the subject, inquiring into the real state of public opinion, as well as the sentiments of Congress, to which Mr. Jefferson replies at great length.

In this letter, Mr. Jefferson, after giving credit to the motives and feelings which led to the formation of the society, expresses his doubts whether it would be found to "foster those friendships it was intended to preserve." Presuming they would, at their stated meetings, have deliberations and debate, he remarks, "the way to make friends quarrel, is to put them in disputation under the public eye." He then frankly states the objections which were urged against the society: "that it was repugnant to the principles of the confederation, and the letter of some of our constitutions, to the spirit of all of them: that the foundation on which all these were built, being the natural equality of man, the denial of every pre-eminence, but that annexed to legal office; and, particularly, the denial of a preeminence by birth: that, however, in their present dispositions, citizens might decline accepting honorary instalments into the order, a time might 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 secure an engraftment 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 arc: that, beside 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 others have been, by a subversion of that liberty it was intended to establish: that he is not immortal, and his successor, or some of his successors, may be led by false calculation into a less certain road to glory."

He states his impressions, that Congress was unfavourable to the institution, and that although they might not express their sentiments, unless forced to do so, they would probably "check it by side blows whenever it came in their way; and in competitions for office, on equal, or nearly equal grounds, would give silent preferences to those who are not of the fraternity." He concludes with the opinion, that if it was intended to continue the society, it would be better to make no application to Congress: and that no modification of it would be unobjectionable, except that which would "amount to annihilation;" for such would be the effect of parting with its inheritability, its organization, and its assemblies.

At a meeting of the society soon afterwards in Philadelphia, the hereditary principle and the power of adopting honorary members were abolished; but the society, in all other respects, was preserved. According to Mr. Jefferson, General Washington, convinced that the society was disapproved by the great mass of his fellow citizens, used his influence at the meeting in Philadelphia for its suppression, and notwithstanding a strong opposition, such would have been the result, by the vote of a great majority, if the envoy they had despatched to France, for the purpose of providing badges for the order, and of inviting the French officers to become members, had not returned at the time; and as these invitations had been cordially accepted, it was thought that to retract the offer would subject themselves to the reproach of levity and ingratitude: they, therefore, determined that the society should retain its existence, its meetings, and its charitable funds. The order was to be no longer hereditary; it was to be communicated to "no new members; the general meeting, instead of being annual, was to be triennial only. The eagle and riband, indeed, were to be retained, because they were worn, and they wished them to be worn by their friends who were in a country where they would not be objects.

of offence; but themselves never wore them. They laid them up in their bureaus, with the medals of American Independence, with those of the trophies they had taken, and the battles they had won."

Since that time, the society has excited so little public interest, or even notice, that its history is with difficulty traced. In some of the states it is yet continued, and the members hold, or until lately held, triennial meetings. In others, it has, after a lingering existence, been suffered to experience a silent dissolution. That of Virginia met in 1822, and not anticipating another meeting, took steps for the early transfer (long before decided on) of their funds to Washington College. The transfer was accordingly made in 1824, to the treasurer of Virginia, for that institution, and amounted to about 15,000 dollars.

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CHAPTER VIII.

Mr. Jefferson appointed Minister to France. Embarks at Boston. Meeting with Dr. Franklin in Paris. State of Society there. They endeavour to make commercial treaties. Their partial success and its causes. Publishes his notes on Virginia. Theory of the degeneracy of animals in America. Statue of Washington. Remains sole minister. Negotiations against the tobacco monopoly. Asserts the doctrine of free trade. His qualifications of it. His opinion of a navy. Sends a model for the capitol at Richmond. The Barbary powers. Proposes a plan of resistance by combined forces. Causes of its failure. His multifarious correspondence. Negotiations with the Barbary states. Conference with the French minister on American commerce. Oglethorpe's heirs. Case of Lister Asquith. for country life.

1784-1786.

Taste

On the 7th of May, Congress having resolved to add a third minister plenipotentiary to Mr. Adams and Dr. Franklin, Mr. Jefferson received the appointment; and this was the fourth time that honour had been conferred on him. Two days before, a proposition had been made to reduce the salaries of foreign ministers, from eleven thousand one hundred and eleven dollars, to eight thousand. During the animated debate on this subject, Mr. Jefferson appears never to have voted, and as he was very regular in his attendance, the probability is, that he was aware that he was to be nominated, and that he refrained from motives of extreme delicacy-his vote being liable to misconstruction, which ever way he had given it. The salaries were thus fixed at nine thousand dollars, at which they have ever since continued, though, for the principal missions to Europe, it is confessedly inadequate.

On the 11th of May, Mr. Jefferson left Annapolis for Philadelphia, where his eldest daughter then was. He decided on taking her with him to France, and leaving the other two in the care of their aunt, Mrs. Eppes. He proceeded to Boston, with a view of embarking at that port. In this journey, he took pains to inform himself of the nature and extent of the commerce of each state, and even went to New Hampshire and Vermont, with the same object. They sailed on the 5th of July in a merchant ship, bound to Cowes, which place they reached in a short and pleasant passage of nineteen days. After a brief detention, in consequence of the illness of Miss Jefferson, they proceeded on to Havre, and remaining there three days, reached Paris on the 6th day of August, 1784.

He lost no time in calling on his distinguished colleague, Dr. Franklin, who was then living at Passy, a village in the neighbourhood of Paris. There were many points of congeniality between these individuals, and they seemed to have contracted a friendship from the time their acquaintance commenced, in As Dr. Franklin left the United States for France in the following year, they now met, after a separation of eight years. Besides the pleasures of renewed intercourse, they must, without doubt, have felt much patriotic congratulation, that their hopes and plans of 1776, which were then involved in the uncertainty of the future, had since been so happily realized, and that they were now representing their country as an independent nation, at the most polished court, and the most attractive capital of Europe; one too, which, in many points, was particularly suited to the tastes of both the ministers.

At that time, every thing called philosophy, whether physical or moral, was greatly in vogue in Paris. Talent and industry had combined, of late years, to cast extraordinary lustre over the studies of nature, and the encyclopedists had given to every branch of speculative science an éclat, which poetry and literature had once monopolized. Never had a public minister been as popular in a foreign country as Franklin now was in Paris. His discoveries in electricity had given him a high rank among the men of science; and his reputation for political saga