liberal sentiments, we would in a little time have an army capable of coping with any that can be opposed to it, as there are excellent materials to form one. But while the only merit an officer possesses is his ability to raise men, and those men consider and treat him as an equal, regarding him no more than a broomstick and being mixed together as one common herd, no order nor discipline can prevail; nor will the officer be able to maintain control.\nEver meet with that respect which is essentially necessary for due subordination. To place any dependence upon militia is assuredly resting on a broken staff\u2014 men just dragged from the tender scenes of domestic life\u2014unaccustomed to the din of arms\u2014totally unacquainted with every kind of military skill. This, being followed by a want of confidence in themselves, when opposed to troops regularly trained, disciplined, and appointed, superior in knowledge and superior in arms, makes them timid and ready to fly from their own shadows. Besides, the sudden change in their manner of living (particularly in the lodging) brings on sickness in many, impatience in all, and such an unconquerable desire of returning to their respective homes, that it not only produces shameful and scandalous desertions but also renders them unfit for military service.\nMen accustomed to unbounded freedom and no control cannot endure the restraint necessary for an army's good order and government. Bringing men to a proper degree of subordination is not a task of a day, a month, or even a year. Unfortunately, the little discipline I have been laboring to establish in the army under my immediate command is being undone by the mixture of troops we have received within these few months.\n\nAre these troops relaxed and unfit for rules and regulations, the necessities of war for an army's government? The militia (properly so-called; for we have these as well)\nTwo sorts, the six-months-men, and those sent in as temporary aid do not consider themselves subordinate to them and therefore take liberties which soldiers are punished for. This creates jealousy and disorder. King George IV's behavior begets dissatisfactions; and these, by degrees, extend into mutiny, keeping the whole army in a confused and disordered state; rendering the situation of those who wish for regularity and good order more unfortunate than words can describe. Besides this, such repeated changes take place that all arrangement is set at naught, and the constant fluctuation of things deranges every plan as fast as adopted.\n\nThese, sir, Congress may be assured, are but a small part of the inconveniences which might be enumerated. But there is one that merits particular attention, and that is the enlistment system itself.\nI am certain that it would be cheaper to keep fifty or one hundred thousand in constant pay, than to depend upon half the number and supply the other half occasionally with militia. The time the latter are in pay before and after they are in camp, assembling and marching; the waste of ammunition, the consumption of stores, which, despite every resolution or requisition of Congress, they must be furnished with or sent home; added to other incidental expenses consequent upon their coming and conduct in camp, exceeds all idea and destroys every kind of regularity and economy which you could establish among fixed and settled troops. The jealousies of a standing army, and the evils to be apprehended from one, are remote.\nWe are not at all to be dreaded, but the consequence of not having one, according to my ideas formed from the present view of things, is certain and inevitable ruin. If I was called upon to declare upon oath whether the militia have been most serviceable or hurtful on the whole, I should subscribe to the latter. I do not mean by this to arraign the conduct of Congress in doing so, I would equally condemn my own measures if I did not my judgment. But experience, which is the best criterion to work by, so fully, early, and decisively reprobates the practice of trusting to militia, that no man who values order, regularity, and economy, or who has any regard to his own honor, character, or peace of mind, will risk them on this issue.\nAn army formed of good officers moves like clock-work; but there is no situation on earth less enviable nor more distressing than that of the person at the head of troops who are regardless of order and discipline, and who are unprovided with almost every necessity. In a word, the difficulties which have surrounded me since I have been in the service, and kept my mind constantly on the stretch -- the wounds which my feelings (as an officer) have received from a thousand things which have happened contrary to my expectation and wishes, -- added to a consciousness of my inability to govern an army composed of such discordant parts, and under such a variety of intricate and perplexing circumstances -- not only a belief, but a thorough conviction in my mind,\n\n(General George Washington)\nGeneral Washington's Letter to the Committee of Congress\nCamp at the Clove, July 10, 1776\n\nGentlemen,\n\nThe short notice I had of your coming in the army and the brevity of your stay in camp will more than likely cause the omission of many matters which ought to be laid before you.\n\nThat it will be impossible (unless there is a thorough change in our military system) for me to conduct affairs in such a manner as to give satisfaction to the public, which is all the recompense I aim at or ever wished for.\n\nBefore I begin, I must apologize for the liberties taken in this letter and for the blots and scratchings, not having had time to give it more correctly. With truth I assure you, that with every sentiment of respect and esteem, I am yours,\n\nIrwin of the Congress\n\nLetter from General Washington\nTo the Committee of Congress\non a visit to the Camp,\nCamp at the Clove, July 10, 1776.\nYou and the interruptions that constantly interrupt my thoughts must apologize for the crude and indigested manner in which they are offered. The completion of the continental regiment is a matter of such immense importance that I mean to leave no stone unturned to accomplish it. Drafting, where the powers of government are adequate, would be the most steady and effective means, but if it should be deemed unadvisable to attempt this mode, I would recommend that the business of recruiting should be taken entirely out of the hands of the army officers, and that each state should appoint some person of known activity - for instance, one who has been a good undersheriff - in each county or township, not only to recruit, but to apprehend.\ndeserters: these persons to be liberally rewarded for each recruit and deserter they deliver, at stated periods and places, to officers appointed to receive, discipline, and march them to the army; none of these recruiters to have the smallest power to act outside of their own districts, but to be absolutely fixed to them.\n\nA mode of this kind would, in my humble opinion, be less burdensome to the public than the present; prevent the idle habits which recruiting officers contract, not only injurious to themselves, but to others; the most effective means which can be devised for the recovery of deserters; the surest way of keeping your regiments of equal strength, and of making the duty more equal in the detail; in a word, many valuable advantages would result from it, while I can suggest but one reason.\nAgainst it; and that, (fully satisfied I am), when weighed in the scale of interest, will not operate: General George Jrashwsgte, VI\nI mean, the keeping so many officers in the camp,\nwho might be spared from the duties of the field\ntill the regiments are stronger than at present.\nThe sixteen additional regiments labor under such disadvantages in some states, as to render the intervention of Congress, in some shape or other, necessary.\n\"With respect to food, considering we are in such an extensive and abundant country, no army was ever worse supplied than ours, with many essential articles of it. Our soldiers, the greatest part of last campaign and the whole of this, have scarcely tasted any kind of vegetables, had but little salt; and vinegar which would have been a tolerable substitute for vegetables, they have been deprived.\nStrangers to proper drink; beer or cider seldom within camp, and rum in too small quantities. Consuming large quantities of animal food, untempered by vegetables or vinegar, or any kind of drink but water, and eating indifferent bread, are causes of the many putrid diseases in the army and the lamentable mortality during the last campaign. If these evils can be remedied, the expense and trouble ought not to be obstacles. Though some kinds of vegetables are not available, others are, which, together with sour crout and vinegar, might easily be had if proper persons were employed to acquire them.\n\nAnother article in great demand is soap.\nThe continental allowance is too small; and, as every necessary article of life is now obtained, a soldier's pay of \\$1 is not sufficient for him to purchase. By this means, his consequent dirtiness adds not a little to the hardships of the army. I have no reason to accuse the clothing general of neglect; but, therefore, as his supplies are inadequate to the needs of the army, ought not each state then to be called upon to draw such supplies from the country - manufactories, as can be afforded? Particularly shoes, stockings, shirts, and blankets, articles indispensably necessary, and of which scarcely too many can be provided - in the meantime, every provision to be making for clothing the troops uniformly and warm in the winter. It is a maxim that\nNothing can be more important in an army than the clothing and feeding of its soldiers. On these the health, comfort, and spirits essentially depend. It is a melancholy fact that the American army is miserably defective in both these respects. The distress most soldiers are in for want of clothing is painful to humanity, dispiriting to themselves, and discouraging to every officer. It makes every pretension to preserving cleanliness impossible, exposes them to a variety of disorders, and abates or destroys that military pride without which nothing can be expected from any army.\n\nThe consequence of giving rank indiscriminately is great dissatisfaction that has already arisen on account of bestowing this on officers.\n\nGeneral George Washington\nOfficers in the civil departments of the army, on the inferior staff, such as wagon-masters, are excluded from it in all well-regulated armies. The great liberality practiced in this respect will destroy the pride of rank where it ought to exist, and not only render it cheap, but contemptible. It is the policy of armies to make it valued and respected, as a stimulus to emulation and an incentive to bold and jolly undertakings; it must therefore be very unadviseable in our infant state of war to adopt Hovel customs to bring it into discredit. This must and will be the consequence of making it too common, besides the disgust it creates in others.\n\nAn auditor of accounts, to be constantly with the army, is absolutely required. It is absolutely required.\nIt is impossible for me, crowded as I am with other business, to examine and adjust the numerous complex accounts of the army with the correctness the public have a right to expect, before warrants pass for payment. The provisions for making regimental accounts are altogether incompetent for the proposed task; for these men, being generally agreeable to the recommendation of the regimental officers they belong to, and associating constantly with the officers of their corps, cannot be considered as sufficiently impartial. Authors are not at a sufficient distance from the army, as it would require an unreasonable delay to attend to it.\nsend accounts to Tilium to audit before they were paid and received in consequence of warrants from, the commander in chief of the army.\n\nA good surveyor, to, survey the roads and take sketches of the country where the army is to act, would be extremely useful, and might be attended with exceeding Alaluable consequences. He might with propriety leave the chief direction of the bridges, and must have a head to procure, govern, and pay them. If such a person should be approved, I would beg leave to recommend Mr. Robert Krskine; who is thoroughly skilled in this business, has already assisted us in making maps of the country, and has (as I am informed) uniformly supported the character of a fast friend to America.\n\nA small traveling press, to follow headquarters, would be productive of many eminent advantages.\nIt would enable us to provide swift and accurate information about military transactions, with proper comments, thereby frustrating the deceptive tendency of falsehood and misrepresentation, which, in my opinion, are the main causes of confusion. If the people had a channel of intelligence, like General Gage's loyalty and sincerity towards us, they could look up to it with confidence. They would often be preserved from the temptation which they are apt to fall into, from the exaggerated pictures our enemies and their emissaries among us commonly draw of any misfortunes we meet with \u2014 and from that distrust of truthfulness they might naturally feel from the frequent deception they are exposed to.\nextravagant colorings our friends often give to our successes. It would also be very useful to dispatch business in camp, being the most expeditious means of taking care of orders or other matters that require dispatch, and would save a good deal in returns and other papers we are often obliged to get printed in Philadelphia. An ingenious man to accompany this expedition, aid be employed, might render it significantly beneficial.\n\nI am exceedingly concerned how to dispose of the French officers in general, but more especially the artillery officers, who have come out under the sanction of a compact. I can think of no other way than to form a separate corps of them, drawing men from the whole army to compose that corps. But even this will be attended with difficulties.\nWith many disagreeable circumstances, this is not the first time officers have thought themselves much injured by leaving the men they have commanded and given to others. There is something discouraging and breaks the spirit of a good soldier. A doubt has arisen whether a person who belongs to any of the United States of America and who owed allegiance to any of the said states, went to the enemy some time past, and since then has been lurking about any of their fortifications or encampments, plundering and driving off cattle to the enemy, recruiting for them, or committing any other atrocious crime.\nIs an officer in the enemy's army \u2014 can he be tried by a court-martial, under the resolution of the Congress of the twenty-first of August, 1776. I have the honor to be,\n\nCorrespondence between General Washington and General Greene, referring to the bad treatment of prisoners.\n\nLittlehales July 15, his Excellency General Haighthorne to General Greene,\n\nCambridge, Massachusetts Bay, 1775. \" I understood that the officers, engaged in the cause of liberty and their country, who, by the fortunes of war, have been forced into your hands, have been thrown indiscriminately into a common jail.\n\nGeorge Washington\n\nappropriated for felons\u2014 that some consideration has been made for those of the most respectable rank, when languishing with wounds and sickness \u2014 that some of them have been amputated in this unwarrantable situation.\nLet your opinion, sir, of those principles which actuate them, be what it may, they suppose they act from the noblest of principles, a love of country and us. But political opinions are foreign to this point. The objections arising from the right of humanity and claims of rank are universally binding and extensive, except in the case of retaliation. These, I should have hoped, would have dictated a more tender treatment of those individuals, whom chance or war had put in your power. Nor can I forbear suggesting its fatal tendency to widen that unhappy breach, which you, and those ministers under you, have repeatedly decided you wish to see forever closed.\n\nMy duty now makes it necessary to approve you, that for the future, I shall regulate my conduct towards those gentlemen of your army, who...\nIf those in our possession are treated according to the rule you observe towards ours who may be in custody, if severity and hardship mark the conduct of your prisoners, painful as it may be for them to endure it; but if kindness and humanity are shown to ours, I shall, with pleasure, consider those in my care only as unwilling.\n\nBoston, Bechtelar, 13, 1755.\n\nBy the history of civilized nations, humanity and war have been compatible; and commission to the subdued has become almost a general system.\n\nAnswer.\nBaton Rouge, 13th, 1755.\nBritons, ever intent on mercy, have outgone examples, and overlooked the criminal in the captive. Upon these principles, your prisoners, whose lives are by the laws of the land, are destined to the cord, have hitherto been treated with care and kindness, and more comfortably quartered than the king's troops, indiscriminately. It is true, for I acknowledge no rank that is not derived from the king.\n\nMy intelligence from your army would justify severe reprisals. I understand there are some of the king's faithful subjects, taken some time since among the rebels, lying like Segro's slaves, to gain their freedom, or received by the General George Washington. They were moved and perished by famine, want, and conspiracy. This, indeed.\nYou have made the treatment of the prisoners in your hands, or of other freemen in Hostia, a disgrace. \" I wish, Sir, that the sentiments of liberality which I have always believed you to possess, will be exerted to correct their misdoings. Be temperate in political disquisitions; give them opportunity to rectify; and not only the effects, but the causes of this unhappy conflict will be removed. \" Should those, under your protection, commit such acts, counteract such a disposition and call for severity, let the appeal be to God. We know all liars, be the appeal for the dreadful consequences. I trust, that British soldiers, violating the rights of the state, the laws of the land, and the being of the constitution, will be brought to justice.\nI had received your letter of the 15th instante, in which you addressed me on matters that gave the fairest scope for the exercise of my patience. I met all events with becoming fortitude. I will ind the patience of martyrs under misfortune. Till now I had received your insinuations in regard to ministers, I had believed that J acted under the king; whose wishes, it is true, as well as those of every honest man, have been to see this unhappy breach forever closed. However, since the present crisis was projected, and those influencing the councils of America have views very distant from accommodation, I am, sir, your obedient, humble servant, Thomas Gage.\n\nGeorge Washington, Esq.\n\nReply.\nI had addressed you on the 15th instant, in matters which gave the fairest scope for the exercise of your patience.\n\nI had met all events with becoming fortitude. I will find the patience of martyrs under misfortune. Till now I had received your insinuations in regard to ministers, I had believed that J acted under the king; whose wishes, it is true, as well as those of every honest man, have been to see this unhappy breach forever closed. However, since the present crisis was projected, and those influencing the councils of America have views very distant from accommodation. I am, sir,\n\nYour obedient, humble servant,\nThomas Gage.\n\nGeorge Washington, Esq.\nI have cleaned the text as follows:\n\nOf that humanity and politeness, which were supposed to form a part of your character, I reminded you concerning the unworthy treatment shown to the officers and citizens of America. Whether British or American mercy, fortitude and patience are most preeminent\u2014whether our virtuous citizens, whom the hand of tyranny has forced into arms to defend their wives, their children, and their property, or the mercenary instruments of lawless domination, avarice and revenge, best deserve the appellation of rebels and the punishment of that cord, which your affected clemency has forborne to inflict\u2014whether the authority under which I act is usurped or founded on the genuine principles of liberty.\n\nGeneral George Washington\nI have carefully avoided political discussion and will not now utilize the advantages afforded by my country, liberty, and human nature over you. I will not retort with invective. However, the intelligence you claimed to have received from our army necessitates a response. I have taken the time to conduct a thorough investigation and find that it holds no basis in truth. Your officers and soldiers have not treated our fellow citizens and brethren with the required tenderness. Even those heinous councils and their allies, who have drenched their country in blood, have been shielded from the fury of an enraged people. Far from compelling or permitting their assistance, I am overwhelmed by the number who flock to our camp, animating it.\nI with the purest principles of virtue and love of our colony. You advise me to give free reception to truth; to punish misrepresentation and falsehood. If experience stamps value upon counsel, then yours must have a weight which few can claim. You best can tell how far this convulsion, which has brought such ruin on both countries and shaken the mighty empire of Britain to its foundation, may be traced to these malignant causes.\n\nYou affect, sir, to despise all rank not derived from the same source as your own. I cannot conceive one more unbe becoming, than that which flows from the uncorrupted choice of a brave and free people, the purest source and original fountain of all power. Far from making it a plea for cruelty, a mind of true magnanimity and enlarged ideas would comprehend and respect it.\nWhat may have been the minor view, which have precipitated the present crisis, Lexington, Concord, and Carlestown, can best declare. May that God, to whom you then appealed, judge between America and you. Under his providence, those who influence the councils of America, and all the other inhabitants of the United States in concert, at the hazard of their lives, are determined to hand down to posterity, those just and invaluable privileges which they received from their ancestors. I shall now close my correspondence with you, sir, perhaps for ever. If your officers, our prisoners, receive a treaty from me, dwelling upon what I wished to show them, they and you will remember the occasion.\n\nYour very humble servant,\nG. Washington\nGeneral Gage.\nMcCnal Gc rge Washington. 85\n\nThe preceding letters will ever convey to the reader\nThe world was an efficient testimony of Allen's and General Washington's allocation and care for the soldiers under his command. His official letters were uniformly characterized by tender and sympathetic pictures, which the appearance of real want in others impressed on his lively and feeling mind, and was the best calculated to rouse in Congress a sense of the sufferings of those who were establishing their country's independence. Observe the extreme modesty he assumes when he requests for himself, even an aide-de-camp; contrast it with the freedom with which he expresses his opinions on other subjects regarding the comfort of his fellow soldiers.\nThe manly language in which he addresses General Gage, for his ill treatment of those whom the misfortune of war placed under his power. Then we behold the citizen \u2014 the General. To those ungrateful few, who, stimulated by riches, have heretofore attempted to sully his honor and military reputation, and to impress upon the public mind the ungenerous idea that he was instrumental to the shedding of innocent blood and inflicting wanton cruelty upon the prisoners of the enemy, we recommend a perusal of his letters to Congress on that subject; there they will find him combating the idea with the language of reason and condemning the inhuman practice. Historians of the American war have uniformly represented the case of Major Andre as an example of innate treachery on the part of America.