University of Virginia Library

TO THOMAS JEFFERSON.

Dear Sir,—Your favor of the 1st. July written on
the eve of your embarcation from Boston was safely
delivered by your servant Bob about the 20th. of the
same month. Along with it I recd. the pamphlet on
the W. India trade, and a copy of Deane's letters.
My last was written from Richmond on the adjournment
of the Genl. Assembly & put into the hands of
Mr. Short. It contained a cursory view of legislative
proceedings, referring to the bearer for a more circumstancial
one. Since the adjournment I have been
so little abroad that I am unable to say with certainty
how far those proceedings harmonize with the vox
populi. The opinion of some who have better means
of information is that a large majority of the people

either from a sense of private justice or of national faith,
dislike the footing on which British debts are placed.
The proceedings relative to an amendment of the State
Constitution seem to interest the public much less
than a friend to the scheme would wish. The act
which produces most agitation and discussion is that
which restrains foreign trade to enumerated ports.
Those who meditate a renewal of the old plan of
British Monopoly & diffusive credit, or whose mercantile
arrangements might be disturbed by the innovation,
with those whose local situations give them,
or are thought to give them an advantage in large
vessels coming up the rivers to their usual stations,
are busy in decoying the people into a belief that
trade ought in all cases to be left to regulate itself,
that to confine it to particular ports is to renounce
the boon with which Nature has favored our country,
and if one sett of men are to be importers & exporters,
another set to be carryers between the mouths
& heads of the rivers & a third retailers, trade, as
it must pass through so many hands all taking a profit,
must in the end come dearer to the people than if the
simple plan should be continued which unites these
several branches in the same heads. These & other
objections, tho' unsound, are not altogether unplausible,
and being propagated with more zeal and pains
by those who have a particular interest to serve than
proper answers are by those who regard the general
interest only, make it very probable that the measure
may be rescinded before it is to take effect. Should
it escape such a fate, it will be owing to a few striking
and undeniable facts, namely, that goods are much
dearer in Virginia, than in the States where trade is
drawn to a general mart, that even goods brought
from Philada. and Baltimore to Winchester & other
W. & S. W. parts of Virginia are retailed cheaper
than those imported directly from Europe are sold on
tide water; that generous as the present price of our
Tobo. appears, the same article has currently sold 15
or 20 per Ct. at least higher in Philada. where being as
far from the ultimate market it cannot be intrinsically
worth more; that scarce a single vessel from any part
of Europe, other than the British Dominions, comes
into our ports, whilst vessels from so many other
parts of Europe, resort to other ports of America,
almost all of them too in pursuit of the Staple of Virginia.
The exemption of our own citizens from the
restriction is another circumstance that helps to parry
attacks on the policy of it. The warmest friends to
the law were averse to this discrimination which not
only departs from its principle, but gives it an illiberal
aspect to foreigners, but it was a necessary concession
to prevailing sentiments. The like discrimination
between our own citizens & those of other States
contrary to the fœderal articles is an erratum which
was omitted to be rectified, but will no doubt be so.
Notwithstanding the languor of our direct trade with
Europe, this Country has indirectly tasted some of
the fruits of Independence. The price of our last
crop of Tobo. has been on James River from 36/ to
42/6 per Ct. & has brought more specie into the
Country than it ever before contained at one time.
The price of hemp however has been reduced as
much by the peace as that of Tobo. has been raised,
being sold I am told as low as 2O/ per Ct. beyond the
mountains. Our crops of wheat have been rather
scanty, owing partly to the rigors of the winter, partly
to an insect,[16] which in many places has destroyed
whole fields of that grain. The same insect has since
the harvest fallen upon the Corn with considerable
damage; but without some very unusual disaster to
that article the crop will be exuberant, & will afford
plentiful supplies for the W. India Islands if their
European Masters will no longer deny themselves
the benefit of such a trade with us. The crop of the
Tobacco now on the ground will if the weather continues
favorable be tolerably good, though much
shortened on the whole by the want of early seasons
for transplanting & an uncommon number of the
insects which prey upon it in its different stages. It
will be politic I think for the people here to push the
culture of this article whilst the price keeps up, it becoming
more apparent every day that the richness of
soil & fitness of climate on the Western waters will
in a few years, both reduce the price & engross the
culture of it. This event begins to be generally foreseen
& increases the demand greatly for land on the
Ohio. What think you of a guinea an acre being
already the price for choice tracts with sure titles?

