Soon after this conference with the Count de Vergennes, Mr. Jefferson addressed a letter to the Georgia delegates in Congress, in which, after referring them to his despatches to Mr. Jay, containing his views on the claims of Oglethorpe's heirs, he says, "I have thought it best to present to them those claims in the least favourable point of view, to lessen as much as possible the effects of a disappointment: but I think it my duty to ask your notice and patronage of this case, as one whose decision will have an effect on the general interests of the Union." The interests of the Chevalier de Mezieres are "espoused by those whom it is our interest to gratify."-" The pecuniary advantages of confiscation, in this instance, cannot compensate its ill effects. It is difficult to make foreigners understand those legal distinctions between the effects of forfeiture, of escheat, and of conveyance, on which the professors of the law might build their opinions in this case. They can see only the outlines of the case, to wit: the death of a possessor of lands lying within the United States, leaving an heir in France, and the state claiming those lands in opposition to the heir. An individual, thinking himself injured, makes more noise than a state. Perhaps, too, in every case which either party to a treaty thinks to be within its provisions, it is better not to weigh the syllables and letters of the treaty, but to show that gratitude and affection render that appeal unnecessary." He on the same day recommended the case to the patronage of the Governor of Georgia.

There was also a private case of American citizens which gave him no little trouble, and which conveys a lively idea of the severity of the laws of France against smuggling. This was the case of Lister Asquith and his five companions, who were thrown into prison for violating the revenue laws of France. Asquith was a citizen of Maryland, and being

involved in an important law-suit in England which required his presence, determined to go thither in a small schooner of his own, which he loaded with tobacco and flour for Liverpool. The schooner he had purchased as measuring 59} tons, but she had been registered at 21 tons, by way of evading the double duties on American vessels in England. The vessel stopped in Hampton Roads, and learning that tobacco would be a better article than flour, the latter was landed, with a view of substituting tobacco; but a storm coming on, they were driven out to sea. While in the English channel, another storm drove them a second time to sea, when, in distress for provisions, and unable to reach England, they put into France. Asquith went to Roscof and made a protest of the facts, and reported his vessel and cargo to the custom-house. Having represented the burthen of his vessel to be only 21 tons, he was told she was liable to confiscation, on which he gave a true state of the case, and was permitted so to report her; she was, however, afterwards visited by other persons, who seized her, carried her to the pier, and to that restricted both her and the crew, by putting a sentinel over them. The officers then had the vessel measured, and, by omitting the cabin, steerage, &c., reduced her burthen to nearly one-half. They were afterwards committed to close prison at St. Pol de Leon, where they had been confined ever since, that is, for three months. They were accused, first, of having sold tobacco in contraband; and secondly, as having entered a port of France in a vessel less than thirty tons burthen. The evidence of their selling was some loose tobacco in their possession, which they satisfactorily explained.

These people, however, were afterwards sentenced to the galleys, and to a fine, which the king remitted: their vessel and cargo were confiscated to the farmers of the revenue.

It was not until the latter part of May that they were released, and the expenses of their enlargement and subsistence were furnished by Mr. Jefferson.

He now took occasion to renew his correspondence with Baron Geismer, who had shared Mr. Jefferson's hospitality at Monticello, while he was a prisoner in Albemarle. He tells the Baron that he is savage enough to prefer the woods, the wilds, and the independence of Monticello, to all the brilliant pleasures of the gay metropolis of France. "I shall, therefore," he says, " rejoin myself to my native country, with new attachments, and with exaggerated esteem for its advantages; for though there is less wealth there, there is more freedom, more ease, and less misery."

Declarations of this kind often originate in insincerity and affectation; sometimes from the wish to appear superior to those sensual indulgences and light amusements which are to be obtained only in cities, and sometimes from the pride of seeming to despise what is beyond our reach. But the sentiment here expressed by Mr. Jefferson is truly felt by many an American, and we have no reason to doubt it was felt also by him. There is a charm in the life which one has been accustomed to in his youth, no matter what the modes of that life may have been, which always retains its hold on the heart. The Indian who has passed his first years with his tribe, is never reconciled to the habits and restraints of civilized life. And although in more artificial and advanced stages of society, individuals, whether they have been brought up in the town or the country, are not equally irreconcilable to a change from one to the other, it commonly takes some time to overcome their preference for the life they have been accustomed to: and in many instances it is never overcome, but continues to haunt the imagination with pleasing pictures of the past or imaginations of the future, when hope gives assurance that those

scenes of former enjoyment may be renewed. That most of our country gentlemen, past the heyday of youth, would soon tire of Paris, and pant after the simple pleasures and exemption from restraint which their own country affords, is little to be wondered at; but it is the more remarkable in Mr. Jefferson, and more clearly illustrates the force of early habit, when it is recollected that he found in the French metropolis that society of men of letters and science which he must often have in vain coveted in his own country, and that here he met with those specimens of music, painting, and architecture, for which he had so lively a relish. But in these comparisons between the life we are leading and that which we have left, or are looking forward to, we must always allow much to the force of the imagination, and there are few men who felt its influence more than Mr. Jefferson. In one of his letters to Mr. Carmichael, he says, "I sometimes think of building a little hermitage at the Natural Bridge (for it is my property), and of passing there a part of the year at least."

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CHAPTER IX.

Proposes a
Objects to

Mr. Jefferson joins Mr. Adams in London. Their cold reception. Policy of the British government towards America. Treaty with Portugal not ratified. Unsuccessful negotiation with the Tripoline minister. Mr. Jefferson's description of England. His contributions to the Encyclopédie Méthodique. The progress of population in the United States. Inland Navigation. Elk horns. Live oak. Fossil shells. Debts of Virginians. New federal Government for the United States proposed. Houdon's statue of Washington. donation to La Fayette. British debts in Virginia. the proposed extent of some new states. His opinion of the powers of Congress. Act of religious freedom. Popular instruction. Harbour of Cherbourg. Philosophical dialogue. Easterly winds. Connexion between the Atlantic and Pacific. The Cincinnati. His schemes of future happiness. Assists Ledyard, the traveller-his enterprises. Complains that his despatches had been published. Carriage wheels.

1786-1787.

MR. JFFFERSON's first official act this year was to join Mr. Adams in London, with the view of perfecting some treaties to which his concurrence was necessary. In February, he received information from Mr. Adams that there was a prospect of forming treaties with Tripoli, Tunis, and especially with Portugal. He accordingly set out a few days afterwards, and arrived in London about the 18th of March. He called on Mr. Adams the very night he arrived, and again the next day. But a temporary indisposition of the Portuguese minister delayed their interview with him.

His visit to London appeared to him and Mr. Adams to afford a good opportunity of ascertaining the real sentiments and ultimate determination of the British cabinet,