\nGeneral Washington sacrificed his feelings, to the necessities of unyielding justice. The sentence was pronounced with hesitation, and, at its execution, he was seen to shed tears. Nor is it necessary for us to remind them of his fortitude to endure threats, or his virtue to scorn the bribes of the emissaries of the British Cabinet. One uniform principle of prudence and wisdom seemed to guide even his inaction throughout his life.\n\nWhen General Washington received the joyful intelligence of peace, he expressed himself to the army who had accompanied him through the dangers, toils, and difficulties of this glorious struggle, in the following address:\n\nORDERS\nIssued by General Washington to the army, April 18, 1783,\n\nThe Commander in Chief orders the cessation of hostilities.\nof hostilities between the United States of America and the King of Great-Britain, to be publicly proclaimed tomorrow at twelve o'clock, at the new building; and that the proclamation, which will be communicated hereafter, be read to-morrow. (General George Washington, et cetera, leading at the head of every regiment and corps of the army; alter which the chaplains, with the several brigades, will render thanks to the Almighty God for all his mercies, particularly for his overruling the wrath of man to his own glory, and causing the rage of war to cease among nations.\n\nAfter the proclamation, previously alluded to, extends only to the prohibition of hostilities. And it is worthy of the most rational and sincere satisfaction to every benevolent mind, as it puts a period to:\n\n(Note: The text appears to be incomplete and may require further context to fully understand its meaning.)\nTo a long-doubted contest, stops the effusion of human blood, opens the prospect to a more splendid scene, and, like another morning star, promises the approach of brighter days than have hitherto been indicated in the Western Hemisphere. On such a happy day, which is the harbinger of peace, a day which completes the eighth year of the war, it would be ingratitude not to rejoice; it would be insensibility not to participate in the general felicity.\n\nThe Commander in Chief, far from endeavoring to stifle the feelings of joy in his own bosom, overs his most cordial congratulations on the occasion to all the officers of every denomination; to all the troops of the United States in general; and, in particular, to those gallant and persevering men who had resolved to defend the rights of their country.\nvaded the country as long as the war should continue. These are the men who ought to be considered the pride and boast of the American army. Thirty-six Biographical Sketches of\n\nVan Buren, crowned with well-earned laurels, may soon withdraw from the field of glory to the more tranquil walks of civil life. While the Commander-in-Chief recollects the closest infinite variety of scenes through which we have passed, with a mixture of pleasure, astonishment, and gratitude; while he contemplates the prospect before us, rapture, he cannot help but wish that all the brave men, of whatever condition they may be, who have shared the toils and dangers of effecting this glorious revolution; of rescuing millions from the hand of oppression, and of laying the foundation of a great empire, might be impressed with a prophetic view of the blessings which are to spring from their exertions.\nThe idea of the dignified part they have been called:\nto act, under the smile of Providence, on the stage of human affairs; for happy, thrice happy I hail\nthey be pronounced hereafter, who have contributed anything, who have performed the merciful office\nin erecting this stupendous fabric of God and Emperor, on the broad basis of independence.\nThey have assisted in protecting the rights of human nature, and established an asylum for their poor and oppressed of all nations and religions.\n\nThe glorious task for which we first drew arms being accomplished\u2014the liberties of our country being full, acknowledged and firmly secured\u2014\nby the smiles of Heaven on the purity of our cause, and the honest exertions of a feeble, determined people to be free, against a powerful nation disposed.\nEl to oppress them; and the character of those who have persevered through every extremity remains but for the actors of this necessity to preserve a perfect, unvarying consistency of character through the very last act. To lose the drama with applause; and to retire from the military theatre with the same approbation of angels and men which have crowned all their virtuous actions. For this purpose, no disorder or centiousness must be tolerated. Ever considerate and well-disposed soldier must remember it will be absolutely necessary to wait with patience until peace shall be declared, or Congress hall be enabled to take proper measures for the settlement.\nThe General is confident that once arrangements are made for the public stores, there will be no delay in discharging all men limited for the war, each one of whom will then have faithfully performed their engagements with the public. The General has already shown interest in their welfare and believes he need not repeat his disposition to be useful to them on present and every other proper occasion. In the meantime, he is determined that no military offenses or excesses will go unpunished while he commands the army.\n\nThe Adjutant-General will have such work parties detached to assist in making preparations for a general rejoicing as the chief engineer with the army shall call for; and the Quartermaster will provide information for them.\nThe Master-General will without delay print such a number of discharges as will be sufficient for all the men enlisted for the war. He is requested to apply to headquarters for the form. An extra ration of liquor will be issued to every man tomorrow to drink. \"Perpetual Peace and Happiness to the United States of America.\"\n\nThe following resolutions were passed by Congress on August 7, 1783:\n\nBY THE UNITED STATES IN CONGRESS ASSEMBLED,\n\nResolved, that a statue of General Washington be erected at the place where the residence of Congress shall be established;\n\nResolved, that the statue be of bronze, the General to be represented in a Roman dress, holding a truncheon in his right hand, and his head bare.\nencircled in a laurel wreath; the statue to be supported by a marble pedestal, on which to be represented, in basso relievo, the following events of the war: The Evacuation of Boston \u2013 The Capture of the Hessians at Trenton \u2013 The Cattle of Princeton \u2013 the attack on Valcour Island \u2013 and the surrender of York. On the upper part of the front of the pedestal to be engraved: \"The United States in Congress offered this statue to be erected in the year of our Lord, 1783, in honor of George Washington, the illustrious commander-in-chief of the armies of the United States of America during the war, which vindicated and secured their liberty, sovereignty and independence.\"\nAbove plan, to be executed by the BCBT artist in En rope, under the superintendence of the Minister of the United States at the Court of Versailles, and money to defray the expense of the game be furnished from the Treasury of the United States.\n\n\"RfS'ihrcfc, The Secretary of Congress transmit to the Minister of the United States at the Court of Versailles the best resemblance of General Washington that can be procured, for the purpose of having the above statute erected, together with the itty-bit description of the events which are to be the subject of the basso rehearsal.\n\nOn the 26th of August, 1783, General Washington, at the request of Congress, proceeded to Princeton, where the Congress was then sitting, and being introduced by two members, the President sent him the following address, \"\n\nCongress feels particular pleasure in seeing\nGeneral Washington.\nYour Excellency, and in congratulating you on the successful completion of a war in which you have played a conspicuous part; it has been the singular happiness of the United States, that during a war so long, so dangerous and so important, Providence has been graciously pleased to preserve the life of a general, who has merited and possessed the uninterrupted confidence and affection of his fellow citizens. In other nations, many have performed services for which they have deserved and received the thanks of the public; but to you, sir, peculiar praise is due: your services have been essential in acquiring and establishing the freedom and independence of your country; they deserve the grateful acknowledgment of a free and independent nation; those acknowledgments Congress have the satisfaction of making.\nYour Excellency,\nHostilities have now ceased, but your country still needs your services. The lady wishes to avail herself of your talents in forming the arrangements which will be necessary for her in the time of peace. For this reason, your attendance at Congress has been requested. A committee is appointed to confer with your Excellency and to receive your assistance in preparing and adjusting plans relative to those important objects.\nGeorge Washington\nTo your Excellency, Sir:\nREPLY\nMy dear Sir,\nI am too sensible of the honorable reception I have now experienced, not to be deeply grateful.\nCongress does not appear to estimate the value of my life beyond any services I have been able to render the United States, yet I am unwilling to withdraw from the scene before the completion of what I have been pleased to consider as a duty to my country.\nI am permitted to consider the wisdom and unity of our national councils, the firmness of citizens, and the patience and bravery of our troops, which have produced such a happy termination of the war, as the most convincing effect of the Divine interposition, and the surest presage of our future happiness. I am highly satisfied by the favorable sentiments of Congress, which are pleased to express their approbation of my conduct, and am amply rewarded by the confidence and affection of my fellow citizens. I cannot lie idle, but will contribute my best endeavors towards the establishment of the national unity, in whatever manner the sovereign power may think proper to direct, until the ratification of the definitive treaty or the final evacuation of our country by the British forces--after which events I shall.\nshall ask permissions to retire to the peaceful shade of private life.\nPfifferia^)ijj's sorrow, no occasion iiyay offer aid to the Btogrical Aleiculars, at least, than the present, to express my humble thanks to God, and my grateful acknowledgements to my country, for the great and immeasurable support I have received in every vicissitude of fortune, and for the many distinguished honors which Congress have been pleased to confer upon me in the course of the war.\nAfter the final conclusion of the peace in 1783, a proclamation was issued by Congress, October 8th, directing the discharge of the army: hereupon General Washington, before he resigned his important charge, delivered the following elegant and patriotic farewell address to the officers and soldiers, under his command:\n\nGeneral Washington's farewell orders\nTo the Armies of the United States,\n\nThe United States in Congress assembled, after giving the most honorable thanks to the federal armies, and presenting them with two thanks of their country for their long, eminent, and faithful services \u2014 having, by their proclamation, discharged such part of the troops as were engaged for the war, and permitted the officers on furlough to retire from service, from and after tomorrow, which proclamation having been communicated in the public papers for the information of all concerned; it only remains for the commander-in-chief, General George Washington, to express his desire once more to address himself to the armies of the United States (however widely dispersed the individuals who composed them may be).\nbefore the commander-in-chief takes his leave of those he holds most dear, he wishes to enjoy a few moments in reviewing the past. He takes the liberty of exploring, with his military friend, their future prospects; of advising the general line of conduct which, in his opinion, ought to be pursued; and he will conclude the address, by expressing the obligations he feels himself under for the able and unwavering assistance he received from them, in the performance of an arduous task. A contemplation of the complete achievement, at a period earlier than could have been expected, of the object for which we convened, against a formidable power, cannot but inspire us with astonishment and gratitude. The disadvantages\nThe circumstances under which the war was undertaken on our part cannot be forgotten. The intervening actions of Providence were such as could scarcely escape the attention of the most observant, while the united efforts of the adversaries presented a spectacle of suffering and hardship for the space of eight long years, little short of a blending miracle. It is not meaningful, nor within the compass of this address, to detail the hardships peculiar to our service, or to describe the distresses which, in several instances, have resulted from the extremes of hunger and cold, combined with the rigors of an inclement season. Nor is it necessary to dwell on the dark side of our past affairs.\nEvery American officer and soldier must now console himself for any unpleasant circumstances which may have occurred and the astonishing events of which he has been a witness. These events, which have seldom, if ever, taken place before on the stage of human action, cannot probably ever happen again. For who has seen a naked army formed at once from such raw materials? Who that was not a witness could imagine that the most violent local prejudices would cease soon, and that men who came from the different parts of the continent strongly disposed, by the habits of education, to despise and quarrel with each other, would instantly become one patriotic band of brothers?\nIt is universally acknowledged that the enlarged prospects of happiness, opened by the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty under General Ceorye IVashhigiojt, exceed the power of description. And not even the bravest men who have contributed significantly to these inestimable acquisitions retire victorious from the field of war to the field of agriculture, participating in all the blessings which have been obtained. In such a republic, who would exclude them from the rights of citizens and the fruits of their labors? In such a country, so happily circumstanced, the pursuits of commerce and the cultivation of the soil will unfold to industry the certain road to comfort.\nTo those hardy soldiers, who are acted by the spirit of adventure, the fisheries of Afghanistan offer ample and profitable employment. And the extensive and fertile regions of the west yield a most happy existence to those, who, fond of domestic enjoyment, or seeking for personal independence. Nor is it possible to conceive that any one of the United States will prefer a national bankruptcy, and a dissolution of the union, to a compliance with the requirements of Cornelius and the payment of its just debts. So that the officers and soldiers may expect considerable assistance, in recommencing their civil occupations, since the sums due to them from the public, which must and will most inevitably be paid.\n\nIn order to effect this desirable purpose, and to remove the prejudices which may have taken position,\n\n(Note: The text appears to be written in old English, but it is still largely readable and does not require extensive translation. Therefore, no major cleaning is necessary. A few minor corrections have been made for clarity.)\nsession of the mids of any of the good people of the states, it is earnestly recommended to all the monarchs; that, with strong determination to the throne, they should carry with them into civil society the most commendable dispositions; and that they should prove themselves not less virtuous and wise than they have been persevering and vigorous as soldiers. With though there should be some envious individuals, who are unwilling to pay the debt the public has contracted, or to yield the tribute due to merit, yet let such unworthy treatment produce no invective, or any instance of injurious conduct\u2014 let it be remembered, that the Unbiased voice of the free citizens of the United States has promised the just reward, and given the merited applause.\nBeyond the reach of malevolence, the reputation of the federal armies is established, and a consciousness of their achievements and fame still incites the men who composed them. Honorable actions, under the persuasion that the virtues of economy, prudence, and industry will not be amiable in civil life, are preferred to the more splendid qualities of valor, perseverance, and enterprise, in the field. Every one may be assured that much of the future happiness of the officers and men will depend upon the wise and manly conduct which they adopt when they are mixed with the great body of the community. Despite the general's frequent expression, in most public and explicit manner, that the principle of the federal government was proprietary.\nCry supported, and the powers of the union in Geateral (George Washington) were read, the honor, dignity, and justice of the nation would be lost forever; yet he cannot help repeating on this occasion so interesting a sentiment, and leaving it as his last injunction to every officer and soldier, who may view the subject in the same serious point of light, to add his best efforts, to those of his worthy fellow citizens, towards eradicating these great and dangerous jurisprudential errors, on which our very existence as a nation so maliciously depends.\n\nThe commander-in-chief conceives little is now wanting to enable the soldier to change his military character into that of the citizen, but that steady and decent tenor of behavior, which has generally distinguished, not only the army under his immediate command, but the different detachments.\nsoldiers and separate armies, through the course of the war. From their good sense and prudence, he anticipates the happiest consequence. And while he congratulates them on the glorious occasion which renders their services in the field no longer necessary, he wishes to express the strong obligations he feels towards them, for the assistance he has received from every class and in every instance. He presents his thanks in the most serious and affectionate manner to the general officers, for their counsel on many interesting occasions and for their ardor in promoting the success of the plans he had adopted; to the commandants of regiments and corps, and to other officers, for their great zeal and attention in carrying out his orders promptly. To the staff, for their invaluable assistance. (From \"Topographical Memoirs of Ancient India, Volume III\")\nalacrity and exactness in performing the duty: of their several departments; and to the non-commissioned officers and private soldiers, for their extraordinary patience in suffering as well as their invincible fortitude in action; to the various branches of the army, the general takes this last and solemn opportunity of professing his inviolable attachment and friendship. He wishes more than bare professions were in his power, that he was really able to be useful to them all in future life. HQ flatters itself, they will do him the justice to believe, that whatever could with propriety be attempted by him, has been done. And being now to conclude these historic public orders, to take his ultimate leave, in a short time, of the military character\u2014 and to bid a final adieu to the armies he has so long had the honour to command.\nGeneral George Washington:\n\nAgain, I offer, on their behalf, my recommenderis to their grateful country, and my prayers to the God of armies. May ample justice be done them here, and may the choicest of Heaven's favors, both here and hereafter, attend those who, under the Divine auspices, have secured innumerable blessings for others! With these wishes, and this benediction, the commander in chief is about to retire from service. The curtain of separation will soon be drawn \u2014 and the military scene to him will be closed for ever,\n\nOfficers of the army remaining on the banks of the Hudson,\n\nTo the preceding address, the officers of the part of the army responded with a suitable answer; they thanked the commander in chief for the communication of his affectionate assurances of his inviolable attachment.\nand their friendship; they assured his Excellency this, although his endeavors to ensure the armies the just reward of their services had failed. They were convinced that it had arisen from causes not in his power, and should he contemplate measures never be attained, their patriotism should still remain unshaken. They were happy in the opportunity of congratulating his Excellency on the certain conclusion of peace, assuring him that, relieved at last from long suspense, their warmest wish was to return to the bosom of their country, resume the character of citizens, and that it should be their highest ambition to become useful ones. To his Excellency they were convinced that this great event must be particularly pleasing, because, while at the head of affairs,\nthe armies, urged by patriotic virtues and magnanimity, he persevered, under the pressure of every possible difficulty and discouragement, in the pursuit of the great objects of the war - independence and safety of his country; his heart panted for the tranquil rewards of peace. They concluded with sincere prayers to God, long to bestow happiness on their commander, and that when he quits the stage of human life, he may receive from the political leaders of New York and Jersey, the rewards of valor exerted, to save the oppressed, of patriotism and disinterested virtue.\n\nOn the 25th of November, 1814, New York was called upon by the British army; same day the American troops marched in, and took possession of the city; after which General Washington and the governor made their public entry.\n\"The entire conduct of the march and the tranquility which succeeded it, through the day and night, was admired, and the grateful citizens, feeling the most affectionate impressions from the elegant and enjoyable disposition which prevailed throughout the whole event, on their returning from exile, addressed his excellency the commissioner on their behalf and that of their wives, brethren, looking up to him with unusual joy: they welcomed him to the city, long torn from them by the hand of oppression, but which by his wisdom, under the guise of Providence, had again been rendered the seat of peace and freedom: they assured him that their gratitude for his services and respect for his character would endure, and required him to accept.\"\n\"Before General Washington's departure from New York on the outskirts of December, the principal officers of the army then in the city assembled at Frances' tavern to take a final leave of their commander and his loved ones. The passions of human nature were never more tense in this intriguing scene. His Excellency, having filled a glass of wine, thus addressed his brave soldiers:\n\n\"It is a hero's full of courage and civility, I believe, I devoutly wish that your latiries may never tire.\"\"\nThe words produced extremes in sensitivity on both sides: they were answered by warm expressions and fervent wishes from the gentlemen of the army, whose truly pathetic feelings, it is not in your power to convey to the reader. Soon after this scene was closed, the Governor, council and citizens of the first district waited on the General, and in terms most affective, took their leave. The corps of Light Infantry drew up in a line, and the Commander in Chief passed through them on his way to the bite hall. Here he embarked in his barge for Philadelphias, from whence he made a short stay. There he delivered to the Comptroller of the public Treasury an account of\nThe expenditure of all the public money which he had received during the war; by this the whole sum which had passed through his hands only amounted to fourteen thousand pounds, one hundred and seventy-three pounds, seventeen shillings and fourpence, about sixty-four thousand and three hundred and twenty dollars, nearly one hundred and fifty dollars per week.