from writing to my friends on the subject of politics. Indeed I am tired of writing Jeremiades on that subject. What person, who remembers the times and tempers we have seen, would have believed that within so short a period, not only the jealous spirit of liberty which shaped every operation of our revolution, but even the common principles of English whiggism would be scouted, and the tory principle of passive obedience under the new-fangled names of confidence & responsibility, become entirely triumphant? That the tories, whom in mercy we did not 'crumble to dust & ashes,' could so have entwined us in their scorpion tails, that we cannot now move hand or foot. But the spell is dissolving. The public mind is recovering from the delirium into which it had been thrown, and we may still believe with security that the great body of the American people must for ages yet be substantially republican. You have heard of the nomination of mr. Murray. being in the secret of this juggle, I am not yet able to say how it is to be played off. Respectful & affectionate salutations from, dear Sir, your sincere friend & servant.

Not

TO JAMES MADISON.

MAD. MSS.

PHILADELPHIA, Feb 26, 99.

My last to you was of the 19th; it acknoleged yours of the 8th. In mine, I informed you of the nomination of Murray. There is evidence that the letter of Taleyrand was known to one of the Secre

VOL. VII.-24

taries, therefore probably to all; the nomination, however, is declared by one of them to have been kept secret from them all. He added, that he was glad of it, as, had they been consulted, the advice. would have been against making the nomination. To the rest of the party, however, the whole was a secret till the nomination was announced. Never did a party shew a stronger mortification, & consequently, that war had been their object. Dana declared in debate (as I have from those who were present,) that we had done everything which might provoke France to war; that we had given her insults which no nation ought to have borne; & yet she would not declare war. The conjecture as to the Executive is, that they received Taleyrand's letter before or about the meeting of Congress; that not meaning to meet the overture effectually, they kept it secret, & let all the war measures go on; but that just before the separation of the Senate, the P, not thinking he could justify the concealing such an overture, nor indeed that it could be concealed, made a nomination, hoping that his friends in the Senate would take on their own shoulders the odium of rejecting it; but they did not chuse it. The Hamiltonians would not, & the others could not, alone. The whole artillery of the phalanx, therefore, was plaid secretly on the Pt, and he was obliged himself to take a step which should parry the overture while it wears the face of acceding to it. (Mark that I state this as conjecture; but founded on workings & indications which have been under our eyes.) Yes

terday, therefore, he sent in a nomination of Oliver Elsworth, Patrick Henry & W Vans Murray, Envoys Ext & M P to the French Republic, but declaring the two former should not leave this country till they should receive from the French Directory assurances that they should be received with the respect due by the law of nations to their character, &c. This, if not impossible, must at least keep off the day so hateful & so fatal to them, of reconciliation, & leave more time for new projects of provocation. Yesterday witnessed a scandalous scene in the H of R. It was the day for taking up the report of their commee against the Alien & Sedition laws, &c. They held a Caucus and determined that not a word should be spoken on their side, in answer to anything which should be said on the other. Gallatin took up the Alien, & Nicholas the Sedition law; but after a little while of common silence, they began to enter into loud conversations, laugh, cough, &c., so that for the last hour of these gentlemen's speaking, they must have had the lungs of a vendue master to have been heard. Livingston, however, attempted to speak. But after a few sentences, the Speaker called him to order, & told him what he was saying was not to the question. It was impossible to proceed. The question was taken & carried in favor of the report, 52 to 48.; the real strength of the two parties is 56. to 50. But two of the latter have not attended this session. I send you the report of their committee. I still expect to leave this on the 1st, & be with you on the 7th of March. But it is possible

may not set out till the 4th, and then shall not be with you till the 10th. Affectionately adieu.

TO BISHOP JAMES MADISON.

J. MSS.

PHILADELPHIA, Feb 27, 99.

DEAR SIR,-Your favor of Feb 10 came safely to hand. We were for a moment flattered with the hope of a friendly accommodation of our differences with France, by the President's nomination of mr. Murray our minister at the Hague to proceed to Paris for that purpose. But our hopes have been entirely dashed by his revoking that and naming mr, Elsworth, mr. Patrick Henry & Murray; the two former not to embark from America till they shall receive assurances from the French Government, that they will be received with the respect due to their character by the Law of nations; and this too after the French Government had already given assurances that whatever Minister the President should send should be received with the respect due to the representative of a great, free & independent nation. The effect of the new nomination is compleatly to parry the advances made by France towards a reconciliation. A great change is taking place in the public mind in these middle states, and they are rapidly resuming the Republican ground which they had for a moment relinquished. The tables of Congress are loaded with petitions proving this. 13. of the 22. counties of this state have already petitioned against the proceedings of the late Congress. Many also

from New York & New Jersey, and before the summer is over, these three states will be in unison with the Southern & Western. I take the liberty of putting under your cover a letter for a young gentleman known to you, & to whom I know not how otherwise to direct it. I am, with great esteem, dear Sir, your friend and servant.

TO THOMAS LOMAX.

J. MSS.

MONTICELLO, Mar 12, 99.

DEAR SIR,-Your welcome favor of last month came to my hands in Philadelphia. So long a time has elapsed since we have been separated by events, that it was like a letter from the dead, and recalled to my memory very dear recollections. My subsequent journey through life has offered nothing which, in comparison with those, is not cheerless & dreary. It is a rich comfort sometimes to look back on them.

I take the liberty of enclosing a letter to mr. Baylor, open, because I solicit your perusal of it. It will, at the same time, furnish the apology for my not answering you from Philadelphia. You ask for any communication I may be able to make, which may administer comfort to you. I can give that which is solid. The spirit of 1776 is not dead. It has only been slumbering. The body of the American people is substantially republican. But their virtuous feelings have been played on by some fact with more fiction; they have been the dupes of artful manœuvres, & made for a moment to be willing