New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-03-02

Esw the Great StaIesmas Caae 60 bs
Hard Up.

W.
Sir. Parton in his chapter Of Jefferson
life, for the hHQn,ic &onthly for March. al
luding 20 Jetferson's resolution 20 quit the
public service az :ue end Of Washington
first term, says:
But. why this agonizing desire for retire,
ment +! Thereby hangs Il tale. II we give
ten reasons for d certain course OF conduct,
there il often an eleventh which We do not
give; and that unspOken one is apt to be
the reason. He could 10 longer afford 10
serve the public on the terms fixed by Con
greRs. L. vas not merely that his salary
did not pay the cost Of AIS Philadelphia es-
adjustment, nor that his estate was i'll niaI-
aged by overseers. An ancient debt hung.
q. hs Gays, like mill stone round his
Aeck"-a debt which he had twice paid.
although not incurred by him. Upon the
death Of his wite's father. twenty years be-
fore, he had received property from hi.
estate worth $4,000, 6u. subject TO British
debt of $4,000. Impatient of debt. he sold
a fine farm neac Monticello for sum sutf.
eient 90 discharge il; but by the time ne re-
ceived the money the war of the revolution
had begun. Virginia invited all men owing
money TO Great Britain 10 deposit the same
in her treasury. the State agreeing TO pay it
over to ths British creditor after the war.
The identical coin which Jefferson received
for his farm, he himself carried 10 the treas
ury in Williams burg, where il was inme-
diately expended N equipping troops.
The Legislature OF Virginia. however.
thought better OF this policy, rescinded the
resolution, and returned the sunls received
under il. But Jefferson was obliged 20
take back his SIS IL deprecated paper.
v hich continued 10 depreciate until it was
worthless. In fac: the $1,000 jus: suf-
feed to buy him one garment, and in riding
by that farm in after years he would some
times point 70 il. and say. laughing, That
farm / once sold for al Overcoat.' At the
end OF the war, during which CORVALLIS
DESTROYED more Than enough of his prop
erty to pay this deb'. he mad. as he re-
marked. 20 lay his shoulders to the pay
meut OF j: "a third time III addition
to y considerable debt Of his own il
cured Just before the outbreak Of host,li-
ties. Nha. the laws OF Virginia" he
wrote 20 his creditor in England. "are. or
may b-. viii! il no wise influence my con
duct. Substantial Justice is my object, as
decided by reason, not by authority or
cOmpul.iou." Ever since the war closed,
he had been struggling 70 reduce these
d-bt-, and, finally. made au arrangement
for paying them oil at a rate OF four hun
dred pounds sterling year. How easy
this ought 60 have been 20 a person owning
ten thousand acres OF excellent land, one
hundred and fity-iOur slaves, thirty four
horses. FIVE mules, two hundred and forty
nine cattle three hundred and ninety hogs.
aad three sheep. But only two thousand
acres OF this 'anI were cultivated, nine OF
his horses We're used for tie saddle, and
the labor of his slaves had been, for fen
years, directed by OverseerS. In 1888 tie
greater part of The debt rsAained 20 be dis
charged. and he saw, whenever he visited
Monticello, such evidences of 1.-The ravages
OF over sesrs" as filed him with alarm. He
had nov = son-in-law te settle. q second
daughter to establish, q mountainous debt
to pay, q high office TO live up 60. and all
estat. going TO ruin. Behold his eleventh
8nuttered reason for the frenzy hiGl pos
ssssed him 20 live al home
he might well desire 20 see the rel IN Of
Overseers brought "a an end on his estate.
Readers remember, perhaps, General Wash !
ingtOn's experience with them. How, when I
he owned i0l COWS he wa. compelled ia buy |
butter for his own table; and how, after |
building one nj the best barns ia the cOuIR
try. where thirty men could conveniently |
WELD the fail. he could not prevent his |
from treading ont Che grain with |
horses, So impossible was it, he says, so |
put the Overseers of this country out o: the
track they have been accustomed 10 walk |
n" Hs reached home for his annual vaca- |
ion in 1913. about the middle OF September. |
md caught this truly conservative gentle |
nan in the act. IL found a treading yard |
Erote the president, mot thirty feet from |
he barn door, the wheat again brought out |
If the barn. and horses treadins il out IN |
IN open exposure, liable 60 the Eicissitudes |
II weather. With such men 10 manage. |
he General thought the new threshiHG ma
,hjGe would have a brief existence,