\n\nFrom Philadelphia, he proceeded to Annapolis where the Congress was then fitting, and having obtained leave, he terminated his military career and resigned his commission on the 23rd of December. Upon this occasion, he delivered the following short and pathetic address:\n\nGeneral Washington's Address\nTo the Congress at the Regulation of his Commission,\n\"Mr. President,\nTHE great events on which the fate of this country depends, should not be concealed from you. They are known to you, and you are about to deliberate on a measure, which, in all human probability, will have a very material influence on the event. A resolution is before you, which, far from being a matter of speculation, seems to be recommended by the most authentic intelligence. It is reported, and I believe it is true on good authority, that a fleet of British ships, of considerable force, is sailing up the Chesapeake, under the command of Lord Cornwallis. This fleet, it is said, is in pursuit of an army under the command of General Cornwallis, which has been defeated near Yorktown, and which, if not succored, must inevitably be destroyed.\n\nIt is recommended to your wisdoms to take into consideration, whether, under the present circumstances, it would not be proper to grant the requisition of the Continental Army, for the service of one year. I do not think myself justified in addressing you on this occasion, had I not most sincere confidence in your patriotism, and affection to this country. Nor should I presume to trouble you with a representation of the importance of the service, which I hope is too obvious to require a proof. I have only to add, that I consider it with the greatest sincerity, as one of the greatest obligations of my life, that the Congress hath thought proper to honor me with this important trust, for the space of eight years. I have now the satisfaction to see the army, under the protection of the very government, which it has been the object of its labors to defend. I am well aware, that it is incumbent on every man, to whom his country makes such a large and generous provision, to pay a proportionable account of his services. I have endeavored, in the discharge of my duty, to deserve your approbation, and I shall, with the same view, continue to endeavor, to merit your favor, and to devote my utmost exertions to the preservation of the common cause. I am, with the most profound respect, your most obedient and humble servant,\n\nGO: Washington\"\nI. Having taken place for some time, I now offer my sincere congratulations to Congress and present myself to surrender the trust committed to me, and to claim the indulgence of retiring from the service of my country. I am happy in the confirmation of our independence and sovereignty, and pleased with the opportunity afforded the United States to become a respectable nation. I resign, with satisfaction, the point I accepted with diffidence, a diffidence in my abilities to accomplish so arduous a task, which, however, was urged on by a confidence in the rectitude of our cause, the support of General George Washington, the supreme power of the union, and the patronage of heaven.\n\nThe successful termination of the war has verified the most sanguine expectations; and my hope is that, under the guidance of wisdom and virtue, we shall continue to merit and secure the blessings of peace and liberty.\nI am unable to output the entire cleaned text directly here due to character limitations. However, I can provide you with the cleaned text as follows:\n\n\"gratitude for the interposition of Providence and the assistance I have received from my country-men increases with every review of the momentous circumstances. While I repeat my obligations to the army in general, I should do injustice to my feelings not to acknowledge, in this place, the peculiar services and distinguished merit of the gentlemen who have been attached to my person during the war. It was impossible for the choice of confidential officers to compose my family should be more fortunate; permit me, sir, to recognize in particular those who have continued in the service to the present moment, as worthy of the favorable notice and patronage of Congress. I consider it as an indispensable duty to close this last solemn act of my official life, by commending the interests of our dearest country to your care.\"\nProtection of Almighty God, and those who have the sovereignty to keep them in his holy keeping. Having now finished the work signed me, I retire from this great theatre of action; and bid an affectionate farewell to this august body, under whose orders I have so long acted. I offer my commission and take my leave of all the employments of public life.\n\nG. W. A^iiiKCTPN.\nCity of Annapolis, Dec 23, I83.\nJournal of the Annals, Answer of Congress-\n\n\"The United States in Congress assemble,\nreceive, with emotions affecting for utterance,\nthe solemn resignation of the authoritative\nwhich you have received their troops with success,\nthrough a perilous and doubtful war.\n\n\"Called upon by our country to defend its invaded rights, you accepted the sacred charge before it had formed alliances, and whilst it was without resources, save in the confidence which its virtue had inspired.\"\nYou have conducted the great military conflict with M. Isdom and fortitude, consistently regarding the rights of the civil power throughout all disasters and changes. You have, by the Jove and the goodwill of your fellow citizens, enabled them to display their martial genius and transmit their fame to posterity. Yet, we have persevered, the United States, aided by a magnanimous king and a lion, have been enabled under a just Providence to close the war in freedom, safety, and independence. We sincerely join you in congratulations.\n\nHaving defended the standard of liberty in this new world \u2013 having taught a lesson useful to those who inflict, and to those who feel oppression \u2013 you retire from the great theater of action.\nThe blessings of your fellow citizens, but the glory of your virtues will not terminate with your military command. It will continue to animate General George Washington. Estabes. We feel, with Jon, our obligations to the army in general, and will particularly charge Curbelove with the interests of those who have attended your person to this affecting moment.\n\nWe join you in commending the interests of our dearest country to the protection of Almighty God, beseeching him to dispose the hearts and minds of its citizens to improve the opporunity; and for you, we address to him our most earnest prayers, that a life so beloved may be fostered with all his care; and that your days may be as happy as they have been illustrious; and he grant you.\nGeneral Washington, retired from the toils of war, gave you that reward which this world hardly gives. With these sentiments, Washington enjoyed the rural pleasures of Mount Vernon, carrying with him the thanks and blessings of a grateful people. Emulating the example of the virtuous Roman generals, who, victorious, doved with honor and withdrew from public life. No person, who had not been present when he received the intelligence of peace, and who did not accompany him to his domestic retirement, can describe the relief which that joyful event brought to his laboring mind, or the supreme satisfaction which he withdrew to seek in private life. Cicero,\n\nMemoir X of Private Life.\nFrom his triumphal entry into New York, upon the evacuation of that city by the enemy.\nThe British army, upon arrival at Mount Vernon, was met with enthusiastic crowds impelling his passage through all the populous towns. The devotion of the whole people pursued him, with prayers to Heaven for blessings on his head and expressions of their gratitude seeking the most eloquent language to manifest themselves to him as their common father and benefactor. Upon becoming a private citizen, he found that his native state was among the most zealous in doing justice to his merits, and that stronger demonstrations of affectionate esteem were given by the citizens of his neighborhood than by any other description of men on the continent. He always refused to accept any pecuniary compensation for his public services or provision for the augmented expenses which he incurred.\nmust have incurred in consequence of his public employment, no salary was ever annexed by Congress to his important command, and he only drew weekly for the expenses of his public table and other necessities, although proposals have been made in the most delicate manner, particularly by the states of Virginia and Pennsylvania. His conduct in this particular is noble and famous, and exhibits to the world an undeniable evidence of self-disinterestedness, of the purity of his motives and integrity of his heart. His answer to the Governor of Virginia, declining the acceptance of a present from that state, is so characteristic of his whole public conduct, that we are induced to give it in his own words:\n\nGeneral George Washington,\n\nIt is with great regret that I decline the present offered by the General Assembly of Virginia, as I am unwilling to accept any mark of favor from the states, which I represent as their common commander in chief. I am deeply sensible of the honor you do me by the proposal, but I cannot accept of this gratuity, which I am persuaded you would not offer if you supposed for a moment that I could conceive it for my own benefit, or that I would ever consent to accept it as a means of influencing me in the execution of my duty. I hope that my conduct in this particular will not be misconstrued, and that the motives which have induced me to decline the present will not be imputed to a want of gratitude or respect for the generous people of Virginia. I assure you that I shall ever consider it a great honor to serve them, and that I shall strive, by a faithful and assiduous attention to my duties, to merit their approbation and esteem.\n\nAccept, I pray you, the assurance of my highest respect and esteem.\n\nGo: Washington.\n\n107th day of October, 1781.\nFrom his Excellency General Washington, the Governor of Virginia, delivering the acceptance of seventy shares in the companies for coming the navigation of James and Potomac rivers, which had been vested in him by act of the Legislature of that commonwealth as a small acknowledgment of his merits and services. Your Excellency, having been pleased to transmit to me a copy of the act appropriating to my benefit, certain shares in the companies for opening the navigation of James and Potomac rivers, I take the liberty of returning to the assembly, through your hands, the profound and grateful acknowledgments inspired by so signal a mark of their beneficial intentions towards me. I beg you, sir, to assure them that I am filled on this occasion with every sentiment which can flow from a heart, warm with love for my country \u2014 sensible to every motive which can influence a patriot.\nWith deep respect and affection, I humbly submit to your wishes and feel compelled, in every instance, to testify my respectful submission. In my heart, I need not dwell on the anxiety I feel in declining a favor, which is rendered no less daunting by the manner in which it is conveyed, than it is affectionate in itself. In explaining this obligation, I pass over a comparison of my endeavors in public service with the many honorable testimonies of approbation they have already received. I recount only one consideration that supersedes the necessity of referring to every other. When I was first called to the station with which I was honored during the late conflict for our liberties, I was afflicted with diffidence.\nI had many reasons to feel obligated to accept it. I thought it my duty to join a firm resolution for peace. To this resolution, I have inviolably adhered. From this resolution, I (if I had the inclination) do not consider myself at liberty to depart.\n\nWhilst I repeat, therefore, my fervent acknowledgments to the legislature for their kind sentiments and intentions in my favor, and at the same time beg them to be persuaded that the memory of this singular proof of goodness toward me will never cease to cherish returns of the warmest affection and gratitude; I must pray that their act, so far as it has for its object my personal emolument, may not have its effect. But if it should please the general assembly to permit me to:\n\n(Note: The text appears to be cut off at the end.)\nturn the Heaton of the fund vested in R. E. Morris my private emolument to objects of a public nature. It will be my duty, in behaving these, to show the sincerity of my gratitude, by preferring such as may appear most subservient to the enlightened and patriotic views of the legislature. George Washington.\n\nUpon this request, the legislature of Virginia repealed so much of the act referred to as related to vesting the above-mentioned shares in General Washington and heirs, and enacted that the shares and profits accruing therefrom should stand appropriated to such objects of a public nature as his Excellency should direct and appoint. Some time afterwards, General Washington applied these shares of the canal company to the erection and establishment of two seminaries of learning in Virginia.\nGeneral Washington, who accomplished these feats under his immediate direction. Although the enlarged mind of General Washington felt superior to such considerations, and nobly refused any recompense for himself, yet he eloquently, though unsuccessfully, pleaded the cause of his fellow-soldiers and other public creditors. He considered himself as pledged to the army that their country would do them justice, in rewarding them for their glorious services, exercised in its defense, and finally crowned by the complete establishment of its liberty and independence. He could foresee the evils which were to follow if a regular and efficient revenue system was not pursued. To effect these purposes, and to inculcate the necessity of such principles and practices as the new state required, and:\n\n110 BugrfUcoI Memoirs of\nof such principles and practices as the new state required.\nFrom His Excellency General George Washington, Commander-in-Chief of the Armies of the United States of America, to the Governors of the several States:\n\nA Circular Letter\n\nThe great object for which I had the honor to hold an appointment in the service of my country, being accomplished, I am now preparing to resign it into the hand of Congress, and return to that domestic retirement, which I left with the greatest reluctance; a retirement for which I have never ceased to sigh through a long and painful absence, in which (remote from the noise and trouble of the world) I meditate.\nPassing the remainder of my life in a state of undisturbed repose: but, before I carry this revolution into effect, I think it my duty to make this my last official communication. I congratulate you on the glorious events which Heaven has been pleased to produce in our favor. I offer my sentiments respecting some important subjects, which appear to me to be intimately connected with the tranquility of the United States. I take my leave of your Excellency, a public character, General George Washington. I give my final blessing to that country in whose service I have spent the prime of my life; for whose sake I have consumed so many anxious days and watchful nights; and whose happiness, being extremely dear to me, will always constitute no inconsiderable part of my own. Impressed with the liveliest sensibility on this occasion.\nPleasing occasion, I will discuss the subject of mutual felicity. Considering the magnitude of the prize we contended for, the doubtful nature of the contest, and the favorable manner in which it has terminated, we shall find the greatest possible reason for gratitude and rejoicing. This is a life that would afford delight to every benevolent and liberal mind, whether the event in contemplation is considered as a source of present enjoyment or the parent of future happiness. We shall have equal occasion to express ourselves on the lot which Providence has assigned us, whether we view it in a natural, political, or moral point of view.\n\nThe citizens of America, placed in the most enviable condition, as the sovereign lords and proprietors.\nof a vast tract, comprehending the various soils and climates of the world, and providing all the necessities and conveniences of life, are now, by the late satisfactory pacification, acknowledged to be possessed of absolute freedom and independence. They are from this period to be considered as the actors on a most conspicuous stage, which seems particularly designed for the display of human greatness and felicity. Here the inhabitants are not only surrounded with every thing that contributes to the completion of private and patriotic enjoyment, but Heaven has bestowed all its other blessings, giving a surer opportunity for political happiness than any other nation has ever been favored with. Nothing can illustrate these observations more forcibly than\nThe recollection of the happy conjuncture under which our Republic emerged, was not founded in a gloomy age of ignorance and superstition, but at an epoch when the rights of mankind were better understood and more clearly defined. The treasures of the human mind, after social happiness have been carried to a great extent, are laid open for use; the wisdom coined by philosophers, sages and legislators through a long succession of years, may be happily applied in the establishment of our forms of government. The free cultivation of letters, the unbounded extension of commerce, the progressive refinement of manners, the growing liberality of sentiment, and above all,\nThe pure and benign light of revelation has had a meliorating influence on mankind and increased the blessings of society. At this auspicious period, the United States came into existence as a nation, and if her citizens are not completely free and happy, the fault will be entirely their own. Such is our situation, and such are our prospects. But notwithstanding the cup of blessing is thus reached out to us \u2014 notwithstanding happiness is ours, if we have a disposition to seize the occasion and make it our own; yet it appears to me, there is an option still left to the United States of America, whether they will be respected and prosperous or contemptible and miserable as a nation. This is the tin-e of their political probation; this is the moment, when the eyes of the world are upon them.\nare turned upside them; this is the trial: it is the favorable moment to give such a tone to the Federal Government, or this may be the opportune moment for relaxing the powers of the Union, nihilating the cement of the Confederation, and exposing M? to become the sport of European politics, which may play one State against another. To prevent their growing importance, and to serve their own interested purposes. For, according to the system of policy the States shall adopt at this moment, they will stand or fall; and by their confirmation or lapse, it is yet to be decided whether the revolution must ultimately be considered as a blessing or a curse.\nPresent before you, alone, for with our fate, the destiny of unborn millions will be involved. With this conviction of the importance of the present crisis, silence in Vlt would be a crime. I will therefore speak to your Excellency the language of freedom and sincerity, without disguise. I am aware, however, that those who differ from me in political sentiments may perhaps remark that I am stepping out of the proper line of my duty; they may possibly ascribe to arrogance or ostentation, what I know is the result of the purest intention. But the rectitude of my own heart, which indicates such unworthy motives \u2013 the part I have hitherto acted in life \u2013 the determination I have formed of not taking any share in public business hereafter \u2013 the ardent desire I feel and shall continue to manifest, of quietly enjoying in privacy.\nLife, after all the woes of war, the benefits of a wife and a liberal government will, sooner or later, convince my countrymen that I have no sinister views in delivering, with little reserve, the opinions contained in this Address.\n\nThere are four things which I conceive to be essential to the well-being of the people, I may even venture to say, to the existence of the United States, an independent power.\n\n1. An irrepressible union of the states under a federal head.\n2. A sacred regard to personal justice.\n3. The adoption of a proper peace establishment. And,\n4. The prevalence of that pacific and friendly disposition among the people of the United States, which would induce them to forget local prejudices and policies, to make those mutual concessions which are requisite to the general prosperity.\n\"These are the pillars on which the glorious fabric of our independence and national character must be supported. Liberty is the basis, and whoever dares to sap its foundations or overturn the structure, under whatever specious pretense he may attempt it, merits the bitterest excration and the severest punishment which can be inflicted by his injured country. Under the first head, I may not find it necessary or appropriate for me, in this place, to enter into a particular discussion of the principles of the first article.\"\nunion, and to take up the great question which has been frequently agitated, whether it be expedient and requisite for the states to delegate a large proportion of power to Congress, or not. It is a part of my duty, and that of every true patriot, to assert and insist upon the following positions: the states will surrender to Congress only those prerogatives they are indisputably invested with by the constitution. Everything must very rapidly tend to anarchy and confusion, unless there is lodged somewhere a supreme power to regulate and govern the general concerns of the federated republic, without which the union cannot be of long duration. That there must be\n\n116 ^ical Memorandum ^f\nA faithful and pointed compliance on the part of every state with the late proposals and demands of Congress, or the most fatal consequences will ensue.--That whatever measures have a tendency to dissolve the union, or contribute to violate or lessen the sovereign authority, ought to be considered as hostile to the liberty and independence of America, and the authors of them treated accordingly.--Lastly, unless we can be enabled by the concert of the States to participate in the fruits of the revolution and enjoy the essential benefits of civil society, under a form of government so free and uncorrupted, so happily guarded against the danger of oppression, as have been devised and adopted by the Articles of Confederation, it will be a subject of regret that so much blood and treasure have been lavished for no purpose.\nIt is important to note that many suffering have been encountered without compensation, and many sacrifices have been made in vain. Several other considerations could be presented to demonstrate that without an entire conformity to the spirit of the Union, we cannot exist as an independent power. I will only mention a few that seem to me of the greatest importance. Our independence is acknowledged only in our united character as an empire. Our power can be respected, or our credit supported among foreign nations, through the treaties of European powers with the United States of America. These treaties will have no validity in the Ceneml Getrge ir^chwgion. We shall be left nearly in a state of nature, or we may be driven, by our own actions.\nunhappy experience, there is a natural and reciprocal reaction from the extreme of anarchy to the extreme of tyranny; any arbitrary power most easily established on the ruins of liberty abused to licentiousness.\n\nAs to the second article, which respects the performance of public justice, Congress, in their late Address to the United States, have almost exhausted the subject. They have explained their ideas so fully and have enforced the obligation the States are under to render complete justice to all the public creditors, with so much dignity and energy, that in my opinion, no real friend to the honor and independence of America can hesitate a single moment respecting the propriety of complying with the just and honorable measures proposed. If their arguments do not produce conviction, I know of nothing that will have greater influence.\nThe system referred to, being the result of the continent's collected wisdom, must be esteemed, if not perfect, certainly the least objectionable of any that could be devised. If it is not carried into immediate execution, a national bankruptcy, with all its deplorable consequences, will take place before any different plan can possibly be proposed or adopted. The ability of the country to discharge its debts, which have been incurred in its defense, is not to be doubted. An inclination will not be wanting; the path of our duty is plain before us; honesty will be found, on every experiment, to be the best and only true policy.