Nothing can delay such a revolution with regard to
our staple, but an impolitic & perverse attempt in Spain

to shut the mouth of the Mississippi against the inhabitants
above. I say delay, because she can no more
finally stop the current of trade down the river than she
can that of the river itself. The importance of this matter
is in almost every mouth. I am frequently asked
what progress has been made towards a treaty with
Spain & what may be expected from her liberality on
this point, the querists all counting on an early ability
in the western settlements to apply to other motives if
necessary.[17] My answers have both from ignorance
& prudence been evasive. I have not thought fit
however to cherish unfavorable impressions, being
more & more led by revolving the subject, to conclude
that Spain will never be so mad as to persist in her
present ideas. For want of better matter for correspondence,
I will state the grounds on which I build
my expectation.

First.[17]Apt as the policy of nations is to disregard
justice and the general rights of mankind I deem it no
small advantage that these considerations are in our
favour. They must be felt in some degree by the
most corrupt councils on a question whether the interest
of millions shall be sacrificed to views concerning a
distant and paltry settlement; they are every day acquiring
weight from the progress of philosophy and
civilization and they must operate on those nations of
Europe who have given us a title to their friendly
offices or who may wish to gain a title to ours.

Secondly. May not something be hoped from the

respect which Spain may feel for consistency of character
on an appeal the doctrine maintained by herself
in the year 1609, touching the scheld, or at least from
the use which may be made of that fact by the powers
disposed to favor our views.

Thirdly. The interest of Spain at least ought to
claim her attention, (1) A free trade down the Mississippi
would make new Orleans one of the most flourishing
emporiums in the world and deriving its happiness
from the benevolence of Spain would feel a firm
loyalty to her government. At present it is an expensive
establishment settled chiefly by French, who hate
the government which oppresses them, who already
covet a trade with the upper country, will become every
day more sensible of the rigor which denies it to them
and will join in any attempt which may be made against
their master. (2) A generous policy on the part of
Spain towards the U. S. will be the cement of friendship
& lasting peace with them. A contrary one will
produce immediate heart burnings and sow the seeds of
inevitable hostility. The U. S. are already a power
not to be despised by Spain the time cannot be distant
when, in spite of al precautions the safety of her possessions
in this quarter of the globe must depend more
on our peaceableness than her own power. (3) In
another view it is against the interest of Spain to
throw obstacles in the way of our Western settlements.
The part she took during the late war shews that she
apprehended less from the power growing up in her
neighborhood in a state of independence than as an instrument
in the hands of Great Britain. If in this she

calculated on the impotence of the U. S. when dismembered
from the British empire she saw but little way into
futurity; if on the pacific temper of republics unjust
irritations on her part will soon prove to her that
these have like passions with other governments.—her
permanent security seems to lie in the complexity of
our federal government and the diversity of interests
among the members of it which render offensive measures
improbable in council and difficult in execution.
If such be the case when thirteen States compose the
system ought she not to wish to see the number enlarged
to three and twenty? A source of temporary security
to her is our want of naval strength; ought she not,
then, to favor those emigrations to the Western land
which, as long as they continue will leave no supernumerary
hands for the sea.

