University of Virginia Library

TO MARQUIS DE LAFAYETTE.

Dear Friend I received some days ago your letter of
Augt. 28. If I did not invite an earlier one by my example it
was because I often heard of you, and was unwilling to add
a feather to the oppressive weight of correspondence which
I well know to be your unavoidable lot. You will never
doubt that your happiness is very dear to me; and I feel the
sentiment growing stronger as the loss of others dear to us
both shortens the list to which we belong. That which we
have lately sustained at Monticello is irreparable; but was

attended with every circumstance that could soothe us under
it. I wish I was not obliged to add, "with one affecting
exception." His family so long in the lap of all the best
enjoyments of life, is threatened with the contrast of pinching
poverty. The expences of his numerous household, his extensive
hospitalities, and a series of short crops and low
markets, to which are to be added old debts contracted in
public service abroad and new ones for which private friendship
had made him responsible; all these causes together,
had produced a situation of which he seems not to have been
fully aware, till it was brought home to his reflections by the
calls of creditors, (themselves pressed by the difficulties of
the times,) and by the impossibility of satisfying them without
a complete sacrifice of his property, perhaps not even by that
at such a crisis. In this posture of things, he acquiesced in
an appeal to the Legislature for the privilege of a Lottery.
This was granted, and arrangements made which promised
relief, with a residuary competence for his beloved daughter
& her children. The general sensation produced by the resort
to a Lottery, and by the occasion for it, unfortunately led
some of his most enthusiastic admirers, to check the progress
of the measure by attempting to substitute patriotic subscriptions,
which they were so sanguine as to rely on, till the
sad event on the 4 of July, benumbed, as it ought not to have
done, the generous experiment; with a like effect, which ought
Still less to have happened, on the Lottery itself. And it is
now found that the subscriptions do not exceed ten or twelve
thousand dollars, and the tickets, but a very inconsiderable
number, whilst the debts are not much short of one hundred
thousand dollars; an amount which a forced sale, under
existing circumstances, of the whole estate, (negroes included,)
would not perhaps reach. Faint hopes exist that renewed
efforts may yet effectuate such a sale of tickets as may save
something for the family; and fainter ones that the Legislature
of the state may interpose a saving hand. God grant it! But
we are all aware of the difficulties to be encountered there. I
well know my dear Sir, the pain which this melancholy picture
will give you, by what I feel at the necessity of presenting it.
I have duly adverted to the generous hint as to the E. Florida
location. But for any immediate purpose, it is, in any form
whatever, a resource perfectly dormant, and must continue
so too long for the purpose in question. Your allusion to it is
nevertheless a proof of the goodness which dwells in your
heart; and whenever known will be so regarded. The urgency
of particular demands has induced the Executor Thomas
Jefferson Randolph, who is the Legatee of the Manuscripts, to
undertake an immediate publication of a Memoir, partly
biographical, partly political and miscellaneous, left in the
handwriting of his Grandfather, the proceeds of which he
hopes will be of critical use; and if prompt & extensive opportunities
be given for subscriptions, there may be no disappointment.
The work will recommend itself not only by
personal details interwoven into it, but by Debates in Congress on the question of Independence, and other very important
subjects coeval with its Declaration, as the Debates were
taken down and preserved by the illustrious member. The
memoir will contain also very interesting views of the origin
of the French Revolution, and its progress & phenomena,
during his Diplomatic residence at Paris, with reflections on
its tendencies & consequences. A trial will probably be made
to secure the copyright of the publication, both in England
and in France. In the latter case your friendly counsel will
of course be resorted to and I mention it that you may in the
mean time be turning the subject in your thoughts. The
manuscripts of which the Memoir makes a part are great in
extent, and doubtless rich in matter; and discreet extracts
may perhaps prove a further pecuniary resource, from time
to time, but how soon and in what degree, I have not the
means of judging. Mrs. Randolph with her two youngest
children, left Montpellier some days ago, on her way to pass
the winter with Mrs. Coolidge. Such a change of scene had
become essential to her health as well as to her feelings. She
has made up her mind for the worst results; a merit which
quickens the sympathy otherwise so intense. She was accompanied
by her son, Ths. J. Randolph who will endeavor to make
arrangements with the Northern Printers for the volume to
be published. It will be an Octavo of about three hundred
pages.

Your sketch of European prospects is valuable for its facts,
& especially for its authenticity. The contents of the foreign
Gazettes find their way to us thro' our own; but do not convey
every thing as ours do to you. You will have seen the
mortifying scenes produced in Congress by the Panama Mission.
The fever of party spirit was an endemic which drew
into it every ill humour, till the whole body was infected.
The malady however was far less malignant out of doors than
within; and I hope our S. American friends will make allowances
till a development of the real feelings here shall be seen.
The Congress at Panama, after a partial execution of its
business, has adjourned to Mexico. One of our envoys, Mr.
Anderson died on his way there, and Mr. Sergeant the other
is still here. Who is to be his associate in the place of Mr. A.
is not known; nor is it known when he or they are to set out.
Bolivar appears to have given a Constitution to the new State
in Peru, of a countenance not altogether belonging to the
American family. I have not yet seen its details; whether
it shews him an apostate, or the people there, in his view, too
benighted as yet for self-government, may possibly be a
question.

Another mortifying topic is the Greek equipment at N.
York. It appears the ample fund for two Frigates at an
early day has procured but one which has but recently sailed.
The indignation of the public is highly excited; and a regular
investigation of the lamentable abuse is going on. In the
mean time Greece is bleeding in consequence of it, as is every
heart that sympathizes with her noble cause. You will see
by our Gazettes also that the community is drawn into a
premature ferment by the partisans of the Presidential

Candidates, the actual incumbent, & Genl. Jackson in
whose favor, all the opponents of the other are at present
concentrating all their efforts. The race, according to appearances
is likely to be a close one. But there is time enough
for the political vicissitudes which often occur.

You possess, notwithstanding your distance, better information
concerning Miss Wright and her experiment than we do
here.[89] We learn only that she has chosen for it a remote
spot in the western part of Tennessee, & has commenced her
enterprise; but with what prospects we know not. I wrote to
her without delay according to my purpose intimated to you,
a letter of some length, in answer to one from her. Mrs.
Madison wrote at the same time. I hope those letters, mine
at least, reached her; not because it contained anything of
much importance, but because it was dictated by the respect
we feel for her fine genius and exalted benevolence. Her plan
contemplated a provision for the expatriation of her Eléves,
but without specifying it; from which I infer the difficulty felt
in devising a satisfactory one. Could this part of the plan
be ensured the other essential part, would come about of
itself. Manumissions now more than keep pace with the
outlets provided, and the increase of them is checked only
by their remaining in the country. This obstacle removed
and all others would yeild to the emancipating disposition
To say nothing of partial modes, what would be more simple,
with the requisite grant of power to Congress, than to purchase
all female infants at their birth, leaving them in the service of
the holder to a reasonable age, on condition of their receiving
an elementary education. The annual number of female
births may be stated at twenty thousand, and the cost at less
than one hundred dollars each, at the most; a sum which
would not be felt by the nation, and be even within the compass
of State resources. But no such effort would be listened
to, whilst the impression remains, and it seems to be indelible,
that the two races cannot co-exist, both being free & equal.

The great sine qua non, therefore is some external asylum
for the coloured race. In the mean time the taunts to which
this misfortune exposes us in Europe are the more to be deplored,
because it impairs the influence of our political example;
tho' they come with an ill grace from the quarter most
lavish of them, the quarter which obtruded the evil, and which
has but lately become a penitent, under suspicious appearances.
. . .