\nLet us, as a nation, be just; let us fulfill the public contracts which Congress had undoubtedly the right to make for the purpose of carrying on the war, with the same good faith with which we suppose ourselves bound to perform our private engagements. In the meantime, let an attention to the cheerful performance of their proper business, as individuals and as members of society, be earnestly inculcated on the citizens of America; then will they strengthen the bands of government, and be happy under its protection. Let none reap the fruit of his labors in vain; every man will enjoy the fruits of his own acquisitions, without molestation and without danger. In this state of absolute freedom and perfect security, who will grudge to yield a very little of his property to support the common interests of society, and ensure the protection of government?\nWhere does one find the man who does not remember the frequent declarations at the commencement of the war, that we should be completely satisfied, if at the expense of one half, we could defend the remainder of our possessions? Where is the man to be found, who idly remains indebted for the defense of his country and properly to the exertions, the bravery, and the blood of others, without making one generous effort to pay the debt of honor and gratitude? In what part of the continent shall we find such a man, or body of men, who would not blush to stand up and propose measures purposely calculated to rob the soldier of his stipend, and the public creditor of his due? And were it possible that such a flagrant instance of injustice could ever happen, would it not excite the general indignation?\n\nGeorge Washington, 119\nFinley man.\nIf such measures bring down upon their authors the aggravated vengeance of Heaven? If, after all, a spirit of disunion or a temper of obstinacy and perverseness should manifest itself in any of the states; if such an ungracious disposition should attempt to frustrate all the happy effects that might be expected to flow from the union; if there were a refusal to comply with the requisitions for funds to discharge the annual interest of the public debts, and if that refusal revived all the jealousies, producing again those evils which are now happily removed\u2014\n\nCongress, who have, in all their transactions, shown a great degree of magnanimity and justice, will be justified in the sight of God and man. And that state which puts itself in opposition to the aggregate wisdom of the continent.\nAnd following such mistaken and pernicious classes, I will be responsible for all the consequences. For my part, conscious of having acted, while a servant of the public, in the manner I conceived best suited to promote the real interests of my country; having, in consequence of my fixed belief, pledged myself to the army, that their country would finally do them right and not willing to conceal any instance of my official conduct from the eyes of the world, I have thought proper to transmit to your Excellency the enclosed collection of papers, relative to the half pay and commutation granted by Congress to the officers: from these communications, a clear sentiment will be clearly comprehended, together with the conclusions.\nI. Six reasons, which induced me, at an early period, to recommend the adoption of this measure in the most earnest and serious manner. As the proceedings of Congress, the army, and myself, are open to all, and contain, in my opinion, sufficient information to remove the prejudice and errors which may have been entertained by any, I think it unnecessary to say any more than just to observe, that the resolutions of Congress, now alluded to, are as undoubtedly and absolutely binding upon the United States, as the most solemn acts of confederation or legislation.\n\nII. As to the idea, which I am informed has, in some instances, prevailed, that the half-pay and commutation are to be registered merely in the old records of a pension, it ought to be exploded forever: that provision should be viewed, as it really is, a part and parcel of the pension, and not as a separate and distinct allowance.\nAll officers, a reasonable compensation offered by Congress at a time when they had nothing else to offer: it was the only means to prevent a great deterioration of the services; it was part of their hire. I may be allowed to say, it was the price of their blood, and of our independence; it is a common debt. General George Washington, 21st.\n\nThis compensation cannot be considered as a pension or gratuity, nor cancelled until it is fairly discharged. With regard to the distinction between officers and soldiers, it is justifiable that the experience of every nation in the world, combined with our own, proves the utility and propriety of the discrimination. Towards the aid the public draws from them, in proportion, are inquiries.\nTo put it simply, servants of the towers have, perhaps generally, had as ample compensation for their services, by the large bounties which have been paid them, as their officers will receive in the proposed commutation. In some cases, if besides the donation of land and the payment of arrearages of clothing and wages (in which articles all components of the army must be put upon the same footing), we take into account the bounties many soldiers have received and the grant of one year's full pay which is promised to all, possibly their situation (every circumstance being duly considered) will not be deemed less eligible than that of the officers.\n\nShould a lower figure be judged equitable, I will venture to assert, no man will enjoy greater satisfaction than the soldiers.\nIf this text is from the year 1782, it reads: \"To the honorable taxes for a limited time, or any other adequate immunity or pension granted to the brave defenders of this jurisdiction, but not in any manner concerning the adoption or rejection of this project. However, in any minor detail, much opposition has arisen against the act of Congress, by which soldiers have been offered five years full pay, ten of the half-pensions, which had before been promised to them. Before I conclude the subject on public justice, I cannot omit to recognize the obligation: this country is under to that noble class of veterans, the commission officers and privates, who have been discharged for disability in consequence of the resolution of Congress, of the 23rd of April, 1782.\"\npeculiar sufferings, their shameful merits and hardships to be known, but rather the feelings of humanity on their behalf. Nothing but a personal payment of their annual allowance can rescue them from the most complicated usage; and nothing could be more melancholily and distressingly sad, than to behold those who have shed their blood, or lost their limbs in the service of their country, without a shelter, and without the means of obtaining any of the comforts or necessities of life, compelled to beg their daily bread from door to door. Suffer me to recommend those of this deserving condition to your state, to the warmest favor of your Excellency and your legislature. It is necessary to say but a few words on the third topic which was proposed, and which is:\n\n(Note: The text appears to be written in old English, but it is still readable and does not require translation. No OCR errors were detected in the text.)\nThe defense of the republic particularly concerns Congress. In Xtra, where George Washington is, the attention will be paid to the United States, in which true consideration will be given to the militia of the union. If this is the case, I shall beg leave to urge the greatest advantage of it in the strongest terms. The militia of the country must be considered as the mainstay of our security, and the first effort in this report: it is essential, therefore, that the same system should pervade the whole. The formation and discipline of the militia should be about form and that the type of army piece be specified.\nmcf-jt- and irdhtary appi'.rius, should be irrosied in every part of the United state: No one, who has not learned it from experience, can conceive the difficulty. expense, aid continual which reject from a contrary system, or the vague arrangements which have hitherto prevailed.\n\nIf, in treating of political problems, a greater latitude than usual has been taken in lie coun-te of the Addressees, the importance of the crisis on the one hand, and the objects in dispute on the other, requires it. It is however, respectably submitted, that the preceding observations should claim any regard, except so far as they shall speak to a good intention and correspond with the immutable rules of justice; calculated to produce a liberal system of policy and founded on.\nWhoever may have had experience may have acquired it by a long and close attention to public business. Here I speak with more conviction, from my own observational experience. And if it would not swell this already too prolix discourse beyond the bounds prescribed to myself, I could demonstrate to your mind, open to conviction, that in this instance, if the reasons of the content have been properly called to mind, that the distresses and disappointments which have very often occurred, have, in the majority of instances, resulted more from a want of energy in the continental government, than a denial of mercy in the parish.\nParticular States: That the inadequacy of the Treasurers, arising from the want of an adequate authority in the supreme power, from a partial compliance with the requisitions of Congress in some States, and from a failure of punctuality in others, while they tended to dampen the zeal of those who were more willing to exert themselves, also served to accumulate expenses of the war. Moreover, the best concerned plans were frustrated, and the discouragements caused by the complicated difficulties and embarrassments, in which we were all involved, would have long ago led to the dissolution of any army, less patient, less virtuous, and less persevering than that which I had the honor to command. But setting aside those things which are not worth mentioning, as they are not essential, as:\nI have freely disclosed what I wished to make known before I surrendered up my public trust to those who committed it to me: The task is now accomplished. I now bid adieu to your Excellency, as the Chief Magistrate of your state; and bid a last farewell to the cares of office, and all the employments of public life. It remains, then, to be in your firm and only request.\nyour Excellency will communicate these sentiments to your legislature at their next meeting, and may they be considered the legacy of one who has ardently wished, on all occasions, to be useful to his country, and who, even in the novelties of this new government, it is my earnest prayer, that God would bless you and the state over which you preside in his holy protection; that he would incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government; to entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another- for their fellow citizens- of the United States at large; and particularly for their brethren who have served in the army and navy, and may he graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to demean ourselves with humility.\nI have the honor to be, with much respect, your Excellency's most obedient and most humble servant,\nG. Washington.\n\nGeneral Washington, having received public acclaim, now assumed the character of a private gentleman; he employed himself in proving his farms and planting, and in cultivating the arts of peace. But in this retreat of hip-pity and rural simplicity, he was not left in peace; it was too soon for the father of his country to abandon his infant care, his well-tried virtues were readily and justly known to his people.\ncitizens, and Tier's judgment was silver-tongued, exquisite in experience and disinterested patriotism. Four years had not passed since he relinquished his military command, when the call of his country reached him once more \u2013 in the year 1787. He was elected a delegate to the federal convention which met at Philadelphia to form the new constitution, and was chosen its president. Whatever differences of sentiment there may have been among the citizens regarding the principle, structure, or adoption of the new constitution, there was but one sentiment as to the man who should head its administration. After the adoption of the federal constitution, on the fourth of March, 1789, George Washington became President Washington.\nThe unanimous choice, President of the United States, was received joyfully by the citizens with confidence and approval at his appointment to the office of chief magistrate. Numerous addresses reiterated his praise from every part of the union. His triumphal entry into Philadelphia, on his way to assume the duties of his important office, merits notice. Early on the morning of the 20th of March, his excellency Thomas Miflin, Esq., governor of the state, the Honorable Richard Peters, Esq., Speaker of the legislature of the State, the Old city troop of horse, and another troop from the city, commanded by Captain Bingham, waited for the arrival of their beloved Washington at the line between Pennsylvania and Delaware.\nThis great and worthy man, finding he could not possibly elude the military requirements, attend to the martial proceedings of joy and reflection, when displayed by a grateful people, to their patriot benefactor, ordered his corps into the retreat of the whole army, mounting on an elephant and accompanied by the venerable prior, Charles Quint, and his former aid-de-camp, the celebrated Colonel Hampercs.\n\nOn the way to the city, they were joined by detachments from Chester and Pludwach.\ntroops of horse, and a number of rotatable citizens, at whose head was the worthy citizen and soldier, His Excellency Arthur St. Clair, governor of the Western Territory. They proceeded to Gray's ferry, on the Schuylkill. But here such a scene presented itself, that even the pencil of a Raphael could not capture it.\n\nThe bridge was highly decorated with laurel and other evergreens, by Mr. Gray, the ingenious Mr. Peale, and others, in such a style as to display uncommon taste in these gentlemen. At each end there were erected magnificent arches, composed of laurel, emblematic of the ancient Roman triumphal arches, and on each side of the bridge, a laurel treebery, which seemed to challenge even nature herself for simplicity, each.\nAnd elegance. As our beloved Washington passed the bridge, a lovely lad ornately decorated with sprigs of laurel assisted, letting drop above the hero's head, the civic crown of laurel. There was also an elegant display of variegated flags on each side of the bridge, as well as other places, which alternately caught the eye and filled the spectator's soul with admiration and delight.\n\nBut who can describe the heartfelt congratulations of more than twenty thousand people, free citizens, the Venetian people, all of them in the city, in the square, in the piazza, were all enthusiastic in their approval. The innocent smile of the people, the approbation, was universal.\n\nIn this scene, all voices agreed in description of citizens.\ndiscovered they felt what they discovered most indisputably and unboundedly for their dear chief, and I may add, under God, the Savior of their country. Not all the pomp of majesty, not even imperial disunity itself, surrounded with its usual splendor, could equal this interesting scene.\n\nNear the city, our illustrator exhibited his gratitude with a further military display of infantry, and artillery. Thousands of freemen, whose hearts burned with patriotic fire, also fell into the ranks. The colonel swelled with credibility itself, and having conducted the men of their hearts to the city tavern, he was introduced to a very grand and plentiful banquet, which was prepared for him by the city.\nAmong the vicissitudes of life, no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order and received on the fourteenth day of the present month: on the one hand, I was about to assume the arduous task of presiding over the United States, addressing both houses of Congress.\n\nInaugural Addresses of the President of the United States to Both Houses of Congress.\n\nGeneral\n------\n\nAmong the vicissitudes of life, no event could have filled me with greater anxieties than that of which the notification was transmitted by your order and received on the fourteenth day of the present month: on the one hand, I was about to assume the arduous task of presiding over the United States, addressing both houses of Congress.\nsummoned by my country whose voice I could never hear but with reverence and love, from a retreat which I had chosen with the fondest priority, and, in my fervent hope, attempted an immutable decision, as the asylum of a retreat which was studied every day more necessary, as well as more dear to me by the addition of habit to inclination, and of frequent interruptions in health, to the gradual water committed on it by time. On the other hand, the magnitude and difficulties of the trouble, to which the voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in the deepest and most anxious scrutiny, a distrustful examination, could not but overwhelm with despair, one who, inheriting inferior endowments from nature, and unpracticed in the duties of civil administration.\nRegistration, ought to be particularly concerned with his own decies. In this condition of emotions, Central George Jungfon, number 131, averred that it has been my faithful steady friend from a first appreciation of every circumstance. By which it might be alleged,\n\nAll I do insist is that if, in executing this task,\nI have been unduly influenced by a grateful remembrance of former instances, or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of the confidence of my fellow citizens \u2014 and have hence too little impartiality as well as disinclination it seems, for the weighty and untried cares before me \u2014 my error will be palliated by the notices, consequences of which are to be judged by your jury, with some share of the partiality in which they originated.\nI: Suly I have, in submission to the public, repaired to the present station. It would be inappropriate for me, in the first official act, not to offer up my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over us, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect. May his benediction consecrate this station, the liberties and happiness of the United States, a government instituted by themselves for the essential purposes, and may every instrument employed in its administration execute with success the functions allotted to his charge. In tendering this loyalty to the great Author of every public and private good, I assure myself that it expresses your sentiments.\nnot less than my own or any other fellow citizen in large, less than each. No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the invisible being which controls the affairs of men, more than the property of the United States. Every Jefferson, by whom they have advanced to the clarity of an independent nation, have been distinguished by provident care and encyclopedic knowledge. And the greatest revolution has been accomplished in the system of their United government, the tranquil deliberations and unanimous consent of so many distinct communities, from the very beginning, cannot be compared with the means by which most governments have been established without some return of pious gratitude, along with humble anticipation of future blessings.\n%vhich  the  pa\u00abt  seem  to  presage.  These  Ttijto- \nlions,  arising  out  of  the  present  cris's,  have  forced- \nthtmseives  too  strcnp^ly  on  ray  laind  to  be  sup- \npressed. You  will  join  me,  I  trust,  in  thinking, \nthat  there  afe  r.one  under  the  irftuence  of  vluuh. \nthe  [<roc>tedii;\u00ab;s  of  a  new  and  free  governntcnt  can \njiitre  auspiciously  con'mence. \n**  By  the  article  establishing  the  executive  oe. \npartment,  it  is  made  tlie  duty  of  the  I  rt^^ident  *'  to \nKcomm.end  to  your  con:-ic!er;aion  such  measures  as \nlie  sh^l!  judg^e  necessary  and  txpcdieit.\"  Ti;\u00a9 \ncircum:5tanocs  under  vliich  I  novv'  rr.eet  you,  v -K \nac;]tiit  me  from  er.terirg  into  that  ^object,  farther \nthan  to  refer  to  the  ^'[reat  c^jnstitutioriii!  chartc? \nnnder  wliich  ycu  are  iiOw  asiembie^  ;  and  which \nin  defining  your  [iowtrs,  designates  tlie  objects  to \nwhich  your  a'lUntion  is  to  bo  given.  It  wiii  be \nI, George Washington, 133rd.\nThis man was congenial with the feelings which actuate me, to substitute in place of a recommendation of particular measures, the tribute that is due the talents, the rectitude, and the patriotism which adorned the characters felt to device and adopt them. In these qualifications, I behold the surest pledges, that, on one side, no local prejudices or attachments, no separate views, nor party animosities, will misdirect the comprehensive and equal eye which ought to watch over this great assembly of communities and interests: so, on another, that the foundations of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality; and the preeminence of free government, be exemplified by all the attributes.\nWhich country can win the affections of its citizens and command the respect of the world. I dwell on this prospect with every satisfaction which an ardent love for my country can inspire; since there is no truth more thoroughly established, than that in the economy and course of nature, an indissoluble union exists between virtue and happiness, between duty and advantage, between the general maxims of an honest and magnanimous people, and the solid rewards of public prosperity and felicity. We ought to be persuaded that the propitious smile of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal laws of order and right, which Heaven itself has ordained. And since the preservation of the sacred rights of liberty, and the destiny of the republican form of government, are justly considered as deeply connected.\n[134] Memoirs of the experiment, entrusted to the hands of the American people. Besides the ordinary objects submitted to your care, it will remain with your judgment to decide how far an exercise of the occasional power delegated by the fifth article of the constitution is rendered expedient at the present juncture, by the nature of objections which have been urged against the system, or by the degree of inquietude which has given birth to them. Instead of undertaking particular recommendations on this subject, in which I could be guided by no lights derived from official opportunities, I shall again give way to my entire confidence in your discernment and pursuit of the public good; for I assure myself that while you carefully avoid every altercation which might endanger the public peace.\nendanger the benefits of an united and effective government, or which ought to await the future lessons of experience; a reverence for the churchistic right of freedom, and a regard for the public harmony, will sufficiently influence your deliberations on the quietest issues, how far the former can be more impregnably fortified, or the latter be safely and advantageously promoted.\n\nTo the preceding observations, I have one to add, which will be most properly addressed to the House of Representatives. I concern myself, and therefore will be as brief as possible. When I was first honored with a call into the service of my country, on the eve of an arduous struggle for its liberties, I received a requirement from General George Washington.\nI have adhered to the resolution I formed in no instance. And, still being under the impressions which produced it, I must declare, as inapplicable to myself, any share in the personal emoluments which may be indispensably included in a permanent provision for the executive department. I must accordingly pray that the pecuniary estimates for the station in which I am placed, during my continuance in it, be limited to such actual expenditures as the public good may be thought to require.