University of Virginia Library

TO EDMUND RANDOLPH.

I have a letter from Mazzei & one from Mr. Jefferson
which you will be good enough to dispose of. I
have one from the former in which he begs me to
add my importunities to you and Mr. Blair for speedy
succour if possible. I have one from the latter but
it contains nothing of much consequence. His public
letters to which it refers have not yet been communicated
from the office of Foreign Affairs. Through
other authentic channels I learn that the States

General will pretty certainly be convened in May next.
The efficacy of that cure for the public maladies
will depend materially on the mode in which the
deputies may be selected, which appears to be not
yet settled. There is good reason also to presume,
that, as the spirit which at present agitates the
nation has been in a great measure caught from the
American Revolution, so the result of the struggle
there will be not a little affected by the character
which liberty may receive from the experiment now
on foot here. The tranquil and successful establishment
of a great reform by the reason of the community,
must give as much force to the doctrines
urged on one side as a contrary event would do to
the policy maintained on the other.

As Col. Carrington will be with you before this
gets to hand, I leave it with him to detail all matters
of a date previous to his departure. Of a subsequent
date I recollect nothing worth adding. I
requested him also to confer with you in full confidence
on the appointments to the Senate and House
of Representatives, so far as my friends may consider
me in relation to either. He is fully possessed
of my real sentiments, and will explain them more
conveniently than can be done on paper. I mean
not to decline an agency in launching the new Government
if such should be assigned me in one of the
Houses, and I prefer the House of Representatives,
chiefly because, if I can render any service there, it
can only be to the public, and, not even in imputation,
to myself. At the same time my preference, I

own, is somewhat founded on the supposition that
the arrangements for the popular elections may
secure me against any competition which would
require on my part any step that would speak a
solicitude which I do not feel, or have the appearance
of a spirit of electioneering which I despise.

I am led not only by a want of matter but by a
cut I have just given my thumb and which makes
writing tedious and disagreeable to conclude, with
assurances of affection I am &c.