Fourthly. Should none of these circumstances affect
her councils she cannot surely so far disregard the
usage of nations as to contend that her possessions at
the mouth of the Mississippi justify a total denial of
the use of it to the inhabitants above when possessions
much less dis proportionate at the mouth of other rivers
have been admitted only as a title to a moderate toll.
The case of the Rhine the Maese & the Scheld, as
of Elbe and Oder are if I mistake not in point here.
How far other rivers may afford parallel cases I cannot
say. That of the Mississippi is probably the
strongest in the world.

Fifthly. Must not the general interest of Europe in
all cases influence the determinations of any particular
nation in Europe and does not that interest in the

present case clearly lie on our side. (1) All the principal
powers have, in a general view more to gain than
to lose by denying a right of those who hold the mouths
of rivers to intercept a communication with those above.
France Gr Brit and Sweden have no opportunity of
exerting such a right, and must wish a free passage for
their merchandize in every country Spain herself has
no such opportunity and has besides three of her principal
rivers one of them the seat of her metropolis running
thro' Portugal. Russia can have nothing to lose
by denying this pretension and is bound to do so in favor
of her great rivers the Neiper, the Niester and the Don
which mouth in the black sea, and of the passage thro'
the Dardanelles which she extorted from the Turks.
The Emperor in common with the inland States of
Germany and moreover by his possessions on the
Maese and the Scheld, has a similar interest. The possessions
of the King of Prussia on the Rhine, the Elbe,
and the Oder, are pledges for his orthodoxy. The U.
Ps. hold it is true, the mouths of the Maese the Rhine
and the Scheld but a general freedom of trade is so
much their policy and they now carry on so much of it
through the channel of rivers flowing thro different dominions
that their weight can hardly be thrown into the
wrong scale. The only powers that can have an interest
in opposing the American doctrine are the Ottoman
which has already given up the point to Russia, Denmark
which is suffered to retain the entrance of the
Baltic Portugal whose principal rivers head in Spain,
Venice which holds the mouth of the Po; and Dantzick
which commands that of the Vistula if it is yet to be
considered as a sovereign City. The prevailing disposition
of Europe on this point once frustrated an attempt
of Denmark to exact a toll the mouth of the Elbe by
means of a fort on the holstein side, which commands
it. The fact is mentioned in Salmon's gazetteer, under
the head of Cluestadt. I have no opportunity of
ascertaining the circumstances of the case, or of discovering
like cases. (2) In a more important view, the
settlement of the Western country which will much depend
on the free use of the Mississippi, will be beneficial
to all nations who either directly or indirectly trade
with the U. S. By a free expansion of our people the
establishment of internal manufactures will not only
be long delayed but the consumption of foreign manufactures
long continue increasing; and at the same
time, all the productions of the American soil required
by Europe in return for her manufactures, will proportionably
increase. The vacant land of the United
States lying on the waters of the Mississippi is perhaps
equal in extent to the land actually settled. If no check
be given to emigrations from the latter to the former,
they will probably keep pace at least with the increase
of our people, till the population of both becomes nearly
equal. For twenty or twenty-five years we shall consequently
have as few internal manufactures in proportion
to our numbers as at present and at the end of that
period our imported manufactures will be doubled. It
may be observed too, that as the market for these
manufactures will first increase, and the provision for
supplying it will follow the price of supplies will naturally
rise in favor of those who manufacture them. On
the other hand as the demand for the tobacco indigo
rice corn &c produced by America for exportation will
neither precede nor keep pace with their increase the
price must naturally sink in favor also of those who
consume them. Reverse the case by supposing the use
of the Mississippi denied to us and the consequence is
that many of our supernumerary hands who in the
former case would be husbandmen on the waters of the
Mississippi, will on the latter supposition be manufacturers
on those of the Atlantic and even those who
may not be discouraged from seating the vacant lands
will be obliged by the want of vent for the produce of
the soil and of the means of purchasing foreign manufactures
to manufacture in a great measure for themselves.
Should Spain yield the point of the navigation