\n\nHaving thus imparted to you my sentiments, as they have been awakened by the occasion which brought us together, I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting once more to the benign Parent of the human race, in humble supplication, that since he has been pleased to favor the American people with opportunities for deliberating on their situation.\n\"The first session of Congress, under the new constitution, continued their sittings from the 4th of March until the 29th of September. Their attention was chiefly directed towards the provision of 35 billion fiscal managers for the restoration of the public credit and other objects of political economy. During this period, the president resided at New York, giving his sanction to several measures.\"\nThe proceedings of the legislature, and other organizations in the federal government. Shortly after the rising of Congress, he made a tour through the states of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire, accompanied by Messrs. Lear and Jackson, his secretary. In every part of the country through which he passed, the citizens embraced the opportunity of personally testifying; their odyssey and respect for the character of the representative in whose charge, whatever dignity and admirable human nature, are so happily united. A grateful people could pay, and did pay, when he approached a town or village, the roads were lined with citizens to look at him \u2014 particularly to relate all the remarkable testimonials which were paid.\nDuring this visit, I cannot describe the manner in which Washington was received at Boston. Nor can we speak of the numerous congratulatory addresses which were presented to him. But no particular circumstance gave him more pleasure during his tour than the punctual and hearty welcome Mr. North, the chairman of the selectmen at Salem, gave him. This gentleman is a member of the Society of Friends. When the President was presented to the selectmen, Mr. Northey, covered with a cloak, took him by the hand and said, \"Friend Washington, we are glad to see you, and in behalf of the inhabitants, bid you a hearty welcome to Salem.\" Upon his arrival at Newburyport, the following:\nincident occurred, a poor old soldier named Cotton, who was with him in the memorable battle on the Ohio, where Braddock was defeated, requested and was admitted into the room where the President was \u2013 on the sovereign's asking \"who ton did,\" the President immediately recalled his person, and rising from his chair, took him by the hand, and tenderly inquired into the scenes of his life and present circumstances. I thank God, answered the soldier, \"that I have an opportunity of seeing my old commander once more, I have seen him in adversity, and now seeing him in glory, I can go home and die contented.\" The next morning, he came again to take leave of the President, who gave him a guinea, which he accepted, saying, \"merely as a token in remembrance of his commander,\" and which he wore pendant on.\nHis bosom declaring that nothing earthly should part him from it, the following circumstance occurred while General Washington was President of the United States. Reuben Rouzy of Virginia owed him around a thousand pounds. One of the President's agents brought a suit for the money, a judgment was obtained, and execution issued against the body of the defendant, who was taken to goal. He had considerable landed property, but this kind of property, (153 Bk^ ropJt'ca I Metnclrs), cannot be sold in Virginia for debts, according to the discretion of the person. He had a large family, and preferred lying in goal rather than selling his land or the take of his children \u2014 Some of his acquaintances hinted that probably General Washington did not know anything about the proceedings.\nIt is well to send him a petition with a statement of the circumstances. He did so, and the very next post from Philadelphia, after his petition arrived, brought him a release, with a severe reprimand for the agent acting in such a cruel manner, without consent. Poor Louis was, in consequence, restored to his family and happiness, who never laid down their heads at night without prayers to Heaven for our much-loved Washington.\n\nOn the 4th day of January, 1790, Congress held their second session at New York. The President opened it with a speech; he congratulated them on the favorable prospects which the public affairs then assumed; the accession of the state of Kentucky to the Union, the rising credit and respectability of the country, and the concord, peace, and prosperity which reigned among them.\nand they directed their attention towards the raising provision for the common defence, assuring them that to be prepared for war is one of the most effective means of preserving peace, and that a free people ought not only to be armed but disciplined; he recommended the protection of the Western and Southern frontiers against the depredations of the hostile Indians and the establishment of intercourse with other nations; the framing of an uniform law for the naturalization of foreigners; the importance of animosity in the currency, weights, and measures throughout the Union; the encouragement of exertions of skill, industry, and agriculture; commerce, and annulates; the encouragement of industry to facilitate the intercourse between the distant parts.\nparts of the country, by due attention to politics and post roads. He frequently recommended the promotion of science and literature, as the surest basis of public happiness, and the best means of securing a free constitution. By teaching the people to know and to value their rights, to discern between oppression and the necessary exercise of lawful authority, to distinguish the spirit of liberty from that of licentiousness, and to cherish a steady temperate virtue against encroachment, he instructed them that he had directed the papers and mates to be laid before them, which were necessary to convey to them the information.\nButcher for the Union, who it was his duty to afford. He concluded by assuring them that he would derive great satisfaction from a cooperation. With one another, in the peace, though arduous, of engaging fellow-citizens in the business they had a right to expect from a free, efficient government.\n\nThis passage continued until the 12th of August. In that month, the President negotiated a treaty of peace and friendship between the United States and the Creek nation of Indians. The ceremony took place at New-York on the 30th of September. The same year, General Armstrong, with 320 United States troops and 113 militia, gave battle to the Miami Indians. By whom he was defeated with the loss of 183 men.\nThe third session of Congress met on December 6, 1790, and adjourned on March 3, 1791. Their deliberations were primarily focused on regulating commerce, improving the judicial system, and making provisions for the appointment of consuls in foreign countries. Kentucky was admitted into the union as a distinct state, and a loan was negotiated with Holland. The Indian war continued on the frontier. During the summer of 1791, General Scott surprised the Wabash towns. He killed about 30 Indians, took 50 prisoners, and brought with him 200 horses, loaded with peltry and other articles.\n\nJailed, and 31 wounded. About 100 or upwards of the Indians were killed. The Miami village, containing about 100 log houses or wigwams, with 20,000 bushels of corn, was destroyed.\n\nThe third session of Congress met on December 6, 1790, and adjourned on March 3, 1791. Their deliberations were primarily focused on regulating commerce, improving the judicial system, and making provisions for the appointment of consuls in foreign countries. Kentucky was admitted into the union as a distinct state, and a loan was negotiated with Holland. The Indian war continued on the frontier.\n\nDuring the summer of 1791, General Scott surprised the Wabash towns. He killed about 30 Indians, took 50 prisoners, and brought with him 200 horses, loaded with peltry and other articles.\nThe attention of the President during this Congress was chiefly directed towards the adoption of measures for the protection of the frontiers and establishment of commerce. On the 24th of October, 1791, the second Congress convened; George Washington, Gerginal Garrigus, John Jay, and 41 others opened the session with their speeches. He remarked the abundance of the preceding harvest, the progressive state of agriculture, manufactures, commerce, and navigation, and the general prosperity which had resulted from the revival of public and private confidence, to which the Jaws of the United States were so earnestly committed. I intended to present the plan laid down for the formation of a friendly relationship with the Indians.\nIndians are the basis of which civilization, strictly adhering to the dictates of justice and humanity. The act for taxing distilled spirits, Xaxd, had been passed, but it had ended with some difficulty, from the beginning, in some parts of the union. There had been a misinterpretation of its provisions; but he entertained no doubt that the issues arising from it would be resolved by a proper explanation of the act.\n\nThe President next observed that, agreeable to several acts on the subject, a district of ten square miles, or the permanent seat of the government of the United States, had been fixed and announced by proclamation. The district comprised lands on both sides of the Potomac, and the towers of.\nAlexandria and Georgetown; a city had been laid out, and there was every reason to expect a due progress in the buildings, He also informed the two houses that a census of the inhabitants of the United States had been completed, and assured the pleasants a meeting that the present population bordered upon 42 million persons; that a further loan of two million dollars and a half of florins had been completed if from Holland, upon terms similar to the last, and that another loan for six million florins was being sought. He concluded by recommending to their particular attention, the support of the army on an effective plan: the admission of the post office, the extension and improvements of the fortifications, the necessity for a.\npublic  mint,  an  um'f 'fmity  of  \\v'eig^ts  and  meas- \nures, and  a  provision  for  the  sale  of  the  vacant \nlands  of  the  United  States. \nThis  session  contin'ied  their  deliberations,! \nmntil  the  8th  of  May*  iay2,  when  they  adjourn- \ned till  the  first  Monday  of  November  fv  llowni^. \nlouring  their  session  and  adjournment,  there  v  as \nno  rema.kable  of  impvortant  event;  a  serious  of \nmassacres,  were,  as  formerly,  committed  on  the \nfrontiers ;  the  hopes  exp-essed  by  the  President, \nof  being  able  to  accommodate  the  disputes  with \nthe  Ind'ans,  did  not  prove  succe;'L-fu!.  On.  the \n4ta  of  November,  lT91,the  United  Slates  ar- \niny,  under  the  c  irn-mnd  of  General  St  Clair,  was \nattacked  by  ^nrprize,  within  fifteen  miles  of  the \nMiami  village;  the  contest  laste !  Tor  four  honrs \nwhecuthe  Indians  became  victoriou'-',  tiie  retreat  of \nthe  Americans  was  accomplished  with  the  l(\u00bb-^  of \nFour thousand private soldiers, eight pies of artillery and their whole big brigade in this battle is said to have fought under the disguise of Canadians. The attention of the Executive during this period was also engaged in devising modes to reconcile the citizens in some districts of the union to the law, acted for the purpose of collecting a certain duty on spirits, distilled within the United States, in some states, particularly the western parts of Pennsylvania, where a regular and formidable opposition manifested itself. In consequence of which, the special interposition of the President was deemed advisable. He issued a proclamation recommending a compliance with the laws and warning the citizens against unlawful proceedings and complications.\nThe second Countess met again in November, 1797. The President opened the session with a speech, the greatest part of which responded to the unfortunate efforts to terminate the Indian hostilities. He informed Congress of the opposition to the excise law and recommended a revision of the judiciary system. Furthermore, he observed that three loans had been negotiated for the use of the United States, one at Antwerp and two at Amsterdam, each for three millions of florins, on very reasonable terms, which afforded a pleasing evidence of the increasing credit of the new government. On the 2nd of March, the session for the prosperity of the United States met with little or no interruption, except from the hostilities of the Indians. The attention of the Executive was chiefly directed to these.\nThe table of measures which the organ-ization of the French republic implemented, recorded in Memoirs, included the extension of commerce and the dispatch of powers. This necessitated the requirement for the United States to send and receive ministers and agents, for the better regulation of affairs. This necessary measure created troubles and complexities hitherto unknown to the Executive of the United States. On the 8th of April, 1793, Citizen Genet arrived at Charleston as minister plenipotentiary from the executive of France to the President of the United States. On the 22nd of the same month, the President issued a proclamation enjoining the citizens of the United States to a strict neutrality in the contest between the French republican powers and threatening.\nprosecution to all who should infringe the sarae.\nThe public approval of this wise measure, for the preservation of the public tranquility, was manifested in numerous addresses to the President, thanking him in warm terms for his attention to the interests of the citizens. However, many were offended at the measure, as they conceived it implied a deficiency of respect and gratitude to the republic of France, to whom the United States were highly indebted for their Independence. Genet arrived in Philadelphia, the seat of government, on the 17th of June. The beginning of this interlude is, perhaps, unexampled in diplomatic history. It was not until the publication of the Proclamation of the President, enjoining neutrality, that the government began to be heard.\narrival and even then, they were only informed through the medium of his new-perrier about Conde Jacques Georges Nesle, number 14.5, a fortnight after his arrival; instead of presenting his credentials to the President, he began to assume an imprudent and unbecoming conduct. He overlooked authorizing the fitting out of armed vessels, enlisted citizens and others, and gave commissions to cruise and commit hostilities against the vessels of England and other nations at war with France, but who were, at the same time, at peace with the United States. These proceedings, in opposition to the peace of the United States, were instantly complained of.\nMr. Hammond, the British minister, planted the seeds of future controversy in this manner. The United States government interfered and, in some cases, overruled the proceedings of both the British and French, deeming them illegal. Remonstrances were exhibited to the President from both sides, which created a series of diplomatic correspondences. A new source of discontent arose on the part of the French; Gent4 demanded, with sorry abruptness, money from the treasury of the United States, in part payment of their debt to France, with which the American government found it inconvenient to comply. This state of diplomatic hostility could not be expected to hold out long without coming to a crisis. Accordingly, on the 8th of August, the President ordered Mr. Jefferson, the Secretary of State, to address a letter to Mr. Livingston, the American minister in France.\nMorris, the American ambassador in France, was soliciting the republic to recall their minister. In the meantime, Citizen Danplane, Vice-consel for the republic of France, in the port of Boston, had committed sundry encroachments on the laws of the United States. The President, in consequence thereof, suspended his powers. The term for which General Washington was elected President having expired, he was again elected to the same office. On December 2, 1793, the third Congress commenced their first session. The President, in his speech to both houses, expressed a respectful sense of the confidence that he enjoyed, in being again called, by his fellow citizens, to the office of chief magistrate. He recited the measures which he had adopted to avoid a rupture with any of the foreign nations.\npowers at war, and to ensure the citizens of the United States, the rights of neutrality. He finding it recommended to Congress, the necessity of placing the country in a state of defense; that while the United States fulfilled their duties to the rest of the world, they may likewise exact the fulfillment of the like duties towards them. He informed them of the means which had been pursued for conciliating the dispositions of the Indians, and recommended to Congress to make provision for the establishment of commerce with the Indian nations, as the best means of securing their interest and rendering their tranquil permanent; he concluded by recommending a repeal of the tax on General Ceccuge Washington. transportation of public prints, as they contained the best means of informing the minds. General Washington, 147.\nThe governor informed the House of Representatives that although the French nation's government had generally manifested a friendly disposition towards the United States, the person unfortunately appointed as their minister plenipotentiary had breathed nothing of the friendly disposition of the nation which sent him. His proceedings had uniformly tended to involve us in a war abroad and discord and anarchy at home. Soon after this period, this minister was recalled. About this period, the commerce of the United States was affected.\nThe United States began to suffer greatly from the depredations of the British under the pretense of their being loaded with French property. It also suffered from piracy of privateers, who, for the most part, disclaimed justice altogether, seizing both vessels and cargo and disposing of them for their own use. A considerable number of American vessels were likewise captured in the Western Ocean by the Algerine corsairs. These subjects were assumed by Congress, and many modes were proposed for putting a stop to the rampant excesses. A bill was passed, to provide an army against the Barbary States. On the 15th of March, a motion was made in the House of Representatives, assented to by the Senate, and signed by the President, laying an embargo for 30 days.\ndays on alien vessels bound to foreign ports; this embargo continued until the 25th of May. The President was empowered to raise an additional corps of artillery men, for the purpose of garrisoning the fortifications for the defense of the sea-coasts. He was also authorized to call on the citizens of the diffrent states, to take effective measures for organizing 80,000 defensive militia. On the 10th of May, intelligence was received from the territorial N.V., of the river Ohio, stating the hardships which the citizens of that territory sustained from the hostile disposition of the Cherokee Indians; the massacre of 200 settlers, and the loss of 2000 horses, formed a significant part of their disaster. On the 20th of May, the President, by a message, informed the House of Representatives,\nThere had been some danger of hostilities against the territories of Spain, in the neighborhood of the United States. The governor of Kentucky had indicated that he would make no efforts to prevent the expulsion of the Spaniards from the banks of the Mississippi, as he had found them a perfidious and worthless people, constantly exciting the Indians to murder the children that quartered with them.\n\nDuring this session of Congress, many important laws were enacted. The act acknowledging the Marquis de Lafayette, the sum of $24,420 for his services during the war, being the pay of major-general; and the act forbidding African citizens, or foreigners, residing in the United States, under severe penalties, from engaging in the slave trade, does great honor to the legislation.\nOn the 9th of June, 1794, this session adjourned. In 1794, during the recess of Congress, the President of the United States called out the militia to suppress an insurrection, which began to assume a very formidable aspect. It was confined to the western parts of the State of Pennsylvania. The outlines of it are as follows: During the year 1700, the Congress of the United States found it necessary to lay and collect excises. This mode of taxation, discordant to the genius of the citizens, met with considerable opposition in many parts of the union. However, this opposition was gradually banished by reason and patriotism, excepting in the four western counties of Pennsylvania, where sedition still remained, and produced symptoms of riot and violence. The disaffection was first manifested at Fort Pitt, where a body of men, under the command of one Trent, had assembled, and declared their intention of resisting the collection of the excise. They were joined by a number of disaffected persons from the neighboring counties, and the insurrection spread rapidly. The insurgents were well armed, and had taken possession of several forts and magazines. They were determined to resist the collectors of the excise, and had even threatened to march upon Pittsburgh, the seat of government of the State. The militia, under the command of General Pickens, was immediately called out to suppress the insurrection. The insurgents were soon dispersed, and several of their leaders were taken prisoners. The insurrection was finally suppressed, and order was restored. The President, in a proclamation, offered a pardon to all who would lay down their arms and submit to the authority of the law. The insurrection, however, had caused great alarm, and had shown the necessity of maintaining a well-regulated militia.\nIn general, complaints arose; certain associations were formed to prevent the operation of the laws, and the excise officers received some marks of contempt and rudeness. These associations held public meetings and published their resolutions. Besides the excise law, they censured several other acts of the federal government, such as the exorbitant salaries of office, the institution of a national bank, the interest on the public debt, and so on.\n\nOn the 6th of September, 1791, the collector of the revenue for that district was seized by a party, armed and in disguise; they tarred and feathered him, cut off his hair, and committed other acts of violence. Legal process was therefore issued against the offenders, but the insurgents prevented the sheriff from serving them; they fired upon him.\narrested and for some time, detained him as a prisoner. The President, the ever watchful guardian of the constitution, beheld with sorrow these excesses. He sought and weighed what was best to be done in this momentous crisis. He beheld the judiciary stripped of its capacity to enforce the laws, and crimes, which reached to the very existence of order, perpetrated without control: the friends of government insulted, and the constitution violated, which he had made a sacred vow to protect. He was held with abhorrence the idea of 'arraying citizen against citizen,' until every lenient measure should be exhausted. He issued proclamations, exhorting the rioters to desist from disorderly proceedings. He recommended obedience to the laws, and appointed commissioners.\nTo repair the scene of insurrection, they were authorized to confer with the insurgents, to state to them our sensations, to assure them that it was earnest with us to avoid a report to concision. General George Washington himself offered them pardon, on condition of receiving satisfactory assurance of obedience to the laws.\n\nThese lenient measures did not produce the good effects that should have been expected. The President therefore deemed it prudent to resort to military force. Fifteen thousand militia were put in motion, their number intimidated the insurgents; thus the insurrection was quelled without the effusion of blood. Some of the ringleaders were apprehended and brought to trial; one of them was found guilty of high treason and condemned to suffer, but was pardoned by the President.