* * 2

You can

7998. SMITH (William S.), Character of.-I learn that Mr. Adams desires to be recalled, and that Smith should be appo nted Chargé des Affaires there. judge of Smith's abilities by his letters. They are not of the first order, but they are good. For his honesty, he is like our friend Monroe; turn his soul wrong side outwards, and there is not a speck on it. He has one foible, an excessive inflammability of temper, but he feels it when it comes on, and has resolution enough to suppress it, and to remain silent till it passes over. To JAMES MADISON. ii, 110. FORD ED., iv, 368. (P., 1787.)

7999. SMUGGLING, Temptations to.Contraband does not increase on lessening the temptations to it.-To COUNT DE VERGENNES. i, 389. (P., 1785.)

8000. SNAKES, Antipathy to.-There ́s in man as well as in brutes an antipathy to the snake, which makes it a disgusting object wherever it is presented.-To GOVERNOR HENRY LEE. FORD ED., vi, 320. (Pa., 1793.)

Con

8001. SOCIAL INTERCOURSE, tentment and.-Without society, and a society to our taste, men are never contented.TO JAMES MONROE. ii, 71. (P., 1786.) See SOCIETY.

8002. SOCIAL INTERCOURSE, Harmony and.-If we can once more get social intercourse restored to its pristine harmony, I shall believe we have not lived in vain.-To THOMAS LOMAX. iv, 361. FORD ED., vii, 500. (W., Feb. 1801.)

8003. SOCIAL INTERCOURSE, Opinions and.-Opinions, which are equally honest on both sides, should not affect personal esteem or social intercourse.-To JOHN ADAMS. vi, 146. ( M., 1813.)

8007. SOCIETIES (Scientific), Peaceful. These [scientific] 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.-To JOHN HOLLINS. V. 428. (W., 1809.)

8008. SOCIETIES (Secret), Dangerous. -I acknowledge the right of voluntary associations for laudable purposes and in moderate numbers. I acknowledge, too, the expediency, for revolutionary purposes, of general associaBut where, tions, coextensive with the nation.

as in our case, no abuses call for revolution, voluntary associations so extensive as to grapple with and control the government, should such be or become their purpose, are dangerous machines, and should be frowned down in every well regulated government.-To JAMES MADISON. FORD ED., X, 207. (M., 1822.)

8009. SOCIETIES (Secret), Government and.-As revolutionary instruments (when nothing but revolution will cure the evils of the State) they [secret societies] are necessary and indispensable, and the right to use them is inalienable by the people; but to admit them as ordinary and habitual instruments as a part of the machinery of the Constitution, would be to change that machinery by introducing moving powers foreign to it, and to an extent depending solely on local views. and, therefore, incalculable. *-To WILLIAM DUANE. FORD ED., viii, 256. (M., 1803.) See DEMOCRATIC SOCIETIES.

* *

(8010. SOCIETY, American.-In America the society of your husband, the fond cares of the children, the arrangements of the house, the improvements of the grounds, fill every moment with a healthy and an useful activity. Every exertion is encouraging, because, to present amusement, it joins the promise of some future good. The intervals of leisure are filled by the society of real friends, whose affections are not thinned to cob-web by being spread over a thousand ob

This is the picture, in the light it is presented to my mind.--To MRS. BINGHAM. ii, 117. (P., 1787.)

1824.)

8006. SOCIETIES (Communal), Practicability. That, on the principle of a communion of property, small societies may exist in habits of virtue, order, industry, and peace, and consequently in a state of as much happiness as heaven has been pleased to deal out to imperfect humanity, I can readily conceive, and, indeed, have seen its proofs in various small societies which have been constituted on that principle. But I do not feel authorized to conclude from these that an extended society

like that of the United States, or of an individual State, could be governed happily on the same principle. I look to the diffusion of light and education as the resource most to be

8011, SOCIETY, Jefferson's choice.-I have changed my circle here [Philadelphia] according to my wish, abandoning the rich and ciating entirely with the class of science, of declining their dinners and parties, and assowhom there is a valuable society here.-To MARTHA JEFFERSON RANDOLPH. D. L. J. 262. (Pa., 1800.)

