I shall certainly divorce myself from all part in political affairs. To get rid of them is the principal object of my retirement, and the first thing necessary to the happiness which, you justly observe, it is in vain to look for in any other situation. I pray you to accept my salutations, and assurances of respect.

TO JOHN HOLLINS.

WASHINGTON, February 19, 1809.

DEAR SIR,-A little transaction of mine, as innocent a one as I ever entered into, and where an improper construction was never less expected, is making some noise, I observe, in your city. I beg leave to explain it to you, because I mean to ask your agency in it. The last year, the Agricultural Society of Paris, of which I am a member, having had a plough presented to them, which, on trial with a graduated instrument, did equal work with half the force of their best ploughs, they thought it would be a benefit to mankind to communicate it. They accordingly sent one to me, with a view to its being made known here, and they sent one to the Duke of Bedford also, who is one of their members, to be made use of for England, although the two nations were then at war. By the Mentor, now going to France, I have given permission to two individuals in Delaware and New York, to import two parcels of Merino sheep from France, which they have procured there, and to some gentlemen in Boston, to import a very valuable machine which spins cotton, wool, and flax equally. The last spring, the Society informed me they were cultivating the cotton of the Levant and other parts of the Mediterranean, and wished to try also that of our southern States. I immediately got a friend to have two tierces of seed forwarded to me. They were consigned to Messrs. Falls and Brown of Baltimore, and notice of it being given me, I immediately wrote to them to re-ship them to New York, to be sent by the Mentor. Their first object was to make a show of my let

ter, as something very criminal, and to carry the subject into the newspapers. I had, on a like request, some time ago, (but before the embargo,) from the President of the Board of Agriculture of London, of which I am also a member, to send them some of the genuine May wheat of Virginia, forwarded to them two, or three barrels of it. General Washington, in his time, received from the same Society the seed of the perennial succory, which Arthur Young had carried over from France to England, and I have since received from a member of it the seed of the famous turnip of Sweden, now so well known here. I mention these things, to show the nature of the correspondence which is carried on between societies instituted for the benevolent purpose of communicating to all parts of the world whatever useful is discovered in any one of them. These societies are always in peace, however their nations may be at war. Like the republic of letters, they form a great fraternity spreading over the whole earth, and their correspondence is never interrupted by any civilized nation. Vaccination has been a late and remarkable instance of the liberal diffusion of a blessing newly discovered. It is really painful, it is mortifying, to be obliged to note these things, which are known to every one who knows anything, and felt with approbation by every one who has any feeling. But we have a faction, to whose hostile passions the torture even of right into wrong is a delicious gratification. Their malice I have long learned to disregard, their censure to deem praise. But I observe that some republicans are not satisfied (even while we are receiving liberally from others) that this small return should be made. They will think more justly at another day; but, in the meantime, I wish to avoid offence. My prayer to you, therefore, is, that you will be so good, under the enclosed order, as to receive these two tierces of seed from Falls and Brown, and pay them their disbursements for freight, &c., which I will immediately remit you on knowing the amount. Of the seed, when received, be so

good as to make manure for your garden. When rotted with a due mixture of stable manure or earth, it is the best in the world. I rely on your friendship to excuse this trouble, it being neces

sary I should not commit myself again to persons of whose honor,

or the want of it, I know nothing.

Accept the assurances of my constant esteem and respect.

TO M. GREGOIRE, EVEQUE ET SENATEUR A PARIS.

WASHINGTON, February 25, 1809. SIR, I have received the favor of your letter of August 17th, and with it the volume you were so kind as to send me on the "Literature of Negroes." Be assured that no person living wishes more sincerely than I do, to see a complete refutation of the doubts I have myself entertained and expressed on the grade of understanding allotted to them by nature, and to find that in this respect they are on a par with ourselves. My doubts were the result of personal observation on the limited sphere of my own State, where the opportunities for the development of their genius were not favorable, and those of exercising it still less so. I expressed them therefore with great hesitation; but whatever be their degree of talent it is no measure of their rights. Because Sir Isaac Newton was superior to others in understanding, he was not therefore lord of the person or property of others. On this subject they are gaining daily in the opinions of nations, and hopeful advances are making towards their re-establishment on an equal footing with the other colors of the human family. I pray you therefore to accept my thanks for the many instances you have enabled me to observe of respectable intelligence in that race of men, which cannot fail to have effect in hastening the day of their relief; and to be assured of the sentiments of high and just esteem and consideration which I tender to yourself with all sincerity.

TO M. RUELLE, ANCIEN AGENT DIPLOMATIQUE, RUE D'ARGENTINE, NO. 38, A PARIS.

WASHINGTON, February 25, 1809. SIR, I have duly received your favors of May 29th and July 11th, and with this last a copy of your Constitution with the new augmentations. Our usages not permitting me to present it formally to the Legislature of the nation, I have deposited it in their library, where all its members will have an opportunity of profiting of its truths, and it will be, as you desire, in a depôt beyond the reach of violence. No interests are dearer to men than those which ought to be secured to them by their form of government, and none deserve better of them than those who contribute to the amelioration of that form. The consciousness of having deserved well of mankind for your endeavors to be useful to them in this line, will be itself a high reward, to which will be added the homage of those who shall have reaped the benefits of them. I ask permission on my part to tender you the assurances of my esteem and great respect.

TO THOMAS MANN RANDOLPH.

WASHINGTON, February 28, 1809.

MY DEAR SIR,-By yesterday's mail I learn that it would be the desire of many of the good citizens of our country to meet me on the road on my return home, as a manifestation of their good will. But it is quite impossible for me to ascertain the day on which I shall leave this. The accumulated business at the close of a session will prevent my making any preparation for my departure till after the 4th of March. After that, the arrangement of papers and business to be delivered over to my successor, the winding up my own affairs, and clearing out from this place, will employ me for several days, (I cannot conjecture even how many,) so as to render the commencement, and consequent

ly the termination of my journey, altogether uncertain. But it is a sufficient happiness to me to know that my fellow-citizens of the country generally entertain for me the kind sentiments which have prompted this proposition, without giving to so many the trouble of leaving their homes to meet a single individual. I shall have opportunities of taking them individually by the hand at our court-house and other public places, and of exchanging assurances of mutual esteem. Certainly it is the greatest consolation to me to know, that in returning to the bosom of my native country, I shall be again in the midst of their kind affections: and I can say with truth that my return to them will make me happier than I have been since I left them. Nothing will be wanting on my part to merit the continuance of their good will. The House of Representatives passed yesterday, by a vote of 81 to 40, the bill from the Senate repealing the embargo the 4th of March, except against Great Britain and France and their dependencies, establishing a non-intercourse with them, and having struck out the clause for letters of marque and reprisal, which it is thought the Senate will still endeavor to reinstate. I send you a paper containing the last Spanish news. Yours affectionately.

TO MESSRS. GREGG AND LEIB, SENATORS OF PENNSYLVANIA.— MR. SMILIE.

WASHINGTON, March 2, 1809.

GENTLEMEN, I have just received the enclosed with a request that I would lay it before both Houses of Congress. But I have never presumed to place myself between the Legislative Houses and those who have a constitutional right to address them directly. I take the liberty therefore of enclosing the paper to you, that you may do therein what in your judgment shall best comport with expediency and propriety.

I pray you to be assured of my high consideration.