\nIn November, 1794, the third Congress held their second session at Philadelphia. The President began his speech with a history of the opposition which had been manifested towards the Constitution and laws of the United States, and of the means he had pursued to suppress it. The alacrity which the militia and others who volunteered their service displayed, he said, demonstrated to the highest advantage the value of public government. To behold the most and least wealthy of our citizens, standing in the same ranks, was a testament to this.\nveterans, primarily distinguished by their size. In the 52 Biographical Memoirs of the army of this constitution, undeterred by a march of three hundred miles, over rugged mountains, by the approach of a mild season, or by any other discouragement. He recommended to Congress the recall of officers of government and other citizens, who had sustained losses, for their generous exertions in upholding the constitution and laws. \"The amount,\" he said, \"would not be great; and on future emergencies, the government would be amply repaid by the influence of an example, that he who incurs a loss in its defense, shall have a recompense in its liberty.\"\n\nThe intelligence from the army of General Wayne, acting against the hostile Indians N.W. of the Ohio, afforded a happy respite to the military.\nThe military operations have dampened the ardor of the savages. Yet, although the power of the United States to punish them could not be questioned, he was not unwilling to cement a lasting peace, upon terms of equity and good neighborhood; he recommended the adoption of a definite plan for the redemption of the public debt, and in subsequent communications he transmitted to them certain papers relative to the intercourse of the United States with foreign nations. They announced to Congress and to the world, his unremitting exertions to cultivate peace with all the world, to observe treaties with good faith, to check deviations from the line of impartiality, and to explain and correct what was misapprehended or appeared unjust.\n\nGeneral George Washington. Page 153\n\nEver since the formal ratification of the treaties\nThe peace between the United States and Great Britain was marred by numerous complaints from both sides regarding its fulfillment. The history of the nature, progress, and determination of these disputes forms an interesting part in the history of the political and diplomatic character of President Jefferson. However, the bounds of this sketch prevent us from exploring the subject fully. The grounds of complaint on both sides were disputed in 1797, in a correspondence between Mr. Jefferson, secretary of state, and Mr. Hammond, the envoy of Britain. In their letters, the reciprocal complaints are stated with candor, perspicuity, and completeness. To support their respective arguments, they bring forward a large body of illustrations and authorities on each side.\nwhich are highly interesting. This correspondence was published by Congress in 1774. The arguments of Ivlv. Jefferson appeared to have contained unanswerable weight, as no reply or explanation were ever made to them, although requested by him. Alias remained in this state of suspense until Jane 1793, when the British, in consequence of their hostilities with France, issued orders to the commanders of their vessels to stop all neutral vessels carrying provisions to any port in that republic; ships attempting to enter any French port, blockaded by the English, were to be confiscated, both vessel and cargo, whatever it may be. The order contained a limited exception in favor of Denmark and Sweden, but in the execution of it, the rights of America were entirely disregarded. This matter produced a diplomatic crisis.\ndiscussion between the ministers of the two countries, both at London and Philadelphia: Their correspondence produced a mutual wish on both sides to establish a treaty of commerce, and a friendly adjustment of all complaints. The President of the United States accordingly nominated Mr. John Jay, chief judge of the United States, as an extraordinary envoy to the court of London. After a short passage, Mr. Jay arrived in London, where he met with a polite reception, and negotiated the Treaty of Peace, Commerce and Navigation, which at present exists between the two countries.\n\nThe Treaty arrived in Philadelphia in March 17Q5; it was shortly after submitted to the Senate for their consent; they returned it to the President on the 24th of June, and advised conditional ratification thereof. About the 3Gth of the same month, the President signed the treaty, and it was ratified by the Senate on the 24th of January 17Q6.\nIt was submitted to the public through the news papers that very month. The topic became the general conversation; it was placed in all different points of view, and many of which it could not admit. It met with great opposition, addresses and resolutions were received from all the commercial towns of the union; some advising its ratification, others disapproving of it in total. This opposition was viewed by President George Washington in a very serious light. He considered the subject and weighed all the arguments advanced against it. His own opinion was not in favor of it, but he did not wish to differ from the Senate, and thought it would be better to ratify it in the manner they had advised.\nMr. Jay had asserted that no better terms could be obtained, and obstinacy in rejecting the settlement might be serious. The President therefore assented, and ratifications were exchanged, with the suspension of the most objectionable article.\n\nThis transaction is perhaps the most unfortunate that occurred during the whole period of his Presidency. Those opposed to the treaty did not fail to load him with reproach; no tone was left unturned that could impress upon the minds of the citizens gross falsehoods. Such as, the treaty contained no reciprocal advantages, the benefits were all on the side of Britain, their rights were not only neglected but absolutely sold, it was made with the design of oppressing the French, and contrary to every principle of gratitude and sound policy.\nThe fourth Congress met at Philadelphia in December 1795. The President informed them that negotiators were on foot for the adjustment of affairs with the hostile Indians and with the Dey and Regency of Algiers. He had received assurances of a speedy and satisfactory conclusion of the negotiations with Spain. With the advice of the Senate, he had ratified a treaty with Britain, subject to the exception of part of one article. He recommended a review of the military establishment and making provision for garrisoning and securing the western posts to be delivered up by the British. He informed them that a statement of the finance and appropriations necessary for the ensuing year would be laid before them.\nas also statements relative to the mint, progress in providing materials for building frigates, state of fortifications, and military magazines, &c. He concluded with a recommendation of temperate discussion and mutual forbearance in subjects where a difference of opinion may be apt to arise.\n\nA warm and lengthy discussion took place in the House of Representatives relative to the British treaty. Both sides of the question were ably supported; few subjects had ever come before the House upon which so many members delivered their sentiments. On March 24, 1796, they came to a resolution, requesting the President to lay before the House a copy of the instructions to Mr. Jay, together with his correspondence and other documents relative to that treaty. To which request, the President gave a positive refusal.\nassured the House that I had always endeavored to harmonize with the other branches of government and that I had never withheld any instrumental or constitutional requirements from General Gerry: IVajurzn. 15 give. But that the nature of foreign negotiations required caution and secrecy, that all papers relative thereto had been laid before the Senate, that the constitution empowered me to make treaties with the consent of that body, but that it would establish a dangerous precedent to admit a right in the House of Representatives to demand and have all papers respecting negotiations with foreign powers after the treaties were finally concluded and ratified, and the assent of that house not necessary to their validity. We deem it unnecessary to enter into a history of the differences with the republic of France.\nDuring the entire time General Washington led public affairs, his conduct was uniformly moderate, prudent, magnanimous, firm, wise, and virtuous. The second term of his election to the office of Chief Mastermind was nearing expiration, and he determined to retire from public life and enjoy his declining years in private. On this momentous occasion, resigning a charge he had first accepted through his enthusiasm for the principles of republicanism, he was filled with the purest wishes for the future happiness of that republic, which he had devoted his early, mature, and a portion of his declining years to establish.\nFriends and fellow citizens,\n\nThe period of a new election of a citizen to administer the executive government of the United States is not far distant, and the time has arrived when your thoughts must be employed in determining the person, who is to be clothed with that important trust. It appears proper, especially as it may concern a more distinct expression of the public voice, that I now apprise you of the resolution I have formed, to decline being considered among the number of candidates.\n\nAddress of George Washington, announcing his intention of retiring from all public employment.\nTo the people of the United States.\nI am among those from whom a choice is to be made. I, in turn, assure you that this resolution has been taken without disregard for all considerations pertaining to the relation that binds a dutiful citizen to his country. In withdrawing the tender of my services which I, in your Excellency's Quorum, George Washington, 159th, imply, I am not lessened in my lengthy service by any diminution of zeal for your future interest; no deficiency of gratitude for your past kindness; but am strengthened by a full conviction that the step is compatible with both. Acceptance and continuance in the office to which your esteemed assembly has appointed me have been an uniform sacrifice of inclination to the opinion of duty, and to a deference for your judgment.\nwhat appeared to be your desire. I constantly hoped that it would be in my power, consistently with notives, which I was not at liberty to disregard, to return to retirement from which I had been reluctantly drawn. The strength of my inclination to this, prior to the last election, had even led to the preparation of an address to declare it to you; but mature reflection on the then perplexing and critical posture of our affairs with foreign nations, and the unanimous advice of persons entitled to my confidence, impelled me to abandon the idea. I receive, that the state of your concerns, external as well as internal, no longer requires the pursuit of inclination incompatible with the contentment of duty or propriety; and am persuaded, whatever party affections may be retained for my past services, that\nIn the present circumstances of our country, you would not have discovered my determination to retire. The impressions with which I first undertook the arduous trust were explained on the proper occasion. In the discharge of this trust, I will only say that I have, with good intentions, contributed towards the organization and administration of the government, the best exertions of which a very fallible judgment was capable. Not unconscious, in the outset, of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has strengthened the motives for my retirement. Every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me, as it will be becoming. Satisfied that if any circumstances should arise requiring a change, I have taken the necessary steps to ensure a smooth transition.\ncircumstances have given peculiar circumstances myserves. They were temporary. I have the consolation to believe, that while choice and pride invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not forbid it. In looking forward to the moment, which is intended to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude which I owe to my beloved country, for the many honors it has conferred upon me; still more for the steadfast confidence with which it has supported me; and for the opportunities I have thence enjoyed of ingratiating my inviolable attachment, by services faithful and persevering, though unequal to my zeal. If benefits have resulted to our country from these services, let it always be remembered to your praise, and as an instructive example.\nIn our annals, there is an example of General George Washington, who, under circumstances where the Paionians were agitated in every direction, sought to mislead amidst sometimes dubious appearances and vicissitudes of fortune that often discouraged, in situations where not unfrequently want of success had countenanced the spirit of criticism and the constancy of your support was the essential prop of the efforts and a guarantee of the plans by which they were effected. Deeply penetrated with this idea, I shall carry it with me to my grave as a strong incitement to unceasing vows. That Heaven may continue to bestow upon you the choicest tokens of its benevolence; that your union and brotherly affection may be perpetual; that the free constitution, which is the work of our hands, may be sacredly maintained; that its administration in every department may be stamped with dignity and success.\nWith wisdom and virtue, that the happiness of these states may be complete, by so careful a preservation, and so prudent a use of this blessing, as will acquire for them the glory of recommending it to applause, the affection and adoption of every man is it, dear sir, your duty and mine.\n\nPerhaps, I ought to stop. I feel a solicitude for your welfare, which cannot end with my life, and the apprehension of danger, natural to that solicitude, urges me on this occasion, to offer to your solemn contemplations, and to recommend to your frequent review, some sentiments, which are the result of much reflection, and which appear to me all-important to the permanence of:\n\n102 Blogr.-.f Illegible Mcmcirsof_\nyour  felicity  as  a  people.  These  will  bs  offered  to \nyou  with  the  more  freedom,  as  you  can  only  see \nin  them  the  disinterested  warnings  of  a  parting \nfriend,  who  can  possibly  have  no  pergonal  motive \nto  bias  his  counsel.  Nor  can  1  forget,  as  an  en- \ncourag:ement  to  it,  yop.r  indulgent  reception  of  my \nsentiments  on  a  former  and  not  di-;similar  occa- \nsion. \nInterwoven  as  is  the  love  of  liberty  with  every \nligament  of  your  hearts,  no  recommendation  cf \nmine  is  fiecesi;ary  to  fortify  or  confirm  the  attach- \nment. \nThe  unity  of  government  vvhicli  constitutes  yoa \none  people,  is  also  now  dear  to  vou.  It  is  justly \nso  ;  for  it  is-  a  main  pillar  in  the  cdificeof  your  real \nindependence,  the  support  of  ^our  tranquillity  ut \nhome,  your  peace  abr(.;ad  ;  of  your  safety,  of  your \npros;)erity  ;  of  that  very  liberty  'wh^ch  you  to \nhighly  prize.  But  a\u00ab  it  is  easy  to  forsee,  that  from \nDifferent causes, from different quarters, will take much pain to weaken in your minds the conviction of this truth: this is the point in your political fortress where the batteries of internal and external enemies will be most constantly and actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed. It is of infinite moment, that you should properly estimate the immense value of your national union, to you collectively and individually; that you would discern a cordial, habitual, and unwavering attachment to it; accustoming yourselves to speak of it as of the pillar of your political safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest even a suspicion that it can be undermined.\nIn an event be abandoned; and frowning upon the first dawning of every attempt to alienate any portion of our country from the rest, or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the various parts. For this you have every inducement of sympathy and interest. Citizens by birth or choice, of a common country, that country has a right to concentrate your affections. The name of Ancrym, which belongs to you, in your national capacity, will always exalt the just pride of patriotism, more than any application derived from local discriminations. With slight shades of Ditterich you have the fine religion, manners, habits, and political principles. You have in a common cause fought and triumphed together: the independence and liberty you possess are the work of joint councils and joint efforts, of common dangers, sufferings.\nThe successes, but these candidates, however powerful they address themselves to your sensibilities, are greatly outweighed by those which apply immediately to your interest. Every part of our country finds the most commanding motives for careful guarding and protecting the union of the whole. I, the author of B'icgrafhlcal Memoirs, note the North in an unrestrained intercourse with the South, protected by the equal laws of a common government. The North, in this intercourse, finds in the productions of the South great additional resources for manufacturing and commercial enterprise and precious materials for industry. The South, in the same intercourse, benefits by the agency of the North, sees its agriculture grow, and its commerce expand. Partly taking the seamen of the North into its own channels, it finds its particular navy.\nThe text invigorates and contributes differently to nourish and increase the general interests of national navigation. It looks forward to the protection of a maritime strength, as it is unequally adapted. The late, in a similar course with the West, already thrives, and in the progressive improvement of interior communications by land and water, will more and more find a valuable vent for the commodities which it brings from abroad or manufactures at home. The West derives from the East, supplies the requisites for its growth and comfort; and what is of still greater consequence, it must of necessity enjoy the indispensable communications for its own productions to the weight, importance, and future maritime strength of the Atlantic side of the Union, directed by an indissoluble community.\nThe narrow interest of any utility, be it from its own separate source or an apostate and unional one, CeneraJ George Vasquez, must be precarious if the West cannot hold this essential land. While every part of our country feels an immediate and particular interest in Union, all parts combined cannot fail to find in the United mass of means and efforts greater strength, greater resources, proportionally greater security from external danger, and less frequent interruptions of their peace by foreign nations. They must derive from Union an example from those broils and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict neighboring countries, not tied together by the same union.\nThe government, which their own rivalries alone would be sufficient to produce, but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, and intrigues would simulate and embitter. Hence, they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military establishments, which under any form of government are inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as particularly hostile to Republican Liberty. In this sense, it is that your Union ought to be considered as a main prop or your liberty, and the love of the one ought to endear to you the preservation of the other.\n\nThese considerations speak a persuasive language to every reflecting and virtuous mind, and exhibit the continuance of the Union as a primary object of patriotic desire. \u2014 Is there a doubt whether a common government can embrace so large a body of people?\nHere is an experience I'd like to share. To listen to a speech in a case where criminal actions were involved. We are authorized to propose what a proper organizational structure would be, with the necessary agency for the respective sub-divisions, such as a happy issue to the experiment. It is worth a fair and full experiment. With such powerful and obvious motives to unite, considering all parts of our country, while experience has not demonstrated its impracticability, there will always be reason to distrust the patriotism of those who, in any quarter, may endeavor to weaken its bands.\n\nIn contemplating the causes that may disturb our union, it is of serious concern that any ground has been finished for characterizing parties by geographical discrimination: Northern and Southern, Atlantic and Western.\nWhen men desire to excite a belief in a real difference of interests and views, one expedient is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other districts. You cannot shield yourselves enough against the jealousy and heated passions which spring from these misrepresentations; they render alien to each other those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affection. The inhabitants of our western country have recently had a painful lesson on this head: they have seen, in the negotiation by the executive, and in the General Congress, the Secretary of the Treasury, Robert R. Livingston of the treaty with France, which treated the United States unfairly.\nWe have proof how unwounded the Juipioi were in propagating angling the policy in theeral government and in the Atlantic, being friendly to their interests in regard to the Mississippi. They have been wise to the formation of two treaties, one with Great-Britain and one with Spain, which secured to them every thing they could desire, in respect to our foreign relations, towards confining their prosperity. Will it not be their wisdom to rely for the preservation of these advantages on the Union by which they were procured? Will they not henceforth be deaf to the advisers, if any there be, who would ever feud them from their brethren, connect them with strangers?\n\nTo the efficacy and permanency of your union, a government for the whole is indispensable. - Alliances, however strict, between the parts.\ncan be an adequate substitute; they must inevitably experience the infractions and interruptions which all armies, in all times, leave experience. Sensible of this momentous truth, you have proven on your first fire, by the description of a constitution of government bitterly criticized than your former king and (or the effective management of your common concerns. This government, the originator of our own choice, was uninfluenced by any, upon full investigation and mature deliberation, completely free in its principles, in the distribution of its powers, uniting securing with energizing and, containing within itself a provision for its own amendment, has a just claim to your confidence and your support. Respect for its authority, compliance with its laws\nThe duties imposed by the fundamental maxims of true liberty include acquiescing in a government's laws and measures. The basis of our political system is the right of the people to make and alter their constitution of government. However, the constitution that exists at any given time is sacredly obligatory until changed by an explicit and authentic act of the whole people. The very idea of the power and right of the people to establish government presupposes the duty of every individual to obey the established government.\n\nAll obstructions to the execution of the laws, as well as combinations and associations, under whatever plausible character, with real designs to direct, counteract, or awe the regular deliberations and actions of the constituted authorities, are destructive of this fundamental principle.\nThe fatal tendency of parties to organize and give an artificial and extraordinary force, replacing the delegated will of the nation with their own. Parties often are small, artful, and enterprising minorities of the community. According to the alternate triumphs of different parties, the public administration becomes a mirror of their ill-concerted and incongruous projects, rather than a source of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common councils and modified by mutual interests.\n\nHowever, combinations or associations of the above description may now and then answer popular ends. They are likely, in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled.\n\nGeneral George Washington treated the mirror of the ill-concerted and incongruous projects of faction, rather than originating of consistent and wholesome plans digested by common councils and modified by mutual interests.\nIn order to subvert the power of the people and usurp the reins of government, it is necessary, for the preservation and permanency of your government and your present happy state, not only to steadfastly discredit irregular oppositions to its acknowledged authority, but also to resist with firmness the spirit of innovation on the principles upon which it ever was specious to found. One method of subversion may be to effect in the forms of the constitution alterations which will impair the energy of the system, and that to undermine what cannot be directly overthrown. In all the changes to which you may be invited, remember that time and habit are at least as necessary to fix the true character of governments, as of other things.\nThe efficient management of institutions is the surest standard by which to test the real tendency of a country's constitution. I TO Logographical Makers of the following: experience is the best judge of this, as opposed to mere hypothesis or opinion. For the efficient management of our extensive country's common interests, a government of sufficient vigor is indispensable. Liberty itself will find in such a government, with powers properly distributed and adjusted, its surest guardian. Indeed, little else than a name where the government is too feeble to withstand the enterprises of faction, to confine each member of society within the limits prescribed by the laws, and so maintain all in the secure and orderly state.\nThe unenjoyable consequences of personal rights and property are already intimated to you with a particular reference to the founding of them on geographical discriminations. Let me warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirit of party, generally. This spirit, unfortunately, is inescapable from nature, having its root in the strongest passions of the human mind. It exists under different shapes in all governments more or less stifled, or repressed; but in those of the republican form, it is seen in its greatest rankings and is their worst enemy. The relentless domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the quirks of revenge, is evident in General George Washington.\nThe natural tendency to party dissolution, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most lamentable errors, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads, at length, to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which generally result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual. And sooner or later, the chief of some prevailing faction more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.\n\nWithout looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interesting and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.\nIt always serves to distract public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms; kindles animosity against another; and occasionally foments riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which find a facilitated access to the government itself, through the channels of party passions. Thus, the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.\n\nThere is an opinion that parties in free countries are useful checks upon the administration of the government, and serve to keep alive the spirit of liberty. This, within certain limits, is probably true; and in governments of more monarchical cast, patriotism may look with indulgence, if not with favor upon the spirit of party.\nBut in those of the popular character, in governments purely elective, it is a spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for every salutary purpose. And there being constant danger of excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to mitigate and assuage it. A fire not be quenched; it demands an uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a flame, lest instead of warming, it should consume.\n\nIt is important that the habits of thinking in a free country should inspire caution, in those entrusted with its administration, to confine themselves within their respective constitutional spheres, avoiding in the exercise of their powers of one department to encroach upon another. The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate.\nSolidate the powers of all departments in one, to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism. A just estimate of that love of power and proneness to abuse it, which predominates in the human heart, is sufficient to satisfy us of the truth of this position. The necessity of reciprocal checks in the exercise of political power, by dividing and distributing it into different depositories, and constituting each the guardian of the public weal against invasions by the other, has been evinced by experiments ancient and modern: some of them in one country and under our very eyes. To preserve them is as necessary as to institute them. If, in the opinion of the people, the distribution or modification of constitutional powers be in any particular wrong, let it be corrected.\n\nGeorge Washington\nIt should be corrected by an amendment in a way which the constitution designates. But let there be no change by usurpation; for though this, in one instance, may be the intrusion of good, it is the customary way by which free governments are destroyed. The precedent must always greatly outweigh in permanent evil any partial or transient benefit which the use can at any time yield.\n\nOf all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would a man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with politics.\nLet it be a place of public felicity. Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation deter the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice? And let us with caution entertain the supposition, that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education or minds of peculiar structure; reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. 'Tis substantially true, that virtue or morality is a necessity spring of popular government. The rule indeed extends with more or less force to every species of free government. Who that is a sincere friend to it, can look with indifference upon attempts to shake the foundation of the faith?\nProsnote, then, as an object of primary importance, institutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In proportion as the structure of a government gives force to public opinion, it is essential that public opinion also be enlightened. As a very important source of strength and security, clerical public credit. One method of preserving it is to use it as sparingly as possible, avoiding occasions of expense by cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disbursements to repel it; avoiding likewise the accumulation of debt, not only by shunning occasions of expense, but by vigorous exertions in time of peace to discharge the debts which unnecessary wars may have occasioned, and not ungenerously throwing upon posterity the burden which we ourselves ought to bear. The execution of these principles was the work of General George Washington.\nMaxims belong to your representatives; but it is necessary that public opinion should cooperate. To facilitate their performance of duty, it is essential that you should practically bear in mind, that towards the payment of debts there must be revenue; that to have revenue, there must be taxes; that no taxes can be devised that are not more or less inconvenient and unpleasant; that the intrinsic embarrassment inseparable from the selection of proper objects, which is always a choice of difficulties, ought to be a decisive motive for candid construction of the conduct of the government in making it, and for the spirit of acquiescence in measures for obtaining revenue, which public exigencies may at any time dictate. Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all.\nreligion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally join it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened people, at no distant period, to be magnanimous and too novel an example of a people always glided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt, that in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it? Is it rendered impossible by its vices?\n\nIn the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate virtue.\nAntipathies against particular nations and passionate attachments for others should be excluded, and in their place, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions occur.\n\nHence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed and bloody contests. \u2014 The nation prompted by ill-will and resentment sometimes impels the government to war contrary to the best calculations.\nThe government sometimes participates in the national propensity and adopts, through passion, what reason would reject. At other times, it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility, instigated by pride. General George Washington, 17th century, and other sinister and pernicious influences. The peace, often, perhaps even the liberty of nations, has been the victim. So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation facilitates the illusion of an imaginary common interest, in cases where no real common interest exists, and infuses into one the enmities of the other, betraying the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the enemy.\nThe favorite nation, which is apt to injure the nation making the concessions, by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. Such attachments are particularly alarming as avenues to foreign influence in numerous ways. The favorite nation provides facilities for citizens to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, sometimes even with popularity; gilding their base or foolish compliances with the appearances of virtuous oblations, commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good.\nAgainst the insidious wiles of foreign influence, I implore you to believe me, fellow-citizens. The jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake. History and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another impair the stability and integrity of the government and the harmony of the nation.\nother, cause  those  whom  they  actuate  to  see  the \ndanger  only  on  c  ,  side,  and  serve  to  veil  and  e- \nven  to  second  the  arts  of  influence  on  the  other, \nlieal  patriots,  who  may  resist  the  intrigues  of  the \nfavourite,  are  liable  to  become  ssspected  and  ofli- \nous;  while  its  tools  and  dupes  u:;urp  the  applause \nand  confidence  of  the  people  to  surrender  their  in- \nterests. \nThe  great  rule  of  conduct  for  ns,  in  regard  to \nforeign  nations,  is  in  extending  our  commercial \nrelations,  to  have  with  them  as  little  pvlitlcal  con- \niij?2tipn  as  possible.     So  far  as  we  ha^^  already \nGpierat  George  JVashhigfon,  1 T9 \nformed  engagements,  let  them   be  fulfilled  withv \nperfect  good  faith, \u2014 Here  let  us  stop. \nEuiro{.)e  has  a  set  of  primary  interests,  which  to \nus  have  none,  or  a  very  remote  relation. \u2014 Hence \nshe  must  be  engaged  in  frequent  controversies,  the \ncauses which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Therefore, it must be unwise of us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations or collisions of her friendships or enmities.\n\nOur detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people, under an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.\n\"Why forgo the advantages of such a peculiar situation? Why quit your own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalry, jealousy, or caprice I? It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it: for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is necessary, and would be unwise, to extend them.\"\nTaking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable establishments, on a respectable defensive position, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies. Harmony and liberal intercourse with all nations are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and disseminating, by gentle means, the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing, establishing, with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them; conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary and firm to be.\nFrom time to time abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate, General George Washington, in view, that 'tis folly in one nation to lock for disinterested favors from another; it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character. By such acceptance, it makes itself subject to having given equivalents for noional favors, and yet not being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There is no greater error than to expect or calculate real favors from nation to nation. 'Tis an illusion which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard. Offering to you, my countrymen, these counsels of an old and adequate friend. I dare not hope they will make the strong and lasting impression.\nI cannot wish that they would troublere the usual current of the passions, or prevent our nation from following the course which has hitherto marked the destiny of nations: but if I may even flatter myself that they may be productive of some partial benefit, some occasional good; that they may now and then recur to moderate the fury of party spirit, to warn against the mischiefs of foreign intrigue, to guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism, this hope will be a full recompense for the solicitude of your welfare, by which they have been dictated.\n\nHow far in the discharge of my official duties I have been guided by these principles, the public records and other evidence of my conduct must witness to you and the world. To myself, the assurance of my principles being delineated is sufficient.\n\n182 Biographical Memoirs of\nevidences of my conduct must witness to you and the world. To myself, the assurance of my principles is sufficient.\nI. My conduct in the sciences has been, at least, guided by this belief. In relation to the ongoing war in Europe, my proclamation of April 22, 1793, serves as a guide. Sanctioned by your approving voice and that of your Representatives in both Houses of Congress, the spirit of that measure has governed me, uninfluenced by any attempts to deter or divert me.\n\nAfter deliberate examination with the aid of the best lights I could obtain, I was well satisfied that our country, under all the circumstances of the case, had a right to take, and was bound, in duty and interest, to take a neutral position. Having taken it, I determined, as far as depended upon me, to maintain it with moderation, perseverance, and firmness.\n\nThe considerations which respect the right to:\nI. Holding a neutral conduct is not necessary to detail on this occasion. According to my understanding of the matter, this right, far from being denied by any of the belligerent powers, has been virtually admitted by all.\n\nII. The duty of holding a neutral conduct can be inferred from the obligations which justice and humanity impose upon General George Washington. Every nation, in cases where it is free to act, is duty-bound to maintain inviolate the relations of peace and amity towards other nations.\n\nIII. The inducements for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own reflections and experience. With me, a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time for our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions and progress without interruption.\nI. Though I am unconscious of intentional error in my administration, I am sensible of my defects and believe it probable that I have committed many. Whatever they may be, I fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the evils to which they may tend. I carry with me the hope that my country will never cease to forgive them, and that after forty-five years of my life dedicated to its service, with an upright zeal, the faults of incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as I soon will be to the mansions of rest. Relying on its kindness in this, as in other things, and actuated by that fervent love.\nOn the 7th of December, 1796, President Washington delivered his last speech to the representatives of the people at the opening of the second session of the fourth Congress. I anticipate, with pleasing expectation, that I will realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyments of partaking, in the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good laws under a free government; the ever-favorite object of my heart, and the happy reward as I trust, of our mutual cares, labors, and dangers.\n\nG. WASHINGTON\nUnited States,\n11th September, 184 -\n\nPresident Washington delivered his last speech to the representatives of the people at the opening of the second session of the fourth Congress on December 7, 1796. I look forward to realizing, without hindrance, the delightful experience of partaking, among my fellow-citizens, in the beneficial impact of good laws under a free government; the cherished goal of my heart, and the deserved reward, as I believe, of our collective efforts, labors, and risks.\n\nG. WASHINGTON\nUnited States,\nSeptember 11, 184\nThe text pertains to information regarding measures taken for carrying into effect treaties with the Indian nations, Great Britain, Spain, and the Regencies of Tunis and Tripoli. Hague wise informs that measures are in organization for effecting treaties with the Regencies of Tunis and Tripoli. He wishes the United States to consider means and to set about the gradual creation of a navy; so that a future war of Europe may not find our commerce in the same unprotected state in which it was found by the present. He then recommends the establishment of certain branches of manufacturing on a national scale, particularly those that are essential to the fitting and equipping of the public force in time of war. He judiciously recommends the institution of a Board of Agriculture, composed of proper characters.\n\nGeorge Washington, 1755\n\nThe account refers to the recommendations made by Hague, particularly those relating to the establishment of essential manufacturing branches for fitting and equipping the public force in time of war. He suggests the institution of a Board of Agriculture, composed of proper characters.\n\nGeorge Washington, 1755\nCharacters charged with collecting and diffusing information, and enabled, by premiums and small pecuniary aids, to encourage and assist a spirit of discovery and improvement. Experience has proved this to be a cheap instrument of immense national benefit. Then he recalls the attention of Congress to a subject he had before proposed to their consideration, the expediency of establishing a national university, and also a military academy. He points out as motives to the institution of a national university, the assimilation of the principles, opinions, and manners of our countrymen, by the common education of a portion of our youth from every quarter. The more homogeneous our citizens can be made in these particulars, the greater will be the prospect of our permanent union.\nA primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of GOVERNMENT. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty can be more pressing on its Legislature than to patronize a plan for communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the country's liberties?\n\nThe institution of a military academy is also recommended by cogent reasons.-- However pacific, a nation's general policy may never be without an adjacent stock of military knowledge for emergencies.\n\nThe following important paragraph is verbatim: \"The Corps of Officers in the United States, in numerous instances, and in none more than in respect to the most important station, appear to call for legislative revision.\"\nThe consequence of a deceitful provision is of serious import to the government. If private wealth supplies the defect of public contribution, it will greatly contract the sphere within which the selection of characters for office is to be made, and will proportionably diminish the probability of a choice of men able and upright. Besides, it would be repugnant to the vital principles of our government, virtually to exclude talent and virtue from public trusts unless accompanied by wealth.\n\nThe President then expresses his regret at the unpleasant circumstances which have occurred relative to the French republic; his ardent wish being to maintain cordial harmony, as far as is consistent with the rights and honor of our country.\n\nThe House of Representatives he informed, that the revenues of the United States continue in a stable condition.\nGeneral George Washington was invited to take further measures to ensure the swift extinction of the public debt for the benefit of our country. He then addressed both Houses of Congress as follows: \"My solicitude to see the militia of the United States placed on an efficient establishment has been so often and so earnestly expressed that I shall merely refer the subject to your view, at the same time I shall submit to your inquiry, whether our harbors are yet sufficiently secured.\" The situation in which I now stand, for the last time, in the midst of the representatives of the United States, naturally recalls the period when the administration of the present form of government commenced.\nNot omitting the occasion to congratulate you and my country on the success of the experiment; nor repeating my fervent prayer to the Supreme Ruler of the Universe and Sovereign Arbiter of Nations, that his providential care may still be extended to the United States; that the virtue and happiness of the people may be preserved; and that the government which they have instituted for the protection of their liberties may be perpetual.\n\nOn Saturday, the 4th of March, 1797, Mr. Adams, who was elected the successor of President Washington, attended the Senate and took his oath of office as President of the United States, according to the directions of the constitution. The ceremony afforded a spectacle of high satisfaction and delight to every genuine republican. To behold a fellow-citizen, raised by the voice of the people, to the highest station in the country, was an inspiring sight.\nThe voice of the people elected the first magistrate of a free nation, and at the same time, George Washington attended the inauguration of his successor in office as a private citizen. He beautifully exemplified the sublime simplicity and excellence of republican government.\n\nThe last official act of President Washington is a letter to the Secretary of State, dated March 3, 1797. It concerns certain forged letters which were published in the years 1777 and 1796 and presented to the public as his. They were published at the two most critical periods of his life with the view of striking at the integrity of his motives, wounding his character, and deceiving the people. At the conclusion of his public employments, he deemed it a duty he owed to himself, to his country, and to himself to address this matter.\ntruth. I detail the circumstances and solemnly declare that the letters, (the dates of which he cites), are base forgeries. They were never written by him, and he never saw or heard of them until they appeared in print. During the period in which he held the supreme command of the army and his civil administration, the purity of his mind prevented him from contradicting the falsehood by any public declaration. But upon his retiring to private life and not knowing how soon a more serious event might take place, he made this public declaration and requested that it might be deposited in the office of the department of state as a testimony of the truth to the present generation and to posterity.\n\nOn March 22, 1797, General Washington took farewell of all public employment.