8012. SOCIETY, Majority rule.-The fundamental law of every society [is] the lex majoris partis, to which we are bound to submit.-To DAVID HUMPHREYS. iii, 13. FORD ED., v, 90. (P., 1789.)

8013. SOCIETY, Necessity for.-I am convinced our own happiness requires that we should continue to m'x with the world, and to keep pace with it as it goes; and that every

A political committee of Philadelphia had sent a communication to Jefferson on the subject of removals from office.-EDITOR.

ex

person who retires from free communication with it is severely punished afterwards by the state of mind into which he gets, and which can only be prevented by feeding our sociable principles. can speak from perience on this subject. From 1793 to 1797, I remained closely at home, saw none but those who came there, and at length became very sensible of the ill effect it had on my own mind, and of its direct and irresistible tendency to render me unfit for society and uneasy when necessarily engaged in it. I fet enough of the effect of withdrawing from the world then to see that it led to an anti-social and misanthropic state of mind, which severely punishes him who gives in to it; and it will be a lesson I never shall forget as to myself.-To MARY JEFFERSON EPPES. D. L. J. 284. (W., March 1802.) See SOCIAL INTERCOURSE.

what

8014. SOCIETY, Parisian.-To does the bustle of Paris tend? At eleven o'clock, it is day, chez madame. The curtains are drawn. Propped on bolsters and pillows. and her head scratched into a little order, the bulletins of the sick are read, and the billets of the well. She writes to some of her acquaintance, and receives the visits of others. If the morning is not very thronged, she is able to get out and hobble round the cage of the Palais Royal; but she must hobble quickly, for the coiffeur's turn is come; and a tremendous turn it is! Happy, if he does not make her arrive when dinner is half over! The torpitude of digestion a little passed, she flutters half an hour through the streets, by way of paying visits, and then to the spectacles. These finished, another half hour is devoted to dodging in and out of the doors of her very sincere friends, and away to supper. After supper, cards; and after cards, bed; to rise at noon the next day, and to tread, like a mill horse, the same trodden circle over again. Thus the days of life are consumed, one by one, without an object beyond the present moment; ever flying from the ennui of that, yet carrying it with us; eternally in pursuit of happiness, which keeps eternally before us. If death or bankruptcy happen to trip us out of the circle. it is matter for the buzz of the evening, and is completely forgotten by the next morning.— To MRS. BINGHAM. ii, 116. (P., 1787.)

SOCIETY OF THE CINCINNATI.See CINCINNATI SOCIETY.

8015. SOCRATES, Dæmon of.-An expression in your letter * that "the human

understanding is a revelation from its Maker ", gives the best solution that I believe can be given of the question, 'what did Socrates mean by his Dæmon"? He was too wise to believe, and too honest to pretend that he had real and familiar converse with a superior and invisible being. He probably considered the suggestions of his conscience, or reason, as revelations, or inspirations from the Supreme Mind, bestowed, on important occasions, by a special superintending Providence.-To JOHN ADAMS. vi, 220. (M., 1813.)

8017. SOLITUDE, Philosophy and.Let the gloomy monk, sequestered from the world, seek unsocial pleasures in the bottom of his cell! Let the sublimated philosopher grasp visionary happiness, while pursuing phantoms dressed in the garb of truth! Their supreme wisdom is supreme folly; and they mistake for happiness the mere absence of pain. Had they ever felt the solid pleasure of one generous spasm of the heart, they would exchange for it all the frigid speculations of their lives. To MRS. COSWAY. ii, 39. FORD ED., iv. 319. (P., 1786.)

8018. SOULS, Transmigration of.—It is not for me to pronounce on the hypothesis you present of a transmigration of souls from one body to another in certain cases. The laws of nature have withheld from us the means of physical knowledge of the country of spirits. and revelation has, for reasons unknown to us. chosen to leave us in the dark as we were. When I was young I was fond of the speculations which seemed to promise some insight into that hidden country, but observing at length that they left me in the same ignorance in which they had found me, I have for very many years ceased to read or to think concerning them, and have reposed my head on that pillow of ignorance which a benevolent Creator has made so soft for us, knowing how much we should be forced to use it. I have thought it better, by nourishing the good passions and controlling the bad, to merit an inheritance in a state of being of which I can know so little, and to trust for the future to Him who has been so good for the past.-To REV. ISAAC STORY. iv, 422. FORD ED., viii, 107. (W., 1801.) See IMMORTALITY.