of the Mississippi, but at the same time refuse us the
use of her shores, the benefit will be ideal only. I have
conversed with several persons who have a practical
knowledge of the subject, all of whom assure me that
not only the right of fastening to the Spanish shore, but
that of holding an entrepot in our own, or of using
New Orleans as a free port, is essential to a trade
thro' that channel. It has been said that sea vessels
can get up as high as latitude thirty-two to meet the river
craft, but it will be with so much difficulty and dis-
advantage as to amount to a prohibition. The idea has
also been suggested of large magazines constructed for
floating; but if this expedient were otherwise admissible
the hurricanes which in that quarter frequently demolish
edifices on land forbid the least confidence in
those which would have no foundation but water.
Some territorial privileges therefore seem to be as indispensable
to the use of the river as this is to the
prosperity of the western country. A place called
"The Englishman's turn," on the island of about six
leagues below the town of New O., is I am told the fittest
for our purpose, & that the lower side of the peninsula
is the best. Batonrouge is also mentioned as a convenient
station and point coupé as the highest to which
vessels can ascend with tolerable ease. Information
however of this from men who judge from a general and
superficial view only can never be received as accurate.
If Spain be sincerely disposed to gratify us, I hope she
will be sensible it cannot be done effectually without
allowing a previous survey and deliberate choice.
Should it be impossible to obtain from her a portion of
ground by other means, would it be unadvisable to attempt
it by purchase The price demanded could not
well exceed the benefit to be obtained, and a reimbursement
of the public advance might easily be provided
for by the sale to individuals, and the conditions which
might be annexed to their tenures. Such a spot could
not fail in a little time to equal in value the same extent
in London or Amsterdam. The most intelligent
of those with whom I have conversed think that on
whatever footing our trade may be allowed very judicious
provision will be necessary for a fair adjustment of
disputes between the Spaniards and the Americans disputes
which must be not only noxious to trade but tend
to embroil the two nations. Perhaps a joint tribunal,
under some modification or other might answer the
purpose. There is a precedent I see for such an
establishment in the twenty-first article of the treaty of
Munster in 1648, between Spain and the U. N. I am
informed that, sometime after New O. passed into the
hands of Spain her Governor forbid all British vessels
navigating under the treaty of Paris to fasten to the
shore and caused such as did so to be cut loose. In consequence
of this practice a British frigate went up
near the town fastened to the shore and set out guards
to fire on any who might attempt to cut her loose. The
Governor after trying in vain to remove the frigate by
menaces acquiesced after which British vessels indiscriminately
used the shore and even the residence of British
Merchants in the town of New O., trading clandestinely
with the Spaniards as well as openly with their own
people, [was] winked at. The treaty of 1763 stipulated
to British subjects as well as I recollect no more than
the right of navigating the river and if that of using
was admitted under that stipulation, the latter right
must have been admitted to be included in the former.

When you were about leaving America as a
Com̃issr for peace you intimated to me that a report
was in circulation of your being a party to jobs for Kentucky
lands and authorized me to contradict the report.
I have some reason to believe that the credit
of your name has been made use of by some who are
making purchases or locations in that quarter. If they
have done it without sanction it may not be amiss to
renew my authority.[18]

In consequence of my letter to Mrs. Carr I have
been called on by your elder Nephew, who is well satisfied
with the choice made of Williamsbg for his future
studies. I have furnished him with letters to my
acquaintance there & with a draught on your Steward
for £12. He will be down by the opening of Mr.
Maury's school at the close of the vacation, which
lasts from the beginning of Augst to the end of Septr.
I have the greater hopes that the preference of this
School will turn out a proper one, as it has recd. the
approbation of the literary gentlemen of Williamsbg
& will be periodically examined by Mr. Wythe &
others. Your younger Nephew is with Majr Callis,
who will keep [school?] some time longer, I am at
a loss as yet where to fix him, but will guard as much
as possible agst any idle interval. I am, very affectly,
dear Sir, y friend and servt,