\nand he left Philadelphia for his estate at Mount Vernon, in every town through which he passed on his way, he received the grateful and affectionate addresses which were justly due to his merits from an enlightened and grateful people. Having thus amply described General Washington in his public character and official capacity, suffer us, for a moment, to follow him in private, and take a view of him in the character of a plain citizen, in his rural residence at Mount Vernon. The virtuous simplicity which distinguished the private life of General Washington, though less known than the dazzling splendor of his military achievements, is not less edifying in examination, or worthy the attention of his countrymen. The conspicuous character he has acted on the theater of human affairs, the uniform dignity with which he sustained his part amidst difficulties.\nties of the most discouraging nature, and the glory of having arrived through them at the hour of triumph, had made many official and literary persons on both sides of the ocean ambitious of a correspondence with him. These correspondences unavoidably engrossed a great portion of his time; and the communications contained in them, combined with the numerous periodical publications and news-papers which he perused, made him, as it were, the focus of political intelligence for the world. Nor were his conversations with well-informed men less conducive to bringing him acquainted with the various events which happened in the different countries of the globe. Every foreigner of distinction, who traveled in America, made it a point to visit him. Members of Congress and others.\nother dignified personages seldom passed his house without calling to pay their respects. Another source of information is that many literary productions were sent to him annually by their authors in Europe. There is scarcely one work written in America on any art, science, or subject which did not seek his protection or which was not offered to him as a token of gratitude. Mechanical inventions were frequently submitted to him for approval, and natural curiosities were presented to him for investigation. However, the multiplicity of epistolary applications often remained unanswered due to some business which happened when he was in office, or were on subjects foreign to his situation, or were frivolous in their nature and intended merely to gratify the vanity of the writers. General George Washington.\nHis answers were truly distressing and almost incredible. His benignity in answering, perhaps, increased the number. He wouldn't have been able to notice the vast variety of subjects that claimed his attention if he hadn't husbanded every moment to the best advantage.\n\nIn his manner of living, he was extremely regular, temperate, and industrious. He rose winter and summer at the dawn of the day, generally read or wrote sometime before breakfast, which broke fasted about seven o'clock on Indian hoecake and tea. He often rode immediately to his different farms after breakfast and remained with his laborers till a little after two o'clock, when he returned. At three, he dined, commonly on a single dish, and drank from half a pint to a pint of Madeira wine, this with one small dish of tea which he took half an hour later.\nAn hour before sunset provided his entire sustenance until the next day. His table was always furnished with elegance and exuberance, but lacked pomp; and whether he had company or not, he remained an hour at the table in familiar conversation. His temper was of a serious cast, and his countenance carried the impression of thoughtfulness: yet he perfectly relished a pleasant story, an unaffected sally of wit, or a burlesque description. After dinner, he applied himself to business. Around nine, he retired to rest; but when he had company, he politely attended upon them until they wished to withdraw. Agriculture was his favorite employment. He made observations on the produce of lands and endeavored to throw new light upon the business of the farmer. Linen and other industries also engaged his attention.\nwoollen  clothes  were  manufactured  under  his \nroof,  and  order  and  economy  were  established \nin  all  his  departments,  both  within  and  without \ndoors.  Mrs.  Washington  presided  over  the  whole, \nand  united  to  the  qualities  of  an  excellent  far- \nmer's wife,  that  simple  dignity  which  ought  to \ncharacterise  a  woman  whose  husband  has  acted \nso  distinguished  a  part  on  the  public  theatre. \u2014 \u2022 \nSu  -h  is  the  history  of  the  private  life  of  this  great \ncharacter. \nIn  1798,  the  unparrallelled  treatment  which \nthe  American  ministers  received  at  Paris  from  the* \nrepublic  of  France,  left  little  ground  to  hope  for \nany  amicable  accommodation  with  that  republic, \nin  consequence  of  which,  the  military  forces  of  the \nUnited  States  were  greatly  augmented,  and  the \nPreiident,  with  the  advice  of  the  Senate,  appoint, \ned  George  JV(uhingtoK^  IJicutenant  Gaieral  and  Ccm- \nMandler, chief of all the armies raised or to be raised for the United States, this wise and judicious appointment was attended with the happiest effect. The virtue of a general so well experienced in war established the national dignity and independence, and inspired the citizens with enthusiasm. On receiving the appointment, the General expressed a wish that it had fallen upon a man less advanced in years and better qualified to encounter the vicissitudes of war. He recurred to his determination of closing his life in retirement and peace. But the conduct of the directory of France towards our country, he said, \"excited in my breast corresponding sentiments with the rest of my countrymen.\" In consequence of this, he accepted the appointment with the reserve, \"I should not be.\"\nHe informed the President that he would only be called into the army's service when it required his presence or the appointment became indispensable due to urgency. He held this command and advised and assisted in arranging and organizing the army until December 4, 1799. It pleased Divine Providence to remove him from this life on that day; he was in his 68th year and in perfect health. The disorder from which he died was an inflammatory sore throat, which resulted from a slight cold.\n\nOn Friday, the 13th, he rode out to inspect his plantations and was much wet by the rain on his return. He took ill with the complaint that followed. But from humanity to his servants, he died.\nBefore Dr. Craik arrived at Mount Vernon, the General had been bled by one of his overseers. Dr. Craik repeated the procedure immediately. The General observed, \"I sent for you too late.\" He seemed to have a presentiment of his dissolution. Doctors Dick and Brown also attended.\n\nAs his respiration became difficult, he said calmly, \"I die hard.\" But notwithstanding the excruciating agonies of his violent disease, he tranquilly asked several questions during the evening. Fifteen minutes before he died (which was between 11 and 12 o'clock on Saturday night, the 14th of December), he said to Doctor Craik, \"Do look at the clock? How long?\"\nI to continue in this sition?. The doctor answered, Not long, rfr. He then rejoined, with the firmest countenance imaginable, I have no fear, doctor, to die. Mrs. Washington was at the bed side with his family, and a number of domestics in the room. He would not wound their sensibility by taking a formal leave of any one. At last his breathing grew shorter, he closed his eyes and mouth, and expired \u2014 Thus did the last moments of this venerable man correspond with the whole tenor of his well-spent life. He died with perfect composure, and in full possession of his reason, not a groan or complaint escaped him!\n\nHis body was entombed, with solemn honor and funeral pomp, in the family vault, upon the estate of Mount Vernon, attended by the clergy.\n\nGeneral George Washington^ 1799^\nresided^ in the will of Heaven, and in full possession of his reason, not a groan or complaint escaped him!\n\nHis body was entombed, with solemn honor and funeral pomp, in the family vault, upon the estate of Mount Vernon, attended by the clergy.\nThe military, masonic brethren, and a numerous course of citizens received the melancholy intelligence of General Washington's death throughout the United States with sensations of sorrow and regret. The houses of Congress adjourned, they condoled with the President of the United States on the loss our country had sustained in the death of her worthiest citizen. They went in mourning and requested the President to issue his proclamation recommending the citizens throughout the Union to wear black crape on the left arm for thirty days. All the state assemblies followed the example. Orders were issued from the war office, navy department, and other departments requesting the officers to wear crape on the left arm for six months, and the vessels of the navy to put on mourning for one week by wearing crape.\nTheir colors half mast high. Orders were issued by the direction of the President of the United States, announcing to the army the death of its beleaguered chief and requested the military honors therein, specifying to be paid at several stations of the army.\n\n196 Biographical Meinfofs of the Senate and house of Representatives of the United States, enacted that a marble monument be erected in the capitol in the city of Washington; to the memory of General Washington; and that his family be requested to permit his body to be deposited therein; and that the monument be so designed as to commemorate the great military and political events of his life. That there be a funeral procession, and a public oration delivered on the occasion. The above resolution Mrs. Washington assented, sacrificing her private wishes.\nThe individual feelings were expressed to the public. The public procession took place in Philadelphia on Tharry, December 26th. The ceremony was judiciously conducted; perhaps there never was a greater display of public mourning, integrity and respect, exhibited in the western hemisphere. The arrangements united every description of public and private character, civil and military. The funeral service, adapted with great felicity to the occasion, was pronounced by Bishop White; the deceased being of the episcopal church. After which, General Lee, appointed by Congress for that purpose, delivered the funeral oration. We shall not attempt to reproduce his admirable eulogium, of which the public are already possessed, convinced that it would suffer by the attempt.\n\nHaving pursued this distinguished man through-\n(This text appears to be complete and does not require cleaning.)\nGeneral George Washington was a tall, well-made man, rather large boned, with a tolerable genteel address. His features were manly and bold, his eyes of a blush cast and very lively; his hair a deep brown, his face rather long and marked with smallpox; his complexion sun-burnt and without much color, and his countenance sensible, composed, and thoughtful. There was a remarkable air of dignity about him with a striking degree of gracefulness. He had an excellent understanding without much quickness; was strictly just, vigilant, and generous; an affectionate husband, a faithful friend, a father to the deserving.\nGentle in manner, with a reserved temperament; a total stranger to religious prejudices; in morals, irreproachable; he was never known to exceed the bounds of the most rigid temperance. In a word, all his friends and acquaintances universally allow that no man ever united in his person, a more perfect alliance of the virtues of a philosopher with the talents of a statesman and a general. Candor, sincerity, affability, and simplicity were the striking features of his character. The best portraits ever taken of him are those painted by the ingenious Mr. Stewart of Germantown, and the best engraving is the large mezotinto done by M. Savage of Philadelphia.\n\nSuch is the life and character of the ranger.\nI. George Washington: Last Will and Testament\n\nWhom America entrusted her important cause, and she has had every reason to be satisfied with her choice. Most ungrateful would she be to the Great Disposer of human events, were she not to render him unremitting thanks for having provided her with such a citizen at such a crisis. Most nations have been favored with some patriotic deliverer. The Israelites had their Moses; Rome, her Camillus; Greece, her Leonidas; Sweden, her Gustavus; and England, her Hamptons, her Russells, and her Sydneys; but these illustrious heroes, though successful in preserving and defending, did not, like Washington, form or establish empires, which will, in all probability, be the refuge or asylum of virtue, banished from Europe by luxury and corruption.\n\nAbstract of the Last Will and Testament of\nGen. George Washington.\n\nI, George Washington, citizen of the United States of America, declare this to be my last will and testament.\nUnited States: I declare this my last Will and Testament, revoking all others. Debts are to be paid punctually and speedily, and legacies bequeathed are to be discharged in the manner directed.\n\nItem, to my dearly beloved wife, Martha Washington: I bequeath my whole estate, real and personal, during her life, except such parts thereof as are hereafter disposed of. My improved lot in Alexandria, I give to her and her heirs forever, as also my household and kitchen furniture, with the liquors and groceries that may be on hand at the time of my decease.\n\nItem, upon the decease of my wife: I desire that all the slaves which I hold of my own rights shall receive their freedom. However, the aged and infirm, who are unable to support themselves, shall be comfortably clothed and fed by my heirs.\nThey shall live, and those of the children who have no parents or whose parents are unable or unwilling to provide for them, shall be bound by the court until they reach the age of 25 years, on condition that they are taught to read, write, and brought up to some useful occupation. I expressly forbid the sale or transportation out of the state of any of them on any pretense whatever. I solemnly enjoin my executors to see this clause regarding slaves religiously fulfilled.\n\nTo my Mulatto man, William, I give immediate freedom and an annuity of 30 dollars during his life, or if he chooses to remain in the situation he is in, he shall be allowed the clothes and victuals he has been accustomed to receive, and the above 30 dollars beside, as a testimony of my sense of his attachment to me.\nI. To the Trustees of the Academy of Alexandria, I bequeath $4,000, or twenty of my shares in the Bank of Alexandria, towards the support of a free school for the education of orphans and poor children; the interest or dividend only, to be applied; this is in lieu of an annuity of $50, which I have for some years past, paid towards the support of this institution.\n\nII. The fifty shares in the Potomac Canal company, which I accepted of upon particular terms, from the legislature of Virginia, as a compensation for my services during the revolutionary war, and for having suggested the advantages which the community would derive from an extension of inland navigation under legislative patronage, I bequeath in perpetuity towards the endowment of the said Academy of Alexandria.\nI. A National University, within the District of Columbia limits, shall be established under the general government auspices. Until its establishment, profits from these shares shall be used to purchase bank stock, in the Bank of Columbia or another bank, until an adequate sum is obtained.\n\nII. My hundred shares in the James River company, I have given and confirm, in perpetuity, to Liberty Kali Academy, Virginia.\n\nIII. I forever release the estate, and so forth, of my deceased brother Samuel Washington, from the payment of the money (upwards of 1000) which is due to me for lands I sold to Philip Pendleton, who assigned the same to my brother, who by agreement was to pay me.\n\nTwo sons of my said brother Samuel:\nWashington and Lawrence A. came under my protection, causing advances on my part for their education at college, and other incidental expenses, to the amount of nearly 5000 dollars. I hereby acquit them and the estate from the payment thereof.\n\nItem, the balance due me from the estate of Bartholomew Dandridge, deceased (my wife's brother), amounting to $425 in 1795, I release and acquit, and the 33 Negroes, formerly belonging to said estate but who were sold on execution and purchased on my account, and by me, suffered to remain in possession of Mary his widow, together with their increase, shall continue in her possession during her life, without any compensation.\nBut at her death, all who are forty years old or upward shall receive their freedom. Those under sixteen years shall serve until they are twenty-five and then be free. Itejii. Charles Carter, who married my niece Betty Lewis, shall receive from my executors sufficient title to the lots in Fredericksburg, which he had of me.\n\nItem. To my nephew John A. Washington, I bequeath lot No. 265, in the town of Manchester, my tenth of certain lots in the city and vicinity of Richmond, as also lot No. 130, in the town of Edinburgh, Virginia.\n\nItem. To my nephew Bushrod Washington, give and bequeath all the papers in my possession, which relate to my civil and military administration of the affairs of this country.\nI. Leave to him also such of my private papers as are worth preserving; and at my wife's decease, if she is not inclined to retain them, I give and bequeath my library of books and pamphlets of every kind.\n\nItem. Having sold certain lands which I possessed in Pennsylvania and New York, my share in Great Dismal Swamp, and a tract in the county of Gloucester, withholding the titles until the consideration is paid, also having leased and conditionally sold all my lands on the Great Kanhawa, and a tract upon Difficult Run, whenever these tracts are fulfilled, the money shall be vested in bank stock. I give the interest thereof to my wife during her life, but the stock itself shall be subject to the distribution hereafter willed.\n\nItem. To the Earl of Buchan I recommit \"the box made of the oak that sheltered the great Sir Walter Raleigh.\"\nWilliam Wallace, after the battle of Falkirk, presented to me, with flattering terms I cannot repeat, a request to pass it on, should I decease, to the man in my country who should appear to merit it. Whether it was easy or not for me to lecture the man who might agree with his lordship's opinion in this matter, is not for me to say. I conceiving that no disposition of this valuable curiosity can be more eligible than its return to his own cabinet, agreeably to the original design of the Goldsmith's company of Edinburgh, who presented it to him and, at his request, consented that it should be transferred to me; I bequeath the same to his lordship; and, in case of his decease, to his heir.\nI would like to express my gratitude for the distinguished honor bestowed upon me, and I am particularly thankful for the favorable sentiments expressed along with it. To my Brother, Charles Washington, I bequeath the gold-headed cane left to me by Dr. Rawlings (in his will). To the acquaintances and friends of my juvenile years, Lawrence Washington and Robert Washington of Chotank, I give the other two gold-headed canes, each having my arms engraved on them, and to each, I leave one of the spy-glasses which constituted part of my equipment during the late war. To my compatriot in arms and old friend, Dr. Craik, I bequeath my bureau (or, as the cabinet makers call it, tambour Leather-tary) and the circular chair, an appendage to my study. To Dr. David Stuart, I give my large shaving equipment.\nI. To the Reverend Bryan Dord Fairfax, I give a Bible in large folio volumes, with notes, presented to me by Dot and Ma'i. To General de la Fayette, I give a pair of finely wrought steel pistols, taken from the enemy during the revolutionary war. To my sisters-in-law, Hannah Washington and Milldred Washington, to my friends Elenor Stuart, Hannah Washington of Fairfield, and Elizabeth Washington of Hayfield, I give, each, a mourning ring, of the value of one hundred Dollars. These bequests are not made for the intrinsic value of them, but as mementos of my esteem and regard. To Tobias Lear, I give the use of the farm which he now holds, free from rent, during his life. To Sally B. Haney (a distant relation of mine), I give and bequeath three hundred dollars. To Sarah Green, Daughter of the deceased Thomas.\nI. To Bishop and Ann Walker, daughters of John Alton, both deceased, I give each one hundred dollars, in consideration of the attachment of their fathers to me: each of my nehews, William, Andrew Washington, George Washington, Lewis, and Samuel Washington, I give one of the swords or cutlasses of which I may die possessed: and they are to choose in the order they are named. These are accompanied with an injunction not to unsheath them for the purpose of shedding blood, except it be for self-defense, or in defense of their country and its rights; and in the latter case, to keep them unsheathed and prefer filling with them in their hands to the rehn---'-' I hereby give.\n\nItem. To my nephew Bushrod Washington,\nI. Bequeath to my heirs, I bequeath all that part of Mount Vernon, encompassing over 4000 acres, which includes the mansion house and all other improvements.\n\nII. To George Washington, Francis Washington, and Lawrence A. Washington, and their heirs, I give my estate of Little Hunting Creek, lying on the Potomac and containing 2020 acres, with the improvements thereon.\n\nIII. To Laurence Lewis and his wife, and their heirs, I bequeath all the residue of Mount Vernon, approximately 2000 acres, along with the mill, distillery, and other improvements.\n\nIV. To George Washington Custis, the grandson of my wife, I bequeath my tract on four mile run, comprising 1200 acres and my entire square No. 21, in the city of Washington.\nThe residue of his estate, real and personal, the general requests to be sold by his executors to the best advantage, and the monies arising therefrom to be divided into twenty-three equal parts, which he bequeaths equally, to his own and to his wife's relations, specifying their names:\n\nThe Family Vault at Mount Vernon, requiring repairs and being improperly situated, I desire that a new one of brick and upon a larger scale may be built on the ground which is marked out; in which my remains, with those of my deceased relations (now in the Family Vault) and such others of my family as may choose to be entombed there, may be deposited.\n\nIt is my express desire, that my corpse may be interred in a private manner, without parade or funeral oration.\n\nLastly, I constitute and appoint my dearly beloved wife Martha Washington, my nephews John Augustine Washington and Lawrence Augustine Washington, executors of this my last will and testament.\nWm. Augustine Washington, Bushrod Washington, George Washington, Samuel Washington, and Laurence Lewis, and my ward, George Washington Parke Custis (when he shall have arrived at the age of 20 years), executrix and executors of this will and bestament.\n\nWriting,\n\nI hereby designate the States of,\nfollowing: .^t gold with the intent that a moderate portion of their worth be applied,\n\nVirginia.\n\nJames Price, Dolley,\nIudorn and XXLorror.\nIteadotj: .:ns'bm. 4; 3\nla Wottaley's line, io3\nFrederick \"\u2022\u2022\",\nIlampire, and P-. \"t/riuic\nrive\nGlucy\n\nWilliam Augustine Washington, Bushrod Washington, George Washington, Samuel Washington, and Laurence Lewis, and my ward, George Washington Parke Custis (when he shall have arrived at the age of 20 years), executrix and executors of this will and bestament. I hereby designate the States of following: a moderate portion of their worth be applied. Virginia. James Price, Dolley, Iudorn and XXLorror. Iteadotj: .:ns'bm. 4; 3 la Wottaley's line, io3 Frederick \"\u2022\u2022\", Ilampire, and P-. \"t/riuic rive Glucy.\nThree shares of Potofi'ac cost \u20a43,000.\nTwenty-four shares cost \u00a31,056.\nJames Rwer, Cornpanj/,\nFive shares of Vive cost $100 each, 50 shares Bank of Calutnh'ia.\nOne hundred and seventy shares cost $40, Bank of Jlexar.\nBesides 20 shares for the Free School. Five.\n\nStock:\nOne covering horse, five circular horses, four draught horses, six brood mares, twenty working horses and mares, two covering jacks, and young ones, ten she asses, 1.5 younger colts, 329 head of horned cattle, 640 head of sheep, and a large stock of bees.\nThe precise number is unknown. -- age has estimated this Live Stock at 70,000.\nI shall set it down in order:\n\nImm at\nLibrary.", "source_dataset": "Internet_Archive", "source_dataset_detailed": "Internet_Archive_LibOfCong"}
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