8019. SOUTH AMERICA, Revolt in.I enter into all your doubts as to the event of the revolution of South America. They will succeed against Spain. But the dangerous enemy is within their own breasts. Ignorance and superstition will chain their minds and bodies under religious and military despotism. I do believe it would be better for them to obtain freedom by degrees only; because that would by degrees bring on light and information, and qualify them to take charge of themselves understandingly; with more certainty, if in the meantime, under so much control as may keep them at peace with one another. Surely, it is our duty to wish them independence and self-government, because they wish it them selves, and they have the right, and we none. to choose for themselves; and I wish, moreover, that our ideas may be erroneous and theirs prove well-founded. But these are speculations which we may as well deliver over to those who are to see their development.-To JOHN ADAMS. vii, 104. FORD ED., X, 108. (M., 1818.) See SPANISH AMERICA.

8020. SOUTH CAROLINA, Fidelity. The steady union of our fellow citizens of South Carolina is entirely in their character. They have never failed in fidelity to their country and the republican spirit of its Constitu tion.-To MR. LETUE. V. 384. (W., 1808.)

8021. SOUTH CAROLINA, Free government and.-I see with pleasure another proof that South Carolina is ever true to the principles of free government.-To HENRY MIDDLETON. vi, 91. (M., Jan. 1813.)

8022. SOVEREIGNTY, Infringement. -The granting military commissions within the United States by any other authority than their own, is an infringement on their sover

eignty, and particularly so when granted to their own citizens to lead them to acts contrary to the duties they owe their own country.-To EDMOND CHARLES GENET. iii, 572. FORD ED., vi, 283. (Pa., June 1793.)

8023. Mr. Hammond says the issuing the commission [to the Citoyen Genet] by M. Genet, within our territory, was an infringement of our sovereignty; therefore, the proceeds of it should be given up to Great Britain. The infringement was a matter between France and us. Had we insisted on any penalty or forfeiture by way of satisfaction to our insulted rights. it would have belonged to us, not to a third party. As between Great Britain and us, * * * we deemed we did enough to satisfy her.— TO THOMAS PINCKNEY. iii, 583. FORD ED., vi, 302. (Pa., June 1793.)

No

substituted for them. In all communications, therefore, with their officers, conciliation and mutual accommodation are to be mainly attended to. Everything irritating to be avoided, everything friendly to be done for them.-To WILLIAM C. CLAIBORNE. FORD ED., viii, 71. (W., July 1801.)

8029. SPAIN, English alliance against. I think you have misconceived the nature of the treaty I thought we should propose to England. I have no idea of committing ourselves immediately or independently of our further will to the war. The treaty should be provisional only, to come into force on the event of our being engaged in war with either France or Spain during the present war in Europe. In that event we should make common cause, and England should stipulate not to make peace without our obtaining the objects for which we go to war, to wit, the acknowledgment by Spain of the rightful boundaries of Louisiana (which we should reduce to our minimum by a second article) and 2, indemnishould be allowed to make reprisal on the

8025. SOVEREIGNTY, Partition of.-I see with great pleasure every testimony to the principles of pure republicanism; and every effort to preserve untouched that partition of the sovereignty which our excellent Constitution has made between the general and particular governments.-To JAMES SULLIVAN. FORD ED., v, 369. (Pa., 1791.)

8026. SPAIN, Bonaparte and.-I suppose Napoleon will get possession of Spain; but her colonies will deliver themselves to any member of the Bourbon family. Perhaps Mexico will choose its sovereign within itself. He will find them much more difficult to subdue than Austria or Prussia; because an enemy (even in peace an enemy) possesses the element over which he is to pass to get at them; and a more powerful enemy (climate) will soon mow down his armies after arrival. This will be, without any doubt, the most difficult enterprise the Emperor has ever undertaken. may subdue the small colonies; he never can the old and strong; and the former will break off from him the first war he has again with a naval power.-To GENERAL ARMSTRONG, 434. (W., March 1809.)

