and is singularly in unison with the reigning attribute of his character. Those who recollect the irrepressible anxiety which he felt for Virginia, while in the crisis of her transition from the monarchical to the republican state, and the severe requisition which he made upon his own industry to secure the greatest practicable measure of freedom and liberality there, will be impressed with the admirable steadiness of purpose which influenced his present determination. The new government in the first province of free empire, was now fairly put in motion; and he felt an invincible desire to participate in the measures of the first republican Legislature under it. Every thing, he conceived, depended upon the stamp of political integrity that should be impressed upon the new institutions of a State government, which was to set the example in the career of republican legislation, and which constituted so influential a member of the incipient confederacy. The principles of her present code were incompatible with the enjoyment of any considerable benefits under the change of administration, and required a fundamental revision, and reduction to a consistent standard. The English common law, with its odious and despotic refinements of feudal origin, was in full force; many of the British statutes, of the most obnoxious character, still existed; whilst the Virginian statutes themselves were scarcely less aristocratic, and hostile to well-regulated liberty; presenting together, an unwieldy and vicious mass of legislation, civil and religious, which, to the mind of the political reformer, presented stronger attractions than the scene in which he had just been distinguished by his labors. To have descended from an eminence in congress which placed him near the helm of the Revolution, to the subordinate station of representative to the municipal assembly, was an act of magnanimity, of which history furnishes few examples but he was impressed with the necessity of

carrying into action, the sound principles which he had meditated during the first effort of emancipation; and now, he thought was a propitious moment to place them on a safe foundation.

6

The spirit of the times,' he said, ' may alter, will alter. Our rulers will become corrupt, our people careless. A single zealot may become a persecutor, and better men be his victims. It can never be too often repeated, that the time for fixing every essential right on a legal basis, is while our rulers are honest, and ourselves united. From the conclusion of this war we shall be going down hill. It will not then be necessary to resort every moment to the people for support. They will be forgotten, therefore, and their rights disregarded. They will forget themselves, but in the sole faculty of making money, and will never think of uniting to effect a due respect for their rights. The shackles, therefore, which shall not be knocked off at the conclusion of this war, will remain on us long, will be made heavier and heavier, till our rights shall revive or expire in a convulsion.'

With the special design, therefore, of heading in person the great work of political regeneration, which he had sketched for his country and for mankind, he early signified his determination to relinquish his station in the National Councils; and was immediately thereupon elected to a seat in the Legislature of Virginia.

Before following him into that body, however, the order of time requires us to notice a singular mark of distinction conferred on him by Congress. He had been absent from Philadelphia but a few days, before he received the appointment of Commissioner to France, with Dr Franklin, to negotiate treaties of alliance and commerce with that government. Silas Dean, then in France, acting as agent for procuring military supplies and for sounding the dispositions of the government towards us, was joined with them in the commission. The appointment was made on the last day of Septem

ber, 1776. Greater importance was attached to the successful issue of this mission, than to any other that had yet been meditated. The prevailing object of declaring Independence had been to secure the countenance and assistance of foreign powers; and towards France, whose friendship and co-operation appeared most likely to be obtained, the hopes of the country were undividedly directed.

If any thing could mark more unequivocally the respect of Congress for the abilities of Mr Jefferson by this appointment, it was the fact of their having associated, a young man of thirty-three, with a venerable philosopher of seventy, then the most distinguished civil character in America.

But the same reasons which influenced his retirement from Congress, induced him to decline accepting the foreign station also, as appears by the following letter addressed to the President of Congress.

'Williamsburg, October 11, 1776.

HONORABLE SIR, -Your favor of the 30th, together with the resolutions of Congress, of the 26th ultimo, came safe to hand. It would argue great insensibility in me, could I receive with indifference, so confidential an appointment from your body. My thanks are a poor return for the partiality they have been pleased to entertain for me. No cares for my own person, nor yet for my private affairs, would have induced one moment's hesitation to accept the charge. But circumstances very peculiar in the situation of my family, such as neither permit me to leave, nor to carry it, compel me to ask leave to decline a service so honorable, and, at the same time, so important to the American cause. The necessity under which I labor, and the conflict I have undergone for three days, during which I could not determine to dismiss your messenger, will, I hope, plead my pardon with Congress; and I am sure there are too many of that body to whom they may with better hopes confide this charge, to leave them under a moment's difficulty in making a new choice. I am, sir, with the

most sincere attachment to your honorable body, and the great cause they support, their and your most obedient, humble servant.

A more adequate and interesting revelation of his motives than is contained in the above letter, is found among his private Memoranda. After repeating the domestic causes already stated, he says: 'I saw, too, that the laboring oar was really at home, where much was to be done, of the most permanent interest, in new-modelling our governments, and much to defend our fanes and firesides, from the desolations of an invading enemy, pressing on our country in every point. I declined, therefore, and Dr Lee was appointed in my place.'

CHAPTER V.

MR JEFFERSON took his seat in the Legislature of Virginia, on the 7th of October, 1776, the opening day of the session. The first object of reform, which arrested his attention, was the Judiciary System; the organization of which, upon the broad basis of reason and common sense, struck him as a measure of the first importance. Besides being indispensable to meet the external revolution of the government, such a scheme of improvement was eminently calculated to gain popular favor for the new order of things, which should always be the first object of the reformer.

On the 11th of October, therefore, he obtained leave to bring in a Bill for the establishment of Courts of Justice. The proposition was referred to a committee, of which he was chairman. He drafted the ordinance ; submitted it to the committee, by whom it was approved; and reported it to the House, where, after passing through the ordinary course, it was adopted with unanimity.

The system proposed by Mr Jefferson, was simple in its organization, and highly republican in its spirit. It is retained essentially unaltered in the existing code of Virginia. It established the model for succeeding Legislatures, in different States, as they successively proceeded to the same duty; and its main features are observable in the Judiciary Systems of all our State governments at the present day.