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ted it to the House, where, after going through the ordinary course, it was adopted with few alterations. He improved the occasion to testify, once more, his abhorrence of Slavery, by introducing into his plan, the following provision: "That after the year 1800 of the Christian era, there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of the States, otherwise than in punishment of crimes, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted to have been personally guilty." But the clause was stricken out by Congress, as well as another, which provided that no person should be admitted a citizen, who held any hereditary title.

He was appointed on a committee of retrenchment, to consider and report what reductions might be made in the civil list. On the report of this committee, such a reduction was ordered, by suppressing unnecessary offices, and diminishing the salaries of others, as produced an annual saving to the United States, of 24,000 dollars.

He was made chairman of a committee to settle the mode of locating and disposing lands in the Western Territory. He prepared the report of the committee, which was adopted. It established the mode of locating and disposing the vacant lands of the United States, which has hitherto been pusued, with little variation.

By the Confederation, exclusive power over the regulation of commerce, even by treaty, was not given to Congress; but the right was reserved to the State legislatures, of imposing such duties on foreigners, as their own people were subjected to, and of prohibiting the exportation and importation of any species of goods, within their respective ports. The inconveniences of this arrangement were speedily felt, to an alarming degree. Great Britain had already adopted regulations destructive of our commerce with her West India islands; and unless the United States, in their federative capacity, were invested with powers competent to the protection of their commerce, by countervailing regulations, it was obvious they could never command reciprocal advantages in trade; without which their foreign commerce must decline, and eventually be annihilated. A committee was therefore appointed, of which Mr. Jefferson was a member, to institute measures for transferring the principal jurisdiction of commerce, from the States to the National tribunal. They reported resolutions recommending the Legislatures of the several States, to invest the Federal Government, for the term of fifteen years, with the power to interdict from our ports the com

merce of any nation, with whom the United States shall not have established treaties. The report was accepted, and the resolutions passed.

All these important transactions, with many others, in which Mr. Jefferson had a leading agency, were accomplished during the winter and spring of 1784, the whole term of his second congressional service,

During the same term, he submitted a proposition, which embraced a double object-to invigorate and economize the government. The permanent session of Congress, and the flagrant remissness of the members, had begun to be a subject of uneasiness through the country; and even some of the Legislatures had recommended to them intermissions, and periodical sessions. But the government was not yet organized into separate Departments; there was no distinct Executive, nor had the Confederation made provision for a visible head of affairs, during vacations of Congress. Such a head was necessary, however, to superintend the executive business, to receive and communicate with foreign Ministers and nations, and to assemble Congress on sudden and extraordinary emergencies. Mr. Jefferson, therefore, proposed the appointment of an executive board, to consist of one member from each State, who should remain in session during the recess of Congress, under the title of 'Committee of the States.' The powers of this periodical substitute of Congress, were to embrace all the executive functions of the principal, which should not be specially reserved, but none of the legislative; the concurrence of nine members should be required to determine all questions, except that of adjournment from day to day; they should keep a journal of their proceedings to be laid before Congress, whom they should also be empowered to assemble, on any occurrence during the recess, in which the peace or happiness of the United States might be involved.

The proposition was adopted, and a Committee of the States appointed. On the adjournment of Congress, in June following, they entered upon their duties, but in the course of two months, quarrelled among themselves, divided into two parties, abandoned their post, and left the government without any visible head, until the next meeting of Congress. The scheme was found to be an impracticable one, though it was the best within the authority of Congress, at that time, to adopt. And, on the whole, it was a happy

circumstance to our Republic, that the theory proved as impracticable as it did; for it developed, in a clear light, the palpable defect of the Confederation, in not having provided for a separation of the legislative, executive, and judiciary functions: and this defect, together with the want of fadequate powers in the General Government, to collect their contributions, and to regulate commerce, were the two great causes which led to the formation and adoption of our present Constitution.

Mr. Jefferson has left a brief reminiscence of his sentiments, and of an amusing interview with Dr. Franklin, on learning the sudden rupture and dispersion of the new Executive Chiefs.

"We have since seen the same thing take place, in the Directory of France; and I believe it will for ever take place in any Executive consisting of a plurality. Our plan, best, I believe, combines wisdom and practicability, by providing a plurality of councillors, but a single arbiter for ultimate decision. I was in France when we heard of this schism and separation of our Committee, and, speaking with Dr. Franklin of this singular disposition of men to quarrel, and divide into parties, he gave his sentiments, as usual, by way of apologue. He mentioned the Eddystone light-house, in the British channel, as being built on a rock, in the mid-channel, totally inaccessible in winter, from the boisterous character of that sea, in that season; that, therefore, for the two keepers employed to keep up the lights, all provisions for the winter were necessarily carried to them in autumn, as they could never be visited again till the return of the milder season; that, on the first practicable day in the spring, a boat put off to them with fresh supplies. The boatmen met at the door one of the keepers, and accosted him with a 'How goes it, friend? Very well.' 'How is your companion? I do not know.' Don't know?' 'Is not he here?' 'I cant tell.' 'Have not you seen him to day?' 'No.' 'When did you see him?" 'Not since last fall.' 'You have killed him?' 'Not I, indeed.' They were about to lay hold of him, as having certainly murdered his companion; but he desired them to go up stairs and examine for themselves. They went up, and there found the other keeper. They had quarrelled, it seems, soon after being left there, had divided into two parties, assigned the cares below to one, and those above to the other, and had never spoken to, or seen, one another since.