He

8027. SPAIN, Common interests. It may happen * ** that the interests of Spain and America may call for a concert of proceedings against that State (Algiers). *** May not the affairs of the Mosquito coast, and our western posts, produce another instance of a common interest? Indeed, I meet this correspondence of interest in so many quarters, that I look with anxiety to the issue of Mr. Gardoqui's mission, hoping it will be a removal of the only difficulty at present subsisting between the two nations, or which is likely to arise. To WILLIAM CARMICHAEL. i, 393. (P., 1785.)

8028. SPAIN, Conciliation of.-We consider Spain's possession of the adjacent country as most favorable to our interests, and should see with extreme pain any other nation

Floridas and retain them as an indemnification. Our cooperation in the war (if we should really enter into it) would be sufficient consideration for Great Britain to engage for its object; and it being generally known to France and Spain that we had entered into treaty with England, would probably ensure us a peaceable and immediate settlement of both points. But another motive much more powerful would indubitably induce England to go much further. Whatever ill-humor may at times have been expressed against us by individuals of that country, the first wish of every Englishman's heart is to see us once more fighting by their sides against France; nor could the King or his ministers do an act so popular as to enter into an alliance with us. The nation would not weigh the consideration by grains and scruples. They would consider it as the price and pledge of an indissoluble friendship. I think it possible that for such a provisional treaty they would give us their general guarantee of Louisiana and the Floridas. At any rate we might try them. A failure would not make our situation worse. If such a one could be obtained, we might await conven ence for calling up the casus fæderis. I think it important that England should receive an overture as early as possible. as it might prevent her listening to terms of peace. If I recollect rightly, we had instructed Monroe, when he went to Paris, to settle the deposit; if he failed in that object to propose a treaty to England immediately. We could not be more engaged to secure the deposit than we are the country now, after paying fifteen millions for it. I do expect, therefore, that, considering the present state of things as analagous to that, and virtually within his instructions, he will very likely make the proposition England. To JAMES MADISON. iv, 585. FORD ED., viii, 377. (M., Aug. 1805.)

Our

to

8030. A letter from Charles Pinckney of May 22 [1805], informs me that Spain refuses to settle a lim't, and perseveres in withholding the ratification of the convention. He says not a word of the status quo, from which I conclude it has not been proposed. *** I think the status quo, if not already proposed, should be immediately offered through Bowdoin. Should it even be refused, the refusal to settle a limit is not of itself a sufficient cause of war, nor is the withholding a ratification worthy of such a redress. Yet these acts show a purpose both in Spain and France which

we ought to provide before the conclusion of a peace. I think, therefore, we should take into consideration whether we ought not immediately to propose to England an eventual treaty of alliance, to come into force whenever (within years) a war shall take place with Spain or France. It may be proper for the ensuing Congress to make some preparations for such an event, and it should be in our power to show we have done the same.-To JAMES MADISON. FORD ED., viii, 374. (M., Aug. 1805.)

8031.

On a view of our affairs

with Spain, * * I wrote you *** that I

thought we should offer them the status quo, but immediately propose provisional alliance with England. I have not yet received the whole correspondence. But the portion of the papers now enclosed to you, confirm me in the expediency of a treaty with England, but make the offer of the status quo more doubtful. *** From the papers already received I infer a confident reliance on the part of Spain on the omnipotence of Bonaparte, but a desire of procrastination till peace in Europe shall leave us without an ally.-To JAMES MADISON. iv, 583. FORD ED., viii, 375. (M., Aug. 1805.)

8032. SPAIN, Friendship with.-Under an intimate conviction of long standing in my mind, of the importance of an honest friendship with Spain, and one which shall identify her American interests with our own, I see in a strong point of view the necessity that the organ of communication which we establish near the King should possess the favor and confidence of that government. I have, therefore, destined for that mission a person whose accommodating and reasonable conduct, which will be still more fortified by instructions, will render him agreeable there, and an useful channel of communication between us. I have no doubt the new appointment by that government to this, in the room of the Chevalier d'Yrujo, has been made under the influence of the same motives.-To DON JOSEPH YZNARDI. iv, 385. FORD ED., viii, 33. (W., March 1801.)

8033. The Chevalier d'Yrujo being intimately known to us, the integrity. sincerity, and reasonableness of his conduct having established in us a perfect confidence, in nowise diminished by the bickerings which took place between him and a former Secretary of State [Pickering], whose irritable temper drew on more than one affair of the same kind. it will be a subject of great regret if we lose him. However, if the interests of Spain require that his services should be employed elsewhere, it is the duty of a friend to acquiesce; and we shall certainly receive any successor the King may choose to send, with every possible degree of favor and friendship.-To DON JOSEPH YZNARDI. iv, 385. FORD ED., viii, 33. (W., March 1801.)

8034. SPAIN, Good faith towards.-No better proof of the good faith of the United States could have been given, than the vigor with which we have acted, and the expense incurred, in suppressing the enterprise meditated lately by Burr against Mexico. Although at first he proposed a separation of the Western country, and on that ground received encouragement and aid from Yrujo, according to the usual spirit of his government towards us, yet he very early saw that the fidelity of the Western country was not to be shaken, and turned himself wholly towards Mexico. And so popular is an enterprise on that country in this. that we had only to be still, and he would

have had followers enough to have been in the city of Mexico in six weeks.-To JAMES BowDOIN. v, 64. FORD ED., ix, 41. (W., April 1807.)

8035. SPAIN, Good offices of.-I see with extreme satisfaction and gratitude the friendly interposition of the court of Spain with the Emperor of Morocco on the subject of the brig Betsey, and I am persuaded it will produce the happiest effects in America. Those, who are intrusted with the public affairs there, are sufficiently sensible how essential it is for our interest to cultivate peace with Spain, and they will be pleased to see a corresponding disposition in that court. The late good office of emancipating a number of our countrymen from slavery is peculiarly calculated to produce a sensation among our people, and to dispose them to relish and adopt the pacific and friendly views of their leaders towards Spain.-To W. CARMICHAEL. i, 392. (P., 1785.)

8036. SPAIN, Government of.-If anything thrasonic and foolish from Spain could add to my contempt of that government, it would be the demand of satisfaction now made by Foronda. However, respect to ourselves requires that the answer should be decent, and I think it fortunate that this opportunity is given to make a strong declaration of facts, to wit. how far our knowledge of Miranda's objects went, what measures we took to prevent anything further, the negligence of the Spanish agents to give us earlier notice, the measures we took for punishing those guilty, and our quiet abandonment of those taken by the Spaniards. To JAMES MADISON. v, 164. FORD ED.. ix, 124. (M., Aug. 1807) See MIRANDA EX

PEDITION.

8037. SPAIN, Honest, but unwise.Spain is honest if it is not wise.-TO JOHN ADAMS. FORD ED., iv, 295. (P., 1786.)

That

8038. SPAIN, Hostility of.-Our relations with Spain are vitally interesting. they should be of peaceable and friendly character has been our most earnest desire. Had Spain met us with the same dispositions, our idea was that her existence in this hemisphere and ours should have rested on the same bottom; should have swam or sunk together. We want nothing of hers, and we want no other nation to possess what is hers. But she has met our advances with jealousy, secret malice and ill-faith. Our patience under this unworthy return of disposition is now on its last trial. And the issue of what is now depending between us will decide whether our relations with her are to be sincerely friendly, or permanently hostile. I still wish and would cherish the former, but have ceased to expect it.-To JAMES BOWDOIN. FORD ED., viii, 351. (W.. April 1805.)

8039. SPAIN, Incitement of Indians.— With respect to the treaties, the speech and the letter, you will see that they undertake to espouse the concerns of Indians within our limits; to be mediators of boundary between them and us: to guarantee that boundary to them; to support them with their whole power: and hazard to us intimations of acquiescence to avoid disagreeable results. They even propose to extend their intermedddlings to the northern Indians. These are pretensions so totally inconsistent with the usages established among the white nations, with respect to Indians living within their several limits, that it is believed no example of them can be produced, in times of peace; and they are presented to us in