While in Congress, at Annapolis, Mr. Jefferson received an urgent letter from General Washington, requesting his opinions on the institution of the Cincinnati, and on the conduct most proper for him to pursue in relation to it. The origin of this institution was perfectly innocent; but its anti-republican organization and

tendency soon excited a heavy solicitude in the breasts of the more sensitive guardians of liberty, which at length broke forth in accents of loud and extensive disapprobation. The idea was suggested by General Knox, and finally matured into a regular association of all the officers of the American army, to continue during their lives, and those of their eldest male posterity, or in failure thereof, any collateral branches who might be judged worthy admission, with power to incorporate, as honorary members for life, individuals of the respective States, distinguished for their patriotism and abilities. The laws of the association further provided for periodical meetings, general and particular, fixed contributions for such of the members as might be in distress, and a badge to be worn by them, and presented, by a special envoy, to the French officers who had served in the United States, who were to be invited to consider themselves as belonging to the society; at the head of which the Commander in Chief was unanimously designated to place his name.

General Washington saw with pain the uneasiness of the public mind under this institution, and appealed to Mr. Jefferson for his advice on the most eligible measures to be pursued, at the next meeting. The answer of Mr. Jefferson, as it probably decided the future destinies of this famous institution, is worthy of being preserved. It is dated Annapolis, April 16, 1784.

"I received your favor of April the 8th, by Colonel Harrison. The subject of it is interesting, and, so far as you have stood connected with it, has been matter of anxiety to me; because, whatever may be the ultimate fate of the institution of the Cincinnati, as, in its course, it draws to it some degree of disapprobation, I have wished to see you standing on ground separated from it, that the character which will be handed to future ages, of the head of our Revolution, may, in no instance, be compromitted in subordinate altercations. The subject has been at the point of my pen in every letter I have written to you, but has been still restrained by the reflection that you had among your friends more able counsellors, and, in yourself, one abler than them all. Your letter has now rendered a duty what was before a desire, and I cannot better merit your confidence than by a full and free communication of facts and sentiments, as far as they have come within my observation. When the army was about to be disbanded, and the officers to take final leave, perhaps never again to meet, it was natural for men who had accompanied each other through so many scenes of hardship, of difficulty and danger, who, in a variety of instances, must have been rendered mutually dear by those aids and good offices, to which

their situations had given occasion, it was natural, I say, for these to seize with fondness any proposition which promised to bring them together again, at certain and regular periods. And this, I take for granted, was the origin and object of this institution: and I have no suspicion that they foresaw, much less intended, those mischiefs which exist perhaps in the forebodings of politicians only. I doubt, however, whether in its execution, it would be found to answer the wishes of those who framed it, and to foster those friendships it was intended to preserve. The members would be brought together at their annual assemblies no longer to encounter a common enemy, but to encounter one another in debate and sentiment. For something, I suppose, is to be done at these meetings, and, however unimportant, it will suffice to produce difference of opinion, contradiction, and irritation. The way to make friends quarrel is to put them in disputation under the public eye. An experience of near twenty years has taught me, that few friendships stand this test, and that public assemblies where every one is free to act and speak, are the most powerful looseners of the bands of private friendship. I think, therefore, that this institution would fail in its principal ob ject, the perpetuation of the personal friendships contracted through the war.

"The objections of those who are opposed to the institution shall be briefly sketched. You will readily fill them up. They urge. that it is against the Confederation against the letter of some of our Constitutions against the spirit of all of them ;-that the foundation on which all these are built, is the natural equality of man, the denial of every pre-eminence but that annexed to legal office, and, particularly, the denial of a pre-eminence by birth; that however, in their present dispositions, citizens might decline accepting honorary instalments into the order; but a time may come, when a change of dispositions would render these flattering, when a well directed distribution of them might draw into the order all the men of talents, of office, and wealth; and in this case, would probably procure an ingraftment into the government; that in this, they will be supported by their foreign members, and the wishes and influence of foreign courts; that experience has shown that the hereditary branches of modern governments are the patrons of privilege and prerogative, and not of the natural rights of the people, whose oppressors they generally are that besides these evils, which are remote, others may take place more immediately; that a distinction is kept up between the civil and military, which it is for the happiness of both to obliterate; that when the members assemble they will be proposing to do something, and what that something may be, will depend on actual circumstances; that being an organized body, under habits of subordination, the first obstruction to enterprise will be already surmounted; that the moderation and virtue of a single character have probably prevented this Revolution from being closed as most

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